Evening star., 1942-06-25

All these times he has wandered
out into the night after work. be-
held the doom shouting headlines
of the morning papers. then strolled
across to get in his car and drive
home, looking across at the White
House, not yet blacked out, have
had their effect on Carr Van Sick
Ter. pianist Leader of the Madril-
Ions orchestra Mr.. Van s. would
look at the headlines, shiver and
feel sad, then he would look at the
White House, brace himself and
feel better.
After awhile. he bagan to think a
lot of people in the country should
know how 1t feels to be reassured
by a glimpse of the White House
every night, and decided TO tell
them musically. The result Is "A
Light Inside the White House" a
song you should be hearing consid-
erably more about In the immediate
future. The Madrillon Orchestra,
led by Carr and Don Shook. being
closest to the White House and
closest to the tune, is playing 1t
already and other music crews
hereabouts should be playing it
soon. Art Brown is including 1t IN
his Capitol Theater organlogue the
week when July is celebrated
Carmen Cavallero may be expected
to send the tune out over the net
works any evening now. And Mr..
Van Sickler, who played for Kate
Smith when Kate was Washing
ton girl on her way to stardom,
PLAYED "A Light Inside the White
House for her the other day and
there is a good chance that you
will hear her singing it before long
One Of the things you probably
never thought much about is the
Electra harp. 1t is just possible
that YOU never even heard Of the
Electra harp. but If you admit to
this condition it no doubt will con-
tribute little to the happiness OF
Bill Gibson. Mr.. Gibson is generally
acknowledged to be one Of the fore
most guitar experts hereabouts. GER
tainly the foremost guitar expert
with Paul Kain's Orchestra at Glen
Echo Parks Spanish Ballroom. and
when he is not toying with mod
ern guitar. a classic guitar. a special
1O-string steel guitar a Kress-tuned
guitar, f1at-top guitar or a banjo,
he is entangled with the Electra
harp
The Electra harp is diabolic In
strument quite obviously designed
for at least a trio, and Mr.. Gibson
has been known to mutter in the
heat of 1--WE moment that he GER
tainly wished he had 10 hands. The
Electra harp. an affair about the
size of one of those miniature apart
ment pianos. Is sort OF electric
guitar complicated by seven foot
pedals for tone control and two
hand adjustments for further tone
and volume control. The pedals not
only change the pitch of the strings,
but change them in various combl-
nations. You can see that 1t Is the
sort of thing to keep mans mind
on his work.
And while we're on the subject OF
rare and startling musical instru-
ments, it might be we'll to note that
there really are balalaikas in the
balalaika orchestra at the Balalalka.
One is ordinary balalaika size and
the other is a bass fiddle size bala-
laika. A balalaika-ordinary bala-
laika size-is sort OF triangular
shaped cross between a guitar and
a mandolin that looks, more than
anything else. like some rare drafts
mans instrument.
* X y
Note to newcomers in the village:
When the time comes for you to
grouse about the heat and complain
that there isn't a breath OF air
moving ANYWHERE in Washing
ton, YOU will be wrong. An intermit-
tent survey, which has continued
through the years, finally has def1-
nitely established that there Is al
Vavs a breeze of some sort on the
Starlight Roof of the Roger Smith
Hotel and it's always at least little
cooler there.
Something you will find in the
swoops and sways OF almost any
dance team is hint or more OF the
Veloz and Yolanda influence. So
many dancers seeing them have
figured they can't top the best. so
they might just as we'll initiate
them. Other dancers, who never
even have seen Veloz and Yolanda,
have initiated the imitators, picking
I'D bits of business here and there.
finally bringing ballroom dancing
to the point where what 1t deserved
was the Hartmans, the wonderful
Hartmans. The Hartmans, OF course,
have not had much effect on ball
room dancingsas a whole, dancers
watching them being convinced that
only the other dancers in the world
are being lampooned.
Anyhow. imitation unto the point
of monotony goes on, except IN
some almost rare cases, one of these
being the case of Console and Melba.
whose sprightly dances high light
the Shoreham Terrace show. Console
and Melba do not initiate Veloz and
Yolanda in spite of the fact that
Frank Veloz once took such a
liking to their work that he offered
them some of his own routlneS.
This was when Console and Melba
were just Chicago contest entrants
at the start of their dancing career.
But Console didn't want to initiate.
And he reasoned further that since
Melba looks enough like Yolanda to
be a sister that Console and Melba
couldn't get any place dancing Veloz
and Yolanda routines and continu-
ally reminding every one Of v. and
Y. He just said no, thanks.
X X X
Show-Shopping Jane PickenS,