Radio Digest (June 1932-Mar 1933)

13 Scarcely a Tinkle for June Wedding Bells WHO among the brave as you listen to them night after night from your favorite broadcasting stations will march down that fateful aisle during this bright month of June? In times past Radio Digest has taken occasion at this time of year to chronicle those glad highlights in the lives of our entertainers of the air. According to custom we sent inquiries to many of the leading stations and to the headquarters of the principal networks. At the time when we go to press just one single wedding has been announced to take place in June, 1932. Of course there may be surprises later on. But our correspondents have pried around to no little extent. They have reluctantly reported failure. Miss Louise Landis of the NBC studios in San Francisco wrote as follows: "Sorry we can't find any more romance in our studios. We had a deluge of weddings last spring. If a few of the inevitable consequences appear soon, how about a layout of NBC babies? You may be interested to know that Lloyd E. Yoder in his zeal to procure some spring weddings for the June Radio Digest even went so far as to do a Miles Standish-John Alden stunt for one of our tenors (not Don Steel). But so far his . efforts have been unsuccessful; the Priscilla in the case just passed into a fit of giggles, and that was that." Our readers no doubt will agree with us that Miss Landis had better keep a weather eye open for those potential stork announcements. In the meantime we will read her report on the one daring pair who have decided to marry this month. She writes: r RED THOMAS, NBC actor, and Miss Margaret Westcott of the Associated Oil Company (sponsors for the Associated Spotlights) will be married early in June. The prospective bride and groom first met far from the atmosphere of the studios. Details of the romance have been kept something of a mystery, just as they seem to have kept the plans for the wedding subrosa. "There is a reason. No doubt they still have in mind what happened to Jerry K'lhore, NBC announcer, who found odd and sundry signs plastered over his auto mobile when he emerged from the church with his bride about a year ago. The embarrassing fanfare followed the young couple all the way to Carmel, where they spent their honeymoon. As a matter of fact that was the last public wedding for any of our staff. From that time on weddings were not announced until some So comes again our lovely June with tears upon her cheek, Her golden tresses all awry, her haughty mien so meek! And all undone her lover's knot — impoverished, bereft — She kneels before her ancient shrine, where little now is left. No gauzy veil, no wedding bellj no all-impassioned kiss; A7o solemn vows, or plighted ring, no Mrs. for a Miss — And creeping sadly in her train comes Cupid all forlorn, He's hocked his bow and arrows, and last year's pants are torn. "Why?" we demanded, "why is it you are not having any weddings?" "I guess people just can't afford to get married now," said the press representative at 711 Fifth Avenue, New York. "You see, everybody is getting a salary slash. And hardly anyone is sure of having regular employment." "But among all your three thousand artists or so can't you find one or two' June weddings?" "Not this June, exactly. I suppose you know about Amos V Andy being married?" "What?" "Oh, yes, and Amos has two babies already!" "G, his HPB time after the event had taken place. "Another wedding that will have passed when this is published will be that of Don Steel, tenor of the Hotel St. Francis orchestra, heard nightly over the NBCKGO network, to Miss Evelyn de Clairmont of San Francisco, Mother's Day, May 8th. "Don and his bride-to-be met each other — believe it or not — on a raft in the middle of Searsville Lake, resort near San Francisco. Don saw a pretty girl swimming toward the raft, and admired her technique so much that he swam right after her, and clambered up on the raft to tell her so. After that — 'Well, I knew there was no other girl in the world for me,' says Don, thus spurning the flock of girls who send him letters through the NBC fan-mail department, telling him how they love to hear him sing. "The wedding takes place in the romantic Little Chapel of the Flowers, Berkeley." Not a wedding is in prospect for June in any of the Chicago or New York studios according to our correspondents. A few are scattered here and there through the early part of the season. It has become necessary to go into history for these and sometimes far back. ET out!" "He married the secretary of the man who first got him started in radio blackface — " "Oh!" "The nearest we got to a June wedding is Em." "Yes, yes, go on — " "Well, Em is Helen King of our Chicago studios. You know, the 'Em' of 'Clara, Lu and Em'. She's getting married to John Mitchell on May 20th. Oh, yes, and on the very next day in a country church near New York City Miss Kathleen Stewart of the New York studios will walk down the aisle at the Palisades Presbyterian Church, Nyack, N. Y., to take the ring from Mr. Everett Martine of the Chase National Bank." "Well that's getting close to June. How about Buddy Rogers, does he show any signs of weakening?" "Say, Buddy is rushing around so fast with his orchestra he says he never has time to look at the same girl twice on the same day. But I really think he's afraid of the girls. He's worse than John Young, the announcer, who says every time he has had any idea of proposing he was frozen with horror for fear he would be rejected. Nothing could possibly be more embarrassing, according to John. We just found out about a secret wedding that took place in our engineering department on January 9th — " We called up Hilda Cole over at Columbia and she did her very best to find out somebody who was thinking of getting married this June. But all in vain. "Why it's a positive disgrace," she said. "Something should be done about it." (Continued on page 48)