Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

220 RADIO BROADCAST AUGUST, 1927 We dwell thus long on a feature which certainly doesn't deserve the space simply because of the great possibilities which it has left unrealized and because it paves the way for some other ad- vertiser to take up the same idea and handle it properly. How is it to be done properly? Well, it would take a considerable outlay of funds. In the first place, it would take an expert to compose the lines. It seems to us that the best writer available would be none too good. To suggest a couple of names, either Mary Roberts Rhinehart or Booth Tarkington could do the job handily. Either one could, without much effort, compose a series of thirteen episodes that would be not only true to life and entertaining but which would provide an interesting commentary on the contemporary younger generation. Next a couple of talented, well-seasoned actors would be necessary to acquit the lines convinc- ingly. The program here reviewed lacked what is known to the stage as "click." That is, the speakers didn't follow, overlap, or interrupt each other in a way characteristic of natural conversa- tion. It can be done, and the proof of it is "Sam 'n' Henry." Whether you like these two WON entertainers or not you must admit they deliver their stuff in a most expert and realistic manner. These actors would not have to be the same ones who furnished the singing bits as it is an easy matter for radio to double a singer without any- one knowing the difference. As to the interwoven theme of music, we think in this phase of the program, at least, the "Coca Cola Girl" did itself proud and any subsequent imitiation of this program could study its method of handling the "score" to advantage. We offer these suggestions for an ideal con- tinuity program to whomsoever will take them. To engage the services of a "best-seller" author would, we grant, cost a lot of money. But we think it would be repaid in the prestige it lent the program. Moreover, it would intrigue many thousands of the more sophisticated radio set owners into listening without in any way dimin- ishing the pleasure of the low-brow listeners who gobble up anything like this, good or bad. Tolerating Jazz VARIOUS readers of this department have belabored us for what they call our "leni- ency" toward jazz. But if "leniency" is not the attitude to adopt toward jazz we do not know what is. There is no use getting mad at it. It is no unnatural, monstrous thing to be shunned like a two-headed dog, but a perfectly normal manifestation of the present age. Jazz, as jazz, is no more reprehensible than a hot dog. Hence our failure to rant against it periodically. To be sure, we should not like to have a steady diet of jazz any more than we would like to have a steady diet of hot dogs. But there are times when the lowly weenie hits a spot that even a sirloin smothered in onions cannot reach. There is still too much jazz on the radio, we grant; especially in the hinterlands. But fortu- nately most of it occurs at hours when good folk have gone to bed so it bothers us not. Those who like jazz are, we believe, entitled to it, and are not to be too much reviled for liking it. Those who understand real music realize, as no jazz addict ever can, that jazz is indeed a namby-pamby substitute for music; but, by way of vindicating them, list to what Paul Whiteman says in an article contributed to the New York Times Magazine: 1 sincerely believe that jazz is the folk music of the machine age. There was every reason why this music sprang into being about 1915. The acceleration of the pace of living in this country, the accumulation of social forces under pressure (and long before the war, too), mechanical in- ventions, methods of rapid communication, all had increased tremendously in the past 100 years —notably in the past quarter century. In this country especially the rhythm of machinery, the over-rapid expansion of a great country endowed with tremendous natural energies and wealth, have brought about a pace and scale of living un- paralleled in history. Is it any wonder that the popular music of this land should reflect these modes of living? Every other art reflects them. Like the folk songs of another age, jazz reflects and satisfies the undeveloped esthetic and emo- tional cravings of great masses of people. Such music in any age has not been entirely negligible. Jazz is a spirit, not a manner. Crude, unmusical perhaps, but as healthily vulgar and sincere as were the vulgarities of the Elizabethan age—the music of an uneducated, vigorous man struggling ungrammatically to express his response to the age in which he is living. Since when in music have these forms of music been pronounced dead and worth ignoring? THUMB :>s[AIL REVIEWS I XXX—Due to a perhaps commendable reticence on the part of the broadcaster we were unable to discover what station was offering the pro- gram, but it was one of the best variations of the informational program we have yet heard. The two speakers were presumably touring in Alaska. The one asked the other various questions about the scenes and properties peculiar to that region with well-feigned curiosity. For instance: "What are those carved telegraph post things up in front of the houses?" Whereupon the other, who knew his Alaska, launched forth into a lucid and conversational explanation of the totem pole, and, led on by further questions, discussed their history, related how they were the personal insignia of the great families, just as are our fam- ily crests, explained why some are higher than others and included a bit of native gossip as to why one of them featured the bear among its carven decorations. By some hook or crook, music was worked into the feature to lighten it up a bit. We found ourself thoroughly interested, though ordinarily we loathe being "eddicated" by radio, and picked up quite a number of miscel- laneous facts about Alaska that we had never heard of before. Only pressing duties at other parts of the dial induced us to desert it before the concluding announcement. WJZ and the Blue Network—George Olsen and his Stromberg-Carlson orchestra. Of all its de- partments radio is probably best represented in its "light" orchestral section. There are no end of first-rate dance orchestras, hotel orchestras, and advertiser sponsored orchestras that can be regularly relied upon to play what they play well. Of these the Olsen organization is among the very best. Its program of popular numbers on this occasion was made up of some juicy and not-too-often-played tunes, among them: A Shady Nook; An Olsen Tango; Puszta Marden Waltz; An American Fantasy; and Melancholy Melody. WJZ and the Blue Network—One of a series of operatic concerts under the direction of Cesare Sodero, featuring as soloists, Astrid Fjelde, soprano; Elizabeth Lennox, contralto; Julian Oliver, tenor; and Frederick Baer, baritone. Another chain feature that can always be counted on to be exceedingly good. The ordinary operatic program is inevitably made up of only the most popular arias of the various operas and fails to consider the second most popular and third most popular arias, which are often quite as good. The wjz operatic hour gives the second string tunes a chance. For instance, on this program "Samson and Delilah" was represented by "Printemps qui Commence" instead of by the customary " Mon Coeur a Ta Voix." The " Mon Cceur" aria is certainly a "wow" but it shouldn't be allowed eternally to displace the "Springtime" song, which is every bit as musicianly and even more interesting on repeated hearings. Broadcast Miscellany ONE of the high spots in the history of KFI'S broadcasting was the program con- tributed last spring by John Barrymore— a Shakespearian Hour. Mr. Barrymore is prob- ably the foremost American Shakespearian actor. He included the soliloquies from Hamlet and King Richard the Third. THERE ARE FEW BASS VIOL SOLOISTS RADIO certainly permits you to hear musical curiosities which ordinarily wouldn't be stumbled across in a lifetime. Witness: the Edi- son Hour program from WRNY which featured Leon Ziporlin as soloist on the bass viol! There are only a handful of players in the country to-day who have mastered this ponderous instru- ment to the point of virtuosity. WHAT A WINDOW-DRESSER THINKS ABOUT /^vCCASIONALLY our name gets on the wrong V«/ mailing list and we are privileged to get in on some of the trade talk of the radio beezness, with frequently laughable results. This contri- bution to genuine and heartfelt sentiment by a "Dealer Bulletin:" Another opportunity for dealers. Possibilities of unusual window displays and newspaper ads selling the idea of remembering Mother by giving her a — — Radio. Mother's Day comes but once a year—make the best of this opportunity. Dress up those windows —suppose you use a few photos of typical moth- ers, flowers, etc. A MISCHA ELMAN TALKS A BIT OF NONSENSE LOT of red-hot hooey contributed by Mischa Elman to the Amplion Magazine (London): Can an artist give his best over the wireless? Judging from some sets I have heard, the best modern receivers are capable of reproducing the tone of a violin—even that of my £10,000 Strad —almost perfectly, but I am afraid an artist's personality surfers loss when he broadcasts. The question of personality and broadcasting has been discussed a great deal since the intro- duction of wireless. I believe that a speaker can develop to a very high degree what is generally called "wireless personality," but in the case of a musician, it is inevitable that a great deal must be lost in transmission through the ether. If you consider the question care- fully you will find that in listening to a violinist in a concert hall you use all your senses—chiefly your eyes and your ears, but your other senses also to some extent. The combination of these feelings enables you to appreciate the music to the full—to "sense" the artist's personality to the full, and, after all, that is the object of going to hear him. Sight is very important—not because it en- ables you to admire his virtuosity in a set of Paganini variations, but because it enables you to "take him in"—to sense his personality. TPHE book review and literary period presented ^ over wow every Saturday evening from 8 to 8:30 has proved one of the popular features of the station. The period is conducted by Eugene Konecky, of wow's staff. The latest books are reviewed by Mr. Konecky.