ARMY ENTERTAINERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 133, 8 June 1942, Page 6

ARMY ENTERTAINERS

N.Z. UNIT'S SUCCESS

Some idea of the tremenddus amount of work ; undertaken by the New Zealand Entertainment Unit with the in the Middle East and how much it is appreciated is given by the following extracts from a letter written by \Private J. E. Read to his parents in Wellington:—

"On Wednesday we set up stage at an n.c.o.'s club and put on a show that was thoroughly appreciated. As usual with the Navy (and most Tommy units) we had a marvellous meal turned on for us afterwards;. they certainly do us well in that respect. We are playing there again on Tuesday next, and, of course, the lads are .looking forward to it immensely. On Thursday we put on a show in the evening at a land naval station and there had what everyone considers to have been the best reception ever accorded any show we have put on—the sailors went wild; they whistled and yelled and clapped until they were done. Afterwards we were taken ov& to the Petty Officers' mess and there they turned on a full dinner for. us; it was tremendous." A BUSMAN'S HOLIDAY. Describing another performance at a Petty Officers' club, the writer said that the place was packed to the doors and that they had received an ovation. The next night they were to play for i a dance, so spent the morning moving gear. "Then the day off," he wrote; "but actually it wasn't free, as some.of us went out to the New Zealand Convalescent Depot in the afternoon and put on some items from the show for the lads there, and did they appreciate; it, they were most loath to let us go. "Next day," the letter continues, "we were up with1 the larks and on the move again;' this time to the 'Under Twenty Club,' a club run by Padre Booth for naval men under 20 years of age. It's an excellent club and has quite a number of facilities for the lads." PADRE'S COMPLIMENT. In connection with this club the writer tells of an incident which gives an indication of how much the unit's entertainments are appreciated. "We had a job putting up curtains, etc.," he relates, "but we managed with a lot of rope and some wire. Jim Mullins, the stage manager, and I were ••loing some altering of the club curtains and the padre, naturally rather worried about it, asked us to put things back as we found them. Well, after the show he came up to us and said: 'You remember the curtains? Well, in future I don't mind if you even knock the walls down as long as you put on a show here,' That is the sort of thing we have heard everywhere and we are beginning to imagine we may be some good

"Another night we played to the man who is practically private secretary to the Commander of the Mediterranean Fieet, and he told us our show was as good as anything he had seen in this war or the last—and better'than most. I had the pleasure of a short talk with him and felt quite honoured when I heard later that he was secretary to Mr. Churchill at the time he met Mr. Roosevelt last year."