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Theatrical Advertising Capitulates to Radio
By BIDE DUDLEY
WMCA Dramatic Critic and Broadway Columnist
New Shows Reviewed Within an Hour After Curtain Falls; Commissions Now Accepted on Approved Attractions
A NOVEL FEATURE that was originated to give WMCA listeners the latest theatrical news and Broadway gossip has proved a commercial as well as a program success. The author of this article believes that it opens the way for a complete radio newspaper with the customary book reviews, editorials, women's pages and the like. The program was started as a sustaining feature, but its immediate success brought theatrical managers around in a hurry with advertising copy. Unlike newspapers, however, advertising is taken for only the shows which the critic endorses.
Mr. Dudley
AS THE FIRST dramatic critic, f film reviewer and Broadway columnist to conduct a regular theatre program on the air, I feel you j radio folk ought to know a little about my new profession. I believe my work has been in the nature of j an innovation in radio and I am I confident it is the forerunner of an ) era in which material such as I j offer will be used extensively on many radio stations. I consider it a progressive step in broadcasting; one that carries the weight of great importance. And now let me tell you how it all started.
First, permit me to state for those who don't know about this i new departure, that my broadcasts j are featured on Station WMCA, New York, at midnight and at 2 p.m. each day except Sunday. The ■ idea was originated by Donald Flamm, president of the Knickerbocker Broadcasting Corporation, which owns and operates WMCA. [ It was he who suggested I launch the plan of keeping the public in touch with Broadway, its institu' tions and people.
First-Night Reviews
1 MR. FLAMM is a man who con!! stantly seeks new ideas for radio, 'j To him must go the credit for sug| gesting my Amusement Depart• ment of the Air, now on WMCA |: under the title of "Up and Down i Broadway with Bide Dudley."
The Knickerbocker president knew I had been on Broadway eighteen or nineteen years as a newspaper critic and columnist; he
knew, also, that I had a flair for radio. So he asked me to drop in and see him at his office.
The plan was outlined and I put it in operation. It caught on immediately. Mr. Flamm continued to give it his attention. He had made a decorative sign, supported by an easel, announcing that the play would be reviewed at midnight by me, over WMCA. This sign is put in the lobbies of theatres on "first nights" and thus do the audiences learn they may
By TERESE ROSE NAGEL
BRITISH journalists and visitors to the British Broadcasting Corp. studios in Broadcasting House are permitted to witness only one program behind the scene. That is one, which, through a poll among listeners in Great Britain and the Colonies, has been voted the most successful program on the air. It is presented three times a week and consists of vaudeville for an hour and 40 minutes.
As an American visiting newspaper writer, is was my pleasure to watch a presentation of one of these programs under the direction of Bertram Fryer, who during the last five years has built up these programs from half hour periods to the present length. And I will say that when the program was over, I still wanted more.
"Only the very best entertainers are used," Mr. Fryer told us after the program was over. We had seen some of England's favorite vaudeville microphone performers. There was Ronald Frankau, brother
hear an opinion of the show within an hour after the final curtain has descended. It is a privilege fraught with advantages. For instance —
If Mr. and Mrs. Brown see the play and differ as to its value as entertainment, they may go home, tune in WMCA at midnight and hear a review of it. Then again, the players know that the first criticism of their play and their acting may be heard over this station almost before they get their make-up off. As a result,
of the famous novelist Sir Gilbert Frankau. Ronald has created a new microphone style all his own and writes all his own material with wit and humor in many dialects. Then came Patricia Rosborough, who has won fame as a pianist who syncopates the classics in a new way of her own composition. Harry Hemsley, a child impersonator, was the unique feature of the program. He carried on an imaginary conversation with two of his children, playing all the parts himself. Other entertainers were Yvette Darnac from Paris, who is known as the British whispering soprano type, and Norman Long, who looked like a golf caddy, but sang and played and entertained with material he had written himself in unique style.
"When I began work with vaudeville at the BBC," Mr. Fryer told me, "the program was insignificant, but today I am allowed ten times as much for my programs. We have led in five published polls (Continued on page 22)
some of the theatres now have radio sets back-stage.
The fact that my review is the first one to come out is important. Very brazenly I I use the line, "Dudley Points the Way." And now let me explain that line. A first idea is hard to forget. Therefore, what I say lingers in many minds no matter what other reviewers may write.
Incidentally, I make it my creed to offer only constructive criticism, not to use wise-cracks and other alleged humor and never to attack the players personally. Mine is an honest opinion of the new offering, free from personal likes and dislikes and as fair otherwise as I can make it.
This plan I apply to the reviewing of pictures, vaudeville or any other show I attend.
Commercial Possibilities
LAST APRIL Mr. Flamm and I decided to add another angle to this air feature. Theatrical managers suggested we permit them to advertise their productions over the air. They were willing to pay for radio advertising just as they paid the newspapers. We decided to accept commissions to give current attractions favorable mentions on each program providing I, in reviewing them originally, had found them worthy of my endorsement. I made it a rule not to accept uninteresting or dirty shows as clients.
As a result of the addition of this new angle my Broadway periods have included numerous endorsements. This has been definite evidence that the Dudley programs have been popular, especially in a summer like the one we are going through. It proved there is a "kick" in this new air feature. With the coming of fall and its attendant increase in the number of attractions, I expect to see the endorsements increase to such an extent that I'll have to ask a bit more time on the ether.
Sees WMCA Newspaper
LISTENERS have told me there is great satisfaction in being able to sit back in an easy chair at home, or at a club, or wherever there may be a radio set and an easy chair, and get a criticism of a new show "hot off the griddle." However, realizing that many people are not awake at midnight, Mr. Flamm suggested that my 12 o'clock broadcasts be repeated at 2 p.m. the following day. This plan is being followed and thus the number of broadcasts is twelve a week.
Some day I expect to see WMCA present an almost complete newspaper of the air, which will include dramatic criticism, news, editorials, book reviews, beauty hints and, in fact, almost all newspaper features but cross-word puzzles. There is no limit to radio possibilities. The success of my air column has imbued me with this thought.
Vaudeville Hour on BBC
High Type of Entertainment Recommended by Director of Most Successful British Program
September 15, 1932 • BROADCASTING
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