“Doctor” Tate

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 74, 18 June 1927, Page 1

“Doctor” Tate

PRESCRIPTION OF FUN GOOD CHEER IN HOSPITALS BUFFERING has been alleviated. in New Zealand and Australia, through the efforts of Norman Tate, an Aucklander known as the “fun doctor.” (RIFTED with a talent for juggling and conjuring, Mr. Tate is an entertainer who would make a good living on the vaudeville stage. Rut the stage he has chosen is not within the walls of a theatre. Ilis mission is to brighten the lives of the side, and to carry the healthy, cheering influence of his craft into the lives of school children. For years Mr. Tate has been doing the rounds of schools in New Zealand and Australia. A

fortnight ago he was in Wanganui

and this week he has visited nearly every school In Auckland. Fascinated children, raptly watching the plates and clubs that he dexterously tosses skyward, and absorbing his amusing patter, catch a glimpse of another world, leagues beyond desks and blackboards. Between times Mr. Tate Is visiting hospitals, cheering the sick, and in the Auckland Hospital, and the Evelyn Firth Home, his entertainment is accepted as an infallible prescription for good cheer. The medieval juggler, the man who played with swords with a gay abandon, was a stroller who walked between engagements. Not so Mr. Tate. On Monday his Baby Austin will go into storage for a few months, while its owner crosses by the Aorangi to carry on his mission of good cheer in the Australian States. But he will be home again for Christmas.