Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

Kolb and I ill-Sid* by Each "Good? Terrible! You mean I'll be ihe manager" — maybe the discussion didn't sound like Kolb and Dill on the stage, but it should have. At any rate, it ended with Kolb and Dill as their own managers. Another San Francisco theatre man who had watched the profits pile up on productions built around this whirlwind team from Cleveland, lent them money and opened their first creation in his own theatre. He was Sid Ackerman. of the San Francisco Opera House, and he was a good guesser, for exactly four weeks later the partners repaid his loan and gave him S5.000 to boot. "How did we do it? Well, we kept our business heads separate from our theatre-loving hearts." explains Kolb. "Most stars are failures when they try to be their own managers, but that's because they let the actor in them rule. "For instance, the trouper in me assured me that if Max and I onlv tried hard enough back East, we could be as famous as any of the stars then on Broadway. The business man Clarence Kolb agreed that might be so. but reminded me that for two young fellows like ourselves", just making our start, it was better to be big frogs in a small puddle, particularly when they liked this puddle so much better than the big one across the continent. Max's business self must have told him the same thing, for we agreed to stay in the West and make it our permanent home. It turned out to be the best decision we could have made." Throughout the years which have followed. Kolb and Dill have become a team whose success, both artistic and financial, seldom has been equalled. Acting as their own managers, they have produced ninety complete productions, not one of which has been a failure, besides filling vaudeville engagements and finding time to engage in a myriad allied enterprises. The partners have built their homes as well as their careers here. Kolb owns five acres of fruit orchards near Centerville. where he and Mrs. Kolb retire whenever the "Dinglebender" program permits. One of their hobbies is dogs : Kolb is the owner of a number of champions, including Humerstone Lord Jim. famed wire-hair. Another is agriculture — Kolb is almost as proud of the dried apricots he ships as he is of Lord Jim — and still another, fine water-fowl — fancy swans and ducks swim on the lakes of his beautiful estate. Humberstone Lord Jim has a "part" in the "Dinglebenders" serial which he will fill shortly ; so has a tame wild-goose which follows the Kolbs around like a dog. and which Continued from Page 17 will be heard honking through the microphone one of these nights as the Dinglebender Brothers' affairs grow more complicated. Dill's home is in Hollywood, where Mrs. Dill and two younger scions of the comedian's dynasty sit by the loudspeaker Tuesdays. Thursdays and Saturday nights. How many other listeners stay home those nights to hear the Dinglebenders" adventures, is indicated by the letters which stream into the NBC studios in San Francisco. Every broadcast brings greetings from Kolb and Dill fans of all ages who are following the saga of the two lovable old characters of the serial and their adopted baby. "Every time I turn the dial to your station and hear your program, it is as though I were entertaining a pair of loved old friends in my home," writes one listener, while another one tells of how he first saw Kolb and Dill when he was a boy. and has never missed a production of theirs ever since. The letters began to arrive immediately following the "Dinglebenders'' initial broadcast, which was a memorable affair in itself, since no less a person than Governor Rolph himself introduced the famous pair on the microphone. The governor is one of their oldest and warmest friends, and recited a long list of Kolb and Dill successes which he had seen. Incidentally, until the auditions for "The Dinglebenders" were held, neither Kolb nor Dill had ever talked through a microphone. They were not interested in radio, in spite of numerous offers, until the idea of a serial, to be sponsored by the Gilmore Oil Company, and built around characteristic Kolb and Dill episodes, was proposed. The NBC serial was the result, with the story of the two quaint old storekeepers offering a typical Kolb and Dill vehicle, filled with human interest. NBC's artists and staff members are as much enthralled by watching a Kolb and Dill broadcast as are spectators from other fields than radio. The two veteran comedians frequently rebuild a whole episode's plot in rehearsal, and the microphone adds zest to the technique they have perfected through years of making people laugh or cry. They do it with the intonation of their voices now, but just as perfectly as when they used make-up to further the process. "We're going back to the kind of plot folks used to love in the old days," muses Kolb. "There was a time in the theatre, recently, when audiences seemed to demand sophisticated entertainment only. We met the demand because we have always felt it was up to us to give the public what it wants, not try to force our ideas upon it. "But the tide has turned in the last year. Simplicity, kindliness, wholesomeness. have come back into fashion, and 'The Dinglebenders,' we hope, will mean all these to our audiences, as well as a lot of fun." WANT $500? WRITE A RADIOPLAY or SHORT, SHORT STORY Here's a new and fascinating game that supplies 4,189,164 story plots — one a minute and no two alike! Anyone can play — and write stories with ROBO. So simple you can't miss! Every story plot original, too! Builds plots around your experience-ideas! IT'S FREE! We give away a certain number of ROBOS every month. It's becoming all the rage. If you want one write for full particulars now. Use the coupon! CREATIVE WORLD MAGAZINE 826 West 10th Street Los Angeles. Calif. Send me information about ROBO and prizes for story plots! Name Address City State RADIO DOINGS Page Thirty-one