Radio varieties (Sept 1940-June 1941)

A Brooklyn Cowboy Though most of the cowboy singers at WLS are true sons of the West, Newcomer Smilie Sutter upsets the rule; he's one of the best of the cowboy singers, but he's from New York City. jl^MERICAN folk music has long been the stock in trade of WLS, Chicago, with many WLS programs featuring the songs of the Western plains and of the Eastern and Southern mountains. The authenticity of the ballads is above question — for almost all the stars are true sons of the West or children of the hill country. The Prairie Ramblers, for example, are all Kentucky mountain boys; Ramblin' Red Foley was born in the cattle country of New Mexico; Mary Ann grew up in the mountains of the Caro'inas . . . and now comes a cowboy singer from New York City, a real Brooklyn cowboy. This "upstart" in the ranks of the cowboy singers at WLS is Smilie Sutter, and he's realized a three-year-old ambition in obtaining a place on the WLS staff. Smilie's real name is Anthony F. Slater, and he was born on May 11, 1915, in East Hartford, Connecticut, but when he was about a year old the family moved to New Britain, Connecticut, where Smilie lived for 10 years. Smilie was orphaned when he was 11 years old and went to live with an aunt in Brooklyn, one of New York City's five boroughs. Young Tony Slater was not unappreciative; he was glad to have a home. But he didn't like Brooklyn. All the time he was there he never sow a tree nor a blade of grass; there wasn't a natural flower in the borough, only those in window boxes and indoor pots. This was no life at all for a smalltown boy who had spent the first eleven years of his life in the open air, in the country. The worst time of all was the spring. Smilie longed then more than ever for the country. He wanted to be near on orchard. He wanted to see and to smell the blossoming apple, cherry and RADIO VARIETIES — FEBRUARY plum trees. He wanted to watch the grass grow green. He wanted wide open spaces instead of narrow canyons — streets suffocated by towering brick apartment walls. SMILIE SUTTER So as soon as he was old enough, Smiley would start off on long hikes into the country, traveling from place to place. He'd be gone all spring, summer and fall, returning to Brooklyn in the winters, getting a job to hold him over to the following spring. When he was about 17 years old, Smilie bought a guitar and taught himself to play it; he already was expert with the harmonica. From then on, his guitar was his constant companion. The following year, Smilie left New York City for good. He had had a once-a-week program on a New York radio station, and he planned someday to get into radio as a regular thing. But it wasn't until five years ago that he really got his professional start. Smilie, in his travels, was then at Portsmouth, Ohio, and it was there at WPAY that he got his first fulL time radio job. Since then he has been with WCHS, Charleston, WMMN, Fairmont, and WWVA, Wheeling, West Virginia, and at WLVA, Lynchburg, Virginia. Smilie has not been in rad:o all the time these past five years, however. During the shipping season of 1937, Smilie worked on passenger boats plying the Great Lakes. All his spare time he spent listening to the radio, and the station that could best be heard on the Western Lakes was WLS in Chicago. Smilie listened to WLS for hours and hours, and it was in that summer of 1937 that Smilie made up his mind the one place he really wanted to work was WLS. But Smilie was a modest youngster and didn't think he was good enough for the Prairie Farmer Station. So he returned to the East. It was while working at Fairmont West Virginia, that Smilie last year met Joe Rockhold, who was also at the radio station there. Last spring, Rockhold came to WLS as an announcer and character actor. In the summer, Smilie came to the Mid-West to visit his old friend, and loe arranged an audition for Smilie Sutter. Station officials suggested a guest appearance that very week on the WLS National Barn Dance. Smilie stopped the show. Applause almost brought down the house. It was all the program department needed to know. Smilie Sutter from that night on has been a regular member of the WLS staff, a "regular" on the WLS National Bam Dance ever since, as well as having his own daytime program during the week. Page 5