"Filling It In"

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 41, 22 April 1932, Page 1

"Filling It In"

The filling in of the Radio Board’s Questionnaire must have been responsible for many domestic arguments, and this has inspired Will Yates, the well-known 2YA humorist, to write a radio cartoon entitled "Filling It In’-a bright sketch portraying the efforts of the Higgins family to complete their voting paper. It will be presented from 2YA on Friday, April 21. Each of the nine parts will be played iby Will Yates himself-a tricky task, but one he is quite capable of handling. Photographs of him in the various roles he will fill appear on this page.

Tae scene opens in the office of the General Manager of the Broadcasting Board. ofessor Gotta Screw Loose, an inventor with a decidedly German | xecent, calls on the General Manager, and accuses him of ruining the happiness of thousands of homes with his voting paper-"You have mooch on your gonscience dis night. Violence has been done-assault mitt hatteries’’.

tt ee i i ttl To prove the truth of his words he produces and sets in operation a machine which he claims enables him to tune in to any home in New Zealand. Voices are heard-those of the Higgins family-discussing the questionnaire. . The ensuing dialogue is very amusing, especially

during an argument between Mum and Dad on the correct pronunciation of the word "plebescite." Baby Ethelbert’s persistent demands for some "tyipy" are a little obscure until it transpires that "Daddy says we get tyipy (tripe) on the radio"-a sentiment of — which Daddy~* should be heartily ashamed.

After much discussion and very little progress because of

the differing tastes of the various members of the family, Mum and Dad finally decide to have a nice quiet hour with the radio and whatever the Broadcasting Board likes

to put over. Mr. Yates has had many ifteresting experiences when facing the micro phone, and in the following tells several good stories. I commenced broad casting in

°1929. Since then I have broadcast from . stations 2, 3 and 4YA, and will, with verv little encouragement, continue to face th: "mike,"

I might have commence: in 1928 for, in response tc a very attractive advertise: ment of the broadcasting authorities of that time, | sent in an application form offering my services. | waited in a fever hopiny they wouldn’t send for me. I need not have worried They didn’t. I often wonder who got that applica-tion-perhaps in my nervousness I sent the form to my tailor and my tailor’s cheque to the Broadcast in g Company. Be that

as it may, It was not until May, 1929, that I mustered up sufficient courage | to crave an audition. This was granted and I wag’ accepted. My first broadcast I shall never forget. Imaging

me being led into the studio, shaking like a badly~set jelly and introduce, to "mike." I commenced to talk and almost immediately a bell rang. Unversed in the details of studio signals I took no notice and talked on. Again the bell went and still I talked. Soon the more I talked the more the bell rang. In the back of my mind I imagined the rings to be telephone calls from irate listeners requesting my sudden demise, However, I was out to "show ’em,"’ and I really think I was just beginning to wear down the opposition when a studio official put his head in the door and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Yates, we are off the air." "Mike" had jibbed. Corrousry enough, the same thing occurred at my very next ‘appearance. The microphone is truly a sensitive instrument. However, since then, "mike" has apparently out-grown his dislike for me, or has grown callous, for now he allows me to get through without so much as g wink. From my first appearance before the microphone, I felt that thé only chance we "local lads" had against the recorded efforts of the brighter lights in the entertainment world was to be different and to introduce a suggestion of local colour. This I have striven at all times to do. I regard myself in the nature of a radio cartoonist, presentin a series of caricatures of types of persons rather than exact studies of such types. Some listeners have expressed doubt as to whether all my vocal imitations are produced without assistance. I can assure then) that "alone I do it," without extraneous aid, ‘