THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 150, 8 May 1942, Page 5

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

plane clubs, when. the smallest and most ragged urchin knows just how many miles an hour a Spitfire is faster than a Hurricane, a radic serial-writer taking as his subject aviation in general and the R.A.F. in particular, has to watch his step. The smallest technical error, the slightest mistake in such matters as operational procedure, is likely to be detected and commented on severely by the small fry. Coast Patrol, which is broadcast by 2ZB and 3ZB, is apparently a model in its attention to detail, as it is reported that officers of local Air Training Corps units have advised cadets to listen carefully to each episode in order to improve their knowledge of a hundred and one things which they must learn in the course of their training. Coast Patrol plays from 2ZB on Mondays and Tuesdays, and from 3ZB on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Per Adua Ad Asters We have followed the talks of Miss Madeline Alston with interest and entertainment. We listened and approved when she talked of discipline in the home and the child in the home and the spirit of adventure and such, but all the time we were sure of one thing, and that was that she would get on to the garden at the back of the home before she finished. And there she arrives this coming week. " Gardening" is the subject of her talk from 2YA next I: these days of model aero-

Monday. We will listen to it, even if we are now past hope of profiting by it, or for that matter by any other talk on gardening. In fact we have almost reached the position taken up by Mr. Marquis’s cockroach archy: i might give you some advice about your garden boss but likely you would not thank me for it so i will only make one suggestion to wit if the garden were mine i would set out another cabbage plant in it and then give it to the butterflies for an aviation ground. We don’t mean that we won’t be glad to take any advice that Miss Alston cares to hand out, but somehow we doubt our ability to put the advice into effect. However, we can listen for the enjoyment of it, knowing that she aims to be entertaining as well as didactic. Down South Our artist gives us a popular conception of the Old South-mint juleps cotton, and a series of impressions from Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Certainly slave owning, whether of the Uncle Tom's Cabin or the Gone With the Wind variety, is usually associated with the Southern states of the U.S.A., partly because slavery was essential to the prosperity of the states and partly® because the slavery came to be regarded as the cause of the Civil War. Which of course it wasn’t. Alongside the slavery issue was the independent spirit of the English gentlemen who a hundred years before had bitten their thumbs at

George III. But whereas a hundred years before the Southern gentlemen had represented the wealth and culture of the U.S.A., by 1860 the new industrialised waalths of the north was ousting this leisured and cultured class from its monopoly. " The Old South and the War with Mexico" is the’ title of Professor Lipson’s next talk in the series on American History from 2YA on Monday, May 11, at 7.30 p.m. Bread and Dough Now that "Breadwinner" has shifted from the masculine to the common gender there seems no reason why "breadmaker" and ‘"dough-kneader " should remain feminine. In fact, most patresfamilias will ask their wives what ‘do they knead the dough for anyway?

We advise all such masculine inquirers to listen in to the A.C.E. talk " Breadmaking at Home," to be heard from 1YA at 3.30 on Thursday, May 14, which should explain all the processes involved in the making of bread and the reasons for the various steps. And then we should :like to see husbands as well as wives taking part in the making of bread. They will learn a number of things, not only about breadmaking. For there will be borne upon them the meaning of a number’ of familiar sayings: as for instance, the Bible ‘reference to the father who, when his child asks him for bread, gives him a stone, and the proverb about not being able to bake your bread and eat it to. Stand and Deliver! It’s rather tough on Handel having to disgorge a bagful of notes (and what precious notes!) just because he wants to get rid of a highwayman. Are there

not less expensive ways? What if he were to producé the notes from his own throat instead of from beneath the front seat of the post-chaise? Not that we wish to imply that the highwayman will run, but there is at least an even chance that he will clap his hands to his ears and drop the blunderbuss, thus enabling the unfortunate composer to escape. But if readers will wait until Tuesday, May 12, and then tune into 2YA at 11 am. they will doubtless hear the full-and correct-story of " Handel and a Highwayman" from Miss Valerie Corliss. Them Wuz the Days In the early days of colonisation in the South Island there were no bombers and no bombs, explosive or incendiary, there were no tanks, nor were there antitank guns, there was no fifth column, infiltration hadn’t been thought of, nor had Bren, Thompson, Owen, Maxim, Lewis, or Besa guns then caused the slightest cortical flicker in the brains of their designers. There was no poison gas in these good old days, and if there was any propaganda it must have been of a harmless kind for we hear nothing of it. Nor were there any U-boats, or Q-boats, or E-boats, or such. All towns were open towns and no one thought it necessary to declare them so; there was no rationing. And yet we find that a recorded talk by A. P. Harper, entitled "Old Westland: Dangers of the Early Days," will be broadcast by 4YA on Tuesday next. We can only hope that in

listening to it we shall be able to ignore some things as gracefully as does the author. Whence Do They Come? There are two favourite theories about songs and where they come from. One is that the would-be composer gets in a stock of recent hits, takes a phrase or two from each, and arranges the bits in all possible permutations and combinations, thus producing a dozen or more popular airs which appeal to the public because they have a vaguely familiar ting and arouse feelings of sentimental nostalgia. Lyrics to correspond are contrived by rhyming "blue" with "coo," "You," "boohoo" and "do" alternatively. In Very modern lyrics "flu" is also allowed. The second theory is that songs are never born, or even machinemade, but merely exhumed. Thus today’s "Father, why don’t you write?" may become to-morrow’s "Daddie, you’re a Baddie," and yesterday’s "There is a Tavern in the Town" may reach modern ears as: " Every dove has his love, Every sub. has its pub, Why haven't I got you, Why did I say ‘I do, Boo Hoo!" However, in the session "Songs and Where They Come From," which will be heard from 1YA at 8.44 on Thursday, May 14, we shall probably learn that song-writing is a compound of inspiration, perspiration, and the Women Behind Famous Men,