Anna Russell's Satire
\ AS it funny or was it a feast for the ‘Philistines? That’s how the question began to frame itself in my mind as I listened to Anna Russel] Sings from 3YA, The point is, I think, that you can laugh at anything; it amounts to laughing at mortality, and keeping a sense of proportion, If it’s done the right way it is fun, not cynicism. I must say I tried to share the amusement of Anna Russell’s rollicking New York audience, who could obviously see a lot of "temperament" denied to radio listeners, but I found myself liking the kind of songs she parodied, and her voice itself. Somé of the puns and play on what purported to be Russian or German were decidedly not at the pinnacle of satire which the whole setting demanded. Miss Russell’s description of the foibles of certain singers was sometimes clever: the operetta waltz style in which the singer had "resonance where her brains ought to be" and the lieder
singer who had "no voice but, great artistry." But I’m not sure the whole thing was the clever satire it set out to
be.
Westcliff
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530904.2.19.1.1
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 738, 4 September 1953, Page 10
Word count
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194Anna Russell's Satire New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 738, 4 September 1953, Page 10
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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