Radio mirror (Nov 1936-Apr 1937)

RADIO MIRROR interpretation of Schubert's "Ave Marie." He played it; the record was scratched and warped; the tone of the Victrola was not all that it should have been by any means. But he heard the melody and something in him responded to it. Again and again he played it until the men angrily told him to stop. He did. But he began to hum it. Stu had always liked to sing, but he had never considered singing as a profession. In fact he had never sung save for his own enjoyment. He hummed the air now though, and then improvised some words. With the wind and the rain beating against the cabin, with the guttering pale light of the candle casting weird shadows over the room, he sang. And as he continued he became lost in the perfect beauty and peace expressed in the "Ave Maria." When he finished, one of the men said, "You have a good voice. Why don't you do something about it?" And at that moment Stuart Churchill made up his mind that he would. He was through with his xylophone and his drums. He would finish the summer season with the Chautauqua and then go East to a conservatory of music. He didn't have much money, but he had enough to cover his railroad ticket with almost a hundred dollars left to tide him over until he got a job of some sort. On the train he met an old man to whom he told his ambition. Stu never learned the man's name, but he still thinks him about the wisest man he has ever met. For he told Stu that he would be a much greater singer if he knew more than singing. He advised him to go to school and study music — yes, but study literature and art as well. That's the reason Stu changed his plans and entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He found a job washing windows and firing furnaces. The furnaces paid for his room; the windows for his meals. But winter came on, and winters in Michigan are long and bitter. Window washing reached a practical standstill. He went to a combination restaurant and confectionery store near the campus Stuart Churchill's Song of Fate {Continued from page 31) and applied for a job as a waiter. But there wasn't a vacancy. Stu argued with the proprietor for a while, but he couldn't argue enough to convince him he needed another waiter. Then he had an inspiration. He asked if the restaurant couldn't use a good entertainer. Before the proprietor had a chance to say "Yes" or "No," Stu hurried on to tell him that he was willing to sing for his meals. The proprietor wasn't interested. But Stu wouldn't be put off. He was hungry. He pleaded with the man to listen to him sing just one song. At last — probably thinking it would be easier to get rid of this persistent youth if he listened — the proprietor consented. Stu sang. The "Ave Maria." And when he finished, the proprieter, probably as much to his own amazement as to Stu's, told him that if he came in every afternoon after his last class and sing, he'd pay him — two meals a day. One spring afternoon a few months later a group of coeds came into the restaurant while Stu was singing. There wasn't anything unusual about that, for since he had started working there the coeds had got into the habit of doing this. But he noticed one of the girls was listening more intently than the others; she requested one number after another, among them the "Ave Maria." When he finished singing it she came over to him and said she was coming in the next afternoon and she wanted him to be sure and be there. "I'm bringing someone with me," she said. Stu took it for granted that she was bringing her boy friend whom she thought might grow more romantic if the proper atmosphere were provided. The next afternoon she did come back ■ — and she was with a man. Stu sang love ballads. If that would help her get the man, he was glad enough to do it. But that evidently was not what she wanted for she came over to him and said, "Please sing "Ave Maria'." He did, and when he finished the girl motioned to him to come over to the table. When he got there, she said, "Stu, I want you to meet Fred Waring." When Waring left Ann Arbor, Stuart STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULATION, ETC., REQUIRED BY THE ACTS OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912. AND MARCH 3, 1933, of RADIO MIRROR, published monthly at Dunellen, New Jersey, for October 1, 1936. State of New York ) County of New York ) Before me, a notary public in and for the State and county aforesaid, personally appeared Fred Sammis. who. having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the Editor of the RADIO MIRROR and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management (and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown fn the above caption, required by the Act of August 24. 1912. as amended by the Act of March 3, 1933, embodied in section 537, Postal Laws and Regulations, printed on the reverse of this form, to wit : 1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business managers are: Macfadden Publications. Inc., 1926 Broadway. New York City; Editor, Fred Sammis, Chanin Bldg., 122 E. 42nd St., New York City; Managing Editor, Paul Keats, Chanin Bldg., 122 E. 42nd St., New York City; Business Managers, None. 2. That the owner is: (If owned by a corporation, its name and address must be stated and also immediately thereunder the names and addresses of stockholders owning or holding one per cent or more of total amount of stock. If not owned by a corporation, the names and addresses of the individual owners must be given. If owned by a firm, company, or other unincorporated concern, its name and address, as well as those of each individual member, must be given.) Owner: Macfadden Publications, Inc., 1926 Broadway. New York City. Stockholders in Macfadden Publ., Inc.: Bernarr Macfadden Foundation, Inc., 1926 Broadway, New York City; Bernarr Macfadden. Englewood. New Jersey ._ 3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: (If there are none, so state.) None. 4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of the owners, stockholders, and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the company but also, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing affiant's full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no_ reason to believe that any other person, association, or corporation has any interest direct or indirect in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him. 5. That the average number of copies of each issue of this publication sold or distributed, through the mails or otherwise, to paid subscribers during the twelve months preceding the date shown above is (This information is required from daily publications only.) (Signed) FRED R. SAMMIS, Editor. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 29th day of September, 1936. JOSEPH M. ROTH. Notary Public Westchester County. Certificate filed in N. Y. Co. No. 973. N. Y. Co. Register's No. 7 R 583. Commission expires March 30, 1937. Churchill went with him as featured soloist in his orchestra. The Waring Band was making a tour of the country and Stu was singing popular songs with it. Although Waring had heard him sing the "Ave Maria" he did not ask him to sing it with the orchestra. One reason being, of course, that popular bands do not play that type of number. When they arrived in New York to play at the Roxy Theater, Waring told his arranger to prepare a Schubert overture. The arranger, in turn, asked Stu to help him. While they were working on it, Stu said that it would be a good joke if he were to sing "Ave Maria" in Latin as a part of it. The arranger didn't think it a joke, but he did think it a pretty good idea. And Waring thought so, too. Stuart did sing it, and in Latin, at the Roxy. The audience was so entranced that it refused to let the show go on until he sang it again. The band was held over for a second week and one night during that week Sigmund Romberg dropped in at the Roxy Theater, heard Stu sing and immediately signed him for a guest appearance on the Swift Hour. He told him to sing "Ave Maria." The response from the listeners was so great that Stu remained for the duration of the program as a featured soloist. HE still was singing with Waring's Pennsylvanians, though. And last year during one of the Waring broadcasts a manager of Radio Artists heard Stu singing; as it happened he was singing the "Ave Maria." After the program, the manager sought out Stuart and suggested that he leave the orchestra and start out on a career of his own. Stu was taken a bit by surprise; at first he was skeptical, for he knew that in order to start out for himself he would have to give up a steady salary and a cherished security and gamble with fate. He discussed it with Waring, and Waring perhaps struck with the intervention again of the "Ave Maria" and keenly appreciative of the strides Stuart had made during the past six years, unselfishly told him to go ahead. During one of his last broadcasts with the Pennsylvanians he sang as his feature solo the "Ave Maria." He did not know that his manager was there with a prospective client until after the program. He met the client that night when he had finished. That same night the client signed him for a new program, four times a week over the Columbia network. This broadcast led directly to his new contract on the National Dairy program. Stuart Churchill has sung the "Ave Maria" more than three hundred times on; the air. He has sung it in theaters and in concerts; he has always sung it with love and joy. But the time that he received ' most satisfaction from rendering it was on , last Easter Sunday night when he sang it with the Paulist Choir and the Whiteman Orchestra. The reason is that three days after Easter he received a letter from a woman in Texas and she told him — but let me tell it as Stu told it to me: "She said she had intended killing herself because she was ill and she was poor and | she was discouraged. Then she heard the1 Paulist Choir and me singing 'Ave Maria.' , Somehow it made her realize that what she had planned was all wrong. That piece gave her faith." He waited a mo-' ment and then went on quickly, "That piece has given me faith, too — faith in myself and my career. I feel that it has become a part of me." 52