Review: Frank Pick, Interviewed by John Gloag and Frank Pick, Lecture

Abstract

Frank Pick, Interviewed by John Gloag . Design in the Street, part VIII of Design in Modern Life, BBC radio broadcast, London, 6 June 1933, 20 min. Frank Pick, Lecture . Meaning and Purpose in Design, part XI of Design in Modern Life, BBC radio broadcast, London, 27 June 1933, 22 min. 7:30 p.m., 6 June 1933, Britain: The stylish sound box on the cabinet, with state-of-the-art speakers, as well as the home-made radio set, delicately balanced to keep its batteries from leaking, are bursting into song. The crash of the stock market has been very good for the culture of listening. The years 1930 to 1932, the bottom of the Depression, have seen a rise in the sales of radio sets, while the consumption of all other household goods has dropped sharply. Radio has become a source of consolation for 2.3 million license holders and uncounted home-made set owners. The British Broadcasting Corporation, which legislatively enjoys total monopoly over the airwaves, has taken this trend as an auspicious sign. It has strengthened its resolve to replace the familial small talk at the hearth with purposeful and high-minded conversations that would prepare everyone, across classes, for participatory democracy and cultural patronage.1 Storytelling——which had loomed big in the atomized and monotonous world of agriculture and artisanship before print and industry——has found a place for itself once again, but now, in an age of anxiety and distractions. Ideally everyone on that warm Tuesday evening has settled, after dinner and cleanup, into their armchairs with a crossword puzzle or knitting project when the vivacious voice of the interviewer, John Gloag, and the electrifying presence of his subject, Frank Pick, fills the air. They are deeply embroiled in a tug of war on the character of a street. > Pick: All sorts of things are dumped into the street without order and without planning by a whole lot of public utility undertakings or departments of local authorities, until the street becomes thoroughly untidy, as you say. Let our listeners go out and use their eyes on the main street outside their homes, and just list the …