Radio revue (Dec 1929-Mar 1930)

46 RADIO REVUE What Is the Secret of Rudy Vallee's Success? (Continued from page 5) that had been his since his early college days. His lucky chance came with the opening in Greenwich Village of a new night club, Don Dickerman's "Blue Horse." This new club could not afford to engage a well-known band, and so gave Rudy his chance. He assembled seven players, christened them "The Connecticut Yankees" and proceeded to whip them into shape. "Something different" had always been Rudy's ideal in dance music and, as he says. "We worked, sweated and cursed together until we got something different." One evening some time later, Rudy sang a vocal chorus to one of the dance numbers. The crowd liked it and applauded wildly. That was the beginning of his singing career. His first opportunity to make phonograph records was with the Columbia Phonograph Co., but he and his band are now recording with Victor. Later, he started broadcasting and it was through this medium that he became a national figure. He receives about two hundred letters a day from his admirers. He reads as many of these as he possibly can and answers some of them. He and his "Connecticut Yankees" have appeared on the R-K-0 vaudeville circuit. Recently he and his boys — he still has all the original nembers of his band with him — went to Hollywood to appear in a talkie entitled "The Vagabond Lover," which has just been released by Radio Pictures. When he returned to New York recently, Rudy received a great ovation at Pennsylvania Station. He posed for numberless snapshots, along with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Vallee, who had accompanied him to Hollywood, and many others. He then immediately started to work, following a schedule that will keep him busy for eighteen hours a day. He and his band have been appearing at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre and they recently returned to the air on the Fleischmann Sunshine Hour over the XBC network. In addition, they will be heard in a series of programs emanating from the Villa Vallee. Rudy's own exclusive night club. It is understood that Rudy hopes soon to make a tour of Europe. Rudy has little cause to worry about the future. For the coming year he has a half million dollars' worth of contracts lined up. including Victor phonograph records, talking pictures, vaudeville, night club and public appearances, not to mention the income from various other sources, such as writing popular songs, etc. Not an unpleasant prospect for a boy still in his twenties. As long as Lady Luck continues to favor him as she has in the past, Rudy need not worry about what the secret of his success really is. None of the evidence so far presented actually establishes the basic reason for Rudy's popularity. Could it possibly be that he is an idol moulded of the crumbling clay of American sentimentality? Wanted: Air Personality! (Continued from page 22) nately, the sea air — or something else — had so affected his vocal chords that, though he tried on two different occasions to show the committee how great a gift was his great gift, he was unable to raise his voice above a squeak. On another occasion a cock-sure young man applied for an audition and almost toppled the committee over by announcing, in answer to the query as to what type of voice he had, that he was a soprano. It was only a few days later that a young lady appeared and proved equally astonishing by saying that she was a baritone. The resourceful clerk put her down as a mezzo-contralto and. for all I know, she. is still going down. Adds Radio Pioneer to Staff So rapidly has the Majestic Theatre of the Air developed and so large have its program activities become, that Wendell Hall, its director, has found it necessary to add to his staff. Lee J. Seymour, one of radio's pioneers and well known in the northwest, is Majestic's latest executive, and has taken up his duties as business manager. Mr. Seymour, born in South Dakota, has built up a large following with WCCO, the Columbia Broadcasting System's outlet in Minneapolis, where he has been production manager and official sports announcer for some time. Together with Mr. Hall and Fred Smith, Mr. Seymour is now at work planning Majestic's winter broadcasts. What Is Your Opinion— about RUDY VALLEE and His Success ? The Editors of RADIO REVUE will pay Ten Dollars for the best letter on this subject and Five Dollars for the second choice. Write plainly and on one side of the paper only. Address: RADIO REVUE Six Harrison Street, New York, N. Y.