Blank Butt
HAD heard enough of Clara Butt as one of the more picturesque figures in the recent past to look forward with lively anticipation to the NZBS portrait of her, broadcast in Theatre of Music the other Saturday. was disappointed. It was a solemn, ecstatic tribute, full of throbbing voices telling us what ‘a wonderful woman she was. To set the scenes there was as fine an array of radio clichés as I’ve heard for many a long day--the famous names arriving at a reception, the newsboy crying the sinking of the Lusitania, the triumphant successes, the royal commands. But there was emptiness within, No picture of Clara Butt emerged, no picture to distinguish her from a hundred other singers, certainly no picture of the woman who delighted in practical jokes, whose exuberant patriotism led her to wrap her majestic form in a Union Jack to sing "Land of Hope and Glory," who received Nellie Melba’s famous advice to "sing ’em muck." None of this emerged, I ought to say, during the hour I was listening. It may have
done in the quarter-hour after I switched off, but I doubt it.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570322.2.25.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 919, 22 March 1957, Page 14
Word count
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192Blank Butt New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 919, 22 March 1957, Page 14
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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