A CORONATION, A TOUR AND SOME VARIETY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 47, 17 May 1940, Page 15

A CORONATION, A TOUR AND SOME VARIETY

Three Bright Shows from the BBC

NE of the most reiterated exhortations in these troubled days is to "carry on." The BBC is giving a lead by continuing to produce bright shows, and who will deny that good entertainment is almost as important to us as food and a roof over our heads? An antidote to the latest wrinkles in furrowed brows arrived the other day from England in the shape of three new radio features — "Coronation Diary," "Ours is a Nice Hour, Ours Is," and "London"-which will be featured in the NBS programmes soon. CORONATION DIARY This is a programme re-living the Coronation of the King and Queen. It has been constructed largely from actual recordings taken during the time of the ceremony. It is, if you like, history on a disc. Written and produced by Pascoe Thornton, it begins with London calling the Colonies, the speeches by representatives of his Majesty in the distant parts of the Empire, and the messages from Dominion Prime Ministers at that time in London. From Bermuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Honduras, Falklands, Newfoundland and Labrador the messages of congratulation and loyalty come. Mr. McKenzie King speaks for Canada, our own late Mr. Savage for New Zealand, the late Mr. Lyons for Australia. The great day arrives, with London’s streets crowded as never before with people from every part of the earth, people who have gathered all through the night to wait. From the moment the famous Windsor Greys come into sight, the programme switches to the BBC commentators, who broadcast descriptions on the spot. Then comes the ceremony in

Westminster Abbey, and finally, after the installation, the drive back anit the .crowds. OURS IS A NICE HOUR OURS IS This bright variety show, called "a radio romp,’ was devised by Clarkson Rose. The music was written by Conrad Leonard, and the production was in Gordon Crier’s capable hands. It runs true to formula, with songs and patter sketches alternating. Notable among the songs are " Just One More Dance"; a song breathing the atmosphere of Cockney London, down the Old ‘Kent Road way, "Every Saturday Night," and a Sophie Tucker kind of number called "You’ve Got to Finesse When You're Forty." LONDON "A somewhat mis-conducted tour of the capital of the British Empire" is the sub-title of this show, written and produced by H. L. Morrow, and it is certainly something to make Herr Baedeker, with his Teuton thoroughness in sight-seeing, turn in his grave. But it is "different," and it manages to make the little doses of history which it contains ’ very palatable. A Cockney runs a bus tour to show a varied assortment of people-tourists, country folk, a young couple and others -‘"London wiv the lid orf." First oa the itinerary is St. James’s Patace (the American tourist is most upset because they can’t stop for a cup of tea with the King and Queen); and then on to Buckingham Palace, the Thames and the Embankment, Ludgate Hill and St. Paul’s, the commercial heart of the city, Mincing Lane, the Wool Exchange, Covent Garden Market and the Opera (you can hear the tenor take a high note inside above the cries of the flower sellers), the Marble Arch and the orators in Hyde Park. After the many fascinations revealed, one can only agree with the commentator when he says, "London remains a mystery to all of us ... and mostly to the Londoner." —