Not even the male musicians were as vicious as the radio reviewer in the Melody Maker who said "The engagement of Ivy Benson's band by the BBC has turned out to be at least as great a blunder as those who viewed it with the gravest misgivings are likely to have thought possible.

To say, when it opened last Sunday week, the band was poor is to put it mildly. Can you call a combination whose intonation is often very imperfect and which is hopelessly lacking in anything in the nature of pep and sparkle worth listening to? I can't. Ivy Benson is herself of course is quite good clarinet player but spoils herself by attempting solos beyond the scope of her accomplishment. I hope the BBC has now learned from bitter experience that Ivy Benson and her band have a long way to go before they can compare with even most of the weaker existing male bands."

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