THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 97, 2 May 1941, Page 6

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

E know that about anything can be taught by correspondence lessons, but to attempt to teach ballroom dancing by talks over the air sounds ambitious until one remembers that it has already been done successfully from 3YA. Now the venture is to be repeated by the same station. There will be eight talks, every Thursday evening at 9.30 p.m., the first on May 8, and the speaker (one could hardly call him demonstrator) will again be A. L. Leghorn. The first two talks will be devoted to a history of the modern dance, by which time it is hoped that listeners have gained sufficient ideas on technique to get the best results from the talks to follow, which will take the form of actual -lessons in various types of dance. The whole scheme is designed for beginners, and questions can be addressed to Mr. Leghorn, care of 3YA, Christchurch. All, About Stephen Foster We don’t know very much about Stephen Foster except that he was the greatest and one of the most prolific of American song writers, and that he sold "Oh, Susanna" to Christy for a song, if you will pardon the confused metaphor, But 2ZB listeners should know ail there is to: know about Mr. Foster, for his tragic life has been dramatised for radio, and is being played in the Cavalcade of Drama series. This programme, which consists of biographies of such

diversified characters as Johann Strauss, Marie Antoinette, Edgar Allen Poe, and Napoleon Bonaparte, was first played over the ZB’s on Sunday evenings, but proved so popular that 2ZB is presenting it again, at 3.15 p.m., on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We have seen two film versions of the life of Stephen Foster, one a pathetic little tale in which the name part was taken by Douglass Montgomery, and the other a garish musical starring Don Ameche, whom we kept confusing with Alexander Graham Bell. Sing, Brothers, Sing As we remarked here a couple of weeks ago, a good compére makes all the difference between a show and a collection of items. An excellent example is the 2YA show every Wednesday "Let’s Sing It Again," which consists of oldtime ballets, favourite songs, new hits, a potpourri of melodies of the kind one can join in with, all linked together by a compére. If you are one of those for whom Schubert lived in vain, but to whom names like Stephen Foster, Lionel Monckton, and Irving Berlin mean something, then this is your cue. The average suburban bathroom has heard an entirely new repertoire since. this programme started from 2YA. No Tlicket, No Collar Whatever laundry problems women may have, they are as nothing compared with the troubles. that face the man who gets the wrong collars back from his Chinese laundry. He can’t wear them, he can’t get the Chinese to change them, he can’t wear the shirts the collars belonged to, and he can’t get any sympathy. Yet the A.C.E. still find it necessary to give a talk to women on

the subject of "Laundry Problems Answered " in the 4YA afternoon session on Friday,.May 9. A mere man will admit that there may be an odd problem or two about washing and ironing-and we enthusiastically commend the A.C.E,. talk as a very likely place to find the solutions -- but that women have the monopoly of laundry problems! Well, ask the fellow who can’t tell from his laundry ticket which Chinese he took his one best shirt to. Pioneer Broadcast " Just as the organ in recent years has come back into favour in the form of the accordion, piano-accordion, Wurlitzer, and so on," says Henri Penn, the Eng-

lish pianist, "So I do think that we will see the harp make some sort of evolution in the same way.’ Mr. Penn, however, does not content himself with thinking about it. With Winifred Carter, the New Zealand first harpist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, he is going to present the harp in a new light in a studio broadcast from 1YA on May 7. This recital will be in the nature of a pioneer broadcast since it will be the first time in Australia and New Zealand at least that piano and harp have been featured together without benefit of orchestra. Listeners who are interested will find more about this broadcast on page 10. "Pillars of Society" Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian dramatist, whose satirical problem plays, directed to social reforms, obtaifed wide fame and exerted a powerful influence in the last quarter of the 19th century, is being read to-day by more Norwegians than

ever. And no wonder. Embittered by the attitude taken by his country in the Danish-German war of the period, Ibsen gave vent to his despondency in his two great lyrical dramas Brand and Peer, Gynt. After these came the series of problem plays, of which the general subject is the relation of the individual to his social environment, the shams of conventions that hinder his self-expression, and especially the case of women in the state of marriage. Pillars of Society, written in 1877, preceded the more famous Doll’s House by two years, but it abounds in the tense situations for which Ibsen’s work is noted. Our illustration is of a typical scene of emotional conflict where one character cries "I am desperate, I am fighting for my life," throwing into sharp relief the situation of a man hemmed in by the tragedy of circumstances. Pillars of Society will be presented by the NBS from 1YA, on Sunday, May 4. Voices In Christchurch Christchurch listeners are to have two relays of concerts by local choirs next week, on Wednesday from the Male Voice Choir under Len Barnes, on Friday from the Christchurch Ladies’ Choir under Alfred Worsley. It is always impolite to compare one musical body with another, but on this occasion we cannot help remarking on the happy contrast that their concerts provide, The Male

Voice has chosen some rousing songs eminently suitable for men’s voices, such as " Sailors’ Chorus," from The Flying Dutchman, and " Come Sirrah Jack Ho; while the Ladies’ Choir has selected some beautiful old madrigals, and excerpts from the Cantata "King Rene’s Daughter." In both cases supporting items have been carefully chosen to provide the right balance. With A Moral. . I Want a Divorce was the title of a recent film in which Joan Blondell and Dick Powell (her husband in real life), discussed the ethics of long-term marriage at some length, approximately 5,700 feet, to be more exact, and then decided in favour of fidelity and plain, old-fashioned love. But I Want a Divorce is also the title of a rd@lio serial which is playing from 1ZB every Tuesday and Thursday at 3.45 p.m. It is not as alarming as it sounds. It presents in dramatic form the troubles of unfortunate married people who are apparently on the verge of plunging into the divorce court. But happy to relate, the couple invariably decides in favour of exactly the virtues eventually displayed by Miss Blondell and Mr. Powell. I Want a Divorce is, in fact, a programme with a moral-not that that detracts from its value as entertainment.