THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 356, 18 April 1946, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

Whodunit W E have wondered from time to time why it was that Dorothy L. Sayers, whose fame as a dramatiser of incidents from the Scriptures now equals her former and continuing fame as a writer of detective stories, has never done anything about the story of Susanna and the elders, which is to be found in the Apocrypha, and seems to us to deserve the title of The Original Whodunit. Briefly Susanna was falsely charged by two elders, but their story (which they had not rehearsed) broke down when Daniel cross-examined them separately. Possibly the reason why Miss Sayers has done nothing about it is that it is perfect as it stands-it has all the elements of a first rate short story, and makes all its points without waste of words. What, then, is ‘contained in "Drama in Cameo: The story of Susanna" which 2YA is to broadcast. at 3.15 p.m. on Thursday, April 25? We ourselves won’t know whether this particular Story is the Apo--eryphal one or not until it comes on. (And even then we shall be at work.) So we leave you in suspense too. "The English of the Line" INTIL comparatively recent years the English did not bother much about St. George’s Day, April 23. They let the Scots and the Irish have it pretty much their own way with their national saints. Perhaps the English thought there was no need to advertise themselves; they were English, and that was that. Latterly, however, there has been a change. It may be that the English have come

— to the conclusion it is time the Celtic Fringe was put in its proportionate place. After all, England is the predominant partner. At any rate St. George’s Day celebrations have become regular at Home and abroad. And on Tuesday, April 23 at 8 p.m. from 2YA, Alan Mulgan’s poem "The English of the Line" will be read as a St. George’s Day commemoration. This item has a special connection with The Listener. It was written after World War I. as a tribute to the English infantry regiments, which bore the greater part of the hard slogsing matches on the Western Front. During World War II. a correspondent who felt as the author had done (and continued to do), that the English units were not getting their share-"of the credit, drew attention to the poem in The Listener, and it was later published with special illustrations. the vrofits to go to the funds of an English county regiment. The poem will be presented at 2YA as a tribute to England, through her soldiers. The feature will include appropriate military music, among it that old favourite "Tommy Atkins." And Kentish Men (and Men of Kent) should note that there will be a thrilling flash from the story of the Buffs, who claim to be the oldest regiment of the Line. Mister Chairwoman... O you know how to conduct a business meeting? Are you ever likely to have to take the chair? If so, we advise you to buy a booklet on constitutional procedure, and swot it up; or if you have a retentive memory, it will be sufficient to listen to the A.C.E. talk 2YA will broadeast at 11.0 am. on Friday, April 26. It is called "How to Conduct

a Business Meeting.’ But if you can’t listen in then, and can’t get hold of some sort of instructions, and you’ve had no experience, don’t turn round to the press reporter over your shoulder when someone proposes to move an amendment to an amendment, and ask in a loud whisper "’E can’t do that can ’e?" -as a milkman did once at a milkmen’s meeting we once attended-we darent say where. Elizabethan Theatre ‘THE second programme in 2YA’s new BBC series "The English Theatre" which is to be heard at 9.25° p.m. on Monday, April 22, is about the Elizabethan playwrights, their actors, and their audiences. And the drawing which accompanies this paragraph is taken from a contemporary woodcut, showing William Kempe, the original performer in the part of Dogberry in Much Ado

About Nothing. Actually it shows him engaged in his famous dancing feat, when he danced a morris all the way from London to Norwich ("Kempe’s Nine Daies Wonder"). Jenifer Wayne’s second programme shows the listener the Elizabethan Theatre through the minds of Londoners of the time-the man in the street, the publican, the actors themselves, as well as the lords whose patronage made the theatre possible; and she has not forgotten to include the voice of the boy who played the women’s parts-for no woman acted then. Musical "Sports" OU don’t think of Verdi (if you think of him at all) as a composer of string quartets; nor do you think of Wagner (we repeat the qualification) as someone who wrote lieder, or short songs; nor of Bizet (need we say it again?) as a composer of symphonies. You are right of course, about Verdi; Verdi wrote 18 operas, three sacred works, and one solitary quartet (and some bits and pieces).. So a quartet by Verdi is something out of his usual run. Now as for Wagner: well we know Wagner, and although he did write 26 songs (including settings of "Der Tannenbaum" and "The Two Grenadiers") we also agree that a song by Wagner is something out of the ordinary. And Bizet we take for another composer for the stage-with Carmen foremost in our minds, and then all that delightful incidental music, in_ short snatches, like Grieg’s; but we don’t think of him as writing symphonies. All this is leading up to the news that 3YA is going to apply the Man bites Dog Theory

of Interestingness, and present a programme consisting only of these musical "sports" (biological term). It is set down for 3.0 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24. "London Fantasia" HAT with the various versions of the opening of Tchaikovski’s first piano concerto, "The Warsaw Concerto" and now Hubert Bath’s "Cornish Rhapsody" from the film Love Story, there is something of a passion at the moment for pieces of music for piano and strings, whether by the name "concerto" or any other. The latest seems to be another one with a local-colour title, "London Fantasia" by Clive Richardson, and it is going to be broadcast by 3YA at 9.41 p.m. on Thursday, April 25 (Anzac Day). All we know off-hand about Clive Richardson is that he is a pianist-he plays the solo part in this recording with the Columbia Light Symphony Orches-tra-and that he does a number of those clever orchestral arrangements you hear in Tommy Handley’s ITMA. Sessions to Remember: HREE of the features in 2YD’s programme for Good Friday have more than ordinary interest. First there is a session at 7.30 p.m. with Phil Spitalny and his All-girl Orchestra and Choir, which was formed in 1932-Spitalny persuaded the parents of 22 talented girls to let them go to New York to form the ensemble. They can all play more than one instrument and sing. At 8.0 pm. 2YD will broadcast the special album of recordings made by José Iturbi of the music of Chopin which he played in the film A Song to Remember, and at 8.30 p.m. comes a recording of "The Littlest Angel," a children’s story by Charles Tazewell which features the Hollywood actress Loretta Young.