Aunt Daisy's Trip To America

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 278, 20 October 1944, Page 20

Aunt Daisy's Trip To America

Lad "iia da ee ia enna en AUNT DAISY has returned from a visit to America, and for the next few issues, instead of giving her usual recipes and household tips, she will be telling readers about the people she met, the places she visited and her impressions of them.

HY did I go to America? . Not for a holiday-trav- | elling in wartime is far too _ strenuous for that. Think of all the difficulties we have in New Zealand about train priorities and reservations, queueing up for meals, getting taxis and redcaps, etc., and then multiply everything by a hundred, and you will have some idea of it. :

Not for a rest-there is so much to see and to learn, and so many interesting people to meet, that it would be a waste of opportunity to rest, except when one cannot keep going another minute. Moreover, I had to keep up my regular New Zealand programme, which meant recording more than 50 morning sessions to send home, besides some 20 other talks. These had to be made and censored within a very short specified period, in order to fit in with shipping

space. Then, too, the NBC recording studios, in spite of their scores of engineers (more than 60 in KPO, San Francisco, alone), are all working 24 hours a day, in* order to supply their troops all over the world with their accustomed programmes as well as doing their other regular work; so that I had to be fitted in as best they could, sometimes at 7.30 a.m., sometimes at 9.30 p.m., for an hour or two. However, I never had to go on the "Graveyard Shift,’ which works from midnight onwards! I went because I wanted to help, even a little, in the important job of getting Americans and New Zealanders to become intimate friends — to understand each other, and to live as pleasant neighbours do, each gaining something from the other; picking out some of their good ideas and adjusting them to suit ourselves; being eager to give as well as take; and, especially, to be on the watch against prejudice and sweeping generalisations. My idea was to interest American women; to tell them how New Zealand women live and run their homes; about (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) our pursuits and pleasures and duties; about our great war effort; and to give them cordial greetings. Conversely, I wanted to see and hear as much as possible about their own war work, as well as their way of living and thinking. Enthusiastic Response Well, in spite of the gloomiest forecasts from much-travelled friends, who warned me of the difficulties in the way of getting "on the American air" in wartime, I did no fewer than 27 broadcasts, chiefly in the form of interviews. These were extraordinarily well received, as was evidenced by letters and telephone messages from listeners who were all eager to know more about New Zealand, where so many of their boys had received such generous hospitality. I think we should make a big effort towards encouraging and catering for post-war tourist traffic, for thousands of Americans are planning to make New Zealand their first holiday trip.. Each of these 27 broadcast interviews meant at least one, and generally two, long preparatory talks with the interviewer, and the department concerned, to decide on what to include in the broadcast, because each one had to be entirely different. Very often this meant a luncheon at one of the fashionable restaurants, with two or three executives as well-very pleasant functions indeed. I will describe some of these restaurants later on. Then there would be still another meeting before the broadcast, to go over the details and timing. In most cases I was allowed to work without script. I will describe some of these broadcasts as time goes on-some were with men, some with women; some at the luncheon table, one at a kind of "Women’s Brains Trust"; one, for the Office of the United Nations, with a Chinese journalist and an American soldier speaking on short-wave from Sydney; one as a "judge" on the programme of a "mind-reader"; and one a televised interview, at which I talked a little about the Waitomo Caves, and of which the NBC presented me with some "still" photographs, as a memento. All this was made not only possible, — but also smooth and easy, through the enthusiasm and influence of the great NBC, which cabled me before I left New Zealand, promising to do everything to help me in my mission. So, from the day I landed in San Francisco until I regretfully sailed away from New York, they looked after me, seeing that I met the right people, saw the right shows, made the right friends, and introducing me to the other radio networks, which all co-operated: wholeheartedly. \ Good Friends Back Me Up Four other organisations gave me great help. First, our own New Zealand Legation, through which I got all train and hotel reservations, and my passage home again-all very much more difficult than we in New Zealand can realise, and more so than ever since the in‘yasion ‘of France began, for sick and wounded are being brought back every day, and sent by special train all over the country to the hospitals nearest their homes, or best suited to their illnesses. It was through our Legation, too, that I received an invitation to tea with Mrs. Roosevelt at the White House-such a delightful and home-like little tea-TIll tell you all about that, too, later on. For this week I must finish here, leaving it till next time to tell you about my other helpers. {To be continued)