ALL ABOUT MICHAEL AND THE PIXIE PATH

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 37, 24 February 1939, Page 12

ALL ABOUT MICHAEL AND THE PIXIE PATH

KIAVE you met Obadiah Oswald? Or Caesar the Crab? Or Agnes the Hen? And have you travelled with the pixie-eared Michael down the Pixie Path? And do you remember the quaint musical waddle of the Penguin, the Penguin who, "with another one, built o nest and had a son"? But, just in case you think we've been reading too much Barrie ond A. A. Milne, and have come all over whimsy, it should be explained that Obadiah Oswald and Caesar the Crab, and Agnes, and Michael and the Penguin were all cheracters in "Down the Pixie Path," the children’s fantasy which the National Broadcasting Service featured during children’s sessions from the YA stations recently. *

KCEPT for a special broadeast by Grace Adams East, American trumpet player, "The Pixie Path’? represented the first time the NBS had ever introduced a feature into its children’s hour on a national scale. Seven-year-olds, and their parents as well-it’s a Imown fact that just as many parents as children listenin to children’s hours-will remember "The Pixie Path" for its delightful story, its. good fun, and, above all, its songs and verses. There’s quite a story to "The Pixie Path,’ and it really began when Mrs. Mary Hamilton, of Island Bay, Wellington-she was Miss Mary C. Hail, living in Sydney, and contributing verse to Austraiian and American papers at the timemet a man who had pixie ears and second sight. What? You've never met a man with pixie ears? Many people have them-no iobes, rather furry, and pointed at the top. And, if you have pixie ears, according to Mary ©. ’ Hall, you’re a very lucky person. Ail sorts of exciting things may happen to you. Well, the man with pixie ears, whose second name was Michaei, became, whether he liked it or not, the hero of a little series of adventures in verse into fairyland. And he kent on meeting so many nice

people that the verses grew and grew. They were written at all sorts of odd times, some of them in England, and many of them were published. ; Enter The NBS N one day in Wellington Mrs. Hamilton. took her book of ‘‘Pixie Path’’ verses, all neatly typed and bound, inte Tommy Kirk-Burnnand, who is musical adviser to the National Broadcasting Service, and told him she had a suggestion for 2 children’s session. Mr, Burnnand was immediately impressed by the verses, and as his chief spare-time hobby is compodsing, it wasn’t long before Michael was set to music. Then a narrative was wriizen. Nr. Roy -Hill, well-known Wellington tenor, was engaged to sing the songs; another NBS executive came along to provide incidental noises, and a series of recordings was made. {That loud motor horn you heard was the result of a motorist getting bad tempered just outside the studio window, and doesn’t really come into the story of "The Pixie Path.") :

What is the exact story of "The Pixie Path’? It’s much too long to tell here, but briefly, it tells what happens to Michael of the pixie ears when he travels down the pixie path. There are little songs about the people he meets, songs which are the most amusing part of "The Pixie Path." Obadiah Oswald FOR instance, there’s our old friend Obadiah Oswald, to whom we referred previously. Obadiah Oswald is @ prickly little beasi, , With a rather trying temper if you tease him in tie least, Hes @ serious young feliow and he never wants to play, He ‘keeps his nose upon the ground and walks @ funny way. Obadiah Oswald is @ baby porcupine, And although he is so prickly Z would love him to be mine. And then Caesar the Crab ("f have two little nippers, though I have no wife"). Caesar the Orab lived under the : ledge , Of a ruggedy rock by the waters edge. He'd a greeny-broun shell on his greeny-brown back, And his legs were deep pink, and his eyes were deep black.

His moss-covered: home was not lonely or drab, And a handsome crustacean was Caesar the Crad. The secret about Obadiah Oswald and Caesar the Crab is that they are veal people, says Mrs. Hamilton. She once knew the most prickly sort of person, and also a rather crabby man, who always seemed to be waiking sideways. The Music fae. BURNNAND’S music is suited perfectly to the verses, Mr. Hill interprets them well, and although (to coin a ---s

phrase) comparisons are invidious, ‘‘The Pixie Path’’ is well up to the standard of any similar recordings which haye ever come to New Zealand. Next step will be to have the words and music of "The Pixie Path" published, Mrs. Hamilton is making inquiries about that now. Without a doubt there should be an immediate success for the book. Mrs. Hamilton .also has another collection of verses, *Seven Songs for Sixpence," which, besides being a bargain, is just as amusing and delightful as "The Pixie Path." Quite possibly they, too, will be broadcast some day.