World Film News and Television Progress (Apr 1936-Mar 1937)

REAL PEOPLE CAN'T BE WRONG WHAT stirs in thedim pool of B.B.C. listeners? Who listens to what'.' How gauge the interest of the many millioncd man in the street? Is this voice of the great outside world a presence only, like a cathedral, not to be thought about? Mr. Symons, fisherman of Cornwall, advances this not so fantastic theory. Researchers in fly lishing. faced with an identical problem, built a tank with a window in the bottom, cast their flics on the surface, and examined them from below. It took the anglers three thousand years to think of taking the fishes" point of view. The B.B.C. has every chance of beating that record. Here is Bermondsey talking, typical of the working, struggling proletariat of South-side London. Here is Mousehole, a romantic village in a coign of the cliffs of Cornwall, but as ardently devoted to radio. The only competition is the conversation of the "Ship" and the roar of the sea, for the nearest picture-house is at Penzance. The B.B.C. should consider this aquarium method of research borrowed from the flyfishers. When Val Gielgud"s cri de ciriir goes over the air asking for comment and brings in seven bags of mail, is it evidence or only sycophantic nonsense? Why not a host of B.B.C. contact men, talking in pubs, dropping in on washing days, getting to know — in the vernacular? It must be difl^cult, for the B.B.C. Questionnaires are notoriously misleading. The answers are mostly snob answers. Newspaper critics reflect only the small talk of the cocktail bars and the exhibitionism of letters to the editor. More difiicult still is the fact that people, however vociferous, lacking the power of selfunderstanding, may not know what they really want. To discover what the public wants is indeed a matter of interpretation and an art. But no art was ever made except it was based on the living reality. Here are a few aspects of that reality. Cabined and confined in Portland Place, choked by the fumes of class conversation, the B.B.C. is invited to lake a walk. The language of the people is more luscious than print will convey, though the camera catches a trifle of it. But real people, if properly interpreted, can't be wrong. I I BERMONDSEY T MRS. PARKSHURST. Housewife. Regards radio primarily as accompaniment to housework, but listens carefully to political talks. News and Variety. Considered Mutiny on the Bounty good radio drama. Listens to Luxembourg on Sunday, but not in favour of sponsored broadcasting. MR. ADAMS. Window cleaner. Four favourites: 1, News; 2, Cinema organ; 3, Tommy Handley; 4, Gypsy orchestras. Three complaints: 1, Good programmes overlap on different wavelengths; 2. Talks uninteresting; 3. Sunday programmes dull. IRENE DIBLEY and LILY COOPER. Workers in a diary factory. Listen to Luxembourg on Sunday. Consider B.B.C. talks dull, but dance band list good. Geraldo and Charlie Kunz run best bands. MR. DYER. Partner in a wireless supply and service firm. "The B.B.C. give us large quantities of almost unbelievably dull music. If they replaced it by more interesting programmes, then neither highbrow nor lowbrow would turn to foreign stations," A DOCKER. "Too many dull talks like bee-keeping and gardening. I have neither bees nor garden. The working man wants entertainment, especially on Sunday. The Sunday programmes are bunk." IRENE JACKSON. Schoolgirl, aged 12. Likes Children's Hour and Henry Hall. Listens regularly to News and Drama. Remembers particularly the launching of the Queen Mary, The Ghost Train and Mutiny on the Bounty. ALICE WRIGHT and FREDA MITCHELL. Schoolgirls, aged 13. Like Children's Hour, News, Variety and thriller plays. Favourite stars : Jack Hylton. Jack Payne. Jane Carr, Gracie Fields, Tommy Handley. Listen regularly to Schools Talks at home, but school not equipped with wireless. MR. DANCE and MR. EDWARDS. Workers in an electric supply company. B.B.C. gives good service on football results. Consider evening programmes should be more sharply contrasted between "heavy" and "light." MR, Mill S, Lorry driver. B.B.C. Variety good. Considers sponsored broadcasting in this country would stimulate British trade. 22