Cartoonist nearly drew big yawn

Press, 16 August 1976, Page 15

Cartoonist nearly drew big yawn

By KEN COATES We waited a long time for the advertised appearance of the Auckland cartoonist, Peter Bromhead, on TV2’s programme, “Kaleidoscope." on Friday night, and so too. it seemed, had the Prime Minister <Mr Muldoon). No-one was at his sparkling best, and et times the encounter was in danger of becoming a tired, end-of-week yawn The fact is that this programme is in the wrong slot — last thing before closedown on a Friday night. Even supposing you lasted through a most unconvincing "Thirtv Minute Theatre.” and through an admittedlv much better production about New Zealand s onlv prima ballerina. Rowena Jackson, who is ready to sit up and take notice at that hour of political cartoons even if the subject i s Mr Muldoon? As it turned out. the cartoonist. Bromhead, contributed much more to the programme than the Prime Minister. who was obviously tired although quite genial. Bromhead’s perception and sense of humour transmitted well through his personality, and he was quick to sense that some questions put to Mr Muldoon were plainly embarrassing. This leads us to take a look at the presenter, Jeremy Payne, a pleasant enough

I young man with well-brushed hair who lacks sufficient r: authority to carry the show, f Again, perhaps it was due , to the lateness of the hour, s but there was little sparkle in Jeremy’s approach to the i. subject. u H’ s c iuip at the end was = heavy handed, when he sugI gested the Prime Minister t'might like to hang the car- . toonist, as well as the pre-i sentation cartoon. But to be fair, there were t several interesting exchanges ■ ~ such as that which elicited the comment from .Mr Mui-1 i doon that he had never felt ; ! the urge to lash out at a cari toonist. i And the programme also; made it quite clear that here - at least is a group of pro-i ■ fessionals for whom the I ■> Prime Minister has a healthy! II respect. Interesting too was Bromhead's obvious relish at hav-! - ing such a strong subject fori - his cartoons and the freedom I ■ he is given by his employer. ■ I It is heartening to see”TV2 i( accepting the challenge of! I presenting a programme on| lithe arts, and in doing so. tak-i II ing a approach. .1 But surely it should not!

'be so apologetically slotted | when there is no reasor why such a programme should not be lively and entertaining. Just a word about that Friday night play from TV2

i — the whole thing was so t strained that Harry just bej came completely unbeliev?'able. Louise Pajo, who plays ijthe secretary in “Moynihan.” ? was a strong character, but the script did not allow Ken < Blackbum to come to grips [with a difficult role. The production was not helped ■by the amateurish background scenes at the office i with the by-play between . the office girl and the young ;; men. and Harry’s mooney [ preoccupation with his phantasies. It was all very disappointing. ■So we have said farewell, i for the moment anyway, to ■ the beautiful people of i “Space 1999.” Technically, ■ this programme is impresisive; there is no problem ■about credibility of ' the ■space environment here. | The moon-base Alpha is ■packed full of the marvels ■of futuristic technology. Visitors from outer space have [come and gone regularly, ■though there has been a [sameness about the aliens I and their variations on the ■ theme of suspended anima-

tjtion. 1 Where the programme t slumps is in the perform- - ance of the people in it. 1 There are one or two human beings, but the plastic Dr t; Russell, for example, typifies lithe failing that the cast in- | eludes actors who fail to (act. The most dire consequences can threaten, but the china-doll-faced Dr Russell bats not a beautiful eyelid. The final episode on Saturday went through the gamut of possibilities, including a close-up aging process followed by a back-to-normal transformation, and (even the voice of God, who (sounded female. Great stuff. V ( “Edwards on Saturday" I will hardly go down as (memorable. Is it not at- | tempting the impossible to (try to capture the wit, aneci dotes, recollections, family (stories and funny jokes, , about childhood at a suc- ( cessful dinner party with the camera staring one in the (face at every course? i Even lan Mune. who was | the most successful of all in trying to shrug off the preslence of the cameras, looked .uneasy at times. The" trouble was that the guests felt constrained — (Mune couldn’t tell his stories with his customary gusto (and abandon. The others (chose their words, deliberately and carefully, and [everyone tried to be terribly [interesting and entertaining. (The result was, more often [than not, just boring. And Dr Edwards, no doubt doing his best to jolly everyone along, looked the most ill at ease. It was certainly not worth running the risk I took — that of offending my hosts by asking to be excused from the dinner table, just when the main course was about to be served. Our subsequent dinner conversation was positively brill.ant, by comparison.