page 12

Out Side Left

Death and disaster have a morbid fascination for everyone. That's why they sell newspapers. The Dominion started it all with a "Wahine" supplement. Then the Nelson Evening Mail followed with an illustrated colour one on the earthquake. When Senator Kennedy was shot the Dominion advertised another supplement, only to scrap it at the last minute. The moral: the more disasters the better for the Press, and what's good for the Press is . . .

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Labour, having forsaken its social crusade some time ago, has found its new crusade: the prestige of thnt ancient aristocratic institution, Parliament. Kiwi Keith has worried them by refusing to let the country sink further into the mire–he has saved us from the spectacle of fiddlers and the tires. Bui Labour, the true inheritors of all thai is decent, insist on a year-round display. When the last king is hanged with the entrails of the last priest Labour will be there holding up the House on the Hill whence all good comes.

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George Webby's statement in Salient a while back that the Memorial Theatre be used strictly for drama has brought no discernible reaction from rival groups. Could if he that the Hollywoodiens in the Film Society have ostracised Webby because of his forthcoming WEA course on "What ever happened to Hollywood?"

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Talking of Hollywood—noticed there arc no films about Vietnam. The only one recently is John Wayne's "Green Berets", and we don't have to guess what side its on. 20th Century-Fox have expressed intentions to film the lives of Che Guevara and Nat Turner. Says Fox chief: "We don'! shy away from anything controversial at Fox." Vietnam? "We're interested in doing nothing in the immediate future . . . maybe in five or ten years we'll do a picture." Ah, showbiz.

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Quotation from review of "Crime in New Zealand" in the Christchurch Press": "Some of the relatively minor topics in this book should be of particular interest io that large body or readers whose names, by the grace of God, 'will never be recorded in the annals of crime or even appear transformed as a digit in a table of criminal statistics. One such topic is the wearing of apparel of the other sex. known as transvestism, this practice being quite frequently motivated by sexual purposes."

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"Tne 67-year-old Mr King is a nephew of the famous press magnate. Lord North-cliffe, who launched popular journalism in Britain at the turn of the century". —Christchurch Press, 1/6/68.

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"The 67-year-old Mr. King is a nephew of the famous Press magnate Lord Harmsworth, who launched popular journalism in Britain at the turn of the century".

—Dominion, 1/6/68.