The Rayner Sisters New Touring America

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 163, 11 July 1941, Page 3

The Rayner Sisters New Touring America

The famous New Zealand troubadours, Joan and Betty Rayner, have earned a new name in America. “Bong Sleuths” is the way the Washington Post refers to them in a recent interview. With “Carrie” (their caravan), they are again on the road. In a letter to friends in Australia, Betty gives an interesting description of the outdoor theatres at the homo of Mrs. Pierre Dupont, at Wilmington, where they had previously played for the British War Relief.

“ It is in a very pretty setting, with a most original curtain—a sheet of water which springs up from tiny fountains behind the footlights. It looks enchanting with the lights up, und forms a perfect screen. “Washington was crammed with visitors —it was cherry-blossom time, and the city was at its best. We put on a show here, and in addition to Washingtonians a number of people from Philadelphia came down specially to see The girls attended the eighth annual festival held under the sponsorship of the Washington Post Folk Festival Association, which they considered one of the most significant educational and cultural events they had encountered in America.

“The tremendous diversity of American folk music, greater perhaps than that of any other nation in the world, is a source of constant amazement to us, ” writes Betty.

“Much of it derives from England, Scotland and Ireland, which is understandable enough, but all the world has contributed, even the Orient. In Vermont we heard an ancient song, ‘The Factor’s Song,’ which derives from an ancient Persian legend. It had 47 verses when America’s forefathers sang it in England.” From Washington the girls went on to New Mexico in search of new folk songs and legends. “In some parts of the country, a young man still steals his bride, though for the most part the old Spanish custom is maintained —a man takes a fancy to a girl and follows her home, and then proceeds to find out about her and her people. “If she is prepared to accept his attentions she drops him a flower and ho comes under her balcony every evening, rain or shine. Although she can talk to him, there is always the chaperonage o§ the balcony rail or a duenna I until they are married.”

Betty concludes with: “In these days we are fortunate in not having too many possessions; experience remains with us, however, and memory is so vivid and so portable.”