STORM AROUSED

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20887, 19 August 1939, Page 4

STORM AROUSED

“ADAM & EVE” TABLEAU CARNIVAL PROCESSION (Times Air Mail Service) LONDON, July 20 ‘‘The town has f*ar too many Mrs Grundys,” was how the honorary secretary of the Teddington Hospital Carnival the other day described the storm which lias blown up over the proposal to have an Adam and Eve tableau in the street procession. “Before the Vicar of Teddington denounced our bright idea, the protesting voices were few and far between,’’ he said. “It is absurd to say we are bringing ridicule on holy figures by having the tableau. Jokes about Adam and Eve occur daily. Nobody speaks of them with hushed voices as one naturally does of sacred things. “It is too late now for changes. We’ are going full steam ahead with our plans.” Full details of what Adam and Eve will wear were given to the hospitaJ hoard by fete representatives. An official of the hospital said: “We had to consider the strong general complaints, although n>any of us saw no harm in it. At the meeting two of our own members attacked it on the ground of indecency. “The fete people answered that it was not included for sensationalism, or as an appeal to the lower senses of the crowd. They guaranteed that the town would approve of what they saw’. “No member moved that we should ask the fete people to drop their tableau, but when we took a vote on the proposal th,at no action be taken, an amendment was passed that any interference by us would be beyond our powers. “Only two voted against this. One member abstained altogether, and as far as we are concerned there is no official protest. The only focal point of objection remaining would appear to be tlie Vicar of Teddington and some people of St. Alban’s Church.” Vicar’s Appeal The Vicar of Teddington, the Rev. Herbert Williams, appealed from the pulpit of St. Albans and called on “All Christian people to boycott the town's hospital fete if the organisers insist upon including the tableau.” The hospital board afterwards said that individual complaints have been received in .addition to the vicar's. They stated that subscribers to the hospital were among those protesting, and they feared the loss of subscriptions, and possibly resignations from the hospital board itself, if the objections were maintained. On the other hand, the organisers declare they see nothing wrong with the tableau proposal and threaten to resign en bloc unless allowed to proceed unhindered. They say that individual criticisms should not censor what will “undoubtedly prove a magnificent draw and greatly add to the hospital funds,” and point out that the portrayal of Lady Godiva in last year's procession was very successful. Alderman Edgar Ollis, chairman of the fete, expressed surprise at the attitude of the church. “There will be nothing objectionable in the tableau,” he told a reporter, “it will be no different from what you see on the beach at Brighton. “Adam and Eve, who will be wearing bathing costumes or tights, will be more or less hidden awlay among shrubs and bushes, and a young fellow and young girl in modern bathing dress will be under a canopy or basking in the sun—just like the seaside.

“We intend to carry on with our idea of Adam and Eve.”