DIMPLES DID NOT SWAY JUDGES

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13137, 11 September 1940, Page 7

DIMPLES DID NOT SWAY JUDGES

Sydney, Aug. 23. In a marathon of melody contraltos boomed and sopranos trilled for seven hours without pause at Broadcast House. They were the 118 girls who competed in the women’s xradio voice tests, the day’s chief event of the City of Sydney Eisteddfod. There was no row of grim-faced critics to disturb the poise of the shyest girl. Each competitor sang in a studio alone, a studio that had all the privacy of a bathroom. A silent grand piano on a sweep of carpet was the sole witness of her effort. A microphone, standing in the middle of the room, was anything but mute. It was a very live auditor, which carried each girl’s notes to a group of judges, who sat in another room, remote from the studio. Beauty played no. part in this contest. The judges *did not see one of the 118 singing girls. They did not know whether the voice that sang “Robin Adair” or “The Lament of Isis” was that of a girl of opulent beauty, or that of just another girl. A girl needs a voice and not the looks of Hedy Lamarr, to be a successful radio singer. “No. 94 is now going to sing Plaisir d’Amour.” That announcement coming to them, was all that the judges knew about the lady. They listened and appraised just voices—voices of tall, slender brunettes, and voices of chubby blondes. Their job was to reduce the collective vocal effort of 118 girls, to a contest between eight finalists. They did that job hour by hour until they lost' all count of time. "