Radio stars (Oct 1938)

RADIO STARS perience— all came together to produce Hobby Lobby. It seemed to me that there was a wealth of interesting material — stuff that fascinated me and that I thought should interest nearly everyone else if it were presented on the air. The result was Hobby Lobby, of course, first heard over IVOR in May, 1937. Apparently people did like to hear of their fellow Americans' hobbies, for I'm happy to say the program was successful and after a few weeks was taken over as a commercial. Another thing that keeps my interest in hobbies whetted is the amount of downright good they do. It's no exaggeration to say that many persons' lives or minds have been saved by hobbies. I have a letter from a man who was going blind. Brooding, he had decided to commit suicide rather than face his affliction. He writes that he heard Hobby Lobby one night and thought that if so many people could derive so much enjoyment from their hobbies Itc too, might find new interest in life. He started writing songs, and now has completed half a dozen, some of which may be published. Another case I'll have to be vague about, for I cannot mention the names of the principals. This man — call him Joe — was a well-known cafe owner in New York, noted for his scmare dealing. In the course of his successful business he found that some of the men working for him about the place were affiliated with a notorious gangster's mob. "I'll pay an honest sum for a job," he told them, "but I won't pay tribute to a mobster. Get out." They left, but that night seven men walked in on him, tied, gagged and blindfolded him and drove him off to some hideaway where he was held for two weeks, while his captors discussed whether or not he should be killed. They finally offered to let him go for $25,000. The sum was out of the question for Joe, and he said so. After begging them, they agreed to take his entire savings and whatever he could raise by forced sale of his place. With the gangsters at his side he drew every penny from the bank, arranged for a forced sale of his cafe and turned the proceeds over to them. He was a penniless, broken man. During the two weeks of his imprisonment by the mobsters he had shrunk from a plump 165 pounds to barely over 100! He had no money and no business, and the grueling experience had left him so shattered in nerves that his hands shook uncontrollably. A friend advanced him enough money for a vacation, and it was while sitting under a tree in the mountains that he recalled a boyhood hobby — carving peach pits. He procured a few, got out his jack-knife and tried. He trembled so that it took him twenty minutes to bring the knife to the peach pit and hold it in position ! But he kept trying, and eventually was able to carve beautiful things. There's no question in Joe's mind that his concentration on his hobby saved his mind if not his life. Even now, his hand still trembles, except when he begins carving. Then it steadies magically ! Not many hobbyists have as tragic a stcry as this, however, and some of the letters and interviews verge more toward the ridiculous. There are the ever-present {Continued on page 58) • "Help! Hel-pp! HEL-LUP! . . . Whadayamean 'whatsamatter'? Look at Neddy!. . . He says he won't go another step. Says he's hot and his saddle chafes. Says he has a will of iron and an unconquerable soul." • "Whoo-oo-ee! or covrse! Imagine letting a pal gel chafes and prickly heat when there's Johnson's Baby Powder in the house !...l\o, no, Neddy, she is NOT bringing burrs to put under your tail . . ." • . .she"s bringing my cooling, soothing Johnson's— and it's the softest, nicest stuff that ever tickled your hide... But I AM a little worried. You'll feel so frisky, I might have a runaway!" • "Feel a pinch of Johnson's Baby Powder— then you'll know hotv slick it makes a person feel!" Johnson's is a very inexpensive item of baby care. Yet it is made of extremely fine imported talc, and it contains no scratchy particles and no orrisroot. Get a can of Johnson's Baby Powder for your (IcmWOn-^O^moVl baby today. JOHNSON'S BABY POWDER Copyright l\Kia, Johnson & Johnson 57