Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

0/ by Richard Welch CBS DRUG STORE 123 Air Lane Coast-to-Coast Name (^Crbr^ ^LAt*SHJL\ Date Snd^^^J!^ ^J^lAjL Jt^yU^. CtA^ JLy tjL^uf OTHER radio entertainers wonder how they do it, how the "Three Doctors" continue ''ad libbing" their program over the Columbia Broadcasting System with the same nonchalance as if they were amusing some friends at a house party, and the Three Doctors ,in turn, wonder how the others go through the monotony of rehearsing programs. Russell Pratt, Ransom Sherman and Joe Rudolph are the names, if you insist on a formal introduction. But the Three Doctors wouldn't. Pratt and Sherman grew up together in Appleton, Wis., and continued to be closely associated when they got into business in Chicago. Pratt is tied up with the Credit Men's Association; Sherman is an insurance agent. They maintain an active interest in their businesses despite their success as chain broadcasters, and of course have more time for their affairs than most radio artists would, because they never prepare more than a line or two of their program in advance, and they never rehearse. It was through business that Pratt got into radio. It was decided to publicize the concern with which he is associated, so he organized a quartet and sang in it himself on the air. Music had been his hobby since boyhood, but this didn't seem to help the quartet, which soon went off the air. But Pratt had been bitten by the microphone bug and he talked it over with Sherman. The latter was by this time a seasoned broadcaster, though strictly incognito. In the days when KYW was the only station in Chicago, he used to take off three hours for lunch in order to drop in on their Afternoon Frolic program. Those were the days, too, when anybody who went into the studios and said he could sing was at once led to a microphone, without benefit of audition. Sherman says the latter cir cumstance probably explains why he got on the air. But the explanation of why he was announced with an unpronounceable Russian name was slightly different: his boss knew nothing of his radio activities during the threehour lunch period. When he got tired of being a Russian he changed his nationality. But he still sang and pattered ad Dr. Pratt seldom goes to a photographer, but when he does, nothing's too good for him, and he has it done right. lib with the feeling of a schoolboy playing hookey. When Joe Rudolph came along the trio was complete. He was in much the same position as the other two, and liked radio in the way they liked it. It wasn't long before WMAQ had the Three Doctors on a regular program. And if you think it's easy to step before the mike and improvise entertainment for an hour at a stretch — try it. The Three Doctors enjoyed their broadcasting. It was great fun. They could work off all the gags that had been stewing in their minds, and shoot at one another. The audience liked it because it seemed spontaneous, and it was. Pratt's chief amusement is trying to get Sherman so tied up he won't be able to make a come-back. So far he has not succeeded. Radio is still a game with them. Though they have been on the air nearly five years, the novelty has not worn off, and as long as they can make their programs in their own way they are perfectly happy. They have turned down contracts because they did not wish to take part in a cut and dried program, timed to a split second. The dread moment that every artist has at some time in his life came when the Three Doctors' program was to go over a network for the first time. "Over a nationwide network of Columbia stations," said the announcer, and three hearts sank a litle. All those people ready to pick on them for the slightest slip! But there was no slip. "When we rehearse a program and know in advance just what we are going to say, it loses its spontaneity and the fun goes out of it for us," say the Three Doctors. When they visited New York to make one of their broadcasts from the studios of key-station WABC they had planned a minute "drammer" to be sandwiched into their program. They did not know just when it would be put on, but they thought they would follow their usual policy of having some patter, then a song, then more patter and the drammer, another song or two, and finish with a round of gags. In the taxi going to the studios Rudolph and Sherman decided they had lost interest in the drammer. They knew it too well. With half an hour to spare before the broadcast, they set out to find some facts about the Lincoln-Douglas debate. Armed with this information and three railroad timetables they stepped into the studio, and threw away the scripts for the drama. Production men stood around with their watches. The continuity looked emaciated and starved — only the opening, middle and closing announcements. Nothing to show what [Turn to Page 39] RADIO DOINGS Page Eleven