TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 25, 6 January 1928, Page 6

TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW

The Happy Release. The principal speaker of the evening was something of a bore. -After he had been trying the patience of his hearers for twenty minutes the chairman, noticing that a diner on his right was snor-; ing gently, tapped him lightly with his gavel. A second time the diner dozed and again the hammér brought him back to consciousness. Again the snoring became audible, and the chairman, losing patience, plied the gavel to more purpose. ‘Go on," was the sleepy sews "hit me again; I can still hear im, Scott’s old ship, the Discovery, has returned from the Antarctic, where on¢ of its objects was to discover if whales were polygamus, This great problem is rapidly pushing into the background the question as to whether kippers swim folded ‘or flat. We read that the new dance "Kinkajou,"’ consists mainly of shoulder-shrug-ging. With its immediate predecessors these movements were confined to their critics. It is reported that Miss Masako Ichijo, daughter of Prince Ichijo, has been selected as bride for the heir apparent to the Japanese throne. The name of the prospective father-in-law is without significance, and there is no reason for supposing the match will be scratched.

"The Imperial Sheik.’’ In "Napoleon and His Women Friends," by Gertrude Aretz, we have yet another record of the ‘"‘love life" of the Imperial cave-man, and an ac-. count of his reactions towards the women who crossed his stage.- The author knows her subject-well, and has collected a remarkable record of one of the least significant of Napoleon’s activities. The kind of stary to be made from a man’s love affairs depends upon his own attitude towards them; and if romance and edification alike are lacking, whose is the fault? He protests, "I was never in love with any woman except Josephine," but. modern historians know better than that to-day. His proclaimed indifference to women, and his notoriously rude and boorish manner, make the subject the more intriguing. Giorgina, Bellilote, Marie Walewska, Wleonore Dentelle, Signorina Grassivi (the singer}, and Betsy Balcombe (heroine ofthe very last frolic at St. Helena), and many others, figure in these interesting pages, and there are even records of Napoleon’s perfectly proper relations with the Queen of Prussia and Madame de tael. The Romance of Broadcasting,

Several times during the past weeks I have found myself using’ in these pages the expression ‘‘the romance of broadcasting.’"?’ The romance of anything lies in the way you look at it, It is an elusive quality, difficult sometimes to define. The tune of a barrel organ, the scent of a flowerseller’s barrow of carnations, the fall of dusk over a city street-these things, simple and usual though they are, will sometimes awake that little stab, half pain, half pleasure, which is Romance, We cannot, any of us, deny the romance of broadcasting, which brings speech and music a hundred miles into our room, and whicl a moment later will carry us to the far ends of the earth, to a Cornish church, a war memorial in Flanders or a Promenade concert. Must be Kept Alive, Isverything was romantic once; There was the romance of the _ telephone, which captured the world when instruments were first installed. . Evervone wanted to try this marvellous thing which enabled them to talk to their friends many miles away. Then the romance of the motor-car, steadily and speedily making the world a smaller place; the romance of electricity, flooding the world with light at the mere touching of a switeh. And now, how -do we regard these one-time miracles? We look on them as commonplaces and sometimes wonder "whether they are worth the bother.’ The romance has quite gone out of them. I hope we shall never let that happen to broadcasting. Art is kept alive by the warmth of the fire it kindles in the hearts of those for whom it is intended, The Announcer, "The Radio Times." Ornamental Dyeing. A new dye of solid pastel substance, with which no liquid is used, has come into being. Just the heat of an iron is required. The design is drawn with the pastel upon the fabric and pressed for a few moments, and the article, be it wood or leather work, }ingerie or personal wear, table centre or handbag, is permanently dyed in brilliant, fadeless, washable colours. After Summer. Next autumn is predestined to Le a "tweed" scason; for sports aud morn-

ing wear, for coats, jumper suits, and coat-frocks, tweed will be first favourite, set off, sometimes, by kasha, .angora, or stockinette. All woollen fabrics will be luxuriously light. Tor the aftertioon and evening, velvets, plain and patterned, will lead the way, closely followed by crepe satin of a soft, dull texture. Screen-inaking. You can introduce a decorative note into your living room, or a uote of childish gaiecty into the nursery, by recovering an old sereen. Old World chintzes and cretonnes, in company with a dark oak frame, are effective; fadeless linen or casement cloth are inexpensive; while nursery. fabrics have a winning way with them when combined with white or coloured woodwork, The Battiroom. An inspiration for a bathroom scheme of decoration is the fresh, cool, water-lily-a blossom of pure beauty resting afloat on its sheltering leaves of dark green. For the ceiling, palest sky blue, and painted walls shading from deep river green to pale, pale green above. Then about four feet from the ground runs a stencilled border of lilies in yellow and white, dark green leaves, and an occasional dragonfly. With pale green painted furniture, a deep green complete. cork line, and curtains of water-lily yellow, a delightfully fresh scheme is | Suppose He Knows. "A compromise," says my tame cynic, "is a husband’s acceptance of itis wife’s opinion."