Radio revue (Dec 1929-Mar 1930)

RADIO REVUE are tucked away in the pigeon-holes of my mind and unc o n s ciously find their way into the building of a character. Must Know Proper Walk "But why", you may ask, "must you know how a character walks in order to play her over the radio?" Oh, but I must know! The walk sets the tempo of the scene. Long before my entrance in Mile. Modiste, for example, I was walking up and down in the studio, looking back to see if the gentleman was still follow ing me. Otherwise, I could never have given a true picture of Fiji, out of breath and expectant, during the scene with Hiram Bent. Do you remember the scene between Barbara and the two soldier-deserters in My Maryland? Barbara cajoles the men with a song about "Old John Barleycorn" and gets them intoxicated. She knows they intend to kill her lover, Captain Trumbull, when he passes the house where they are barricaded. Barbara shoots one of the men just as he is aiming to kill Trumbull. She has saved her lover, she knows, but the strain of the situation has made her hysterical. She alternately laughs and cries. I was truly weeping in the climax of this scene, but the crescendo began with the cajoling of the two men. Before I do a scene, I ask myself certain questions: Where is my character coming from? Where is she going? What has she been doing? Whom has she seen? This helps me to play the scene in the right mood and proper atmosphere. As Marietta, in "Naughty Marietta" Leaving by Aeroplane to Fill a Concert Engagement in Baltimore. Left to Right: Robert Simmons, tenor; Jessica; Kathleen Stewart, pianiste, and H. P. di Lima, NBC Representative. Fusion of Music and Drama In light opera, there is, of course, the two-fold interpretation, the musical as well as the dramatic. They are so completely united, however, that it is difficult to divorce one from the other. Rather the one enhances the other. For example, Arms and the Man, by George Bernard Shaw, is complete drama. In The Chocolate Soldier the drama is heightened a hundredfold by Oscar Straus's music. I shall never forget the first character I created in light opera over the air. It was The Merry Widow, which I have since played several times. I had never done anything like it before and all sorts of difficulties loomed up — principally the fact that I was playing Sonia to Mr. Donald Brian's Danilo. He had created Prince Danilo some twenty years before. How was he going to be reconciled to me! I was so 1927! Suddenly I thought Merry Widow and gradually I felt her personality descending upon me. I was no longer myself — in fact, I was left far behind, still wondering, while another I, as Sonia, joyfully sang The Merry Widow! Of course, one naturally likes best the character one admires most or finds most appealing. The tastes and sympathies of my audience are varied and definitely selective. Everyone does not like Zorika in Gypsy Love. Yet someone else prefers the dark, romantic girl far beyond the quaint and prim Prudence of The Quaker Girl. It is only by loving all my characters that I can understand their varied personalities. Radio Enables True Portrayal Some times an actress on the stage cannot play a cerr.ji". character because of too great physical differences. This fact has made for "type"-casting, which is discussed . so frequently in the theatre. Radio, of course, removes this handicap. Since the essence of personality is mental and emotional, the radio actress who can project with mind and spirit the potent qualities of her role gives, perhaps, a truer portrayal than does the actress on the stage who merely "looks" the part. All this is not as difficult to arrive at as it would appear. With certain basic principles set down, characterization becomes a matter rather of combination. First of all, a character must be universal in soul. Then whatever external qualities are added must be inevitable, potent and sure. Weave through this human being, in varying combinations, charm, caprice, subtlety, lovableness, gayety, mischief, generosity, wit, courage, gallantry, or naivete; add to these qualifications situations like poverty, riches, loneliness, boredom, ambition, and you