The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1946. BRITISH SENSE OF HUMOUR CURBED?

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22198, 7 December 1946, Page 6

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1946. BRITISH SENSE OF HUMOUR CURBED?

“THE Lord Chamberlain will scrutinise more sternly all songs and jokes which might offend Government .Ministers. Comedians’ scripts and songs, written for a new revue, were returned from his office with all the jokes referring to present-day Ministers deleted.” So says a gloomy cablegram summarising a report in the Daily Mail. Is this a sign that under a hypersensitive Socialist regime Old England is to have her sense of humour curbed? It is to be hoped not. Some of the more ardent Socialists have been accused of failing to see the funny side of life, but this is most likely a trait originating from the earnest concentration they usually bring to hear on the many reforms they sponsor and in some cases, possibly, to vivid recollections' of the sufferings of themselves or their neighbours in the bad old days. Then again, Great Britain has just passed through six years of agonising warfare, with its consequent shortage of the good things in life, including the hearty nourishment which can be a tolling consideration in the provoking of human laughter. Alter all, it, is not only the Socialists who during recent months have objected to being made the targets of wit. satire and caricature. Not so long ago the British Adjutant-General, Sir Richard O’Connor, launched a vigorous attack against the “Colonel Blimp” cartoons. “It is questionable,” be said, “whether the Army has been appreciably raised in public esteem by the cartoonists’ conception of generals as idiotic and reactionary old gentlemen in bath towels.” Coming immediately after a war in which most British generals proved themselves to possess an invaluable admixture of the qualities of the soldier, engineer and scientist, plus courage, initiative and judgment, the protest is perfectly legitimate. Nevertheless it is to be hoped that the time will soon return when all sections of the British community can laugh at themselves as in days of yore. It is a priceless gift, this national characteristic. It would be a thousand pities if the heavy hand of the Lord Chamberlain wore to destroy for ever the chances of a new Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera partnership taking root in Stageland. Who of the older generation cannot recall with delight the drolleries of the Peers in “lolanthc”, the patter song of “the very model of a modern major-general” in “The Pirates of Penzance”, and the whimsical portrayal of “the ruler of the Queen’s Navee” in “H.M.S. Pianofore”? Precious entertainment, indeed! Britons cannot afford to lose such hilarious fare, nor even the witticisms of the lesser lights who poke fun at the Old School Tie.