Ray Columbus a top TV artist

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33774, 21 February 1975, Page 4

Ray Columbus a top TV artist

There was a strong' local content about ; Wednesday night’s pro- , grammes and ignoring t “Seven Days.” which was reviewed yesterday. r it went from one extreme to the other. At the top of the tree was ,- Ray Columbus — Entertainer of the Year." somewhere about foliage level came “Sporting Life" and down at the base, perhaps even below ground, sat "Buck ’louse." Ray Columbus is just about the only New Zealand entertainer with enoug' talent and show business personality to warrant a show 1 of his own and apart from a little help from his studio audience he was entirely self-sufficient. He wisely b-gan with two/ numbers with which he is‘identified, “People are People” and “Till We Kissed” and then consoli- t dated with a couph of sure- ’ fire Neil Diamond hits. t Columbus, a pro enough/ to know the show business I maxim about a good start and an even better .nding. r sianed off in endearin'- stvle ( with a Jolson selection. [ which was high) hted L, ] t some pretty fancy whistling, t Ray Columbus may not be either a Jolson or a Dia- f mond. but : *h the former { definitely unavailable and j the latter turning his nose|| up at a Sim offer to tour! down under he is no mean < ' i He is gTsb one of the few; t New Zealand artists who can talk and sing to a tele- t vision camera as though it , is a window to an tudience > and nop just nuts and bolts t and flashing li°hts. f “Sporting Life” got marked down right from thestart When it began with the ' same old introductory film 1 clips as last year. Surely ’ some new ones could ha e ‘ been found, or maybe in- ' novaticfo has been suspended untH April 1 when not only ' practical, jokers will spring ' their surprises. The programme, at least,! confirmed the suspicion that what, in .the sporting sense.' was once not cricket is pow part and parcel of the game. Tony Greig, of the MC.C. side, freely admitted to having no- qualms about calling a batsman a few ndsty! names if he thought it might hasten -his return to the pavilion. But then Greig is a South African: and lan Chappell, whom there is evidence to I suggest thinks likewise, an Australian. Perhaps the game’s gentlemanly graces survive in cooler climates. # <1 $ If guided by the premise that if you can’t say something nice then say nothing at all we should probably do no more than record that “Buck House” was screened as scheduled. Mount Ngauruhoe blowing its top was funnier and one of the great pities is that John Clarke, who just might be a comedian out of the ordinary, is not getting a l fair go, f Some rapid-fire dialogue < between Clarke and Myra de l Groot was the only redeem- t ing feature, but nothing like | compensation for such in- i anities as (ring, ring), ( “that’ll' be the 'pone” and > (knock-, knock) “that’ll be . the door." j ■J * # ( Part two of the “Ironside” j drama about Sergeant Brown t coming close to following in his boss’s wheel-tracks contained little to justify the story being spun out over two weeks. 1 * * «s I Slightly better was the i “Great Mysteries” offering. 1

which had Don Murray somewhat miscast as a plumber who used blackmail to greatly supplement his hourly rate. It WiS quite an engaging story, if a little far-fetched mand its credibility went fu

ther down the drain when Murray, outwitted by his victim, made his exit via the front door and a fraction of

a second later a motor zoomed away. Earlier Murray had said he had come in the back way so as not to alert the neighbours. Yes. he could have been a car Thief too. — K.J.M.