Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

WOMAN of ALL NATIONS So perfect are her impersonations that listeners from many lands claim her for their own by Roma Mills Orange OREEN GAMMILL — actress, writer, playwright and radio favorite, is one of the most talked of personalities in Hollywood. Because her eyes have an oriental slant, because her tongue can bring to life the Italian girl, the Irish colleen, the French mademoiselle, the Swedish maid, the girl with the English cockney accent, and the Jewish woman, the question of Noreen's nationality has long been unanswered. It was to satisfy some of the questions her fans are asking that I went to call upon this versatile young person who brings such a wealth of amusement to the theatre of the air. Knowing the variety of her successes in numerous fields, I was going over my brief and to the point questions as I went up the walk that leads to her English stucco home. For I visualized her typing madly as she answered my intruding questions. I rang the bell and a maid told me that I would find Miss Gammill in the garden. I walked carefully around the house so that my unannounced presence would not interrupt some witticism from her pen. Then I saw her and stopped. She was on her knees digging with practiced hand. But not around the rose bushes. "What on earth are you doing?" I blurted out. For reply she smiled and held up a nice wriggly pink worm. I came nearer and watched her drop it into the mouth of a goldfish in the pool. The happy fish then waved its tail and was lost among the water bamboo and lily pads. The expression "poor fish" could never apply to the class Pisces in this pool. I could add another article to those which have already been written about the Gammill pool. The pool is embanked with petrified wood, rocks brought from remote places and a most interesting Indian grain mixer into which the water drops sheer. The word Indian recalled to me that it was said my hostess was part Indian. I noted her high cheek bones and wondered. As she continued to kneel by the pool, still talking to her pets, I thought she reminded me of some oriental doll to be found in a Chinese curio shop, for Noreen Gammill is very slim. She has dark wavy hair that somehow lends a charming mystery to her brown eyes in their oriental setting. Her skin is clear olive. Except for the deep red of her lips there is no' color on the face that might have come from any one of many lands. When she later mentioned going in to lunch I was surprised to know that a person with her numerous activities took time to eat luncheon. For I recalled that the creator of the "Album of Familiar Faces" and "Human Interest Word Pictures" was also a radio staff writer. That she was the author of numerous short stories and articles, as well as a book in 1927 "Character Monologues and Readings." The same year "Distinctive Selections for Young People and Children." In 1929 she published "Character Sketches." And if I know my literary lettuce a peep into her study said there would be a book in 1931. On her desk I also saw a copy of one of her latest published plays, "Open Windows." The sight of this play reminded me that she had charmed her audiences as a member of the "Woodward Players," "Louis Dean Players," "Iowa Out of Door Players," "Henry Duffy Players," and as a member of the "Junior Orpheum Circuit." But as I sat across the table from her I reminded myself that it was for her fans of the air that I had come to ask questions about her work before the microphone. I knew that her first audiences of the air were the radio fans of WDAF and WHB, Kansas City. This was in 1920 before the days of commercial programs. It was as a school girl that Noreen Gammill entertained with oneact plays, taking the part of all the actors, from memory. Then she came to Los Angeles and KFI-KECA broadcast her popular sketches. Later, she sacrificed her radio work for a time, to finish a book, which will soon be published. And now her book is finished, and she is back on the air at KNX. She was recently chosen for the feminine parts in the Gleason and Armstrong "Knights of the Road" electrical transcription, and her first appearance in this series will be in the role of Oswald's mother and the "kid sister." I asked her where she got all her ideas for her "Human Interest Sketches" and "Album of Familiar Faces." She laughed and said that it was really her audience that gave her the idea for numerous ones. That for a time she had only ten sketches. These she gave in vaudeville and at night clubs, as well as over the radio. One day a woman telephoned and said that she wished Noreen Gammill would get some new sketches. Noreen Gammill did. She has some two hundred now. It is not unusual for her to write four or five new sketches each week. [Turn to Page 41] Page Sixteen RADIO DOINGS .