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Maureen was born in Dublin and came to South Africa in
1952 to wed of the late Harold Lake whom she met when they both played
lead roles in a romantic comedy The Desert Song. At the time, he had gone
to England to work, in but later returned to South Africa. Maureen had
been offered a part in the Goon Show which was about to begin it's famous
run on BBC radio, but turned it down to come to South Africa.
With 32 years radio experience (you saw her on TV in Winchester). she
spends at least part of each day recording. Ask her to count the roles
she has played over the years and she'll tell you it's impossible.
Her "big one" at the moment is that of Emma Harte in A Woman
of Substance on Springbok Radio every week night at nine."That's
been one of my biggest challenges. As Emma I have to age from 17 to 79."
She is also on Springbok playing the lead role in The Fields of Heaven,
daily at 12:45.
Then, like some of the Ministry men, there's Father Dear Father, The Navy
Lark and 15 many other radio character parts.
Maureen, who plays bowls (she's the Albert Park club champ), and reads
for Tape Aids for the Blind in the little spare time she has, holds as
her record, seven different female parts in a single episode of Men From
The Ministry. "I love that show as much now as I ever did. We're
all just like one happy family," she enthuses.
NUMBER One, brolly-carrying
Roland Lennox-Brown, is, in the words of John Simpson, the man who plays
him and who has been in radio since 1949: "The opposite of a workaholic.
He's the sort of man who usually has his weekends planned by Monday lunchtime.
"He is head of the General Assistance Department but only by virtue
of years of service. Certainly ability doesn't come into it - unless it
is ability to pass the buck. I'd say his greatest ability is to do no
work.
"How would I compare myself with Lennox-Brown? "I'd say we're
exactly the same. That's how I got the part. It was perfect typecasting."
The 61-year-old British-born actor, an RAF airman in World War 2, might
tell you that very earnestly. But, within minutes of chatting to this
veteran of scores of serials and plays, it is obvious he is quite the
opposite.
A grandfather, his day is spent rushing between the recording studio and
the office in central Durban from which he conducts his internal telephone
and radio communications business. When he can slip away, he plays golf
"badly".
Of Men From The Ministry, he says: "This is one of the few comedy
series I've been in that I've never got tired of. As far as I'm concerned,
it's never gone stale and I can still laugh when I read the script."
ROGER Service, who plays
Richard Lamb, Number Two in the General Assistance Department, has been
a professional radio actor since 1948. In recent years, he has turned
more and more to writing for radio and has three serials and 107 plays
to his credit. "That's more than Shakespeare -- but it doesn't make
me rich," he says dourly. He describes Lamb as: "A bit of a
bumbler. Not overly bright. A typical silly ass, in fact. But he's warm
and, I think, generous. For me he typifies the sort of person you find
in the Civil Service -in England of course."
A 44-year-old father of three and a husband who describes his wife as
"an unliberated housewife who loves it", Service says he thinks
a bit of Lamb's character has probably rubbed off over the years. "He's
always in trouble and so am I."
An obvious workaholic who feels guilty if he's not writing "...who
can afford to take a day off with this monstrous inflation?") he
describes Men From The Ministry as "One of the major comedy success
stories in south Africa. It's become our answer to Coronation Street.
"For me, it's become a brotherhood. I can't imagine life without
it."
TOMMY Read, who plays the
ancient Humbert Snethersthwaite who 'splashes', Mr Rampersad Haribhai
Spoonilal V Muckerjee straight from India (and also Mr. Creepy Crawly,
Major Trumble, Arthur Bollett the newsreader, Mildred's boyfriend Bernard
- and you name it, he's done it), came to South Africa from England in
1948 as an apprentice jockey. He rode professionally until 1955 then smashed
his left arm. "That and weight problems forced me out," the
extremely versatile 52-year-old actor, who has been in radio for 20 years,
says. Tommy is married to Rhona, sister of actor Dale Coutes of Villagers
and Westgate fame. The two men were doing a play in Durban in 1965. Rhona
went along to a rehearsal. She and Tommy met. Dale later invited Tommy
round to his family's Durban home for dinner. "And that was it."
The couple have two teenage children. Tommy is a professional actor with
some TV work and several commercials as well as mountains of radio work
to his credit. "Coming from England, I recognise many of the Ministry
characters and each has aspects with which I can identify," he says.
FRANK Graham rattles off
the parts he plays as fluidly as he rattles out his roles. "There's
Venables. the man who always puts a 'bubble' at the end of his words.
Then very often I play tile fruit who says 'hello, hello, hello . . .'I
do Matthews the hall porter, and then the mad Italian opera singer who
appears from time to time."
Frank, a professional entertainer who does cabaret as well as his radio
work and voice-overs for many radio and TV ads, was a teacher at Northlands
Boys High for 17 years until March 1983. He joined the cast of "Men"
after the death of Pat Simpson in the early seventies.
Eventually, he found the double life of teacher and entertainer too much.
"The vocal strain was unbelievable," he says. This doesn't necessarily
mean he raised his voice in the classroom - he was officer commanding
the cadets and he trained the drill squad.
He loves comedy and has played dozens of parts in the course of a serial.
"My record for a half hour was seven different parts in Friends and
Neighbours."
FINALLY in our Ministry line-up,
we have the pair who put it all together - father and son team, Tom and
Barry Meehan. (Professionally, son Barry works under the name Brian Squires).
Distintuished Tom, whose wife Joy works as secretary for the production
house he runs and which supplies scripts to the SABC, looks every bit
the part of an imaginary Sir Gregory Pitkin - and rather like the mental
picture of his secondary role, newsreader Mortimer Thripp.
He was the person who first put Men from The Ministry on the map.
He picked up a script on a trip to England 18 years ago. A series had
been written by Edward Taylor (who still sends an episode across now and
then) for the BBC.
A pilot show was put on over here - and the rest is history.
Tom once served in the Indian Army Sikh Regiment, was a prisoner of war
for three years, became the Sunday Tribune's first columnist in 1950 and
has been in radio for 37 years. He not only acts in Ministry, but, with
Barry who doubles as producer, he also writes scripts for it.
They have in the region of 2 000 comedy scripts to their combined credit
- including about 600 Ministry scripts.
The pair introduced Snethersthwaite and Muckerjee, neither of whom was
in the original.
Barry, 35, has worked in radio for the past 16 years. He recently joined
a promotional company and now spends his evenings and weekends on radio
work.
"Spare time. What's that?" he asks.
They expect a time will come when the public has had enough of Men From
The Ministry. But no one can see that happening yet. As it is, it's become
an institution.
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