Described as a 'sparkling topical comedy'. The radio play was influenced (or, as the 'Walrus and the Housepainter' advertisement says, 'suggested') by a successful BBC radio parody of the same name (see 'Adolf in Blunderland' for a detailed description of the original), which had been broadcast in early October and reported enthusiastically in international newspapers.
Rights to the original were secured by the ABC in December (they broadcast it nationally on 19 December 1939), but 2UE, presumably keen to capitalise on the flurry of excitement, broadcast their own version, written by house scriptwriter Lynn Foster, nearly two months before the rights to the BBC version were secured.
By order of the censor, Lynn Foster's version could not be broadcast in New Zealand, 'so the people of New Zealand are forced to miss out the comical antics of Hitler and his gangsters' ('Success of Radio Play').
Source:
'Adolf in Blunderland Is B.B.C. Skit', Newcastle Sun, 9 October 1939, p.8.
'Nazi Parody : "Adolf in Blunderland"', Daily Examiner, 18 December 1939, p.6.
'Success of Radio Play', Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 29 November 1939, p.10.
'The Walrus and the Housepainter' [advertisement], Sun, 29 October 1939, p.17.
Originally broadcast on 2UE (Sydney) on 1 November 1939, from 9pm.
Later broadcast (recorded, not live) in Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia.
