Talks wi' a Mouthfu' o' Porridge

Radio Record, Volume X, Issue 3, 24 July 1936, Page 52

Talks wi' a Mouthfu' o' Porridge

‘But Dora Lindsay is a Quiet Scots Body

When ‘She’s of f Stage

to sdy "anything very funny, * because if I do you'll be stealihg my thunder for the broad-. casts,"-implored Dora "Lindsay, as she lowered herself-although . she didn’t have far to go-into the chair on the other side-of a gas fire in-a studio at 2YA. "I’m really very quiet and ‘reserved when I’m. off duty... Tr have to have a bit.of peace . and quiet ‘to think up new gags and jokes, anyway." ° HOPE -you don’t want me

So I didn’t, press -Dora into giving "me "half an hour’s, free. comedy. ‘After all, why should .she exert * herself * to

entertdin: one. man-when she gets paid: -handsomely ; for keeping « the whole -theatre-full of people chuckling and laughing from the stage? Not that Dora put. it that way.atall, for ‘although she’s a. Scottish body, the idea: of giving, something . for nothing didn’t seem to. .worry

her. The plain fact is that she is not a person who goes about" cracking’ jokes at everyone and excusing herself on the grounds‘that she is a professional comedienne, Me But ‘those who have seen her on the stage, either in England and Scotland, or in New Zéaland-she has‘ just finished a tour with the Long Tack Sam Gompany-probably appreciate her attitude of conserving her resources until. the show ison. The fact that Long Tack Sam didn’t think it necessary to have another comedian-the usual malewith his company, speaks volumes for his confidence in Dora’s ability. There’s-not much of her, but all of ‘her four-feet-something (she couldn’t quite make the grade to the five-foot mark) is a bundle of. fun on stage, and now she is starting a six-weeks’ tour of the New Zealand national stations with her comic verbal stock-in-trade: *. "Every town we. visited. with. the. Chinese company’ pro: duced a few people who turned up. to.see, me," remarked Dora Lindsay with a’ quiet pride. "They were mostly Scots who had known mie on the stage in the ‘Lindsay and Hart’ team years ago at Home. It, became quite: a standing joke, in fact, among the company. ~~ Wheneyer any ‘of them saw: a stranger in the wings or about’ ‘the stage. during the day looking a little dazed or lost, they didn’t even bother, after a while, to ask. what the visitors wanted. They just. directed. them to my dressing-room." "And I suppose you had: to have a reception , hall all to yourself in Dunedin?" I asked. "Not quite," replied the little Scofswoman with a happy smile, "but they certainly made a fuss of me; The place | is just nicely full of Scots, ‘and lots of them said they had. heard me in. Scotland, so the Scottish Society turned. out, pipe band and all, to give me a welcome. After: all, they. did it. for Harry Lauder,. so' I suppose they -eouldn’t..see- why .

‘they shouldn’t do it for me TI enjoyed the compliment. ue By the, -way, although thése snatches of Dora’s utterances are written in .ordinary spelling, her accent is really- a full: Scottish one, though not as broad as the one she

adopts for stage and broadcast work. If, as the saying goes, she speaks with a mouthful of porridge in ordinary conversation, then when she’s getting to work on your funnybone she must -be chock-a-block with haggis or something dreadfully Scottish.

' Twelve years ago Dora Lindsay was in New Zealand with a Fuller vaudeville company, and most of her time since then "has been. spent in Australia. She has done a lot’ of broadcasting there. The ‘first time she ever broadcast was from "Warner Brothers’ studios, in Hollywood, ' "They told me to take it quietly, but

I thought that seeing a baritone stands back from the mike and sings loudly, I’d do the same-except that I didn’ t sing so much: + . But ‘it: would be a. wonderful. invention if the mike’ laugh when you ‘wanted a laugh. Trouble is, I suppose, some laddie would invent something about the same time which | tells when people turn you off on their yadios. That'd’ never do." Dora Lindsay, feels that she was ‘born to the stageeven respectably so, in -days when the stage in Scotland was considered to be the awfullest profession ever. Her reasons are that her grandfather, on one side, was a chief disciple of spiritualism, and on the other, was a negro character comedian. So the way Dora works it out is that one gives het the inspiration for stage work and the other 4n aura of goodness, ' But Scots have come to the conclusion’ now that the stage. isn’t.so wicked- after all, ' ""T write-my own stuff for stage and broadcasts," continued the comedienne. "And I find that I’m not really .in competition with male comedy artists,-for there is a distinct. line 6f work for female Scottish ‘character sketches. Scots people don’t mind hearing "jokes" told ,against themselves: In fact, Tr fairly rubbed it in to the Danedin; Scots the other week, a she added gleefully. One. of her- most interesting experiences in Australia was ‘an eleven months’ tour undertaken Jast year with Mr. . and Mrs. Frank Hatherley, well known to radio people as’ Bobby: and Betty Bluegum. "The: whole-trip was made by ° bar, and -the small band averaged 100 miles: a day. Dora Lindsay’s husband, Myer Nyman, has been for a long time a performer with ' Ces Morrison’s Band, in Australia, and he does ‘a lot :of broadcasting on his own account. . . Now you know this little Scotswoman better than you did, you:may.settle down-to listen ‘to her broadeasts: :