The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 6

6 THE OBSERVER, SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 1952 At the Films At the Theatre Flying Holidays The Food of Love By C. A. LEJEUNE The Sorriest Figure By IVOR BROWN fault that Catherine eludes us; it is certainly the quiet strength of Marie Ney and Paul Rogers, shining in two elder roles, that provides a notable background of human decency, a point of rest against which we may Music Beggar's Operas By ERIC BLOM THE death of Frederic Austin at the age of eighty on April 10 must have reminded those not below middle age of the almost endless run achieved by his version of The Beggar's Opera in Nigel Playfair's production. Very much alive in the early nineteen-twenties, it is not dead yet, even though we are to have a film version arranged by Sir Arthur Bliss that may well appeal more strongly to present tastes. The period between the two world wars was one of relaxation, of easy crHoyment at all costs, and a production that aimed at prettiness above all Playfair's graceful artificiality of manners, Lovat Fraser's bright-coloured settings and Austin's dainty score met the taste of the time exactly.

Our sterner age, oppressed by psychiatry and sociology, sees something far more grim in Gay's satire and is well aware that he aimed at pointing, not at concealing, his savage onslaughts bv means of the in he has changed her from a competent performer into a real artist." When the Belgians find out what has been going on in the chateau, they naturally don't like it, and the film develops from a love-and-music story into a drama of sabotage and ambush, with Miss Schell and Mr. Goring clearly destined for violent deaths. But not before a third piano has been introduced into the piece, and the repertory has included, amongst other classical works, a snatch of Schubert. "So Little Time" gives a sentimental treatment to a situation in which sentiment may seem out of place, but once we have accepted that, there is much left in the film to appreciate. Pictorially, it is almost always a delight; in particular, I liked the recurring shots of the neat white chateau, reflected in its lake so that th; whole thing looked like a double doll's-house.

Mr. Goring plays a difficult part with great integrity and just the right mixture of tenderness and chill. Miss Schell is adorable, with her heart-shaped face and wings of dark hair; her quaint way of sitting, looking down and sideways with the head a little tilted, her trick of speaking softly on the middle of an outgoing breath. I thought her very touching, and altogether sweet. Gabrielle Dorziat.

too. is splendid in the far too small part of the lady of the chateau; but then Madame Dorziat is always splendid. With a Song in My Heart (Odeon, Marble Arch) is described as the true story of a girl and a voice. The girl is Jane Fro man the voice is her own." The face isn't. It is the perky, familiar face of film-star Susan Hay-ward, who plays Miss Froman on the screen, and matches her lip-movements convincingly with the voice of that celebrated and gallant woman, even when she sings Yew for You," which she does frequently.

Jane Froman was America Num- ber One uirl itnger on the Air wnen she was seriously injured in a Lisbon Clipper crash in 1943, on her way to Europe to entertain the troops. Alter two years of intense suffering, borne with great fortitude, she went back on crutches to resume her tour. The sub ject is a natural for the cinema, calculated to leave few eyes dry in any house, and it really doesn't need the sticky fiction the producers have thought fit to a'dd to moving facts. On Moonnsnt Bay (Warners) is a calf-love comedy, with the tunes and fashions of the First World War. and it has Dons Dav in it, which will do very well for most people, including me.

Song of Paris (Dominion and New Victoria) is a rather vulgar little farce with tunes, and one or two genuinely amusing moments (note Richard Watt is as a Board of Trade representative); and it gives us another sight of Anne Vernon (of "Edward and a thing much to be desired. Mv reference last week to a col league's unfavourable impression of Singin' in the Rain has prompted some indignant letters about second hand opinions. The judgment I quoted was that of a responsible critic in whom I have every confidence. I took pains to point out that it was not my own. JAMES FORSYTH, attache of the "Old Vk," has repaid the compliment paid to him with a play of great courage and of rather less contrivance.

But i it must be said at once (and in fairness, considering some criticism of this work) that he and the players held their audience completely on the first night for over three hours and won long and genuine applause. His piece. The Other Heart, risks hero Francois Villon, and he is as difficult a subject for tragedy as poet could discover. True, he wrote enduring ballades, but for ihc rest he was, according to L. Stevenson.

the sorriest figure on the roll of fame Even so sympathetic, as well as excellent, a biographer as B. Wyndham Lewis has to stale of Villon that addition to homicide, burglary, and sacrilege his unrecorded thefts, stabbmgs. cheats, and bras lings are probably innumerable Had he been a Robin Hood he might have passed for large in his kind, but a robber of church altars and of his own uncle and kindly protector dissipates all sympathy. Stevenson haled the poet's carping envy and said that with it he calumniated the noble army of the poor; he despised, too, Villon's horror of death. He can attain neither to Christian confidence nor to the spirit of the bright Greek saving that whom the gods loe die carlv" Forsyth makes him also in the end a long-winded whiner Can our pitv and fear be stirred by such an The author as hero is always troublesome in drama, since genius cannot be proved by a stage-presence It is character that counts in the theatre; Hamlet may have taken a double first and written superb sonnets at Wittenberg, hut it is the son and heir, with his moral dilemma, not the scholar and poet, who makes the play.

Here is the problem lor the dramatist of Villon's life. The central figure is far loo mean for tragedy's scope. For melodrama Forsyth has everything, crime. lecherv. flogging-block, condemned cell, and gallows.

But the "Old Vic" is not asking for history written in blood and orchestrated with torture-screams when it supports a new author, and its new author does rise far above the rack and gallows. If onK Villon had helped him out bv occasionally doing something that would move us to his side Yet, as I said, the did hold, and that despite Forsyth's mistake in allowing his episodes so often to overrun judicious length some cutting might-have been salvation. He has built his episodes chieflv round Villon's love for Catherine de Vausselles, but even there he has to conceal and invent to keep the storv clear of squalor For Villon was thrown over by his mistress of the twisted nose" and thrashed in her happv presence bv the successor in her favours. Noe le Jolv Qf (his we are not informed, so Catherine on the stage, being onlv half the real and cruel Catherine, inevitahk remains enigmatic, and even Irene Worth can hardlv excite us in the part. Yet (here is a partnership of four in this production and ii the acting of to-da is supreme lv well represented.

It is not Miss Worth's At the Galleries Villon By NEVILE WALLIS JTOW pleasing it would be if someone were to reissue, in book form, the delectable coloured lithographs contributed by Jacques Villon to "Le Rire" and other periodicals about the turn of the century. Those songs on stone villanelles addressed by Villon to the boulevards, cabarets, and street fairs of Paris revealing the soft velvet of Lautrec without the claw beneath, would have sufficed to ensure a reputation. But the veteran is not -a leader of the school of Paris for nothing, and the Lefevre Gallery is concerned only to review his progress after 1910 when he forsook illustration. A wharf side A study by Villon referred to below. group, nervously drawn and brushed obliquely against the fine canvas grain, is the only example of his late impressionist style, his interest in cubism already becoming apparent in 1911 in the sombre portrait of Raymond Duchamp-Villon.

At this period Villon began to exploit Cezanne's method, the portrait of his father showing his first use of mosaic patches of colour in modelling the head; and thereafter, carrying his painting ever further toward abstraction, he continued to preserve a luminous impressionist palette. In his experiments over the past thirty years, adopting a prevailing scheme of pink, mauve, green and lemon yellow, tie has been concerned with the now current problem of evoking space and airiness in pictures organised as flat, almost geometrical patterns, and the receding corridor of L' Architecture," painted twenty years ago. could be the work of a follower to-day. So inventive is he that one is actually less conscious of Ihe Limitation of his idiom than of Kit range of colour. Thus when he invents a set of grasping shapes to suggest the idea of Avarice the very sweetness of his colour precludes the notion.

His portraiture, on the other hand, is consistently satisfying, the illustration above showing his power to reveal mood and personality in a head constructed with planes of colour like the multi-radiant facets of a prism. Man is not a creature of pure reason you remember Elia obtectme 10 a nlea for austerity he must have his senses delightfully appealed 10 and Villon has never neglected that. Appealing to more conservative, but still discriminating tastes are the N.E.A.C. at the New Burlington Gal leries and the R.W.S. in Conduit-street.

Lord Methuen and Ethelbert White being represented in both, and Sillince and Ardizzone shining at the latter. Ballet By ELS A BRUNELLESCHI gARELY had the boards of the Cambridge Theatre recovered from the rhythmic onslaught of Rosario. Antonio and Pilar Lopez when another Spanish dancer descends upon them. This time the spell is cast by Carmen Amaya, spams greatest gipsy dancer, a gitana on all four sides. Amaya seldom adheres to the canons of flamenco." Within a few seconds of appearing she casts her feigned formality to the winds and her gipsy instinct manifests itself with the power of a tornado.

Her split-second spins explode; her arms lash the air. her beautiful features are convulsed and her eyes glint with malefic fire. Other dancers before her have worn men's costume but none have earned rt off with so individual a charm. Dressed in skin-tight trousers, Carmen Amaya makes one appreciate subtleties that frills might obscure. Paco Amaya and J.

A. Aguero handle their guitars like tommy-guns, firing volleys at Carmen's amazing footwork. In the Alegrlas' an imperious gesture orders son and guitars to stop. Carmen stands alone, battling with her own rhythm. She reminds one of the Matador ordering everyone to leave the bullring to face his enemy single-handed.

Headed by Chiquito de Triana and the statuesque Faraona. the young company gives the star excellent support. The Cachucha was, however, played far too quickly. There is in Spain a recent craze for academic dances of the old bolero school Carmen Amaya should remain exclusively in the field of gipsy dance. There she reigns supreme.

(Richard Buckle is on holiday) on currency of 25 Two people flying Air France, with no extras, no tips, and wonderful free meals and drinks, can enjoy up to 14 days abroad on their combined 50 currency allowance. Fares are paid in this country and do not come from the allowance. Flights to PARIS NICE CORSICA DINAR DEAUVILLE LA MAJORCA BARCELONA MADRID ITALY SWITZERLAND AUSTRIA ASIA USA I AFRICA AUSTRALIA Send for this faiciiKrtfng free book "FLYING HOLIDAYS your rravof Aft wiH ffrt you tfas bstcr ssafvtssl AIR FRANCE The 4-Engine Service London 52M torjtrtlrfcat. S.W.I WW 445S Glasgow TS ReiaWM St. CBM WS4S ManchtT St.

Psrtar'i Squtrst, CINM7IJ2 Birmingham Civic Cncr. MsO 589 1 Be REGULAR without EFFORT Here is good news for those who have trouble in keeping their systems regular. A special laxative 'Mil-Par' is now on sale which will give them just the help they need. Actually it is a very fine combination of MILK OF MAGNESIA" with a selected grade of MEDICINAL PARAFFIN 'Milk of Magnesia' is, of course, unrivalled as a mild antacid-laxative. Together with Medicinal Paraffin it gives just that lubricating action which ensures 'regularity' without effort so much better than purging.

i This is why, for instance, it hat been found specially good for suffercri from hemorrhoids. Be regular with Mil-Par '1 pMrernm I of discovery EFrORTLtfSS REGULAMTT HE organisers of the week's 1 programmes have not been heedless of the exhortation of the Duke in "Twelfth Night as to what should be done if music be the food of love; nor have they doubted that it be. They have played on and on, and given us excess of it, their items ranging from Mozart to "Jim's Toasty Peanuts and Hoe That Corn." In three out of the four new films, their task was easy. Music, of a sort, was to be expected from With a Song in My Heart," On Moonlight Bay and Song of Paris," but they must have had considerably more of a tussle with So Little Time (Rialto), a serious, even tragic film about the Belgian Resistance Movement. Still, ingenuity prevailed.

It was mainly done by the astute use of two pianos. The heroine (Maria Schell) owns one piano. The hero (Marius Goring) owns the other. The pianos are situate in rooms one on each side of the hall, in a Belgian chateau just outside Brussels. Miss Schell is the daughter of the house, which has been commandeered by the Germans.

Sin is very sod, because her father hat been shot, and her mother's heart is in a critical condition; but she still has her music. Mr. Goring is the German military governor, a ruthless disciplinarian and a grim man, who has nobody but his old nurse to love him. But he, too, comforts himself with music. He goes nowhere without his vocal scores of German operas and a Bechstein grand.

Mr. Goring playt the piano much better than Miss Schell, and when he hears her picking out Liszt rather awkwardly across the hall, he can restrain himself no longer. "All this embroidery in the right hand," he snaps at her, needs very delicate playing. Forget the difficulties. Go straight for the melody.

As Liszt says here, rnnfinrfn." He hrunheR her aside, and brusquely attacks the bass. Miss Schell recosnisea the master touch Suppressing her dislike of Germans in the cause of art, she assiduously practises on her Belgian piano in the daytime, takes lessons from him in the evening on his Bechstein grand. By the time they have progressed from Liszt to "The Marriage of Figaro," they have not only fallen in love, but Ip, Your Garden By V. SACKV1LLE-WEST ftEVERAL times in this column I have written about growing grapes out of doors. There are several hardy kinds which will do perfectly well, and ripen, either in the open or allowed to ramble over a porch or trained against a wall.

Now comes Mr. Edward Hyams with a further suggestion why not grow some under cloches? Many people use the big barn-type of cloche for tomatoes; why not spare a few for a row of vines? All particulars about how this can be done will be found in his new book. Grapes Under Cloches," published by Faber and Faber, 12s. illustrated, with lists of suitable varieties and addresses where to obtain them. This interesting monograph also tells how to cope with diseases.

how to make wine, how to turn grapes into raisins, and how to destroy wasps by a new method. Even if you do not wish to divert any cloches in order to become a vinearoon, which is Mr. Hyams's adopted translation of vigneron, you may still find a great deal of fascinating and sometimes amusing information. Did you, for instance, know that in Greek vineyards the two most redoubtable enemies are. not wasps or blackbirds, but tortoises and porcupines? But the idea I really wanted to pick out of Mr.

Hyams's book is the ancient idea of making a hedge of vines. To do this, you allow your young vine to develop only one single rod, wnicn you train horizontally, along a wire or along bamboo canes if you prefer, nailed to pegs driven into the soil; and when this rod has reached a length of thirteen feet, you bend the end of it downwards and push it firmly to a depth of six inches or more into the ground. It will then take root (we hope), and will spring up quite soon in new growth for the next rod, when you repeat the process, over and over again until your original vine with its recurrent progeny has attained the length you require. You see the advantages. First, you need only one root-stock to start the process very economical.

(Of course, if you liked to plant two, one at either end, it would go quicker, and they would meet in the middle, like engineers working through an Alpine tunnel.) Secondly, you can control your rods into any shape to suit the layout of your garden; you could grow them in a straight line down a long path, for example, or you could make them turn sharp conifers at right angles to form an enclosure, vines being very flexible and tractable. Thirdly, by the time the rods have made old wood they should need no propping or staking; they will have grown tough enough to support themselves. Fourthly, you can, if you wish, grow this serialised vine a mile long. What a thought 1 Fifthly, you can eat the grapes. Crossword 191 PLAIN Radio Visibility Good By GILES ROMILLY nERKIN WARBECK: a fine trtav.

Not easy to pick up at first, though acting and production had the unflusterable time-biding assurance (like Mr. Asquith's Wait and see which let you know that they hold strong cards. But you forget, if you have not the text by, that John Ford stands near to Shakespeare in dramatic concision, in this play at least; that he has a noble language and great purity in tragic delineation. Besides, his single scenes have a curious cyclopean force which projects of itself the visual image unprojected bv radio Here is Bodmin Moor, scene of Warbeck's last throw His wife. Lady Katherine.

and her woman wait fearfully, with one faithful groom, for news of the looming battle. Here is Warbeck in the stocks at Charing Cross, mobbed and mocked. The visibility in both cases is remarkable, and no attempt was made to sponsor it by adventitious advertisement. Though the end is foreknown. Ford shows throughout the true dramatist's power of obliging you to share the suspense of his characters.

Long after all hope for Warbeck has gone the sentence He must to Tyburn on a hurdle straight fall terribly. It is a characteristic of fine works that they emerge out of themselves as mountains do; in the annals of dramatic literature Ford's last scene is a defin able peak. As Warbeck, high-souled in disaster. Valentine Dvall used his splendid voice to memorable purpose. Mollv Rankin was moving as La ay Katherine (a sweet, heroic study).

John Wyse (Henry Vlll, John Laurie (Earl of Huntley) and Malcolm Hayes (Stephen Frion. War beck secretary) contributed, wnere all the acting was good, particular distinction. Frank Hauser, producing with discretion and strength, made this a notable experience. The Light Programme had a dramatic success with Evening Surgery, whose author, Mr. Gordon Glover, says that he was not very enthusiastic when asked to write a radio play about the National Health Service.

That may be why his play is a good one. He has written about doctors as one who has no particular instrument to sharpen. A miHti-partisan sympathy, warm-hearted and cool-headed, has been turned by him on the upheavals and clashes, doubts and pangs of adjustment; and though he has a story an old cottage hospital annexed by the new administration be has not strained after conflict but wisely allowed it to come out of the minds of his characters. Character which becomes argument, argument which is character that for radio is so right. There is a poem, formerly celebrated, with the noble refrain Play up! Plav up' and play the game!" Times have changed.

The public schoolboy receives now no fervent odes, but Wilfred Pickles has found a new hero to take his place It is the Man in the Street. Mr. Pickles concluded last week's Have A a memorial issue, by reciting a sort of loyal address in verse to this strange outdoor figure. He's game and he'll have a go!" The effort was a sickener. Flattery of an ill-defined class.

for alleged qualities about which it would like to feel complacent, was a bad habit in earlier times and is a bad habit now. It is creeping up on Mr. Pickles (whose charming gaiety justly gives warm pleasure), and he should beware of it. To-day's Programmes HOME (330 ml Ntv, I.M. Morning Melnds -Service.

lajtl. Prom 11.15. Person.il Slory 11.30, Music Magazine. 12. 16.

Crincs. I.e. Nrsvs. it. Naturalist.

1.30, Operatic Records, 2.0, Home Grown, 2.30, The Pigeon J. 30. BBC Opera Orches-ira. 4.45. Talk ti8 nf Book) 3.0, Children 5.50, Talk 6.0.

Nei. 6.15. Julius Harrison' Mass in C. 7.45. Sersice.

a. 25. Good Cause. S.30. The Portrait nf a Ladv 3.

.0. News. .15. Piano, f.40. The Cuckoo, li.lt, A Study in Interpretation.

10.52, Epilogue. 11.0 1 1.3, News LIGHT tl.vm 247 1.0. ighl Mulic. 8.30. Rhvthm in he Sun.

.0, News; .10. Songs, .30. Music in ihe Air. 10.30. Have A Go 11.0.

Rhinelnd 11.30. Service. 12.0, FamiK Favourites, 1.0. Billv Onion. 1.30.

Ronnie Ronalde. 1.45. Henrv Hall 2.30, Dnvsn Your Was; 3.30. Woman's Hour Digest. 4.0, Take It from Here 4.30, Sundas Rhppsodv.

5.30. Record. 6.0. Riders of the Range "3: .3, Bedtime with Braden 7.0, Newt. 7 JO.

Grand Hotel. 1.30. Hymns. Variety Bandboa. 10.0.

News 10.19, Piano 10.30. Hvmm. 10.45. Organ 11.15. Light Music.

11.56-12.0, Seirs THIRD 4M 14 6.0. Fluabethan Ballads 6.30. Celling Married SJ. Orchestral Concert 10.0. Science and Non-sensr.

10.10. rhifav 10.55. Talk 11.15. Oenusss 11.43-12.0. "The Graveyard bv Ihe Sea TELEVISION.

5.0-6.0. Children. S.0. WeekK 8.15. Arthur Askev t.30.

The Taming of ihe Shrew 10.0. News Bridge By TERENCE REESE A DEFENDER'S self-restraint was well rewarded on the following deal 4 5 7 6 5 42 8 A 8 A 7 1 (1 7 ft 5 3 2 AJ 4 0 7 6 5 3 94 0 10 9 4 8 2 a AKQ 1093 Q9 2 106 5 South bid Two Spades over East's opening One Diamond, and North lumped straight to Six Spades. West led 10. declarer won in dummy, drew a round of trumps, and led the singleton Heart from the table. East played low.

and this enabled him to vin two Club tricks later on. The deal is based on an example in Contract Bridge Hands," by Ewart Kempson (Faber and Faber, 7s. The same author has published a new book, "Contract Bridge: How to Play It (The Star," 6s 6d.) In this he faces up to the difficult task of explaining the game from scratch. To leach bidding, he uses a point count method similar to Goren's so many points for high cards and so many tor distribution Ewart is a proponent of common-sense bidding, and I am sure that, in his heart, he believes no more than I do that it is possible to play-good bridge by numbers; but that does not prevent his book from being an excellent introduction for all who do not want to make hard work of the game XIMFNES CROSSWORD No. 190 Giecn (N KD Clue to CHEUUF.RS Inlaid hoards used by cabinet 2 Ncwlove (S.F9I i I Heath (Wrjmouihi HC Bal.fr Bales.

Coombs Dingssall, Fincken. 1 P'Krnm Furlo. G-eenficld. Hall Hughes. Mrs 1.

Jarman Johnson. La ranee A Norfolk. R. Postill. Miss Speight, Miss D.

W. Taylor, "1 nung view Alan Badel's audacious and triumphant conflict with a part naturally most taxing and made more so because it is continually too long. If Villon is to be the centre of a tragedy, I do not sec how he could be better presented than in Badel's vivid, mercurial picture of the self-pitying rogue. A sinister dog," wrote R.L in all likelihood, but with a look in his eye and the loose flexible mouth that goes with wit and an overweening sensual temperament." Forsyth has found him some wit. if not enough The actor fills in the rest.

Hutchinson Scott's settings take us efficiently for a walk up Sinister Street The "Old Vic's" public should not funk the outing. Zip comes 75,000. The big pool-win is constant news it takes the stage at the Embassy in The Magnificent Moodies, in which Ted Willis escorts a Cockney family, thus enriched, to the musty splendour of a decaying West End luxury hotel, there to be sponged on. to quarrel, and to cut some farcical capers for a couple of hours. The moral of it, I suppose, is that we are all better off without 75,000.

an opinion that will convince nobody and will deprive the play's Mr. Li'ttlegood of not a single patron. The fortunes of the Moodies turn to conventional rough and tumble in which Mar)one Rhodes, Nancy Roberts. Bill Owen, and Aide Bass prove that they know their business, a fact of which most regular playgoers are (or should be) already well aware. TUdwardian INVENTS at the Stoll begin at the Marsovtan Embassy in Pans.

Marsovia? Why not Nostalgia? The word, so cruelly battered, fitted the mood of Easter Monday when the veterans were homesick for a lost Daly's. It will be gathered that this is a revival of The Merry Widow at least of Lehar's music The action seems to be ordered perfunctorily. Plotting and manoeuvnng at the Embassy, in Soma's garden, and at Maxim's, now mean nothing Even Baron Popoff, 1 fear, means little, though Jerry Verno in a part shorn of Hetty the Hen darts about like a hopeful firecracker All rests on dance and song. Margaret Mitchell is a very demure widow, but she can express Vilia as ought to be sung And the house clearly fell like this about Little Arbour" Isung by Colin Thomas, with Linda Lee) 1 rue. the waltz disappoints at the premiere veterans shook a few sad last grey hairs The Danilo (Peter Graves) is miscast Never mind; the "Widow" is back, some of its beaded hubbies winking ai the brim, and on Easter Mondav most of us went home by hansom.

J. C. Trewin. To-morrow. Sophie Tucker (Palla-Jirrnl F.nl lie Sea Breeze (Q).

1 he Ari nf l.r.ing llmngl Wf.dni-sday I fjdrr iUe idttittre Tree (Aldwychl. I hi asms. Lorth if Creation Cornelia (Sadler's Wells! Friday: Fuleiio Covcnt Garden). DOUBLE Wild Silk Wedding Woven Bif frh comparable elegance of his verse and punch of his dialogue. What we seek in a modern production is something that looks and if possible sounds as nearly as may be like a stage equivalent ot Hogartii.

There have been two notable later versions (Kurt Weill's may be ignored here as hardly using the original music at all). Each in its way comes nearer to an acceptable mid-twentieth-century approach. Both do away with Austin's prettiness Edward J. Dent's by an unrelenting scholarliness of style and by refusing to let the music preen itself in the leisurely Austin way in lengthy preludes and postludes embedding the songs and encouraging slow artificiality in action; Benjamin Britten's by frankly exploiting what would be conventionally called ugliness but must be regarded simply as rn enlargement by the use of modern devices of the scope of legitimately artistic means. The close study of these three versions is a fascinating exercise for any musician which is as good as saying that each has its peculiar value; for I am not for a moment suggesting that as an effort, so to speak, of creative reproduction Austin's hand ling is interior to Professor Dent or Mr.

Britten's. The interest in a comparison of the three, in fact, lies precisely in their extraordinary difference and in the demonstration they afford of how far a musician who is himself an imaginative artist can go in resuscitating an old piece which has been preserved in nothing more than the barest skeleton form. For what remains of the original Pepusch version, apart from the fully scored overture, is nothing but the tunes, for which we might just as well go to Durfey's Wit and Mirth (Gay's chief resort) or whatever other source we may find. To edit The Beggar's Opera for modern performance is really to achieve the feat of realising a con- tinuo without so much as a reliable figured or unfigured bass. This, of course, calls for a considerable creative effort and may stimulate any amount of independent work.

Austin, Dent and Britten, each in his way, have clothed the bones of the original with new flesh and blood as only musicians who have the art of composition at their fingers' ends could have done. Austin has an. expansiveness, a charm and an endless choice of accompaniment figures pointing to the beneficial if anachronistic influence of Sullivan; Dent makes his score dramatically terse by running slap into the songs and out of them again without giving stage mannerisms a chance ana endlessly delights the musician by artful devices of canon, fugato and quodlibet; Britten shocks the hearer for the first two or three minutes by taking the tunes by the scruff of their necks and handling them without the least reeard for conventional manners, but soon compels surrender by the sheer brilliance and vitalitv of hts treatment To choose between the three versions is a matter of taste, not a question of awarding a maximum of marks to the best effort. While plays and male in three moves. Variations ar not required.

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Key gives 2 flights, and submits White to cheek. Kt batlery opens 4 times. Excellent problem Brian Harlev. XIMENES One entry only. 3 Slips I Chess Problem No.

1.754. Bv Lever prtri Saii a 'wtm a I a 13 ST I7mm rar ST Hi-" 37 16 Donnish that's 17 It's hazardous IS Wanted by one and by us for 21 The way to 22 Father visited 23 Smoking cap at 27 To make one's 28 Insists on working Chambers's Twentieth svilh details of addressed envelopes (10s. fid. lokensl for 5. Please faatass tSohitiom which is it to be Will you endure draughts, discomfort and wastage of fuel in your home or office again next winter or enjoy warmth and comfort and economical heating instead-? The answer to this question is permanent draught exclusion by Hermeseal but you must make this essential investment to-day Only by a wise decision now, during the brief summer months, will you ensure the blessing of a draught-free home before the colder weather begins.

Only thus will you avoid the delay which heavy seasonal demand, apart from possible restrictions in supply, will bring. We urge you therefore to anticipate the draught and heating problems of next winter; to call us in if we can be of service to you, not then but now! Please Hni? nr iriephane for full partlrvtart. rtcaOSVfNM STREET WJ BRITISH ERMESE AL 4, PARK LANE, LONDON, W.I. Telephone GROsvenor 4324 (3 lines) But, A holiday ALL TYRE PRICES ARE NOW REDUCED I I is I IIS jr- sr- SP" 54 2m ACROSS 1 To pay a call on the buffalo, you need a padded waistcoat (8) 7 As stated, this was one of Mummy's preaerves (4) 10 This drink, cooler, is suitable for all sorts of children (9) 11 A cock certain religious rites has to be restricted under glass (8) II This old bean needs a bit of healthful exercise (4) 13 No superfluous fat here, but there's weight pressing round the kidney (5) 14 Pub where there's nothing sober in the pop (6) 16 Scot's epithet for tiger sending back a roar in short-hand (6) 19 Get fish to rise near the mouth of the Forth (8) 20 The colour used in arty surroundings is seldom vivid (8) 24 The farm had a certain form to fill in the return of poultry produce (6) 25 Complete independence always involves good securities showing a return (6) 26 Bigger han cabs: you might call 'em winged 'arbingers I (J) 29 Clear of tare and more than half the unpleasant weeds (4) 30 What was it that limited the sultanas Sounds as if it was the pudding cloth (8) 31 What might an unvmter be? Gate-crashing! (9) 32 To curtail beliefs doesn't mean to make hard-boiled (4) 33 The final negative's an old one it looks like Aunt Ren, a bit blurred (8) DOWN 1 This gull, when ringed, can only creep not fly (4) 2 The whole thing about Molly she was a bit fond of flirting with the lights out (9) 3 Get a crush on someone and, later, marry (4) 4 Use peroxide: then "Tom will throw his head at" me I (6) 5 Net's got entangled in the bait never did look straight (8) 6 Kent, well it's not a long journey (6) 7 Sort of tick that gives competitors no chance (5) Ida's boy friend used "expressive glances" 'n' hair-oil, too 1 (8) 9 Not. perhaps, a very alluring figure from the I (8) IS Vilify (9) To take the fullest advantage of the 25 travel allowance, wander along the unbeaten tracks of France.

There is everywhere a wealth of interest and scenic beauty, and the old inn, newly renovated, will greet you with warm welcome and appetising food. In the picturesque provinces of Poitou and the P6rigord, good simple accommodation may be had from 1 a day upwards all inclusive, out of season. but for AND MAKE A what this man's flight of fancy is (8) enough to make your hair curl (8) Roman in ten for his fag (or worse) ours (8) produce lots of meat but eat wretchedly (6) the hula-hula place penny a look (6) an angle of 45 degrees (5 declaration by setting up a tempo (4) up a big noise, to attract attention (4) Century Dictionary is recommended. Conjur your TRAVEL AGENT or ike FRENCH GOVERNMENT TOURIST OFF KB 179, PICCADILLY, LONDON, I No. 191.

PRIZE RULES Book tokens value 21s 1 ItH 6d for clues judged besl: correct solution essential 2 Solatiosi on prmled diaoram, and cha to reolace definition clue asterisked, bv 6rl Dost Saturday, to Xtmenea The cost of travel is NOT deducted from your allowance. successful clues supplied to senders of Hd. stamped (not slampsV 4 Half-yearly consolation pri2 non-prize-winners who sain most commendations solution to clue-sheet. ssiO appear Baal Saoday.) 22, Tudor-streei, 4 Notes optional.