Radio and television mirror (July-Dec 1948)

(S *v£S5* o fa9*. ^:^s rfipi^ ^ ***0&8 Mi °rel?*your full ,^B pound *_l**ft sliamV00 R M 72 Used most by professional beauticians . . . Oceans of Joam even in hard water . . . leaves hair soft. . . manageable no soap film 111 Eli coins m bus hies. ($y Our Boss, Joe Kelly {Continued from page 28) shoulder just before you go into the studio. "Don't be nervous," he tells you. "Do exactly as you would at home. I'll find a question you can answer, and when I do, get your hand up fast. You'll have fun." All of us know Mr. Kelly is on the side of a new kid, and remembering our own first days, we follow his lead to give the new member a chance. We hope you heard him the day five-yearold Bobby Senescu joined us. Bobby is so tiny someone should have carried his gown like a princess' train. He didn't know how to pick it up himself, and he tripped at every step. He had to sit on three phone books to reach his microphone. Perched like an alert little bird, with his head cocked on one side to keep the tassle of his cap out of his eyes, he just sat there and let question after question go by. Then came one from John Carlson of Chicago. The pianist was to play parts of a musical composition, and from the style of the music we were to identify the composer, and if possible, give the name of the piece. . Both of us tried and got snarled up. Mr. Kelly must have noticed the second Bobby lifted his hand off his desk, for he cut us short. "Bobby?" That little mite leaned into his microphone. "Rachmaninoff's 'Variation on a Paganini Theme.' " Sawing at an imaginary fiddle, he hummed a funny zzzzzz sound, going on from the bar where the pianist had left off. "That's right!" Mr. Kelly shouted, happy as if someone had given him a million dollars. "Now Bobby, try again. Mr. Carlson wants to know if you can identify the composer and composition of this one." Again the pianist sounded a few notes. Bobby's arm waved wildly. He had caught on. "Same thing, upside down." Mr. Kelly wasn't prepared for so swift an answer. He started to glance at his card, but even as he did so, he translated Bobby's term. "Right. Right again. It's Rachmaninoff's 'Variation on a Paganini Theme' — inverted." That time the pianist had played the same piece, but had made it an inversion of the opening theme he had just finished. The question could well have stumped one with many more years of musical study than Bobby. Mr. Kelly wanted to be sure everyone appreciated his accomplishment. He waved for audience applause, exclaiming, "Isn't that fine? Isn't that wonderful for a fiveyear-old?" By the next Sunday, Bobby was talking up with the rest of us. The question was: "If a violin player emptied his pockets, what might you find, indicating his profession?" Bobby said a bridge, resin, strings. Lonnie Lunde added a tuning key. Mr. Kelly didn't understand. He consulted Bobby. Bobby said yes, he might carry a spare peg — the key you wind to tune the strings. Both of us named a chin rest. Bobby objected. "What's the matter, Bobby?" Mr. Kelly asked. "Why wouldn't a violin player have a chin rest?" "A chin rest goes under his chin, not in his pocket," said Bobby. We laughed with the audience. We all felt he had earned credit for that answer. That's the way Mr. Kelly is. He doesn't dare you to answer a question correctly, like some grown ups do. He acts like he expects you to know, and that it is his job to help you say it right. When you have, it's a wonderful feeling to hear him shout, "Yes siree! That's very, very good! I wish I could do that." We have talked it over, and we conclude Mr. Kelly is such a good Chief Quizzer because he knows what it is like to be somewhat young and have to face large audiences. Had there been a Quiz Kids program when he was a boy, he undoubtedly would have been on it, for he was a very remarkable child. Since Mr. Kelly talks very little about himself in a serious fashion, we had to quiz the Chief Quizzer to find out about this. We learned that Mr. Kelly never went to school a day after he was eight years old and finished third grade. He already had a reputation as a boy soprano by that time, for when he was six, he won a five-dollar prize for singing "The Holy City" in an amateur contest at an Indianapolis theater. He had won many such prizes by the time he was eight and went to Crawfordsville, Indiana, to spend the summer with his grandmother. His father had died, and the family had very little money. He was happy when a theater manager hired him to sing "Down by the Old Mill Stream" while pictures (Continued on page 74) ltd afieefc mta fvUvate (wed. . . ... So writes one listener about the "realness" . . . the true-to-life quality ... of the daily dramas on "My True Story" Radio Program, prepared in cooperation with the editors of True Story magazine. Listen to radio's greatest morning show Monday through Friday mornings and you'll understand why so many thousands of women say "This is genuine! This is real life!" You'll be fascinated. 7**e U "MY TRUE STORY" AMERICAN BROADCASTING STATIONS