A live show which included pop music, folk songs, jazz and classical guitar which had six half-hour programmes in 1970. The band backing the show was The Chapter. Performers in its last episode included Christine Smith, a distinctive country touch from the Stoney Lonesome, vocalists Brian Hurst, Les Inwood, Mark Antony, Tap Heperi, Suzanne, Suzie de Maria and Caroline Mitchell
Major Christchurch Show Next Week
Press. 17 June 1970
The biggest studio show ever produced in Christchurch will be seen from CHTV3 on the evening of June 24. It is called “Moving.” It is the first of six half-hour programmes, telecast live, and it is seen by its producer, Peter Muxlow, as “a showcase for local talent.”
The show is expected to appeal to a wide range of viewers, for it will include pop music, folk songs, jazz and classical guitar. The content of the programme will be dedicated by what is available. About 50 prospective performers have been auditioned, and each of the six programmes will present five artists, one of whom will be a guest from outside Christchurch.
The composition of the sixth programme is not yet known, for viewers will be asked to nominate those artists from the first five programmes they would like to see again.
The show has been devised by the 28-year-old Muxlow, who began his N.Z.B.C. life as a technician. After spending some time in Australia, he returned to the N.Z.8.C., became a floor manager, and then went to Wellington for a course for producers. He has been producing television programmes for about three years.
Work on “Moving” began about the beginning of May and planning for such a show, Muxlow says, has to be “spot on” for split second timing is necessary, as well as the co-ordination of performances, equipment and cameras.
Each camera shot has to be carefully planned and timed: staging “Moving" is a complex business. “The cameras will be moving all over the place,” Muxlow says. “Imagine what chaos there could be, for instance, if the cables became mixed and tangled. There’s no time for purl one, plain one in this business.”
“Moving" will be filmed in the new Gloucester Street studio, some 4000 square feet in area. Three or four different parts of the studio will be used for the show and floor, teams will have to move swiftly to effect lighting and scene changes as the cameras go from one section to another.
When “Moving” reaches Christchurch screens, Peter Muxlow will be in a control room about 100 yards from the studio floor, seeing the show in terms of what the cameras are presenting. The floor manager, David Flint, will be at the studio, with earphones, relaying the producer’s instructions through an apparently complicated system of sign language to the camera, lighting and scene-shifting crews. Peter Muxlow has high hopes for the success of the show. “Some of the artists we have in this show are as good as, or better than, those seen in any of the national shows,” he says. "There is an advantage, too, in the fact that many of them have not been seen by television audiences before."
“One of the interesting aspects of handling a show such as this is the number of people involved," Muxlow says. “It is not only a matter of technicians, studio people, and artists every performer seems to have at least one manager.” There will be regular rehearsals on Tuesday, for the shows to be presented eight days later.
Front man for “Moving” will be Ken Ellis, a Timaru radio announcer, and the band backing it is "The Chapter,” a four-piece combination of organ, drums, lead guitar and bass guitar, augmented on occasion by strings and brass. "The Chapter" was flown to Auckland for the pop concert attended by Prince Charles and Princess Anne—the only South Island band to win such distinction.
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