Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

"LITTLE ORGAN ANNIE" After the Echoes of the Jazz Bands Dies Ahoy. Demure Little Ann Leaf Comes On the Air, Coaxing Magic Melodies Out of That Grandest of Instruments, the Pipe Organ, With Her Nimble Fingers, in the Loneliness of the Great Columbia Studio. WE had listened to her music for some time before we met her. all the chimes and bells and swooning chords of her broadcast, lulling us off into a peaceful sort of ecstacy . . . but, in spite of the merry, mischievous quality of the jingling bells, we thought of the trembling chords, and consequently expected to meet a long, anemic young lady. But we didn't. Ann Leaf, to our complete surprise, was less than five feet tall, and flashed a nice smile at us that was not the least shadowed by anemia: friendly, and influenced by a touch that was almost hoydenish. It is for this reason that it has been hard to catch an accurate picture of Ann Leaf — does not somehow seep through the lens of a camera. The quick vividness of her small person. When little Ann was three years old, and no one suspected nucleous musical yearnings, her sister Esther, who was about two years older land who now "doubles" for Ann on the organ at vacation time) stopped a piano agent who was wandering down their street in Omaha, Nebraska, and told him in a childish treble that they needed a piano at their house. Consequently, the man pounced down upon her unsuspecting parents and said simply. "I hear you want a piano." The parents, though rather stunned by the idea which came out of a perfectly clear sky, agreed that they would like their oldest daughter to study music, and promptly bought the piano. That oldest daughter, however, cannot play the piano to this day. while Ann and Esther are among the hest musicians in the country. However, Big Sister was put down to study the e-g-b-d-f"s, and little Ann looked on with an increasingly wistful expression. She was attracted to the large instrument, and whenever she could find a moment when she was completely alone, she would sit down and with both small hands drum out the melody that ran through her head: tunes that had been whistled, or sung, or even played by less sensitive fingers. When she was four years old, she nearly frightened her mother out of her mind. Mrs. Leaf was in the garden, and suddenly there came from the house the music of definite, melodic chords. She knew that no one was home . . . that is no one except small Ann, who was supposed to be harmlessly at play on the living room floor. She dashed into the house and found Ann perched upon the seat with both hands intently roaming over the keys. From that day on the small child was given every opportunity. When Ann was five she was taken to a recital given by a neighborhood music teacher. Her pupils were competing for a bust of Handel which was to go to the winner. Ann's father took her to the recital, thinking that she would enjoy the music. He did not forsee what actually happened. The children were required to memorize the same piece, and the one who played best was proclaimed the winner. After every one else had one it to the best of their ability, Little Ann asked to be allowed ANN LEAF to play it. They may have laughed when she sat down at the piano — were they surprised when they heard her execute it perfectly, in addition to injecting a bit of her own expression into chords she remembered just from hearing them played repeatedly in the preceding recital! She won the bust. "I never did appreciate the bust until I broke it" says Ann, "And then I loved it. It made swell chalk, and I drew lines on the sidewalk with it." Ann and Esther were always sent to take their music lessons at the same time, and it was the custom for both these small girls to take turns carrying the music roll. If Ann carried it to the teacher's house, then Esther carried it home. One winter evening on the way home, there was some dispute and disagreement about who had carried it there. "I did" asserted Ann. "You did not! I did" insisted Esther. As they were passing an empty lot. full of tall weeds and rubbish, Esther thrust the music roll into Ann's hands and she hurled it vehemently into the open lot. Both of them were extremely proud and they walked home without it rather than give in. Once home. Mr. Leaf asked his small, very pugnaciouslooking daughters what had become of the music roll. Ann, who was smaller and more pathetic-looking than Fstlier (Turn to Page 37) RADIO DOINGS Page Tw<-n^ -fi\ <•