A Girl to Watch Music By - Ray Columbus and Max Cryer

Max Cryer on Having Ray Columbus on His Knee

By Max Cryer 29/05/2020

Ray Columbus was one of New Zealand’s most successful singing stars. He was not entrenched in either pop or rock but moved easily through both, and had a vibrant personality which easily came through on a TV screen. But it wasn’t generally known that Ray had started his entertainment apprenticeship as a dancer.

In 1969, producer John Barningham put together a series called A Girl To Watch Music By. Each week featured a popular New Zealand female singer, with Ray Columbus as host. For the episode starring Pat McMinn, I was the guest artist. For my solo, someone suggested a number from the show The Roar of The Greasepaint — The Smell of The Crowd sung by the character Sir.  Choreographer Cherry Raymond said "There’s also a comic number in that show where Sir tries to put down the cheeky character called Cocky. Perhaps Ray and Max could consider that?" Director John Barningham said "Let’s not hurry. There could be a camera angle difficulty — Max is SO tall, and Ray … isn’t."

Ray and Cherry had been muttering in a corner, and they said to Barningham "what if Ray sat on Max’s knee — like a ventriloquist dummy?"  Although Barningham looked a bit doubtful, it was Ray who said "great idea — let’s do it". And we did. We recorded the vocals with the NZBC Symphony Orchestra, and Cherry rehearsed the actions with us. Ray was a much better dancer than I am, but the item was well-received. By some miracle that particular piece of TV tape wasn't wiped and used for something else. Our ventriloquist duet remains. 

 - Max Cryer was an entertainer, television presenter and producer, and bestselling author. He died in August 2021.