Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

A Quartette— Of Singing Negro Boys Master Their Destinies, Make Good and Support Their Drought Stricken Parents By SAMUEL LARKIN All in the day's work. The boys get into deep water on Kansas highway FOUR LITTLE pickaninnies stood in the broiling Southern sun picking cotton down in the little town of Van Buren, Arkansas. Today, four very refined young colored gentlemen stand before a microphone in a luxurious radio studio and pick bouquets and bright shiny shekels. Sounds simple and romantic, doesn't it? But the hectic trail between the old plantation and the shining metropolis was strewn with hardships and privations for the little band of colored boys who have grown so prominent as the Hallelujah Quartette. They've clicked. And their popularity is not restricted to any type or class; there is something about them that gets right down deep under the skins of us all — something indefinable. Perhaps it is their sincerity, their belief in the songs they sing and what they stand for; maybe it's their love for music that creeps into their voices. It might be a lot of things. The fact remains that they are popular — both with their unseen audience, and with those whom they have appeared before. — o — BUT to go back to their story. It all started back in their grade school days, when they were school mates and chums. In the first place, Van Buren is a music-loving town of about 4,000 souls. Oliver Chiles' parents intended him for the ministry, but he wanted to be a mechanic, until ne discovered he could, and loved to, sing Charles Clinkscale had a secret passion to be a big, bad cowboy. "Got oveh this when an ol' mule bucked him off in a ditch and hee-hawed at him!" Maceo Johnson, at the time he was singing with his brother's band. He couldn't boast a necktie then, but he has one for every day in the week now It is a part of the Old South, and its colored population has learned its spirituals and plantation songs at first hand. So when little Maceo Johnson came into the picture there was plenty of Negro music for him to absorb. He could sing almost as soon as he could talk, and at seven was singing with his brother's stringed band, and already knew the old songs by heart. As he grew older he longed to become a minister, for a deep religious sense had been instilled in him by his devout parents. And later, when he gave up the idea, it was only because he felt that through spiritual singing he could reach more hearts than he possibly could from a pulpit. Old Man Chance was really responsible for the forming of the quartette. Eight years ago, Maceo decided to organize a chorus of male voices. So he gathered eight or nine of his old school friends together for rehearsal. Several of the boys dropped out, however, until only five remained. And at their first performance at a church social, only four of them showed up! These were the same four who are together now — Herman Hughes, first tenor; Oliver Chiles, bass; Johnson himself, and Charles Clinkscale, second tenor. Johnson was so pleased with the four remaining singers of his "male Chorus," that he decided a quartette was much better after all. — o — PICTURE four shabby colored lads, with their arms around each others" shoulders. Low, Sw< barn, or < you have their care Their • practiced raptly harmonizing, "Swing Chariot" out behind some somebody's front steps, and ! idea of the first stages of :es blended naturally, they every spare moment, and were soon in demand at church gatherings and socials. Whenever they could they attended musical entertainments that came to town, went home and practiced the parts they remembered. Then they landed their first job! For the grand sum of $1.50 each, they were en gaged to sing at the local opera house. After that, they were never left RADIO DOINGS Page Twenty-one