“MAORI” SHOW HIT BY TV

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28765, 10 December 1958, Page 25

“MAORI” SHOW HIT BY TV

Live Theatre Recession

“The Press" Special Service AUCKLAND, December 8. Television has robbed the stage show “Maori” of the packed house success it enjoyed on its New Zealand tour, according to the Auckland Public Relations Officer (Mr M. L. Tronson). The Auckland Public Relations Office sponsored the show, and Mr Tronson has just returned from Australia. Television, he said, had brought on a general recession in live theatre. “It was not the quality of the show—all those who saw it liked it,” said Mr Tronson. “The trouble is that all live entertainments in the television areas are suffering. “We opened in Melbourne and found none of the other theatres was getting big houses. The television attraction has forced many theatres and drive-in cinemas in the suburbs to close.” The show had now moved to Adelaide —a non-television area—where bigger audiences were expected, Mr Tronson said. “We have only played three nights there, but we have noticed bigger attendances.” Ignorance Another bugbear the company had met was ignorance. Members of the cast selling programmes in theatre foyers in Melbourne were being spoken to in pidgin English. An example: "Me have programme.” The reply, coming in perfect English, often shook the customers, said Mr Tronson. “The ways of the Maori people, and how they are on an equal status with the European in New Zealand are practically unknown to a large percentage of the Australian people,” he said. The Maori show had almost certainly boosted the New Zealand people to the Australians, said Mr Tronson. “They know New Zealand has high mountains and thermal regions, but know little of the people," Mr Tronson said. He said the New Zealand Tourist Bureau in Melbourne had reported that since the company’s arrival in Australia there had been an unusual number of inquiries from potential visitors to New Zealand.