Nobody's Fault

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 402, 7 March 1947, Page 23

Nobody's Fault

HERE come times and seasons in the life of a viewsreel commentator when a_ saturnalian element comes uppermost in his thoughts; he hopes for minor disasters and grotesqueries, a radio Feast of Misrule. And if this should come about at the expense of the familiar and unloved features of broadcast programmes, the better-in this regrettable temper, this occupational disease-he will be satisfied. He likes to hear an announcer give out that someone will play "Love Story from Cornish Rhapsody." He derives cynical glee from the remark by the compére of a session of bouncing baritone ballads that "many of the best-known traits of the English character are to be found in such songs as A Fine Old English Gentleman and The Vicar of Bray." When he reads in the cable news that a British woman M.P. has called Tommy Handley a twerp, he will (in this mood) only reflect that Miss Hotchkiss has clearly got loose again. In short, a fit of malevolence descends, and he wonders in moments of detachment what radio poppy or mandragora will finally medicine him agaim to his normal respect and reverence.