Variety (Apr 1949)

84 RADIO REVIEWS WedneBday, April 13, 1949 MODERN ROMANCES IVith Claire NieMU. Geoffrey Bryant, Lyle Sutrow. Madeleine Lee, Bob Dryden, Vtnton Hay- worth; Bob Sabin, announcer Writers: Ira Marion, Don Witty, Lillian Schoen , , Directors: William Marshall^ Joe '"'Graham..' . Producer: Melville Ruick 30 Mins.; Mon-thru-Frl., 11 *.m. Sustaininc ABC, from New York "Modern Romances," aired un- der a tieup with Dell Publishing Co.'s mag of the same title, dis- penses slickly-varnished dramas for the hausfrau trade. Based on firstrate scripting jobs and ex- ecuted by top. directors and tlies- pers, this series should cut heavily into morning audiences. Program has that basic soap opera quality of pat sentimentalism^ but man- ages nevertheless to impress with its serious, realistic veneer, THE TREMAYNES With Alice Reinheart, Lea Tre^ mayne; Ralph Bellamy, cuest Prodtteer-director: Mende Brown 30 Mins.; Sat., 12 noon Sustainint , WOR. N. Y. .. . AdA Alice Reinheart and Les j Tremayne to the weighty list of Mr; and Mrs. airers. With a wealth j of experience In both radio and i legit behind tfiem, the couple un- wrapped a diverting half-hour show in their inaugural stanza on WOR, N. Y., Saturday (9). Format comprises bits of poetry, gossip of the theatre and personal anecdota along with a weekly guest ce- lebrity. , , „ Particular bright spot of the ihitialer, was interviewee Ralph Bellamy, who amusingly recounted his stint in a snafued midwest stock performance years ago. Host Departing from the regular | Tremayne appears with Bellamy soaper routines, this show presents , Broadway hit, "Detective a complete story daily of love, | story" Both actors warmly marriage, divorce, parenthood and praised the play and paid tribute whatever other heartbreak angles ; author Sidney Kingsley's long ere available. Yarns have a moral- ie.<iearch on the piece. istic point but, judging from the initial broadcast (11), avoid stuffy primness. Although allegedly con- cerned With genuine personal problems, this series is superficial In approach and can't be taken as anything more than straight en- tertainment, in which It excells for its type. Kickoff stanza dealt with a di- vorcee and her problems of read- Breezy and casual, the Tre- maynes are certain to attract a fair slice of noontime listeners, espe- cially those who are fond of stage lore. As a show finale the couple have a clever, idea in adllbbing a plot from taglines submitted by dialers. Punch line was "After all. these are last year's emeralds." But despite a good try by impro- vising a soap opera-ish incident,' justment. Titled "Fair Game," it i the. extemporaneous drama didn't presented the old-fashioned view i quite come oft. Gitb. tliat divorcees are wide open for I ■ ■- ■ r.- ;:, wolfish advances, Story, however, I . smoothly meshed together as it rolled toward ^a melodramatic t-limax. A topnotch characterization by Claire Niesen; in the lead role, and. solid support from other, cast members, turned this half-hour into an absorbing session. Herm; . UN IS MY BEAT With Clark M. Eichelberser 15 Mins.; Sat., 2:45 p.m. Sustaining WNBC, N. y. "UN Is My Beat," transcribed I over WNBC after airing over the I NBC network the day before, is an ■ adult public affairs program deal- i ing with the current proceedings ; of the United Nations General As- i sembly in Flushing Meadows, N. Y. As regular commentator, Clark M. ROGER ALLEN SHOW Writer-Producer: Allen 15 Mins.; Sun., 4.30 p.m. BIXBY OFFICE SUPPLY WJEF, Grand Rapids p.o iv>r„io» ^«...i..c..iai«i, »^.<.in. j.« Roger Allen, local architect and I Eichelberger, director of the Amer- daily_columnist for the Grand Rap-1 ican Assn. for the UN, delivers an ids- Press^ does a one-man talk show, discoursing on a wide variety of subjects in no particular pattern. On show caught (20) he rambled mostly about his after-dinner ex- periences, getting off a few whim- sical lines. He based a few seg- ments on newspaper clips, such as unbiased, if slightly undramatiCi account of each week's events. It is a good supplement, and even a substitute, for daily newspaper accounts which too often tend to be sloughed off by readers. Indicative of the authoritative level of this program, guest on the the item of the Frenchman who re- i first stanza (8) was Herbert V. cently found an unexploded mine under his bed, and on little-known facts, such as the story that the short film, "Seeds of Destiny," had a bigger ''gross" than "Gone With the Wind" (it raised $170,000,000 for relief of needy children abroad). Evatt, president of the UN General Assembly. Evatt touched upon some of the problemsin the current session without bypassing the dif- ficulties 'the world organization is facing as a result of the east-west split. Justifying this airer, Evatt AH.-STAR REVUE, With Bums and Allen, Jerry Co- lonna, Percy Lee, Gordon M««- Rae, Jane Wyman, Carmeii Ufa- son Orch; Toby Reed, emcee Writer: Dick Conway 30 Mins.; Wed. «), 10 p.m. Sustalnlntr WOR, N. y. presented under the auspices of the New York City Cancer Com- mittee, this transcribed airer is a good entertainment package of song and comedy. Produced in Hol- lywood, show features some top- ranking radio and film names in individually solid stints. Program, however, fails to weave its material around a central theme and runs off like a straight variety layout. Pitch for the cancer fund drive would undoubtedly be more effec- tive if better integrated into the format rather than being spotted like ordinary commercials. Jane Wyman, after a comedy turn with Burns and Allen, makes the single effective plea for the drive in a short, sincere talk. It's questionable, however, whether dialers, after rocking with laughter at the program's gags, can be made to teel deeply about a serious mat- ter. If measured in these terms, this program may be rated as less than successful. As straight enter- tainment, the combination of Gor- don MacBae's and Peggy Lee's vo- calizing and Jerry Colonna's and Burns and Allen's Comedies, is solid. Herm. CNIB MUSICALS With Metcalfe Male Quartet: Ella; Bacock pianist; Mary Haws an-< nouncer Producer-writer: Elizabeth Mascall 15 Mins.; Sun., 1:15 p.ni. Sustaining CKEY, Toronto New series of harmony and solo singing, plus piano classics, is a listenable Sunday segment. Inside dramatic punch is that everyone in the lineup is blind, but this is not mentioned in announcements..; Soft piano opening by announce- ment of Mary Haws (at the mike With her script in Braille) that pro- gram is the new musicale series of the Canadian National Institute, for the Blind; but perhaps greater drama could be injected if it were mentioned that everyone connected with the program's production is blind. Even no mention- of this is made in the one CNIB midway plug by the blind announcer. It's a pleasant little program, noted for good timing an shading in the singing, but. more so for the spirit of cheerfulness throughout. Only plug pays tribute to the ca- pable, blind men and women con- ducting cigar stands ia iiubli^ places and industrial cafeteiias. v Followup Comment Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were easier,- hen6e better, on their second NBC stint at 6.30. Bill Bendlx wasn't the sparkling guest that Bob Hope's inaugural was,' but then the ad libs and topping didn't assert themselves as ob- trusively . . . Dennis Day was virtually given the entire Jack Benny show, with one of those dream sequences where he imag- ines himself. the star • of the pro- gram and Benny is stooging for him, and again proved himself as potent a line-handler as he tenors his lyrics; It was an imaginative show and good change of pace ... "Who Said That?" was another bright half-hour Saturday night with Norman Thomas, Madge Evans and Henry Morgan supple- menting moderator Robert 'Trout and regutaP'John Cameron Swayze.. Latter is an all-knowing gent, but Miss Evans and Thomas parred him, while Morgan's nonchalance supplied more than the usual quota of comedy. Morgan got in his licks, too, at Louella Parsons in no un- certain terms despite Trout's en- deavor to cool him off, albeit not too pointedly ... Radio City Play- house via NBC had another zingy interlude in "30 Pieces of Silver," a timely modern parable on a Biblical theme. Clalidia Morgan was capital as the wife, and she got excellent support from Luis Van Rooten and Bernard Grant as the husband's best friend. Horace Braham rounded out the excellent cast. Harry Junkin did a capital job as producer-writer-director; Richard P. McDonagh supervised; Dr. Roy Shield batoned the. dra'^ matic score. Allen's: humor is mild but he I said that only an informed public comes off as an engaging, if some- I in all nations could make the UN what diy personality. Commer- i succeed in its function to maintain cials are brief an4in good ta^e. , peace. Hem. Kokomo, Ind.^~Carroll Reynolds, former announcer-producer with Mutual in Chi, has been appointed production manager and night news editor of: WIOU here. A Beauf of a BUY — Roys! JOAN B ROOKS SHOW ;^^0W. AVAILABLE TO ALL /fv "eefr* fonf^C, fl>ee» ^OcgfPo„: MARKETS except Washington, Di,C. - and the SoHthemffrii States TRANSCRIBED mmw - *'*o a °1e * th" ' tt,, for RADIO and TELEVISION —IN PERSON— GUEST SHOTS Also Gontoct BOB KERR, R.K.O. BIdg., N. Y. HOPALONG CASSIDY With William Boyd Writer: Harold Swant«n Produeer: Walter Whiter Jr. 30 Mins.; Sat., S:30 p.m. Sustaininr WOK, N. Y. Daring deeds of Hopalong Cas* sidy again became available to the^ air audience Saturday (7), via a transcribed package turned out by- Commodore Productions. William Boyd, per usual, handled the title role. . Records show CBS preemed a Cassidy program eight years ago. Contemporary version is Ideally spotted timewise, for mid-Saturday afternoon should result in a maxi- mum of interest from youthful dialers, Plot on the teeoff was woven of familiar material— wrongly accused , of murder, a lad is later cleared by Cassidy's inter- vention. From an acting and pro- duction standpoint the show regis-: tered fairly well, but nonetheless one can't help reflecting how much visual action is lost by absence , of the screen. ' Gilb, . Burgess Meredith provided the principal zip Sunday night (10) to the Theatre Guild presentation of Taming of the Shrew" on ABC- WJZ for U., S. Steel. Joyce Red- man, who flew to Chicago, after her performance, in "Anne of the Thousand Days," at the Shubert, N. Y., to do the broadcast, con- tributed a brightly-shaded per- formance in the title part, but it was Meredith's free-swinging por- trayal of Petruchio tliat created a vigorous image of the too-visual yarn. Some of the Shakespeare verse was tough to understand, but Tom Glazer as the minstrel-nar- rator helped to clarify the action and there were several notable supporting performances. Eric Parnouw's adaptation stressed com- edy and movement. A seemingly endless intermission spiel by the superintendant of Chicago public schools was one of those audience- chasing exploitation : "musts'' that delight sponsor public relations departments. .' died with biting realismvby. John Garfield, Nancy Kelly, J; Edward : Bromberg and Reinhold- Schunzel, of the Broadway cast. Transcribed for the U. S. Army by ABC in cooperation with ANTA, the show was ably emceed by Vinton Freedley. With Army Day Saturday (9), Jack Benny made: a brief tribute to the organ- ization while cartoonist Hnm Fisher asked for more physicians and dentists to don uniforms. Kate Smith's stint was a letdown in that she warbled , but one number. In comed.v slot were Block & Sully,. who suffered from a lack of fresh material, Don Ameche's integration into the Jimmy Durante Camel show Friday night (8), as a replacement for Alan Young, came off in neat fashion. Partly straighting for the Schnoz in the earlier moments, Ameche finally got his inning in the satire on radio forums, with Vera Vague, in for a guest shot, augmenting for a zany session. The followup: drive-in sequence had the trio registering with the laughs for. top results.. Durante spotted his typical comedic vocals to give the usual zing to the. program. "Theatre U.S.A.'' brightened Thursday's (7) radio fare with a well acted bit from Clifford Odets' "Big Knife'' over ABC. Capsule indictment of Hollywood was ban- New Chi Radio Biz WMCA, New York, presented a gripping documentary drama on "New World A'Coming" Tuesday (5). Scripted by Mort Levin, "Jus- tice in Toombs County" told the story of Mrs. Amy Mallard, a Negro woman whose husband was killed by masked hoodlums. It was based on court records in Toombs county, Georgia, and interviews with the widow. It told how her husband Was threatened with death because he dared to vote in the '48 elec- tion, and then, according to Mrs. ! Mallard's moving narrative, was murdered while driving on a dark road. Drama was well acted; with role of Mrs. Mallard played quietly and without self-pity, except for the final courtroom scene in which she, breaks down. It was smart- dir«c- ; tion. Folksinger Tom Glaser was used ably, accompanying himself on the guitar for the moving anti- lynching ballad, "Strange Fruit." Chicago, April 12: Transit Radio, Inc., announced ' new accounts in Carlings Ale via WCTS, Cincinnati; through Leo Burnett agency; Coronet magazine via WCTS and KPRC, Houston, | through Schwimmer & Scott agcn-1 cy; Household Finance Corp. via KTNT, Tacoma; WPLH, Hunting- ton, W. Va , and Swift Jewel Short- | enirtg via KPRC through J. Walter | Thompson agency; | WMOR announced that Royalton Rugs signed Studs Tcrkel "Wax Museum," half-hour Sunday disk show, for 13 weeks through Witten- berg agency, and co'sponsors Stromberg Carlson Radio and Gar- Usk Music Shops, each one hour of "Complete Opera," Sundays; Re-1 public Printing half-hour sliow "Melody Time," Sundays, and. Tof- fenetti Restaurants, half-hour, Monday-Friday, of "Toffenetti Time," all through Commercial 1 j Broadcasters, Inc. | i Direct busmess included Steno-i I graphic Machines sponsoring 52 i f weeks of "Broadway . Melodies," half-hour Saturday show; Byron Home Appliance sponsoring "Chi- cago Speaks," 15 minutes Sundays. WMAQ announced Greystone Press will sponsor !'Do It Your- .self," 15-rai:nute handicraft show, through H. B. Humphrey agency; announcements for Kit Products through Earle Ludgin agency; Drene through Compton agency; and station breaks for Ward-Bak- ing through J. Walter-Thompson agency; Manor, House Coffee through Earle Ludgin agency; Lin- co Products through Schwimmer & Scott agency. . """Your Home Beauttfuir*~sl"otted- in the 10:30 a.m. slot Saturdays on WOR, N. Y., should prove particu- larly interesting to the hausfraus desirous of giving their apartment the "new look" for spring. .Spear- headed by Betty Moore, interior decorator, and sponsored by the Benjamin Moore Paint Co., it gives out with informative gab about brightening up the nook and,corn- ers. On stanza Saturday (2) Miss Moore discussed reconversion of a dining room—and of course a pilch for the sponsor's paints by Dick Bradley, announcer. Chatter is spaced by commendable vocals by Johnny Thompson to fu>ther brighten the 15-minute .stanza. mi Sunday 12 Noon to 2 P.M. Network A 1st WIND .... ... 2nd Network B 3rd NetWork C 4th Network D 5lh pui.se Jw-Nb.. 1949 WIND