MORNING SERIALS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 41, Issue 1051, 16 October 1959, Page 11

MORNING SERIALS

Sir,-I read with interest "Parihauhau’s" comments on Dr Paul. I must be one of the few men in the country who can claim to have heard two instalments of Dr Paul right through. Each time I was alone at home, standing on a chair which stood on a table, painting the living room ceiling. Everyone has his or her own theory as to why Dr Paul is put on the air. My wife thinks it is a device @ncouraged by the welfare state for driving women off to their household tasks and keeping men out at work. I am inclined to the more obvious view that it is just what it purports to be-a powerful advertising medium. Between the announcement of "radio’s great story of adult love" and the story itself are a few moments of reprieve, during which the advertising comes across. Relieved and grateful lis-

teners, as they walk over to switch off or to another programme, are just in the mood to accept this message -for the respite it grants them. Of course a simple explanation might be that it is just something put on by the caretaker or tea-lady while the staff of the station are having their morning break. This is borne out by the impression I gained that every instalment of Dr Paul is possibly just the same as every other instalment (as your correspondent says, about murder, blackmail, bribery, arson, double-crossing and unmitigated lying on-stage, or in retrospect or in prospect). Notes could be compared, listeners (who should say, as a matter of interest, how they came to listen to an instalment) pooling information on what they heard and when.

WALTER BROOKES

(Wellington).