Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1937)

MOTION PICTURE RADIO DAILY RADIO Friday, January 8, 1937 Film Critics Awards to Go On NBC-Blue On the Air Last Night The presentation of the awards of the New York Film Critics will be broadcast Sunday, Jan. 24, from 8 to 9 P. M., E.S.T. over the NBC-Blue. The program will include performances by Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, Walter Huston, and addresses by Harry Cohn, president of Columbia Pictures ; Rouben Mamoulian and Luise Rainer. It is expected that Mary Pickford and Jesse L. Lasky will also participate in the speechmaking. The broadcast will originate in the Rainbow Room of Radio City where a reception will be held for the presentation of the medals and scrolls acknowledging the winners' contribution to the screen in 1936. The selections are for the best motion picture of the year, "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" ; the best performance of an actor, Walter Huston in "Dodsworth" ; the outstanding feminine characterization, Miss Rainer's Anna Held in "The Great Ziegf eld" ; the best director, Mamoulian for "The Gay Desperado" ; and for the best foreign language picture, "Carnival in ^landers." Ziegfeld Tunes to Be Heard The NBC concert orchestra will open the program with a medley of tunes from "The Great Ziegfeld." William Boehnal, film critic of the AT. Y. World-Telegram, will then explain how the awards were chosen, •Allowing which Richard Watts, Jr., rama critic of the N. Y. Herald'ribune will present the awards. Switching to Hollywood, Cohn will Xccept the award for "Mr. Deeds" and, «n turn, will present it to Frank Capra, director of the film. Following this, Cooper, Miss Arthur and others svho figured in the cast will present several scenes from the picture. Thereafter, the program will return to New York where Huston will receive his award and present a scene from "Dodsworth," thence back to Hollywood for the acceptance of Miss Rainer and Mamoulian. Negotiations are now underway to bring the "Gay Desperado" producers, Jesse Lasky and Miss Pickford, to the program. Alexander Woollcott Returns Last night Liggett and Myers, with great pride and acknowledged nervousness brought back to the air Alexander Woollcott in a new series which the latter said would last for a long time unless he was shot some dawn by his sponsor. After listening to the jewel-like broadcast it is our opinion that Woollcott's ultimate demise will spring from another source. The sponsor's nervousness was induced by a memory of Woollcott's last commercial series which ended when the paunchy commentator consigned sponsors, in general, and his, in particular, to a hardly heavenly habitation. Last night's script, however, was devoted to a recount of the past year's outstanding events. To prove that we humans know little of what the future holds in store, Woollcott told of a recent visit to the library where he came across a yellowed copy of the London Times dated June 20, 1896. An editorial in that issue stated smugly that nothing had happened the previous day that might affect the course of the empire. How was that editor to know, asked Woollcott, that across the sea in America a baby daughter, Wallis, had been born to the Warfields of Baltimore? At the conclusion of the broadcast announcer Paul Douglas offered customary thanks to the "Town Crier" for his effort. "Don't thank me," was the reply. "Thank Granger." Which is what we are doing at the moment. Woollcott is presented each Tuesday and Thursday at 7:15 P. M., E.S.T., over the CBS network. Liggett and Myers, for Granger tobacco, sponsors. Experimental Television The Farnsworth Television Corp. of Philadelphia will embark shortly on a program of experimental television broadcasts, according to George Ever son, secretary The programs will be received only in the Philadelphia area. Television sets are now being de signed for distribution to staff engi neers and a select group of amateurs. Farnsworth Television recently received a permit to broadcast televised programs from the Federal Communications Commission. New NBC-Red Show A new series of adventure stories, "Old Travelers' Tales," based on legends collected by Washington Irving makes its debut over the NBCRed Jan. IS, from 6 to 6:15 P. M., E.S.T. The chief narrator will be Alfred Shirley, and the adaptations will be by Wells Hively. "Showboat" Shift Clicks "Showboat's" new policy proved an effective one last night. With Lanny Ross again acting as master of ceremonies, the show got off to a fast start and ended its hour's trip going away. Musically, as always, the show remained one of radio's top offerings. Lanny Ross, Margaret MacRae, the Modern Choir and Al Goodman's orchestra combined to offer a swiftly paced, ear and audience-pleasing musical melange. The "Showboat" script, in the past the target of most reviews, was considerably pepped up by the estimable Robert Benchley, who led off the new guest star policy. In typical Benchley style he advised on how (1) to get rid of a cold, (2) to get rid of a Christmas tree. The result was (1) he caught a cold after his discourse on that subject, and (2) the Christmas tree remained in the studio for the re-broadcast. The script also offered several welcome novelties, including an old-fashioned spelling bee and a community sing, all with studio audience participation. The abandonment of the old serialized "Showboat" script in favor of the variety idea is a wise move. entrance on CBS last night. The program afforded the human "gatling gun" many opportunities to employ his rat-a-tat style, and he didn't miss one of these opportunities. The program is patterned along true adventure lines. The first re-enactment traced the story of a young New Jersey miss who miraculously escaped death when her sled skidded down a hill and under the wheels of a fastmoving freight train. The second told of how a Brooklyn doctor was awakened at 2 A. M. one morning and forced into treating a wounded gangster. Through a ruse, however, the doctor managed to notify the police. The third and final sketch and, incidentally, the evening's spine-tingler, dramatized the eerie experience of two Pittsburgh girls who entered a reputedly haunted house to avoid a storm and encountered an escaped ape. The ape proved to be a tame one. The dramatizations must be classed above average and would be better still if Gibbons' descriptions and explanations were less wordy and less melodramatic. "Hunting for Headlines" is heard weekly over CBS at 10 P. M., E.S.T. Colgate-Palmolive-Peet sponsors. Banner New Floyd Gibbons Series "Hunting for Headlines," conducted by Floyd Gibbons, made a talkative Lum, Abner, Hoff, Et Al Short Shots: Lum and Abner who have broadcast from Chicago for the past six years, shift their base of operations to Hollywood shortly . . . Carl Hoff returns to the "Hit Parade" Jan. 30, replacing Harry Salter . . . Dave and Phil Rubinoff return from Pittsburgh today where they have been celebrating their parents' golden wedding anniversary . . . Edward Johnson, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera House, will speak between acts of Saturday's Metropolitan Opera broadcast . . . John Mclntyre, NBC character actor, joins the cast of Helen Hayes "Bambi" series Jan. 11 . . . Westinghouse Electric has contracted for a series of United Press news periods every Sunday evening and night over WBT, Charlotte . . . Jimmy Dorsey's band may soon leave the Kraft "Music Hall" series . . . Starting Jan. 13 Warners' production of "The Black Legion" will be dramatized over the Hearst chain of seven stations in New York state. The dramatizations will run in serial form for six days. The stations are WINS, New York; WMFF, Plattsburg; WABX, Albany; WIBX, Utica; WMBO, Auburn ; WSAY, Rochester ; and WBNY, Buffalo . . . The current network flurry on spelling bees programs brings a wire from WHIO, Dayton station, informing that the networks are two years behind the times. WHIO has been featuring spelling bees since early 1935 . . . Gladys George will guest appear on Radie Harris' "Movie Club" program over WHN tonight . . . Nick Foran and Frank Fay have been set as Jack Oakie's guests next week . . . Rosaline Greene has been signed for the CBS "Your Unseen Friend" program, beginning with the broadcast of Jan. 17 . . . The decision on Dick Powell's successor on "Hollywood Hotel," expected today is still in the works. NBC's Stage Unit Booked Into Roxy (Continued from page 1) week. The exact starting date has not yet been determined. The NBC Artists' Bureau, which is handling all bookings of the stage units, is now whipping into shape a second unit, with all indications pointing to the probability of three units, with definite routes, working in film houses by early in February. Since stage shows are not permitted in Philadelphia on Sunday, the first unit will play Sunday, Jan. 17, at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. The units, running one hour each, will be of the variety type, similar to the air programs, which use unemployed professional performers. The first unit, with George Mayo acting as comedian and master of ceremonies, includes : Swor and Lubin, blackface comedians ; Murray Lane and his Harmonica Scamps, Lizzie Wilson, Dutch comedienne ; Isabelle and Three Octaves, songs ; Yvette Rugel, soprano; a choir of eight voices, and Joyce Brothers and Dean, dancers. W. B. Set Start for "Want to Be Actor" Hollywood, Jan. 7. — Warners will start local broadcasts of the MacQuarrie radio program, "Do You Want to Be an Actor" to bolster the end-of-the-year product. It was learned authoritatively today that the first show will go into Warners' Downtown on Wednesday. The understanding here is that a wire from Herman Starr in New York asked local officials why the show had not opened at the Downtown prior to this date. MacQuarrie had hesitated to play the theatres in deference to the national network sponsors, it was learned. The deal, however, is now definitely set. The program is scheduled to play Warners' Hollywood and Forum following the run at the Downtown. Three More Renewals The Fleischmann Co., through J. Walter Thompson, has renewed the "Bakers Broadcast" series for an additional 13 weeks. The program stars Ozzie Nelson, Bob Ripley and Harriet Hilliard and is broadcast Sundays over 61 NBC-Blue stations. Another renewal has the American Can Co., through Fuller, Smith and Ross, extending the Ben Bernie series for another 13 week period, effective as of Jan. 26. The program is heard Tuesdays over 57 NBC-Blue stations. Additionally, the Pepsodent veterans, Amos 'n' Andy, have been renewed for a period similar to the above programs. Lord and Thomas is the agency. Miss Rosier to L. and M. Evelyn Rosier, formerly of the Chicago office of Stack-Goble, has joined the radio department of Lennen and Mitchell, where she will write commercial announcements for all Woodbury programs. For Stack-Goble, Miss Rosier handled the Lady Esther and Sun Bright Junior Nurse Corps programs. Lewis Coming East Hollywood, Jan. 7. — William Lewis, vice-president of CBS in charge of programs, go east tomorrow.