GLEANINGS

Evening Star, Issue 23101, 29 October 1938, Page 13

GLEANINGS

AN OCCASIONAL COLUMN Do you know where the world-wide practice originated of an audience standing throughout the singing of Handel's ‘Hallelujah Chorus’?:—When the composer first conducted Ids work in a London theatre, King George IT. was present, and was so impressed by the grandeur of this gem of oratorio that he rose to his feet in the Royal box, the audience following his lead. To “give the cold shoulder ” naturally suggests turning away from an unwelcome acquaintance; but the origin of the phrase is much more mundane. In the Middle Ages' it was the practice in France to servo the best hot moats to the honoured guest, but if be bad outstayed his welcome or had fallen into disfavour, cold viands were his portion. “ The apple of his eye ” has nothing to do with fruit. “ Apple ” is a corruption of “pupil.” which derives from the Latin “_ papilla ” (n doll). and the reference is to the diminutive picture of oneself seen in another’s eye. “Like it or lump it” is a Devonshire’ saying, and in that country“lump” is the equivalent of “ sulks.” “ Not worth a fig ” concerns no fruit, but is a corruption of the I tali.-in “ fico ” —a snap of the fingers. In “ a pretty kettle of fish ” there is no reference to the kitchen utensil, but to a “ kittle,” a weir for catching fish. ■** • * “ Wisecrack ” and Apothegm. War, it seems, not only doesn’t pay, but isn’t even paid for. Peace is’ in sight. The Christian nations are agreeing to protect each other from one another. Marriage resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be separated;: often moving in opposite directions, yet. always punishing anyone who comes between them. Motto of.the old-fashioned doctor: “ I treat what you’ve got.” T Motto of the modern specialist: “You’ve got what T treat.”. . If an infant can’t think, why does it yell the moment it sees the kind of world it is in?_ A : neurotic is anybody, who thinks vou mean it when you ask how ho is. It is the quick thinkers-.who become leaders. He who hesitates is bossed. Medical science has developed so ainazinglv that it is now almost impossible for a doctor to find anything all right about a patient. . A low-brow tells you what he thinks, and a high-brow tells you what somebody else thinks.

* ' • *'■' * Perfect Aria At the Movies. Marcia Davenport, in ‘Stage,’ tells how the movies “ have taken a handful ,of pleasant, pint-sized, singers and turned them into a bevy of voices comparable with the great ones of musical history.” Here is how it is done. The story is acted out in entirety with the singer singing—hut faintly, only enough to shape the words wth his lips. The artist is then shut up in a projection room with his picture, and watches minutely while each song, split into segments of eight to ,16 bars, is run off as many as 20 times. He learns every shade of variation and expression and timing. Then production moves to an acoustical studio, where conditions are perfect. The original sound has been deleted from the picture, and the silent movie is run while the artist really sings into the microphone in accordance with the lip expression he has been studying. The sound mechanism can amplify even the tentative murmur of a young tenor’s very small voice. The singer can make four or five re cordings of the same aria, none perfect, but each with perfect spots. These can then be cut from each sound track and run together to make the perfect aria which thrills the movie audience. * « • * Snowmen of the Himalayas. The storv of the snowmen of the Himalayas lias pretty sound authentication. Jean Marqnes-Riviere; traveller and author, heard of these men from several pilgrims to the Himalayas, who told hiin that somo of their friends had been skilled by them. From a friend of Mr E. Shipton’s whom he met at Allahabad he learned that Mr Shipton and his coolies saw enormous footprints at an elevation of over 15,000 ft. This corroborates the story ot Colonel Howard Bury, the Everest climber, who saw the footprints at over 18,000 ft M. Marques-Riviere relates the following details gathered from an annual pilgrim to the Himalayas:— “Yes! There exists this race of giants (neither monkeys nor bears) who live in certain forests of Nepal, speaking an unknown language. ‘ I saw them once.’ said the pilgrim. ‘ on the northern frontier of Nepal. An armed expedition was formed. I joined,’ said he. ‘ For eight days through jungles and ’midst many dangers we journeyed.’ Suddenly they came across these huge footsteps (60 centimetres lon<r) in single flip. All shouted out: ‘The Snowmen!’ They marched on with precaution till suddenly they halted and fixed their eyes on an extraordinary spectcale: a circle of 10 or more of these snowmen, 10ft to 12ft high, beating tom-toms, oscillating, ami engaged in some magic rite. Their bodies "vere covered with hair; their face between man and gorilla; quite naked at that great altitude, and a sadness expressed on their frightful visages.” Animal Dictators. ‘ John o' London’s ’ records remarkable dictatorships in the animal world ; a marked distinction is that birds always prefer to bo led by a male, while mammals often place their trust in a female. Norwegian farmers have an ingenious method of keeping their cows under easy control. In the spring the cows fight among themselves and one emerges as the victor. The farmer marks down this animal and affixes a bell around its neck. Henceforward it is the “ bell-cow ” and undisputed leader of the herd.- When the “bellcow ” dies or has to be taken away, the bell is hung around the neck of another cow, and the herd soon transfers its allegiance to the new leader. In Switzerland a similar bovine dictatorship is practised, but with two interesting variations. Nob only do the cows bow to the authority of the “ Queen,” as the leader is called, but the bulls also acknowledge her superioritv in all matters. Every year in the siirino- all the “ Queens in the Rhone Valiev are taken to Valais, where hnttirm contests are held to decide who is the’absolute leader of all the oows in the valley. It is difficult to imagine a canary dictator, yet Professor Eckstein assures ns that in h’-s little eanarv colony one liird earlv showed himself as a born leader. On a critical dav. when nearly a'll the canaries escaped, this packet dictator sang them back to safety!