MILLIONAIRES’ NIGHT ON LOCAL TV

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33706, 2 December 1974, Page 4

MILLIONAIRES’ NIGHT ON LOCAL TV

Local television on Saturday had time for the millionaires. Both were Christchurch men — one native and one exotic.

hardly be dignified as an, appreciation — it was too,' out of focus. Mr G. O’Farrell came on : in “The South Tonight,” bil-! led as a land developer, to, say that he had sold his 1000-acre holding at Governor’s Bay, keeping only the homestead 10 acres. He gave the impression that he was sorry for the people of Governor’s Bay, who hadn’t got the nous to know what was good for them. Everything in the garden did not appear to be lovely. The irresistible implication i was that the people of Gov-1 emor’s Bay would have been \ pleased if Mr O’Farrell had: sold not merely 1000 acres but 1010 acre.?. ’

Mr R. H. Stewart is a manufacturer, a self-made man, with a remarkable record of success. He is an object. of admiration for people who like fast and expensive cars. “Focus" showed him as a sharp dresser with a wellequipped home and impressive business premises. Mr Stewart as a man with a mind was less easy to discern.

His philosophy, as presented, went little beyond the massage contained in one rather laboured chestnut of a story (in which he flubbed the punch line). For a programme which viewers had been led to believe would make a portrait it had, however, some curious blanks on the canvas.

This interview with Mr O’Farrell was fairly obviously the fag end of a larger piece on the news about his support for the Cook Islanders who want to go home to vote.

Bryan Allpress inevitably referred to Mr O’Farrell as a millionaire.

.There may have been mention of Mr Stewart’s term on the City Council; if so, it was very brief. But what about the design disaster at the Triangle known as the Stewart Fountain? This programme could

It was certainly a materialistic evening on CHTV3 and not quite in the mood for New Zealanders, who prefer their wealth to be measured in terms of doubles. “Mystery Movie” would

.not make its name as a | series judged by the “McMil- ' lan and Wife” offering on ■ Saturday. ! It is strange that it ; always seems to be the cops and robbers’ offerings that strain viewers’ credulitv right up to — and often past — breaking point. This impression mav be I the result of far too many ! cops and robbers building up a viewing resistance, or a belief by the producers of this genre that they can geC away with anything. Well, we say that the pro-i ducers can’t fool us here in I Christchurch. ★ ★ ★ The French way is always a way with all conversation

passing round a cigarette clamped permanently on the bottom lip, wine going down with all the ceremony of water, and men looking as though the world were made for them.

This, at any rate, is the way in the countryside; and this was the general stereo-

type fortified by a sympathetic piece on Friday night about life in the south-west of France — called “The French Way.” It was an idyllic way of life for some. The women worked by cooking, putting the wine bottle on the table, and feeding both the babies and geese — the last to make pate de foie gras. The men worked oy hunting, singing, eating, cracking walnuts, and drinking the wine.

The geese worked by swallowing enormous quantities of cooked corn lubricated with fat to make it go ;down speedier. For die last fortnight of their lives the geese were dedicated to making their livers as fat as possible. They had little option about this; being gravity-fed by tube with their head held up in a clamp they appeared to have the choice of either swallowing or choking. Yet the whole process looked surprisingly humane. It was not enough, fortunately, to put the gourmet off pate.

There is a fireman in Ashburton who must be brought to Christchurch at all cost. He was one in a fire brigade competition shown on Saturday’s “T.S.T.” This man was able to capture and hold a living hose as though it were a South American water snake, and he was somehow able to join three hoses to one coupling almost simultaneously. And he didn’t seem to mind getting very, very wet.

Employed in a big brigade he could easily replace a half a squad. — D.M.