Non-Participation

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 463, 7 May 1948, Page 8

Non-Participation

POSERS, Penalties and Profits, the stupendous new ZB feature, may be profitable for the sponsors, plummy for the competitors and perfectly priceless from the viewpoint of the theatre audience, but it’s certainly no great shakes for the home listener. (You know, the man the twenty-five bob comes from.) There we were, out in the cold like Clapham and Dwyer or the Poor Little Match Girl, and there were all the others at this Marvellous Party, with Father Christmases handing out magnificent presents at the slightest provocation (you got one if you knew the colours of the spectrum or Harry S. Truman’s second name), and people coming in Dripping Wet (shrieks of laughter and we couldn’t see a thing!) and being made to kiss their sisters or propose to their husbands or make speeches of wel‘come to De Valera. Actually from the listener viewpoint the whole thing was only slightly better than being expected to listen to a race meetifig, a football game or a wrestling match without benefit of commentator. Before next Thursday I should like to see a special Listeners’ Representative appointed to the show, whose duty it will be to keep lis- teners au fait with the ‘performance by means of s tto voce comments similar to those used in the broadcasting of celebrity, concerts or Sunday Night operas. ("Mrs. Blank, the next competitor, now takes the centre of the stage. She is wearing ....") Only thus can listcners avoid feeling that they are chewing the bitter bread of banishment.