No Women

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 343, 18 January 1946, Page 9

No Women

HE finals of 1ZB’s "Spotlight on Amateurs" brought to the microphone some acceptable if not brilliant talent; but among the nine finalists, if one excepts a lone and almost obscured voice in a novelty vocal quartet, there were no women. Dare one draw any conclusions from this dashing emergence of the male? It is commonly assumed that women are more interested in the arts than men are, yet, here, when the pace was cracked on and the going became hard, soprano, contralto, "light vocal," and "pianiste," faded out. One might seek to show that man has a greater sensitiveness to the refinements of art, or an inherent capacity for artistic things, but diplomacy and tact head one to suggest that it was no more than a fortuitous set of circumstances which upset the balance, no more permanent than a lunar eclipse. After an hour or so of entertainment from boogey-woogey to Handel, and including such novelties as imitations of farm noises and pyrotechnical whistling, the listener however could draw one conclusion. The successful artist, whatever his native talent, is most evidently the one who works the hardest. ‘All these nine finalists, the boys with the home-made instruments, the "straight" singers, the novelty vocal, the "noises off" and most of all, the whistler (he was good), all knew their work thoroughly. And that, if all radio entertainers would realise it, contributes at least half to the listener’s enjoyment,