1949-12-17 — Page 9

THE HONGKONG, EGRAFIE SATURDAY, DECEMBER

1949.

Christmas - Custom

Mra Elin Karlsson of Sorunda County, Stockholm, dressed in traditional shawl and cap, makes her own candles at home for the eclchration of Christmas. Hero she is hanging up a few sticks of the tallow to be dried as part of the final process of an age-old formula.

Mixed

Battery

Celebrating Christmas

THEN the ATS began

W

to go about With mistletoo in their

hair and the light of battle

in their oyes you know that

. By ERNEST TURNER

Christmas was coming to board and tried to pretend that would sing Carol Number Five. the 999th Heavy (Mixed) it was all in a good cause, Anti-Aircraft Royal Artillery.

flred

And so on. It was all vory un- the final orthodox. For once Battery,

“Amen” was not immediately "Three followed by the cry

It was ranks in the roadway?” all very refreshing.

a

Quite a number of characters changed for the better an Christmas approached, For once the RSM visited the site on a purely goodwill mission instead of for the purpose of lighting a fire in a remote corner and tim- the arrival of the ing

fire

Private Jean Smith and Cor- The l

the Poral Sally Tubb, who in ardinary way cultivated CX- clusively the society of Ameri-

There was already "lift in the air because the guns had a couple of days before, and even though no noticeable distress had been caused to the Luftwaffe the fact of Aring piquet. raised' everybody's spirits.

especially Quartermaster pleased, as he was now able attribute the recent breakage of three lavatory pans to gun

Talking about Music

Wis

a

of an ATS getting undressed and into bod. L/Cpl Jane White, straight from Janke, 171 walk beside you", and Bang received much sympathetic ap plause. Then Sergeant Alloo Grant gave the hula-hula dance which, her jealous colleagues averred, was the cause of her rapid promotion at training

contres

Probably the reason why the ATS enjoyed the dance so much was that the ATS offleers fore- Dinner was the big event, bore to enquire why half of The dining hall was so garland-, them were wearing locks in- ed and beflagged that you could stead of Service dress, and why not read the exhortations to their hair in many cases was save bread, and to come with no longer two inches above the clean hands. There was

collar. Private

Jackson Folly

bo special holly wreath

moment to on the expected any piece of Heinkel which the bat naked, "Jackson, have you been But her crime, remala in the camp on their tery had winged a year before, using scent?"

At one end of the hall were it noticed (and it was abundant- evening of and join in a sing-

went unpunish- damages. barrack-room

three barrels of beer, presented ly noticeable) People with houses adjoining cong in the Nead.

by the officers, who also had the gunsite were less pleased, Lieutenant Rogers, who was the privilege of serving it, No- but

their they plugged up

wont 10 make unexpected body refused beer, not even the broken windows with

and thus avoid levyiur *** blast can flers, were good enough to

for

"

•

charge

card- descents on the Information youngest and dewiest fink mut-

Don't look to me for

unbiased opinion

MUSIC critic should in the first place give an account of himself, for he practises an odd and suspected trade. His job is more difficult than that of the dramatic or book critic; ho is on a much trickier wic- ket.

by NEVILLE CARDUS-

He will take the whore music world as bla province; he will write about music and musi

clams, concerts. composers,

orchestras and performers.

A

His artician will appear regu.

larly and

He has to deal with "foreign" language, with an Intangible art addressed to him and to the rest of us out of another dimension, so to say. Often he is bound to feel like a bogus spiritualist medium, faking messages from the next world.

ABSTRACT

Exclusively

Room in the evenings, under den. the impression that it was being used for other purposes than acquiring information, decided to live and let live (for a couple of days anyway).

THE

**

*

UIERE was mistletoe hung at strategic points around the hall, and this delayed the serving

ed.

The BSM, who was comper- ing, laid on a kiss waltz, Bay- ing: "The music will stop, the lightz will go out for five seconds, and the gentlemen will do what is expected of thera”. It happened that Lieutenant Rogers was dancing with Gun- ner Walter's fiancee, but there

of the meal somewhat. Captain whan't much that Gunner Richards was the principal vie- Walter could do about it. (He on was a jealous fellow, and didn't UIE Junior Commander ATS in. They always pounced

had got over her huff. She him when he had both hands ke other NCO's urging had selected her six best-looking full. His handkerchief at

at the his flansco, who was a cook- ATS for

get a move special parade, only end showed more shades of lip. houso orderly, to

the stick than you could find on

that to see them rejected by

an on). It also happened Colonel, who had other stan- colour chart by Elizabeth Ar- Private Joen Jenkins was danc dards of pulchritude. He had den. To win a wager, Gunner ing with Captain Richards, whe

klse} 11bp chosen just the ones you would Tomkins

was the only person in the camp Junior expect a man to choose. Now, Commander, which

who didn't know that Private was 10 hardship. When however, the Junior Comman-

Joan had a "crush" on him. the Major

der had decided she must live kissed the Junior Commander I down, and was ordering the there was loud applause, against Christmas dinner with imagina- the background of which tion and efficiency,

Into the sun, dazzled with the Forelle in a distant and entirely knew how he came to possess urgo and elevernces given him unrelated key? by the fates. Master of the orchestra at 24, an orchestra of the age of gold and grass, the orchestra of Midas.

and

*

n

new-

female voice was heard ex- prossing the bellef that it probably wasn't the first time. Lieutenant Smithson, a

ou comer to "mixed," said that this Bacchus stimulating blend of

probably and Venus was near as ho would ever get to the atmosphere of a Roman

Afternoon

*

1

AFTER that romantic interlude

there were action songs, in- duding the one which finished:

*Tho

moon WIJ shining brightly.

"Twas a right that would

banish all sink,

For the bells were ringing

the Old Year Out, And the New Year 'in.”

The idea, of course, was to make exaggerated gestures ap-

Yes, there was an Improve ment all round. It even seem- ed that the Major was going to unbend to the extent allowing the male Sergeants to take tea to the ATS on Christ- mas morning. But the Major knew that a man's footstep over the threshold of an ATS hut orgy.

to a question was liable to lead to

Nuts were served to round in the House of Commons, and off the meal. This was a mic-propriate to each line. It was he was taking no chances. Ho take, as nuts are top useful as felt that the Major's interpreta- I said that in any case

reveille

barrel tion of "sin" was as daring o ammunition. The beer in an ATS

barrack-room was were by now empty. Nobody anybody's. To see the battery a scene from which Hogarth

felt much like attending the making a fool of itself collec- might have shrunk Nobody

football match, least of all the tively, was a refreshing sight. players, so it was just as well Soon after this the shutter this knowledge.

that visiting team failed to turn

to turn descended on the beer bar and We each of us in time work

up. Everybody had

azy the dance began to die. Three own technique

under the blankets

Free French sailors had been out our

officers The critic of books can

and ser except the way of life. After many years*HRISTMAS morning saw off- point out that novelist's

experience in two hemispheres cers and sergeants of both had to wash up,nvited to the dance. They had or are not, characters are,

The scientific school in and by this I menn England sexes dutifully carrying buckets serve the mess stalls, wash up not lacked partners, though one

Lea into not Manchester of

appropriate again, eat their own dinner and or two of the girls had found and d "like life." The dramatic general, and

third the Provencal technique a bit have come to barrack-roams,, waking up then wash up for the

swift. Lieutenant Rogers, who critic can describe the en- particular are not, they hate conclusion that the music sleepers who would just as soon time.

always took the job of Orderly terested in anybody's inter- critic's Arst duty is 10 write

have stayed asleep. Everyone

thought he Omeer veriously, chanting way Edith Evana pretation" of music, no matter

well. Vast crudition, sympathy tried to be hearty, though thero

would see them safely off the as Daphne Laureola gets how well written. They are

who the com- and penetration are of no avall were quite a few

only TERE

was a dance in the site. It took him twenty min drunk. Also he can draw at concerned only with

Then tradition. itself it really if he is dull and lacking wit cursed

the evening, preceded by amateur utes, and in the end he had to tention to the fact that position "as in

and the phrase that stimulates. officers and sergeants staggered theatricals, full of libellous in- call out reinforcements. 1,"

"and

with the composer's another character in the mind and

back to bed, hla

nuendo. Lieutenant Rogers was processen of

the Ircturing restaurant scene of the thought.

The critic with humour will,

In the sergeants' mem Christ- The only parade that morning depicted take a modest view of his job

carols. Even British Way and Purpose to mas night was celebrated longer same play leaves the stage.

and be content to record his was for singing not obviously to assist the

a choir of angela. There was a than anywhere else. Jenks, the impressions. Searching Gunner Brown, a notorious dis-

attended,

haunted batman, swore next day that Fenter,

The local hysterical scene in a development of the plot, but

oceu when organising an early cup for the Absolute is exhausting.

oc- barrack-room, the girt minister, called in for the

the cookhouse bo nevertheless to assist the

mood. pants of which withstood every of tea from "or casion, was in a jovial comes down to a natter of illusion that we are looking the bias or pull of his tempera- taste-but

te. Think of a number," he would kind of blood-curdling appari- saw the male sergeants retriev ot trained taste. at human nature very much, ment and his particular order Apropos of Beethoven

say to the congregation, in the tion but panicked at the end ing their bodding from the static Apparently they I arr manner of a conjuror address when one of them saw a mouse. water tank. Only the Almighty bound to talk about if deliberately, in action.

his Ing

Someono And, of course, Sergeant Rich- had had a very good party bi "Five," 50 they mand gave his celebrated mime deed.

Mr Newman

COMPOSERS

in and

GWN

But nobody, not even Mr At bottom, all this "criticism" min

Newinan, can

education.

resist allogeiner

myself-

is empowered to see things "un which is an important modill- der the conditions of cterally," cution of Analule France's say would call The painter, too, in obliged to keep in touch The joke is that whenever ing. with the familiar visible the great composers themszives

about their own In this column I shall try to universe. Even the sur. have spoken

times cre to

enjoyment of have most

it that music they realist

about music like may

his do

preferred to express themselves writing damnedest and give us

this very same despised charity begins at home, triangle struck by lightning language of verbal or literary must utter a word of warn-

against a background of analogy. Somebody once asked ing at the outset.

of

Beethoven the "meaning

C

But

the

audience.

수

Q

C. V.R. Thompson

Christmas Thoughts In New York

NEW YORK.

If anybody looks to me for welsh rarebit and call it one of his plane sonatas. “Read

that. it of the union workers at one of slops spending money unprejudiced opinions

.New York's largest department "Metempsychosis B." The Tempest," he said.

disap. to suffer some ilkely

le already like Christmas is not got. I in New York. They are clavant expert, told sin funds to advertise in the

William Grede,

stores, and he turned over But, all the same, the triangle As a last resort the music polniment. After all, my pre- (and the welsh rarebit) will be critic might all out his columna judices may occasionally be only recognisable at sight, or maybe by referring

to the perform your preferences; and, anyway. putting up trees to match Congress that the national debt newspapers for more customers second sight. His work can be ance. But who. except the it is hard and dull to tolerate the skyscrapers, and Fifth may soon got so large that the for the store.

His remedy: The Government described and detected.

"Wait and see," said Miller, Avenue blazes by day and dollar will have to be devalued. singer herself, her relations and everything and everybody.

must be taught only night with coloured lights.

to pay bills. arguing that it was in the union's air friends and those who don't like As Oscar Wide said,

and music,

should cut next year's interest for the employer to should attempt

The shops, bulging "beauty In the abstract, beauty in the paper next day that at the auctioneer

with

spending by £3,000 million or make more money. The other child more.

men had to take it all union Wigmore Hall last night to appreciate all schools of art

everything to tempt a M'ss Glottie-Quick

or an adult, are jammed.

FINION: The local news back. The store announced that

But

sounding

her, are really interesied to read

in solution," what can any the man's pen do with it?

There are only two ways in which the critic' may expect to cope Ho will impress many folk, of course, if he goes in for

analysis"; we all know

the 104 kindThe principal subject, hitherto only heard fiercely, in the piccoli (sforzando) is trans ferred hopefully to the violas, until we come to a close on the dominant. of D minor." sort of writing is Chinese to the

render; and averago musician knoWE all about and more than all, already.

* GIBBERISH

No

This

the it,

music crifle of humour has time for much gibberish. He is thrown back on literary, verbal analogy, a method out of fashion nowadays, and

jisused in publlo likely

arque the ire or irony of Mr Newman

This sort of thing: "At the and or 24 Straŭsy plunged into Hoofd 19th) - century.

ding: his young (esules

SERVICE

sang

London Express Service.

Edith, fust what "kil need!

cheque

Mr Lee Wood, a New York editor, maw all this and thought Idaho town, started a campaign because of the union's adver of Britain. The result was seen to adopt a more American tising that everyone would get is his newspaper. It said:

"Our friends in Britain face cow

0 paper in Moscow, a small business had improved so much

the

name,

We

Sald the paper: "Mos- an extra £1 `n week Suggests

painful many another cheerless Christmas things. Somehow, cannotART: Hollywood's plan “to A attract women audiences season-their Afth since

help feeling uneasy about hav- They are short of almost ing Moscow in Idaho. Sort of by what they call "beefcake".

a sheria named advertising pictures which show everything which most of us like having

manly heroos in bare-chested consider necessary. to a happy Hitler."

the calendar posed--has given·

War.

celebration.

"Why

not share your CUNBATHING on the Florida people an idea. Some of their Christmas this year with beaches, President Truman 1950 productions will feature

from an massive, muscled pin-up boys. friend in Britain? Gifts of escaped food can be shipped duty free. "explosion" he had timed to go

the blast

Washington. The explosion was

TOME: In my grocer's the If you do not know any of while he was away from

other day I found dough for British people personally there are agencies that will gladly caused by: t a drastic measure salo. It comes ready mixed und send food packages for you and the Government, announced in partly baked by a process dis- make sure they reach persons stop unequal treatment of covered accidentally by an ex- who need them and will enjoy Negroes

GL. It koops fresh for a fort- them

+

From now,

no housing prn- night, and half an hour in a facts which restrict their tenants hot oven. turnus it into "home- to any particular rece, colour, baked trisp new brood or or creed, will be able to use rails.

And the newspaper? It is the New York World Telegram, which earlier this year publish ed the critical articles by E T Government money. Bald Leech on Sociallat Britain

#

Washington: The President; RUSINESS: Off to Washington Bu da javno most happy over the results of is committee of Arverlen'is

Leading all goods manufac VEN THE DOLLAR✨ may his effort AR A

When the tirera They are to demand a MEN called Paul atly tarin to stop dumping Trom National Aociation Cor MamoTINION facturers unlear washington Miller crazy Heie boss occupied Japari. Shu ya da

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