Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

A (SCENE ONE. Mam office of ' RADIO DOINGS high above the swirling traffic of 12th and Maple streets, Los Angeles. Winnie WageEarner turns her attention to buzzing switch-board.) Winnie: Good morning, this is RADIO DOINGS. Voice in Telephone: What in the world has happened to Tom Breneman!' Winnie: Pardon me. I don't know just what you mean. Voice: Well we've been hearing him over KFWB at noon every day and we went out of town for a week and when we got home he was gone. Winnie: Just a moment, please. (Holding hand over receiver.) Does anyone know where Tom Breneman is broadcasting now? Voice (from far corner) : Yes, he started over at KNX the other week. Every night except Friday at 10 p. m. (Winnie conveys comforting information to Breneman Fan and turns to work.) Phone rings again. Winnie: Good morning. This is RADIO DOINGS. (Listens with amused smile slowly widening.) Just a moment, please, and I'll see if I can get that information for you. Voice from Corner: What's funny? Winnie: Some sweet young thing wants to know if Bob Swan is married and if his eyes are blue or gray. Does anyone happen to know the more or less personal details of Mr. Swan's life? Voice (Still from corner) : Yes, he's married and happily so, and his eyes are not quite gray and not blue but darn near violet, I'd say. Winnie (Holding one call on the board) : Here's a hard one. A rough sounding person who says he's a cowboy wants to know who falls for the THE LOW DOWN By DOROTHY HUMMEL WRITE Dorothy Hummel for the "Low-down" on any radio artist or program. Miss Hummel knows all the artists and all the programs; knows them intimately. She has ways and means of finding things out, known only to her. Write her and she'll tell you. If you want a personal reply enclose a stamped, self-addressod envelope. If room is available she will publish your letter in the next issue. Address Dorothy Hummel, RADIO DOINGS, 1220 Maple Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif. The Clark Sisters rendering a little ditty on the Blue Monday Jamboree, KFRC line of chatter about the KTM ranch boys being real cow-boys. He's argumentative and would like to fight it out. Voice (coming out of the corner) : I'll talk to him. Good Morning. (Listens intently to long tirade.) Well, I'm afraid you are mistaken because Cactus Mac was born in Safford, Arizona on a cow ranch belonging to his father, and he would probably be delighted to accept your challenge to ride broncos with him. He's doing that this month for Hoot Gibson's rodeo, so there's not much fake about that. And, furthermore . . . (Catches Winnie's frantic eye on her.) Ye Editor (as girl puts down receiver) : I have it! We'ii save wear and tear on the phone and our dispositions by creating a department to answer all questions such as we've had on the phone this morning whether oral or written, and we'll put you in charge of it. (Pointing to the Know-it-All person in the corner.) You'll skulk about the studios most of the time and get the low-down on all the radio artists. How's that for a title? The Low-down. Pretty good, no? We'll accomplish a threefold purpose. First, you as the Studio snooper will be able to satisfy your woman's appetite for gossip; secondly, you'll save us time and tantrums in the office and most important, we'll be giving the fans what they want to know, and that's our ultimate purpose, of course. (Smiles, very pleased with this solution to the problem.) 0 SCENE TWO. (Editorial office. Walls covered with radio star's pictures. At a desk, laden with letters sits The Voice of Scene One, who has suffered a metamorphosis and emerged the Studio Editor. She is busily reading letters.) Enters Ye Editor. Ye Editor: Good morning. How's the Low-down department progressing? Studio Editor: I am having fun, and finding out some amazing things, incidentally. I'll bet you didn't know that Joe Handlebars who announces the wrestling bouts is really some kind of a Russian Count! Ye Editor: No. I don't. Can you actually get the close-up information that people want to know about their favorite artists? Studio Editor: Sho", sho'. Why I even know that J. Newton Yate's, KFVD's organist, used to sell Herald newspapers on the corner of Normandie and Santa Monica Boulevard, and that his first long-pants-suit was a very brown brown and that with it to complete his sartorial elegance he wore a bright green hat and yellow shirt and spats. That was over fifteen years ago and not terribly important but that's Doug Douglas makes funny-papers even more funny when he reads them over KHJ RADIO DOINGS Page Forty-five