Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

108 SCREEN LAND The Radio Gold Rush Continued from page 15 talists and scientists, opened up vast channels of propaganda to the business men and manufacturers of the land. In the process it acquired an elaborate dignity. It has lost none of its dignity with the passing of the years, in spite of the continuous financial cut-throating that accompanied it. And though it has become stabilized in its purely technical end, it is still going around in circles so far as its economic structure is concerned. The artists hope, naturally, the revolutions will continue. It means more to them, to that dear financial security they are said to dream about in their idle moments. The more far-seeing broadcasters, however, hope they will cease, hope that radio will soon reach a calmer state, comparable to that now visible in movieland. More than $30,000,000 poured into the coffers of the network Napoleons in 1930. A large part of this sum reached the pockets of the entertainers. So vast have become the financial potentialities of the microphone that radio has now engulfed all the leading concert artist agencies in the country. The microphone has become the Eldorado of the amusement realm, promising vast rewards for a minimum of time and labor. At present it is engaged in erecting a vast reward for Morton Downey, husband of Barbara Bennett, brother-in-law of Constance and Joan, and himself an in gratiatingly high-voiced warbler of sentimental songs. Downey's present success as a balladeer can be traced directly to the microphone. As a vaudeville headliner last fall he inspired no ecstatic whoopla along Broadway, though his previous appearances in the talkies were responsible for some acclaim among the bright young people. Broadway catalogued him as a singer with an unusually high tenor voice and a pleasing personality and let it go at that. No more was heard of him until he had established a swanky night club in the nifty Fifties and had listened to the siren call of radio. With Downey inside their corral the radio men performed an adroit stroke of showmanship. They scheduled him on the air waves at the mystic hour of 7 P. M., in direct and defiant competition to Amos 'n' Andy. He clicked immediately, the most successful entry in the broadcasting ranks since Floyd Gibbons let loose his adjectives. The triumph of Downey may be attributed in good part to the fact that he comes upon the air at a time when an ocean of talk is tumbling out of the loudspeakers. Listeners seeking relief from the incessant gabbing turn on Downey, hear him airing the sentimentalities of current ballads, relish him with their meals. Fancy a tenor with your meals ! It is something new in America. Yet a tenor is preferable to ceaseless chatter. Even a tenor helps in the digestion of roast beef and apple dumpling ! Radio will make Downey rich as it has made everyone whom it has precipitated into nation-wide fame. The end is not in sight. There are still some formidable figures outside the broadcast gates. Last week radio offered a $650,000 contract to Chaplin. Next week it may offer even more to Kreisler or Wilhelm Hohenzollern, though I doubt it. I doubt if any price will ever top that submitted to Chariot — and declined ! In this age of ballyboo, in this day when voice is supreme it is worth noting that there is one man who prefers silence. It is. obviously, the need of advertising that warrants the offer of such a sum U. Chaplin and the payment of huge stipends to Chevalier, Jolson, Rogers, Lauder, McCormack, Amos 'n' Andy, Heifetz and Tibbett for radio entertainment. You can't blame them for demanding all they can get for their services. That they are getting more in radio than is possible in any other field of entertainment shows what a gold mine the microphone is. And, lest we forget, it is the voice with the smile that wins the greater part of the gold ! Dot DasheS Along Continued from page 83 to a pair of ducks. "My uncle was so mad ! That night after dinner he pulled out some cigarettes and made each of us smoke one. The others cried. They were so sick they had to go to bed. But I got to laughing and just sat and blew smoke through my nose." P. S. "Midge" doesn't smoke now — now that she can if she wants to! "Oh, she was always the bad one !" smiles the cousin. "Father was so particular about the way we acted at the table. He'd tell Midge to put on her napkin and she'd say 'No, I won't !' So he'd tell her not to dare to, and she'd tie it around her neck so tight, she almost choked." That's the way Dot treats obstacles. She hurdles over them ! Dorothy was born to be an actress. She always wanted to be. Why, when she was only two she danced on her toes, and was one of the baby stars with a local revue. And every time she came home from a movie she'd keep her grandmother up all night practicing the things she'd seen the movie stars do. Norma Talmadge, for instance ! "I knew I could act, if I ever had the chance," Midge nods wisely. Well, the chance came. When she was fourteen, in fact. A vaudeville comedian was looking for a mite for a sketch. He found Midge at a party and asked her if she could sing. She didn't know but was willing to try. She did. And the result was a six weeks' tour, then the Fanchon and Marco circuit. But the act broke up as acts have a way of doing and Midge appealed to Miss Fanchon, who put her in a "College Idea," to do her acrobatics and sing and dance a little. Then came New York and "Hello Yourself." "It was just a small part," Midge tells you. When it opened in Philadel phia I only had a couple of songs, but by the time it got to New York I had four songs and lots of dialogue. The reviews kept saying I ought to be in the movies. Louise Brooks is back in our midst again minus her famous bangs but plus an in teresting microphone voice. Imagine. And I'd come from Los Angeles and the movies hadn't wanted me at all !" But New York wasn't much fun. Living in dreary boarding houses, and not having much money. Still she did her first picture there with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians and the trail led to Hollywood, to "Rio Rita," to "The Cuckoos" and now the final picture with Wheeler and Woolsey. Soon they will all go their separate ways and Dorothy will have pictures of her own ! She has decided ideas of what she wants to do. "Ingenue lead. I know very well I couldn't do anything dramatic, like Norma Talmadge, so why should I try? I like comedy. But I like nice stories, college stories, comedy drama, too. Not all of the fantastic, hard-to-believe stuff in lots of the movies." She still speaks wistfully of the stage. It was lots of fun having an audience out in front to cheer you. It's harder in the movies, doing scenes over and over and over. She's still a fan. Just as enthusiastic as she was when she was a kid. Stares every time she sees a noted star ! Adores Norma Talmadge and Greta Garbo. Has no ravorites among the men, but admires Walter Huston and really fine actors like that. That's Dot. Just a little big-eyed kid. Full of zest and enthusiasm. She likes everybody and everybody likes her. At present she's engrossed in her new house — hers to decorate as she likes. Choosing furniture, curtains, pictures. It takes a " great deal of thought deciding if the rose Persian rug or the green Persian rug matches the living room best. And there's the yard, and begonias to plant. And nice new pictures on the lot !