The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-12-30

pay OF FORTRESS 70 an OuIp0Sb-
and when the War Department puts
on q drive to collect musical instru-
ments of all sorts for the men In the
fighting forces-then you have the
evidence Of the least sentimental of
people that music has the power to
lift. the spirit Of men and women
under stress.
What is true Of the fighting fronts
is also true Of the people at home.
That is why American industry Is
making an important spiritual con-
tribution to the people through the
broadcasting Of music both popular
and classical. That too explains the
growing audiences that tune in each
Saturday evening to WATR, their
Blue Network station, to listen to
The Boston Observation-Disclosures
ly the top symphony orchestra in
the United States.
place Of music than Serge Kousse-
vitzky, who is currently In his
twentieth consecutive season as con-
ductor of The Boston Symphony. It
was Koussevitzky who said To-day
American audiences show not only
their love and admiration of music
but also deep understanding Of
the necessity and importance Of the
musical art in the progress Of hui
mainly"
Koussevitzky plans his broadcast
programs in this spirit of service to
the masses-giving them not only
the works of classical composers like
Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and
Tchaikovsky, but also the works of
such modern American composers
Of symphony as Roy Harris, John
Alder. Carpenter, George Gershwin
and others.
Another and less well known
phase of The Boston Symptoms
war effort is the series of con-
certs given in Symphony Hall, BQs-
ton, specially for men and womenAin
the service. In addition the SYM
phony has given a number of per-
formanceS in camps, having trav-
eled to Camp Myles Standish, Fort
Devens, Camp Edwards and the
Naval Training Station at Newport,
Rhode Island-to say nothing of the
concerts for the benefit of Russian
War Relief, the United War Fund
and other like causes.
Hal Mcintyre and Americas
Newest and Grandest Band" arrived
in Miami Beach, Florida, for their
engagement at the sWank Flagler
Gardens. When Hal started to check
off the boys in the band to see If
they were all present and accounted
for after the mad scramble of get
ting off the packed train, he dis
covered that Butch" the band boy
was missing. A band boy, if you
don't already know, carries the re-
sponsibility of keeping the band
library, wardrobe and instruments
intact and also doubles as a chef
whenever rehearsals are too long
and the boys can't go out to eat.
He Is therefore a very essential part
of the orchestra staff. Hal sent the
boys to look for him and after what
seemed to be hours, but was only
fifteen minutes one of the boys re-
turned with Butch" in tow. It
seems one of the station masters
was convincing little Butch" that
a job with the railroad would be
better than travelling around with
band. But Butch" would have none
of it and was trying to tell him so.
Anyway Mcintyre and the band ar
rived at the Gardens" and Butch
still raves that he was almost kid
mapped.
In previous years the conservative
forces of the important opera com
panies looked down on radio chan
nels as the possible source for dis
cvering potential singing stars. When
the lovely Nadine Conner star of
MISS Salute to Youth" program,
Tuesday 7:30 p. m, stepped on to
the stage of the Metropolitan Opera
House this week, in the role of
'Micaela'' in Bizet's Carmen"
starting her third season with the
famed opera group she more than
proved the fact that radio now con-
tributes the greatest individual
talent to the opera and concert
stage. Where formerly the operate
agencies would look to foreign shores
for their prospective stars, they now
have learned that radio consists of
an unlimited supply of versatile
American youths.
The critics of every newspaper In
New York gave glowing accounts of
Miss Corners great success and ire
mendous ovation for her "Micaela"
unanimously acclaiming her per-
Torrance as the highlight of the
evening. According to the music
critic of the Daily News "A shy
fragile Micaela, Miss Conner won
the audience completely in the scene
in the gypsy smugglers' cave, stop
ping the show for several minutes
as the applause ratified through the
Metropolitan"
Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural" a
dramatization interpreting the con-
fused state of affairs in Washing
ton when Lincoln arrived to make
his inaugural address, will be pre-
scented as the fifth in the series of
authentic episodes titled ABE Lin
coins Story" over WATR and Mu-
tual, Sunday (January o 4:30 to S
p. M, EWT.
A humorous note that serves to
illustrate the similarity between
conditions in Washington today and
yesterday will reveal how Lincoln
was also confronted with a housing
shortage when he arrived in the
capital.
The Ellery Queen cast will come
to the microphone with a brand
new set of New Years resolutions.
Announcer Ernest Chappell swears
he will never eat nuts before going
on the air-they frog up his throat.
Inspector Queen (Santos Ortega)
expects to solve case in 1914
he has yet to solve one. Musical
director Charles Paul resolves to sell