FUN AT THE FRONT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 307, 30 December 1942, Page 4

FUN AT THE FRONT

ENTERTAINMENT UNtT NEW ZEALAND TROOPS Wellington, Dec. 29. 1 Playing a big part in tae Lit* of the New Zeaianu troops in t..e MadUie East is what is o.*.cia».y , ?jiowh as the 2nd N.Z.L.F. i.n.erta.nment I nit. this was forme,, at the close of 1341, wiin a per. a..n i drawn from the infantry, an.llery, A.S.C., medical orderlies, tran. p„r v drivers, signahers, and engineers. Its 30 memoers are ali from trendline units, and their work as ligh.ing men comes before that oi en- . tertaining—drill and instruc.Ln take precedence over reheaisais. The original officer in charge was Lieut. Fitchett. Dunedin, a son oi Bishop Fitchett. At the present time, Lieut. F. McCallum (formerly in Wanganui as manager of the Regent ! Theatre), is the producer, and W .0.1 Y. Vaughan, Christchurch, assistant producer and musical director. The initial difficulties in forming the ; unit were numerous. There was diffi-1 culty first of all in getting the powers! that be to release the various artists from their units. When this was , finally overcome there was the problem of a stage, not to mention cos- i tumes and a lighting plant. The mobile canteen was used as the travelling theatre, a grant of ±701) from patriotic funds enabling this to be i done. The desert does not produce, any wood, so in order to build a stage 1 resource had to be made to “pint hing” some American crates landed far behind the front lines. All the costumes \ d to be made on the spot, all the music written from memory, and a lighting plant improvised. A Great Success Perseverance triumphed over obstacles, and the Entertainment Unit's two-hour non-stop variety revue has been an enormous success in its tours of the desert from unit to unit. The type of entertainment it produces has surprised even English actors uho have visited the troops. It is really high-class entertainment throughout, and it has been found that the desert audiences much prefer the classical and semi-classical items to what may be called tough humour. It has revealed that New Zealand posses-es entertainment talent hitherto unsuspected. for a number of the entertainers were previously unknown in this line except in small circles. The Entertainment Unit went to Crete—to fight rather than to play. There it lost five of its personnel, and when it came back it needed another £9OO from patriotic funds to replace what it had lost. It has given shows while a blitz has been on, and on one occasion when the lighting plant failed resource* was had to reflet t.ng the sun’s rays on to the stage by means of a mirror. Once or twice when things have been too hot (martially, not meteorologically) outside the show has carried or. for a while in darkness. “It is a show of which New Zealanders should be justly proud,” remarked one returned man who had had much to do with it.