Radio stars (Dec 1938)

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Name _ AddreM treatment, she still is not sufficiently recov- ered from her nervous breakdown to risk the strain and worry that accompanies a weekly broadcast. The program has been moved from Chicago to California for the sake of Molly's health. Possibly she will be back for occasional programs and, be- fore the season is out, she may be heard regularly again. A VOICE from the past brought back by Fibber McGee's program this season is the tenor of Donald Novis, missing from the air almost entirely ever since his de- bacle in the radio version of Billy Rose's Jumbo. Donald had seemed to be just on the verge of stardom that year. He came to radio as a winner in one of le old Atzvatcr-Kcnt audition contests. His progress as a radio singer was not meteoric hut it was consistent. After three seasons, Donald's clear tenor had brought him to a point where he seemed ready to become a formidable rival for Frank Parker, James Melton and Lanny Ross, the leading tenors of that year. Prospects were still brighter when he landed the tenor lead in Jumbo, which promised to be the big new show of that season. When Jumbo flopped on the air, Novis had to stay with it because he was tied by con- tract. The program got small attention. So did Donald Novis. By the time that season of comparative obscurity was over, he found sponsors no longer eagerly bid- ding for his songs. Donald has been in no distress in the intervening years. He spent one season on a program heard on a Pacific Coast net- work and occasionally was guest star on a national network program. Vaudeville appearances have been lucrative. The Fibber McGee program is the first regular network engagement he has had, however. The tragic part is that progress toward stardom in radio, once it is inter- rupted, seldom is resumed with the old impetus. TFD HVSING is swaggering through another football season with the same bra- vado that has made him at once the most annoying, fascinating, exciting and enter- taining of all the sports announcers. Back- ing up his egotistical microphone manners, of course, he has a talent for quick-tongued and accurate reporting scarcely approached by any of his competitors. At the risk of life and limb, Ted once belittled a great Minnesota team as he broadcast one of its games. The team hap- pened to be having an off day' and Min- nesota partisans felt no more kindly toward him because his slighting remarks were only for that day. Ted confessed a little uneasiness when he went up to Min- neapolis to cover another Minnesota game the next season. He believed a bag of wafer dropped on his head from a second story window would be the least he could expect from the irate Minnesota fans. During that visit, Ted turned on another facet of his brilliant personality, sat down one night zvith a crowd of sports zvriters and football fans and left Minneapolis as a popular figure. He once deliberately angered dignified old Vale by referring to its team as "sons of Bull Dogs" all through one broadcast, knowing very well that the term might easily be construed as opprobrious and offensive. He caused himself to be barred from Harvard's stadium by calling a Har- vard football team "putrid." Theoretically, such outbursts as these may not be contributions to good sports announcing. They do add a spice to Husing's performance at the microphone, though. Any game may bring another of his historic and outrageous vocal antics. WITH the percentage of failures so high among radio programs, some sort of a medal should be pinned on the Chase and Sanborn radio overlords for their consistent record. In the past five years, the Sunday evening Chase and Sanborn hour has had eight changes of program, the majority of them landing among the most popular shows of their particular season. Five years ago, the program was taking Eddie Cantor to the peak of his popu- larity. None of his subsequent radio ven- tures has hit the same fantastic success. Rubinoff was developed on that program and Jimmy Durante had his best radio series there as a summer substitute for Cantor. When Cantor finally left the program, a daring experiment was tried. Deems Tay- lor was engaged to stage a series of grand operas in English, using Metropolitan Opera stars. The program was not as popular as expected and another experi- ment replaced it. Major Bowes' Amateur Hour had its first network hearings, with results still fresh in memory. The Major was lured away by larger salary and once more the replacement was far off the beaten path. A. L. Alexander's Good Will Court was brought in and set the whole nation de- bating, condemning, praising—but listen- ing. Opposition of lawyers to a radio pro- gram handing out legal advice resulted in a sudden court order, banning the pro- gram. With only a few days to assemble a substitute program, the one outright failure was marked down in the record. That was Haven MacQuarrie's Do You Want to Be An Actor? —a failure by con- trast with the hour's earlier achievements. All through these successful years, this Sunday evening hour had been one of the less expensive radio shows, spending around #5,000 a week or less for talent. Its current show with Charlie McCarthy is its first big financial splurge. The total salaries of Edgar Bergen, Nelson Eddy, Don Ameche, Dorothy Lamour, the Canovas, large orchestra and guest stars from the films run up to almost #15,000 every week, making the show one of the highest-priced on the air. But again, Chase and Sanborn owns the most popu- lar program in radio. MENTION of the Good Will Court ban is a reminder that the hour still flour- 62