Sidonie Goossens, principal harpist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, is a member of a remarkable musical family. Eugene, her father, is a conductor; Eugene, her brother, is a composer; another brother, Leon, is a fine oboe player; her sister Marie is another harpist; and her husband is Hyam Greenbaum, conductor of the BBC Television Orchestra. Sidonie studied the harp under Miriam Timothy at the Royal College of Music. She has played in nearly every symphony orchestra in England and has been heard on the air regularly since 1923, when she was a member of the Wireless Orchestra under Dan Godfrey.
The first of a series of six broadcasts on the social and artistic activities of women.
Molly McArthur's work in the theatre is well known. She is designing the settings for The Winter's Tale, which will be played at Stratford this year. This afternoon she will deal with the settings for Love's Labour's Lost, the play that opened the present Old Vic season. Her first work in the theatre was done at the Oxford Playhouse in 1923, and in 1926 she designed the production of The Cradle Song at the Fortune Theatre. Afterwards she studied abroad, returning to design dresses for several Westminster Theatre productions. Since then she has designed for The Green Bay Tree, The Cherry Orchard, Mary Read, and Call it a Day.
Classical pianist and violinist; dance-band vocalist; song composer - Peggy Cochrane is all these things. She first broadcast from Savoy Hill as long ago as 1924 when the Chelmsford Station was opened, and it was the prelude to twelve years' continuous work for the microphone.
Radio listeners will know her for her songs with Patrick Waddington and William Walker in 'That Certain Trio', "Peggy in Three Moods", Jack Payne's parties, and particularly for her popular "Tune a Minute". Away from the microphone she partnered Gwen Farrar (whom viewers saw last night) in "Wonder Bar" at the Savoy, wrote some of the music of, and played in, "Ballyhoo", and has been vocalist for Jack Jackson at the Dorchester Hotel.
(Details as at 3.20)
