Ray Columbus show has short season

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32459, 20 November 1970, Page 4

Ray Columbus show has short season

Two weeks of Mj Name is Ray Columbus’ have provided,convincing evidence that this shov has more to offer a wid< audience than some o: the other N.Z.B.C. mus icals. It is astonishinj therefore that its rui has been limited to onlj four weeks; it finishes on December 2, and ever suffers the indignity al the end of losing its pre sent peak viewing post tion in the programmes

Perhaps one can have too much of a good thing and "My Name Is Ray Columbus” has, so far, been a good thing, notwithstanding some very feeble attempts at humour always mercifully brief—and some faults in production. A series of four programmes suggests the N.Z.B.C. does not think highly of. it. Yet it will continue to give very long runs to such tedious quiz programmes as “Guestimate” and the repetitious, apparently insincere “Personality Squares,” which reaches a fourteenth week by the end of this month and is still going feebly. “My Name Is Ray Columbus” is not a great show, but it is relaxed and easy to watch and hear. Ray Columbus himself has a very pleasant voice, and he is a very versatile entertainer. His material, which includes not only modem numbers but some fresh material with local and often humorous application, is good. On Wednesday his proof of a Bob Dylan presentation was delightful. So, too, was the popular and melodious “For Once In My Life” by a guest singer whose name we missed in the credits, and the P-O-Pulation, backed with skill by the exciting sound of the Garth Young Orchestra which contributes nearly as much to this show as it did to “The Musicmakers.’’

While on the subject of the band, might another plea be made to the N.Z.B.C. producers to recognise the fact that light musical programmes such as this do not need to have a vocalist for every single number? Perhaps it is trepidation about what to do with the cameras without a vocalist before them which persuades them to the belief that an audience can not stand any melody unless it is sung.

But back to Wednesday’s Ray Columbus show: what tremendous appeal that family of eight—the Riley Gypsies— must have had for

the audiences throughout the country. They were a most delightful group mother, father, and six boys, some of them very small but quite irresistible, especially the very tiniest, and his very large and unrehearsed yawn. Ray Columbus is a proficient professional entertainer, and his show deserved a better fate than it has received. # # # In other respects, Wednesday evening’s programme held little of note. The “Survey” programme on

environment was well done. It covered the many forms of pollution adequately, there was some effective photography but, as was natural in a half-hour programme, it did not have a great deal to say about remedies: And "Hawaii Five-O” had its last screening, without doing a great deal to make up for the many weeks it has taken screen time. The story, about an attempt to undermine public confidence' in Steve McGarrett and his team by faking evidence of corruption, was not a . bad one, but the film failed finally in the same manner of so many others. It had a hurried and utterly unconvincing ending: the master mind criminal, although still apparently holding a strong hand, capitulated with ridiculous ease and was rushed off to confess. "Hawaii Five-O” has not been a huge success. Let’s hope the tide stays out for a good long time. PANDORA.

CHTV3 2.00 p.m.: Headline news. 2.03: Mr Deeds Goes To Town—“lndustrial Spy.” Comedy. ’ 5u n f or Your Life—“ Carol.” Drama. 3.16: The Jerry Lewis Show. Variety. ?F opie of Man y Lands—Shetlands. Travel. 4.22: The Herbs. Puppets. (Final). 4.36: Captain Pugwash. Cartoon. 4.45: House of Hashimoto. 4.50: The Archie Sabrina Show. 5.13: Tom Grattan’s War—" Blind Man’s Buff.” Adventure. 5.37: Headline news, weather. 5.40: The Flying Nun. Comedy. 6.05: Animal Magic. Wildlife. (Repeat). 6.30: World Scene. 6.50: Sports Magazine. 7.00: Network news. 7.15: Weather. The South Tonight. 7.35: Julia—“ For Whom the Wedding Bell Tolls.” Comedy. 7.58: Mod Squad—“ The Sunday Drivers.” Detective. 8.48: The Vai Doonican Show (Norman Vaughan, Peter Goodright, David and Jonathan). Variety. 9.32: Newsbrief. 9.34: Film (1956), “Moby Dick” (Gregory Peck, Orson Welles, Richard Baseheart, Leo Genn). 11.25: Late news, weather. 11.31: Boxing—Bunny Stirling v. Kahu Mahanga.

NATIONAL LINK (Including 3YA Christchurch <690 kilohertz); 2YA, Wellington (570 kilohertz); 4YA, Dunedin (780 kilohertz); and 3YZ, Greymouth (920 kilohertz). 7.0 p.m.: N.Z.B.C. Sporting Service. 7.8: The San Remo Strings. 7.30: Time for music: Music from Slovakia. 8.0: World of Science. 8.15: Songs of Latin America. 8.30: Weather and News. 9.0: This Week on the Stock Exchange. 9.5: Strange Stories. 9.15: Music of the Maori, 9.30: The Jazz Hour. 10.30: N.Z.B.C. News, Comment, Weather. 10.45: Songs of Richard Rodgers. 11.0: 8.8. C. News and Commentary. 2.15 a.m.: Arthur Cushen’s DX World. 2.30: Sing Something Simple. 4.9: Premiere. 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz)

7.5 p.m.: David Galbraith (piano). Mendelssohn: Variations in Eilat; Op. 82 (1841); Variations in B flat, Op. 83 (1841). 7.28: Borodin. 7.43:

Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D minor Arthur Grumiaux, Lamoureux Orchestra under Franco Gallini. 8.13: Prague Spring Festival: U.S.S.R. Radio Symphony under Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony, Op. 58. 9.0: The Museum of Man. 9.53: Purcell: Music for a while; From rosy bow’rs; When I am laid in earth— Maureen Forrester (mezzosoprano), Vienna State Opera Orchestra under Robert Zeller. 10.11: Handel: The Water Music. Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Fritz Lehmann. 3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) 7.0 p.m.: Swop Shop. 7.30: My Kind of Music. 9.2: Late Night Friday. 10.4: Turf Topics. 3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH (1400 kilohertz) 7.30 p.m.: Country Style. 8.0: Soul Sounds. 9.0: For Sophisticats. 3.30: Frank Pourcel. 10.0: Nice ’n’ Easy.