THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 65, 20 September 1940, Page 7

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

ISTENERS who like tenors will find a galaxy of talent to make their hearts beat well above concert pitch if they look in the 2YA programme for Wednesday, September 25. No fewer than. seven world-famous tenors will be broadcast between 8 p.m. and 8.25. Richard Crooks heads the list, with Danny Malone, Tauber, Novis, Kullman, Titterton, and Piccaver following after. At the same time in the week following, 2YA will make a selection of the baritones. After that, no doubt, we can expect the basses; and after that perhaps. Popeye the Sailor Man himself. Gounod’s Operas Proof of Gounod’s catholic taste in libréttos is to be found in excerpts from three of his lesser-known operas, to be presented at 9.10-p.m. on Sunday, September 22, from 1YA: "Mireille" is a story set in peasant surroundings, and tells of rustic loves and triumphs in the quiet French countryside; "The Queen of Sheba" tells of the queen’s passion for a sculptor, Adoniram, and of the jealousy of King Solomon; the last, "Philemon and Baucis," is the wellknown tale of Jupiter’s rejuvenation of an aged couple to golden youth. After 1876 In the second talk in their political survey of New Zealand, from 2YA on Monday, September 23, at 7.40 p.m.,

Dr. Leslie Lipson and C. E. Wheeler will imagine themselves in the early years of this century, and will discuss the changes that have taken place since 1876, the year they reached in their review this week. Then the provinces had just been abolished, political parties had not emerged clearly, and universal suffrage was years away. The depression of the ‘eighties was ahead, the rise of the Liberal-Labour Party, the social legislation of the ’nineties, and the great battle of freehold versus leasehold. Poppin’ More than fun has been poppin’ in the office since 2YA decided to change over from "Friday Night at Eight" to "Funzapoppin’" at the same time. The change was to take place on September 13, when the new feature would be broadcast for the first time.. Then it came through on the programmes for September 20, and what with this and that and the other thing we put the change off until then and had ourselves in print before 2YA decided finally to set the fun a’poppin’ on the thirteenth after all, the date and day being suitably propitious. However, those who knew knew, and those who didn’t didn’t, and the fun has managed to pop in spite of the mix-up. Tune in and hear for yourself on Friday at 8 o'clock. Shrdlu Shrdlu At least 9,000 people will know what those letters mean. They work in the printing and stationary trade, and they know that a linotype operator, when he wants to cast a line of type in a hurry to indicate a break, runs one. finger down the line of keys giving those letters. To their misfortune, those 9,000 people will also understand the mean-

ing of our artist's drawing. The typehundreds, sometimes thousands of pieces of it-is locked carefully into a forme. But there has been some mistake, the pressure is not exact, or someone bumps it too hard. It all drops to the floor, a hopeless muddle. It is pied. Two of the 9,000 will have these matters in mind next Wednesday, September 25, when they talk from 3YA at 7.32 p.m. But they will probably spare listeners the harrowing details, and describe instead how things look when seen by a printer. Their talk is in the Winter Course series. An Artist’s Mother She looks out from her Quaker cap Her face more beautiful than the sky. Those lines by Walt Whitman preface the short drama, "An Arrangement in

Grey and Black,’ which will be heard in the variety programme at 9.10 p.m. on Saturday, September 28, from 1YA Auckland. This little sketch is a gem of its kind. It tells the story of a mother’s devotion for her son, who, after failing his examination at West Point Military Academy in the United States, decides to become a painter. His works are rejected at first, and he despairs, but his mother’s faith remains, and she sits as his model for a picture. That picture becomes famous. This story is a true one, and if you don’t know who the artist was, that’s all the more reason to listen in to the item. Make Your Own It is very doubtful whether Santa Claus has heard of Hitler. If he has a radio set, its only wavelength will be tuned into that transmitter that gets going about December 1 from under the

pillow at 7 p.m. There is every indication that Christmas, like Spring, will come this year as usual. Making his early purchases, Santa has already found that toys are going to be more expensive, There are fewer people to make them, less material for their manufacture. So he’s told the A.C.E. about it in Dunedin. The result is a talk to be broadcast by 1YA, 2YA and 3YA next Monday, September 23, at 3.30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. respectively. It is called "Young Mr. and Mrs. Jones Make Toys." "The English Bach" The Bachs were a venerable family, and besides the great J.S., several sons gained success above average in music. Johann Christian, eighteenth child and eleyenth son in his father’s prodigious family of twenty, was the Benjamin of the household, and is generally known as "the English Bach,’ from the fact that he spent most of the last 25 years of his life in London, where he directed opera and ‘concerts and was musicmaster to the family of George III. He wrote operas, symphonies, and many compositions for the harpsichord which have stood the test of time. At 8.43 p.m. on Wednesday, September 25, from 1YA Auckland, Owen Jensen, pianist, will present a sonata by "the English Bach." ; That Other Churchill It is nearly two and a-half centuries since the first great Churchill challenged a European dictator in the name of Britain, It was in 1704 that John Chur-

chill, First Duke of Marlborough, decided that challenge at Blenheim. Time has not yet decided where Winston will decide the battle in his turn, but the British people, heartened as much by the Prime Minister’s personality as by the tradition, are confident that the turn will come. Marlborough never fought a battle that he did not win, or besiege any place that he did not take, The story of his life is running at present as a serial. Next week’s timings are: 1YA at 8.17 p.m. on Tuesday, September 24; from 2YA, 9.15 p.m. on September 25, and from 4YA at 3.30 p.m, on Sunday, September 22. Trifles Those small, inconsequential things which are really so important will be remembered by Ngaio Marsh for the benefit of Auckland listeners, from 1YA, at 3 p.m. on Sunday next, September 22. Miss Marsh has travelled widely, seen many places, met many people; and she has remembered wisely. She has the knack of seeing the details that count, and the art of recounting them gracefully. She sees scenery with an eye for its beauty, but does not forget ‘that people must get up in the morning and go to bed at night whether it’s a lake outside the window or a city street. In the same way, she knows that people are more than names. If more is needed than the qualifications of a novelist provide, she is also a first-rate br Auckland will be interested.