Open Microphone.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 770, 23 April 1954, Page 24

Open Microphone.

, NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By

Swarf

ARK COMBER, who conducts the weekly Sports Review at Station 2XP New Plymouth (7.15 p.m. Fridays) and the Sports Results Session (7.15 p.m. Saturdays) has

been a sporting man since his schooldays. His greatest interest has been in athletics and he has vivid recollections of his association with such famous sportsmen as the miler Randolph Rose, the cyclists Henry and Tom Oakley, and the athletes George Sullivan and Stuart Black. Mark Comber still declares that no personal triumph gave him greater satisfaction than when his protégé Stuart Black won the National 440 yards title in 1932 in record time. Boxing, Rugby, cricket and wrestling are other sports which have had his interest and support. On joining the group of enthusiasts responsible for running the old Station 2YB, Mark Comber conducted the mid-week and Saturday evening sports sessions. Now he has a’ record of more than 35 years of sporting activity. A

TOSCANINI

A. SOUTHEN. (Napier): (1) The * initials NBC stand for National Broadcasting Company. (2) Yes, the ratirament af &27-wearc-

old Arturo Toscanini

Wad GAVE BA YOULL nA or so ago. Toscanini has been conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra for 17 years. (3) I have not been able to find an aswer to your question about Mario Lanza. oe

SHE DID HIM PROUD

ITH Kirsten Flagstad, Helen Traubel and Lauritz’ Melchior departed from the Metropolitan, Wagnerian opera has gone into one of its periodic U.S. declines. Meanwhile, Wagner fans keep their ears peeled for heroic-voiced artists to

build up the schedule again. The latest hope-

ful, according to /ime, is Margaret Harshaw, aged 41, strong enough to brandish a spear handily and with enough stamina to last out a fourhour -opera. She arrived at the Met. in 1942 as a contralto, but eventually became a full-fledged soprano. Not long ago she played the helmeted goddess Brunnhilde in Die Walkure. "What was wonderful," said Olin Downes, of the New York Times, "was the depth and subtlety of her scene with Wotan and the sweeping drama of the ensuing passage with Siegmund." Robert Bagar, of

the World-Telegram and Sun, said: "The lady did herself-as well as Wagnerproud. . . She sprang about with something like approaching the graceful." ol»

RICHARD LEWIS

ow CORRESPONDENT living in Motueka asks for information about the English tenor Richard Lewis. Lewis was born in Manchester in 1914 and as a youth sang in church choirs, at festivals and for the BBC. When hic woice

-- -- tn al he went to

work as a clerk and for four years didn’t sing a note; all his spare time went into studying harmony and counterpoint. Later when his voice settled he won a scholarship and gold medal. After some study under Norman Allin, the famous English bass, Lewis signed on with ENSA and toured military camps and _ outposts. Next he joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company and stayed with them until he was called up for the Armed Forces. He was invited to sing with the Brussels Philharmonic Society, but was sent to Norway a few days before the performance was due. However, Norway had its compensations, for he sang with the Oslo Philharmonic in Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations. His commanding officer gave him leave to visit Belgium, where he sang in Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Magnificat. When he was demobilised in 1946 he was immediately engaged to tour Norway, where he gave 22 concerts. On the more- personal side, Richard Lewis married, in 1943, a smart young Waaf named Mary Lingard, daughter of Joseph Lingard, Professor of the Flute at the Royal Manchester College of Music. Lewis is a fairly heavy tenor, although scarcely of Wagnerian weight. But for the benefit of tenors who might be downcast about their high notes, he points out that he can reach a top C with ease-through constant practising. He is a good tennis player, a sculptor, and painter. ° I can’t tell the correspondent when Lewis is’ likely to be heard in solo work; that is a matter for the programme organisers.

TWO VIOLINISTS

A YOUNG VIOLIN STUDENT" (Mokotua, Invercargill) says he would be grateful for information about Hans Wessely and Niccolo Paganini. There’s not much I can tell him about Wessely excevt what Oscar OP nannies: than thm

se eee? SS, | say, and that is

short. Wessely was born in Vienna in 1862 and died at Innsbruck in 1926. After studying at the Vienna Conservatory under J. M. Grun he made his debut in Vienna in 1883. Then he toured Europe and appeared in England at the Crystal Palace in 1888. In 1889 he became a professor at. the Royal Academy of Music. He published A Practical Guide to Violin Playing and a Comprehensive Scale Manual. Paganini was born in Genoa and died at Nice in 1840, aged 58. His fatheran amateur-taught him and ruled him with a rod of iron. At 13 he made his first tour, after which he concentrated on composing difficult pieces for his instrument. He left the atmosphere of severe discipline at his home and stayed away for some years. So fond was he of gambling that his greatly-prized

Guarnerius he owed to a French merchant who lent it to him for a concert when he had pawned his own fiddle to meet card debts. After hearing him play the merchant insisted on his keeping it, as he felt he could never presume to play it again. Paganini so carefully guarded his technical secrets that he published only a few of his compositions. Sorry, no illustrations are available. pe \S

NINE O’CLOCK NEWS

ow \ ;-VERY evening, all over New Zea-~ land, people listen to the 9 o’clock News. The principal reader is Ernest Le Grove (pictured below), whose voice has been heard from all the YA and YZ stations on four nights a week for the last twelve years. Long experience as an actor and producer has fitted him well for this job, although in no sense

1s 1t a theatrical one, for the News must be delivered Soberly, u _unee en a |

PAMVUVUMay gailg s4actually. "It must not be coloured by any voice inflexions that might arise from personal feeling or perhaps excitement," he told me the other day. "And, while you’re reading the News you have no politics." The reader is not, as quite a few people seem to think, in any way responsible for the construction or content of the News. But he has an opportunity of studying it before he. goes on the air. Therefore, he generally knows beforehand what he is going to read. However, when an urgent news flash comes in it is placed before the reader, who includes it immediately after the item. then being dealt with. "One of the main concerns of a news reader is with the pronunciation of the names of people and places,’ Mr. Le Grove said. "During the last war Polish and Russian names kept cropping up. I found that they fell into a sort: of pattern and after some experience I managed fairly well. In fact, a woman who had been a governess in Russia asked me how long it was since I’d been there." All this sort of thing creates a certain amount of tension for which there must be relief. It came one night to Mr. Le Grove at a critical moment. He was afflicted with an uncontrollable desire to cough. "I jabbed my finger in the direction of the ‘off’ button," he said, "and let go a terrific and satisfying blast. But I had pressed

the wrong switch and the listeners heard an explosion which sounded like anything but a cough." Radio once got Ernest Le Grove teimporarily into close contact with the police. He and some others were broadcasting a play from the studios in Waring Taylor Street, Wellington, and they had to produce the sound of revolvers being fired. After several experiments the most authentic effect was obtained by clambering out on the window ledge and firing a starting pistol. Not many blanks had been fired before, p"from information received," inhabitants of the Central Police Station were "proceeding to the scene." The station is only a few doors away in the same street. : Mr. Le Grove, who has produced for the Wellington Repertory Society and other amateur theatrical concerns, works with the Navy Department. He is married and lives in Kelburn, Wellington. os

PETER COOPER FOR AFRICA

7 ETER COOPER, the New Zealand pianist, who returned from England last year to make a tour of New Zealand, has arrived back in

London. Already he has given several

concerts in the North. Cooper intends to visit South Africa. in May for the SABC. *

MILLER'S MEN

"GLENN MILLER FAN" (Wellington) wants details about some of the members of Glenn Miller’s Orchestra. This orchestra, now defunct (I preb sume the correspondent refers to the Army group) was

considered one of the

greatest of all AMEeTIcan dance bands. Its members were recruited from all over the United States by the U.S. Army. One of the foremost players was Ray McKinley, drummer, whose technique is especially noteworthy in Jerry Gray’s arrangement of the Anvil Chorus. Ever since he was five years old McKinley gave his mother little peace because of his drumming on her pots and pans at every opportunity. In 1926 he struck up a friendship with Ben Pollack, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and others, and from. then } on met with success after success. Other

well-known instrumentalists with the Miller band were "Peanuts" MHucko, who was the featured clarinet player, Me! Powell and Jerry Gray (arranger). When Miller was reported missing and presumed to have been killed on active service while with the Army Air Corps, Gray took over the conducting of most of the programmes. In spite of at least a dozen so-called "Miller-styled" orchestras, the sounds and style have remained peculiar to Miller-led orchestras. -_

a "BATON" (Wairoa) writes: "Can you. tell me how long the title of Master of the King’s/Queen’s Music has been in existence?" Since 1626, when the honour was first conferred upon Nicholas Lanier by King Charles I. Sir Arthur Bliss, who for some years was Head of BBC Music, is now Master of the Queen's Musick in succession to Sir Arnold Bax, who died last October. The office has become in a, sense the musical equivalent of the Poet Laureate. +

GETTING DOWN TO IT

K ATHLEEN REARDON, Auckland mezzo-soprano, will leave for London in June to begin a two years’ Government hurc«-

ary | in _ singing. She holds a Fellowship

ot irinity College and L.R.S.M., and was a winner of the Walter Kirby Scholarship in singing at Auckland University College. She will travel by air and will spend 17 days in the United States. "On arrival," she said the other day, "I am just going to get right down to learning to sing." Miss Reardon, who already has a high reputation as a radio singer, is now being heard from 1YC in a series of oun ~~ an at

four studio recitals, broadcast on Wednesdays at 8.0 p.m. These programmes may later be heard from other YC stations. Her principal enthusiasm, she says, ‘is for lieder singing. *

CARPENTER TURNED COMEDIAN

MAx BYGRAVES is a. 30-years-old carpenter turned comedian, who took his first professional job in a Jack Payne revue

about seven years ago witn

anotner unknown called Frankie Howerd. Bygraves has topped the bill at the Palladium and earned himself a regular place in Educating Archie, which starts at the four YA stations on May 8. ee Ve