Ginette McDonald. She’s been in front of and behind the screen of New Zealand film and television for decades, and now New Zealand on Screen has released her archive online. Seven Sharp’s Julian Lee caught up with the actor, comedian, writer and TV producer best known for her comedy role as Lynn of Tawa.
The Hannah Playhouse on a Monday afternoon. This looming faux-brutalist structure on Cambridge Terrace is typical in New Zealand towns and cities. The Scandinavians invented brutalism, and it’s beautiful. Not so much here. One suspects that New Zealanders tried to copy brutalism for all the wrong reasons — one being that concrete is cheap.
Regardless, the Hannah Playhouse is a staple of the Wellington cityscape. Most of the big names on New Zealand TV and film at one time performed here as a rite of passage into the industry.
I was waiting for Ginette McDonald to arrive — that instantly recognisable face that has featured on so many of our TV programmes over the years. Many of us know her as Lynn of Tawa. As I soon discovered, Lynn is a bit of a double-edged sword for Ginette.
And the reason we were catching up? NZ On Screen has just released a compendium of her work over the years, aptly titled the Ginette McDonald Collection. It’s the first time they’ve ever focused on a single profile. Anyone can go online and watch it for free.
Then suddenly, McDonald was there.
Sometimes, when you meet famous people, you might get a little personality surprise — if they’re a stern person on camera, say a politician, they might be goofy off camera. More commonly, “funny folk”, like comedians, can often be much more serious in person. Or you might get a “looks” surprise — they might be much taller, shorter, better-looking, or uglier than you expected.
But McDonald was exactly what I expected — an enchanting presence. Earthy, straight to the point, says what she likes. And, obviously, absolutely delightful. She filled the room with her anecdotes and quick-witted comments. I felt socially greedy, like she was doing all the work.
McDonald came with her dog Fifi. I asked about the breed because I was trying to learn more dog knowledge, but I’d already forgotten what it was. It was one of those little yappy ones. It barked during the first part of the interview but I think it added to the sentiment of it all.
We tried to cover her 50-year career in an hour, which was practically impossible. We discussed her early work — her debut as a runaway teenager in Pukemanu, her role as a nymphomaniac housewife from Te Puke called Shirley in the fairly unusual soap Close to Home.
Later, we talked about her countless roles on and off the camera as a director and producer, especially her adaptations of Maurice Gee’s novels. Their “kidults”, primarily aimed at teenagers but generally designed with the whole family in mind, were popular with New Zealanders in the 1980s.
Her acting range is tremendous — playing a Pākehā woman living among Māori in Pioneer Women, or as one of King Lear’s sultry, wicked daughters, performed right here in the Hannah.
Lynn was everywhere
For the record, I didn’t bring up Lynn of Tawa — McDonald did. I think she wanted to get it off her chest.
When TVNZ was based in Avalon in the Hutt, the staff were throwing together a mock celebrity roast of then-Fair Go presenter Judith Fyfe (which is weird enough a genre; it has got to be unique to New Zealand, surely).
The producer spotted her in the hallway and asked her to be on the show, which happened to be the next day. She called her brother Michael in a panic, not knowing what to do. Michael told her to do her “Lynn of Tawa” character, something she’d invented when she was 16. He gave her some lines over the phone.
She did it on the roast, and it was an immediate success. Something about hearing the suburban New Zealand accent on TV hit a deep nerve with the public. Until then, our broadcasters and performers spoke with a certain Received Pronunciation from England.
McDonald attributed Bruce Mason as the first to try and get our own accent out in the open, but it was her performance that really took off. Maybe we were finally ready for it. Seemingly overnight, she had her own TV show entirely based on the character. Lynn had her TV specials, hosted events, and did ads. Lynn was everywhere.
But McDonald said Lynn haunts her. While many of us loved the character, many didn’t. Some folk still weren’t ready for it. She recalled people giving her abuse — including one woman saying her “father wouldn’t cross the road for her”, which presumably was a very heavy New Zealand insult at the time.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard from others who told me their parents “couldn’t stand Lynn”.
Then again, she’s got Lynn to thank in many ways. During the interview, I got the feeling she didn’t want to bog us down with names of old actors that no one knows any more and perhaps felt like she might be becoming one of them.
That’s when I told her. The week prior, I told Caomh, our young camera operator, 22 years of age, that I was having an interview with McDonald. He not only knew her, he specifically requested to come along and shoot.
I told this to McDonald. She looked up at Caomh in disbelief. She was shocked. She didn’t know quite what to say. From where? She asked. From school, Caomh said. But in what capacity?
Why, Lynn of Tawa, of course.