Leading Comedian Is Expert In Dialects

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30201, 5 August 1963, Page 13

Leading Comedian Is Expert In Dialects

A boyhood of travelling throughout Britain with parents in show business, and of taking his schooling where he found it, has not been without its compensations to Bob Andrews, leading comedian with the Black and White Minstrel Show

Attending schools throughout tiie country for a few weeks at a time helped Mr Andrews to obtain an expert ear for dialects and he has put this to good use in all his shows. With a father who was a revue and cabaret baritone and a mother who acted on the legitimate stage. Mr Andrews was well placed for a career in show business. He has been 25 years in variety, broadcasting and television.

Like all comedians. Mr Andrews began in a small way in revues—"watching comics and pinching their jokes." In 1936 he started on his own and has aince worked extensively in West End cabaret, made over 400 radio shows, done revue and variety on television, and a tot of compering.

A good compere, says Mr Andrews, has no difficulty in getting a good job wherever he wants it. He likens the job of the compere to that of a football referee—thankless but very necessary. For this reason comperes are always in great demand but seldom achieve stardom. Mr Andrews has entertained troops under the auspices of Combined Services Entertainment, run by the army's welfare service. Mr Andrews rates a Far Eastern tour at the time of the Korean War as one of his outstanding experiences

Mr Andrews says the "Black and White Minstrel Show" took to the stage in the Victoria Palace a year ago. It was booked for this engagement on the retirement of the Crazy Gang which had kept that theatre full for years. Its three-month engagement, in a stop-gap capacity pending the engagement of another long-term show, has already lasted for a year The show itself was born about five years ago as a television attraction. It was the

idea of George Inns, a B B C. television producer, and one of Europe's leading chorus masters. George Mitchell. On television it has had a 20week season for each of the last five winters.

Mitchell started the George Mitchell Glee Club for the B B C., which then sought his services in providing musical groups for all types of performances. Inns then took up the idea of reviving the old minstrel shows. The show transferred easily to the stage, and has made very full use of the latest lighting techniques. The original schedule was for a 10-week season in Melbourne and the same in Sydney before coming to New Zealand. But the show has not been to Sydney, for the Melbourne season was extended for 32 weeks. It will go to Sydney in November and expects to be there for a year.