RADIO'S BIG PART ON ANZAC NIGHT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 95, 18 April 1941, Page 13

RADIO'S BIG PART ON ANZAC NIGHT

Hollywood Stars’ Programme And Telephone Appeal

ADIO’S biggest contribution to the drive for patriotic funds wili consist of a feature entertainment broadcast on Anzac night, April 25, over almost every radio station, National and Commercial, in New Zealand, followed by a telephone appeal which will also be conducted over a national network. The feature programme, which will last approximately an hour, is the same spectacular appeal for funds broadcast from Hollywood last year on behalf of the Canadian Red Cross. It was then introduced by the Prime Minister of Canada, the Rt, Hon. W. McKenzie King, and consists of items by famous members of Hollywood’s English and Canadian colony. Alan Mowbray is the compére, and he introduces such famous people as

Ronald Colman, Anna Neagle, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Madeleine Carroll, Herbert Marshall, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, C. Aubrey Smith, Binnie Barnes, and Merle Oberon. They are heard in sketches, dramatic recitations, songs and appeals. Also the "" Quins " The programme also marks the first radio appearance of the Dionne Quintuplets, who introduced by Dr. Alan Dafoe, sing a medley of French aad English songs. It was originally performed before an audience of 3000 people in Hollywood, and _ broadcast over the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and an American hook-up. During intervals the National and Commercial stations, still linked, will conduct a telephone appeal for provincial patriotic funds which is expected to ‘reach into every corner of the country.

Keeping the Lines Open Throughout New Zealand, post office and telephone exchange officials will be asked to stand by voluntarily to keep exchanges open long enough for details of contributions to be phoned to various broadcasting stations, from which they will then be acknowledged. To enable contributions to be handled without congestion, the country is being zoned, and provincial patriotic councils and local committees are assisting in the job of collecting money and issuing receipts. The Director-General of the Post and Telegraph Department has agreed to waive commission on contributions sent by money order, and is also permitting free toll calls when progress reports are being communicated between the various centres and Wellington. This is undoubtedly the biggest radio hook-up of any entertainment yet attempted, and it is hoped that the quality of the programme will attract a New Zealand-wide listening audience. Telephone appeals have proved a novel and effective method of raising money for patriotic purposes. Full details {of the Anzac Night programme will be published in next week’s Listener,