THINGS TO COME A Run Through The Programmes

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 18, 27 October 1939, Page 6

THINGS TO COME

A Run

Through The Programmes

HE date of the opening of the Centennial Exhibition at Wellington, Wednesday, November 8, draws near, and every opportunity is being taken to draw the attention of the public to the event. There has been a series of talks by prominent New Zealanders at 2YA, linked up with the other national stations, and the last two in the series will be given on Thursday, November 2, and Saturday, November 4. Their Idea of a Joke Although no commercial traveller will admit it, all the world’s best jokes die after 30 days. The rule seems to have held right through history, so our researches into Medieval Humour, the subject of a talk from 4YA on Tuesday, October 31, at 7.30 p.m., have not been particularly successful. We

discovered that Edward II. said Honi Soit qui Mal y Pense when he founded the Order of the Garter, and that tramping first became popular in England when vagrants were exempted from the Poll Tax, but we can give no other examples of the medieval idea of a joke because they’ve all been banned or would be censored anyway. As usual, our artist has his own ideas, and suggests that wit in those days was even more cutting than we'd thought. Professor Thompson bis shine the lamp of knowledge on a murky subject. American Counter-Part Part-singers in New Zealand choirs and radio listeners were greatly taken with the Comedy Harmonists. But the latest records by The Kingsmen, an American counter-part of the Harmonists, show even further what can be done by the imagination, plus voice and ability to blend. The Kingsmen turn

from Negro spirituals to the broadest of American comedy in a twinkle of the leader’s eye and from a four-voice exposition of "Danse Macabre" to an old English foiksong in as long as it takes for the accompanist to change key. Song arrangements are peculiarly their own, and the singers bring perfect harmonic treatment to bear on all they offer. One 1939 melody is a fine tribute to the King of England. The Kingsmen are heard regularly on the national programmes. " Good Show, Sir!" The English, whatever their faults, have always loved a laugh. They may not be witty, but no people surpass them in their appreciation of real humour-from Falstaff to "Old Bill." Therefore the English stage has always been rich in comedy-and from the days of the Music Halls, when the LionComics delighted their audiences with sobtearing renditions of popular ditties, to the present days of the slick patter of Clapham and Dwyer or the Western Brothers, the fun goes on. The programme "Piccadilly on Parade" presents to listeners the cream of vaudeville laughs, and there should be many chuckles at this programme, to be presented from 1YA, Auckland, at 8.17 p.m. on Tuesday, October 31. Pulling the Public’s Leg Pranks played by a newspaper-on the American public in 1835 and 1844 are the Two Famous Hoaxes of History to be broadcast by 2YA at 9.51 p.m. on Wednesday, November 1. To build circulation, the newspaper published first a fantastic story about an astronomer’s discoveries of strange life on the Moon; and then the paper published, again as news, an equally fantastic tale concocted by the impecunious Edgar Allan Poe for a fee of 100 dollars. Both tales are well told, but many will find that the attempt to suggest the character of Poe, through the sole medium of a voice, is the most interesting part of the item. Talk of Many Things 4 As the title suggests, "Ships and Shoes and Sealing-wax," Miss Nelle Scanlan’s series of morning talks to New Zealand listeners will be discursive. Miss Scanlan, the most successful, and therefore the most popular, of our native novelists, is the kind of person who can be discursive with effect. She has

travelled much, seen many countries, and met ,_many kinds of people. She gets a lot of fun _out of life, and she has a bright way of putting things. Her first talk will have listeners asking for more. The taiks will begin at 2YA on Saturday morning, November 4. Why Enamel Eyes? The other title for Delibes’ ballet, "Coppelia," is "The Girl With Enamel Eyes," and if readers have forgotten their fairy-tale days the second title may cause some bewilderment. They must be reminded that the story for this ballet is an adaptation of one of the Tales of Hoffman, called "The Sandman," which tells about a life-like doll called Coppelia with whom a village youth became infatuated. Listeners to 2YA, Wellington, at 9.25 p.m. on Tuesday, October 31, will hear more of the story when "Coppelia" is presented in the "Music From The Theatre" series, She Saw London Prepared "Anything special on the Crisis page, Ellis?" Appearing under a picture of a butler handing a gentleman in bed the morning paper, this caption from a recent copy of Punch expresses the way most people probably felt in the days before-and afterwar broke out. That, anyway, is the view of Isobel Wright, an English pianist, paying a short visit to this country, and the theory is confirmed by letters from Home. When Miss Wright left England in July the authorities were prepared to sandbag the Royal Academy of Music. At that time most of the people had their gas masks, and she brought hers with her. Miss Wright is a gifted pianist. She studied under Harold Craxton, and has recently been teaching at the Cambridge School of Music in Cambridge. She will be heard in a group of compositions from 1YA, Auckland, on Sunday, October 29. « The English Scene J Few English novelists have Galsworthy’s power of portraying the contemporary English scene. The "Forsyte Saga" is a picture not merely of an English family, but of England. Yet Galsworthy means more to many people as a playwright than he does as a novelist. Such plays as "The Skin Game," " Justice," and "Strife," are all concerned with vital questions which face every man at

some time or other in his life. Listeners to 1YA, Auckland, at 9.25 p.m. on Sunday, October 29, will hear Galsworthy’s play, "A Bit o’ Love." All About Bottling Temptation must be resisted. We must point out to listeners that the title of a talk to be given from 4YA on Wednesday, November 1, at 3.15 p.m., is capable of serious misinterpretation. The A.C.E. propose to discuss "The Most Frequent Bottling Inquiries." Were it not for reputations based on a.long record of propriety, we should entertain the

most grave suspicions that the A.C.E. and the NBS had finally succumbed together to the influence of Dunedin city’s most prominent landmark; but since the A.C.E.’s chief interest is the home, and the NBS has never shown more than an agricultural interest in hops, we expect, still with some misgivings, that "Bottling" means "Preserving," and pickling only in the purely chemical sense. Organ Music Except from records and in such, New Zealanders do not hear a great deal of organ music. So there is special interest in the visit of Miss Enid Hugh-Jones, A.R.A.M., F.R.C.O., who is lecturer in music at Lincoln Training College in England. She presented an organ recital from 3YA on October 25, and will present another from 4YA, Dunedin, at 8.20 p.m. on Sunday, October 29. Miss Hugh-Jones studied under Gordon Slater, organist and master of choristers at Lincoln Cathedral, and under Stanley Marchant, principal of the Royal Academy of Music. Her playing is characteristic of the modern English school,