NBC transmitter (Jan-Dec 1940)

16 NBC TRANSMITTER ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION AA DANCE AT WALDORF-ASTORIA The Dancing Committee headed by Mary Coyne certainly stole the thunder from all the other AA activities this past month by staging the most spectacular dance that has been seen in some years. We don’t know if it was the lush setting of the Starlight Roof at the Waldorf Astoria; or the grand music and entertainment provided by Dinah Shore, Dixie Mason, Jack McCarthy, Ed Herlihy, Paul Laval, Henry Levine, and all the boys; or that everyone was in a Beat-medaddy-eight-to-the-bar mood, but we can say that we haven’t seen so much real fun and enjoyment crammed into such a seemingly short space of time since our first party in long pants. From more stately rhythms to the vigorously executed Conga, it was well demonstrated that when it comes to matters Terpsichorean. NBCites can really put feet and beat together. A smoothie of a Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin performance was presented complete with eighteenth century powdered wigs. To the complete delight of a throng representing every office and division of the company, jack McCarthy donned one of the mentioned wigs and presented Dinah, Dixie and the gang in some truly solid sending. This, needless to say, only spurred the dancers on to higher achievement when the floor show was completed. To say that the dance was successful is a gross understatement. As the evening wore on and things got well under way, it was literally SRO. As for the girls, well they look lovely around the office it’s true, but when you saw so many in such a gay profusion of evening gowns and the latest Network Red nail polish — the word isn’t to be found in Webster and we’re at a loss to create one. SKATING Miss Mary Zostant of Research Division heads the NBC Roller Skating Club which held a skating party at the club’s official rink, namely, Cay Blades on the Great White Way just two weeks ago. It seems that Mr. Robert “Bob” Jones of Research didn’t grasp the instructions quite as well as he should have because he and Miss Zostant met the floor with such verve that they both had to be carried from the rink. We might add this puny bit of advice that “practice makes perfect” and best wishes for lesser and lighter tumbles. Plans are now being organized for another meeting, (without the falls) of the Roller Club within the next few weeks. Notices of this coming event will be sent to all employes . . . Let’s go roller skating! ! BOWLING Early winter winds curtailing the continuation of most outdoor AA activities, focus the spotlight on bowling, throughout the long winter months. The bowling group under the direction of George Milne, Engineering, consists of eleven male teams and one hard fighting ladies’ team. With about one-third of season gone the Auditing team remains in the lead, having won seventeen out of twenty-one matches, giving them an average of 815. Engineering 2, in second place has also won seventeen out of twenty-one matches, with the slightly lower average of 796. In eighth place are the ladies with an average of 609. The individual averages show Nicol, of Auditing, last year’s runner-up. in the lead with an average of 177 for twenty-one games played. His nearest contender is Rubin, of Auditing, who has maintained an average of 173 for eighteen games played. The winner of last year’s individual competition, Frank Heitmann, is still in the running, holding down fifth place with an average of 1 68 for twenty-one games played. Each year the Radio City Alleys donate a turkey to each team at Thanksgiving time, to be bowled for on “Turkey Night.” High score man on each team for the evening can forget his dinner problem for Thanksgiving Day, secure in the possession of a hefty gobbler. High, score of the evening was George Milne, of Engineering, who possesses the bird with a score of 21 3. Steere Mathew won the bird for Traffic, with a score of 212. TENNIS FINALS Wind-up of the NBC tennis tournament found the trophies, for the second consecutive time, in the hands of Joe Merkle, winner, and Paul Rittenhouse, runner-up. Jim McConnochie, who advanced steadily in the early stages of the matches, was defeated by Rittenhouse, leaving the two finalists of last year free to face each other again in a finish fight. In a hard fought, no quarter match, the smashing attack of Merkle proved too much for Rittenhouse and the former again emerged victor. BASEBALL The NBC baseball team recently completed a closely contested season by winning a post-season, three game, series with the Yonkers “Ramblers”, local city champions. The Yonkers nine had previously boasted a twenty-one consecutive game win streak, but the fast ball hurling of Connie Nicholas, left handed mound star beat them twice, 4 to 2 and 8 to 6. George Flood, Nicholas’ battery mate during the regular college season led the hitters with a 400foot drive, the longest ball hit all season. In a recapitulation of the regular season, the Radio City club finished a close second in the first half of the New York Film League, and fourth in the second half. However, a 5 to 4 victory over our brothers from RCA, Camden, the first in the series for NBC, and two close games with the American Legion nine, champions of New York played in the Polo Grounds, compensated for the disappointing showing in league competition. The consistent hitting of Bill Little, Manhattan College infielder, who led the team in batting, very closely followed by Jack Wahlstrom and Dorm Albert indicates the possibility of a champion nine next season. Like the Brooklyn “Dodgers” fans we are content to “wait ’til next year.”