Radio mirror (Nov 1934-Apr 1935)

tobacco, and from then on you bet he always carried some with him! "And here's another — You know, whenever an Indian chief died, the braves of the tribe tried to capture a white man's scalp for the chief to take with him to the Happy Hunting Ground. Well, a friendly Indian tipped my father off that a chief's death had occurred, and advised him not to ride the mail route for a few days. Father took the advice and laid off, but another fellow scoffed at the story and volunteered to substitute. They found his body a week later." Robby never "rode the mail" with his father. ' "That was long before I was working," he says. "My first job was with him, though. He was a cattle buyer then, and I used to go out and help him bring back herds of cows across the prairies. Let me tell you a funny story about my first trip: "A smart cow pony, in case you didn't know, works automatically. If a cow busts loose from the herd, the pony takes after it without having to be told: Well, that happened on my first drive, -and my pony went right after it. Suddenly the cow came up to a barbed wire fence and took a short turn to the left. So did my pony. But I didn't. I kept on going, right over the fence. Boy, was I mad. sitting there on the ground with my father laughing at me! "My horse came back and I got on him again. I decided to get square with that cow, and picked up my blacksnake whip — that's a whip with about six inches of handle and twelve feet of lash; if you don't know how to use it, you're likely to have some trouble. Well, I took an awful wallop at the cow with that whip, trying to use it just like my father could, and the lash wrapped itself around my neck and I mighty near yanked my head off. "After I'd practiced a few months, I got to handle the whip pretty good — could knock a fly off a horse without touching the horse at all — but 1 never got very expert with the lariat. "When I was about fourteen, I left home and went down to Vinita, Oklahoma. I did all sorts of work there. A little riding, a little clerking in the general store — everything. After that I got a job on the railroad and started RADIO MIRROR to write some music. My first composition was an anthem, for the choir in my home town." That first composition was sung entirely by Robisons — a quartet of them, in fact. Carson played the organ, and admits to having had the worst case of stage fright of his entire career. During the war, Robby was in the army, but after the armistice devoted himself entirely to music, specializing in hillbilly and western airs. "You can't tell some of 'em apart," he says, "because sometimes hillbillies went west and became cowboys, and other times cowboys moved to the mountains and turned into hillbillies." /^MONG his numbers that have won ^^ world notice are "Carry Me Back to the Lone Prairie" and "I Left My Gal in the Mountains." All in all, he has written some two hundred and forty songs. "Barnacle Bill" is one that he wrote in collaboration with Frank Luther, with whom he shares an office. He and Frank have the some birthday, by the way — August 4— -but Frank is thirty-four and Robby, forty-four. Many of the songs, designed for mountaineer consumption, deal with current news events — one of the biggest sellers was all about the sinking of the Vestris. "There's a regular formula for those songs," Robby said. "You start out with some colorful descriptive material, then you get as gruesome as possible, and finally finish up with a strong moral — like 'you may be killed at any moment; be prepared to face the hereafter' ". He broke into radio via WDAF, of Kansas City, Mo., in 1923, and the following year Wendell Hall, the RedHeaded Music Maker, suggested that he come to New York. He did so, but didn't start radio work in the East until 1930. In the meantime he made dozens of phonograph records, wrote scores of songs, and took a six months' trip to England, where he made the stolid Britishers Hillbilly-minded. He has been broadcasting for the Health Products Corporation ever since November 4, 1933, advertising first one product and then another. For example, he was plugging Feenamint when this was written, but by the time it gets into print, he'll be putting in a good word for the same manufacturer's Aspergum, and on the first of January, 1935, he expects to change to something else. Robby has no desire to go back to the Little Grey Home in the West when he retires. "It's too blame hot there," he says. "I wouldn't want to stay in New York City, though. People here put too much emphasis on the dollar — not that I haven't made some mighty fine friends. But what I really want to do is settle on my farm in Pleasant Valley, up state, where I can take it easy with the wife and kids." "The Wife" was formerly Catherine A. Barrett, and it's a real radio romance, for she was secretary to Bandleader Nat Shilkret before Young Robison had Come Out of the West. They have two children — Patricia Ann, going on six, and Robert Arnold, nearly three. And Robby isn't the only Westerner in the program, either. Mrs. Bill Mitchell was born in Lebo, Kansas, where her father had a ranch. Besides being an expert horsewoman and cow girl, Pearl was educated abroad, sings German and speaks four languages. Bill and John both come from Columbia, Tennessee, and John Battle, who plays the youthful leads in the dramas, is a native Texan. Anne Elstner, opposite him in the leading feminine parts, comes from Texas, too. She's been with the program since the start. Ken Daigneau, specializing in big, bad villains, spent years on the Mexican border, as a member of the U. S. Cavalry. ^lOME of their dramas have been ^ radio versions of actual occurrences, such as the fall of the Alamo, various covered wagon journeys and so forth. But lately they've been purely fictitious, the brain-children of Finis Farr, of the William Estey Agency. Farr may write 'em, but Robison edits 'em, keeping them true to Western life. For example, he removes any modern or eastern slang. Cowboys in the Old West never said "Step on it, kid" or "You said it." When skeptical they might remark "Yeah!" says Robby, but never, "Oh, yeah?", which is purely modern. And, just in case you want to know, it takes thirty-eight pages of script, besides the songs, to get them through a half hour's broadcast. egg and enough (lour to knead. Allowto rise until double in bulk, turn on to slightly floured board. Knead and shape into snorl thin forms about 3 inches in length. Cover with cloth and cooky sheel and lei rise until double in bulk. Bake in hot oven 425 degrees F, for 15 minutes, FRUIT CAKE ■)4 cup wine 3)4 cups seeled raisins lYi cups curranta In the Stars' Kitchens {Continued from page 51) 4 oz candied cherries 4 oz candied pineapple V/2 cups mixed candied peel 2z/2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons cinnamon y2 teaspoon mixed nutmeg Allspice Y% teaspoon salt 1 cup chopped almonds juice and rind of 1 lemon 1 cup butter l-)4 cups brown sugar 5 eggs Soak fruit and chopped peel over night in wine. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and spices together. Add fruit, candied peel and almonds to other ingredients. Cream butter, add sugar, beat well; add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add dry ingredients, lemon juice and rind. Mix thoroughly, pour into a large greased paper-lined cake tin. Steam 6 hours and bake in slow oven 250 degrees F one hour to dry out. 88