JAMES SHELLEY IN CHRISTCHURCH

Press, Volume C, Issue 29474, 28 March 1961, Page 13

JAMES SHELLEY IN CHRISTCHURCH

Cultural Influence Three Decades Ago

tSpeciollg written for “The Preu" by WALTtR BROOKES! yjANY Christchurch people, mainly now in middle age, must have had vivid memories of three decades ago brought back to them by the report of the death in England of Sir James Shelley. They •will not be thinking of the Director of Broadcasting from 1936 to 1949, but of the Professor of Education at Canterbury University College (as it was then), whose magnetic personality seemed to dominate the cultural life of the city during the ’twenties and first half of the "’thirties.

Professor Shelley’s lectures gripped the imagination of his students, who were given to spreading his ideas with considerable fervour among the less fortunate who were not taking his subject. He frankly aimed to be inspirational rather than informative. and, in contradistinction to other lecturers, would reprimand his students for taking notes. Everybody at the college, whether studying under him or not. was very much aware of his existence. He was ready to oblige any group or society with an address—always, like everything he said in public, given impromptu. His impressive appearance, piercing eyes, and resonant voice attracted and held attention, and he saw to it that his audience was constantly stimulated by unorthodox or provocative statements. Attention he had to have, and when the revival of interest in knitting reached the college in the early thirties he threatened to go on strike unless it was kept out of his class room.

Depression Years It was during the years of the depression that Professor Shelley's influence was at its height, and it reached well out beyond the college. Drama was one of his great- . est interests, and he enabled I a great many people at that time to make it a source of inexpensive pleasure and education. At one period he had some 250 enrolments in his W.E_A. drama class. At these packed gatherings he would sometimes organise readings by members. But his own one-man presentation of plays was something that will not easily be forgotten by those who listened to them. He had an extraordinary ability to read all the parts in a play with such modifications of voice and easy transition from one character to another that an illusion of reality was built up in the minds of hfs hearers which many considered had a stronger effect on them than a stage presentation. Under his guidance at Canterbury College, the Drama Society was a flourishing and energetic organisation. Apart from regular stage productions, the programme at the weekly Wednesday - night meetings here also consisted of readings by students or by the Professor. These meetings were not confined to students: anyone could become an associate member at

a small annual fee. The assembly hall at the former Christchurch Boys' High School (which had just become part of the college) was turned into a little theatre with great enthusiasm. There was much dramatic activity of all kinds, but most people who took an interest in the society in those days will agree that Professor Shelley’s readings remain most vividly in their minds today. He certainly had the power to transport the whole gathering into the world of the play he had chosen. Meetings concluded with supper, and he would join in discussion with those present and round-off an evening which seemed a real escape from the problems of difficult times. Now not even the same little theatre remains as a reminder of those days. “A Benevolent Dictator”

The fact is that Professor Shelley appeared to many as a kind of benevolent dictator of the cultural world of Christchurch when he was here. His regime was complete. w’ith subversive elements in the shape of “anti-Shelley” cliques among undergraduates and indignant protests from those who felt their interests threatened by his outspoken remarks. It seems odd now, but I recall the indignation of theatre managers at his reference to a famous screen actress as having "a red gash for a mouth.”

Professor Shelley was somebody who was never ignored. Coming out from England, he threw himself whole-heartedly into the life of Christchurch. It was only the other day I was told by a retired member of the staff that "it was Shelley who put an end to the division between the English and New Zealand professors at Canterbury College. He would have none of it.”

Professor Shelley’s effect on people was felt most at close quarters, and it is doubtful if he ever meant as much to people as Director of Broadcasting as he did as professor and general cultural guide in Christchurch. His voice, however, heard in the radio news which he read himself every night, became well known and greatly appreciated during the war. He probably lacked activity in contact with people after his retirement. He returned from England on a

visit in 1951, and it was then he told me of the difficulty he found in struggling to write a. book on his studies of Shakespeare. It somehow would not work out. But he was a speaker rather than a writer.