Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 771, 30 April 1954, Page 24

Open Microphone

NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD,

By

Swarf

that money?" seemed to be the first thing to ask Bruce Henderson when he mentioned casually the other day that he had just got back to New Zealand after 15 months’ leave spent roaming about Britain, Denmark, Sweden, "He did you save up all

Norway, Holland, Western Germany, France, Belgium, Spain and Italy. He replied, simply, "By austere living and remaining a bachelor." Mr. Henderson; Operations Engineer, Head Office, NZBS, who has been engaged in New Zealand radio since 1929, knew that his colleagues back at home would be bound to ask a lot of technical questions about broadcasting overseas, ‘so he made tape recordings of his impressions at almost every radio station he visited, and posted the tapés back to New Zealand. "In most European countries broadcasting is very well organised," he said, "but conditions in Spain are a little peculiar. Radio music there seems to have the quality of the old tin horn gramophone. Spain produces local programmes in the same way as we do here, whereas most of the other places I visited have only two or three programmes for the whole country. After my travels I have come to the conclusion that the technical standards of broadcasting in New Zealand are on a per with the best overseas; and so is our equipment, which in some cases is even better. "IT made a study of microphone placing for symphony orchestras, and was interested to find that there is an even wider difference of opinion overseas than in New Zealand. In some countries they place the microphone half-way down the hall; in others there are several close up to the players. The idea of perfect placing seems to be simply a matter of personal opinion." Bruce Henderson said that in Western Germany radio organisation was most thorough. The Germans had more frequency modulation stations than any other country, and people with F.M. receivers were able to get programmes free from. any interference. In Europe there were so many stations on the broadcast band that interference was terrific. As to television, the BBC technique led all the countries he visited. Apparently Mr. MHenderson’s selfimposed regimen of austerity living did not survive the whole tour, for he spoke, a little wistfully, I thought, of

the great variety of foods obtainable in England at generally reasonable prices. And in Spain he treated himself to a soupcon of octopus and snail stew"very nice’-as well as a dish called sea-rings, made from the tentacles of squids-"quite nice, if a thought tough." He returned to New Zealand as he left -a single man.

YARN SPINNER

ALEC YOUNG (Lower Hutt): Sorry "" I have Mot been able to get hold of a picture of Captain Billy Howes

(Spin a Yarn, Sailor, the four ZB stations, 8.30 p.m. on Satur-

days), but here is a little information about him. ; As a youngster Howes had _ ideas about the sea and the stage, and at 13 he decided to go to sea; he sailed on a square-rigged ship plying between England and Australian ports. One of the yarns somebody else has spun about the Captain concerns some sea story broadcasts he heard in South Africa. He was not impressed. Striding into the broadcasting studio .he declared, "I’ve drunk more salt water than that fellow ever sailed on!" Spin a Yarn, Sailor, was made at 2UE Sydney. »

STAR TRUMPETER

(CHET BAKER, who had a surprising win over Dizzy Gillespie and Harry James in Down Beat’s 1953 popularity poll (and who is heard in the jazz series current at Station 2YD), made his record debut in September, 1952, with

the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. Cries of "another Rix"

and "another Bunny" | were sounded. . He was born in Yale, Oklahoma, 24 years ago. His family moved to California when he was ten. At school he played the trumpet in the marching band and the dance orchestra. Drafted in 1946, he was sent to Berlin with the 298th Army Band. Discharged two years later, he began to study theory and harmony at El Camino College in Los Angeles. Ten months in San Francisco gave

Baker the opportunity of playing in various sessions which started him in jazz music. From his past concert band experience he brought a tone and conception uninfluenced by the jazz stylists _of the past. a

EXCELSIOR!

os SIR JOHN ELLIOTT (chairman of the London Transport Board) has, according to an English newspaper,

predicted another rise in London ttrain§ and bus fares because of °

Television. "People are sitting home irf the evenings to watch TV instead going out," he is reported to have said» J i.

"FUNNIEST YET"

a ICTOR BORGE, Danish born pianist who does with his piano more or less what Anna Russell does with her voice, presents a one-man show of

wit and musicianship. Recently he moved | the New

York Jimes to call him the "funniest entertainer in the world," i.e., United States. This man, who does not appear to have made very many recordings, starts his act with a flourish of coat tails and dive-bombs the keyboard, aping the mannerisms of some _ concert pianists. Another of his drolleries is to rock back on the piano stool and laugh uproariously after he has tricked the audience into thinking he will hit a crashing chord, but ‘hits none at all. os

HERO OF PARIS

ULIUS KATCHEN, aged 27, became? the musical hero of Paris last mon when 2000 people filled the Theat des Champs-Elysees to hear his programme of Brahms, Schumann, Chopin

and Liszt. At the end they crowded round him, asking for

more. The critic of Paris-Presse called the performance "a miracle of faith and fervour"; Time called Katchen one of the best of all pianists living today. Son

of a pianist mother and amateur violinist father, he made his debut at 11 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is said to be considering a tour of Australia, Egypt and Turkey. >

NEW. GIRL

"| HE stage career of June Whitfield, one of the two new girls in the new TIFH (not yet broadcast here), has been based on the belief that it pays to try anything once. When a youngster.

she was trained as a dancer; then she went to the Royal Academy of

Dramatic Art and showed a talent for character acting which earned her the Gertrude Lawrence prize. In between playing straight parts she appeared twice as a pantomime Cinderella and understudied the lead in a tour of The Desert Song. A_ slim blonde, she is single and lives with her parents in a London flat. "When I heard that Joy Nichols had left the team of TIFH," she told the Radio Times, "I vaguely thought I'd. ring up and ask for &n audi-

tion. Before I could do anything about it Muir and Norden, the scriptwriters, rang me and that’s how I got the job... Alma Cogan is the singer; I’m the one who does the voices."

BAND LEADER AND VOCALIST

* \VICKI ‘ANDERSON (Opotiki) asks for information about Ray Anthony and June Christy. Ray Anthony, born in 1922, was with

the big swing bands of Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey, and while in the Navy

during the Second World War he led his own band, playing at such places as

Okinawa, Guam and Midway. In 1946 he organised his own jazz band and since then he has progressed swiftly, both as a band leader and composer. Anthony’s band came _ second in the Down Beat poll of last year. June Christy, aged 28, and born in Illinois, was named Shirley Luster until 1945, when she became a singer with Stan Kenton’s Orchestra (featured currently in the series Down Beat Poll Winners of 1953, Station 2YD). In 1947 she started appearing as a single act in leading night clubs, and this precipi-

tated a recording contract which brought about the release of some of her best work.

VERSATILE ACTRESS

6 \ ARGARET LEIGHTON, who played Natalya Petrovna in. Turgenev’s A Month in the Country {heard recently by YC tisteners) joined the Birmingham Repertory Company in

1938 and travelled round with them un-

é til they returned to Birmingham in 1940. Four years later she joined the Old Vic Company at the New Theatre, London, remaining with them until 1947, She has appeared in many London plays, including The Philadelphia Story at the Duchess Theatre in 1950, and The Cocktail Party at the new theatre the same year. Her first broadcast was with the Old Vic Company during the 1944 season, and she subsequently played important roles in The Trojan Women and in Hassan. Her first television appearance was early in 1947 in Everyman. js

OUT OF THE BOX

A M. JOHNSON (Christchurch) writes ""* that many years ego he heard a voung Scottish singer, William Heug-

han, who told his audience that he would be coming

round again in a little box, meaning re-

cords. "Nobody," says the correspondent, "has heard of him since. Could you throw any light on the mystery?" Heughan, according to an old concert programme, visited New Zealand during a world tour in 1928-30. On a previous tour he travelled upwards

of 100,000 miles, giving 600 recitals. He wore, Highland dress on the stage and was often asked why; it was suggested that such a dress was incongruous on a concert platform. Here is what the programme had to say about it: "Those who are of this opinion apparently overlook the fact that correct Highland dress is legitimate evening attire and cannot, as some suppose, be regarded as fancy dress." I have been unable to find out anything about Heughan’s movements since his New Zealand tour. Perhaps some reader can help.