Use Of Loudspeakers"Nothing More Awful" Says Robert Morley

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 March 1950, Page 2

Use Of Loudspeakers—"Nothing More Awful" Says Robert Morley

AUCKLAND, This Day (0.C.).—1f Mr Robert Morley, distinguished actor arid playwright, led a world crusade, it would probably be a campaign to abolish the public address system. This combination of microphone and loud-speaker was an aversion, he confided to the Auckland Rotary Club, when, in the provocative, lighthearted mood that has made him famous, he talked .of random impressions gained from three years of playing Lord Holt, the doting, unprincipled father that he created in My Son.” tc The public address system is one of the real horrors of the world today, and nothing is more awful than its - hold upon you,” Mr Morley declared. “Travel by sea and you find the Whole ship has to be alerted for one radiogram to be delivered or for the doctor to check on a vaccination. Go by air and the effects are even more ludicrous. All over the world it goes on —a system that never works arid that either presents announcers who can’t be understood or 8.8. C. voices that like themselves so much that they must repeat the message three or four times.” Hotels Play Same Trick

Hotels played the same trick. The entire hotel must be informed that Mr Brown or Mrs Smith was required at the desk. It was impertinence. He had always made a point of never answering a loud-speaker call. “I wish you could all be enthused into a campaign to abolish these public address systems,” he continued. “Just do nothing about the calls. They will come and get you in the end. We are, all of us, getting into a moronic attitude.”

Then Mr Morley made it clear that he was not a critic of New Zealand lt was one of the few occasions that he allowed himself to be almost serious when he said that after Australia—and Commonwealth hotels were “absolute hell” —he had found New Zealand hotels just as good as anything he had encountered ih other parts of the world. America

included. Of course, he knew there were not enough of them. But .he and his family had been “extravagantly treated” in at least six. Repertory Theatre Advocated From talks of hotels and travel, Mr Morley switched to a comment on the New Zealand theatre—a theatre which, he said, did not exist at all. That omission, he suggested, might be largely repaired by the business interests of a city like Auckland. As had been done with brilliant success in the English industrial city of York, business men could get together and establish a good repertory theatre with advantage to Auckland and endless amusement for themselves. “Get a reputable professional producer you can trust, form yourselves into a board of management, and you will find there is nothing more pleasant than running a theatre,” Mr Morley said. “Unbelievably, you will also find that in time it will make you money and, once established, it will become a source of tremendous pleasure and pride.” Advice To Beginners

A great actor’s advice to beginners in the theatre business was: First, get a building that holds no more than 500 or 600 people; don’t give actors too much, but give them enough to keep them happy; don’t fritter 'away money and see that you get value for it; don’t rely on the goodwill of the enthusiasts, cater for the public and remember that entertainment is a spot cash commodity; see that your theatre has friendliness, comfort and, above all, a sense of showmanship. Mr Morley’s final comment was on New Zealand itself and, to make it, after half a hour of fun-poking, he emphasised that it was said with great sincerity. “My family and I take home with us very abiding and happy Inemories of your country,” he said. “I don’t know what it is about New Zealand that appeals to one. It is not beauty, or scenery, or because Britain is ‘Home.’ Perhaps it is the fact that everyone seems happy and contented. They have found their own form of happy living.”