Radio revue (Dec 1929-Mar 1930)

10 RADIO REVU E to use this idea until a short time before ThanksgivingDay, 1927. About that time Charles Gannon, who was then in charge of Station YVOR, telephoned Cox and asked his help. Mr. Gannon said he had sent out publicity for a special Thanksgiving Day program, but something had gone wrong and he did not have any material for the program. Discussed Idea at Lunch They agreed to meet for lunch and discuss the situation. On the way, Mr. Cox met George Frame Brown and asked him to come along. The three finally agreed on a program that approximated the "Main Street" type. Cox then went home and pounded out the script on his typewriter. It took him until the early hours of the next morning to complete it. Up to that time George Frame Brown had made a reputation chiefly as a monologist and, in so doing, had created several distinctive characters, among them Ole Olsen, a Swede. Cox incorporated these characters in his script and Brown supplied the dialogue for them. The initial program was a huge success and evoked much favorable comment. With the approach of Christmas, it was decided to give another of these presentations. Brown immediately suggested calling it "Christmas Eve in the Grange Hall," and this title was adopted. The same procedure as before was followed in preparing this program and again it was a great success. By this time the program had caused such a stir in radio circles that the officials of YVOR summoned Cox and asked him to stage a series of presentations of this type. In the meantime Cox had entered the employ of L. Bamberger & Co.. owners of WOR, but was not in the radio division. However, he agreed to try it and was allotted $75 a week to engage talent and stage a weekly performance. No provision was made for paying him anything extra for writing the script and staging the show. The bulk of this amount went to George Frame Brown. After some discussion the name of Titusville was coined by Cox to represent a typical small country town in which the chief event of the day is the arrival of a train at the depot. Title Has Clung to Program Everyone agreed that "Main Street" was the ideal name for the program but it was felt, if that name were used. Golden Eagle Lodge Boys in Action there might be legal difficulties, owing to its being confused with Sinclair Lewis's book of the same name. So Cox finally hit upon the name "Main Street Sketches" and, although this title did not meet with general approbation, it was finally adopted and has clung to the hour ever since. The program went on the air as a regular feature on the first Tuesday evening in 1928 and has appeared practically every week since. It now has about 110 performances to its credit. At one time the program struck a snag when, through a misunderstanding, it was sold as a commercial feature to two different advertisers at the same time. The result was that neither account took it, but it has since appeared under ijhe commercial sponsorship of the Reid Ice Cream Company and the Merlin Products Corporation. The program received reams of newspaper publicity at the time George Frame Brown left the cast. However, this phase of the situation was untangled by legal experts and, although Brown now produces "Real Folks," a similar type of program, on the NBC chain, he and Cox are still the best of friends. Leonard Cox is an interesting study. He is tall and, although rather slender, is nevertheless wiry and well proportioned. He has an abundance of nervous energy and is capable of handling a multitude of executive duties without any apparent exhaustion. He has had an extremely checkered career and has traveled extensively. At different times in his life he had been a hobo, a cowpuncher, a rancher, a miner, a traveling salesman, an aviator and a radio editor. Born in British Central Africa He was born in Chandi, British Central Africa, where his father was Chief Commissioner. All of his family at present are serving with His Majesty's forces. At the age of eight he was sent to relatives in London to be educated and made the long journey from Durban alone. After a few weeks in London, Leonard was sent to a convent school in Liege, near Antwerp. When he had been there only two weeks, his father and mother returned from Africa and he was taken out of school. He toured Europe with his parents until the outbreak of the Boer War. when his father returned to his African post. In 1900 the Cox family moved to Canada, migrating to an unexplored region in the Rockies, 90 miles from Calgary. There his father started a ranch. This venture