British Radio Drama, 1922-1956: A Survey by Val Gielgud, Head of B.B.C. Drama (Sound)

U.K.: Harrap, 1957. 207 pages, size 8 inches tall by 5.25 inches, with an index. With fifteen plates in half-tone. With a Foreword by Sir William Haley K.C.M.G. Director-General B.B.C. 1944-52. ' Val Gielgud has spent half his life with the British Broadcasting Corporation, and apart from six months on the Radio Times, has during the whole of this period been responsible for B.B.C. Radio Drama. Sir William Haley, in his foreword, says without exaggeration that "it is overwhelmingly due to Val Gielgud that broadcast drama has become what it is today, that many of the finest modern dramatists from abroad have first been introduced to British audiences by the B.B.C., and frequently the microphone has been the precursor of the theatre. No man is better able to tell the story of 'British Radio Drama 1922-56'." That the present moment should see the publication of this Survey is very appropriate. Faced with the competition of TV, the whole future of Broadcasting in Sound calls for re-appraisal, and its values for re-consideration. Can-and should-the play presented only through the medium of Sound survive ? If so, on what conditions, and with what aim in view ? How does the record of the B.B.C. stand, in this sphere of its cultural and entertainment activities ? These are some of the questions Mr Gielgud attempts to answer, and if his solutions are not definitive, his ideas are stimulating and provocative. Finally, in his chapter on " The Business of Production " Mr Gielgud, as a realistic and professional guide, takes the reader behind the microphone and into the studios '.