THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 13, 22 September 1939, Page 6

THINGS TO COME

A Run

Through The Programmes

HEN William Shakespeare wrote "Romeo and Juliet" he probably did not realise that he was writing one of the greatest love stories in the English language, but if all the hearts that have beaten madly at his play were put end to end,. they would stretch from here to Strat-ford-on-Avon and back. It has been said that we neglect our greatest writer, but anv listeners who are conscious-stricken on the point will have an opportunity to make good the omission if they listen to 2YA Wellington on Sunday, September 24, at 9.5 p.m., when an NBS production of "Romeo and Juliet" will be presented. Full Fathom Five The sea may be a hostile element, but our artist suggests some of its more friendly characteristics, and there are men who make their living "full fathom five" below the surface. A number of deep-sea divers find work

in New Zealand, so it was not hard to find one for the NBS interview from 4YA on Friday, September 29, at 8.42 p.m.; but that does not mean that the item is likely to cover old ground. The ocean is still no man’s land for most of us. Recruit from Hollywood May Robson, Australian-born veteran of the American stage and cinema world, comes at last to radio in the new feature "Lady of Millions" which is being broadcast from 1ZB on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights at 8.45. May Robson was educated in England, France, and Belgium, and worked in an art studio, as a dress designer, and on the legitintate stage before she turned to Hollywood. Her films will be familiar to many

readers, who will know what to expect from her when she is heard from Station 1ZB in "Lady of Millions." Camera Complexities Perhaps it is just as well that Thelma Kent is going to be seven days late with her talk (3YA, 7.45 p.m., September 30) on "How to Win Photographic Competitions." For it is already obvious that the judge of The Listener's competition is not going to have an easy job. If entrants had heard her advice before entries closed on September 23, it might have been very much harder. If this is poor consolation, they may find some compensation in listening to the talk and finding out how expert theory has coincided with their practice. Popularity Worth £120,000 If popularity can be measured in pounds, shillings, and pence, then Richard Cobden’s popularity was worth £120,000. His strenuous campaigning as an apostle of free trade left his textile business ruined. A public subscription raised £80,000 for him in 1845 and another, in 1860, yielded £40,000. His election to two constituencies at once, during absence abroad, gives him another novel claim to fame. Cobden is featured in the Leaders of Reform series from 1YA on Thursday, September 28, at 7.30 p.m. Famous Trials Another series of talks on famous trials is to be broadcast from 4YA, the first on Wednesday, September 27, at 840 pm. The series will be titled "Dramatic Trials," and the speaker is a Dunedin barrister. The cases will be described concisely; and dramatic and psychological aspects will be stressed. The first item covers the fire-raising frauds unmasked in England in 1933, the first murder case in which finger prints secured a conviction, some criminal cases solved in strange ways, and an account of the American murderer, Holmes. Waltzes of the World Seventy years ago waltz-time was as popular with the city fathers as a jitterbug would be at a charity social to-day. For years Queen Victoria frowned on the notion of waltzing at Court, and the Emperor of Austria definitely forbade it. Then the romance, the melody, and the generous lilt of three-quarter time found its way into the heart of the world. Everyone swayed to its rhythm, and names

of waltz-composers like Strauss, Weber, Waldteufel, Lehar, became household words. The waltzes of the world, their music, composers and periods, are broadcast in a gay informative session for the housewife from 1ZB every Friday morning at 9.30. Adelaide was Wellington "Wellington" was not the first name to be borne by the capital city of New Zea‘land, nor even the second. Even as a third name it was given because a body of Commissioners who "had sought profit by pleasing the King" had substituted Adelaide for Wellington in South Australia, leaving it to the younger settlement to honour the Iron Duke. Our note on the subject comes from Martin Nestor, who is to talk from 2YA on Friday, September 29, at 8.40 p.m, Not Offenbach It seems strange that there can be argument about the real name of a man who died only about sixty years ago, especially a man who had become world-famous. Yet there is still doubt about the real name of the composer, Offenbach. One authority gives his real name as Levy, another as Eberschat, and another as Wiener. Whatever it really was, the composer did not like the name he had been born with, and adopted the name of his native town, Offenbach. Although born in Germany, he settled as a boy in Paris, and lived there for the rest of his life. Offenbach’s "Gaiete Parisienne" will be presented from 4YA Dunedin, at 9.40 p.m. on Thursday, September 28. Jacobs’s Next Week. Although they are a few hundred miles apart, two W. W. Jacobs items scheduled for next week will both attract listeners from everywhere. On Wednesday, September 27, at 8 o'clock from 3YA, O. L. Simmance will be giving readings from the great. humorist, in a bracket with Dickens. The follow-up comes from 2YH at 8.13 on Thursday, when "The Well" is to be broadcast in Napier. This is a radio adaptation, by W. W. Jacobs and D. Carey Edwards, of Jacobs’s short story. New Zealanders have shown their lively appreciation of his work in many ways; but it is not often they have the opportunity to appreciate it on the air; or hear it prepared for broadcasting by the author himself.

Twentieth Century Aesop It is a long time since Aesop told his pleasant fables, but they are still full of wisdom. Henry Reed has taken an Aesop theme, given it a slick of paint and some bright melody, and the result is the BBC production, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse," a delicate little saga of mice life, with some satirical digs at human politics and conventions. The country mice, Arabella and Amy, go to the Big City as the guests of the dapper town-bred Augustus; and you will héar more about this mouse fantasy if you tune in to 3YA Christchurch, at 8.0 p.m. on Tuesday, September 26. A Matter of Money The missus, y’see, has a quid put by. Alf (a much censored husband) knows where. Binstead (do not trust him, gentle Alfred), gets an idea with jam on both sides. They need that quid. Mrs. Alf comes home to find

Alf unconscious (but remarkably vocal) on the floor. Binstead is discovered in a cupboard. The money has gone. But Binstead has to retire, bitter in defeat. Mrs. Ransom’s wits have been too keen and she wins the last round in the BBC sketch, "Money for Nothing," to be broadcast by 1YA on Wednesday, September 27, at 9.45 p.m. What is Good Music? If it is true, as Scott Goddard says, that "in no art is the lack of knowledge and the need for it so great as in the art of music," then the talk to be given from 1YA on Wednesday evening, September 27, at 8.30 p.m., is decidedly apropos. Entitled "What is good music?" the talk will introduce to listeners J. Frederick Staton, Mus. Doc. F-.R.C.O. of Sheffield. .