The bag closes after long run

Press, 9 May 1979, Page 1

The bag closes after long run

PA Dunedin Selwyn Toogood “bvhokeyed” his last customer . in “it’s in the Bag" last evening in Dunedin, after a 25-year run on radio and television. The last programme of a series which started on radio in January, 1954, was telecast live from the Dun- • edin Town Hall, the venue of its first successful switch to television six years ago. More than 2000 would* be bag winners from Dunedin began entering the , hall as early as 4 pm., to take their seats for the final programme. Selwyn Toogood was piped into the hall and introduced the three women who had helped him with the programme over the years — Heather Eggleton, Teneka Stevenson, and Sue Scott. “It’s in the Bag” ran on radio for 11 years and 600 programmes before ending in Invercargill, a victim of television’s effect on radio’s evening audience. Mr Toogood and the programme spent four years in limbo before it made the transfer to television — first as an afternoon programme, and then in the evenings. It has consistently been among the top three television programmes. The last bag has been picked, but Selwyn Toogood is not leaving tele* vision altogether. He will continue to appear in the afternoon programme. “Beauty and the Beast,” which has now run for almost 600 shows. Earlier story, Page 21