FUN AT SAVOY HILL

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 79, 27 December 1928, Page 8

FUN AT SAVOY HILL

SIR HARRY LAUDER BROADCASTS Dominion Special Service. London, November 15. There was more hearty laughter at Savoy Hill a few days ago than there has been for many months. Solemn-faced officials and engineers of the British Broadcasting Association rocked in No. 1 Studio when Sir Harry Lauder released "his fifth and last broadcast performance, which was given, before he lett on a long holiday tour in New Zealand. Sir Harry ran the entire rehearsal, conducted the orchestra, showed just when there should be softness and when not, and m the middle of the performance became a wireless expert. He tested a new idea of his, namely, placing a towel over the microphone to clarify the sound of his voice. This was a great success, and experts listening in the “silent cabinet nodded their appreciation. Harps twanged and flutes, violins, and trombones joined in “The Wiggle o’ the Kilt. “Tara, tara, turn, turn, tumpty turn hummed Sir Harry, waving.his arms and beating time with his feet. The rehearsal concluded with? plenty of spirit, and Sir Harry donned his coat with a “verra guid.” “Aye,” he said to a Press representative. "The .< wet towel works wonders. I have been trying for many years to get something that will take the metallic sound out of a voice when broadcasting or recording for a gramophone. Three weeks ago I tried _t lie towel idea with a gramophone. At first everyone laughed, and then they just stopped laughing quick. It was a great success, and now I am using it, ana so are many other people who make records for gramophone companies. It s a question of putting the towel on the microphone instead of on my head. Well, this will be niv last performance for a long time I’m off in the morning to New Zealand via the Panama Canal for a real holiday with my old. friend Donald Macdonald —fishing. I love fishing. 1 won’t do any work, not a stroke, unless mavbe the funds run out: then I might. A 8.8. C. official said that Sir Harry s wet towel was a splendid idea. "It makes a cameo of a singers voice, he said, “lifting it out from the noise of the orchestra clearly, and without the slight vibrations which happen without it. Our engineers are entirely satisfied that* for Sir Harry’s type of performance it is a great success. 0