Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

That Astonishing Young Laurence Tibbett — Who Sings Because He Feels It Is His Best Way of Expressing Himself to Others. b> Saner Smith 4 4 T ^NT he keen?" whispers one I sweet young thing to another A in the dark depths of a movie theatre. "Bravo!" cry the critics as they rush up to congratulate him after a grand opera performance. "Superb!" exclaim music lovers as they file out of the auditorium after the convert. "More!" say countless letters that pour into the radio studio. Lawrence Tibbett. that astonishing voung man from Los Angeles, has the kaleidoscopic versatility of a chameleon, as he slips from the movies to opera, to concert and to radio, finding a hearty and warm welcome in each. He can win the heart of any romantic damsel from the screen, and can turn right around and win the respect and plaudits of the first-nighters. Teachers at the Manual Arts high school in Los Angeles, where Tibbett graduated in 1915, believed the popular and talented young man's future lay in dramatic work. Dr. A. E. Wilson, who still presides as principal of Manual Arts high, reminisced about Lawrence Tibbett the other day. "I had a talk with Lawrence just before he graduated, and asked him whether he intended going into film work or on the stage," said Dr. Wilson. "During his school days the beauty and power of his voice had not been developed. But everyone recognized his great dramatic gift." "I'm not going into either." Tibbett had replied seriously. "It is my voice." Even then, young Tibbett felt what others had not yet seen. Helen Jerome Eddy was a student at Manual Arts when Lawrence Tibbett was there. Principal Wilson says he can still remember vividly the school performance of "The Arrow Maker," in which Tibbett, as the young Indian, placed his foot on the prostrated neck of Miss Eddy in the climax of the play. Page Twenty-six and enjoyed himself hugely while defying the gods. The picturesque and dramatic life Tibbett leads in his film roles has its counterpart in his own life. Left a half-orphan when his father, the sheriff of Bakersfield, Calif., was killed in an encounter with bandits . . . constantlyfighting delicate health since he was a baby . . . putting a gym bar in his back yard and exercising his way back to health ... the development of a perfect physique ... his years of struggle when ten dollars earned r-inging al a funeral looked like big money ... a theatre manager's refusal to let him sing on the stae because his clothes were so shabby ... his overnight success in "Falstaff," which made him a star with the Metropolitan Grand Opera Company. "He takes life in great gulps as though he could never have enough of it." said one of the singer-actor's friends. "He is like the top of the mountain." said another, in explaining a personality complete in itself, "who is alone and far off as a peak, even in the midst of gayety and people." Tibbett is the first Metropolitan opera singer to sign a contract for a MAN sustained series of concerts via radio. The minimum number of these appearances is thirteen. This is not the first time Lawrence Tibbett has pioneered in artistic fields. He was the first grand opera singer to dispense with the time-honored poses and gestures considered a part of each operatic role. He went into concert work with the courage to render mixed programs, appealing to all tastes, rather than confine himself to a stilted rendition of the classics. No singer is more beloved for his choice of songs than is Tibbett. He is the first Metropolitan star to make singing pictures, thereby giving to films the artistry of the opera. Cast on a desert island alone, a singer would stop singing. That's Tibbett's belief. "A human being sings because of a desire to express himself to somebody else," explained Tibbett. "A person feels better when he can let his voice out to full volume. The next thought, then, is that all that volume should not be wasted — that it should have some place to go. The result is song." Music, to him, is a way of establishing a better contact with other human beings. Tibbett said. "I have no sympathy with the 'arty' attitude so often associated with people connected with any of the arts. Just because a man earns his living as an actor is no reason for him to carry his gestures over into his private life." Tibbett showed astonishment when he was asked what sort of thing he sang when he came home at night. "Do people do things like that?" he asked. Outside of his professional work, Tibbett said he confines most of his singing to expressing somestrong emotional feeling. Or, because he is filled with the joy of living. Does he sing in his shower bath? Yes, if he feels like it. Early morning exuberance is likely to show itself in lusty renditions of that song from "The Barber of Seville" where the barber bubbles over with the feeling that he is indispensable to the community. RADIO DOINGS