Radio mirror (Nov 1936-Apr 1937)

RADIO M IRROR BEHIND CLOSED DOORS /Wfefc, Keep tabs on yourself. Establish regular habits of elimination. Most doctors agree this is for your own wellbeing. If more than one day goes by, take an Olive Tablet just as an aid to Nature. You'll find Olive Tablets excellent for this purpose. Mild, gentle, the formula of an eminent Ohio physician, they are used in thousands of homes as a standard proprietary; Keep them always on your bathroom shelf and caution the whole family to use them on the evening before the second day. Three sizes— 1 50 -3<¥-60?. All druggists. HENRY FORD'S about to make a low bow to Hollywood — Henry Ford is not about to make a low bow to Hollywood! He is — he isn't! The rumors are flying thick and the denials fast as we go to press, but the question ought to have been settled one way or another by the time you read this. And this is the story behind all the excitement. The story is that Ford is dickering with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a weekly hour program to originate in Hollywood and use the M-G-M roster of stars for talent. The reputed cost would be $30,000 a week. As far as star names go, this scheme would threaten to put all other Hollywood radio programs in the shade, but that's not its only advantage, at least from the viewpoint of the movie producers. If M-G-M supplied the talent for a radio show, it would also oversee the script material used, control the number of air appearances made by their stars, and compromise with exhibitors who have been demanding that movie stars be taken off the air completely. If the contract goes through, the Ford show won't be presented on either Saturday or Sunday nights — the nights most people like to go to the movies. That's just one of the little provisions which ought to please M-G-M's exhibitors. All in all, if the Ford-M-G-M contract is signed and works out successfully, there will probably be other sponsors who will tie themselves up exclusively with one studio, and the history of radio's relationship with Hollywood will enter upon a new chapter. THE Sinclair Oil Company is turning up at local stations with a sweepstakes idea for a program, after both networks looked dubiously upon the notion as being a little too much like a gambling game. The "lucky-number" tickets aren't sold, however— the oil company gives them to anyone who asks for them, and the Federal Communications Commission is said to have decided this doesn't constitute a lottery. So if the plan turns out to be successful on local stations, the chances are that it will sooner or later crop up on one of the networks. Henry Ford dickers with M-G-M as he mulls plans for the biggest thing yet in broadcasts from Hollywood. Wide World NBC employees got their chance at a prize contest during the NBC Tenth Anniversary celebrations, and NBC emerged with a new slogan. It was submitted by Miss June Hynd of the New York Program Department and won for Miss Hynd a first prize of $100. Here's the slogan: "By Choice the Nation's Voice." ^%NE of radio's bombshells exploded ^^ when Jessica Dragonette and Cities Service announced that the star of the Friday-night Cities Service concerts would leave the show on February 5. For seven years Jessica has been the bright particular star of this program; in fact, the program and Jessica had come in the minds of most listeners to be one and the same thing. Now Lucille Manners, who twice substituted for Jessica during the latter's summer vacation, is to take her place permanently. It's always painful for a star and a sponsor who have been associated for many years to come to the parting of the ways, and the Dragonette-Cities Service split was no exception. Jessica couldn't be reached for a statement for some time after the official announcement had been made, and the sponsor's explanation of the change was vague and non-committal. But for the readers of Radio Mirror, here's a forecast of what Jessica will be doing after February 5. Call it a well authenticated rumor, which says that she'll be starred on a new program to be sponsored by a famous soap manufacturer, on a network yet to be chosen, but probably CBS. DECEMBER 29 and 30 are to be big " days for the Mutual Broadcasting Company. The twenty-ninth, you know, is the date set for extending the network across the country, taking in the Don Lee chain in the West as well as stations in the Middle West. On the evening of that day, MBS stations in New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Boston will salute the Coast in a big program featuring virtually every star on the MBS list. And on the thirtieth, the Coast stations will return the compliment, with a program which will have Conrad Nagel introducing a lot of movie stars. Lucille Manners will take Jessica Dragonette's place on the Friday night Cities Service show in 1937. 61