THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1959.
WHY THE MAIL NAMES THREE
PEOPLE TO READ
FRANK BOOK
By DOUGLAS CLARK
NOT BEFORE has the China Mail over handed over one book to three different writers to review. But this is a most exceptional book, exceptional
in
its disclosures on the policy- moulding people and events of the convulsive years spanned by the life- time of King George VI. For this reason the Mail has invited four commen- tators of widely differing personality to read it--and answer the question: "What does this book mean to me?” First assessment stresses the political sido......
TODAY- Why he was A Man of Munich .....and why Edward VIII was never called
'Mr E. Windsor.'
ING
GEORGE VI In a splendid, aristocratic way
he must stand for the opinion was A Man of and virtues of the majority. Ite must be orthodox, predictable-- in the grand style in him the
K Munich. All through that agonising crisis of 1988 his support sus
hundrum attitudes of the plain nan most glitter.
THIS
Four and a half years on, when VE night came, he made the perfect gesture to delight the nation. He sent his daughters out, In the care of a party young eficers, to join the ccio brations in the Mall.
of
"Poor darlings," he wrote in his diary, they have never had any fun yet"
Perhaps It was this-te sense
of his identity with the plain nnn's mind...that 50. swiftly won him the respect of his Ministers. For there is no doubt of the powerful influence be exerted on grent affairs,
A FAILURE To be sure, his only attempt to interfere with the
Suprenic political appointment W09 failure. When Chamberlain fell in May 1940, he was quite clear who his successor as Premier
should be. "I, of course, gested alfax."
sug-
accepted the claims of Churchill with frank reluctance. For once the aristocrat muffed the common touch.
But, when the Socialists took office in 1945, it is clear that it was the King who persuatted Attlee to pul Ernest Bevin in the Foreign Offer Instead of the Exchequer.
Attlee has since denied that Buckingham Palace had any- thing to do wills it. But the fresh evidence of the King's diary is unanswerable.
TWO SHY MEN
What was the royal view on the major Issues of the war and afterwards?
the King was unsympathetic to the Socialist Government's sims. But couldn't they go a Hide more slowlyt. All this nailonatlaption-wasn't it over- crowding the parliamentary tinctable?
气
NI
remarkable that 50 dinident a man could settle into the Sovereign's job so conf- dently.
Conster hits upbringing. The of Princes has caucation
changed for the betten since boarding school, mix freely with
his time.
They now go
Up
children, grow other healthily under the public eye, King George by contrast was
educated behind an Iron Curtain at he was 13, taught by an Intolerably fumy tutor,
The was the statuer too. These were handicaps to unsettle any growing boy, and to drive him into still further
defensivo
ondi
shell, he had always to put up with the superior sparkle vivacity of his elder brother David.
Yet through it all, George V1) managed to acquire not only the plain Englishman's point of vies but also the plain Englishmar dislike of being pushed aroun
Beyond the shyness there wa a streak of steel. It flashed on the day
Edward VIII's Abdication.
The question of a title for his brother had to be settled, Edward was to go on the radio: that night und B.B.C. chlef Sie John Reith was proposing to Introduce him as Mr Edward
Windsor
All this was King George VI: tained and inspired the conventional English aristo-
erat with
touch.
took the common Neville Chamberlain.
And the public sensed it.
CYRIL: STAPLETON
Column
I bring you today first record reviews of 3-D Sound!
AM now a confirmed stereophonic fan, having shaken off the mild lunacy that possession of a 3-D sound first induces. You march un- suspecting callers around the place, gleefully omitting to warn them that an express train will roar across the room with a deafening reverberation. This trick unfortunately can't be worked twice. They don't call again.
more
and a sullen expression,
The sullen look isn't intend- ed to emphasise the Presley resemblance.
But if you fancy rousing your recording contract with black shirt, tight black jears, guests, and provided you've got £33 or
Pye-Nixa. to spare, then
setund record players. order one of the speciul stereo-
·After you've got the novelty phase out of your system, you will settle down to true ap- of full-dimensional music,
preciation
a
So, breaking new ground once again, I propose to start regular Stereo Record Review in this columus.
There are stereo records for
Cilburn
cf
Van
THE EYES
HAVE IT
I watch with scepticism the arrival of yet another idol in this teenage world of rock 'n' roll,
The difference
"The reason I don's smalle is because I've got a crooked tooth. Glot to get it capped. When it's done. Filsmile more."*
Richard rejected my notion that all rock 'n' roll songs sound different
alike.
Ket "They've all words," he points out.
Cift Richard is his name, and all tastes. For instance, there although he has managed to get fine performance from his record called "Move It to American concert pianist
the top of the Best Sellers, he the Tchaikovsky
He shrugs off the fact that has not so far managed to move
we can't hear them. "It's me. However, always being Piano Concerto on R.C.A.
willing to applaud new talent, I the interpretation," he explains went along to see one of his first patiently, "We all feel the song I don't like people appearances
21 London differently.
Saying in a carbon copy of theatre.
Presley
With guns
one record.
Or, in a more spectacular veln,
"Now take those tenors→→→ Decen have the 1812 Overture Oh, yes, I'd been warned that Anxiously Sir Cloud Schuster, played by the London Sym- the police would be there hold- Mario Lanza and Tord Dall from the Lord Chancellor's phony Orchestra, augmented by ing back the crowds of fervent Nebody accuses them of copying
Band of the Grenadier fans.
The only doubt in my Gigli, although they all round office, sought an interview with the
Guards, with authentie battle mind was how many fervent the same to me." the new King.
(I fans one could expect from an
The Richard taste in music, I This
supplied by dialoguen abridgedotmosphere of the King's own belleve) the uns of Windsor artist who had only scored with rathered, is on the narrow side. The King was prolife with version
Frank Sinatra? "1 can take place
FILS between Castlet advice to Churchill, with whom record
Even that master of remote But all was quiet at Finsbury him." Richard conceded. hr quickly established the them
Empire, Nc sardonle tone suggested that he could also closest comradeship. Every King: 1 suggest H.R.H. Dulto perfection, ifeifetz, sounds more Park NEW BOND
Tuesday they lunched and the of Windsor. He cannot be Mr approachable and human when bobbies holding back the ergwds leave him.
"It's a funny thing. Some of Edward Windsor, If he ever Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto outside. Yet inside, påhde- Today brilliant piece of re- King poured out his opinions.
the momeal Cl my fans even like Perry Conto starch (John Wheeler-Bennett's He was anxious that i Second came back to this country he takes on another dimension on ronite
Richard come on stage,
too." On the day Chamberlain re-
GEORGE VI, KING
Is Life Front should not be opened pre- could stand and be elected to the R.C.A. label. turned from signing the Munfel
Macmillan. 60%.), maturely. He hoped conscriptam the House of Commons. Would and Regn. Pact, a royal pestage offering drawing on the King's private would be retained after the you like that? "most heartfelt congratulations"
letters, diaries and
As for Indin, he was amazed awalted hhn at Heston Airport. George VI's uncanny katek uf
the Prime Minister That night at the King's re-thinking with the mind of the to and
increasingly resigned to "giving uppeared with
man in the street. King and Queen on the balcony "Personally I feel happier now it up to the Indians. I disagree. and have always said India has got to be governed."
much admired your "How courage and wisdom in going to see Hitler," be wrote after he Premier's light to Berchtesgaden.
quest, he
the
of Buckingham Palace to accept the cheers of London.
And when the erities began to, burk, the King reacted as sharp- ly as his mother, Queen Mary, who wrote to him: 1 on mare you feel as angry as I do at pro- pie eroaking as they do at the PM's action. For once I agree with Lady Oxford."
Why do I tell this story? Be- cause it shows how George VI Instinctively mirrored the pop lar view. In that lay the serret of his remarkably reign.
confirms war.
that we have no alles to be polite to and to pamper," he wrote to Queen Mary when France (et) in 1940.
It was an absurd, an almost incredible judgment On that stuttering event. But is it not exactly how millions fel!?
Later that year the King re- Joleed #pain. The blitz come,
and even more than before he could feel himself at one with the people, "We have found a new bond
he
with Then," mccessful exulted, as Buckingham Palace
has been bombed as well ast move their homes, and nobody is im~
mune from 1."
To be effective the today must be the people's man,
Schuster No. King: As Duke of Windsor he could sit and vote in the House Would you like that? of Lords
Schuster: No King: Well, if he becomes a
l duke he cannot speak or vote in the Lords.
A DECISION
When Allee became Premier
phase there was an awkward Both men were shy. "At the
Fils quick, astute decision at cuise1."
Mr Boys
Wheeler- Bennett, "the Prime Minister's has very mutuent of his accension nuditnces were not infrequently foreshadowed the sort of King he was 16 br A Sovereign of arked by long silences."
more this calibre was not likely to Oddly, the King took readily to Ancurin Bevan who confine himself to laying founda- himself a stammerer-ut their tlon stones, very first meeting saw flt to cot- The gratulate him on the way he
other
Part of the same composer's "Nutcracker Suite" gets a swing treatment from the band of Leg Brown on one track of Capitol's "Concert Modern."
FL
With the face
Richard is the new 18-year-old Or, if you prefer lighter rock 'n'
roll Romeo who is touch. listen to Capitol's "Stora deposing Tominy Strele
In Stereo," fenturing Harry Britain's Elvis Presley. And he James. Nat Cole. Jnekle Gleason, proved it. He postured, pranced, Les Baxter, Frank Sinatra, and Resticulated,
The girl tons in the fron! rows squealed hysterically.
Back in the star dressing-room
·S. aft
Sinatral atto, A. Pool To Want You" i Frank at his best.
Verdict on the stereo records: more spaciou; the musie The
and the larger the orchestra, the greater the thrill.
people two
Dickie
Valentine,
he assured me that the postur
in part of the music "Rick 'n' rall has to be sung with the face and body," h explained
like to fix my eyes on them.
markable.
pet them going.
The eyes
are
had mastered his speech defect, whose views you'll be reading having cut adrift from Black and plereing.
Decca after ANNE EDWARDS,
has LORD ALTRINCHAM. atay,
I found him easy to talk to."
Soon the royal advice was nowing again.
VIGNETTES OF LIFE
.
"PHOOEY ON DIETING !
I'M GOING
TO LIVE
A LITTLE!
It was not that
New Year Prophecies
His stage garb is even more hypnotic jacket and the are two shades a shocking pink, worn
a longish signed
ON OR ABOUT JANUARY 31 WE WILL. SEE)
THE NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS BITE THE
DUST ONE BY ONE.
6% 7% OF LINE
12 OR IS SCHEDULE X MINUS TAK WITHHELD...
WILL HOBBLE SKIRTS RETURA ? WILL OLD HULA HOOPS BE PUT TO USE? WE HAVE PEERED INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL BUT CAN MAKE NO PROPHECY ABOUT WOMEN'S FASHIONS — MERCIFULLY THE
FUTURE IS HIPPEN.
APRIL WILL BE A MONTH OF HEADACHES AS CHIZENS TAKE THEIR ANNUAL REFRESHER
COURSE IN ARITHMETIC.
IN JULY WE ANTICIPATE AN INCREASE IN
THE SUNBURN REMEDY BUSINESS
SOME PEOPLE NEVER LEARN.
HAND INAUGUST THEY REGRET THAT THEY TOOK THEIR VACATION IN JULY,
/2-29
COFF COL
BY GEHEILAL FEATURES WORLD BIGIUS RESERVED,
ፋ
I asked him how long he has been a professional skruer.
"Since August the ninth," he answered proraptly.
Before that he had worked in
factory.
TOP TEN
HOOTS MON
Lord Rockingham's XI
(Decea) (1)
FT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE Conway Twitty
(M.G.M.) (3)
TOM DOOLEY
Loanie Donegali (Pys-Isika) (U)
IT'S ALL IN THE GAME Tommy Edwards (M.G.M.) (2)
5 A CERTAIN SMILE
Johnny Mathis (Fonturm) (4)
TEA FOR TWO CHA CHA
Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Brunswiel) (11)
MORE THAN EVER
Malcolm Vaughan (H.M.V.) (8)
8 TOM DOOLEY
Kingston Trlo (Capitol) (17)
9 HIGH CLASS BABY
Cliff Richard (Columbia) (14)
10 LOVE
THE MAKES WORLD GO ROUND
Ferry Coma
(RCA) (9) FIGURES IN BRACKETS SHOW LAST WEEK'S PLACINGS.
tunes, now finds that his
played with
on
a market garden and
Although he is not the tonic latest L.P., based for my gin, he is as good a Broadway show tunes
ger as any other of his type
a Latin- and he can hold an audience.
His immediate abonen re American beat, is be- Tudoble; if a trifle mundane.
I want to hoy a house for coming a best seller. mum and a car for myself."
And I've heard that une before
who
CONCERTO
WITH WORDS
Edmundo Ros, has long tried to break
A song which is becoming in through the Broadway creasingly popains in America Is called "The World Outside." record market with au- The title may convey nothing to thentic Latin-American you but
By Harry Weinert
IN MAY WE'LL PLANT SOME FLOWER SEEDS AND PROVE AGAIN THAT THE ONLY WAY THAT WE WILL EVER
HAVE A GREEA THUMB-
IS TO PAINT IT.
AMM!
HE MUST" BE LERY. OVER FROM
HALLOWEEN!
OCTOBER WILL BE
THE MONTH TO START PREPARING
FOR A
HARD WINTER.
IN NOVEMBER WE WILL BE AMAZED
AT THE FLIGHT
OF TIME AND THAT
CHRISTMAS
IS
\SNEAKING- UP ON
US ONCE
MORE.
rew
when you hear the tune. you'll immediately cognise it as our old friend "The Warsaw Conecrio,"
Ever since Richard Add 116c11 wrote this wonderful inume for the fim "Dangerous Moon- light," he has been pestered by would-be lyric writers wanting to get words to his music. Up until now, he has turned them all down and not even the added incentive of a new crop of royalties would induce him to change his mund, Unth 2x months ago.
GIMMICK
THAT GOES
THE crazier the diac-
scenc becomes, the greater the power of the gimmick. it is the magic Louchstone that turns P worthless biscult of shellac into a million-sciling golden record.
Very latest gimmick in the States is a mave-the-teen-ngers campaign. They have now re- corded a musicul code of conduct
and called it, with doubtful taste, "The Teen Command- ments."
This Tin Pan Alley sermon is delivered by three top popsters -Paul Anka, George Hamilton 11. and Johnny Nash,
Sales
د
potential? It is Karded in hysterical Stateside trade circles on "boffo," "upeko"
llt material.
-"A suricy of rules for morat, healthy lives," enthuses Bill- hoard, the Americon show business weekly,
Mock piety in recording oven extends to the most enduring pop-theme at all-romance.
Ilarvey and the Moun Glows are currently engaging Ameri- can earn with a little homily entitled "he Ten Command- ments of Love."
When these records are issued in Britain the B.B.C. 2 going to rench quickly for that blue pencil. The Corporation is tradi- tionally sensitive to this typo of popa.
ROA VICTOR wit send a feam of technicians to Elvis Presley's barracks po' that bo man record an album of hymns dedicated to his mother. That should rcassuro bim in the matter of royalties,
Fresley's latest rolcano la Amurica explaina 'all thrus frenaled pelvie syrations,
It is called "I Got Bang.”