Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

Charlie Lung [Continued from Page 10] some reason or other, Charlie appeared for the second show that night without his partner! The last one to see them was the Australian, when they were discussing the contract in Charlie's dressing room. From the time he excused himself for a moment to step out of the theater and buy some cigarettes, the darky wasn't seen again with Charlie Lung. Time for the second show — the fifteen-minute call — the three-minute call, and no partner. So Charlie summoned all his courage and went on alone. He apologized to the audience, to the theater manager, to the newspapers, and to the man from the Antipodes, who came back with a contract to sign. Broken hearted, Charlie left the theater to walk the streets. He didn't return to the radio station that night, but listened in, and his recalcitrant partner was on the air. Charlie called him up, demanded an explanation, and discovered that his dusky side-kick had had a severe case of stage fright. That was that. Charlie Lung disappeared from the stage and the air. He went to his old friend and former sponsor, Noah Beery, the screen actor, who furnished him refuge in his Paradise Mountain Trout Club, putting him to work as manager. Sounds fishy, doesn't it? Not so long ago, the manager of KGFJ happened to visit the Trout Club, and stumbled upon Charlie in his new role as fish-pond director. They talked over old times, the old radio itch returned, and it ended by his returning to KGFJ a bigger, better, and wiser artist. Charlie had been constantly thinking of new ideas during his sojourn in the mountains, and with renewed enthusiasm, brought his new family of characters to life — Prof. Otto von Beerstein, Anthracite Bituminous Lignite Lincoln, the Old Soak, Tony Verducci, Mr. Reginald Fitzmaurice and a host of others. And Charlie takes each of their parts in a different voice, act ing all the lines in his skits alone. A big job. And when he isn't working or busy with continuity, he is the same old Charlie — rushing here and there — "helloing"' Bill, Jack and Mary in the studio, cutting capers and having a swell time. But don't be surprised when you meet him, if he starts to jabber Chinese at you, or confide the latest joke in a Cockney accent, for he can't help it. He lives the parts of his characters so much they have grown to be a part of him — on or off the air. In fifteen minutes of conversation with Charlie you will have listened to a negro, a Chinese, an Italian, a Dutchman, with an Irishman thrown in for good measure. He's a great little guy. You'll like Nloreen Cammill [Continued from Page 16] I asked her what these sketches meant to her. She said that she thought of them as word pictures of people. I was thinking to myself that they were colorful word pictures. For Noreen Gammill is a satirist who is kindly to her characters. She makes us laugh at ourselves with never a hurt to our vanity. "But the situations? There are so manv. How do you think of them all?" "Oh, I just put different people in the same situation. For example, I have a sketch called 'The Old Woman on the Front Porch.' You can see how many people might sit in her place." I asked her which of her sketches had brought the most letters from her fans. She said. "The Woman on the Railivay Coach With Her Children," and "The Telephone Exchange at Nettleton." I asked her which of her sketches she liked to give the best. She smiled and said, "The dialect sketches." Then went on to say, "An Italian violinist in the orchestra at our studio asked me if I were Italian, after he had heard mv Italian sketch. An English woman telephoned me after she had listened to my English Cockney accent sketch and said that she had been in America two years but that my sketch had made her feel that she was hack in London. A Jewish woman asked me if I were Jewish. An Irishman if I were Irish." Then she added quickly as we went into the living room, "I write all my own sketches and continuity." This made me realize suddenly that I was talking to a gracious person who was pressed for time and that I had taken too much of it already. I thanked her and departed. I was feeling a glow of satisfaction as I walked down the street thinking of the charm of this women who might have come from any one of many lands. Then I remembered that I had forgotten to ask her which one. I turned around quickly. But the door had closed. Majestic RCA Victor Atwater-Kent • LARCHMONT RADIO SALON 139 La r ohm on t Blvd. near Beverly LOS ANGELES • One of Southern California's Finer Radio Shops Specializing in the Better Known Lines and with complete line of Tubes and Accessories. Expert Repair Service. ROSS A. STRATTON. Mgr. MAJESTIC ELECTRIC REFRIGERATOR HEmpstead 5590 Radio Sound -Television Code Taught by Radio Engineers on Modern Apparatus I Mail Coupon for Further information Day and Evening Classes I Radio lnstitute of California 1117 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. I Please send me Radio and Sound Information. Radio Institute of Calif ornia i Name 1117 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles DRexel 6753 Address City and State D-l RADIO DOINGS Page Forty-one