Variety (Jan 1932)

Record Details:

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'ta.esiaj, January -26, 1932 R A b I O R E P O R T S VARIETY 59 <>ARMEL MYERS COMMERCIAL <|S MInfc |(HJ> l-o* Anaele* Carmel Myers,' deVuttln? as a eommerolal on the Reslnoi bour ever KHJ, U A., shows much prom- ^ as an unusual feinine crooder, i^ich Is In Itselt nbvelty. $he Is 'uresented on Reslnoi, a beauty Toap's "HoUyvbod ^Jlghta' program, with the Hollywood Wandei;er, an anonymous chatterer, alrlns the coWny gossip. lAtfer was said to IM Zlon Myers^ her brother, ;.a:hd. a jfetro, director, which i^ay account for the preponderance of I4-G-M plug stuff In the chatter. Gossip Is. innocuous and - may. or may not have been written or pre- pared by Jimmy . Starr, m. p, ^critic apd columnist. on the L. A. Her- ald-Elzpress,' who was supposed to be the co-attraction "With the ac- tress, Starr, was barred by his paper from dolncr the radio period. - After the IntroducWry theme strain of 'Beautiful Lady,' proba- bly a disk, which Is a fltttng aria lor a program of this nature,..the merchandizing angle is worked in with free Samples, etc, followed by Baymond Falge 'aiid his Reslnoi or- chestra' reiidprlng a^m Sorry, Dear.' That billing Is a bit o9d-since Paige Is the regular KHJ house maestrtt; just preceding this quarter hour he was on for a sustaining Interlude oft tils own, hence the inference that • he was the special baton-wlolder for the beauty soap . doesn't ring true.. Miss Myers is. then Introduced as the featured soloist doing 'Time On My Hands' and dovetailing nicely Into an equally melddically appeal- ing "You're My Everything.* • She evidences e. nice delivery-and an In- telligent sense of: microphonic" val- ues. Her bum and croon stuff was . novelty variation -and ■ withal - Miss Myers impressed w611. . The HoilywooJa Wanderer then went into a flve-mlnute spiel about fan niall; that Gaibo and l.eery have never met each' other; some far-fetched discourses such as the allegation Marlon Davles' hobby, is chasing Are Sngines and some other dope'•not quite so ellly. This IB-mlnuto feature- Is on twice weekly and was Inaugurated 18 .weeks ago by. Badte Harris, syn- dicate chatterer, whose initial guest star happened also to be Miss My- ers. "When the guest star thing be^; came difficult Miss Harris contin- ued with sttalght-chatter. A rC' inalning 13-week stretch of an orig Inal 26-time contntct Is now "lin- ■der Miss Myers' auspices and should cpnter considerable attention on her (Commercial" sponsor."." ■ Atel, OLD PAPPY Cliff Soubier Storyteller' Sustaining . WENR, Chicaiio . . Here is a session of worlliy writ In^, "no matter whether it's radio, legit,.fiction or what. , And delivery that's solid and sure, whether it's radio, legit, the talkers or what Tfie two in combination add up to one of the classiest l6-mlnUte air sessions-anywhere. ■ ' ■,, Each afternoon over NBC the old colored pappV talks to an imagiridi-y "boy named Booker-Cephus and re- cites tall yai-ns. There are myths, fairy tales having to do with stingy . kings, with queens, .with cherry- pies. All written in a style that impresses as pure literature; writ- ing that is. wonderfully imaginative, etching delicately the homely hu- mor of the colored-pappy's. observa- tions. The language Itself has much of' -beauty, the words oi'e matched with great care for feelr ing that they might classify ns PVosed poetry, Soubier, an old hand at elocu- tion, handled the difficult and deli- cate lingo of Old Pappy with, a de't mitt and with a fine sense " of values. - " Radio here has something to, offer the most aesthete listener^ the niost highbrow, and yet, such Is the art of this session that It has. Its ap- Peol just as surely' for. the child, the adult and the aged, of varied degrees of intelligence. ' Thei pro- gram,has something to 6Rcr all of them, each according to-their tastes^ Goli. FAST STEPPING' With Bob Qrannis, Witt Osborne's Orchestra, Nell- Roy, Connie Bos- well, Bins Crosby Interview, Orchestra COMMERCIAL WOR, New York This Is the new I. Miller series. Bob Grannis," 'Graphic' coturahlst and reviewer. Is featured on these periods with interviews with well- known radio artists. It's another Pjsriod, In .,'whlch the sponsor relies solely on the contacts of the news- paperman to bring 'name artists' be- fore the mike. On this, period, caught Thursday (21), Connie Bos- well and Bing Crosby, both CBS artists, were supposedly 'Inter- viewed.' ■ The 'interview* billing Is just a gag.'judged by this period. But one question was iSun'g at each artist, immediately after \rhich they did a song and- called It "a day. Neverthe- less, considering they ' were gratis performances, that's doing plenty. MlsS 'BosweU was asked to do an- other number after she warbled her first, but stated, audibly over the loud speaker, that she had no time. Although if ell jtoy wasn't billed in the nerrspaper listings, she led off after a big send-off -by Grannis. 'V?'hen Crosby-' was Introduced by Grannis, mention of Cremo-was made twice; Blhg also .used his Cremo theme song. Major portion of the tldie consumed by the or- chestra, led by. "Will Osborne. A few vocals included.' Grannis himself has a youthful voice, wliich appeared to coiitalh & note of excitement when heard here. That may wear off. How ever, - since - his greatest duty is .tb bring up 'guest artists,' '- -Grannis should be a^ticcess if he can "keep on supplying artists of the calibre of Crosby and Miss BosweU. Commercial plug sj>otted fgre and aft and not overdone. ' HELEN KANE f Songs WGY, Schenectady Queen of baby-talk singers held court on 10-mlnute supper-hour program arranged by. radio editor of an Albany .papen as tie-up be- tween publication and RKO's Pal- ace, "where Miss Kane was headlln- Ing. Hroadcast began as an inter- view, but soon drifted into scries o£ Specialties by star and accorhpanlst Miss Kane sang three love ditties. -Said she would like to get away • from boop-a-doop stuff, but did not on this b. c- Accompanist contrib uted solo on accordion.- ^ Sort of inforrhallty'about program t th.it gave It appeal, even to bring- ing In a kid Who had been'hanging around for Miss Kane's appearance. I*, c., however, would have packed inore entertainment with rehears- '"R and proper timing. Too much 'ivwiiing by Interviewer "and an ' iiouncer. BALLYHOO HOUR - Musid^ Talk Sustaining . KMTR, Hollywood "What started out to be a strong program has gone all to pot In a month. ' This weekly hour over KMTR, KMCS and KMPC, all un der the same management, began In the same vein as the - magazine, 'Ballyhoo,' with bright cracks, ad ve'rtlsing take-offs and commercial hour satire. Now it hiets degenerated into the regulation band and vocal numbers, with the most venerable of blackouts sandwiched In. Only a research expert could account for some of' the material being pre sented. Opening and closing is. the ''Aw Nertz' song spopsor'-'i by the mug, but in between is" a half-hearted attempt at comedy that spends three or four minutes ea<Jh time building up to a' punch line that is public domain. Dialect istuff very amateurish. - . First few . broadcasts contained some punchy ideas, ■ with an inter- view ' between 'Grantland Zlleh,' phoney sports writer, and a panze coach going over well, . On the to- boggan since then. Cream of talent from the three Stations is utilized, with Ted Dahl's orchestra; Jimmy Newell, tenor, and the Two Professors handling the brunt of the work. It worked for its best possibilities the burlesque ad Idea would be touchy material for radio, anyway. BIQ BEN DREAM DRAMAS Dramatic Sketch COMMERCIAL WMAQ, Chicago ^ , One of the best, bits of early morning programs, NBC can boost of. Qutslde of the hour, 9:45-10:00, this presentation has nothing the matter with it. ... . Early hour may be something oi a drawback, at least until, th? pro- gram is better established. Right now It's a novel idea, well formulat- ed and put on. If they can follow up the first program with something Just as good each week, then the watch company sponsoring Big. Ben will really have something. ^ , ^, Idea of the. dream tiling is strlcUy for laughs. Hubby and wife-lighting over latter's eyes and slghS at her favorite screen idol.. Finally she falls asleep ' aiid dreams of being crowned a queen in a contest and oil to Hollywood with a contract There she meets her heartbeat dis- covers he's a phoney, awaking with a start and glad it was only, a dream. . ..... Good continuity throughout the sketch and well played by two un- announced players. Smart stuff, yet not too sophisticated for the masses, Span, SHORT SHORT STORIES Playlets Sustaining WIBO, Chicago It looks like. It's'.about lime for radio to start burlesquing some of Its cruder scripts. Just as the legit stage and the pictures, too, have successfully applied the slapstick to the old-time- bldod-and-thunder mellers. Some-of-these radio sce- narios are gettins so hokey that the burleycue, is the only .way out This present program IS a fine one on which-to start the digging. It's a script that should - have 'Hearts and Flowers* played con- tinuously as its musical through- out.. At- the IE minutes caught the emotion-moved performers display the sad tale of a clean country boy who went to the big city to . make good, but' he becomes a gangster and. who,, in a gang war, accident- ally bumps off his mother who has come to the big . city to find her wandering lad. There are Buch prize lines as *I started - taking money at the bank and I couldn't stop.' And the'femme commehta-. tor, in speaking of this boy, shakes her head (evidently) and opines: 'Well, there's always a spark of love in "everyone, . no matter how bad.' This, then rates as unehtertalnlng stuff, even for that mythical' tadlo listener, the 14-ycar-oId intelligence. These short short yams hit the ether twice weekly at 9 p. m., when there's a. raft of other and more chotcey: programs In competition!' Script, Is worked .out In. such a long, round-about way; coming to the'story" only "after a number of false starta. Maybe that's to make It harder. As the program. opens, a femme Is telllng a story. She tells how she met a young "ghrl. And this young girl tells her a story. This final story .:Is the story, about the wandering lad. It makes for an awkward and di'aggy Ihtroduc-. tlon, wholly unnece'&sary other than to establish this first femme as the regular story-teller for each pro" gram. QoJd. BEATRICE LILLIE With Rudy Vallee Songs, Talk '. COMMERCIAL , WEAP, New York Doing a rguest' appearance with Rudy "Vallee on , the Fleishmann period. Miss LlUie looms as a nat- ural comedienne for radio. Radio, is noticeably short of comediennes of any wo^th at all, especially of the ability of this English lady. "With Ray Perkins to act as a sort of foil for her. Miss Iilllie was right iat home with her chatter; Perkins, started as permanent m,c. on these' periods recently. He holds the rep of . one of radio's ablest comedians. Between Perkins and Miss Xlllie, with Perkins affecting an English accent, last week's broadcast was a sprightly affair. ' Despite Miss. Lillie's infrequent appearances, before the mike, she appeared right at home and at ease. Her delivery .was smart and her gag exchanges with Perkins rcglsr tered unusually well for radio. Miss Lillie's song, material was all of a light comedy nature. Probably will be some time before Miss LllUe goes on the ...air a^n, due to her stage work and probably a high ether price. Nevertheless, she's an artist that radio can afford. FROSTILLA REHEARSALS COMMERCIAL WGN, Chicago Idea of presenting a back of the mike rehearsal is a good angle, it the proper' background and material is there. Just to slap on a band with one or two voices is not such a brilliant thought Of course, the Idea Is to convey the impression of an Impromptu bit of business behind the scenes, but u doesn't sound that way. "What side remarks and ad libs that are made sound too well rehearsed. "With-some good comedy situations and, moreover, some real talent the Froslllla comp'ony .«tlll has a f-h-ancc to put it over. span- TOMMY and WILLIE Songs and Talk Sustaining WCKY, Covington As old. as radio IS, the method these boys find effective in holding up fan mall volume. It is the fa- miliar' dedication of various ditties to publlcltyrma'd" listeners, who are able to get ether plugs by simply Unking, their names with birthday, wedding or what-have-you annl versaries. . - - . Tommy and 'WlUle haiVe flitted around Greater' Cincinnati stations for years. Currently doing a stretch nightly on I>.- B. "Wilson's 5,000-wat ter,.' No flossle musical arrange ments; just straight harmony for verse and two -choruses," self-ac- companied on piano. Chatter runs heavily to 'yes s{rs,' 'hah hahs*' and 'give 'em a chord ,ln G.' Great Improvement possible if lads wouldn't talk ,at' same time. Use pop tunes with 'Cut Down the Old Pine Tree' for a tliemer. Kollina.: THE INQUIRING REPORTER With Gus Haenschen's. Orchestra DISC COMMERCIAL WBBM, Chicago" Poor piece of recording and pro- gram construction all -around. It's a General Motors presentation,; with 60% of a IS-mlnute spasm devoted to dry, technical chatter oh the various passenger makes In the Q. M. group. Patter exchange is carried on be- tween a couple of undeniably ex- perienced anpouncers, one repre- sented as a motor oar engineer and the other an inquiring reporter on the trail of automobile news. "What they have to .'say is constantly punctuated by the effects of a run- ning motor, all of which may be music to a mechanlcally-senslllvo car, but Just so. much meaningless noise to the general listener. Lo- cale of the engineer-reporter get- fogether is described as the. Gen- eral Motors - Oakland proving grounds. There's nothing about the musicol interludes to-dlsUngulsh the usually expert Gus Hacnschen direction and arrangements. Couple of war- bling solos Included, and here like- wise the recording made It hard to discern any merit Odec. THREE MINUTE CLUB Sustaining WBRC, Birhfiingham This is a- Luther Patrick pro- grammer and Patrick has, created a big following In Alabama among the dial twisters. Two girls, the Payne Sisters, assist him on this 15-mlnute bill. Patrick's style Is somewhat sim- ilar to "Will Rogers', except that Rogers goes for western chatter and Patrick gabs In Alabaman. Pa- trick before coming to Birmingham years ago was a native upstate, so it comes natural. His continuity Is made ur- of ju.9t country gab with a laugh now and then. The rest is taken up by the gols, who sing and croon. "With less of Patrick and more of the gals this prcigrom-wlll be a cinch. Uobbie. . BUDDY ROGERS , Songs, Tallt, Instruinents COMMERCIAL WJZ, New York Buddy Rogers is the latest addi- tion to the-roster of radio names. Having recently -been placed under contract to NBC, Rogers Is now gathering ' an orchestra ::.tbgether And Is .scheduled to make his .radio debut from the Blltmore hotel, l^ew York. First .noticeable corhparlson" be- tween the Rege'rs of the screen; and tlifr air,'with comparisons unavoid- able, is that as far ais voice is con- cerned the s. a. Isn't there. - And it was the s, a. that made. Rogers on the screen. His voice sounds like that of an older-person:- It is much deeper than expected. As a singer, Rogers has an ordi- nary tenor. His breathing .evidently necc:^ study and! rectifying for proper song delivery. His voice does not sound strong and his - tremolo makes- it appear, as though he is having difficulty.'' Rogers ais3 has a rep foi' being efficient at a variety of different in striiments, which was brought but In some light banter with Allan Joslyn. He. took' the trombone oh this xieriod for 'Lieberstraum,' which he played In ita original tempo first and then in' a Joszed version. Orchestra accompanied. Rogers will draw on the 'air iat flrcft through hlia film" rep. . .'Atter awhile he'll have to show some thing different to hold-' them. For the mike .alonCi where-his labsehce from films brlrig forgeifulness, this former talker star -still is in need of development FRANK MAGINE Sengs Sustaining WJJD,. Chicago Maglne is a well-known song- writer in Chicago,, and Is now over this Moo'seheart transmitter each evening In t6-minute doses of pop song crooning. Maglne bas a' nice. Voice that filters over the loud speak'er' with .quality and clearness. -He does not have the intimate, cbolng tones of other and better known kilocycle vo&ollsts. Over the air he im- presses Ob being somewhat formal and stiff, but this Is something of a .relief after the saccharine tones so much affected by almost every -other radio warbler. Two items of cheap plugging are :hurtlng .Maglne. 'Those are the fake tags pinned onto him by thS; announcer, calling -him the "prince of melody' and the singer with the 'golden voice.' That's cheap stuff and Maglne would be better .wel- 'comcd without thosei labels. Ooia. CENTERVILLE SKETCHES Diso . COMMERCIAL KYW, Chicago Hires Root Beer Is behind this rural Intermission. .It's plenty dry and talkative, besides not particu- larly interesting even td farm hands. Maybe the idea will unfold and de- velop into something as it goeis along, but. Judging from the initial broadcast it will need'lots. Rubeville as a radio topic Is not new;' that goes for the homespun chatter, hayseed characters,' etc. I'rinclpally this 15-mlnute period is liicklng in material and continuity, so the answer is obvious. Naturally it's cheap'entertainment It acts that way and sCunds It. Span, MAYTAG ORCHESTRA with Irving Dillon, Sam Thomp- son, Phillip Culkin and Harold Blackwetder COMMERCIAL WLS, Chicago Maytag, has always been partial, to orchestras. Usually it hankers for name outfits; this time It bas a tl>row-together affair delivered by MCA. This group of musicians was assembled for MCA and Maytag by Clarence "Wheeler, local music ar- ranger, who is also liandllng the baton before the mike. As It . stands, it'is a pleasant though undistinguished Interlude; which appears to -have been the object of Maytag. Understood the advertiser had 'a picture of an au- dience composed of women about 89 years old,' haivlng three children,' whose family Income rates about $2,500, who does her own washing on Monday and gets tired from the day's wash work, and who lives in a town of 60,000 or less. For this audience, the session flta , nicely. For. 80' minutes the or-, chestra steps Ita way through, pop' . ular tunes of the quieter sort, pick- ing not only up-to-date songs, but going back a few years for a' few of the old-time hits. The quartet. of males gets before the mike a couple of times to make the loudr speaker hum, pleasantly. . Pleasantly Is ^bout the best 'word to explain the reaction pf the broad- cast It's quiet, soft and neatly arranged. "While it ^111 not send the listeners away' shouting praises, it does refrain from annoying them. Which in itaelt ls a point of merit Program h^s a great point to its - advantage in arriving at the homes of the midwest audience at. 8;00 p. m., when dance music is scarce. - -Even the.plugging. Is held down to. good tastes. - Very wisely for-the. advertiser, there is no spieling at the start of the' brbadcast merely an announcement - of .the ' Maytag band. Only at the. IS-nilnute mark Is there any considerable sales pa- laver, ' GfoW. CHILD'S MELODY MEALS Don Carney, Mary Olds Songs, Orchestra . COMMERCIAL WOR, New York This IS of the type of commercial period. that 'trobably caused Seli- ator Couzeiis to Introduce his bill in Congress. It's a 15 min'ute-period and yet during, that brief time six plugs'were Inserted. Aiid none 'too brief either. If It wasn't for the overipluggins this wouldn't be'a bad.perloa, Al- .though'.lt must be considered'that yrern It not for the many plugs,- Don Cairney' and Mary Oloa pMb&bly wouldn't J». on. For both ore. ^sM primarily for the advertising^ splds, each- alternating on the plugs. Both aviso make., the. musical aqnonneb- menta . Best feature of . this .broadcast was a' male quartieVwhd'liOd'Ane . number which' 'was harmonized >z- ce-.>tionaIIy well. 'Quartet -waa'heard agaic a little later, but briefly. Or- chestra, leader upannpunced,. sup- plies pleasing instrumentation, . -A.-funny boner was pulletl-here.' Camey- announced .that, the .orches- tra would play a .nro-'war medley of woltaes. Orchestra then -led o'^ with 'Charmalne.* JANE SNOWDEN Talk COMMERCIAL WBBM, Chieage . Jane Snowden mUst be a very en- terprising young woman. Outside of heading a successful string of-laun- drles, she also has mike presence. Naturallj; it's the plug that couhts on this program, but by way of di- vertissement Miss Snowden answers Suestlons about household budgets nd gives hints to housewives. Any- thing from how to prevent custard from curdling to caring for the canary. Most of the questions.and answers sounded like gags, but It so it doesn't' matter, as Miss Snowden's voice Is pleasant to listen to. If Miss Snowden ever gets tired of talking about laundries she, can always ^t a Job on the, air. BparU GENE dUAW Orchestra Sustainlnfl KHJ, Los Angeles Gene Qu'aw is a rotating MCA band which has been swinging around the western hostelrles, now etherizing from the El Cortez ho- tel, San Diego, and picked up on the Den Lee-CBS: coast spoke, KHJ, U A. , Quaw's brand of music Is pro- fessional and thoroughly satlsfSLC- tory, mixing up the ^aneapatlon with vocal £ture, all combined for general oke effect by mike. AieU LOVE STORY HOUR Sketch COMMERCIAL WABC, New York Street & .Smithstages these periods each week. Each Is a dramatiza- tion of a story from the current Is- sue of S & S's 'Love Story' mag; The skits arc somewhat too paijhy (or a mnle audlcnre. They're prl-, marlly for Ihc ladles, 'which might be what Is desired. Skits aro Interestingly dramatized. I.,n.<it wfiok's was Just a lovo sketch Willi an eye for the. women. ' ' Bands and Orch, (Continued from page 68) 'WIttateIn, Bildir, New Hartn. Wolf. I^e. Vinltj Tair C Chlekc*. Wotp. Rube, nouevnrd T., Tj. A. WriKht, Joe, Sllvtr .<;ilpp«r C. 8. r. Wolohu, Jobnnr, Bl Patle. B. R., ■. T. Wricht. Je«, 410 Mill* BIdr, S. P. ' Wundortlch, f., 1EST E. ISIh St.. Bklra. WrII*.- Alllotar, Comn>4o H.. St. U, ZMpcr** A»bUs ' Xalshti, 'K* bML Cua Lalim. Mick.