Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 739, 11 September 1953, Page 24

Open Microphone

--_ NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By

Swarf

INCE well before the war BBC Palace of Varieties has been turning the clock back to the days when music hall was a convivial and full-blooded entertainment. This hearty radio show has been produced from the beginning by Ernest Longstaffe, and now another selection of his programmes, recorded on transcriptions for listeners overseas, is going the rounds of National stations of the NZBS. The artists who take part are all experts at putting over a song and making an audience feel at home, and, as always, the kingpin of the whole affair is the Chairman. There have been several wielders of the gavel since Nosmo King presided over the earlier programmes, and the present incumbent, Rob Currie, is keeping up the tradition. Like his predecessors, he appears for the broadcasts in rubicund make-up and an expanse of glazed shirtfront; his voice is mellifluous and his manner blends bonhomie with dignity; He is ever ready to oblige with a number when called upon; and he engages with relish in any verbal give and take that may arise with members of the audience. Something like 15 years is a tipe age for a radio show, but Palace of Varieties is still thriving, *

AUSTRALIAN ACTOR'S SUCCESS

\ HEN he was in New Zealand at the .beginning of this year Ian Mackay, formerly of the Commercial Division of the NZBS, but now with the Macquarie Network, told The Listener that he con-

red Australian radio actors and actresses the

"best in the world." He felt that there would be general agreement with this view. Whatever other people may think, there is one Australian at least who comes to mind as having reached a high place in the profession-John Cazabon, who was considered good enough to appear in Ibsen’s Ghosts, produced by fhe BBC in its World Theatre serfes, and

broadcast last year over NZBS stations. One of The Listener (England) critics praised Cazabon highly for his portrayal of Oswald, on whom the sins of the

father had been visited, John Cazabon takes the part of Lester Potter in the Australian serial Courtship and Marriage, now being broadcast on Thursday and Friday mornings by the four ZB stations. "

MR., NOT MISS

La * [HE solo pianist with ‘Sidney Torch and his Orchestra in one of the programmes in the BBC’s London Studio

Metiodies (now on the rounds of National Stations of the NZRS)

has a Christian name which has led many listeners to the mistaken belief that he is "Miss" and not "Mr." Monia Liter. Liter, Russian-born and _ naturalised

British, left Russia during the Revolution in 1917 and gained his first professional musical experience as a boy in North China, playing with full orchestras, quintets and dance bands. For seven years he led a band of his own at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, and in 1933 he made his first appearance in: England. He owes his special position in entertainment to a complete command of both. straight and swing piano playing. Ronald Chesney, who is heard in another of these programmes, is a brilliant harmonica player who met with sensational: success in 1947 when he gave a mouth-organ recital at the Albert» Hall, London, with a programme that included works by Chopin, Debussy and Offenbach. Sidney Torch became well known through his gramophone records as a cinema organist, Dut since 1945 he has concentrated on conducting his concert orchestra. of 40 players and on composing. * '

DENHAM AS HIMSELF

|F only to ‘prove that Gutenberg did not live in vain,. a new

series of Much-Bind-ing-in-the -Marsh, now being _ broadcast ee

me DHDpv&, finds Miurdoch, Horne and Costa trying to run

a newspaper, with Sam Costa as an acidulous music critic. For the first time Maurice Denham, who has played almost everybody else, will appear as himself.

MAGNIFICENT ILLUSION

BBC phote | KNOW quite a few journalists who have written books. Most of. them have been terrible and their authors have not made a penny from them. On the other hand I’ve met one or two

more fortunate souls ‘who have _ pecked away assiduously at

heir typewriters and have in due course raked in médest fortunes, But they're the exceptions to the rule. By and large, by. the time one has got through recording the daily minutiae, one is not too eager to carry on with any extra-mural endeavour beyond the odd article for a known market. It’s a case of the bawbees in hand being better bait than the bullion in the bush. And if I must bare my innermost ‘secrets, it’s not entirely a case of sloth. That book which might be written some day is a sort of magnificent illusion; it- gives one grandiose dreams; it bolsters the ego; and as long as it remains in the future; it remains good.-From a NZBS Book Shop talk by John Spedding. ahe :

JQOSEMARY ("Come On-a My House") Clooney, whose voice comes into several NZBS programmes, was married recently to Jose Ferrer, actor, producer and’ director of stage and screen, at Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.