PERSONALITIES of the week

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 22, 7 December 1934, Page 8

PERSONALITIES

of the week

A TIDY MIND MIND in which everything is neatly pigeon-holed, so to speak, and years of public speaking before such bodies as the

Auckland Savage Club (of which he was Rangatira), the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Auckland Law Stu‘dents’ Association, have given Mr. Julius Hogben, LL.B., a facility of expression that has delighted radio listeners on more than

one occasion, Mr. Hogben, who is the son of a former New Zealand Director of Education, is a graduate of Victoria College, Wellington, and practised at Thames before moving to Auckland. He is, too, Advocate of the Auckland Diocese of the Anglican Church, a member of the General Synod’s Judicial Committee and treasurer of Jasper Calder’s: City Mission. In his more leisured days he was a prominent athlete and played senior Rugby in Wellington soon after he left Wellington College. SCOTTISH AMBASSADOR Sie HARRY LAUDER has been fur nearly thirty years the most picturesque figure in the world of vaudeville. he swinging melodies of "Tobermory" and "I Love a Lassie" are an excellent antidote to the pulsation of jazz (or, as the knowing cali it "rhythm"). No comedian has ever enjoyed such world-wide publicity as he. This fame is due largely to his extended travels, Unofficial ambassador of Scotland, he has sung his repertoire in almost every part of the in habited earth; the gramophone has done the rest-with the tesult: that, owing to Sir Harry Lauder-Esqui-maux, Patagonians and Polynesians now burst into nostalgic tears at the mere thought of a hillside covered with heather. The poor pit-lad who made good earned a fortune and a knighthood by sheer hard work. DUNEDIN WRITER And he distilled the Paradisal flower lor comfort to the weary and the blind. These lines were written by ©. Tt. Allen, of Dunedin, on Milton, but they apply-perhaps to a lesesr degree-to Mr. Allen’s own work. This young Dunedin man, who shares Milton’s affliction, blindness, is one of New Zealand’s most promising writers of prose and verse, and he has had his work published in papers in all parts of the world. He is-a son of Sir James Allen, and he was a frequent contributor to the "Radio Record" in the days when the paper ran a page of original verse. His poems appear in most New Zealand anthologies, including the "Gift Book of New Zealand Verse," published by the "Radio Record."

TAKING NOTICE AL GIELGUD, brother of the wellknown Bnglish actor, John Gielgud, is director of productions at Broadcasting House, London, and the writer of a number of successful radio plays, including "Friday Morning" and "Exiles." In a recent interview with un English paper Mr. Gielgud said, "Until 1932 no one took broadcast plays very seriously, but now the newspapers are giving considerable space ¢o criticisms of radio plays. ‘The Times,’ London, recently gave a lengthy write-up to a broadcast of ‘Othello." If authors could be persuaded to write broadcast plays and audiences not only to hear but to listen, I believe those audiences would be ‘amazed by the results achieved." DOES THE JOB WELL WHoN Mr. Harold Prescott discovered that he couldn’t be a good Gov ernment servant and a singer at the same time, he decided to give up the former and devote all his time to music. To-day Mr. Prescott’s services are much sought after by musical societies and there are few towns in New Zeuland in which he has not made public uppearances. He is now living in Greymouth .practising his profession. Mr. Prescott has specialised in oratorio work, and his interpretations of the tenor solos from Handel’s "Messiah" have set a high standard in the Dominion for this particular work. ORGANIST-MISSIONARY HY love and enthusiasm of Dr. Albert Schweitzer for the works of the great Leipzig Cantor is something beyond expression. He has absorbed so much of Bach through many years of devoted study as to become almost a part of Bach himself. In talking to Dr. Schweitzer one feels that the spirit of Johann Sebastian Bach has impregnated his very being. It is impossible to meet Bach in his church music and his Passions without feeling that he must have been a man apart from all other men, so abounding is his piety. goodness and human kindness. In similar manner one meets these qualities in Dr. Schweitzer. His sympathetic eyes and the sensitive lines of his mouth are alive and alight with tender humanity. This rare saintly quality impelled him to take up theological studies, and resulted in the singular and original book on the. "Life of Christ." His humanity impelled him to study surgery and medicine, that he might go out among the African natives as a missionary. Far away in the African forests he administers to the bodily and spiritual needs of the natives. In that strange primeval world he is in communion with his beloved Bach, for ht keeps his organ

technique on a piano to which organ pedals have been attached, which was specially made and presented to him by Bach enthusiasts. Madame Schweitzer says that the natives had no particular regard or fear of the European instrument when it arrived, and they hear¢ Dr. Schweitzer play on it; they | novelties from Huropeans. She also » mentioned that when the electric light

Was switched on for the first time. the natives showed no surprise and did not even blink. There is, indeed, something remarkable about a man who is one of the greatest European organ recitalists who deyotes bis life to the spiritual and bodily needs of the African natives in the district covered by his medical mission. To raise funds to cover the ~ expenses of the mission Dr. Schweitzer takes periodical -furloughs-which are neither more nor less than business holidays-and on these visits to Europe his tour giving organ recitals which are always thronged by music lovers and admirers of this great-hearted but practical idealist. — JOHN TILLEY IL. J OHN MOUNSEY THOMSON, th: talented Scotsman, now known te the world at large as Jobn Tilley, comedian, adopted the name of Tilley because once, while appearing in a concert party during the war he wus urged to go on the stage by Jack Tillov, of the Alhambra. This friend is now gead, so Thomson took his name out’ of sentimental memory. The comedian’s father, J. J. Thomson was a Seottish Soecer player. His grand father taught Sir James Barrie at the Dumfries Academy, and his mother. Sara Dunbar, was at school there wit? Barrie. John always wanted to be 1 doctor. but he failed to satisfy his examiners on two occasions. After the war he came in for £7000, which he invested in an antique business in London-and lost After trying many various avenues he ultimately made his niche-a B.B.C. engagement made him famous overnight. "BARRACKS" FOR N.Z. #kR. M. S. NESTOR believes that New Zealand has a future in more things than butter and wool and to prove it he is at present writing a series of articles for the "Public Ser vice Journal" on New Zealand writers.

The articles that have appeared so far has dealt with Katherine Mansfield, T. Lindsay Buick, James Cowan, Dr. Guy Scholefield, Alfred Saunders and Wil. een Duggan. He considers Mr Buick the DoDinion’s most able

and thorough writer, and Dr. Scholefield our best radio lecturer. Mr. Nestoe is employed in the Government and is qualified to practise as a professional accountant; he was born on the West Coast and was prominent in spotting circles there before coming to Welling ton, For the last 10 years he has been contributing articles on New Zealand history to Australian and New Zealand papers. , STARTED IN PANTO. ORN at Croydon of Scottish parents. ; the late Wish Wynne’s name is derived from the fact that when she was a child she was always wishing, and her mother called her Wish! She took danc ing lessons as a child and made. her first apearance on the stage in a Drury ane pantomine as a child dancer. She was then seven. Then followed a long and varied experience in the provinces in comedy, melodrama, and musicai comedy. For a year she toured as Tril by. It was when she was on the halls,

uppearing in the ragged dress of the drudge of the family, that 8. V. Lucas saw her and mentioned her to Arnold Bennett for his play, "The Great Ad venture." She was included in the cast and she played in it in upwards of 600 performances, BANDS AND TALKIES R. H. GLADSTONE HILL is known in Christchurch as the man who has made a big success of the Premier Theatre at New Brightoun-now one ot the most atractive and excellentlymanaged suburban talkie houses in New Zealand. But he has a Dominionwide reputation as the conductor of Derry’s Band, which was founded in Christchurch some 35 years ago, Lieutenant Hill has had an all-round experience in musical matters over 45 years,. und he is also an ex-champion trom_bonist. Lieutenant Hill toured the world with the Coldstream Guards’ Band in a managerial capacity, and he also managed the New Zealand tour of the Young Australian League a year or two ago. SCREEN VIA OPERA A M®RICAN bern and bred, Lawrence Tibbett first achieved fame by his singing Ford in "Falstaff" at the VWetropolitan Opera House, New York Hes now one of the most popular baritone in North America. and his singing of such parts as Ner., Jonny, and Tonio

is much admired. He is also a concert artist, and in 1980 made a successful debut as a "talkie star." He ss wot the first singer to find his way to'the screen via the operatic stage, and ir is little wonder that he holds a high place in the affections of film fans His admirers can hear him ia both styles for his more recent recordings include examples of his operatie art. Tibbett’s recordings of negro spiritua!s and fine old ballads alone would make any man’s reputation. Tibbet-thy name is versatility. HATES HIS PRELUDE NCE at the age of 20, Sergei Rachmaninoff, the Russian puanist, composed a prelude which he sold for £4, und which everyone has, at one time or another heard thumped on al the pianos of the world. The very hame annoys its composer. He hates. even more deeply, that the audience st every concert insists that he play it; that prelude is like a noisy kettle tied to his tail, and moreover has made someone else’s, not Rachmaninoft’s, fortune. Tall, with close-cropped hair, the flaccid face very pale, clear blue eyes that are not happy and declare a weary effort to bring dreams to au actual life in music; this man, now an exile from his native Russia, finds ereative work most difficult away from the land he stili loves but cannot live in,