Radio stars (Oct 1938)

IT'S all a matter of opinion, of course. Picking a "Ten Best" in anything is a popular game which practically anyone can play, and one man's guess is as good as another's. Following, however, is not one man's opinion but a consensus of several ; the editors of Radio Stars, the broadcasting companies and various radio editors making their selections. Nor are the selections so much the "ten best" radio personalities as they are a representative ten of radio's many unusual persons. All of which is in the nature of a preliminary ducking of any swings aimed at the reportorial chin thrust out by publishing brashly an arbitrary selection of few out of many. So here they are, running from symphony to comedy to thrillers. Radio's most unusual personalities : ARTURO TOSCANINI: Conceded by most to be the world's greatest conductor, Arturo Toscanini is one of the very few men to become an almost fabulous and legendary character in his own lifetime. Though he had attained his full stature as a musical genius years before his NBC broadcasts, there can be little doubt that radio brought the superb interpretations of the Italian maestro to more millions than did his many years of concerts in America and abroad. In February, 1936, Toscanini announced his retirement from the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra amid the groans of critics and music lovers, and on March 1, 1936, he conducted his "last" radio concert as guest conductor of the General Motors Symphony, a radio orchestra made up mostly of his own men from the Philharmonic. Then he sailed for Europe, apparently lost forever to American music in which he had played so great a part. So it was almost with fear and awe that Samuel Chotzinoff, music critic of the New York Post, friend of the Maestro and one of the leading worshipers at the shrine of his genius, sailed for Europe with the purpose of persuading Toscanini to abandon his retirement and return to America to conduct a series of ten radio concerts, the orchestra to be hand-picked from the finest virtuosi available. "Chotzy," in spite of his long acquaintanceship with Toscanini, fretted and worried; when he finally saw the Maestro he could hardly bring himself to mention his mission. Then, much to his joy and surprise, Toscanini agreed enthusiastically, and the glad tidings were flashed to musical America that its musical deity was returning. On Christmas night, 1937, in NBC's studio 8-H, largest in the world, over 1,400 persons sat breathless as the white-haired, flashing-eyed, dynamic little figure of Toscanini mounted the podium before one of the greatest symphony orchestras ever assembled ; certainly the greatest ever presented wholly for the radio audience. The finest instrumentalists from many great American orchestras sat beneath the master's baton, while in the brilliant audience, listeners hardly breathed. There was not the faintest rustle of a program (so that no slightest sound should mar the transmission, programs had been printed on silk). Every possible precaution had been taken to make the broadcast perfect. During rehearsals of the new orchestra, NBC engineers had tested and re-tested lines, placed the uni-directional microphones in various positions while musical experts in the control rooms had listened to assure complete fidelity in reproducing the great tone and volume of the 92-piece orchestra. Six preliminary concerts had been conducted by Artur Rodzinsky and Pierre Monteux, brilliant conductors both. But under the magic of the "Toscanini touch" the orchestra swelled forth in new glory; the almost mystic quality the Maestro possesses, his complete refusal to accept anything but the very best from his men, brought forth from the orchestra a quality it had never before given. Toscanini had returned! Toscanini tales and legends are legion. They tell how, while a young student at Parma Conservatory, Toscanini's THE TEN MOST UNUSUAL 20