Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 752, 11 December 1953, Page 28

Open Microphone

NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By .

Swarf

ce OULD you please publish some biographical notes on Frank Loesser?" asks "Ten-Twenty" (Palmerston North). "All I know- about him is that he wrote the words and music for .such shows as Where's Charley? Hans Christian Andersen and Guys and Dolls." First of all, "Ten-Twenty," if you've been bothered by the pronunciation of this composer’s name, its "Lesser." He visited London recently for the opening at the Coliseum of his big Broadway success, Guys and Dolls. There are not many people who can write stage and screen scores in their entirety-lyrics and melodies; they can probably be counted on two hands, with some fingers over. Among them are Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Noel Coward and Frank Loesser. Forty-two years old, Loesser has written a, lot in recent years. His songs include Danny Kaye’s "Bloop, Bleep"; then there are "Two Sleepy People," "Small Fry," "Heart and Soul," "I Don’t Want to Walk Without You," "Baby, It’s Cold Outside," "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle,’ "In My Arms," and "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" (based on a true story concerning an Army chaplain). His first opportunity came when he "was studying at the College of the City of New York and the student body made use of his talents in its amateur theatrical productions. At that time, however, he had no thought of song writing as a full-time job, and went to work as a newspaper reporter. Later the cal] of the theatre became’ irresistible, and many a vaudeville bill announced "Frank Loesser-Singer, Pianist, Caricaturist." He tried Hollywood and his first movie success was Moon of Manakoora,

written for Dorothy Lamour. With Manning Sherwin he wrote "I Fall in Love With You Every Day," before Sherwin went to London ‘to score a success with "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square." By way of recreation Loesser makes fine furniture and paints pictures, "and I dispense spurious psychiatry at my unfortunate friends,’ he says. One night he was singing his songs in a night club when a pretty girl named Lynn Garland arrived, heavily escorted. She attended the show every night for a fortnight. "Now we've been married 17 years," says Loesser, "and she’s my best critic." Pr

DANCE NIGHT

TATION 2YA’s Saturday night dance programme, Make Believe Ballroom Time, will be broadcast on link from

1YA as from December 19. Station 2YA’s

dance session hours are Site 9.30 p.m. to 11.0 p.m. 1YA’s hours will be from 10,0 p.m. until 11.0 p.m. =

THE CONSERVATIVES ’ SCOFFED

NFORMATION about Stan Kenton, a leading American exponent of "progressive" jaz2, is sought by V. Anderson, of Opotiki. (Progressive jazz, by

the way, is jazz that has broken with its traditional forms

and is seeking new means of expression.) Kenton, who is ngw entering his 14th _ year as a band leader, was born on a farm near Wichita, Kansas, and moved to California with his family when he

was five years old. While he was still a youngster his parents insisted that he take piano lessons, but the boy was far from happy about it. "I was not a child prodigy," he has said. "In fact, I wasn’t even interested in music until I was about 14. My mother gave me my first piano lessons, but I preferred baseball ef

to practising. Then one day I heard Earl Hines play the piano and from that time I couldn’t practise enough." After school days Kenton went through a rigorous apprenticeship play-# ing in small bands all over the country and studying every book on arranging he could find. Later his ideas on modern music began to take form. He said: "Then I became aware of the stagnant state of popular music. Everything seemed to be ground out by the same old formula." Thus the Stan Kenton Band ‘came into being. Musica] conservatives scoffed. But larger and larger audiences attended his concerts. Kinder critics said that jazz had not died with the original Dixieland Band and that Kenton was making an important contribution by exploring ways in which the elements of jazz could better be used by composers of more profound conceptions. * ,

OLD SONGS OF JAMAICA

N Jamaica, when a person dies, a function is held to cheer up the relatives. It takes place out of doors-in any convenient yard-and it is called a "dinky." People laugh and dance with complete abandon, and the fun goes on for eight days. "Dinkies" are heard in

a BBC programme of Jamaican folk songs now going the rounds of the National

stations. Louise Bennett, a Jamaican whose activities as a social worker took her to remote districts of the island, sings several "dinky" songs. Then there are "mentos,’ which resemble-in some respects the calypso of Trinidad, and deal with topical subjects which can vary from international news to local gossip. One example which Louise Bennett sings is. "Dry Weather Houses." This shows that the bad landlord seems

to be just as much of a problem in the island of oranges and rum as anywhere else. She also reveals that one of her most fruitful sources of traditional tunes was e digging match. When a Jamaican igs, he must sing and a special singerman has to be employed to start the © tune while the rest of the gang join in the chorus in rhythm with their work. She gives examples, too, of the songs of the poccomaniacs. Poccomania means "little madness," and is a religion that ~ has existed for centuries in Jamaica, It is based on Christianity, but is outlawed because of the dangerous emotional frenzy into. which members work themselves during meetings. Louise Bennett is accompanied by Cy. Grant, of British Guiana, who has made a name for himself as a singer of West Indian melodies, to his guitar. Grant gave up ideas of a law career to become an actor and singer. re

THROUGH A WOMAN’S EYES

TINA EPTON, who describes the Republic of Indonesia in a BBC talk called Islands of the Sunbird, is the daughter of a Scottish father and a Spanish mother. She was born in London and educated in Paris. In 1940 she reached England in one of the last boats mto leave France with British résidents,

and joined the Lan Army. The first radio script she wrote, about life in the Land

Army, was accepted by the BBC North American Service. When it was discovered that she spoke and wrote French she was invited to contribute scripts to the BBC’s’ French-Canadian programmes. At that time there was a French-Canadian radio team working for the BBC in London, and when they went back to Canada she took over the programme. Now she divides her time between producing French Canadian programmes for the BBC and travelling

abroad in search of material for books. Islands of the Sunbird (now going the rounds of the National stations), is about Java, Sumatra, the Spice Islands, Bali, and about 4000 others. It not only gives impressions of the Indonesians at work, but memories of them in their leisure hours in the form of recordings of music and songs. Se

VERY VOCAL, I'M SURE

-_ ‘KF "TILL" (Ashburton) writes: "How many voices is Maurice Denham able to use in his BBC shows?" *

He is reputed to have command of over

62 different accents, and to amuse himself occasionally by using some of them when answering his private telephone. *

i "GIVE ‘EM THE THE MONEY"

RECENTLY Wilfred Pickles, of BBC Have a Go! and Can I Come In? fame, fulfilled a 21-year-old vow. In the London Gazette appeared a notice that all debts of "Pickles, Fred, of Leamington Road, Ainsdale, Lancashire, and Pickles, Wilfred, of Staveley Road,

Ainsdale, carrying on business as Fred Pickles and Son, build-

ers, had been paid . in full. When a notice of intended dividend was announced in the London Gazette earlier, Pickles explained (says. The Times); "In 1932 I was a partner with my father in a building business. The business failed during the depression and my father and I were left with a number of creditors. I made a vow

that, no matter how long it took me, I would pay off the lot-not just, my share, but my father’s as well-plus full interest at 4 per cent a year. My wife and I worked for years, putting aside every penny we could. On top of the original money I have paid compound interest totalling 88 per cent."