Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 792, 24 September 1954, Page 28

Open Microphone

NEWS OF. BROADCASTERS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD

GRAND TOUR

YOUNG lady with more than a soupcon of Parisian élan came into The Listener's normally rather drab and work-a-day offices the other day. She was Cara Hall, the talented Wellington pianist, back home after three years in London and on the Continent. It’s obvious that she has given her heart to Paris. In Paris you really live, she says.

You find people not only. vitally intent on cultural matters, but living surrounded by all that’s beau-

tiful, too. She herself stayed at the Cite Universitaire, in a hostel called the Collége Franco-Britannique, which was occupied by students from England and the Commonwealth countries. Her piano teacher was the famous Lazare Lévy. Cara Hall gave broadcast recitals from Radiodiffusion Francaise and also public concerts. French audiences were the keenest, most perceptive critics she knew, and could be wonderful to play to-if they were on your side-when they showed their appreciation with immense enthusiasm. French audiences have catholic tastes in music, she said, though she recalled one occasion during a concert of 20th Century music when the audience did not approve of the extremely modern works they were being asked to listen to. There was much whispering and passing of notes of

protest when suddenly a woman called out in disapproval. A man sitting behind her stood up and screamed "Imbécile! Imbécile!’? whereupon she retaliated by hitting him in the face with her handbag. Attendants asked them to leave, which they did, escorted by at least a third of the audience, and the fight was continued in the foyer of the concert hall. However, Cara Hall’s French friends were scandalised by such a happening and assured her that it was quite exceptional. One of the highlights of her stay in France was her participation in a chamber quartet given in celebration of the composer Arthur Honegger’s sixtieth birthday. A presentation book was given to Honegger by the artists, and in her inscription Cara Hall associated herself with all New Zealand musicians in wishing him good health, In London she studied hard, hearing all the music she possibly could as well. Notable occasions were Toscanini’s two farewell Brahms concerts in the Festival Hall, where he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra. Miss Hall herself gave several recitals over the BBC Home and Overseas Services. Among New Zealand musicians whom she met in London was Dr. Ronald Tremain, a composer and teacher at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College, Just recently a new composition of his was very well received at a concert of contemporary music in Salzburg. Very soon New Zealand audiences will have a chance to hear what effect her "grand tour" has had on Cara Hall’s own musicianship, for she is to play the Mozart Piano Concerto in D Minor with the National Orchestra in Auckland on October 12. This concert will be broadcast from a link of the YC stations. --_..

BROADCASTS FROM BED

oS OR something almost in the category of Famous Last Words, see the paragraph on Patricia Murphy in The Listener of August 27. "She will be re-

turning to the mountains (for this year’s leave)," it-ran, "keeping her fingers tightly

crossed on her ski sticks and hoping she’ll be able to negotiate the 2XA stairs without a plaster cast." Well, for

-two weeks she did negotiate them-with a certain amount of limping. An X-ray was then taken, revealing a cracked bone in the hip. After consultation with several Wanganui doctors, Patricia was ordered to bed for three weeks. When advertisers heard the story they were all for Patricia doing her morning broadcasts from bed-so that’s ‘just what she has been doing. Helpful Post Office tech- | nicians transferred Pat’s telephone to her bedside. Sponsors were all kindness and co-operation. Some gave their advertisements by telephone, others brought their goods round to show PatTicia (one brought an entire shipment of Austrian jewellery) till her bedroom — looked like Aladdin’s Cave. Patricia’s 4 home is near a railway line, and her earlier broadcasts were punctuated by an occasional engine whistle and some very good train effects, which all added colour to these broadcasts from an im- 4 provised studio.

BRILLIANT PIANIST

aA HE death has been announced in * London of the pianist Aleksandr Helmann, who toured New Zealand for the NZBS in 1949. Helmann developed coronary thrombosis after this tour and

gave up concert playing, but continued composing. He was 42. Helmann impressed critics

as one of the most brilliant pianists to

visit this country. His playing was notable for the intensity of feeling he put into it, and his performance of Tchaikovski’s First Piano Concerto with the National Orchestra in Wellington was one that will not soon be forgotten. Helmann was "born in Russia in

1912, and went with his parents to the United States in 1923. He later settled in Britain, where he gave his first concert in 1934. He married an Englishwoman and soon established himself as one of the top pianists of his generation, appearing with the major Europear. orchestras. He had an unusually

wide repertoire, and was particularly well received here for his playing of Chopin, a

JUST "CIS"

(CICELY COURTNEIDGE, the famous British comedienne, is such a popular broadcaster that to many of her

listeners, especially those with mem-

ories of the good old days, she is just "Cis." Although she was born in the later years of Queen Victoria’s reign, "Cis"

has the vitality of many women less than half her age. She is a queen of the burlesque type of humour, and her gallery of eccentric portraits is enormous. She can put over a sentimental number, or a patriotic one, with a sureness of touch that brings a tear to eyes which refuse to blink for most other: artists. "Cis" has appeared in musical comedy, Tevue, variety and films, and has broadcast in a great many programmes. She holds a secure place in the affections of the British public not only for her unquestioned skill as an artist but also for

; her great zest, which enlivens all those who watch her from across the footlights. x

"FINGERS" CARR

[N the middle of 1950 a record by a mysterious pianist called Joe "Fingers" Carr, playing "Sam’s Song" and "Ivory Rag" with a hot ragtime flavour that was reminiscent of the 1920s, became an unexpected hit. Soon everyone

was trying to find out the identity of "Fingers" Carr, who has since established himself solidly with the

public, "P.C.A.," writing from Patea, has asked us to publish his photograph and

some biographical details. Carr’s real name is Lou Busch, and he hails from Louisville, Kentucky. He got his musical start with Clyde McCoy, and then worked with the famous Hal Kemp Band as an arranger and pianist. He later worked with such wonderful old bands as those of Dave Rose, Ray Noble, Vincent Lopez, George Olson and Henry Busse, and was for a time in the music department at Columbia Films. He now lives in Beverley Hills, California, with his wife, the singer Margaret Whiting, who is a daughter of Richard Whiting, one of the all-time masters of American populat songwriting. They have one daughter, Deborah Louise. Musical purists don’t rate "Fingers" very highly, and say that his ragtime is not the real, thing but a slick imitation of the genuine old

style of the honky-tonk days. But with the general public he goes down well. Such albums as Bar-Room Piano and Rough-House Piano are favourites with listeners, and there is a new LP Album called Joe "Fingers" Carr and his Ragtime Band. Under his real name of Lou Busch he has recorded some serious accompaniments for such singers as his wife, Margaret Whiting. He says, incidentally, that his next desire is to form a quartet called "The Tickle-Toe Four."

SCARBOROUGH MAN

*« "_:X-SCARBORIAN" writes: "In your issue of September 3, you state that B. C. Hilliam is a Canadian, when, in fact, he was born in Scarborough,

Yorks., and was educated at Scarborough College. He was taught to play the

piano by a gentleman who, last year, celebrated his hundredth birthday, and was paid a visit by the same B. C. Hilliam." Our correspondent is correct. It was, however, in Canada that Hilliam made his name as a variety artist. He and his mother emigrated to Vancouver not long after he left school. After success as an Entertainments Officer in the Canadian Army, Hilliam wrote popular musical comedies for Broadway before returning to England in 1925.