Novel Adapted
HERE is a touch of poetic melancholy about Frank Baker’s novel, Miss Hargreaves, especially in its ending, which I missed from the NZBS radio version (1YA). Still, as this is Mr. Baker’s own adaptation of his book, the adaptor can’t be made the scapegoat this time. And, given the somewhat uncomplicated characters they had to portray, the NZBS cast made a good fist of this fantastic comedy about a character invented as a jest by two young men, who comes to life, and becomes a kind of Old-Woman-of-the-Sea around the neck of the organist Norman Huntley. Davina Whitehouse (a decided acquisiton to our drama division) was a fruity and domineering Miss Hargreaves; William Austin a suitably per-
plexed Frankenstein; and Roy Leywood gave a neat sketch of Huntley’s father, the philosophical musician. Miss Hargreaves’s harp, and her cockatoo, Dr. Pepusch, were equally expertly played. But I am still wondering a little why Frank Baker robbed Miss Hargreaves of most of her pathos and even provided some ghost of a psychological "explanation" of her in his radio~ version.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19541203.2.18.4
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 802, 3 December 1954, Page 11
Word count
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179Novel Adapted New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 802, 3 December 1954, 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.
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