Open Microphone

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 808, 21 January 1955, Page 28

Open Microphone

REPORTER

introduces the new daily session for women from 1YZ, has spent all her working life in journalism and _ broadcasting. She should be specially happy in the local interviews she will do for this session, for reporting seems to be in her blood. Her father is a sub-editor of the New Zealand Herald, and she admits that she went to work for the Herald herself rather than go on to University, N { ARGARET LANDON, who

_even though she could not "go out on the road as a

reporter. "I spent my time at the Herald in the Reference Department," she told us. "But when a chance came to join the Dominion as a reporter I took it. That was. followed by a rather long spell, also reporting, on the Auckland Star.’ Altogether Miss Landon spent about six years on newspapers. "IT went into broadcasting after leaving the Star,’ she said. "I was sent to 1XH as an announcer and was there two years. Apart from announcing, I spent a month on the Women’s Hour, relieving Anne Fisher, and sometimes I gave a hand in the copy section." Miss Landon was out of broadcasting for a year when she left 1XH. When she went back in August, 1953, it was as an announcer at 1YZ, and she admits that she "loves it’ there. Her first six months at 1YZ included the period of the Royal visit. She helped to cover it as the observer at the Rotorua High School for the Bay of Plenty children’s welcome to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. When we asked Miss Landon about her interests outside working hours she gave a rather mischievous smile and said that when she wasn’t keeping her flat tidy she spent a lot of time "daydreaming about where I'd like to travel if I had any money." Still, she admitted, there was ballet, which she had studied in a practical way as a dancer, and skiing — "beginner’s enthusiasm so far!" She is also interested in welfare work and amateur theatricals, and farm life and work, "if you can call that an outside interest." *

TEMPLE THE SEVENTH

YOUNG man who was supposed to be studying for the Consular Service, decided to become an actor, and made his first appearance on the stage in a play put on in a French casino, is the Paul Temple listeners have been hearing in the most recent series, Paul Temple and the Gilbert Case. His name is Peter Coke, and he is the seventh actor to play Paul Temple. Temple is,

of course, something of a radio veteran-

he first took the air lo years ago. His latest adventures, against a back-

ground of Scotland Yard, Soba: Bond Street and other famous London landmarks, include such ingredients as a murdered model, a fabulous pendant stolen about a year before the story opens, and a strip of micro-film showing its hiding place. Peter Coke-who, by the way, pronounces his surname ‘"Cook’’-first. appeared in a Paul Temple adventure two or three years ago, but at that time he was only one of the suspects. The sort of graduation he has made in going from mere suspect to master detective is really no new experience for Peter, for he admits that in radio he has played every sort of part "from a sprite to Macbeth." After that early appearance on the stage in a casino, Peter’s theatrical career took a more conventional turn, and he later eappeared with such notable players as Marie Tempest and Sir Seymour Hicks. "T learned a lot about acting from them," he says. "In their different ways they knew all the tricks of the siage." Besides acting, Peter has writeen one-act plays, and one radio play which he sold to the BBC introduces a cai-detective named after his own Siamese cat, KimChing. Kim-Ching-the real one-occa-sionally exchanges letters with one of the James Mason cats, for Mason and Peter Coke are close friends. On one occasion the. Mason cat even sent Kin Ching a case of American cat food. "Unfortunately," says Peter, "Kim didn’t seem to like American food." ~ =

MAKE MINE MULLIGAN

ba , AT 26 Gerry Mulligan has done much *" to broaden the resources of jazz. It all began in the days of 1948 when he and Gil Evans worked out a new kind of instrumentation that was incorporated in a series of Miles Davies records. Today the Gerry Mulligan-Quartet is one of the striking groups of modern

jazz. Gerry was born in Philadelphia in 1928, learned clarinet in child-

hood and started arranging at high school. Soon such Mulligan

compositions as "Elevation," "Swinghouse," and "Disc Jockey Jump" were being played by leading bands, and later he was contributing also on the baritone saxophone. Early in 1952 he arrived in Los Angeles and began playing with his own quartet at the Haig, a small. intimate night spot and the

home of such groups as the Red Norvo Trio and the Dave Brubeck Quartet. His players were Chico Hamilton (drums), Bob Whitlock (bass), and Chet Baker (trumpet). The group quickly attracted attention, but it broke up briefly in 1953. Last year it reassembled with Bobby Brookmeyer on slide trombone replacing Chet Baker, but with Mulligan still leading on the instrument he calls "the deep-voiced horn." The records which were recently broadcast from the YA stations featured the original group. es

"THE man who lost all his personal belongings, including a collection of Chinese works of art, when he was driven out of Paris by the Germans

PARIS CORRESPONDENT

during the war, is now. back there as BBC Correspondent. Thomas. Cadett, whose voice will be familiar to listeners to BBC Radio Newsreel, was born in 1898 and educated at Cranleigh School and Sandhurst. At 17 he won his commission in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and saw .service in the

First World War. In 1918 he went to India with his regi-

ment tor four years, nd in 1922 he left the: army and joined staff of The Times. Later he spent a considerable time in the United States as a journalist, labourer, policeman in ,) Chicago, and so on. He became the first Yholder of the Walter Hines Page Travelling News Fellowship, and in America he contributed to the New 8 ork Times, the Chicago Daily News, the Wichita Beacon, the Atlantic Constitution, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Christian Science Monitor. Among his other achievements Cadett mentions that he was once a member of -a Fraternity House in the University of California, and that he learned to fly when in his thirties. This feat, he says, caused the late Lloyd George to follow suit. In 1929 Cadett was appointed Chief Paris Correspondent of The Times, a post which he held for 12 years. He joined the staff of the BBC in 1942, and three years later was appointed BBC Paris correspondent. In addition to his interest in Chinese art, Thomas Cadett likes to keep dogs. At present he has two dachshunds, one of which is called Anna von Schutzenheim.

IN SPITE. OF WETAS

coe "(~QOD evening, boys and girls, I've had the most exciting day. . ." hat’s how Ajirini Grennell, Children’s Programme Organiser at 3YA, started her daily session one night a few months ago, and as she told the story to us "exciting" seemed just the word for it. Out at a private aquarium with a group of children, recording a programme about crocodiles, she’d suddenly been pounced on, not by the crocs, but. by a couple of fearsome wetas intended for

their dinner. "I screamed my head off," Airini said, "and as you can guess I'd had enough of that aquarium, so I

packed up and returned to the studio." But that wasn’t quite the end of

the story. When the time came to edit the programme the technician started the tape, turned up the speaker and went off for his tea. leaving Ajirini to ligten. "Suddenly dreadful screams rent the air, there was a clatter of breaking china, and a very worried technician rushed into see what had happened to me." In her rush Airini had quite forgotten she had recorded the weta incident along with everything else. In spite of wetas, Airini is still as keen as ever about her work for the Children’s Session, and only sorry she can't give it the full time she feels it deserves. After 16 years in broadcasting she must be one of the busiest people in the Service, for on top of the Children’s Session she shares talks programmes with Arnold Wall, taking care

of everything outside country sessions and Book Shop, which are his special concern. "‘We share the same office," she said, "and there are no secrets." To add still more variety she takes over the Women’s Session when Jocelyn Holliss is away-a job she’s well qualified to do, since © she has been Women’s Programme organiser at both 3YA and 4YA. When Aijirini told us _the weta story we asked ‘df she usually took children along when she recorded outside broadcasts. Without hesitation she said that whenever possible she liked to take one or two, unless the job was at a school r a children’s show. Interviews ‘with children are most exhilarating," she said. ‘We've had them on a variety of subjects-books, hobbies, sports. I even used

a bright girl of ten to give a running commentary on a couple of stands at a doll show. Our people considered her a natural." Airini is much encouraged by reactions to children’s programmes. Some time ago she asked younger children to draw their impressions of an Enid Blyton record and older ones to write an animal story. In less than three weeks nearly 300 letters came in. "We've had good reactions to our Junior Panel of 16-year-olds also," she said. "It’s a programme primarily for teenagers, and the members are all lively speakers." Airini Grennell was born in the Chatham Islands and went to school at Sacred Heart College, Christchurch, later going on to Canterbury University College. By the time she was 18 she had four diplomas for pianoforte and singing-L.T.C.L. and L.R.S.M. for both -as well as a couple of provincial medals and scholarships at*the Christchurch Competitions. "I intended doing a Mus. Bach. course at University," she said, "but instead I joined the Waiata Maori Choir to tour Australia a couple of times. We ended with a tour of the British Isles in 1937-38. The highlight of that tour came when we were com- manded to appear at Buckinghany Palace shortly before the Coronation of King George VI." Music has remained one of Airini’s spare-time interests, and she admits that she has also been an avid reader "since boarding school days, when I read under the blankets by torchlight." And there has always been an interest in some form of sport. "A few years ago tennis and basketball were discarded for lack of wind. Swimming is still a summer pleasure, but golf is my game these days. My handicap of six takes much keeping up, as I found when playing in the Wellington gales during the New Zealand Ladies’ Championships. " Another of. Airini’s interests is the theatre. The picture on this page shows Airini with a group of children who were heard last month discussing holiday reading. She says: ‘They were all finalists in the Children’s Book Week essay competition and are representative of the bright young reviewers we've used from time to time in the Children’s Session."

NEWS OF BROADCASTERS, IN AND OFF THE RECORD