Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 721, 8 May 1953, Page 24

Open Microphone

NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By

Swarf

WICE weekly in its General Overseas Service the BBC broadcasts for the benefit of British servicemen in Korea, Hong Kong, Malaya and the Far East a special record request programme called Forces Favourites. This _ session, which has now been running for

over two years, has had two signature tunes. Recently it was decided in London that it would be a good idea to ask the Forces themselves to choose a new one, to make sure that they got what they really wanted. Ten popular tunes were selected and played in the

programme on several occasions. Ballot forms were sent to men in the Far Eastern Forces who had written to the BBC previously, and the announcers on the programme invited all servicemen in these areas to send their choices to the BBC by letter. In came the votes from Korea, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, Ceylon and Japan, and also from men serving in the Royal Navy. Hundreds of votes were recorded and when a tune was voted for on a ballot form it was often the combined choice of a number of men. One sent in by a colonel in Korea represented the views of 400 soldiers of all ranks. The result was a landslide in favour of "I'll See You in My Dreams," which received nearly as many votes as all the others put together, with "Rolling Round the World" second, and "Sentimental Journey" and "Petite Waltz" almost tying

for third place. The Americans also broadcast record request programmes for their forces serving in Korea, and apparently British and American troops listen to both to compare notes. Only recently two G.I.s stationed at Okinawa wrote to compliment the BBC on Forces Favourites, which they often heard, and to ask for a record. This record, duly played in the programme, was almost an inter-allied affair, for it was by a British artist, Max Bygraves-who recently appeared in America with much success-and was a skit on eminent American songs, called "The Cowpuncher’s Cantata." se

AUTHORANNOUNCER

An NE of the nine authors whose stories are being broadcast in a Christchurch programme called Slightly Out of True is Anthony Bartlett, who has contributed articles to London Punch. He was born in London in 1929 and

went to school at Beckenham, Kent, until the age of 18; then he was in the Royal Air Force

from 1947 to 1949. Bartlett was at Wadham College, Oxford, from 1949 until 1952. He read English Language and Literature, gained a second class honours B.A., contributed to the two University magazines, Isis and Cherwell, and as a vacation job in 1951 he spent three months typing in the News Room of the BBC. In May, 1951, he married a girl from Christchurch, New Zealand, and from then on, he says, the idea of coming to New Zealand gained

ground. A daughter, Alison, was born in Oxford in May, 1952. Anthony Bart- _ lett came here in August last and joined the New Zealand Broadcasting Service as an announcer at 3YA, then at 3ZB. Now he is on the announcing staff of 4YA Dunedin, and,to use his own words, "T am enjoying myself very much," Slightly Out of True is being broadcast in 3YA’s Mainly for Women session at 2.0 p.m. on Thursdays, and by 3YC on Thursday evenings.

IT’S IN THE BOOK

NEws used to travel along the tenuous communication line of rumour and the succeeding stages were by foot, horseback, coach, pamphlet, newsletter and newspaper until, today, it flies through the air with the greatest of

ease. So also does politics, which has become perhaps the biggest draw card of the year’s

radio programmes. But as well as travelling through the air, eventually to be dost to most memories, the words of the politicians are preserved for all time in’ the book called Hansard. Today Hansard (the official report of parliamentary debates and _ proceedings), which started in England, is a household word, and it is taken as a matter of course. But the whole question whether the British public should be allowed to read what their representatives said in Parliament was for very many years a matter of acute controversy. Hansard has been adopted not only in New Zealand and Australia, but in Canada, South Africa, Ceylon, Southern Rhodesia, Trinidad and Tobago. It took its title from’the name of a printer, the first of his line being Luke Hansard, born 200 years ago, and it is to his eldest son, Thomas Curson Hansard, that we owe the modern Hansard. Perhaps when you're sitting at home listening to Parliament being broadcast; you miss some vital word or figure; or you wonder if what you heard was really what the man said. You may be sure that the Hansard reporters have it safely down, and that it’s "all in the book." 3 ’

COMEDIANS WHO SING

"|M getting tired of comedians who insist on singing or who introduce a spasm of crooning into an act quite strong enough to stand on its own," remarked a friend the other evening. That’s something I, too, have won-

dered about. A singing teacher once claimed that anyone who could speak could sing. That,

of course, is false. There are people (we've all heard them) who will never be able to sing, no matter how they try. Even with a voice ready-made and just waiting to be lifted up, intensive training is meeded before a would-be singer should be let loose upon the public. My friend quoted the Variety Bandbox comedian, Reg. Dixon, and Ted Ray, of Ray’s a Laugh. As a matter of fact, Dixon took lessons and was singing with a dance band a good many years before he became proper poorly. He is also something of a song writer. He thinks out a melody while working on his farm (most comedians seem to have farms), or driving, along a country road, and if he can remember it in the morning, he~feels it’s worth ;

jotting down. As for Ted Ray, his ‘comedy is so good that departures | from the spoken word come as a dis-

: Still, if that’s the way he wants it (so does * the _ studio audience, judging by the applause) IL suppose we can put up with a temporrily vocal Ted. ~ Fortunately, comedians rarely attempt the crooning technique in which there is a low moan

like a fog-buoy, complete with shuddering vibrato at the end of each phrase.

DEVASTATING SCHOOLGIRL

*« NTIL she produced Monica, the schoolgirl in Variety Bandbox, who leaves devastation in her wake, Beryl Reid was just another radio comedienne. Today, her "Jolly hockey stick"

and "Absolute terminus" are public catch phrases. Beryl Reid says _ that

Monica is a mixture of all the schoolgirls she ever met. For her radio work she turns up at the studio in full Monica rig-gym_ skirt, blouse and school tie. Most of her scripts are written for her by Ronnie Wolfe, but it’s Beryl who translates them into Monica-ese. +

FATE WORSE THAN DEATH

You see the remote country lending libraries stuffed full of the poor forgotten ghosts- Florence Barclays and Israel Zangwills, and C. N. and A. M. Williamsons; and the stalwarts

of my own youthLeonard Merrick, William J. Locke, Michael Arlen-who reads The

Green Hat now? And how long since you even thought about A. S. M. Hutchinson’s record-breaking best seller If Winter Comes? However, better fade into the gentle oblivion of the country library than meet a fate far worse than death at the hands of the Hollywood scenario writers-From an NZBS Book Shop programme.

MAISIE AT THE ZBs

"[ HE dizzy (but not so silly) blonde ‘who plays the leading role in the M-G-M Radio Attractions show, The Adventures of Maisie (1ZB, 2ZB and 3ZB, 7.0 p.m. on Tuesdays, and start- . ing at 4ZB on May 12), is Ann Sothern,

the hlm star. Mer first "Maisie" picture was so successful that she was engaged on a long-term

contract to make one "Maisie" film a year. Born in Valley City, North Dakota, she is the daughter of Annette Lake, a concert singer, and Walter Lake, a produce broker. She gets nearer to permanent fame as the granddaughter of Simon Lake, one of the early experimenters with the submarine. The family moved to Minneapolis early jn her childhood? and she attended public schools there, winning first honours for original music composition at the

Central High School. She was sent to school in. Detroit on a music scholarship, and then attended the University of Washington in Seattle for two years. During summer she went on concert tours with her mother. Hollywood was on the itinerary, and she attracted the eye of the late Paul Bern (producer). Then, when Florenz Ziegfeld saw her in a screen skit, he asked her to appear

in one of his New York productions. Naturally she agreed, and Ann Sothern rose rapidly from the "pony chorus" and appeared in many stage shows and films. It was when she sought determinedly for character parts that she became a star. The Adventures of Maisie was written by Arthur Phillips. and produced. by Raymond Katz. The music was composed by Harry Zimmerman.