Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

They Do It With Mirrors radio — and learned about audiences from it! It was the screening of Cornelius Vanderbilt's book "Reno", which took me to Hollywood, in the first place. But the picture flopped, so I decided to experiment a bit with this fascinating new game of radio. I went into it with a thousand different styles of singing, and it took some sharp raps on the knuckles to make me realize how wrong they all were for the microphone. There was my accent — "Too affected!" one frank fan told me. There were all these different singing styles — "You change your whole personality every time you sing a song," wrote another one in reproof. There seemed to be so many other things wrong, as well, that I would have turned tail and run back to Reno, if some of the letters hadn't made me mad. I decided to stay and see just what WOULD click with this vast, irritable army of fans, and the day I decided, a new batch of letters arrived which puzzled me. They came from a sanitarium in New ently chose to write at the same time. It seemed that THEY liked me, anyMexico, where several patients apparway — and why? Because I sang "romantic songs." I couldn't figure why romantic songs were so cheering, but I tried some of them before the microphone— and instead of the usual verbal cat-calls, I got more applause! That was when I began to find myself, so far as radio was concerned. I felt each time I sang that I was sending some kind of message — a cheerful one, I hoped — to those persons in the sanitarium, and what singing style I have been able to evolve, comes from the fact that I am still singing directly to those who want to hear me, and who have been good enough to say so. I try to sing only songs which mean something, and to sing them so that they do. It is possible to sing "Hello, My Lover, Goodbye!" for example, so that it is just another popular song, and it Continued from Page 20 is possible to sing it so that the words mean something; so that everyone who listens will feel the pitiful gallantry of the girl who says "Hello" and "Goodbye" to her lover, all in the same breath. I prefer the latter way — and so there's my "trick" for you! It is interesting to analyze some of the other singing styles you hear on the ether, and see what lies behind them. There's Gene Austin, for instance — one of the greatest singers on the air, I think. His secret is friendliness. He sings a song into the microphone in a way which makes you feel that one of your best friends is singing your favorite song to you. Of course, one reason you like the song is because it is sure to be a current hit, but you like it more than ever because Gene is humming it into the microphone in a characteristic manner which makes the words almost negligible. Rudy Vallee, I think, is a unique figure in radio. Other singers come and go, but he goes on, as strong as ever, in the affections of his listeners. Do you know that Rudy actually is the "inimitable" Rudy — that he never has been successfully imitated by anybody. He can be burlesqued, but not reproduced, not even by that young princess of mimics, little Mitzi Green, who has "caught" virtually every other celebrity. Little Mitzi's manager told me not long ago how he took her to hear and see Rudy one night in New York. Mitzi watched the Connecticut Yankees' maestro for an hour, without saying a word. Then she turned to the manager and announced, "It's no use; I can't imitate THIS one!" and that was that. Marion Harris is my favorite feminine singer — and she can't keep time! But I enjoy the way Marion sings "lowdown" songs with an air of refinement; perhaps I like it all the better because it reminds me of another old-time San Francisco entertainer — Grace Hayes. She went East and "knocked 'em dead" and I think Marion's style is an unconscious duplication of hers. She cannot keep the rhythm of the songs she sings, but it doesn't matter in her case — she doesn't need to! Ruth Etting is another star who holds her place while others rise and fall. Her trick, which makes her so irresistible to fans like Walter Winchell is a very simple one, really, but immensely effective^— she takes the end of every phrase and makes a triplet of it, with a rise on the second tone in the triplet and a fall on the final one. Bing Crosby does the same thing, but with different effect. Incidentally, speaking of unconscious imitations again, Bing has been greatly influenced by the hoarse singing style of his former teammate, Harry Barris — who got his from the colored singer-trumpeter, Louie Armstrong! You might say Bing has a whole brass section to choose from, for he does his characteristic obbligato of gibberish syllables as a trombone would play it. In fact, he often takes the "hot licks" from the trombone part from an orchestration, and sings them; his voice has much the same range and slurring quality of a trombone. Russ Columbo also uses this obbligato form, but he hums his in the manner of a violin. He plays the violin extremely well, so undoubtedly his voice has been influenced by it. Russ is said to be attempting to change his style of singing because he fears it is too similar to Crosby's, and it will be interesting to see if a radio artist can change his microphone "face" and still be recognized. Nick Lucas is another instrumentalistsinger who shows the influence of his instrument. Nick has a style all his own, which I think is the result of his guitar-playing. He has fitted his voice to his guitar for so long that it seems to be part of it, and to accompany the guitar, rather than vice versa. He never interprets a song, but he sings sweetly ; more so than anyone else on the ether — and that's a trick worth knowing! "To be really happy," says Eddie Cantor, "a wife should love her husband as well as he loves himself." When you listen to Marie Golden on the Park Board Program every Sunday afternoon, KNX, one can hardly be Chatterettes lieve that this most versatile pianist earned her first money when she was about ten years of age and all for the staggering sum of twenty five cents. Georgia Fifield who produces such excellent plays over KNX every Mon day evening at 8:30, besides her excellent acting in a play produced at Cumnock School the other night, looked completely stunning. Her white satin evening gown was a perfect frame for her gorgeous red hair and we noticed she was receiving flowers and congratulations galore. Page Thirty-ciglu RADIO DOINGS