THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 166, 28 August 1942, Page 2

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

HERE was a story current in the early days of the war about a man who woke up in the night in a cold sweat. "What is the matter, dear?" asked his wife. "I had an awful nightmare", he explained. "I dreamt that war was going to break out, but it’s quite all right. It broke out three months ago." And he turned over and went to sleep. We have travelled a long.way since those early days when the war itself was not so harrowing as the months that preceded the outbreak, and if things now are not as we might have hoped in 1939 there is a more realistic attitude towards the struggle. The anniversary of the outbreak of war, September 3, has been set aside as a special day of prayer, and National Stations will broadcast special programmes. We Look Before And After The special feature of the evening of September 3 will be an NBS production, "Three Years At War," which will be heard at 7.45 p.m. This is the story of New Zealand’s war effort from the early days when the first uniformed young men and women won admiring glances and the first plain clothes Home Guardsmen trudged through the streets stiff from unwonted exercise, up to to-day when uniformed young women parade the streets to the envy of their couponless sisters, and Home Guardsmen are almost indistinguishable from the re-

gular forces. National Stations will also broadcast a special programme at 9.45 p.m., which is the time when, as most of us will remember, we turned on our gets three years ago and heard Mr. Chamberlain’s dramatic announcement that England was at war with Germany. This half-hour session is called "The Threshold of the Fourth Year," and is in the nature of a re-dedication to the country’s service. Throughout the day inspiring passages from great writings will be broadcast from time to time. Lend Him Your Ears Those listeners who still love the English language and who are eager for the stimulus of original ideas should not miss the first talk in 3YA’s new winter course series next Wednesday evening, when

Professor F. Sinclaire will speak on "Literary Criticism." It is true that, in British countries at least, — literary criticism is not what it was. It is certainly not what our artist has depicted. We have, for the most part, lost that ,quality of forthrightness in controvery "which was such an engaging attribute of the Elizabethans and even of the Victorians. Few of us, indeed, have as much

critical fortitude as the American theatrical reviewer who declared that " The House Beautiful is the play lousy." Maybe we are less sure of ourselves than the Elizabethans and Victorians were, or than the Americans are. What is certain is that we must once more become sure of ourselves, and here we may take heart from the knowledge that in Professor Sinclaire we have one qualified not only to speak his mind but to lead us out of the lukewarm wilderness of compromise back to the vantage ground of truth.

Done But Not Done In " Literature is something that one does three times a week at school," said the schoolboy, and perhaps it ig not only done but also done in. It is probably true to say that those handsome calfbound volumes which we won as prizes for being good little boys and girls tend to linger prominent but unopened on our shelves. Similarly, a few passages from Shakespeare, Tennyson, and Wordsworth remain the only pool from which we draw water when occasion arises, and the rest of the pure springs of English undefiled sparkle unheeded. This is not due to scorn or lack of interest or love of literature but to OTHER THINGS more important, and when we are given the chance to hear again or read again we enjoy the revisit. Such an opportunity is being given by the CBS on Sunday evenings at 7.0 in the series "Great Literature," to be heard from all ZB stations and 2ZA. The sessions will cover a wide field, including such favourites as Mark! Twain, Masefield, R. L. Stevenson, Barrie, and also the New Zealand writer, H. Guthrie-Smith. Wanted, A Formula Miss D. E. Dolton has tackled some formidable problems since she first came on the air from 3YA, but none, we feel, quite so perennially perplexing as " Children’s Questions," the subject with which she will saddle herself in a talk from the Christchurch station next Monday, Even in the early evening when, as every CBS copywriter will tell you, listener-interest is at its daily peak, the -lisping queries of infancy can rouse within the adult breast a helpless terror which the Commissioner of Taxes might well envy. And how much more demoral-

ising is the effect in the early hours of the morning when bodily vitality is at its lowest ebb (except the case of the infant questioner, where. the converse holds good). We know only too well that Miss Dolton has no-hope in the wide world of telling us all the answers in a matter of fifteen minutes or so, but with a fervour which we are,sure Mr. Chamberlain never equalled, we beg for a Formula. Anything at all, provided that it will enable us to fob off the little brats and get some sleep. Remarkable Woman Miss Jemimah Bartop is in many respects a remarkable woman-she readily admits that she is in her 57th year, that she uses henna on her hair, that she is still interested in marriage for herself as well as for others, that she detests needlework and adores chemistry. She is to be found on most days of the week in the cellar of her house at Bayswater, which she has fitted up as a laboratory in the hope of discovering something which will benefit humanity. But we are of the opinion that it is the New Zealand playwright, W. Graeme Holder, who has benefited humanity by discovering Miss Bartop. She is a character with considerable entertainment value, and it is upon her and her activities that the plot of "Gases and Guesses" depends. " Gases and Guesses," unlike Miss Bartop herself, will be heard on only one night of the week, from 1YA on Sunday, September 6. More About Gardening We are intrigued by the title of 3YA’s next gardening talk (Monday, August 31, at 7.10 p.m.) "Climbing Plants." For

an adult audience a talk on "Climbing Trees" would seem a little out of place, but we would be prepared to allow this ‘in view of the fact that pruning, lopping, etc., sometimes require a knowledge of tree-climbing. But we can find no such justification for a dissertation on "Climbing Plants," since a knowledge of the art would seem to have little value except to an audience of insects. Garden-lovers then who have no reason for regarding themselves as insects may be more interested in a talk to be given from 2YA by Miss Rewa Glenn on the morning of August 31, entitled " Maud Goes into the Garden." We expect this to be simply full of constructive hints on how to rid the garden of unwanted bats and how to discourage whispering columbines.