Thursday, 3 August 2017
Shadow of Swastika – in Australian News
Daily Mercury Thu 9 Nov 1939 Page 7
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/170006195
"SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA"
NEW BRITISH BROADCAST.
LONDON, Nov. 7.— The B.B.C. Is Inaugurating a new series of feature programs, entitled "The Shadow of the Swastika." Tracing the history of the Nazi party, the programs include records of hundreds of speeches by Hitler and Nazi leaders.
The broadcasting will be firstly at 9.15 p.m. and 10.11, with a Home
service at 2.30 p.m. At 11.11 an over seas service will be given, after which
a recorded version will be broadcast throughout the Empire.
The West Australian Thu 9 Nov 1939 Page 13
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46436872
"SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA."
New B.B.C. Radio Session.
LONDON, Nov. 7.—The British Broadcasting Corporation will introduce a new session, entitled "The Shadow of the Swastika," in which the history of the Nazi Party is traced from its inception and hundreds of records of speeches by Herr Hitler and other Nazi leaders are given.
The first broadcast will be made at 9.15 p.m. on Friday night (British time) for British reception and at 2.30 a.m. on Saturday (approximately 9.30 a.m. Perth time) for overseas reception. A recorded version of the session will be made for distribution throughout the Empire.
Examiner Mon 30 Sep 1940 Page 3
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52383049
BOOK REVIEWS
"Shadow of the Swastika," by A. L. Lloyd and Igor Vinogradoff, official
B.B.C. version (the Bodley Head).
This publication is volume form of the original B.B.C. script specially edited and with an introduction by the authors of the celebrated "The Shadow of the Swastika," is an outstanding historic event. During the difficult first six months of the war, one programme series alone seized the opportunity offered and riveted the attention of the population of Great Britain as never before—the astounding and yet authentic story of the German Nazi party and its leader, Adolf Hitler, reenacted in thrilling dramatic form.
Here, then, is the B.B.C.'s greatest and most historic broadcast triumph in permanent form. living pages of history which posterity will assuredly wish to assess. The Listener Research Department of the B.B.C. has calculated that more than one in three of our adult population—some
12,000,000 people—listened to the series, the greatest audience ever secured by any one feature series. In their special introduction the authors reveal how the programme actually came into being: how they worked at great speed, consulting masses of original documents, both published and unpublished, taking the greatest possible care to ensure complete accuracy—a lonely outpost in the almost wholly evacuated Broadcasting House. And with proper pride they suggest that what was essentially to be a large-scale propaganda programme became pure drama: the story of the man and forces which chose to plunge Europe into war.
Smith's Weekly Sat 27 Jan 1940 Page 18
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23458356
FACTS ABOUT "THE SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA"
"SMITH'S" SHORT-WAVE SERVICE
By "Short Wave"
THAT black chapter In the history of the Nazi Party which begins with the annexation of Czechoslovakia, and ends with the rape of Poland, will be dealt with in the seventh programme of the B.B.C. series. "The Shadow of the Swastika," now being broadcast from London.
This next episode will be heard on Saturday. January 27, at 4.45 p.m through GSD (25.53) and (GSB (31.55 metres), and at 10.30 p.m on (GSG (16.86) and GSJ (13 93 metres)
The search for the facts on which these programmes are based—and the historical accuracy of the series is one of its most striking features—involved the analysis of every book written in English and German on the Germany of the last twenty years, a minute study of the files of the German Press during that time, and the collection of private Information about the Nazi Party and its
members, from refugees and British subjects who have had access to leading personalities of the regime.
Carried out by Igor Vinogradoff, former Lecturer In History at Edinburg University, this research work is probably the most exhaustive ever undertaken for a broadcast programme. George Walter, a German musician who came to England about seven years ago, is the composer of the special music of the series. A pupil of Krenlk and Schonberg, he conducted opera in Germany at the age of seventeen, and wrote the incidental music of many German radio-plays and films.
For the continually-recurring theme that denotes Hitler, Walter used the Hort Wessel song, rescored for brass only. An arrangement of Wagner's "Wotan" theme accompanies the
recollections of Hitler's broken promises, and the theme-music for the concentration camps is the folk-song, "Die Lorelei," which, until it was proscribed by the Nazis, was sung everywhere In Germany.
A. L. Lloyd is the author of the script for "The Shadow of' the Swastika," and Laurence Gilliam is producing the series. Marius Goring, an actor well known for his Interpretation of parts demanding great nervous energy, plays Hitler.
The Telegraph (Brisbane) Sat 21 Sep 1940 p. 6.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184527962
RADIO HISTORY
"Shadow of the Swastika," by A. L. Lloyd and Igor Vinogradoff.
Published by John Lane, the Bodley Head, London.
THE story of Hitler's rise and the conversion of Germany into a totalitarian State was very effectively and cynically told over the air in England in the early months of the war. The telling occupied six periods of broad casting and the authors made both graphic and humorous use of their medium.
In view of the historic interest of the subject matter and of the dramatised form in which it was presented, it was thought fitting to give a wider public the opportunity, of enjoying it in literary form. The script has been subjected to only trifling touching up, and reads astonishingly well despite the obvious limitations imposed by radio requirements. The work is a rather grim interpretation of the revolution which Hitlerism wrought in the life of the German people, and there is no shirking from realism.
But the tragic is tempered with admirable touches of comedy which perhaps emphasise bettor than all else the degree to which all concepts of liberty to do and speak have been up rooted. The books is imaginatively illustrated.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/170006195
"SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA"
NEW BRITISH BROADCAST.
LONDON, Nov. 7.— The B.B.C. Is Inaugurating a new series of feature programs, entitled "The Shadow of the Swastika." Tracing the history of the Nazi party, the programs include records of hundreds of speeches by Hitler and Nazi leaders.
The broadcasting will be firstly at 9.15 p.m. and 10.11, with a Home
service at 2.30 p.m. At 11.11 an over seas service will be given, after which
a recorded version will be broadcast throughout the Empire.
The West Australian Thu 9 Nov 1939 Page 13
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46436872
"SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA."
New B.B.C. Radio Session.
LONDON, Nov. 7.—The British Broadcasting Corporation will introduce a new session, entitled "The Shadow of the Swastika," in which the history of the Nazi Party is traced from its inception and hundreds of records of speeches by Herr Hitler and other Nazi leaders are given.
The first broadcast will be made at 9.15 p.m. on Friday night (British time) for British reception and at 2.30 a.m. on Saturday (approximately 9.30 a.m. Perth time) for overseas reception. A recorded version of the session will be made for distribution throughout the Empire.
Examiner Mon 30 Sep 1940 Page 3
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52383049
BOOK REVIEWS
"Shadow of the Swastika," by A. L. Lloyd and Igor Vinogradoff, official
B.B.C. version (the Bodley Head).
This publication is volume form of the original B.B.C. script specially edited and with an introduction by the authors of the celebrated "The Shadow of the Swastika," is an outstanding historic event. During the difficult first six months of the war, one programme series alone seized the opportunity offered and riveted the attention of the population of Great Britain as never before—the astounding and yet authentic story of the German Nazi party and its leader, Adolf Hitler, reenacted in thrilling dramatic form.
Here, then, is the B.B.C.'s greatest and most historic broadcast triumph in permanent form. living pages of history which posterity will assuredly wish to assess. The Listener Research Department of the B.B.C. has calculated that more than one in three of our adult population—some
12,000,000 people—listened to the series, the greatest audience ever secured by any one feature series. In their special introduction the authors reveal how the programme actually came into being: how they worked at great speed, consulting masses of original documents, both published and unpublished, taking the greatest possible care to ensure complete accuracy—a lonely outpost in the almost wholly evacuated Broadcasting House. And with proper pride they suggest that what was essentially to be a large-scale propaganda programme became pure drama: the story of the man and forces which chose to plunge Europe into war.
Smith's Weekly Sat 27 Jan 1940 Page 18
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23458356
FACTS ABOUT "THE SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA"
"SMITH'S" SHORT-WAVE SERVICE
By "Short Wave"
THAT black chapter In the history of the Nazi Party which begins with the annexation of Czechoslovakia, and ends with the rape of Poland, will be dealt with in the seventh programme of the B.B.C. series. "The Shadow of the Swastika," now being broadcast from London.
This next episode will be heard on Saturday. January 27, at 4.45 p.m through GSD (25.53) and (GSB (31.55 metres), and at 10.30 p.m on (GSG (16.86) and GSJ (13 93 metres)
The search for the facts on which these programmes are based—and the historical accuracy of the series is one of its most striking features—involved the analysis of every book written in English and German on the Germany of the last twenty years, a minute study of the files of the German Press during that time, and the collection of private Information about the Nazi Party and its
members, from refugees and British subjects who have had access to leading personalities of the regime.
Carried out by Igor Vinogradoff, former Lecturer In History at Edinburg University, this research work is probably the most exhaustive ever undertaken for a broadcast programme. George Walter, a German musician who came to England about seven years ago, is the composer of the special music of the series. A pupil of Krenlk and Schonberg, he conducted opera in Germany at the age of seventeen, and wrote the incidental music of many German radio-plays and films.
For the continually-recurring theme that denotes Hitler, Walter used the Hort Wessel song, rescored for brass only. An arrangement of Wagner's "Wotan" theme accompanies the
recollections of Hitler's broken promises, and the theme-music for the concentration camps is the folk-song, "Die Lorelei," which, until it was proscribed by the Nazis, was sung everywhere In Germany.
A. L. Lloyd is the author of the script for "The Shadow of' the Swastika," and Laurence Gilliam is producing the series. Marius Goring, an actor well known for his Interpretation of parts demanding great nervous energy, plays Hitler.
The Telegraph (Brisbane) Sat 21 Sep 1940 p. 6.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184527962
RADIO HISTORY
"Shadow of the Swastika," by A. L. Lloyd and Igor Vinogradoff.
Published by John Lane, the Bodley Head, London.
THE story of Hitler's rise and the conversion of Germany into a totalitarian State was very effectively and cynically told over the air in England in the early months of the war. The telling occupied six periods of broad casting and the authors made both graphic and humorous use of their medium.
In view of the historic interest of the subject matter and of the dramatised form in which it was presented, it was thought fitting to give a wider public the opportunity, of enjoying it in literary form. The script has been subjected to only trifling touching up, and reads astonishingly well despite the obvious limitations imposed by radio requirements. The work is a rather grim interpretation of the revolution which Hitlerism wrought in the life of the German people, and there is no shirking from realism.
But the tragic is tempered with admirable touches of comedy which perhaps emphasise bettor than all else the degree to which all concepts of liberty to do and speak have been up rooted. The books is imaginatively illustrated.
Wednesday, 2 August 2017
Lloyd and the Broadside Ballad
From A.L.Lloyd's Foreword to Leslie Shepherd's the Broadisde Ballad pp. 15-18
... The idea of the "the folk" as an autonomous social category alien to book learning and mechanical industry, and evolving their own unwritten culture in isolation is a sentimental abstraction, particularly where Western Europe is concerned. As the present study illustrates song and ballad texts in the form of street literature were being sold widely in the British Isles for nearly 400 years, and in the main the byers were precisely the the class of people among whom the bearers of the folk-song tradition were to be found.
London was the centre of the song-sheet trade, but it also came to flourish in industrial towns such as Birmingham, Manchester, Preston and Newcastle. Printed on leaflets of various sizes, at times adorned with woodcuts of remarkable incongruity, the song-sheets were sold from cheapjack stalls, or carried from door to door in pedlar's sachets, along with ribbons, papers of pins, and boxes of pills, or hawked in the streets and on the fairgrounds by bawling "chaunters".
Apprentice boys would paste these fugitive leaves the lids of their clothes-chests, seamen would fasten them in the back of log-books, milkmaids would paper them the dairy walls with them, and learn the songs by heart as they churned: and while the dairy would be whitewashed and a newest of songs pasted up, and so through the year layers would accumulate.
... Perhaps the greatest value of Mr. Shepherd's work is to remind us of the valiant party played by the broadside in the shaping of our native tradition of song.
... It is true that, compared with the best models from oral tradition, the poetry of the song-sheets is generally flat, colourless, lacking in secret or surprise. Often in the broadside prints, the magic has ebbed from the ballad, preoccupation with daily affairs has replaced the passions of mythology, and shadowy larger-than life heroes are reduced in statures they are bathed in the light of everyday. The very homeliness of the broadside has encouraged scholars contempt; but in fact these humble pieces of street-literature have performed an important task.
... There can be little doubt that the broadside was a powerful instrument for helping the spread of a song, and chaunter and chapman ensure wide distribution for many fine ballads that might otherwise have withered away in their native locality after a relatively brief and restricted life.
... But it is time we took a fresh look at our folk traditions, and it is salutary to have our presuppositions challenged and our thinking given new directions by the enlarged documentation and penetrating comment to be for in a volume such as this.
Tuesday, 1 August 2017
Lloyd – The Folk Ballad
 | |
| From Topic CD – A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Anne Briggs, Louis Killen, Mike Waterson and Norman Kennedy |
THE FOLK BALLAD IS A FOLK TALE put into verse and set to music. Among British ballads are some of the oldest as well as greatest folk songs we have. Romantic writers used to consider them the essence of all that was most deeply national in poetry and music and theme; but now we know that in fact the ballad-type, in form and subject matter, is remarkably similar over the greater part of Europe, and many of our most prized ballad themes are shared by peoples living as far apart as Spain, Scandinavia and the Balkans. That need be no cause for disappointment; the best British folk song ballads are the equal of any for fine poetry, handsome melody, mettlesome spirit and high imagination.
The oldest of the ballads originated among a wild proud people in a barbarous time, and the qualities of that society reflect clearly in the ballad texts. In the hillier stonier parts of Britain lived a rough people, cattle grazers and cattle thieves, petty nobility and their peasants who sometimes comprised a large gang or small private army to engage in raiding or the settlement of family feuds. Life in these parts was poor, stirring, bloody.
Matters of loyalty and pride counted for a great deal. Such was the society that produced the earlier folk ballads, which might be made by the lord himself (who was often a man indistinguishable from his neighbours except through his fierceness and rapacity, and who had been awarded or had snatched his distinction by virtue of those qualities) or by one of his peasants or by a professional or semi-professional minstrel engaged to entertain the rough company.
The names of the ballad-makers are not known to us. Indeed as Professor F.J.Child has said: 'Though a man and not a people has composed them, still the author counts for nothing, and it is not by a mere accident, but with the best reasons, that they have come down to us anonymous'. Those 'best reasons' are mainly that the ballad producing society, was in its primitive way, oddly democratic. In it, men were more or less equal, or if one better than another it was on account of his strength, courage and wits rather than on account of his possessions.
As the historian, A.L.Morton puts it: 'Even if class divisions existed class oppression was much less evident than the universal oppression of harsh necessity, the prevailing poverty, the barrenness of the earth, the relying and raiding that were part of the life of a wild (stretch of) country. Joys and fears hopes and doubts, deeds and beliefs were largely common to all.
It used to be thought that the ballads were somehow local to the strip of bare hilly country extending from Newcastle up to Edinburgh, and from Berwick across to Carlisle and on that account they became known as 'Border Ballads'. The name is utterly misleading. We now know that the ballads circulated all over England and Scotland and were made up in many different regions. In fact the two areas that have proved most rewarding to folk song collectors searching for ballads are Aberdeen and — Somerset! It is the case, however, that the peculiar way of life that is mirrored in the ballads lasted longest in the border country, where a few freebooting families still survived in the eighteenth century, and also that a number of good ballads mention Border place and family names. Still it is high time we broke ourselves of the habit of too readily attaching the label of 'Border' to our traditional ballads.
Of course, by no means all our ballads are concerned with themes of raiding and feuding. Nor were all of them created by members of such society as is sketched above. Some are ancient pieces of moralising symbology, such as The Prickly Bush and The Cruel Mother (though in our version the symbolic element is overlaid). Some are genial peasant improvisations on religious legends, such as The Bitter Withy. Others are novelistic adventure stories, such as The 'Sweet Kumadiel , or romances such as The Demon Lover which in some versions has lost its element of magic and emerges as a simple story of crime passionel.
But the kernel of our folk ballads, the most characteristic productions, are doubtless the proud brave hard tragedies of the kind of Hughie the Graeme and The Baron of Brackley, the nearest thing we have to the great hero-epics of early times and more primitive societies. Our ballads are well-known in book versions, though it must be said that the great anthologies don't always contain the best specimens. They are less well-known in sung versions though they were made to be sung not read. In this connection, the poet Robert Frost has something pertinent to say: 'Voice and ear are left at a loss what to do with the ballad until supplied with the tune it was written to go with... Unsung, it stays half-lacking.' May this CD do something to repair a lack.
A.L.LLOYD – From the CD Notes
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