Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

Little Organ Annie won his sympathies. "You go bring it back." he told Esther, "Think of vour poor little sister!" Esther had to go back and look for the music roll. They laugh over that one violent quarrel of theirs to this day. When Ann was in her first year of high school she was sent to New York to study at the Damrosch School. She lived in the Village and went to a downtown high school. Laughingly, she says that she thinks she got through her classes on sheer force of her own courtesy. The girls, she says, were the rudest people she had ever seen in her life, and the teacher was so shocked by Ann's politeness that she automatically boosted her marks. After one year of New York she returned again to Omaha where another disturbing thing happened. It was autumn, and a girl in the town who had been playing vaudeville and had gone to Chicago to see about an act, wired her parents to go talk to Ann Leaf's people and persuade them to allow Ann to join the act. Ann was all enthusiasm, and she says "I begged and begged and begged and finally they allowed me to leave school." The experience was a little upsetting but lasted only three months. They played small town theatres to "break in the act." All the time Ann was barraged with letters from her family beg Continued from Page 25 ging her to come back and finally at Christmas she left the act, promising their manager to return. However, when she got home all of her brothers and sisters made it a point to besieg • her with gifts. One brother gave her a leather brief case and said, "'You mustn't go back, Ann," and her father took her to a matinee she particularlywanted to see and followed it up by "you mustn't go back, Ann," so she didn't. She did feel that she would like to start out to do something big. They suggested that she go to California where a brother and sister were living. The young woman went West, and soon found a job in a Los Angeles theatre. She was asked by the manager of the movie house whether or not she could play a Wurlitzer organ. Although an organ to Ann meant little more than a pleasant "box of whistles" she felt unexpectedly confident and defiant. ;<•<<! glibly told him there was nothing she would rather do than play a Wurlitzer organ. Much to her complete surprise she handled it as if she had always played it, and got a thrill out of discovering the new and wider possibilities of an organ. It held her thrilled and she adored making new arrangements and running her small fingers over the keys calling forth first impudent jingles from the pipes, and then deep transcending chords. Ann Leaf became more and more expert and finally, hav ing exhausted most of the possibilities for young women in Los Angeles, she ventured across the states to another extremity — New York, where New Talent, if it is Unusual Talent is always marketable. Ann certainly found hers so. Eventually her black eyes followed the dotted line of a contract over CBS and her fingers guided a midnight broadcast known as "Nocturne." The poetic quality of this broadcast calls forth a lot of fan mail which is unusual . . . and different from other fan mail, in that most of it is poetry. A. Hamilton Gibbs, who is her favorite author, sent her a book inscriber to "Ann Leaf, who can say it on the organ better than I can on the typewriter." She has inspired and soothed countless people, who have not hesitated to tell her so, in verse, in prose, or in plain homely letters. Ann likes to play tennis and golf, and for that reason misses the sunny facilities of California. If you were on Broadway you might bump into this very unspectacular looking person almost any day. A verysmall young lady with no particularlysignificant features, dressed usually in tan or brown. You will have missed a lot, however, if you have not seen her smile, and you will have missed even more than you know if you haven't heard her play. All Dressed Up! applied "mass production'' to band operation. The more bands he leads, the better he likes it. It is his natural element, as water is to a seal. All of the bands under his leadership seem to bear a resemblance to each other — all have the "Roberts Spirit." and always the smart appearance of well-trained, military assurance. Roberts takes the band business seriously, and believes in professional efficiency. Nowhere is this characteristic more evident than in the matter of uniforms. Consequently, when a Roberts band goes on the air, it arrives on time at the station in regulation attire to the last man. The studio itself takes on an atmosphere of alertness and color as the Liberty Band files into KHJ every Monday night at ten. The distribution of players over the studio according to instruments, is another factor calling for careful calculation. The result is Continued from Page 76 a balanced defusion of sound, through several microphones variously placed, which "mixes" perfectly over the air. So when you listen to Hal and his band over the air, be confident that the thirty musicians are not playing in thirty styles of tailoring, as many shades and materials, a mad jumble of unorganized ress, but know that thirty young men. in clean white uniforms and caps braided in black and gold are feeling as fine as thev look — all dressed up to go on the air! The appearance of a policeman in the KOA studios almost incapacitated Bill and Jean Early, the "Average Americans" on the breakfast nook program. Not that the limb of the law wasn't welcome. But Bill, just having discovered that his radio "son" had disappeared, had shouted lustily into the radio telephone, "Police! Police!" And he had hardly drawn another breath when in rushed the cop. CONVERT OLD SETS INTO DOLLARS! Replace wornout condensers at little cost and put those old sets back into service. It's profitable business if you use the Special Dubilier Service Kit — a useful package containing 25 assorted sections for by-pass and filter block repairs, ranging from .1 to 2 mfd., 200 to 400 volts. List Price, $10.50. Order now, carry the kit in your service bag, and start cashing in on the profitable business of repairing old radio sets! Write for free copy of New Ceneral Catalogue No. 121. DUBILIER CONDENSER CORPORATION PACIFIC COAST REPRESENTATIVES R. C. JAMES CO. LOMBARD SMITH CO. 2321 Second Ave. 324 N. San Pedro St. Seattle, Wash. Los Angeles, Calif. RADIO DOINGS Page Thirty --<-\ en