Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 766, 26 March 1954, Page 28

Open Microphone

NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By

Swarf

4 HERE you are, you see; to" keep alive you’ve got to keep alert," said Harry Botham with a grin as he left The Listener office the other ‘morning. His politeness in including the

whole staff in a Goodbye had led him into a near miss with the knob of an awkwardly placed door. The grin was because Harry Botham is a Safety Consultant. This cheerful, interesting expert on matters closely affecting every man, woman and child has been concerned with Safety all his life and he has reached the age of 44 with only one accident to himself-an ear injury acquired in an air raid on London during World War II. Here, first of all, are some of the appointments Mr. Botham held in Great Britain before coming to New Zealand four years ago: H.M. Inspector of Factories, Safety Engineer for Miles Aircraft Ltd. with 5000 employees, Technical Officer for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents; member of the Institution of Industrial Safety Officers, the Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, and the Institution of Engineering Inspection. He is an Associate Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management, and other appointments include those of New Zealand Technical Advisory Officer (Division of Occupational Health, Department of Labour) and Industrial Safety Officer (Department of Labour). Today he is mainly occupied with Dominion-wide safety surveys and promotional work on safety and health. He is manager of the National Safety Association of New Zealand which is conducting a campaign through the YA and ZB stations. Harry Botham was educated at the Duke of York’s Royal Military School and then followed four years’ service in the Royal Artillery. He held an instrumental scholarship (double-bass) at Trinity College of Music and for some years after that was a_ professional musician. "How did you come to take up public safety research?" I asked. "As a voluntary worker in the British Red Cross Society I handled numerous casualties. I asked myself, Why all this pain, suffering and blood? That led me eventually into the field of industrial accident prevention." Harry Botham has three children, all girls, Two are with him and his wife in"

New Zealand, and the other is in England. "The family discusses all sorts. of safety questions with me and my wife sometimes accompanies me on inquiries. They’ve got the habit of looking for potential dangers-simple things such as a tack sticking up from the floor or a bit of curled lino-and they make sure that I put them right. They follow, too, the various other safety activities now being carried out in New Zealand," he said. Safety is a very personal thing to Harry Botham. "It should be as much a habit as shaving; everyone should be his own safety officer." Life-saving is, appropriately, one of Mr. Botham’s hobbies, and summer sees him now and then in cricket whites. He is a double-bass player in the Wellington Studio Orchestra and on occasions he deputises for the regular conductor, Terry Vaughan.

CRAWLY

"(GOPHER" (Highfield, Timaru), asks: "What is ‘The Creep?’" "The Creep" is a form of ballroom dancing ' popular in certain parts of England (and

perhaps’ elsewhere) just now. From published photographs I

have seen, its male participants appear to be long-haired youths wearing drape jackets and Edwardian pipe-stem trousers. The females don’t seem to- affect any particular uniform. The name comes, presumably from the fact that the steps consist of just shuffling or creeping round the dance floor. +

FLYING FINGERS

‘G M.V." (Christchurch) asks for in‘formation about two pianists, Winifred Atwell and "Joe Fingers Carr." Seven years ago Winifred Atwell left her native Trinidad for England to complete her studies at the Royal Academy of Music. She intended to continue a

Career on the concert platform, but engagements were

hard to get. Suddenly she was called on to take the place of a variety star at a charity concert. She offered her own variety turn and was an immediate success. Since’then she has shown that he can play the classics as well as

popular music and that she has an attrac. tive singing voice. Her father was a chemist, and she, also, has a degree in the subject. Although .music now takes up all her time she finds her training in pharmacy still handy; and when minor mishaps occur in the theatre, she makes skilful use of her first-aid box. All I’ve been able to, discover about "Joe Fingers Carr" is that that is the nom-de-plume of Lou Busch who is‘ married to the American vocalist Margaret Whiting. Busch hails from Louisville, Kentucky, and he started out wit Clive McCoy; later he became chi arranger and pianist with the Hal Kent Band. Mr. and Mrs. Busch live at Beverly Hills, California, and they have one daughter, Deborah Louise. YS

SINGING POLICEMAN

Let a A.J.G." (Arthur’s Pass): The photo"graph you saw in The Listener of February 19 was one of Jan Peerce, as stated, and he is, as you say, not unlike Robert Merrill. I can find no record of Peerce having died. Josef Locke was born in Londonderry 36° years ago, one of a family of ten.

AriItTnougnh he sang in a church choir. none of

the members realised that in their midst they nurtured a prodigy. When he was 16 he added a couple of years and joined the Irish Guards. Then he volunteered for the Palestine Police. After that he returned to his native Derry and joind the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He kept on singing and soon became know as the Singing Bobby. In Belfast one da he saw a notice outside a theatre announcing that auditions were being held. He looked carefully to the right and to the left. Everything was quiet and lawabiding, so in he popped. A quarter of an hour later he emerged with his first contract in his pocket. Locke decided to make singing his career. At one show he sang for 35 minutes. Two of his songs were in complete contrast; one was "On With the Motley" from Pagliacci and the other the bedtime song of Christopher Robin. He is exuberant, friendly, and easy-going, and his happy-go-lucky

informality and the characteristic lilt of his tenor voice are unmistakable. pointers to the country of his origin. | Information about Ferruccio Tagliavini was published in these columns on March 12. *

WHIRL WITH BURL

"T SAW the burly Burl Ives when he visited New Zealand two years ago," writes "Emma" (Greymouth), "and I was amazed that such a light voice should come out of such a heavy frame. But I. enjoyed his songs. Can you tell me what he is doing now?" According to the latest BBC Bulletin Ives visited Scotland ‘recently. With the

Scottish Junior Singers and their conductor Agnes

Duncan, he went to a ward in a Glasgow children’s hospital and entertained the small patients to a programme of song. That programme "A Whirl With Burl" was recorded by the BBC in the hospital, Eastpark Home, at Maryhill, and was presented in the General Overseas Service on March 14. The producer, Archie Lee, said that when the programme was i ee ee, Be ee ee eee

recorded the patients gathered round the microphone close to Burl Ives, who sat informally on a table and spoke and sang to them. "The patients," said Lee, "knew quite a number of Burl’s songs, and indeed surprised him by suddenly bursting into a song he had almost forgotten, although he himself had composed it about ten years ago." *

MUSETTE ORCHESTRA

"(GLAHE FAN" (Herne Bay, Auckland): Will Glahe has made a large yumber of recordings, many of which are

not yet available outside the Continent. His Musette Orchestra’s re-

cording of "Beer Barrel 2olka" first appeared in the catalogues vefore World War II and it is still included. The combination is recording currently and some _ long- playing discs have been issued. Yes, Glahe is said to be highly esteemed on the Continent.

CARUSO’S CROWN

¥* ‘()PERA AND OTHERWISE" (Onehunga, Auckland): When Caruso died in 1921, operatic tenors all over the world started trying on his. musical crown for size. The latest aspirant seems to have been Mario Lanza, who announced, after his film The Great Caruso, that he thought he had surpassed Enrico.

Not many of the critics shared his enthusiasm. But

‘according to some of the earlier critics, the man whose voice had come nearest to Caruso’s was Giovanni Martinelli. Son of a cabinetmaker, Martinelli was born in 1885 at Montagnana, near Venice. He became well known at first as a clarinet player. At the age of 20 he was called up for military service, which consisted of playing in the Regimental Band. Sometimes the band members held little concerts among themselves, and one day, when Martinelli had just finished singing, the bandmaster inquired who the singer was. He arranged for Martinelli to sing at the homes of some influential people. An anonymous patron paid for tuition, and he made his debut at Milan in 1910 in Rossini’s Stabat Mater. Two weeks later he sang in Verdi’s Ernani, but nervousness overcame him; he forgot his words, got tangled up with his sword, and made a poor showing as an ME EE OO es ey eg ee ee AAS ee TS ee

actor. However, the audience liked him. He became a firm favourite at Covent Garden, and later was with the New York Metropolitan Opera for 36 years. When he left the Met. he took up i 29 ing in New York. I am inquiring about the boy singer, Joe Petersen. oe

JOURNEY TO MUSIC

BBC programme, Sleigh Ride, described as a journey into melody for the festive season, and which takes listeners round the world in company with Pearl Carr, Denis Martin and Robert Farnon and his Orchestra, is now going the rounds of the main National and Commercial stations. Pearl Carr, a Devonshire girl, was one of "Mr. Cochran’s Young Ladies."

She sang to the Forces’ in the Far East and then toured with Cyril Stapleton’s

Orchestra. She has been a leading member of several singing combinations, notably The Keynotes, and in several seasons’ of Bedtime With Braden and Take It From Here. Once she deputised at a few hours’ notice for Joy Nichols and showed that she can be funny as well as tuneful. Denis Martin has made a name for himself in musical shows ranging from Coward’s Pacific 1860 and Novyello’s King’s Rhapsody to intimate revue. Robert Farnon was born into a musical family in Canada; his father was a violinist and singer and his mother was a concert pianist. Young Robert began his musical education at seven, and by the time he was 11 he was playing professionally in a juvenile orchestra. At 17 he settled down to a serious study of barmony, counterpoint and theory. The CBC gave him a job of writing incidental music for documentaries, and for five years he was arranger and conductor for the CBC. He wrote his first symphony when he was 21 and now he has an impressive number of major works to his credit. Farnon joined the Canadian Army in 1943 and became musical director of the Canadian Army Show, conducted the Canadian Band of the A.E.F. and composed most of the music for it. He has been prominent in British broadcasting since the war. * "M S.A.D." (Wellington): Your letter ‘is unsigned.