Radio stars (Oct 1935-Sept 1936)

"Queen of the Air," they call her-but Queens are so lonely! Somewhere, deep down in her being, must he memories from her childhood of a fiery-blue Italian sky. beneath it meadows bright with bloom. Of streets in strange lands, warm with sunlight, radiant with color. Of singing and laughter and gay talk in rich, foreign tongues. Vivid, glowing memories, gathered during those early years of her life when she traveled from country to country with her father. But one seldom hears of these warm, human experiences in connection with Jessica. They are far away from the convent and the ethereal, goddess-like creature who pours golden songs into the starshaped microphone. Yet, the memories must he there, to stir her heart and quicken her 'Latin blood. To make her restless, perhaps at times, to tease her and tempt her and call her hack. But there are voices to warn her, powers who speak; "Think of your public. You are no ordinary human being. You are a goddess to many people. You cannot act as others do. People worship you. They expect you to have dignity and grace, to transcend frail human qualities. You are different." Have the voices ever warned her Ml f T that there is always danger, of building pedestals too high? One cannot help but remember that those artists who have won longest adulation from the American public have rarely been kept on pedestals. Almost without excep\ tion they have been extremely hu I 1 f m,M man people — people who shared ~m dJ with tne conimon nian a 'ove °f W Jff ' 1 Jk earthly things. There is Mary * Pickford, for example, with her wealth of (Continued on page 61) By Mildred M a s t i n Jessica with tenor Robert Simmons of the program.