Items From The ZB's

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 84, 31 January 1941, Page 25

Items From The ZB's

VAN MENZIES, well known Gilbert and Sullivan comedian, gave a broadcast from 1ZB the other Sunday evening on the subject of "Moral Rearmament." He has also been interviewed over the station by Marina in her Shopping Reporter’s session. Mr. Menzies is a member of the Oxford Group Movement, and when he was in Auckland on a previous occasion, lectured to a large audience in the Town Hall. x * ae | NTEREST in 2ZB’s "Feature Half Hour" at 7.15 every Sunday evening continues to be maintained. On January 19, "Mr. and Mrs." programme was featured, several married couples being heard in vocal and pianoforte duets. On January 26 "Meet the Ladies" was again presented, and on Sunday, February 2, there will be another "Stars of To-morrow" programme. Thirty-four young stars have so far been brought to light through this session, and next Sunday Pauline Tozer, who starred in the first broadcast, will sing to a recorded accompaniment. This method of accompaniment is not new to 2ZB listeners, but previous singers who have used it have all been seasoned performers, and this will be the first time it has been used by such a young artist. Pauline is a coloratura soprano, a * HAT happens when two sleepy announcers fall asleep over the microphone should be interesting under any circumstances. That is the plot of a play "The Nightmare," written and presented by members of 1ZB’s staff. The two announcers were played by Des Lock and Guy Nixon, and the story imagines them confronted by the Voice of Memory (John Gordon), who recalls their past misdeeds, confronting one with his "forgotten loves" andthe other with a series of historical characters who resent having been written about. The two announcers finally awake to find that the microphone which they had thought dead had been very much alive all through their dream, the moral of the tale, of course, being that radio announcers shouldn’t fall asleep. *" * * . ‘THE Young New Zealand Radio Journal" broadcast by 2ZB has often included novel pages for young listeners, but few have been more novel than one recently contributed by Peter Ward, a lad of 14 years. He is the owner of a musical gadget which he manipulates with remarkable dexterity. Although it may have had a highly technical name bestowed on it by the designer, Peter refers to it simply as a "musical stick." It consists of a thin piece of wood about 18 inches in length with ten rubber tubes projecting at intervals and in different directions. These small tubes correspond to certain piano keys, and when the stick is wielded by an expert it can produce remarkable effects from a piano. The general effect is of at least two people playing the piano. Peter, who is an expert with his musical stick, will be broadcasting again soon.