Depression Fairy Tale
REMEMBER reading somewhere that Hans Andersen and the Brothers Grimm together contain all the plots of modern popular fiction and plays; that, if you clothe the characters in modern dress, add a pinch of popular psychology and’some cosy dialogue, you are likely to have a best-seller or a bestrunner on your hands, Certainly Dodie Smith’s Service (YA link) about the old firm of Service surviving the depression of the Thirties was as close to a fairy tale-in the opprobrious sense-as any NZBS play I’ve heard. Here were all the dear old stock characters-gay, young daughter, nasty stepmother, kindly father, noble young son (whose ingenuity saves the firm), faithful old retainer (Harry Painter very good in a meaty part), and rich uncle (in this case shipping-magnate who places big order), Here was all the cheery, falsely bright dialogue, the chins-up | clichés, the romantic glow of Never-Was, all as Givorced from reality as the Land of Cockaigne from "the home-life of our dear Queen," Dodie Smith is a skilful purveyor of happy formulas and the NZBS cast worked hard to make it sound convincing. But in one brief story of Hans Andersen there is more human truth and more confronting-life than in the whole ninety minutes of Miss Smith’s comforting mish-mash.
J.C.
R.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560525.2.18.4
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 877, 25 May 1956, Page 10
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214Depression Fairy Tale New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 877, 25 May 1956, Page 10
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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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