THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 98, 9 May 1941, Page 6

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

HE talk which Dr. G. C. Billing is to give from 4YA on Tuesday next at 7.35 p.m., "The League of Nations: An Experiment in World Organisation," seems to smack a little of tranquillity recollected in emotion, but it would not do, simply because the work of the League lies in ruins, to turn our backs on the ideas which brought it into being. It is possible, indeed, that Dr. Billing may point out that the League really did not fail since it did not in practice assume the form in which it was conceived, that the failure lies at the several doors of the Powers who were the High Contracting Parties to the Covenant. Be that as it may, in many ways the League more than justified its conception and if, when the present struggle ends, we are to rise to something nobler we must not lose sight of the past, however irrevocable it may be. Dr. Billing will no doubt help us to remember what was best, Hot from the Jungle If anyone really wants to dance the rhumba, the tango, or any other of the "diaphragm " dances from south of the Rio Grande and lacks only the genuine "hot-ziggety " music, now’s his chance (and hers) for 2YA will begin on Thursday, May 15, a session of " Tropical Mood" dances, with. music ‘by Xavier Cugat’s Orchestra. An eminent and respectable musical authority refers to the rhumba as "A Cuban dance of somewhat complex rhythm which became popular in the United States from

about 1930. The genuine and original negro rhumba is confined to the lowest classes." That may be all right as an encyclopedia entry but it seems rather a slur on modern youth. However, if you want to hear a first class South American band playing rhumba music hot from the jungle, as it were, listen in on Thursday, The Business Girl Speaks Serving the public from behind a counter must be an exciting occupation in Christchurch, for apparently you never know when the busy crowd of shoppers will be cleft in twain by an energetic gentleman with a microphone

who will then proceed to interview you over the air. This lunch hour diversion is broadcast over 3ZB under the title of The Voice of the Business Girl, and the interviewing is done by " Jacko." The idea is, of course, to find out the average business girl’s views on anything from "affairs of the heart" to the latest fashions. To give Christchurch business girls the pleasure of hearing themselves being interviewed, the session is now recorded as it is broadcast. and then replayed in the early evening. Times for the next evening broadcasts will be Wednesday, May 14, at 12.45 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. and Friday, May 16, at 12.45 and 8.45 ° Thar She Blows! That, readers all, is to draw your attention to a talk, "The Whaling Town of Otago," from 4YA on Monday next, and not, of course, to Margaret L. Dunningham, who is to give the talk. We don’t know how she plans to deal with her subject, but it should be interesting to hear not merely about Otago’s earliest settlers, but of whaling as an art as well as an industry, and of how the early Queequegs and Captain Ahabs lived among their try-pots and scrimshaw work before the days of organised settlement. Air Force on the Air We only wish we could be in the 4YO studio when the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band is giving its recital at 7.30 p.m. on Saturday, May 17. It would be interesting to see whether the studio roof lifts perceptibly when the boys give it the works (as they say) in fortissimo passages. For 50 or 60 athletic young men with an assorted variety of wind and wood-wind instruments can produce no small volume of sound when they want to, We know, of course, that the studio roof will be quite safe, for Flight-Lieutenant Gladstone Hill’s players will roar you as gently as any

sucking dove when the occasion demands it. The band has been touring New Zealand with the Air Force Selection Committee, and should be in fine musical fettle by now. Timely The A.C.E. can always be relied upon for topicality in its talks to women and the one scheduled for 4YA at 3.15 p,m. on Wednesday next is as timely as it is important. The topic to be discussed is entitled " Food and Night Sight" and with the enforcement of the blackout regulations-despite our extra measure of summer-cum-winter time-the value of efficient night sight is going to be brought home forcibly to a lot of people who have not given it much consideration before. With the relatively high standard of living obtaining in New Zealand, we are not likely to meet with the difficulties which the blackout brought to British people. There, medical investigation proved that malnutrition left sufferers in the unfortunate position of ° being unable satisfactorily to adjust their vision to total darkness, and a heavy road-accident toll resulted. But malnutrition can occur even among the "‘ well-fed" if diet is .unbalanced, so we suggest you tune in to the A.C.E. They seem to know all the answers. Bee Blunders Have you heard the story of the Cockney visiting the country for the first time, who tasted home-made butter from the house cow at one meal, and

when served with honey at the next meal remarked: " Ah! I see you keep a bee, too." We don’t know if Mrs. Mary Scott will include that anecdote when she speaks on "Bee Blunders" from 3YA on Wednesday in her series of talks entitled "A Backblock Woman Remembers"; but so many odd things seem to have happened in the Scott household that we feel sure Mrs. Scott will have some amusing-and perhaps pain-ful-stories to tell about bees. Hidden Meanings Francesco Berger who died a few years ago after being secretary of the London Philharmonic Society for 30 years, once wrote a pianoforte piece and invited three fellow composers to hear it and tell him what it "meant." The "meanings" suggested (according to him, quite seriously) were (1) " Daybreak as seen from the lowest gallery of a Welsh coal mine"; (2) "A _ boarhunt in Russia"; and (3) "An enamoured couple whispering love vows." And

the intention of the composer had been musically to illustrate "The discovery by Pharaoh’s daughter of the infant Moses in the bulrushes." If you are amused at this, you might ask your friends to listen to a presentation by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, at 7.30 on Saturday evening, May 17, from 3YA, without telling them the name of the suite, and then ask what the music "suggested" to them. The composer, Auber, named it " The Bronze Horse" Overture. Elizabeth’s Example "My mind was never to invade my neighbour or to usurp over any. I am contented to reign over my own and to rule as a just princess, yet the King of Spain doth challenge me to be the quarreller and the beginner of these wars. I fear not all his threatenings-his great preparations and mighty forces do not stir me, for though he come against me with a greater power than ever was his invincible navy, I doubt not, God assisting me, upon Whom I always trust, but that I shall be able to defeat and overthrow him." Thus Queen Elizabeth when invasion by Spain was threatened in 1593. It provides a remarkable historic parallel, and one that is done full justice to in the ZB programme Pageant of Empire which, in the early part of this month, is treating of the brave days of Elizabeth. Pageant of Empire is broadcast by 1ZB at 8.45 p.m, every night except Sunday; by 2ZB at 6.30 p.m. on Thursdays and Saturdays; and by 4ZB at 6.30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.