ROUNDABOUT OF BRITISH MIDSUMMER NEWS

Evening Star, Issue 26155, 17 July 1947, Page 7

ROUNDABOUT OF BRITISH MIDSUMMER NEWS

(From A. W. Mitchell, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.) (Rec. 10 a.m.) LONDON, July 16. It is high midsummer in England now, and in the south the season’s second heat wave is hanging stickily over London. In parks there is a touch of ochre among the greenery. The streets exhale an atmosphere of dryness and the heaviness of petrol fumes. ; Bond Street has even been the scene of a bee swarm, coped with adequately by a übiquitous London bobby, who discreetly decided it was a job for ex-, ports and called out a prominent bee keeper to make* an informal arrest. , PRICE OF FRUIT. On barrows they are selling fat, fleshy cherries and peaches, and in Piccadilly Circus; where Eros , appears to be attracting numerous nightly. sightseers, prices increase as evening advances and crowds thicken. During the afternoon cherries are sold for Is.. 9d a pound, but later on they advance to Is a half pound. Peaches range from five for Is to 9d each. London’s West End is , perking upafter its recent slump under the influence of the holiday period. .While some seaside towns are complaining of a poor season and there is a minor migration to the Continent, London is' filled with holiday-makers, either passing through or long week-ending. THE THEATRE. The star show continues to be the American play ‘ Oklahoma ’ at Drury Lane, while the enterprising comedian, Jack Halbert, has just produced and presented a new musical,.' The Nightingale,’ costing £200.000. Much of this, has gone on Chinese settings. , American influence on the London stage is again in evidence, and the heroine is Miss Mimi Benzell, from.the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York. . ( There have been few notable new films recently, but one at least is. in production. It ia‘ Hamlet,’ now being shot just outside London.. The , man carrying the main load, is Laurence Olivier (who has decided , that, the “ Sir ” is for private life only) . His hair is temporarily blonde fo.r his role ns Hamlet, and when he is not acting, he manages to produce a startling , colour scheme on the set by combining a magenta muffler #vith tweeds.... x MARRIAGE BOOM.* With the departure for Scotland of the Royal Family, the bubble bubble caused by the announcement of the engagement of Princess Elizabeth and Mr .Mountbatten, as ‘ The Times ’ calls him, has died down temporarily. Chief interest' now centres round the date for. the wedding, but nobody, and least of all Mr Mountbatten, has a firm suggestion. When he was asked point - blank in Edinburgh: “ Are you getting married soon? ” he was most discreet, merely replying that l he was “ very happy in his engagement.” From Bond street, which apparently buzzes with more than . bees; has come the news that its -: . marriage-> bureau has ...discovered - that the Royal engagement has been a great stimulant to business. . There nas been 60 per cent, in- . crease, and more people are seeking to tie marital knots than in any week ■■= for the past 18 . months. Women approaching 40 provide the greatest number of applicants. Bleak though the economic outlook appears for Britain, the average man and woman seem to be reacting to the daily diet of doleful news with restraint. The great majority appear engrossed with their own affairs, and in private conversations the topic; .is often- rapidly passed over. Britain, it is , felt, will pull through eventually. . POLITICAL FIGURES. At Westminster there is the usual throng of constituents seeking their individaul members in the lobbies, waiting for them in corridors, or queueing up outside the House. In the House of Commons itself Mr Attlee is frequently seen on the front bench wearing an air of thoughtful, reserve- Mr Herbert Morrison nas become visibly greyer since his illness and Mr Dalton thinner, more angular, and yet more sallow. Mr Churchill’s rubicund figure has been absent for some weeks, but all reports indicate that he is making a spirited convalescence and working strenuously at his war history. A LIBEL CASE. Never long out of the news, the . 8.8. C. figures in a claim for damages for libel. Miss Aruot Robertson, who produced films of New Zealanders with the 11.A.F. during the war, complains of a letter sent by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures ’ to the 8.8. C. Talks Director criticising her broadcast review of films and asking for 8.8. C. co-operation in restraining her from. 1 , comments “ unnecessarily harmful to the film industry.” It was stated that since then Miss . Robertson, who in the two previousyears • had made 90 broadcasts, had broadcast on only two occasions and had not been invited by the 8.8. C. to do so again. In the hearing which is . continuing, it was stated for the company that Miss Robertson was. more interested in advertising herself, than in constructive criticism, and that her ; statements became witticisms, not . criticisms.' . V The 8.8. C. is also in the news as the result of auhtors’ dissatisfaction with their fees. One comment is that they cannot sav they have not been warned since, on the wall of the entrance hall to Broadcasting House, is inscribed. “ Deus incrementum dat ” or “ God giveth the increase.”