Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

28 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 3 directing in the studio. It had all been a rather trying experience, but fortunately our desperation at the time was such that it demanded an immediate remedy— and an effective one! So right then and there we got our heads together (there were then only two of us) and decided on on a three-fold plan to begin functioning the moment we had the mechanics worked out. Briefly, this was it : First, we had to enlist the cooperation of “radio representatives” in as many high schools as possible. Second, we had to create a system for auditioning and classifying student talent. Third, we had to establish a standard procedure for casting and rehearsing all broadcasts. The rest of the story is really a denouement and can be dispensed with in a short time. In the first place, both of us realized that the one person who was really acquainted with the most promising students in each high school and the most qualified to select them was the faculty adviser of either a speech club or a dramatic society. So, insofar as we were able, by virtue of acquaintance or reputation, we approached as many of these directors as we could and asked them if they would serve as radio representatives in their particular schools. Gradually, through these contacts and other helpful suggestions, w e were able to enlarge o u r membership so that today practically every high school in the New York City school system has its radio representative. When we had worked out the mechanics of our auditioning system (which will be described shortly) , we sent to our “radio reps” a letter in which we asked them to send us, at a specified time, their three most talented James F. Macandrew, New York City Schools Radio Coordinator. students for studio auditions. We suggested that each applicant should provide himself with three or four one-minute monologues best fitted to bring to light the most realistic characterizations he or she had to offer. Anticipating a rather indifferent response to such a radical proposal, Mr. Macandrew and I allotted about three days for the auditions and contrived a schedule whereby we could relieve each other at regular intervals until four or four-thirty in the afternoon. But what with the wholehearted cooperation of the radio representatives and the tireless enthusiasm of the candidates, we found ourselves working double-shifts until seven o’clock of the early evening. Though we urged them, the students just wouldn’t go home. And what talent was revealed ! Too often we found ourselves so spellbound by the characterization of an inspired youth that by the time he had finished his monologue, we had not made a single entry on his card. Sesame ! This was the artistry we had sought so long, but now that we had identified it, how were we to catalogue such ab stractions, classify them, and produce them as occasion required? Auditioning The answer to these problems brings us to the second phase of our plan, which we had formulated sometime prior to that of the auditions. Suppose we glance back for a minute and see how it all happened. Because of fortunate friendships in the radio industry, I had been able to secure some invaluable aid in solving our casting problems. From an assistant casting director of a key station in New York City I had received sample audition cards and some sound personal advice, both of which contributed largely to laying the foundation of the audition forms we finally adopted. These became indispensable in simplifying the complications of auditioning and classifying the various types of voices we so urgently needed. These audition cards, designed to identify the qualifications of each candidate, contain such questions as the following : What language or languages can you speak fluently? What dialects can you do? What are your best impersonations? What experience have you had in dramatics? Some of the typical items checked by the auditioning director are classified under such headings as these: Voice Quality, Character Interpretation, Sense of Pace, Speech Defects, and the like. At the bottom of the card, space is provided where the director can summarize his opinions of the candidate. These impressions are extremely important. They represent the particular characterizations for which the student is best adapted. Let us take four cards out the files at random and glance at the terse remarks entered at the hot