Radio stars (Dec 1938)

RADIO STARS ishes in a small way despite the ban. It mined to NBC from the Mutual network and is now back there again, sufficiently revised to keep out from under the provisions of the ban. No legal advice is given now. The advice is entirely emotional, usually urging the applicant for help to look into his heart and find the right course. THIS radio season has started zvith an unusually long list of absentees among the comedians. Head man is Phil Baker. Some others are Tom Hozcard. the Stroud Twins, Lou Holtz. Joe Cook, Frank Fay, Block and Sully, and the Marx Brothers. A NEW entry among the evening comedians is Ransom Sherman, for years a hard-worked announcer and general cutup on afternoon programs out in Chicago. He has a fertile and occasionally amusing vein of nonsense but, because he has always had several programs a week to write and put together, his comedy always suffered from hasty preparation. This fall a sponsor has been found to concentrate the Ransom talents on one Friday evening program every week. He may become the next successful comedian developed strictly by radio without benefit of vaudeville or theatrical training. PAUL WHITEMAX'S recent selection of an All-American swing band in a magazine article is a stunt that only Paul would dare to try. No other bandleader would brave the wrath of all the musicians left out of the selections. The only way to avoid trouble would be to pick a 788-piece band — or to be Paul Whiteman. "01' Pappy." the musicians around radio and Broadway call him with affection. Some other bands may be more popular at the moment but musicians still consider it a special honor to land a job as horn blower or orchestrator with "Pap." Their respect is understandable. Run through today's list of popular bands and see how few date back to the jazz era that happened right after the War two decades ago. There are Paul and Vincent Lopez — and that's about the end of the list in bigtime brackets. ONE possession of the nczv Max Reinhardt-Adolphe Menjou program is the most temperamental director in radio. The fiery gentleman is long-haired, nervous, excitable, impetuous Bill Bachcr, who has careened through a cyclonic career the past eight years. Last season Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer put him in charge of its Thursday evening radio program, then being launched. The first couple of programs zvere a fiasco. Bill stepped out, charging that he had not been given stars or authority for a successful show. He did more titan merely quit. Broken hearted, nerves shattered, he hurled himself into strict seclusion, seeing no one, taking no phone calls, until his wounds and pride had healed. He tried to assemble several other programs during the summer for prospective sponsors, but his prospects seemed cloudy until late fall when he bounced up again, more important than ever, with the biggest new shozv of the fall season. ber lighkloS,coZ?** dark er beauty. £h*nd>s Gla<ly h • AT DRUG COUNTERS EVERYWHERE MARCHAND'S 60% OF ALL WOMEN WERE BORN BLONDE g'J*';jl Opera star Helen Jepson can blow a mean note, even on an antique horn. It is from her large collection of old musical instruments. 63