BLAME IT ON THE GROHMS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 188, 29 January 1943, Page 5

BLAME IT ON THE GROHMS

HEN anything goes wrong with your radio set or with the programme to which you are listening, you can-it you like-put the blame on one of the little fellows shown above, or on one of their cousins, They are Grohms, a tribe of radiocentrics, originating in the fertile minds ot American press-agents, who were looking around for scapegoats for listeners’ wrath when programmes go wrong. Instead of taking the kicks themselves, tadio officials may now be able to use the alibi, "Blame it on the Grohms." The three Grohm-types shown above are: the "Slobnik" (lett), who spoils scriptwriters’ copy; the bearded "Laffnix" (centre), who takes all the sting out of comedians’ lines; the "Foobus" (right), who makes nasty noises which come through the microphone. Other Grohms not shown hefe are the "Locksniff," who carries round a key with which he inconveniently locks doors in the studio; the "Messibelle,’ a female Grohm who "teeters on decibel controls" and causes the volume to waver; and the "Nostragrohmus," who inspires news commentators to make incorrect predictions. These Grohms are evidently related to the Gremlins, a tribe ot mischievous, air-minded pixies recently invented by fanciful R.A.F. men to explain all the unexplainable things that can go wrong with an aeroplane.