Behind the Stage Curtain

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 409, 24 April 1947, Page 20

Behind the Stage Curtain

HE notice, "Resting, do not disturb," carried by old-time actors for hanging outside the hotel bedroom door, is not included in the property basket of Donald Sharp, a busy young:actor now touring New Zealand. When he is free from rehearsing and acting he writes for the radio. He called on The Listener the other day to tell us that while his company is in the South Island he will record three interviews with other mem-

bers of the cast. Before the war he was on the staff of the Tasmanian Public Service, at Hobart, doing radio work in his spare time for the local division of the ABC, Then, with the RAAF, he saw service in Singapore, and as soon as he got out of uniform he took up the stage and radio as his profession. His voice will be familiar to those who listen to Prisoner at the Bar, heard from the NZBS. Recently, he said, Leontine Sagan, who during the war directed

Ivor Novello’s musical shows, went to Australia to stage The Dancing: Years. She held auditions and cast him as the | juvenile lead. He has also: played the part of Pal Green in The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse. 2 His recordings, which will have the general title of My Friends from the Theatre, will be heard later from the main National stations. The first interview will be with John Wood, who will

discuss Dritish and American films. Wood has appeared in 15 productions, with Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone and others. The second will be a talk with Gwenda Wilson, who will speak about .the Australian stage during the war, and the third interview will be with Reg Newson, on "Great Stage Figures of the ’T'wenties and Thirties." Newson will have something to say about Noel Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, and other notables of the London stage,