ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Who Are New Zealand’s Television Personalities?

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30540, 8 September 1964, Page 8

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Who Are New Zealand’s Television Personalities?

On my TV screen the programmes come and the programmes go but the players rarely remain. Someone appears in a homegrown production. I decide that I like him, and look forward each week to seeing more of him. But after a few episodes some N.Z.B.C. magician waves a wand in Wellington, and I lament the passing of what might have been a TV personality. I don’t suggest that TV programmes should last as long as some that I used to endure on radio. I still shudder at the thought of "Dr. Paul” and “Portia Faces Life,” and I •was delighted to learn that “Dad and Dave” had been buried in Snake Gully at last. But radio did produce personalities both on the local and national scene—they are being buried now in the efficiency of the national network—and people like Aunt Daisy and Selwyn Toogood were known from one end of the country to. the other. Search For Talent

There is a continual search for TV talent by the N.Z.B.C. We have that on the authority of its chief producer, Mr Alan Morris, who received all the brickbats for the late unlamented “Hi Summer!” Admittedly genuine talent is hard to find in our small country. I am sure the N.Z.B.C. tries hard; I am not so sure that it perseveres with what it does find or believes in allowing anyone to acquire personality status. I don't need all the fingers on one hand to count our top people in TV—-those who are personalities in their own right and are nationally known for what they say and do. Announcers or news don’t count in my assessment. They have been described, quite wrongly in my opinion, as personalities, but to me they are just local folk. T expect them to do their job efficiently every night, and, with some few exceptions, they do it and do it well. But I don’t look forward eargerly to their appearance, I don’t talk about them, and I don’t argue with my friends about them. Mister Cookery At the top of my list of top people I would place Graham Kerr. To thousands of TV viewers he is definitely Mr Cookery. Of course Mr Kerr is liked and disliked. That is because he is a personality. He is talked about, and so are his recipes. I know there are some rugged Kiwis who believe cooking should be left to the women, and its proper place is in the kitchen, not on the TV screen. They object to Mr Kerr’s smoothness, his immaculate shirt cuffs, and his obvious enjoyment in the food he is preparing. But at least he does jolt them occasionally out of their preoccupation with beer, football, and racing.

Mr Kerr has earned his place at the top of the list. I think he is the most polished performer on TV in the country. Technically he is superb, and he has an unexcelled capacity for communicating his enthusiasm to the viewers. I give the N.Z.B.C. full marks for presenting him to TV audiences and keeping him on the screen. After all, it is in the nature of a public service to let us know there is something more in the world of food than pies, fish and chips steak and eggs, and pavlovas. Another genuine TV per-

sonality is Peter Read, who talks so agreeably about the stars and the planets. While he excites no controversy, he knows his subject, he has no airs or graces, and he talks so simply and clearly that even a child can understand him. I could watch Mr Read on the screen more often because I feel I have added something

to my small store of knowledge each time I have heard what he has to say. Down To Earth Mr Read directs our eyes and minds to the skies above. David Combridge is down to earth as a gardener should be. At the moment he shines only in the local sky, but I feel he should be more widely known. Like Mr Read he knows what he is talking about and does not blind his audience with science like some experts. He

is entirely natural, his advice is sound, and he has an obvious air of efficiency, particularly when he has to answer questions. If I am exhorted by a TV commercial to spray my roses or other plants with a certain spray I take absolutely no notice. If Mr Combridge speaks I obey.

There are two others ■on my list who, in my humble opinion, could become personalities in the world of TV, but apparently the N.Z.B.C. disagrees. They are lan Johnstone, who has been the interviewer in the “Close-Up” series, and lan Cross, who has been conducting a critical examination of New Zealand newspapers. The “Close-Up” series has been completed, but there is no indication that it will return to the screen. And there are rumours in Wellington that Mr Cross

Its Own Character That would be a pity. “Close-Up” is faintly reminiscent of “Face to Face” in its presentation, but it has developed a character of its own. Mr Johnstone does not imitate John Freeman; he is too pleasant and mildmannered to probe as mercilessly as his fellow-country-man. He is a good interviewer in a field where there is a noticeable lack of good interviewers, he asks intelligent questions, and he has made himself familiar with his subiect and his subject’s field. There have been times when I thought he needed more fire but. I am grateful to him for introducing me to new faces, new thoughts, and new ideas. Mr Cross has been like a breath of fresh air on the TV scene. Because of his nature he lacks the bite of Brian Inglis or Bernard Levin who delighted me with their comments on “What the Papers Say,” which I watched in London last year. But it is refreshing to find someone examining newspapers in this country from a different angle from that of “Pro Bono Publico” or “Disgruntled Reader.” Some Fluttering No doubt Mr Cross has caused some flutterings in newspaper dovecotes. Newspapers invariably get more blame than praise for what they do or try to do. And it is also a new experience for them to be criticised not for what they say but the way in which they say it. This programme could lose its interest to viewers if it became a communisations media dogfight on the lines of “you criticise our programmes so we’ll criticise vour news and editorials.” That is unlikely while Mr Cross is the critic. I see no reason why this programme should not have a long life, and if Mr Cross becomes a TV personality all the better. I hope my list of top TV people will be increased in the future. But the “faceless ones” in Wellington don’t seem to encourage personalities. Perhaps in a country where Jack’s as good as his master the N.Z.B.C. believes Jack should never be encouraged to be better.

LOOKING AT TELEVISION WITH C. C.

might not be with us much longer.