Cowie, Gordon Rae, 1896-1984 :Photographs of plays performed in a German prison of war camp

Photographs of plays and musical festivals put on at Oflag VII B prison of war camp in Germany with men playing male and female roles. The plays were: Post Mortem in 1943 (names given: Woodley, Jumbo Burrows, Malcolm Fry, Bob Armstrong, Quartermaine, N Jardine-Paterson); Case of the Frightened Lady in 1943; Dossing Dulcie, a medieval Christmas pantomime in 1943 (additional names: A Barradale-Smith, Don Olliver, Lutner, Stan Nolan (NZ), J Long, G Powell; Gaslight in 1943; French without Tears in 1944; I Killed the Count in 1944; and Hamlet (Michael Goodliffe as Hamlet who went on to act with the BBC). There was also a musical festival in 1944 in which the men took part in a full choir and orchestra and in 1945 in which New Zealand troops dressed as Maori (names given: Ready, Herewinie and Bennet). Also included are a photograph of a Christmas 1944 greetings card drawn by a cartoonist calling himself Blow (possibly as a pun on Low) in which a soldier is knitting and the wool is forming the words "this year next year sometime; a Christmas 1941 greetings card by A A West from Oflag VII C showing life in the camp; soldiers at Aldershot in 1941 the names given being Duff, Freyburg, Williams, Hill, Lowndes, Colonel Fraser and Captain Thornton; and a boxing match, one of the participants being Milner, the son of a Waitaki headmaster. A number of the photographs had been sent as postcards to Cowie's wife in Lower Hutt though with no message other than sender. The photographs are all stamped Oflag VII B gepruft (examined).

Quantity: 96 b&w original photographic print(s).

Transfers: Probably part of collection donated to Manuscripts and Archives MS-Papers-2285..