HARRY SECOMBE HAS GOOD SHOW

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33539, 21 May 1974, Page 4

HARRY SECOMBE HAS GOOD SHOW

In a jjleasantly-xarieil and attractive Sunday: evening’? vie w i n g, ! Harry Stecombe and his' show proiiably took first place. Once one had recovered from the effect of Mr Secombe’s turquoise and gold brocade jacket, and the lighting which made it a manysplendoured thing, it was a very pleasant and relaxing show. He still has a distinct touch of the Goons iff his comedy. There were some bright sketches, some fine singing from Harve Presnell, Olivia Newton-John—a charming girl—and Secombe himself. And there was the pleasure of listening to Kiri Te Kanawa, as a sciolist and then with Secombe in a duet from “Carmen.” Having a piano duet on the show put the clock back to Moreton and Kaye: but with their dramatic presentation of some of the “West Side Story” music, Rostal and Schaefer made an excellent impression, and it is to be hoped they will be heard again. ❖ ❖ ❖

That most reliable programme, “Country Calendar,” had an interesting item on tuberculosis in West Coast cattle, with some attractive colour photography of a spectacular district. * sjs *

Johnny Morris went a little further down the Rhine, with pauses at Basel, the Black Forest and Baden-Baden. His mixture of information, humour and philosophy usually succeeds. The commentary was a little forced here and there, but there was compensation in the occasional splendid turn of phrase. The glimpses of cuckoo clock manufacturing and milling, as well as the magnificence of the scenery, made the journey very well worth while. <e «

“The Lotus Eaters” now has but one episode to run, and in it, surely, there will be something more about the intriguing situation in which the Shepherds began the series. The stories week by week have varied in interest, i.and if most of them have ' been good ones, many viewers will share the disappointment of marking time awaiting the development of the main theme.

On Sunday, Griffith Jones, very much a film veteran, did not seem to fit the role of the .literary giant depressed by the loss of his writing powers and afraid of life and death. The hot Mediterranean climate perhaps explained the emphasis on people getting in and out of the wrong beds;

but for all her vital personality. Anousta Hempel was not quite at home as Jocasta. the cause of much of the trouble. But we have just taken a peek at a synopsis of the final episode. Enough to say it does not lack action or dramatic developments. So all may be forgiven.—R.T.B.

CHTV3 2.00 p.m.: News, weather (C). 2.05: This Afternoon. Magazine. 2.37: The Philpott File—The Entertainers (Repeat). 3.29: Country Calendar (Repeat) (C). 3.44: Room 222. Comedy-drama (C), 4.09: My Three Sons. Comedy (C). 4.33: Robinson Crusoe’s Broadcast. 4.42: Play School (C). 5.07: Hammy Hamster (C). 5.20: Scribbles. Children (C). 5.47: News (C). 5.51: Rimus. Underwater adventure (C). 6.17: Kenny Rodgers (C). 6.42: You and Your Child. 7.00: Network news. 7.22: Weather, The South Tonight. 7.47: Coronation Street. 8.19: M.A.S.H. Comedy (C). 8.49: Newsbrief (C). 8,51: Nationwide. Current affairs. 9.14: The Guardians. Drama (C). 10.10: News, weather (C).

NATIONAL LINK [lncluding 3YA Christchurch (690 kilohertz); 2YA Wellington <570 kilohertz); 4YA Dunedin (750 kilohertz); and 3YZ Grevnwuth <950 kilo hertz), i 7.30 p.m.: On Stage New Zealand. 8.40: Checkpoint. 9.0: Just A Minute. 9.30:A11 Creatures Great and Small. 10.0: Jazz Tonight. 10.30: News, Comment, Weather. 10.45: The Kennedy’s Colonial New Zealand. 11.0: 8.8. C. News, Commentary. 11.15: YAs: (continuous). 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz)

7.45 p.m.: Letter from America, by Alistair Cook. 8.0: Noel Mangin (bass), Donald Bowick (piano). Schubert: Song Cycle: The Winter Journey (from the Auckland Concert Chamber). 9.30: Poetry: Readings, reviews, biography and comment edited by Alan Roddick. 10.0: Great Tenors. Leoncavallo: Vesti la guibba

3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz)

(I Pagliacci), Enrico Caruso.' Donizetti: Una furtiva lagr- 1 ima (L’Elisir d’Amor), Tito Schipa. Verdi: La Donna e mobile (Rigoletto); Giordano: Si, fui soldato (Andrea Cheinier), Benjamino Gigli. Flo|tow: Ach so (Martha), Richard Tauber. Adam: Freunde, vernehmet die Geshichte (Le Postillion de Longjumeau); Mozart: Hier soil ich dich denn sehen (II Seraglio), Helge Roswaenge. Meyerbeer: Duet: O Gott Wo eilt ihr hin? (Les Huguenots), Marcel Wittrisch (with Margarete Teschemacher (soprano). 10.29: Styrian Autumn Concerts, Graz, 1973. Lutoslawsky: Concerto for Orchestra (1954), Katowice Grand Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio under Jerzy Maksymiuk (Austrian Radio).

7.30 p.m.: John Reid. 8.02: Motoring with Robbie. 10.03: The Story of Pop.