Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

I «no I i<% «i Knot [Continued from Page 25] more than commercial art that he resolved to make it his career. While his father was in the British military service the Graham family traveled extensively about the world. Many months were spent in India. Egypt. Malta, Gibraltar and other British possessions. The family has been in military service for many generations back. There has also been much musical talent evident among his ancestors and present members of the family. A grandfather was band master of the famous Black Watch Regiment for years and was considered one of the finest musicians in the British Isles in his time. An aunt is at present a leading contralto with the Carl Rosa Opera Company. Ronald Graham stills draws and paints some, though his principal interest is, of course, his music. He is fond of good reading, principally the modern writers. At school he played football and went in for the sprints and hurdles, but at present his only athletic activities are boxing, of which he is ver\ fond. Popular Songs [Continued from Page 17] the tenderness of a Cinderella-idyll, and is an authentic example of an artepoch which belongs to the American continent and nowhere else. That's why I am glad some wise friend guided me awav from the concert stage to the microphone, early in my own career. l"d much rather be a radio singer, sending the songs of today out through the ether to the hundreds of hearts which can be reached in no other way. than the highest-paid operatic or concert star in existence! Seldom Herself [Continued from Page 18] ried. Gail — or Abigail, to disclose the NBC star's real name — -was born in Kansas City, but the Taylors moved to Los Angeles by the time Gail could walk. There Gail grew up, completing her academic education and singing her first songs. 'T can't imagine how I ever managed to complete high school and get along in college." Gail admits. "I devoted my time mostly to glee clubs and worked in every musical show that came along. It was a drudgery to apply myself to anything except music and books." Lady Marian in "Robin Hood" and urn Yum'" in "The Mikado" were her first real leading roles. Before that, she studied with Edith Pell Bolles. who is her aunt and a well-known vocal teacher. Gails voice, incidentally. has never required placing. A brilliant natural range was hers from the first, and those who hear her for the first time are always struck by the precision of her pitch and tone. It was not long after she "walked the plank'" to her first microphone adventure that the rapid development of radio offered an alternative to the Broadway experience she had been denied. She became the soprano soloist at a Fresno station where she sang for more than a year. Then she came to San Francisco, where she joined the staff of Station KGO. and soon became a favorite singer. Jennings Pierce. NBC's chief announcer, was responsible for Gail"NBC premiere. He remembered Gail in the days when they had worked together at KGO. before it became an NBC key station. He urged Gail to try out for the solo role in "Broadways and Boulevards.' which was scheduled to open in the San Francisco studios. She appeared for an audition and was signed immediately. Her voice was characterized as one of the most nearly perfect microphone voices in the West — a sentiment which NBC audiences have echoed ever since. Their Better Hahes [Continued from Page 13] band. The Lindens were childhood sweethearts, according to Anthonv. who declares that he fell in love with Emily when he was still young enough to plav baseball in the street before his home, and saw her enter the familv doorwav with his sister. He tells how he dropped his baseball bat and rushed inside through another entrance in order to "slick up-' before presenting himself shyly to the visitor. Another musical union at NBC is that of Barbara Merkeley. harpist, and Arthur Schwarzman. pianist. Barbara, tall, graceful and red-haired, makes a lovelv picture when she sits at her harp in an orchestral program where her husband is usually at the piano. Barbara was born in Sacramento, although most of her life has been spent in San Francisco, where she has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at \arious times. Arthur was born in Russia, where he began the study of piano when he was seven, under his father, a well-known Warsaw musician. He made his first public appearance when he was 14. playing in concert with the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra, which interpreted the Concerto in D flat, by Tschaikovsky. He came to San Francisco in 1924. and he and Barbara met for the first time in the studios of NBC. The Schwarxmans work together, plav to gether, and are firm belie\ers in a siinilarity of taste as romance insurance. So are Dorothy Desmond and Tom Kelly one of the most devoted couples at NBC. Wherever you see Dorothy, you usually see Tom. They played together on the stage, but by an odd coincidence, they seldom are cast on the same radio programs. Dorothy's voice, rather deep, and exquisite of enunciation, is suited to heavy dramatic roles, and tragedy. Tom's voice, by that queer trick of the microphone which changes so many vocal tones, is a light, gay voice on the air. ideal for juvenile leading roles. Some day, however, he and Dorothy may play a love scene together before the microphone. In the meantime, their chief joint role is played for the benefit of two charming babies in their big home in Berkeley, California. Another couple whom the NBC casting director almost always separates, but whom nothing else does, are Ann Chase and Carleton Young. Mr. and Mrs. Young, like the Kellys, have playtd together before the footlights, and before that they studied drama together at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. Both played in stock, and both were members of the Civic Repertory Company in Los Angeles, where they were married not long ago. They came to San Francisco with a "Peter Pan"' production in which Ann was stage manager and Carleton had a major role. A contract with NBC for both of them has kept them here. The Youngs share the same tnthusiasm for such widely various things as Shakespeare, golf and musical compositions, and now their radio work has forged another link in their comradeship. RADIO DOINGS Pago Thirty-nine