Toad of Toad Hall

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 327, 28 September 1945, Page 12

Toad of Toad Hall

HE music known by this title is fairly commonly heard from Christ church stations, and in fact takes rank as a favourite recording with Arthur Askey Blacking-out the Flat, which for

some reason is heard on an average once (I should say) in six weeks. But the |Toad music deserves its popularity," chiefly because it restores "the true batrachian spirit to A. A. Milne’s stage version of Kenneth Grahame’s "Wind in the Willows." This last is without doubt one of the supreme achievements of the English muse and numbers its devotees in all lands; and there is little doubt that || A. A. Milne did not really improve it- || the author of Pooh Bear, surprisingly

enough, overplayed his hand when dealing with the Rat, the Mole, the Badger and the Toad, and not infrequently lapsed into mere whimsicality. Pooh and friends-the difference probably lies here -were by nature philosophers, staring at the world in a dreamy and acquiescent bewilderment ("Isn’t it funny how a bear likes honey? Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! I wonder why he does"), while Grahame’s characters, more confident and at terms with their environment (the Toad in this respect trespassing beyond the limits of restraint), hastened through life, imbibing and relishing it with every pore, nerve and muscle. In fact, they were true animals; the denizens of the Forest were a small boy’s dolls come to life and the difference was very considerable.