Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

VOICE OF GOLD Beautiful, talented and popular, £oyce Whiteman finds time to be generous and kind; in fact, she's a "peach of a girl" PLASTICALLY beautiful, the serene notes of the melody drifted across the room. There was a husky, sweet vibration and for a moment it seemed as though the atmosphere was perfumed by the dreamy harmony of some land of pure fantasy. Lost — lost deep in the arms of a song. Lost in the fold of an illusion of indescribable bliss. Lost to a mundane world by the plaintive voice of a girl as she sang. Suddenly the brilliant, yet deeply beautiful voice stopped. The song was ended. Those who had been bound in the words and the music shifted slightly in their seats. A sigh, a misty, half expectant sigh escaped. Then came the announcement. "Radio listeners, you have just heard Loyce Whiteman — "and the voice went on. But the group didn't need to be told. They knew, as countless others know, the golden voice of that latest of real radio personalities— Loyce Whiteman, the nightingale of the air! For the pale, amber gold of her hair is as nothing to the liquid gold of her voice. The smooth pearl beauty of her face is as nothing to the smooth silk of that lovely throat. Here, at last, is a girl who has all the charm of manner of a really great person — combined with all the perfection of talent of a great artist. Such a personality deserves and unveiling. Loyce Whiteman was born in Dallas. Texas, twenty-two years ago. She comes from a middle class, average American family. She alone has been outstanding in the world of art. Ten years ago she came to California where her family settled in Glendalc. She went to Glendale High School, did a little dancing, painted a few mediocre pictures, attempted to imitate the Nell Brinkley type of line drawing and occasionally sang. There is nothing outstanding, brilliant, in that record. And until she went to sing at KFI a couple of years ago there had been nothing outstanding or brilliant in her short life. ♦ She was selling sheet music in a shop in Glendale when she was offered the opportunity to have an audition at KFI. From the date of that audition on, her meteoric rise in the broadcasting world reads like a chapter from an Horatio Alger success story. For today Loyce Whiteman is one of the most popular blues singer on • Loyce drew this sketch in high school and called it "Dream Girl." She was sixteen then, and had decided to go in for art in a big way, before she discovered her excellent voice was worth a lot more. the coast. Her name is on the lips — and in the hearts — of countless persons. Her voice and personality add much to the success of the popular M. J. B. Demi Tasse Revue, broadcast over the NBC western network Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p. m. She has established herself in an enviable position with Gus Arnheim and his orchestra at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel. From ten until twelve she sings those charming melodies — those sad harmonics that linger on like a sweet kiss from the past. Loyce, as a personality, is almost as interesting as is she a singer. Rather tall, slim and beautiful, she is cloaked in a filmy atmosphere of graciousness without condescension. She reminds one of some lovely woman from an Arlen novel; there is about her that windblown freshness of a morn somewhere on an isle south of a misty dream horizon. Knowing nothing of the intricate technicalities of music, having only a meager knowledge of the classics and assuming little of the worldlihess that her husky, low voice might indicate, Loyce Whiteman seems steeped in a tradition of song that few great artists have been endowed with. There is a strange naivete about the girl. Her brilliant, light laugh comes at unexpected moments; she grasps the subtleties of the most delicate innuendo and at the same time, incongruously enough, has the frankness of a child. It is a strange thing indeed that Loyce has been able to find the perfect medium for rendering more or less common music so that it seems to be the very cream of all fine compositions. It is a strange thing that lovers of music, real music, can find in her singing of dance hall tunes, much that intrigues them. Her fan mail is tremendous. Literally thousands of admirers write for her picture or her autograph. Often they haunt the studio for a glimpse of her. There is the story of the man who sent in a note while she was singing, begging to speak to her for a moment. Against the advice of her friends, she granted his request. He told her a long story. A story of a starving wife and children, of his inability to find work — he was a song writer— and of his desire to return east with his family. She did what anyone who knows her could guess she would do. The man, and his family returned east. It is but a single example from many, of the warm heart of the girl with the warm voice. And so some night, if you would listen to a solo that will make you remember many things and forget many others, tune in on the Cocoanut Grove program, over KFWB, at ten. RADIO DOINGS