Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 787, 20 August 1954, Unnumbered Page

Open Microphone

MNEWS OF BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD

OU might expect the amibitions of a successful and rising singer to be bounded by the bright lights and the broadcasting studio, but when an Open Microphone reporter talked to Pauline Ashby the other day it was discovered that one of her big interests is social work. Right now she’s working as a typist with a big Petone firm, but she still hopes she may find her way into some sort of welfare work-perhaps, by way of her interest in Maori and the Maoris, into Maori welfare work. "I wanted to get a job with UNRRA, but I was too young for that," she said. "T've always been interested in ‘that sort of thing. When I was in Korea early last year I saw something of the problem ‘of homeless refugees and children, and I would have liked to get into a job where I could help them." One thing Miss Ashby did at that time was visit the graves of New Zealanders killed in the fighting in Korea, and . write to their next-of-kin when she re- ’ turned to New Zealand. "I would like very much to work with young people," she said. "I did a little coaching with sport at my old school in Petone when I was working full time at the Cabaret, and I enjoyed that very much." Another of her interests is a Maritime Club, where for a number of years she has helped as a hostess with the. entertaining of crews of visiting ships. Miss Ashby, who is being heard in several of the Henry Rudolph programmes, With a Smile and a Song,

which the YA stations are broadcasting eon Wednesday nights, was born and has lived all her life in Petone. She started singing first with small bands, both in Wellington and the Hutt Valley. Her first big job was at the Majestic Cabaret, in Wellington, where, for about 18 months, she sang three nights a week and at times every night of the week. Broadcasts from the cabaret also gave her her first experience in radio work. Since then she has done a variety of work both on and off the air. Her association with Henry Rudolph shows goes back two and a half years, and just now she is kept busy with rehearsals three nights a week for the coming- Wellington production of The Desert Song, with Mr. Rudolph as musical director. Much camp concert work at Linton made Pauline Ashby a specially suitable choice for the second Korea Concert Party, which went away about 18 months ago. "Yes, it was a very interesting trip," she agreed. "But it was no pleasure jaunt-we all worked very hard." She was pleased to find that her Maori numbers were well received by Maori servicemen in Korea, and since this has been her experience also with these numbers elsewhere, she is now giving more attention to her Maori work and is learning the language. "I learned the basis of my Maori singing at the Ngati Poneke Club with the late Kingi Tahiwi," she told us. : In such spare time as she has Miss Ashby enjoys the outdoor life, which for her includes skiing at Ruapehu. Had she any other ambitions? She laughed at that one. "Well, I’d have liked to be a dramatic soprano," she said, "but I'm a contralto, so I can’t do much about it, can I?" x

CURTAIN CALL

T all started in 1948. Station 2YZ, looking round for new ideas, decided to start a monthly variety show by local artists, with audience participation. There was nothing unique in the idea, but it was new for Hawke’s Bay, and

from the very first Curtain Call "caught on," both with listeners and

audiences. in the Studio. To begin with, the programme lasted thirty minutes, but soon there was a demand for more, and so the show was extended to one hour. From the Studio.

it was just a step to a theatre performance, and Curtain Call made its first bow before the footlights on October 1, 1949, in the Napier Municipal Theatre -to a full house. That performance assured the future of the show, and so besides the monthly Studio programme, there has been a full dress show in the theatre each year, with an aggregate profit of £1216, which has been passed on to various worthy causes. So far, all these performances have been held in Napier, but on August 28 the show will be presented in Hastings. Station 2YZ,. has invited Jean MacPherson (vocalist) and Norm Cummings (piano) to come up from Wellington, as guest artists, and they will be heard with the best of Hawke’s Bay entertainers, The programme will be broadcast by Station 2YZ, beginning at 8.0 p.m. > 2

aA M ARGARET ISAAC has been 2ZA’s Shopping Reporter since the session began at that Station on March 1 this year. Getting the job, she says, was a break she’d been looking for. Four

years ago she was working in a solicitor’s office in Gisborne when Prudence Gregory, at that time 2XG’s Shopping Reporter, persuaded her to apply for the position of receptionist at 2XG. (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) Margaret got it. Not only that, she found she was "first emergency" for the station’s Shopping Reporter programme, and made a fine job of filling in on the occasions when 2XG’s current "Shopping Reporter" was away from the microphone. Then came the Royal Tour and Margaret Isaac gained valuable exience as one of the Gisborne com-

mentators. From Gisborne, she went to Palmerston North and 2ZA, where she’s very happy. Her main outside interests are the theatre, music, golf (handicap about 48)-and Giles’s cartoons. She used to be an active Guider, and still takes an interest in the Girl Guide movement. Like most people, Margaret has a pet aversion-the people who say "But what on earth do you do all day when you're not actually on the air?" * "THE BBC version of Chu Chin Chow has been so widely heard from NZBS stations during the past 18 months that there’ should be some interest in this picture of Oscar Asche, who not only

wrote the script of the original stage show, but was also the first Abu Hasan, Sheik of the Robbers. In a broadcast talk on Asche a few years ago, Hesketh Pearson said that Chu Chin Chow was the most successful musical show in English stage history. It ran for nearly five years in London, making a fortune for everyone connected with it. Asche himself drew well over £200,000 in royalties, though this ruined him financially, for he threw his money, literally, to the dogs. (He once had 72 greyhounds

in his kennels.) Living rfght up to his income, he became fat enough to play Falstaff without padding. Asche wrote the script of Chu Chin Chow during one wet weekend. He Played the part of Abu Hasan over 2000 times, though he missed performances when not in the mood. Once he had actually started to change for the part when he told his dresser, "Don’t think I'll go on tonight" — leaving his understudy, Hubert Carter, about 10 minutes to dress and make-up for the part. Asche was Australian-born and as a young man ran away from home and lived for months alone in the bush, killing and cooking his own food and reading Shakespeare aloud to a greyhound. He was always well received

in his homeland. Older theatre-goers will remember that with his wife, Lily Brayton, he visited New Zealand as far back as 1912 with several Shakespeare plays, and an earlier Eastern extravaganza, Kismet.- a shortened version of a play by ‘Edward Knoblock which had been hawked around London and New York without impressing a single manager. Asche made a great success of it. He came back to New Zealand in the early 1920’s_ with another musical play, Cairo.