BEING TELEVISED

Evening Star, Issue 22346, 23 May 1936, Page 8

BEING TELEVISED

DISCONCERTING AT FIRST MISS G. LOniMER'S EXPERIENCES Tlio distinction of being tlio first artist, who lias been televised by the British Broadcasting _ Corporation, to tour New Zealand is held by Miss Gladys Lorimer, who is at present in Dunedin. To a ‘ Star ’ reporter she recounted, her television experiences in London, and was emphatic on the point that a television broadcast gives the performer an altogether different thrill from that encountered before the ordinary microphone. Nine years ago Miss Lorimer left her home at Christchurch and went to Milan, where she studied under Madame Ilosina Storchio, one of the most famous operatic artists in Italy, who was the first soprano to play the role of Madame Butterfly at La Scala, under the direction of the great Toscanini, in 1904. Miss Lorimer made her debut in 1929 at Bologna, playing

Gilda in ‘ Rigoletto,’ afterwards visiting various parts of Italy. Then she wen to London, where she met Dr Malcolm Sargent, who introduced her to the late Colonel Blois, of Covent Garden. An engagement to perform coloratura roles during the English season at Covent Garden came at the end of 1931. She then toured England with the Covent Garden English Grand Opera Company, and when it was disbanded went on tour with the Royal Carl Rosa Opera Company. In England she also sang with several of the famous municipal orchestras, including those at Bournemouth, Hastings, and Eastbourne. Then came her chance at the 8.8. C. For the last two years, she explains, that organisation has been televising programmes three times a week, reception being possible within a 30-milo radius of London. Twenty-five thousand homes within that area are equipped with special receiving sets, and the occupants of those homes are able on the television nights to view the artists reproduced on a screen 9in x 12in. Other listeners, who have not the necessary apparatus for television reception, may listen to the televised programmes in the usual manner. “ Instead of being microphone conscious, one is camera conscious when being televised,” said Miss Lorimer. “ Two microphones are suspended above the artist’s head, and one actually sings’ into the face of a camera. As black and white are the only two colours that will at present reproduce, it is necessary that everything to be televised must be of these two colours only. Therefore the walls and ceiling of the studio are of pure white, and the curtains and furnishings arc black. Before performing ono must spend some time in the make-up room, wherein one’s face is transformed into a background of white by the use of theatre grease paint. Then the eyebrows are outlined in white, and a white line is drawn down the bridge of the nose, while either side is blackened. The eyelids and lips are coloured somewhat in the tone of royal blue. Ready for the television broadcast one resembles a first-class fighting Zulu so far as the face is concerned. The 8.8. C. also has a costume wardrobe, the articles to be worn being made of blae’: and white materials. One enters the studio, which is in pitch darkness, stands before the camera, and is conscious of a most disconcerting sensation. The station goes ‘on the air,’ and the broadcast is about to begin. A vertical, flickering ray of light plays over the features, and one realises that one is being televised. This ray is irritating at first, and one is apt to completely forget the words of one’s songs, but one becomes accustomed to it in time and is no longer annoyed.” Miss Lorimer first became interested in television in 1931, when she used to watch Baird conducting his early experiments in his comparatively small laboratory. Along with others she helped hi's experiments by singing into the camera, her features being reproduced on a screen in the same room. It is the Baird system that the 8.8. C. has taken over, and Miss _ Lorimer has watched it grow from its beginning in the laboratory. She saw it introduced into a small studio in the 8.8. C. basement, then to a larger and more modern studio in another part of the building, and she hopes to visit the Alexandra Palace when it has been transformed into the homo of the London television station. For the purpose of carrying out this ■work the corporation is spending the sum of £160,000. The first of a series of local broadcasts by Miss Lorimer was heard from 4YA last night.