THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, BATUNDAY, AUGUST 22, 1936.
ENTERTAINMENT
Hongkong Born Film Star Is In Financial Difficulties WENDY BARRIE FILES BANKRUPTCY PETITION
ZBW RADIO BALLOT
Local Listeners Want More "Pep" In ZBW Announcing: Gentlemen Prefer Neither Blondes Nor Brunettes But Want Own Sex
UITE apart from the actual result of the Popular Radio Itoms contest, the results of which wore announced in the "Tolograph" last Tuesday, several important facts have emerged from this competition.
Firally, the competition has upheld the contention of this Fage; voleed recently in an Open Letter to the Broadcasting Committee, that the majority of listeners are,dissatisfied with ZBW's programmes.
Only 40 of the 803 entrants in the competition falled to record their opinion regarding ZBW's present programmes. More than 65 per cent, of the remaining 554 entrants voiced dissatisfaction with ZBW. But, Bs one listener asked, "Is anybody ever satisfied with their radio programmes?"
a
Maskee for a while the actual competition, against which the charge can be levelled (unjustly, as it turned out) that isteners were more interested in the prize than in giving correct interpretations of their Laates. Let us concentrate on the non-compulsory features of this ballot-the features which were strictly non-biarsed, since they were quite apart from the competitive portion relating to are the responses to the three questions, and the request for suggestions.
Despite their non-compulsory nature, the response was overwhelm- ing. I have before me more than 150 letters containing suggestions for the Improvement of ZBW's program mes. Each letter contains anything up to ten suggestions.
Tabulating these non-compulsory features, several things become glor- ingly obvious.
Listeners, on the whole, do not like our announcers, with one or two exceptions.
The majority of those who wrote lollers do not like our local artistes, also with one or two exceptions.
Items. These features
'Uncles' and 'Aunties' pre #O self-conscious. Someone makes a fatuous remark, then follows' an appalling silence, until an 'Uncle'
won the Phlico receiver, "s n good The and up-to-date (modern) Announ- British cer. Although this is n Colony, the listeners are cosmopoll- tan. If We present Announcers are maintained, the Oxford accent should never be used."
"Announcing," says another en- trant-a well-known jeader in local musicni circles, "should be in a lan- gunge clear, crisp and conversation- al. The lady announcing at timin sessions and the gentleman nnnounc- ing at ZEK are a delight to listen to. The others are mostly unsuitable In front of a microphone."
Aunty
80,
coughs nervously and, suggests o story or a song-Don't you think
and all the others answer, one
after
another, 'Er yes, I think so, etc. etc. Surely something can be done about this?"
A well-known local alpan also has something to say about announ- cers: "In studio concerts the inter- val between the items is too long. and the breathless state of the on- nouncer's voice gives one the impres- sion that he was not ready, and had be sent for, to make the to announcement."
"G.B." "With the exception of one female nonouncer, the announcing to 'too chilly and
"New announcers!" demands "3.0." of Causeway Bay, "The B.B.C. gave up female announcers when they left Savoy Hill, In any case, slop Over four hundred at the 003 pronouncing Cadiz a "Caydeca"; it entrants asked for early morning you want to know, the proper pro-landesa. It should be more salt and programmes. Only 134 voted against nunciation is "Cohdeeth.""," them. An even greater number want broadcast relays from stations other than Daventry, only 92 voting against this suggestion.
It
would be impossible to com- pletely analyse the suggestions in this issue of the "Telegraph" and I propose dissecting them in separate articles. To-day we will deal with. the Announcers, since this aeems to be the most controversial subject.
It is remarkable, in this connee- tion, how many listeners have used the word "Pep". Lack of "pep" in seems to be the chief announcing complaint. No less than 20 people
.one
their made.
suggestions of "MORE PEP IN THE ANNOUNC- ING."
were
Lady announcers appear to be dis- tinctly unpopular, and many requests elimination.. made for their "JJ" asked that the announcers should announce in the same high tone. "Some", he wrote, "are very low, and as a result the listener has 10 increase the volume control and then decrease it again when the music starts." A
mellow. They speak an they were real- It matter
"Mrs. A.C." is equally emphaticing it out of a book: they
of business rather than pleasure.** about announcers, "Do, please, en- Rage an announcer who is not o tragically bored stiff with life as one of those we have at present," she writes.
"D.W." also thinks that Hongkong's announcers Reem bored with their work. un," seems
"What about 'pepping' them she writes. "At present It that announcing must be rather boring at least, that is the general expression."
"Miss. 9.B." suggests how our an~ nouncers should go about it: "The Announcer could make comments of Interest to listeners when introduc- ing the various Items on the pro- These remarks need not #ramme. necessarily be particularly brilliant or witty, but nothing is more mono- tonous than the present method of relterating You will now hear two Fongs. by- or 'Our recorded pro- gramme continues with The same applies to studio, items. These could be brightened considerably by the announcers' remarks, or 'patter Between numbers.
As for the "Uncies" and "Aunties"
Children's
"The Hour: Hour is painful.
Hongkong broadcasting of
the "What needs," says Mr. Charles Sylva, who | Childrens'
"J.V.R."** The chief faults with 21W and ZEK are poor announcing and short heure. Give us brighter anamineing. This could be dono similarly to KZRM. Mandia."
«ic.n." (well-known in local entertainment
wo Let the Tradeseting Studlo employ
RE ANCCrs people who not only can atam- mez out the titim of Items correctly, but can also make the programmes brighter, by adding some personal touches and hummer. The real would be easy."
An Army Direri "Male mononneers Are preferable to female announcers." (Many other
latenem in almilar vein.)
*1.0** Clin us bright and breezy an "nouncements.— It's -- Oloomy - Bunder-all-the
week at ZOY and ZEK."
*N.S.E." Announcements
fon ment and too delalled. 1t le quite unnerve- sary for the announcer to give the fullest
pre
k-in played. It is unnecessary, when relay- Ing the Ulster Rifles Hand, to mention con-
Weddy Barrie
"I RECKON I OWE
TEN TIMES AS MUCH AS I POSSESS"
ITONGKONG cinemactress Wendy Barrie has file
voluntary petition in bankruptcy at Hollywood. She declares: "I reckon I own ten times as m as I possess," lists debts at approximately £2,300, assets at £200.
Her father, Mr. F.C. Jenkin, K.C., died, it will bo recalled, under particularly distressing circumstances just over six monthe ago.
Many people thought Mr. Jukin a comparatively rich man. Reverse was the сдве.
During his lifetime in Hongkong he gave considerable suma anonymously to charity.
He launched Wendy, and later Paddy, on film careers. All of which took money,
Wendy's career started on stage in London, where she appeared in "Wonder Bar",
She "arrived" in filmdom with her performance as Jane Seymour in "The Private Life of Henry VIII",
Went to Hollywood in 1934, signed five-year contract with Para- mount Alms. "Speed", one of her vehicles, was screened at King's Theatre last week-end.
Her. best Hollywood performance was with Spencer Tracy in "It's a Small World",
Wendy Barrie was at one time engaged to Willlo Donahue, heir to £10,000,000 worth of the famous Woolworth millions. But engago ment was broken off because, according to Wendy, "Mrs. Donahue objected because of our youth." Later Wendy's name was coupled with that of David Niven, a handsome former captain of a Scottish regiment.
Wendy is fair, slender, has green eyes. She is five feet four inches, weighs 110 pounds.
She intended to visit Hongkong this year.
"FIRST NIGHT'S" FILM
Best
REVIEW
Colour Film Yet Made
Trail of the Lonesome Pine
QUEEN'S AND ALHAMBRA Director: Henry Hathaway. Stars:--Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Fred MacMurray_
IN my judgment this picture points more clearly than
Motails of each preord, both before and after any we have had so far to the general use of colour in future timualy 'fly*kind permission of so and no story-telling by the screen.
the
and 'Conducted by so and woʻ-murėly printed
nouncement t enough? Again, for the Darenity relays, we now get four announcemente, detailed ones from the locat slation before and after the liem, a detailed one from Daventry before, and a brief ona after.
Purnell's
SAUCES & PICKLES Yoo good to pass!"
able from all loading stores,
Alexandra Building:
hand fighting staged with a realism that must have been painful to the participants; and Fonda and Mac- Murray have some first-rate scraps
on their own account,
TESTS ANSWERS
Current Affairs
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"IT HAD TO HAPPEN"
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George Raft, Rosalind Russell
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King's Theatre
It is beginning to be quite appar- ent by now that "The Thin Man" hes a lot to answer for. That delightful mixture of drams and comedy start- ed not so much a cycle as a style, It has been used as a model for din-
Its action is set mainly in thehas never been so engaging a figure
Spanky McFarland, just a toddler,logue, altuations and even players'
performances. open air amidst the superb moun- tain and wood scenery of the High Sierras. Its significance lies in the fact that the colouring really does enhance the dramatle renilsm of the story.
as he is in this picture.
It will surely increase the demand for the services of this little boy, who looks about' three.
This is not a second "Thin Man", and doesn't pretend to be, But it provides Rosalind Russell with a part written on palpably Myrna Loy-
Miss Russell, with previ ish lines. ous experience of the same kind of thing
Renderyouitable im- comes
in
through with a very
Itation: sophistication,
sell-posses-
Beaulah Bond gives an appeal- ing performance as the mother who laments the nonsensical feud, and Fred Stone is fine, too, as her kindlying of the lids to indicate slight sur- but feud-impelled husband.
I am aware that on rare occasions a little red ticker comes into the texture where, presumably, there has been a tiny tear in the delicate that surface of the celluloid, and sometimes the photography of faces rugged does not escape a hint of special lighting.
sion, wide-eyed calm with a flutter-
prise in the face of the most nerve- shattering crises.
An interesting character is that of the local minstrel, played by a
You might imagine it was Myrna with
R bunerous Loy at times which is high praise
singer
face who is new to me, Fuzzy Knight. of Misa Russell's imitative powers.
fellow-immelen, in company with
George Raft, on the other hand, Apart from the colouring there But the splendour of the colouring
are no new revelations of the three his old sombre, determined self. He i so entirely natural in the circum-
Leo Cerrillo, to stances and absorbs so convincingly Principals, but they are all good in arrives in
And a strange country in which the such simple things as homely hut their respective ways.
on the com- low has a great deal of power. The gunburn effect furniture and plain sults of clothes
which that it becomes an authentic part plexion
one observed in
So he carves himself out narrative which is what "Becky Sharp" is noticeable here,
as Π politicion (and a surprisingly of the colour must be, of course, if it is but in this case it tones naturally honest and philanthropie one at that) to be accepted in screen entertain- with the open-air life,
ment as the regular,
thing.
י.
Two familles in the lonely back- woods, the Tollivers and the Falins, have been racked by feud so long that it is in their blood, though there ore only vague memorica of how it began.
Sylvia Sidney is the prettiest Tolliver, It is the dream of her cousin, Henry Fonda, that they shall marry. But the girl is fond of him only in a brotherly way,
There arrives Fred MacMurray as the breezy and purposeful manager of the mining operations that are to, develop the land upon which the Tollivers and Fallns wage their feuds and make
untutored dwellers rich.
the
The vigorous young manager comes just in time to cure the girl's sultor of un injury 'n result of the feud) that would have killed him. Their gratitude is resentful, because ho Is a stranger making terms with the hated Fullins at the same time.
But the girl is attracted, and the rest of the romance 15 concerned with her ingenuous pursuit of him, and with the MacMurray character's half-hearted attempts to fend her off in the interests of her first lover,
We see the feud developing re- lentlessly among the bills and trees. There are shooting and band-to-
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and falls in love with Rosalind Rus-
"SUMMER NIGHT DANCES WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS
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Answers to
Week-End Problems
#
PROBLEM 1
JUST A GAME
There are nine Bacons. Partitions of ↑ (Bacons).
3
Partitions of 15 (0 Bacons and
• Eggs):
1
I
2 12 11
1
The problem can only be solved by trial.
PROBLEM 2
A SQUARE DEAL Baldwin is cleven.
sell. She, after overcoming her pat rlelan scruples, returns his love and contributes the spur of courage which urges him in the climax to face his unscrupulous enemies and reach a triumphant conclusion.
and
The plcture runs smoothly rapidly. It is well acted, well direct- ed, picasant; worth seeing.
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