Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Monday, March 29, 1965

As we read in Barry Westgate’s column Saturday, Mary Martin has canceled out her proposed trip to Edmonton with the Broadway hit ‘Hello Dolly’. According to Barry, this is Lorne Green’s fault. The fact that Camelot did so badly here last year is Lorne Green's fault too. Then again, ‘That Was The Week That Was’ laid a bomb here last week, and that too was Lorne Green's fault. Barry has blamed poor Lorne for everything from the decline and fall of the Roman Empire to the Johnstown flood. Come on Barry, let's grow up. No critic can intimidate people into attending some presentation they don't want to attend. Nor do I believe Edmonton people are a bunch of hayseeds. Carol Montoya has always played to packed houses here, and let's face it, flamingo guitar isn't exactly the most commercial music in the world. The Red Army Troupe did well and the night I went to see Jose Greco, there wasn't a spare seat in the house. At the other end of the musical spectrum Louis Armstrong can still command a near packed auditorium. People go to see what they want to see, and if they don't want to see ‘That Was The Week That Was’, or ‘Camelot’, or ‘The Establishment’, that is their own darn business. Too often these theatrical companies get carried away and try to stuff down peoples throats something they don't really want, then cry their eyes out because they play to empty houses. Maybe we are not the worlds most sophisticated theater goers, but so what. I once worked for a New York Company who wouldn't touch a new musical with a 10 foot pole. Every season then hit the road with Blossom Time… New Moon… Desert Song and Chocolate Soldier and they play to packed houses every night. Cornball Barry? Maybe, but this company never operated in the red. They KNEW what people wanted and they gave it to them. If some Edmonton and touring companies bomb out in the city it is for one reason only… they are not offering what the people want to see. As far as Lorne Green is concerned, I have seldom met a more cooperative charming guy. I think he did a great show and if the packed seats are any criterion, a lot of people agree with me. I think it is time Barry Westgate learned that simply cannot force feed culture, here in Edmonton or anywhere else that I have lived.