Turning the Dial
Y last two experiences with NZBS plays have been unfortunate, Last week Mazil-a plunge into the plushiest Victorian melodrama, with the Arab chieftain and his milk-white steed; this week Intruder by Night, the dreary depths of 20th Century realism, a weary little plot about a sordid murderer whose revolver turns out to be loaded with blanks. In despair I turned to 4ZB and the Crusader or Crackpot series. This was unknown country and I found the Crazy Gang had been getting to work on Mexican history-with Carranza, Zapata, and Pancho Villa all turned into comic characters in the spirit of The Great Dictator, It was all done with terrific vim and, placed in some nevernever land of musical comedy, could have existed in its own right as burlesque entertainment. ._But to be reminded from time to time that these were real characters was a shocking anticlimax. These ZB crackpots hadn’t the faintest connection with history. There seems no reason to provide any sort of historical framework for such wild caricatures: it is like trying to clap Laurel and Hardy between the dusty covers of
a history textbook.
K. J.
S.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19491104.2.19.5
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 541, 4 November 1949, Page 11
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193Turning the Dial New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 541, 4 November 1949, Page 11
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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