Reporter's Diary

Press, 14 August 1978, Page 2

Reporter's Diary

Sign of decay? THE LANDMARK of Hollywood — the sign four storeys high that bore the name of the capital of the film industry — has finally crumbled away. Several Hollywood columnists see in the gradual deterioration of the sign a parallel with the decay of the community itself: Hollywood, they say, has become a centre for drugs, pornography and prostitution. The sign was erected originally by developers 55 years ago to advertise a housing estate called Hollywoodland. By 1944, the main part of the sign, had weathered away, and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce chose to adopt the remaining nine letters as a community landmark. But since then, the sign has continued to decayuntil on Saturday, the last letter crumbled beneath the blows of demolition experts. A group of Hollywood residents — including the rock star Alice Cooper, and the publisher of “Playboy” magazine, Hugh Hefner — so far have raised $200,000 towards a new landmark in its place. Litter wanted IT MAY seem hard to believe. but the Canterbury Children’s Theatre is becoming a bit distressed at the lack of littering in Christchurch in the last few weeks. They need a litter of kittens 'for their forthcoming production of “Heidi,” which will start on Wednesday evening, but they have not been able to find any. The children’s theatre people

have had no trouble at all in finding two goats and a dove for “Heidi” but, in the words of the theatre’s publicity officer (Mr Peter Brown) they had not expected “That female felines would withhold their favours during the winter.” Unless there is some kind, consenting cat unsung, “Heidi” will have to open kittenless. Family affair THE HOSTS of the Marine Tavern, Sumner, say they have created a first in Christchurch with their weekly “pub news” magazine, the “Mariner.” Rosalie and Sven Summerton, the tavern proprietors, pride themselves on a hotel, that, they say, is a family affair. The newsletters — “bright, breezy, and sometimes bawdy” — are full of news about hotel regulars and local residents, as well as various local organisations.. Even the Sumner butcher does not escape attention. According to the newsletter, Jim Bradley, the butcher, took a ticket in a raffle recently and won. His prize was a leg of lamb. Admiral Halsey AN ITEM in the “Diary” on Friday about Admiral Lionel Halsey, when he was captain of H.M.S. New Zealand and was given a greenstone pendant and flax skirt, has reminded a Christchurch man. of a similar gift to another Admiral Halsey — the redoubtable “Bull” Halsey, of the United States Navy. According to Mr Graham Rhind, this

Admiral Halsey received, among other gifts, a splendid feather - cloak when he visited New Zealand in 1945. “On his way back to rejoin his fleet, the ‘Bull’ briefly visited Bougainville,” says Mr Rhind. “There, at a mess party given in his honour, he was persuaded in the small hours to don the cloak. Not content with that, he clambered on top of a small upright piano, which I was playing, and began to perform a spirited haka. When someone pointed out that the cloak might trip him, he flung it from him with remarkable panache and it was neatly caught by an aide.” Gateway BASED on a similar club that started in Britain 12 years ago, the Gateway Club has been set up in Christchurch recently to cater for the leisure-time needs of the intellectually handicapped in the community. Activities include indoor bowls, table tennis, draughts, cards, housie, dancing, puppets, darts, snooker, pool, gymnastics, and team games. The club meets every Wednesday evening in the St James’s Church hall, Riccarton Road, and volunteers are needed to help. Anyone able to help should get in touch with Mr Bruce Smith, of the Society for the Intellectually Handicapped. Future of beech WHAT will all that West Coast beech be used for, once they start milling it. in quantity instead of rimu? Much the same purposes as rimu is used for now, according to Mr T. R. Cutler, the Forest Service assistant director of forest management. “The

better grades of beech will be suitable for high-grade furniture, the intermediate grades for joinery and so on, and the building grades for building construction,” he said. “The whole purpose is to substitute beech for rimu.” However, the use of beech presented some real problems. It was very difficult to season, and needed a slow drying process if it was not to twist. Mr Cutler said that concentrated marketing would be needed to get beech widely used. Three main species — red beech, hard beech, and a small proportion of silver beech (the same as Southland beech) — would be milled on the West Coast. Silver beech was the most easily marketable, and the next preferred was red beech — “a beautiful timber, which looks very 7 fine in flooring and panelling,” Mr Cutler said. Looking ahead BRISBANE, which will hold the 1982 Commonwealth Games, has been staging a promotion campaign in Edmonton since the start of the 1978 Games. On Friday, top Australian sportsmen, bare-breasted dancers, sunshine, beaches, and Australian beer were all being given the full publicity treatment to promote Brisbane’s attractions at a gathering of about 100 media representatives at Edmonton. But the journalists and photographers were more impressed with the plentiful flow of Brisbane bitter beer and the famous Foster’s lager at the party: Alberta is in the midst of a beer shortage brought about by a brewery workers’ strike.

—Felicity Price