Inside facts of stage and screen (July 26, 1930)

SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE NINE Radio Program Reviews CROSS-SECTIONING RADIOLAND THUMBNAIL REVIEWS LOS ANGELES (Reviewed July 21) Racing around the radio dial to beat the ten o’clock apart- ment house deadline. KECA, 9:25 p. m.—Peppy dance band playing “Little White Lies” and “Blue Is the Night.” KGER, 9:30 p. m.—Dance band, remote from Rendezvous Ballroom, Balboa, “Somewhere A Voice Is Calling” in waltz rhythm. KFOX, 9:32 p. m.-—Organ music, poor reception. KGFJ, 9:32 p. m.—Appeared to be a dance band—queer noises, strange clarinet blue notes, like the cries of spooks in * * a graveyard at midnight. Turned out to be the Blue Blowers, remote from the Apex Night Club, playing “Wah- Wah Girl From Caliente.” KMIC, 9:40 p. m.-—five or six- piece orchestra; not bad; playing the typical selections of groups of tVnc KNX, 9:42 p. m.—“Look back on yesterday and say, ‘I did my best, I tried.’ ” A lady’s voice. “The day of salvation is here, I know, but . . . you have no idea of the poverty . . Soliciting old clothes, etc., for'the Good Samari- tan Relief. “Make somebody else happy without cost to yourself.” KFWB, 9:45 p. m.—“A right to the jaw, then a leftandarightand- anotherleft . . .” Fights at the Hollywood Stadium. KHJ, 9:46 p. m.—Blue Monday Jamboree from KFRC, San Fran- cisco. Male voice and orchestra in the middle of “I Remember You From Somewhere,” with Edna O’Keefe in on the dialogue. Hog- calling contest entries announced for next week. “Mac” telling a railroad story, not a funny one. KTM, 9:52 p. m.—“Come back to the mountain . . .” Ranch hour, very good vocal harmony, with guitar and harmonica. KMPC, 9:54 p. m.—“. . . which, with the nucleus, forms a central core for the atom . . . properties which are periodic . . . nonperiodic . . . inner electrons . . . the fre- quencies of X-rays dependent on atomic numbers . . .” KFI, 9:55 p. m.—Grieg’s “I Love Thee” in a sweet soprano, sounded like none other than Virginia Flohri. Packard Concert Orches- tra under Prior Moore, playing Spanish piece; very lovely. KMTR, 9:59 p. m.-—Banjo Boys, in the “Sunday School Song,” Bible history in snappy verse, and not ba,d. Legitimate Theatres ‘OH, JUDGE’ VINE STREET THEATRE HOLLYWOOD (Reviewed July 22) A newspaper reporter, finding news dull, arranged a stunt with the judge of a Saturday night court to send all culprits from one particular session to a health farm, without option of fine. That night’s grist included a dude drunk, negro fried-chicken vendor, wealthy society woman, her daugh- ter and a guest, a fighter and his manager and a mysterious gal whq turned out later to be a sob-sis- ter from the reporter’s own paper. (News MUST have been dull.) They are all condemned to the health farm, where there are, nat- urally, love complications, which are straightened out later at the magnifique Long Island home of the society woman, where she puts on a “Spanish drag,” which is ended by a police raid and a visit from Mayor Walker. This Strong and Wilson pro- duction of a new musical farce from the several and joint pens of Gwen Meredith, George Bowles and Edward Eisner, possesses many engaging qualities. The mu- sic by Lucien Denni is melodious, and at least one of the numbers, “In A Little Love Nest On A Hill,” may catch the popular fancy. The second half is in- vested with sumptuous scenic set- tings, excellent costumery and some fine ballet work. There are several points, how- ever, where the production falls short, which is not unusual with a new show. The lines are not smart. They carry the story along, but that is all. They do not sparkle, there is no wit, and laughs come chiefly from the way the situations are handled by the cast and from the antics and dou- ble entendre of “Clarence Doolit- tle,” who carries a saxophone around and talks of horn blowing but is patently not a musician, presumably characterizing what is familiarly known as a “nance.” There is a scant line of seven dancing girls in the first half, aug- mented to eight in the second, and their ballet work in the latter half is charming and original. These Artistic Scenic Advertising Curtains By Far tha Best in America CURTAIN PRIVILEGES BOUGHT FOR CASH OR SCENERY Chas. F. Thompson Scenic Co. 1215 Bate* Avenue Phone OLympia 2914 Hollywood, Calif. dances were staged by Eddie Prinz. In the first half it would seem that the rhythm dances would be improved if the girls wore hard shoes, and if the production de- partment could afford it, a few more girls would make the num- bers a good deal more impressive. There were two notably out- standing solo dance specialties in the second half; a Spanish dance by Mildred Costello, and a mod- ernistic novelty by Peggy Cornell, both being received with tremen- dous enthusiasm. Eccentric dancing by Bernard Granville and Mary Hutchinson scored at various times through- out the evening. A bedroom epi- sode staged by the society lady for the edification of her guests promised considerable spice but ended up quite trite. A little smartness or sophistication here would have pleased the Hollywood crowd, who were obviously expect- ing it and were not a little dis- appointed. The piece was well cast. Rod- ney McLennan, the reporter, pos- sesses a nice singing voice and played his part acceptably. Hal Redus walked on and off as city editor. Frank Braidwod was the judge, Frank Allen was clerk of the court, a brief bit, and Douglas Keaton a cop. Albert Cross han- dled the dude drunk part, sobering up and becoming a love interest, Evelyn Hayes playing opposite him and singing “I Lost My Heart.” Clarence Muse appeared as the chicken vendor, and sang “Am I Smiling?” Marie Wells was the society lady, and offered a Span- ish shawl song and dance, as- sisted by the ballet. Mildred Cos- tello was her daughter and Peggy Cornell her guest. Randolph Scott was the prize fighter who won the daughter, and Frank Marlowe his manager. Nenette Vallon handled the sob-sister part and teamed up in a very effective descriptive waltz with Rodney McLennan. Bernard Granville was owner of the health farm, and Mary Hut- chinson sister to the judge. Vangi Murray appeared as a vaude ar- tist and sweetie of Paisley Noon, who handled the “Clarence Doo- little” part. Peggee Standlee, more beautiful than ever, appeared as sweetie of the judge, who ap- peared to be falling for the so- ciety woman, but this issue was never settled. A very effective means of story telling was introduced, in which the narrative of Nenette Vallon was illustrated in dumb panto- mime by players in scrim panels, similar to the technic of the old silent pictures. Another good di- rectorial point was that all special- ties were appropriate to the story and furthered it. Some polishing, dialogue point- (Continued on Page 13) Behind The Mike JVith The Microphone Club Florence M. Gilbert, writer of note and at one time a member of a well-known dancing team, has been appointed to the advisory board of the Microphone Club. Many well-known people will be appointed to the board within the next few weeks. * * * Oliver Hickey, attorney with of- fices in the Pershing Square build- ing, has been elected assistant vice- president in charge of the law de- partment of the Microphone Club. * * * Charles Buck, announcer at KFI, and late, of a Boston stock com- pany, has been elected to the board of directors of the Mike Club. * * * Harry Hall, program director of KFI and KECA, is one of the best-liked young men in radio. Harry is one of the few program men that don’t give the artists the well-known bull to keep them hap- py—and broke. * * * Jack Parker of KFI and KECA is keeping busy this summer, and now more work—he has been elect- ed to the board of directors of the Victor Herbert Supper Club, Inc., besides acting as president of the Microphone Club, the National Artists Association, Inc., and the leading light in the General Broad- casting Association, Inc. * * * Max Mellinger, tenor, of local radio stations, and former husband of Mary Ann Belmont, radio and motion picture singer, has returned to Los Angeles and will be heard once more on local stations and on the Mike Frolic at KGFJ. * * * Jack Stern and Grace Plamilton, local radio stars, want the world to know that just because they were left a cool half million they will not give up their place on the air. They say that radio means more to them than money. (Call for Doctor Mills—something is wrong.) * * * June Foxx, New York radio and stage star, is in town, and it is said that a Hollywood picture producer is keeping his eye on her as a pos- sible feature member of the cast in a new picture dealing with life be- hind the scenes in a radio studio. STATIONS MUST STAY ON ALERT FOR S.O.S. SIGNS “What’s that fiendish wah-wah- wah that I hear coming out of the control room so suddenly at the most unexpected times?” queried a high-strung singer recently of Technician Stephens at KFI- KECA. “That, my dear, is the SOS re- ceiver,” replied the gallant fellow. “All ships at sea transit SOS calls over a wavelength of 600 me- ters. The highest broadcast wave- length is about 550 meters. Since these lengths are fairly close to- gether, it is possible that SOS signals might be interfered with by stations. To avoid this, therefore, the Fed- eral Radio Commission ordered that all stations keep a watch on the 600-meter wavelength. If a distress signal is heard the station is obliged to go off the air until the signal is answered and pro- visions made to relieve the stricken ship. “For this reason there is a licensed radio operator on duty at all hours the station is on the air.” KGER ADDS FEATURE KGER has added a new daily feature, broadcasting the Cadets Concert Orchestra from the open- air theatre at Belmont Beach. Syd- ney Northcote, of Australia, is in charge. Soloists include Murray Parker, uke; Parmelia Lee, con- tralto; Mary Edity, harp; John Barrie, Scotch comic; Charles Hen- ry, basso, and a vocal trio consist- ing of Don James, William Days and Don English. (Miss Foxx may be the future Mrs. Jack Parker.) * * * Conrad De Jonge, concert or- chestra director of Europe, was a visitor at the Microphone Club this week, and Mr. De Jonge tells that in the old country the artists broadcast for the joy of it. That’s nothing—they do the same thing in Los Angeles. * * * A card from Paul Small, popular tenor with NBC and CBS from the New York studios, informs us that New York is the best hunting grounds for radio singers in the world. (James, a timetable.) San Francisco Radio Notes SAN FRANCISCO, July 24. —A co - operative tieup be- tween KTAB in Oakland and the Orpheum in the same city has been severed. For a num- ber of weeks it has been the custom to take acts from the Orph to the Oakland studios for a brief period of gratis broad- casting—a move that gives the station free talent and at the same time gives the theatre free pub- licity. Last week the Orph acts ar- rived at the studio to find it dark, with no one there but the janitor. They phoned the San Francisco headquarters of KTAB, obtained permission to enter, and then got into an argument with the janitor. They walked out. Now the Orph broadcasts over KROW, Oakland. * * NBG’s publicity head in this city has returned after a six weeks’ visit in New York and at his former home in Salem, Ohio. Three days in Los Angeles with Amos ’n’ Andy climaxed the tour. * * * Eddie Evans of Sambo and Ed, who broadcast with Dobbsie over KPO, has gone and done it. He was married last week to Joyce Lindsay and the couple spent their honeymoon on the Russian River. * * * Lou Enamel is the newest addi- tion to the staff of KTAB, where he sings and does parts. He is the De Sylva, Brown and Hender- son representative here. t * t The boys in Earl Burtnett’s Los Angeles Biltmore band need a chatter and cough clamper. When they broadcast over KHJ the other night there was considerable disconcerting noise of this sort. * * Walter Kelsey has -been named assistant musical director of KFRC, working under Meredith Willson. Kelsey, who plays half a dozen instruments, has been with the Don Lee station for some time. * * * Harry McKnight, KTAB tenor, is vacationing in Los Angeles. Carl Tobin, also a KTBA tenor, has just returned from his two weeks’ off. And Helen O’Neill, KTAB program directress, is back from a trip to her home in Seattle.