Variety (Dec 1931)

50 VARIETY Tuesday; December 22», 1931 BEN BERNIE and Band Instrumantal, SongBi Talk Sustaining WABC, New Yorl< Ben Bernle should be and 1b drawlns a silent cheer from that protesalonal faction which follows, radio, and is. setting, so it finds it Imperative to. be near a loiid speaker around midnight when Ben of the smiling remarks stakes the air. Iilstenlng to Bcmle over a period a couple of weeks or more, Including hia once weekly commercial spasm. Instigates the .opinion his kidding chatter holds more real comedy than anything or anybody now in front of a mike. That he is the ether's most entertaining feature, however. Is certainly open to debate and doubtful of drawnlg'such a poll should the public vote. But among and for tho show crowd' there Is ho doubt—they dote on 'the Old Maes- tro'and the way he's working. It's the droll Bernle patter and gagging that Is doing It The Ad- dling Ben is changing pace on the boys and girls by splitting his iaugh lines between kidding the titles of the number he's playing, himself, his boys and the signatures and rou- tines of the best known commercials. His ilbes at those programs which take themselves so very seriously are particularly delicious. And he of the sleek hair comb and race track yen is smart'enough to launch these qiilps, some of which are gems, without warning. ' i. Those who have heard the Bernle shafts aimed at the commercials win And It hard to resist him in fu- ture, providing tliey understand What, he's doing. . His manner of taking that Wlncbell 'old college try' yell of 'O-kay, Los Angeles,' the world's lousiest cue line, and fitting It to his own uses amounts to some thing more than a chuckle. Best part of all this kidding Is that .It is all based upon original material, something for which Ber Die always has been poted. A sharp vaude performer - before he ever thought of acquiring his own dance band, leave alone radio, Bernle has. never lost his sense of the satirical or flair for showmanship. - So true Is this thai he was never' a real click out In Hollywood. And the beat of 'em have died In front of that pic ture mob. It got so In Hollywood that the sophisticated comedians knew their material was all right by the way they were flopping. ■ If Bernle has any fault It's that iie'is too smart The laity, as - a 'Whole, possibly can't follow him, In fact Ben is known In the trade as 'a Palace act.* He's, got to ha^e a wise audience to be appreciated Incidentally, and as a matter of record, the Palace has known few If any as riotous tokens of esteem .. as was accorded Bernle upon con- cluding his opening, matinee there 'way back when the band cfaze was first being launched upon an unsus- pecting public. ■ ■' Around New York they say that • Bemle's professional Thursday nights In the TJoop have completely restored the College Inn to the niche which Is formerly held in Chicago's night life. Not that this statement has any place in a radio review Other than to further establish the type of assemblage before Tvhlch Bei-nle thrives. "What the material which entertains this coterie can mean in the parlors of Ualne, Iowa, Kansas and Georgia Is apparent to anyone connected with show busi ness. Bernle is now on a commercial and Is handling It very well. It's a malt extract, which he also klddlng- ly extols to dodge the routine and obvious advertising plug. He doeah' eeem to take as many liberties dur Ing this session as when on his sus talnlng minutes. But It's enough, and the novelty and laughs should attract. As to his band, the maestro, as ever has a good one. At times it has been.billllant Coming over the air the Bbys, with Ben continuing to chaff them, stlU sound like a dance combination that can hold. Its own with the beat The orchestrations are colorful and the renditions smooth. But that which has always separated Bemle's aggregations from the general run has been Ber nle himself. Some ddy Bernle may prove the sensation he has always promised to be. On the other hand, this particu- lar member of the Bernle family seems to be doing quite well and enjoing himself In the process. It should be a source of great tetlstac- tlon to him to know that the rank *2r own calling are un. officially but verbally pinning t medal on him as their radio choice. And professionals are a tough fac tlon to convince on performance. Bid. MUSICAL CAPERS Songs, Musio 8ur° Ining KPC, San Francisco An NBC halt hour vastly Im- proved within the past few weeks and showing the results of prepara- tion and rehearsal, so often neg- lected here, especially on pop nro- grams. Sizeable artist list Includes Tom Bmith and Dudd Williamson, har- mony team; Alda Cavalll, novelty singer; Blaine Tlchenor, soprano: Mel Peterson, crooner, who reels off a bedtime story in Japanese dia- lect, and Jess Norman's orchestra. Barry Thompson and another an- - Bouncer split the chatter, most of It sufficiently funny and above the usual brand. Bock. SOPHIE TUCKER Nestle Program COMMERCIAL WJZ, New York It's a known fact<among the radio programmers that ' -when Sophie Tucker considers an air engagement In the layout of numbers, she is.to be the Judge and not the studio or ad agency.' And with .Miss Tucker using her own judgment the studio programmers display real business acumen. In permitting the lady to do her own picking.' For Miss Tucker knows what, she .can sing and what the audiences like best For . the air Sophie Tucker is a natural. Her voice comes over like million dollars and she radiates warmth and personality. The repro- ducer carries every little thing that Miss Tucker does with her vocal prowess.' That Miss Tucker understands the Invisible audience as well as. she does those she faces In the theatres was best exemplified in the change of pace. .'She sang 'Me and My Self and injected the typical Tucker syncopated swing. Then into a bal- lad, 'After TOU're Gone,' that was dusted oft of Miss Tucker's song shelf of some 16 years ago. But done In impressive Tucker style. Her voice Is strong, impinging, effective and apparently better than It has been in some time. And' she put the Tucker spirit back of it Musical phase oke. Mark. CHILE-AMERICAN PROGRAM with Pres. Juan Rodriquez . . International . Sustaining WMAQ, Chicago Of principal interest In such j>ro- grains is the mechanical triumph over geography. International and Inter-contlnental broadcasts grow increasingly frequent and soon, no doubt the radio' public will put such marvels onto, their ho-hum list of things taken for granted.. After the fact that it's Santiago, Chile, , on the other 'end there was nothing to edify the listener. . And there was lots of static besides the Chilean president's late arrival be- fore the microphone and his Span' Ish lingo. Music, of course, was pleasant. Spanish music always is. Still, it was long listening and little return. Arrangements were' carried through by tlie Chile-American Chamber of .Commerce with a view to cementing business relations be- tween the countries. It would be leas than true to say there was no. publicity value to such hands-ahd'^ voices-across-the-sea gestures. But It is easily debatable that the value is not comrhenaurate -with the trouble ad expense incurred. It did, of course, remind anyone who hap- pened to be listening that there Is such a country as Chile. But no association of ideas was left be- hind. It. may be that the' real motive was less to Impress America and more to build good will in Chile, the point of origin. At the micro- phone with the thought of all the United States tensely waiting. by their dials it may have seemed monumental in Importance and consequences. On the quality of re- ception in Chicago it wiis pretty evident, only DX fans would hold the station throughout. President Rodriquez' speech was translated into English. It was a beautiful example of diplomatic phraseology. It said nothing but it sounded scholarly. Land. 'PEER QYNr Tab Version with Musio SuAainIng WENR, Chleaoo Here Is a laudable attempt to en- tice the higher mental grades to the dials. It Is the first of a series of programs to Iiq listed as 'Lyric Dramas,' delivered by < NBC. over a network. Oivlng 'Peei* Gynt' In 80 minutes is something like doing the same :wlth 'Hamlet' or even 'Strange Interlude.' VThat there is ' of it is very good, but it Is not wholly sat- isfying by reaison of its sketchlness. For the boop-a-do'op listener, tho program hasn't a chance. It will be hardly understandable, and to some it ^iU be .offensive.. DoulStful whether the sheltered radio fan will approve of Pedr calling his mother an 'lll-shapen ugly old- hag,' nor accept It as a term of endear- ment, as it was so Intended. Nor will they likely eiijoy the raw and powerful death scene of . Gynt's mother. One passage was. complete- ly expurgated from this tab version,, that in whicli the Greeh-Clad One. accuses Gynt of being the father of her dwarf child. This portion- was hastily summMlzed by the ahr nouncer. ^ . 'Peer Gynt' and Hendrlk Ibsen In any form is largely adult fod- der,, and even the chopping of' the play down to 80 minutes could' not kill the exceptionally beautiful Ian-, guage here. But whether the adults will care for a short version is a question. Mental, minors won't un- derstand; they no doubt won't even listen. More feasible for the radio pub- lic is,the musical background and Interludes for tbe version; the. reg- ular 'Peer Gynt' music by Edvard Grieg. This music is well known as of sufficient conventional atyle to cover the great slice of the Us-' tenlhg audience. If this prograic continues to use this Intellectual type of play, and miislo it 'would seem the wiser course to empha- size the music rather than the plot In other words, to explain the mu- sio with a few. short sentences about the plot, rather than having the music merely as an occasional and Incidental background tor the story. 'P'eer Gynt* - itself was handled excellently. Two performances were particularly outstanding, those of Gynt and his mother. The other women were weak. This is ;iltogether a worthy pro- gram In the light of mentally adult entertainment but it is aimed strictly at the minority of radio's public. GRAND OPERA MINIATURES With Theo. Karte, Evan Evans, Adele Vasa ' Sustaining WABC, New York Period for the lovers of classical music and opera followers. Each broadcast Is another opera in mini- ature, with the meat of the score condensed. Besides the artists listed above, Barbara Maurel, contralto, was also billed, but not present Sliced version of Verdi's 'La Tra- vlata' for air consumption contained plenty meat The music Is familiar to even non-operatic adherents as it is often featured over the air, la Travlata' Is among the best known. Theo Karle, tenor, and Adele Vasa, soprano, bear the brunt of this broadcast with solos and duets. Karle has a -'irlle tenor, but Miss Vasa's soprano Is the outstanding voice. Evan Evans, baritone, was Included for a few brief minutes. The announcer Is used to knit the libretto together for better con- tinuity. Between numbers he tells briefly ..hat has taken place and what will follow. ARTHUR LANE Songs Sustaining W Schenectady Tenor slnglrtg pop ballads and own numbers, with a 15-mlnute aft- ernoon once weekly. Announced as crooner, works along Vallee lines, although at times appears to bo try- ing ' to get away from strictly crooning style. Like many of that school, his voice is not of wide range or power. Okay for his type. Perhaps best male pop vocalist, local, over WCY. Might be given ea»-ly evening spot. Johnny Fink's accompaniment good. PERSONALITY GIRL Virginia Clark Songs COMMERCIAL WJJD, Chicago . Nothing distinctive In the way of personality is revealed on the receiving end by this new cooing adjunct of the Xioyal. Order of< Moose mouthpiece. Cornelia Os- good, the station's program direc- tor, claims the girl as her own dis- covery and apparently lis respon- sible for slapping the fancy, billing on a simple little< voice. Miss Claxk's current assignment im- poses upon her the task of holding the femme attention between sales talks on Swlrlette, a mode of hair dressing. Girl specializes in pop ballads, but before she can expect to go places in.that particular Held she'll have to inject a little feeling Into her lyrics. She may be disposed toward emotional anesthesia, and, If so, .no degree of expert coaching around a radio station can ^ cure that As most of her numbers come over now, they're just so many words strung together and poured Into an electric ear. "That the voice is pleasant and packs a modicum of warmth there's no gainsaying. But the ' capacity for emotionalizing a lyric, isn't there. At least, not yet PAUL LAMKOFF'S Motion Picture Hour Music, Talk Sustaining KFAC> Los Angeles . Classic barltoning," violin playing, picture publicity and B'Nai Brlth plug are mixed in this half hour concocted by Paiil Lamkoff, who sings three numbers pleasingly but could polish up his English diction. Screen chatter is conflned to a reading of.current studio publicity items, with names of personages and long words muffed by "Warher Lewis, the .'broadcasting reporter.' Leon Goldwasser, of the L. A. Philharmonic orchestra, fiddled three numbers, the last a Krolsler piece, getting a slufClng all the way through. Programs so for have - contained short, snappy boosts for the B'Nal Brlth, Jewry's No. 1 lodge. Frank- ness In appealing for more Jews to join Indicated a commercial tie- up between Lamkoft and the or- ganization, which the former denies, saying his periods are experiments, with the B. B. a possible'buyer of his program. Nice classic tone to the 30 min- utes, which runs twice weekly, but can be lifted a lot by more snappy film news or elimination of the pic- ture angle altogether. It offers nothing particularly attractive. CHILDREN'S HOUR COMMEROIAt WABC, New York . This Is .the largest program of kiddle entertainers In New York. It Is sponsored by Horn & Hardart, who believes the youngsters will lead the. elders to this broadcast. fThich will therefore give complete coverage. Program runs a full hour each Sunday liiornthg. Majority of the young talent for these broadcasts Is recruited- at au- ditions. In Philadelphia B. & H. is running, the same type of. period and the announcer heralds a friend- ly . spirit of rivalary between the New Tork and Phllly kiddle enter- tainers. Age of the youngsters used average anywhere from 6 to 16. Style of entertainment Is varied enough. There are singers. Instru- mentalists, elodutlonists, imitators, etc. Some of the kids are very good, others just lukewarm, but none re- ally bad. Mtiny work like profes- sionals, as no doubt many have had previous stage or radlq experience. This station is dally flooded' by fond parents, with talented little ones. AU kids ore given auditions, which is one reason these broad- casts attract so many : Juvenile listeners. Announcer tells where the kids may get auditions. Broadcaist has an air of spontan- eity, always entertains In ona form or another and on that basis is at- tracting quite some interest fr'dm grownups. • SHUR-ON .MUSICAL SHOWMEN V'ith George Martin, Dr. Hoadley And °Nat Brusiloff Orchestra COMMERCIAL WMAQ, Chicago . This is built for Sunday and along the lines of niahy other programs which differ only In the' particular trademark they seek to glorify. More precisely, it's a studio orches- tra interrupted now and then for a little spieling^ Because the musi- cians under Nat BrusiloR are spir- ited and because George Martin knows how to handle talk, the pro- gram holds Its own, sooths the ear, and imprints something of the mes- sage of the advertiser upon the prospective pu: .:haser of neve KOE- gles. George Martin is. described as a newspapermian-that-was. He has stepped into the larger; dignity of public relations counsel to the op- tical trade. For a guest speaker (6) he had Dr. Hoadley, totally blind. Dr. Hoadley talked about his trained police dog. Alma, how she la guided by and in tnrn guides her master through the streets: This was told briefly and entertainingly. Dr. Hoadley has a cultured, easy flow of English, as would be expected from a former college professor. His being blind aiid the subject of his discussion Was calculated to stress tho value'of eyesight In less, subtle, more direct' phraseologly the commercial plugs warned of the dangers of eyestrain, etc. Shur-On is a type of glasses with the companjr naturally doing business with the thousands of op- tical stores all over the country. Nothing is said about that moot question of going to an M. D. for examination rather than just let- ting the salesman-optician do the prescribing. Might not be a bad Idea to com- bat the. suspicious frame of mind most people have with regard to the disinterestedness of the counter doctor. These shopkeepers have a tendency to over-correct eyes. Land. JOHNNY and MAC Banjo-Crooners Sustaining. WCRW, Chicago Unlike Johnny and Frankle who worked up to a lot of action, Johnny and Mac go on interminably dron- ing out their doleful cadences. It's a lot of banjo, slow, monotonous, sing-songey, and a little harmoniz- ing intermittently woven in. It drags through minutes that seem like years on a station with 100 watts that's on the air from 7 to 8, olt for an hour, back from'9 to 10', off again until midnight, when an- other hour is allowed. Mostly •WCRW broadcasts phono- graph records, but on account of be- ing located on Dlversey boulevard the station prefers to call them 'gramaphone' records. Johnny and Mac are presumably plnch-hitters. Even 100-watters have to have some In-persons once in a while. Z>and. REMINGTON RHYTHM ROUNDERS Disk COMMERCIAL WOR, New York Whatever chance the musical part of tills disk hid to make any Im- pression was completely wiped out by the . sales talk that. flooded the mechanical In behalf of Reming- ton typewriter. Of course. Reming- ton foots the bin and Is concerned after all In the air plug, but Just the same any sort of radio enter- tainment listed for the same period would take th'e dial play away from this one. The bond Is styled the Rhythm Rounders ana goes about its as- signment in a matter-of-fact way with llttlo of no attention paid to anything except straight playing of numbers. Mark. w!h?*?'*.*^?'^'*'^Si^ PROGRAM Stiinley Andrews, Carl Wav Douglas Way. Qraee Prince Mystery Dramas COMMERCIAL WJJD, Chicago From the haven and aroma ot the stockybxds come the backers of this ^ekly series of mystery nov* elettes; 80 minutes worth at a crack. The drama and tho. players are aU ready for packing. . So chUdish and illogical. It sound- ed like a burlesque ot the old mel- lers. There were actually sentences such as 'This is dastardly.' ' There were dozens of sentences, repeated and repeated, to express the surg. ing emotions, such-as ?Stlll you never can tell' (doubt); 'This gang won't stop at anything* (horror and contempt): 'Can you beat thatr (surprise); "We'd bet.ter get there right away* (anxiety); 'I don't like this at all* (mystery). In between,, the performers filled the vacant spots with countless tsk-tsk'sL hmm-hmn^'S'and 'Good heavens!^ To repeat the story would be In-, ane. It ooncerned a blackmailing gang that goes around saying '$io,'— 000 or your life.* They bump oft a couple of muggs with machine gun Are (simulated comically, by a loose drum), when in comes the herolnoL the lady in tights from the U. S. Secret Service. This, poor gal has a crop of the most stupid sentences ' ever spread on tho patient ether. She recites 'em by rote, expressing horror, surprise, contempt anger, pity and sez-appeal in the same duU, tones, all in conjunction with the aforementioned tsk-tsk*s, ■ hmm- hmm's and 'Good, heavens!' ' She and the other' performers manago to be as truly emotional as a ddnip lettuce sandwich. But then, nobody :couId have handled those lines. . At one . point the lady reports to her chief that another guy has been machine-grunned into eternity, and tho chief replies, in all. seriousness: 'Tsk, tsk, we 'can't have this sort of thing happening.' . Well, anyway, the lady from the ,Secret Service finally solves the crime Just before the announcement about quality, hams and Ijacons, tand she grabs the 'dirty blackmailer.' How she does it no one knows. She merely yelps suddenly, 'I arrest you, George Howard. Come now, your game's up.' I knew you all. the time.' And Howard, who everybody thought was . a great guy and on our side,. strikes a pose and cracks, •Well,, you got me.* The lady tries to make some sort of explanation of "how she knew the'rascal, but. no- body in'the audience believes her. They probably Weren't even listen- ing. , MME. NOEL EADIE Operatic Soprano Sustaining WMAQ, Chicago This was a stop-gap between the President of Chile and the next program. It was unscheduled ap- parently and a last minute S.O.S. to the singer. She did two numbers without being Impressive. At least not sounding like grand opera and $6 a seat and to make it worse she ended on a sharp C that was flat It was a note whose sourness smote the ear. It was unmistakable. This was a trifle unfortunate, as NBC had seized the opportunity to present Mme. Eadle as a star of the Civic concerts Bureau, NBC's o'wn particular pet She Was announced as this year's soprano sensation at' the Chicago Opera, which Is tinged with exaggeration since -the jury was divided. What the Concert Bu- reau wished to stress most of all was Mme. Eadl»'s return In the spring from Europe to embark on a concert swingaround under NBC auspices. That is remote and the publicity advantages seem slight when sifted through that distance, which. a1-. ways lends forgetfulness. Still time will also erase that lost qulverlngly false, unmelodlc note. Latid. EARLY RISERS CLUB With Frank Westphal, Harlow Wil- cox,. Verna Burke, Billy White, Brooks and Rose Studio Party Sustaining WBBM, Chicago Much rellonc.e upon the mood of Uie listeners and the Inspiration of the moment among the performers makes this sustaining period a hlt- and-nilss affair. That Is to say It's ca)>able of enormous fluctuation as to quality from moment to moment or Sunday to Sunday. If an actor Is-as good' as his material, a maxim ot shoXv business that can be ac- cepted 00%, what chances the brave sons and' daughters of ad lib are lAklng! And that goes double on thfr radio. Part, at least, of this program. Is ad lib. It's probably sketched out hazily In advance niuch In the man- ner comics In a musical tab rehearse bits just before going on. Only the essential details ore nailed down. Everything else moves with the whims of the performers, and for every bright sally sired by lightning, a dozen zugs pop out and over the air. It was surely not in the script when the harmony team having got-, ten tangled up with the orchestra (Continued on page 64)