The Boy From the Bush

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 726, 12 June 1953, Page 18

The Boy From the Bush

"HE veteran Australian comedian George Wallace, well known to New Zealand vaudeville followers as The Boy from the Bush, will be amusing ZB listeners shortly in a new radio-comedy series, The George Wallace Show. In the boom days of vaudeville, George appeared often in New Zéaland theatres on the Fuller circuit. His bashed hat, check shirt, and baggy pants became as familiar and as popular as the lighthearted liberties he ‘took with his scripts. Frequently an interjection ad lib from George would holdup the show until his ‘fellow performers could control their laughter. Since vaudeville went into decline George Wallace has become solidly entrenched in radio, and recently he went to England to introduce BBC televiewers to "The Boy from the Bush" and "Sophie, the Sort on the Bus." Before that his only overseas performances had been in New Zealand and with an entertainment unit in Japan. Off stage George has been. farmer, canecutter, boxer,’ blacksmith’s striker, artist, toy-maker, bandleader, pit-boy, and handyman in a travelling show. His best boxing story concerns the time he

was canecutting in Queensland and took part in a fight in the local smithy. The timekeeper was a tall ‘young fellow who kept time with a stick of sugar cane on a kerosene tin. "By accident I met that timekeeper again recently," says ‘Gearge. "His name is Sir Arthur Fadden." i The George Wallace Show consists of half an hour of bright and breezy broadcasting, with George assisted by such radio entertainers as George Foster, Clark McKay, Sheila Sewell, Dawn Lake and Freddy McIntosh and his Rhythm Boys. The. producers have used the format developed so successfully in

America by Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello and other top-rank radio comedians. Each week a different situation is presented to listeners-a situation designed for humour rather | than the "gagging" routine. | George Foster, who wrote the script, | is George Wallace’s chief support. He has been ten years in radio and has | become a leading light in the comedy | world. Sheila Sewell, who is well known | as a dramatic actress, finds herself just | as much at home as a comedienne. Sheila’s picture appeared in a recent | issue of The Listener as a leading | player in the ZB Tuesday evening |

thriller J Love a Mystery. Dawn Lake is a versatile pop singer who, when not singing, plays the part of Pansy, the young and slightly scatterbrained sister of Alfie | Potts, Alfie, the perfect | foil for Wallace, is. played by Fred MclIn-| tosh, who also leads the | Rhythm Boys. This musical combination has been providing outdcortype music for Australian radio for 15 years, and the _ background music and feature numbers for the show are of good quality. é The ZB stations will broadcast this comedy, series at 9.0 p.m. on Mondays, beginning on June 15. |