Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

He Came As A Lavryer— But Stayed As An Actor on the NBC Matinee How a Young Attorney With a Flare For Drama Visited a Radio Studio and Liked It So W ell He Remained To Write Plays and Take Leading Parts in Them Himself by Louise Landis COURT room broug ht Michael Raffetto to radio, and radio took him out of the court room, for A good. The new Master of Ceremonies of the NBC Matinee might be addressing juries instead of microphones if fate had not intervened — fate and his own theatrical instinct, plus a speaking voice which registered as one of the finest in radio the first time it was heard on the ether. It was as "Attorney Raffetto" that he first visited the San Francisco studios of the National Broadcasting Company — with a sheaf of continuities under his arm. A young lawyer who, although he had had a meed of experience in amateur theatricals, expected to mould his career in the federal courts, Raffetto was a member of a firm which specialized in admiralty law. "Perhaps it was because my feeling for theatrical situations outweighed my interest in legal technicalities, but the dramatic aspects of every case I undertook, held me fascinated," he says smilingly, now. "Standing in a court room, waiting my turn to speak, I used to feel almost as if I were acting in a play. Witnesses, prisoners, judge, jury, all seemed like characters in a performance which held every emotion the human heart can know. Their reactions to the questions asked by attorneys, and answered, willingly or unwillingly were infinitely interesting." Raffetto was a radio enthusiast, and wondered how such court room dialogue would sound through the ether. He wrote a series of short plays under the title "The Arm of the Law." and brought them to NBC's production manager. Thomas Hutchinson. Each of the plays was built around a quaint old lawyer who took delight in the manner in which the law might be circumvented by perfectly legal methods in order to save an innocent person. The character, unique in personalitv. had to be played bv someone who could sound like a real lawyer. Raffetto's voice, so rich and deep, struck the attention of the NBC producer assigned RADIO DOINGS to direct the series, and he asked the attorney-author if, by any chance, he could act as well as write. Raffetto admitted he was willing to try, and so he was cast to play his own hero. He succeeded so well that when the series ended, he closed his law office and remained on the NBC staff as a member of the National Players. NBC audiences have heard his voice almost continuously since then. Resonant of tone, with diction of an unusually fine quality, Raffetto has played many different kinds of radio roles. He was the sinister-sounding, though innocent, Dr. Qoon of two mystery serials in Carlton E. Morse's Captain Post series, and in "The Game Called Murder" he played the difficult part of the eccentric young Englishman w h o masked homicidal impulses under a comically helpless exterior. MICHAEL RAFFETTO Now, as Master of Ceremonies of the NBC Matinee, Raffetto has a very different role. It is his task to introduce the variety program which is broadcast each afternoon, except Saturday and Sunday, from 2:00 to 3:00 o'clock P. S. T. A feature especially designed to entertain the home-woman, the Matinee is a gay potpourri of music and dialogue, in which Raffetto's voice, as he presents the various artists and sketches, adds a pleasantly warm and personal note. The richness of that voice is no accident. Despite the fact that he intended to be a lawver instead of an actor. Raf[Tum to Page 39] When the Wise Family plays bridge, it really takes it seriously, and trumping the partner's ace is like firing on the enemy's flag.