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Show Musical Tastes Vary Greatly, Survev Shows NEW YORK. Miss Louise E. Thompson, who has just completed a twenty-state survey of American musical tastes, reports that while residents of Missouri liked "Turkey in the Straw.'V. in California they were still dewey-eyed over "The Rosary." Wearing a leather-fringed Western West-ern frontier jacket and boots of the -finest quality, Miss Thompson told of her adventures as a one-woman one-woman Gallup poll of musical preferences. pref-erences. Miss Thompson said that her trip, which began in California and ended here recently, was self-financed self-financed and really was by way of being her vacation. Used Station Wagon She made the trip in a station wagon accompanied only by her dog, Scooter, who has cocker spaniel span-iel and other relatives in California. Califor-nia. Billing herself in various towns as "Your Western Neighbor," Miss Thompson depended on the folksy touch to get people to open their hearts to her about their musical preferences. "In the survey part of my crusade cru-sade I discovered that adults like semi-classical music with a dash of popular," Miss Thompson said. "When I asked housewives . what complaints they had to make about radio musical programs, they said that they did not have good music Conducivft tn hnrd wnrlr In thp mornings." Miss Thompson said that she believed be-lieved that mystery programs gradually were ousting good musical musi-cal programs on the radio, thus creating a musical void that should be filled without delay. None Ever Asked "Why this tour and crusade?" Miss Thompson asked. "Because no one has ever asked adults what they wanted in the way of radio music. Teen-agers write in and ask radio stations for swing music, thus creating the impression that the entire nation wants this type of music." Miss Thompson said that while she did not make specific inquiries to determine just what songs were popular in each region" she visited, she believed that the old favorites such as "The Rosary" and folk tunes such as "Turkey in the Straw" would long remain favor-. favor-. ites. Asked what she was planning to j do with the results of the sur-i sur-i vey, Miss Thompson said that she j would give it to the newspapers and let it go at that. The survey ' showed Bihg Crosby in the lead as America's favorite radio singer. : Evelyn MacGregor is the favorite woman singer and the "American Album of Familiar Music" is the top favorite among radio musicals. |