THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 535, 23 September 1949, Page 26

THINGS TO COME

Alice in the Waikato ‘HEN the BBC Children’s Hour broadcast Alice in Wonderland as a serial in five episodes, Derek McCulloch, Head of the Children’s Hour and "Uncle Mac" to many thousands of young listeners, was narrator, and some of the best-known artists in British radio brought Lewis Carroll’s characters to life.. Norman Shelley, Marjorie Westbury, Wilfred Babbage, Molly Rankin, Mary O'Farrell and Brian Powley are only a few of the well-known artists appearing in the cast. Alice herself is played by Angela Glynne, who has already packed an impressive amount of acting experience into her young life. She first appeared before the public in a film at the age of one and a-half, and she has worked intermittently in films, on the stage, and before the microphone ever since, The only thing that has kept her from more regular appearances has been the official regulation that she should have her full quota of schooling. Angela’s first broadcast was unexpected. Her sister had been booked to take part in a broadcast to America at one o'clock in the morning, but owing to a misunderstanding she was unable to get to the studio, and Angela took her place at a moment’s notice, She did the whole broadcast, incidentally, while being held up in somebody’s arms, as she was too small to reach the microphone. Listeners to | 1XH Hamilton will hear the first episode .of Alice in Wonderland at 6.30 p.m. this Sunday, September 25, Pastor Niemoller ()UTSPOKEN opposition to Hitler and the Nazis at the height of their power made Pastor Martin Niemoller an almost legendary figure in the eyes of the world. But the story of Niemoller is no legend, extraordinary though it may be, and the forthcoming visit to this country of the man himself should bring this fact home, Listeners to 1YA at 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 28, will hear a short account of Niemoller and his deeds prepared by the Reverend Ralph Sutton, a Methodist minister in Australia who met him in Amsterdam while attending the World Council of Churches, Niemoller, says Mr. Sutton, in his stooped body and gaunt _ features, still betrays the physical. marks of the suffering he endured in the infamous Sachenhausen concentration camp, where for eight years he was Hitler's "personal prisoner." During the First World War Niemoller was a submarine commander and achieved a reputation for skill and courage which won for him the Iron Cross. He is still a man of action. "His sphere is in the field of battle, not among the ‘backroom boys? and," concludes Mr. Sutton, "If any man in the world to-day has a message dearly | bought, if any man has earned the right to speak to us all, this is such a man." Ancient Handicraft ks POTTERY, one of the oldest of human handicrafts, can provide a fascinating subject for study, and in pursuit of this hobby Mrs, Lance Parry has collected a vast amount of information, some of which is being offered to listeners in a series of six talks broadcast from 1YA on Thursdays at 7.15 p.m. In the second of the series, to be heard this Thursday, September 22,

Mrs. Parry will discuss Chinese pottery and porcelain, giving a brief outline of the ancient mythology which, she says, still forms the basis of deCoration in modern factories where Chinese porcelain is made for the Western world, The old Chinese potter, she considers, infused a wonderful idealism into all his work, producing results that cause one to marvel at his skill and providing a

source of inspiration for the making of beautiful pottery to-day. On September 29 Mrs, Parry will talk about medieval English pottery. Subsequent subjects Will be "Continental. Pottery," "Toby Jugs and Grotesque. Pottery," and finally "Political Pottery’-for in the days before literacy became commonplace, jugs, plates and the like played an important part in political propaganda, Prizewinning Sonata (CHARLES L, MARTIN’S Sonata for Violin and Piano, which won this year’s Philip Neill Memorial Prize, will be played from 4YA at 8.0 p.m. on Thursday, September 29. The composer (whose portrait appears on page 25) is a graduate of Canterbury University College, and was one of the judges at the recent Competitions Festival in Dunedin, The Philip ‘Neill Memorial Prize in Music was founded in 1943 in memory of Philip Foster Neill, a medical student who died in the infantile paralysis epidemic of that year. The prize, of £25, is awarded annually for original composition, and this year the prescribed work was a composition in any form for piano and violin, piano and ’cello, or piano, violin, and ‘cello. It is the general practice for the winning work to be performed publicly, and if possible. to be broadcast somewhere near September 30, the date of Philip Neill’s birth, Charles Martin’s Sonata for Violin and Piano will be played by Gladys Vincent (violin) and Maurice Till (piano), : "Curtain Call" from 2YZ N June 26, 1948, Station 2YH Napier (now 2YZ) broadcast its first presentation of a variety show by Hawke’s Bay artists, known as Curtain Call. The public were invited to see for themselves how such a radio feature Was produced, and the session ran for half an hour. It was the first time that the Napier station had entered the . field of "audience-participation,’ and the feature was so successful that it was extended to cover an hour and became a monthly highlight of the Napier programmes. People packed the studio and latecomers sat on the floor. Now Station 2YZ will present a more ambitious and extensive version of its

Curtain Call from the Municipal Theatre, Napier, on Saturday, October 1. Included in the'programme will be Maia Alexander (comedienne), Ivena Pothan (soubrette), Arnold Perry and Les. and Val. Culver (light pianists), Trevor Crabtree (yodeller). -, Greta Smart and the John Mullaney Trio, Hector McDonald (saxophone), Alex Paterson (harmonica), Marjorie Sewell and Dawn Collier (sopranos) and Walter Bentley and John Crisp (baritones). The Wellington entertainer Henry Rudolph and his Harmony Serenaders will make their first appearance in this session of Curtain Call, Associated with them will be John Hoskins (vocalist), and the whole programme will be supported by chorus and orchestra. The proceeds of the show, which will be broadcast on relay by 2YZ, will go towards the Food for Britain Fund, Pastoral Note HERE is a quaint yet popular superstition that playing the oboe or other double reed instrument causes insanity. Among the players themselves. are to be heard such jests as *‘You don’t have to be crazy to play the oboe (or the bassoon) but it helps." The oboe, however, was popular in Elizabethan bands and is said to have been Handel's favourite. Bach also favoured it for melodic uses. Its peculiar and varied tone colour, with its pastoral suggestion, will be heard in a recording from 4YA-at 8.5 p.m. on Sunday, October 2, when one of the foremost living players of the instrument, Leon Goossens, will play Concerto in C Minor, by, Marcello, the Italian’ composer, philosopher and mathematician. The soloist will be accompanied by the Philharmonia String Orchestra, conducted by Walter Susskind.