To Bed or To Dance?

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 45, 22 May 1931, Page 8

To Bed or To Dance?

XPECTING acidity and the healthy tang of‘lemons, I was given on Thursday the somnolent quiet of a flock mattress-evidently a last-minute change in the excellent series of industrial talks

from 1YA. But I was not thrilled. The gentleman was a little heavy, and his subject evidently not too conducive to gaiety. I do not dispute the importance of beds, for do we not spend from a quarter to a third of our lives there? Further, the majority of mankind dies in bed; so that from first to last the bed is fundamental to modern civilisation. But really the humble mattress is one of those things we do take fo: granted. That the provision of our beds constitutes a flourishing local industry pleases me, and I sincerely hope, in the national interests as well as in those of the bedmakers, that there will be a steady maintenance of this essential home industry. FoR cheer I turned to 2YA to listen to Miss Inez Connop discourse on American ball-room dancing. Here was vigour and vitality, a woman who knew her subject, of good voice and incisive speech. I listened to her every remaining word with pleasure and interest regretting what I had missed, I heard

her effective description of the night club life and night clubs of American cities, and thank her in advance for the tips given. A mystic Indian cup-reader has predicted my departure shortly for the States,.so I shall be able to check up! I have already bought, an extra boiled shirt, and am having the necessary structural alterations made in my unmentionables to accommodate the inevitable flask. Pleased to hear that on the ballroom floor Britain rules the waves: rhythm, bearing, demeanour, all perfect, to carry off all world championships and seek vainly for fresh worlds to conquer. For the expert dancer I entertain the most profound jealousy-green-eyed and rabid. I would love to be a striking figure on the: ball-room floor; but how vain an ambition! Still, in the mental picture she gave me of beauty and rhythm, of poetry and vitality. Miss Connop afforded me a little thrill, for which I thank her.