Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

A Heritage Fulfilled A Descendant of the Noted Dana Family of Adventurers and Authors — One of Whom Is Famous for His "Two Years Before the Mast," Harold Dana Chooses An Adventure of His Own DRAMA has pusured Harold Dana all his life. Which may be why this quiet, modest-spoken young man, who is one of the cornerstones of the NBC matinee, daily variety program broadcast over the NBC-KGO network, never seeks the spotlight — he doesn't need to do so. Out of a dozen persons assembled in one room, you might pick Harold as a rising young lawyer, a broker, or even a banker — until he spoke in the warm, rich voice which NBC Matinee hearers know. They hear Harold in many roles — as an actor in Matinee skits, as a soloist who is equally at home in seachanteys and operatic bits, and as a member of the NBC Matinee Quartet. It is characteristic of Harold that he is as good an ensemble singer as soloist — he doesn't mind sharing the microphone. Things started happening to Harold at the age of sixteen. Like a fairy tale runs the story of how the NBC artist, the son of a Redlands, California, rancher, was sent out one morning to pluck olives in his father's grove. Plucking olives sounds poetic, but isn't a pleasant occupation, according to Harold. He recalls that he grumbled in 16-yearold style over the chore, and continued grumbling as he climbed the first tree. Once in it, however, and started on the somewhat monotonous occupation of pulling hard little fruits from scratchy branches, the young man's natural instinct to burst forth in song, took hold. He was caroling merrily away, hidden in his tree, when — You guessed it! A famous opera singer, happening by, heard him, and stopped in wonder! The opera singer was real; so was RADIO DOINGS Drama and mance are a part of Harold Dana, and whenjie dons wig and breeches, well, — he just IS a Colonial, that's all. her interest in what she believed to be a soprano voice in the olive tree. With the prerogative of a great lady, Georgianna Strauss, Metropolitan Opera star who was spending a vacation in California, stopped her car and paid a visit to the Dana home. "Your daughter has one of the finest soprano voices I ever heard," she began. "My daughter?" said Harold's father, in some surprise. "The girl I heard singing among those trees just now," explained Madame Strauss. "I could not see her, but her voice is magnificent." "Come down," he called to the vocalist, still trilling away, unconscious, in his tree, and Harold climbed down. It was Madame Strauss' turn to be surprised. When the youtliful treesinger had recovered sufficiently from the shock of being mistaken for a girl, he was persuaded to let the opera star give him his first vocal lessons. They were simple and few, for as his teacher explained, the best treatment he could give his voice at that point in its de velopment was to take care of it and abstain from using it too much. It was still so high and pure in tone that it was almost indistinguishable from a true soprano, and probably would develop into a tenor of unusually high range. But it didn't. It turned into one of the best baritone voices in captivity, instead, and Harold admits he isn't sorry. Not only because he prefers being a baritone, but because it was due to its lower range that his second grand opera star crossed his path and influenced his fortune again. That was in 1923, but in the meantime, Harold was working very hard at being an aspiring young singer. He was an important unit in the high school glee club when his voice passed its period of mutation, and he played the piano in a Redlands picture house to pay for singing lessons and continue his scholastic education too. He studied with Arthur Babcock of Los Angeles, Frank Carroll Griffin of San Francisco, McKenzie Gordon and other noted vocal teachers when he left Redlands. He also had two seasons with Louis Graveure. But before that, he had other, more active training which he considers as invaluable in his career as that he managed to earn for his voice. When the war broke out, Harold enlisted in the navy, and spent two years as a gob. There must have been reason behind (Turn to Page 41) Page Nineteen National Broadcasting Company, Inc.