IN THE WAKE OF THE WEEK'S BROADCASTS

Radio Record, Volume X, Issue 7, 28 August 1936, Page 12

IN THE WAKE OF THE

WEEK'S BROADCASTS

Surprise Item. [N last week’s Charity Concert in Wellington the National Broadcasting Service provided the audience with a surprise item in Allan Loveday. He’s only eight years old, but he handled a full-size violin with surprising facility in two pieces which, for a youngster, were most exacting. He brought forth surprisingly good tone under the circumstances and displayed remarkable dexterity. The lad’s technique needs polishing, but he has the potentialities of a great violinist as long as he is permitted to advance along the right lines. The audience last Thursday night gave the little fellow a wonderful hearing, and he deserved it probably more than nine out of ten "boy prodigies." Dutch To You. NE of the cleverest spots of dancing seen in Wellington for a long time was provided by Dorothy and Edward Parlette at the N.B.S. Charity Concert last week, in their "Dutch Interlude." There was nothing showy about the terpsichorean duet, but the act was along modern Continental lines, and was most soundly performed in clogs-no pun intended. It came over the air well as far as the taps were concerned, but the listener missed the part which stamped the act with the touch of. professionals-the amusing mime which introduced and ended the dance. By the way, the, ballet work-under the training of these two-wwas one of the many splendid features of the evening’s entertainment, notwithstanding the fact that they were working nnder a con-

siderable handicap; an additional front section, mounted on trestles, had to be provided to enlarge the stage, and this construction was not firm enough for perfect tap work especially. In the Dutch mime, when Edward Parlette made his intentional trip, he sort of missed the "bounce" of the temporary part of the stage and nearly winded himself. This portion of the stage was also slightly disconcerting, one would imagine, in the colourful Slavonic number, where Edward Parlette flings himself about with such alarming gusto and abandon. More Apt? SOME effort is always made by the Supervisor of Talks ‘for the National Broadcasting Service to choose a speaker for any. particular subject who has an intimate knowledge of it. These efforts are nearly always successful. On. Wednesday last week a Dunedin barrister spoke from 4YA on "A Criticism of Presentday Administration of Criminal Justice.’ Now, without wishing«to be anything but constructive, wouldn’t it have been better to get a "lifer" from one of our prisons to deal with the subject? Think what feeling he could put into the talk-yYes, and think what a job the man at the transmitting controls would have. cutting out a few choice ones here and there!

Lost the Bet. BEFORE Dora Lindsay went along to Wellington’s Charity Concert last week some friends were placing -_-

bets among themselves as to whether or not the Scots comedienne would

Bright | Idea Ship-T o-Shore Broadcast OR the first time in New Zealand there will be a broadcast of a ship-to-shore conversa-tion-several conversations, in fact-on" Tuesday, September 1, the night before the new Union Company’s Trans-Tasman liner Awatea arrives from England on her maiden trip. At 8 o'clock on that evening the four main national stations will link up for twenty minutes to hear a unique radio-telephone relay. Arrangements made by the National Broadcasting Service will give listeners a living picture of the Awatea right at their firesides. First, a prospective passenger will speak to the ship’s commander, Captain A. H. Davey, who will assure the nervous person of the safety of travel assured by the latest developments incorporated in the construction and equipment of the ship. Then a boy will speak from 2YA’s studios to the chief engineer, who will describe the engine details, and here listeners will pick up'a transmission of engine-room noise from the Awatea’s engine room while the machinery is running. Cooking is an important part’ of the pleasure of travel, and the chief steward is.to describe to a. woman inquirer the facilities available aboard his ship, Lastly, the announcer at 2YA will ask the Awatea’s operator the method by which the radio-telephone-broad-cast-relay was made possible, and the officer aboardship will explain the simplicity with which the call is put through-just like talking by telephone to someone in the next street... Bright idea? We don’t need to ask,

get a. Wellington audience. to sing, Dora did one number-charlady char-acter-and hopped into the wings to divest herself of: some of her "war equipment," leave her teeth in someone’s tender care off-stage and assume the daft expression necessary for her necond number. She. got. a howl from thé ‘house the moment she reappeared in a pink "kids’ party" frock with ‘a couple of inches of crimson frill showing just above each knee. In no time she had the audience going harder than, before, and she finished up with "Wave to Me." The .gag worked, and the Wellington audience sang with her. One of her friends lost one and ninepence! Pudding Proof. EFORD: Thea Philips arrived for her broadcast tour of New Zealand the "Radio Record" described her as the "soprano without a wobble." Not that we had heard her sing; but that phrase was baldly cribbed from her press-book-and few press-books that come to this country have so many genuinely enthusiastic critiques of an artist’s work written by leading critics in England and elsewhere. But the -proof of the pudding ig in the eating, or hearing, or what you will. Thea Philips not only did not let the ‘Radio Record’s" description (the eribbed one) down, but since her arrival has convinced both listeners and public audiences that her voice is of ’ exceptional quality, and more than worth listening to even for those who don’t like sopranos. And a most charming and happy persondlity goes with it.