In the Wake of the Week's Broadcasts

Radio Record, 1 April 1938, Page 6

In the Wake of the

Week's Broadcasts

THRILLER PLAY THAT LACKED GRIP.

Ii is to be feared that the company enguged in "The Fantastic Case of the Four Specialists" by Max Afford, broadcast from 4YA last Monday, found the play just a little bevond them, and as ua

result the presentation lacked that grip so essential if a listener is to be

dissuaded from switching to another station. The fault could not surely be attributed to the writer, for Afford is too skilled at the game not to know when a play is right or not right. The story revolved around a man found lying in a locked library. Irom the pages of four detective thrillers four noted characters stepped and each, according to his own Jight, solved the mystery of the killing. Afford’s appreciation of his art is revealed in the fact that the "four specialists" consisted of such differing personalities aus Philo Vance, Father srown, Herenle Poirot and Sherlock HIolmes. The climax of the play was

at best an anti-climax, for the "dead man" proved to be lying in a drunken stupor, It is regrettable to have to state that, as handled, the conclusion of the ‘play was very much an anticlimax, and absolutely cancelled any good impressions that may have been formed earlier.

VOICE THAT iS EXPENSIVE.

Deepest sympathy to Jack Davey. Auckland was just enjoying to the full the humour of this crazy broadcaster from Sydney when a bad attack of influenza robbed him of his voice. And he has it insured

for £10,000 too! For several days he could not speak, except in alow

whisper. A big programme had to be altered within a few hours of broadcast on this account and his itinerary was upset, too. Last Wednesday he sailed from Auckland on the Awatea on his .return to Sydney.

THEY WERE EQUAL TO THE BEST.

The Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Choir is not heard very often on the air, nor do they make many public appearances. Hither happening is truly an "event," and it was pleasing to learn;

that this group of@ male voices was to be heard from 4YA last Monday night. Assisted by Mrs. W.

Hall Masters the choir gave a concert that must be long remembered by those who listened in. One of their numbers was the "Anvil Chorus" from "I] Trovatore," the finely balanced rendering was equal to the best in eombined choral work. A well-known number "The Anvil Chorus" possesses a swing and a vigour that must always make it popular and these characteristics were brilliantly captured. Some slightly differing nuances. of expression, neatly interpolated, could not have been other than widely appreciated.

SOFA COVERS WERE GOOD WEAR.

Amateur theatrical people in New Zealand who have had need of pluck must have been heartened if they heard the recorded talk of Miss Lydia Sydney from 2YA recently, when she told

bow she founded the New Age Theatre in London with nothing much more than £25, her needle

and thread and a lot of determination. She ma‘de the costumes for her players from old cast-off clothes of her friends. and even furniture covers that had graced a sofa or a chesterfield shone again for a time on the stuge while the actors Wore them as rich costumes, "My theatre," she said, "began to make headway after four or five slow, heartbreaking years."

SHAKESPEARE TAKES THE AIR AGAIN

"ws ‘When the National Broadcasting (‘ommission of America made the discovery that Shakespeare was radio » x-Office," they got John Barrymore 7} make them six Shakespearean recor-

lings. Station 2ZB presented one of these, a sixty-min-ute broadcast of "Mhea Taming of the

Shrew" on a recent Sunday evening aud is trying to get the other five. Burrymore, distinguished actor, in recording the plays, worked on the assumption that the author of these plays was more modern by twentieth century standards than any living playwright: and that there was nothing to be afraid of, really. "It is, I suppose, the

ghastly accumulations of critics throughout the years that have got between Shakespeare and the peoplebecause, without doubt, it was ‘the people’ for whom he wrote. Low it would intrigue him if he could have known that to-day bis works are being broadcast for the people by commercial radio!

GILLIE POTTER WAS VERY LATE.

Que night recently 3YA put on a programme that was possibly delightful to thousands. True, the musical portion was good and the lighter parts werewell, u bit light. But I was awaiting

the appearance of Gillie Potter, to my ind the finest radio comedian to-day. The "Record" had featur-

ed brother Potter as appearing in the Musie, Mirth, and Melody section. With a number of friends-at a suburban gathering--I waited while Sandy Powell put over some atrociously inane stuff, Tauber did his best with poor songs, and Wurlitzers made me impatient, "Let’s go,’ I said. "Must be up early in the morning." Potter, the inimitable, came on toward 11 p.m. I was told about it next morning. To keep the "best for the last" may be all very well, but listeners do get fed up sometimes with waiting.

HE PAINTED A VIVID SCENE.

Though the voice was not ideal for broadeasting, the facts were excelient in the talk by geologist G. D. Osborne, of Sydney University, on "Off The Track in Western Ireland,’ from

station zYA 1ast week. He built up a vivid picture, detail by careful detail, of the people

on the island of Achill, where the land is so poor that the men have to go to England in the summer to earn enough to keep them going on Achill in the winter. I had a pleasant sense of actually being on the spot in that island of stern mountains and bare moorlands and could almost see the donkeys, pigs, geese and fowls; the women in their full red skirts and blue blouses; the old women in shawls; the young ones carrying SOlb. loads of peat in baskets on their backs for a couple of miles. And if you have ever tried to lift a 56lb. butter box, you will know just what a feat that is. "I must hurry along,’ said Dr. Osborne in hig talk and that seemed the one weakness. I would have liked the pace of his talk to have been a little more leisurely.

THEY WERE IN TOWN THAT NIGHT.

Listening to the "In Town To-night" session of 2ZB for the first time the other evening, I must say I was taken with the material presented and the manner of presenting it, There were three speakers-one

an Australian aireraft man who could tell listeners

ali about Ulouston's Comet, in the designing of which he seemed to have had a hand; another au English visitor who had come to New Zealand to assist the movement of the Girls’ Life Brigade; the third an an-

onymous man whose life had been wrapped up in spider webs; and fourth an aviator who had served with the Chinese and Spanish air forces in their wars, I liked the oddity of the spider-web man’s 'tulk the best. He was an expert in fixing strands of the web inside telescopes and range-finding instruments in the Great War, He was just the sort of man that Dickens would have liked to meet,

HANDCLAPS WITH MUFFLER

If Bryan O’Brian’s children’s hour from 2ZB on Sunday was a fair sample, the "Commercials" are on a win with their new "juvenile" policy (referred to in this issue). The session was one

of the most interesting I have heard from any station. It contained variety and definite educae

tive value, yet it dealt with things ii which children themselves are keenly interested. The chatter about lions and tigers was of sufficiently good quality to hold my keenest attention (and I’m no swaddling!), and I was delighted with the announcer’s handling of the explanation of "Danse Chinois" from the "Nutcracker" Suite. Here’s an idea, surely, which can be developed. Why not some colourful and simple selection from the great composers every night? Children, thank Heaven, have no anti-highbrow complex. They will enjoy the explanation and enjoy the music. Mufflers off to applaud the 2ZB children’s hour! Great stuff, Mr. Controller !

TALKERS AND ENDINGS

On the subject of the "Commercials," those Sunday afternoon sessions definitely are locking up. On the same afternoon that I enjoyed my half-hour with the lions and tigers, I heard an

excellent talk for women by Mrs. J. A. Lee. Hers is an excellent radio

voice, and she possesses the knack of speaking naturally and lucidly. Only one thing annoyed me-as I am almost always annoyed by radio-talkers-the lack of a forceful and memorable conclusion. A talk is a talk, but nonetheless, I think that the tenets of oratory must, to a certain extent, be observed. Every talk should have its peroration and its exordium, in modified form, if it is to be fully effective. Musie for the old folks wus another excellent session-chiefly because the music chosen was good-a trifle oversweet perhaps-but nevertheless good in spite of that.

A WORD TO THE WISE

A word to the wise: Commercial stations be careful of the use of "nigger" records. One came from 3ZB last week -a poor imitation of the "Two Black Crows," which

would lose 10 listeners for every one it gained. New Zerlandergs 2re con-

servative people-even in sickly sentiment. Al Jolson had his day ’way back in the ’twenties.