Variety (April 1932)

58 VARIETY GREYHOUND TRAVELER Harlow Wilcox, with Brooks and Ross Talk and Songs • COMMERCIAL WGN, Chicago Greyhound bus line pays tor tliig weekly IB-minute session over the Columbia avrahBemcnt. It Is not a good program. Psychologically, the boys were on the right track, but they failed to remember that not only are they trying to sell, but also to entertain. Because unless the listener is pleased by a program he is not going to continue to listen to It. It was good psychological figur- ing to reason that iii order to get the people interested in any mode of travel it is necessary to make them want to see new plaices, new things. Oke. General B^otors i» at present using. that same system In; its weekly program over NBC In 'Parade of the States.'. But G. M. doesn't; confine its entire program to a dry recital of ^the facts about some state. . There's imich liiueic. Greyhound forgets aU about enter- tainment. • For instance,, the. second, of this series of 10 programs. It is based on a wlld-eyied and far-fetched con- tinuity notion of 'contrasts,' the di- versity of countryside and city streets. In this session the two spots named were iDetrolt and Kentucky. For. long minutes the announcer^ the. hard-working and efflciehl Wilcox, gushed over the most obvious ai\d trite atatemehts of Detroit.' Breath- lessly he Informed his listeners that It was the motor center of the coun- try; that across the river was ian- other country; Canada; that the city had many fine boulevards! ' This, stuff is as Interesting and novel to the listeners as it would be. to; inform them that Tuesday fol- lows Monday. And then the an- nouncer jumps to Kentucky (cue for 'My Old Kentucky Home'—an ex- ample of how trite and obvious' was the thinking). He tells the listeners '—as If they had never heard of it .beforen:-that Kentucky has colonels and blue grass;, that they raise lODENT PROGRAM (New Series) Jane Froman, Harvey Hays, Howard Keegan, Vincent Coleman, Carl- ton. Kadell COMMERCIAL KYW, Chicago For the revised series, framed for Sunda.v afternoon listeners; this deptlfrlce dropped the verbal cas- cading Bob Eitiory and with him its version of the Big Brother move- ment, but neglected to toss also into the limbo of bad Tnlstakes that, por- tion of the program which presumes to dramatize dft-told eslpodes from American histoid; As the lodent session is now set, these episodes, outside of belns historically inaccu- rate, clumsily directed and enacted In a. schoolboy manner, .clash with the. spirit and niood of what would otherwise be a; fairly acceptable lit- tle Sunday afternoon show. Not that the Froman pipes and the studio symph unit, under the smart Roy Shields direction, com- bine to create a program of distinc- tive flavor, something for thb fan to make a habit of fumbling for on the dial just before slipping Into his Sunday a:fter-dlriner siesta. If lo- dent has this objective In mind, it seenis to have shot miles wide of the mark. . But at lea.st this orchestra-war- bler, combination blends nicely with the mbod of the hour, and by them- selves constitute a pleasant 16- mihutie session. Despite the heavy handedness and weakness of the former Bob Emory piloted session, the latter had a semblance! of individuality and stood out on the Sundajr evening schednle like al—and to many Irritating— -thunib, -But, anyway, It had Indi- viduality, and the moment it hit the loud speaker its blather was a.sso- ciated with lodeht toothp&ste. As the program is currently patterned It's totally devoid of ithis particular quality, , and were the plug on the intro and end of the period omitted the spasm- could be mistaken for any at it, flock of similar shows com- ing, as sustaining features, over, competing local outlets of a Sunday afternoon. Odec.. horses In Kentucky and that there'is, a horse- race held every year -atj TRAPROCK and Churchill Downs and that the race HARRIET LEE i£t called the Kentucky Derby. Talk, Songs No matter hoW unintelligent Gray- QOMMERCIAL — hound bus lines may consider their yyj2^ l^gyy York potential patro^is to .b6, they-, are Divided betweeii the, singing of stlir unlikely to b© entertained, pr jjarrigt Lee and a male vocal trio, willing to listen to. such long-winded and the supposed to be amftslng and meaningless recitals of obvious splel'of Dr^ Traprock, just i charac- X. .J ^ ter, the musical moments by far The continuity writer and the an- ov^rgYiaaow the talk. This series npuncer are the men who do all\tHe^g|jmg^ for Edgeworth; Miss Lee work here. The scribbler gets high- U^^^s fdr quite some time associated ly poetical in his descriptions of the Q3g territories, but It's hot very moving. The Idea behind the character 'of The great portion o^the program^is jj^ rp^^prock Is hovel and looks easy consumed by this heated talk. K,, promote Into an amusing feature. There's little room for the featured U)„^ - - — WMAQ 10TH ANNIVERSARY Sustaining WMAQ, Chicago It certainly Is lronlc<.l enough that WMAQ should be. celebrating its progress in the last 10 years, and at the same time NBC Is preparing to take the studio in Its own fold. In' 1922 WMAQ, then using the call letters WGU, started out as a 260- watter. It plugged along slowly un- til 1929, when It -went.to .6,000 watts, and yiere it remains today. : Since last November the Chicago JDaily News' station has been man- aged and operated by NBC, which is now trying to merge the^tation with its own activities at the Mer- chandise Mart. If and when that means, tbe end: of WMAQ in the. 'Daily ' Niews' building and probably a letout of 20 or more people, but still here was the anniversary cele-. bration. As expected, Amos 'n' Andy. put. In an appearance. A.. j& A., have' been cbming over this station for threei. years, and It was only a be- fitting tresture for them to come but and say hello. That's about all they did say after being announced by Bill Hay as,'in person.' Why the 'in person' oh the air? But as the complimentary remarks ihade by A. & A; were in order everything, was bite, Julius Tannen m.c.'d the party as a courtesy of the College Inn, where the B|roadway. wit Js liolding forth. Tanhen again proved his ability as an air entertainer, his voice and diction particularly good. But Tan- nen is still Broadw:ay ania a little oVer the heads of the average listener. For example. In bringing on Joseph Galllchlo's orchestra, Tan- nen remarked their opening number would be dedicated to Alfalfa Bill Murray of Oklahoma, 'I- Love. a Parade.' But Tannen needn't wori^ too hard. WUh the proper material' he can take his place on the air with the rest. Lee Sims and . Ilomay Bailey among those contributing to this half hohr's heh-heh. Others In- cluded the wah dah de do of the Travelers, quartet; Marian and Jim, dialog skit; Melody Men, formerly Whiteman's King's Jesters,~ and the (jilenn Sisters, whose Interpretation of the .'St Louie Blues' was li.s.h. jane Frohmian scheduled to go on, but didn't, due to her failure to get back in time from an out-of-town jaunt. . . 82)an. GU8 VAN With Nat Brusiloff's Orch. Songs COMMERCIAL WABC, New York Gus Van comes on the CBS net- work under the.yan Heusen. banner for a series, of 13 broadcasts. His last c6mmercial serieis was over a year ago, with. I. Miller, VIVIAN DUNCAN and LEW CODY Serials . COMMERCIAL KNX,' Lo9. Angeled This stage-screen combination Is the replacement ui.lt to ZaSu Pitts and Th^lma Todd, who were unable, to stand more than two weeks of combined radio broadcasting and personal appearanclng at ^a 'local 1 resttaurant, to. fit Into. the eatery's'*' advertisements of 'see Und hear your: screen favorites in action afid ^1 you can eat for 40 cents.' * . When the film femme combina- tion more or less abruptly closed, although reported to be. getting $2,00,0 a week for their act, the res- taurant scouted for a substitute celeb combination, v^lilch: was found in ,Miss Duncan and Cody. . .. Pltts-Todd public,broadcasts dur- ing the dinner hour proved the ef- fectiveness of the personal appear^ ance novelty by an evening rush pf celebrity gazers to the restaurant, and it is proving equally effective with the preseht pair; Broadcasting is done in a glasEi- enclosed booth affair. In sight- of th6 customers and fed to them audibly through a loud-speaker system. Act is 16 minutes nightly, starting at 6:46 at one of the downtown spots 6f Lelghton Cafeteria coinripahyi .which operates a coast chain. . Despite the name pull, iserlal holds promise of being popular in Itiself In a community which Is strong for the continuity type of air fodder, ; . ■ It offers nothing new thematlcally or plotwlse. Moulded on. the pat- tern of 'Peg o' My Hefert' and 'Daddy Long Legs,V It deals with a bachelor rounder who has. been glveh the guardianiship of an old pal's or- phaned daughter/and who, preparing to welcome a child- of three or four, finds Insftead.he is foster daddy to » full-grown young woman. Caught both on the second and third broadcasts. It called for: no mental gymniastlcs to sense th« plot trend with coming, complicaitlohs, already Indicated, of the two falling for each other and complications In the form of the b&chelor's old flames; • Act has well written dialog, topped by good situation climaxes. Team was a little off In dialog delivery at a few spots, due no doubt to hasty preparation of the act. Miss Duncan sang one nuinber, 'Call.It a Day,' on the second night. It being the Intention to give her an opportunity to do her' stage stuff when It can be cued ihto the con tinuity. 'JOE PALOOKA' Comedy Sketch COMMERCIAL WABC, New York Froni the first two broaidcasts of BELLE BAKER with .Jack Denny Orch COMMERCIAL WABC, New York From what Belle Baker has shown on the aiir thus far there appears no reason why she.should not go as far on radio as she. did on the stage. Her transfer from the-top flight of singing singles of vaudeville to similar status on the ether is a natural change over; She knows as much as can be learned about singing a song. Miss Baker's knowledge of sing- ing based on long experience, gives her a distinct edge over the aver- age newcomer to radio. Her ex- perience in handling any type of number in the. past also seems to help her . on the air as the order of the advertiser, Ever-Ready Safety Razor, is for popular songs and • few specials. On the stage Miss Baker's routines were just , the op-' poSite; she always preferred spe- cials,, character numbers for the most part. Previously demanding 100% pops, the sponsor apparently changed its, mind after the third or : fourth broadcast for-Miss Baker was per- mitted to reach back for .one of her dialect stand-bys. The improve- ment was considerable. Use of 'Mrs. Goldberg's Bridge Game' as the second of three numbers, with pops, to open and close; :made' a change of 4)ace. lacking in previous, broadcasts; There Is ho femme of note sing- ing character songs .on the air. Nor has a radio a singing comedienne of stiar rating. : Miss Baker might easily make that grade if permlttied more liberty. To fulfill the adver- tiser's demand- for pops, her pro- jgraini. Is more in accordance with the modern wiy of ether crooning. The xry In Miss Baker's voice is a natural for torch delivery. The program is a Sunday nigh ter over CBS. Nothing unusual In the staging or presentment., Ifs up to the talent. Besides Miss Baker, for' alternating, there Is Jack Denny's orchestra, a name combination on the air. Announcer has the mys- terious title.of .XSX, with his com. mercial announcements strictly rou- tine. Bige, Tnere's mtie room for the featured hut id weH -crir'ed-out Dr. year ago, wun.i. Miner,, ■ r nii rii.maM - nTum m n n ■ -irfrr •fiiFr'rr^' ..i between^son^^^^^^^^ tfat will undoubtedly Impro'^e as It spiel. all they manage to get Into the mike adventurer who Is supposed to tell is the opening and closing theme, of hoke adventures that befell him Background muBic throughout is as during his travels. On the initial obvious as the talk. Its a studio period, he was supposed to be In the throw-together, batonned by Frank North Pole telling some of the Westphal, and not impressive. things Ke has seen there. His meant . Prbgram is attempting to puU maJl to be funny lines are utterly dry; bjr giving away a free trip to aw- nothing subtle attached to his de- where in the nation for two, and $60 hjyery additional. In a^ letter-writing _con- Harrftt Lee came over exception- test. Even this idea ls stale. GoW. Uny well on this broadcast. She handled her three ballads nicely. Her JOHN McCORM ACK manner of dellven^ and the song se- COMMERCIAL lections, all old time numbers, are WGY, Schenectady reminiscent of Alice Joy on Prince Irish tenor sang six numbers on Albert- It may or may not be an the half-hour late Sunday afternpon intentional copy. Vocal trio used program over NBC. Like the ma- *or harmonic effects shades Miss jority of Vocalists who have helped Lee. Harmony is pleasing and to make this broadcast one of the touched with a bit of Instrumental I imitations A clever script writer could make I the Dr. Traprock stand head and shoulders above the rest of the pe- outstanding class, yet popular-ap pealing, program^ on the air Mc Cormack confined himself to selec tlons of simpler type. While none of the numbers placed riod. a great strain on his vocal powers, Harriet Lee at one time was they all were sung in that beau- dubbed 'Queen of. the CBS.' She is tifully mellow tone, and with that | now NBC, sincerity and depth of feeling, Psychology of that premise may be okay for the account but It's n6t so. good for Van. It pt:its the artist In an unfavorable light. ' Omitting Vah's commercial side, the veteran' does a good job. His voice Is virile and his delivery spells sock. On the opening program Van started off with a eulogy of the late Joe Schenck. Nat Bruslloff's - orchestra jiccom- panies Van and Is also spotted for feature orchestra numbers. Showed to best advantage, perhaps, | In familiar 'Eileep Alanna,' MpCpr- mack did not take- many toP notes. I He chatted Informally, and in a ] rich brogue, at beginning of pro- gram, paying a tribute to his ac- companist, 'Teddle' Schneider, and I taking a fling at imusical snobs.' Little direct advertising, on pro- - gram. Aside 'from name of spon- sor and mention of a pri^e. contest, Only announcement was a request | that llisteners write letters of ap- preciation to McGormack. MACY and SMALLEY 8ong» and-.Talk COMMERCIAL WOR, Newark Typical radio two-man harmpiiy team on a prograhi that's murdered by more commercialism than it can hold. Salada Tea Is the .sponsor, A hew idea in delivery for ether doubles will be found some day and maybe Macy and Smalley. will flnd ,lt. They haven't yet. Instead of searching for it, fhey stick to the standby routine of a sohg here and CHARLIE OLCOTT ^iano. Talk and Songs Sustaining WMAQ, Chicago After plugging a-way, in a pre- sumably conscientious way, at KDKA. Pittsburgh, Olcott was re-, warded with hls; first network. by NE^C. Meanwhile, of course, they're looking for a commercial for him, no doubt. Olcott, in sonio ways, reminds of Joe Cook. At least insofar as try- ing to be a one-man show. With only the piano at his side, Olcott attempts a single-handed travesty, for example, on a musical show, giving Imitations of principals and chorus in the usual burlesque style. But Olcott is not yet polished in his performance. He needs mate- rial, for one thing, and. then enough time to break it in on the air. Hl» morning broadcasts (10:15 C.S.T.) .should give him that opportunity. Span.' SEGER ELLIS Songs, Piano Sustaining WLW, Cincinnati A sturdy baritoned non-crooning types. Dishes 16 minutes of pop ballad, rhythm, stuff and hot 'n' heavy piano solos. When brought on a year ago; os- tensibly to supplant Little Jack Lit- tle, who effected chain afhliations. Ellis was something of a record name. Shortly thereafter a dictum at the Crossley station was to the effect that no single voice could vibrate the loudspeaker after dark, Ellis filled slough-off spots until late -winter, when hfe canxe oh at night with orchestra background. Thiat paved way, for theatre dates In Ohio and adjacent territory. Be tween personals he's getting in some afternoon periods. Handles sohgis effectively and has a different aind pleasing way at the Ivories. Kolling^ BLUETTES a gag.there, with the songs trite. Sustaining and thk gags stale. The advertiser includes a give- away the plugging, with an early announcement for a teaser and the gift Anally described, toward the finish. Appropriately enough, it's a book telling how to read fortunes by ten, loaves. It isn't the advertiacr'a- tn\\\t that KPOt' San Francisco A recent importation to KPO, this femnie trio impresses, w'lth noVel arrangements. Girls do. a quick half doxeh tunes during the quarter hour, most of them current pop .stuff, but with a few pleasing old- timers. Have to w;atch that harmony, as the giveaway announcement is the occasionally they hit a couple blue most Intei-esting tiling about the ones. On the whole, however, a program. . Bige, \ pleasing pop program. Bock, goes along. This Is only natural, since the meat in tbls script will come after Palooka becomes the champ. Sketches are adapted from the. cartopn series 'Joe Palooka,' which Ham Fisher authors. The cartoons, are syndicated, which sets ui> some sort of a Tea°dy made audience for the radio version. It was adapted for the air by Fisher, Allan 'Fres- cott, and a woman In CBS' dramatic department.; The script was first accepted by CBS, -which, through the Young & Rubicam agency, sold it to Heinz. Ted Bergman makes an accept- able 'Joe Palooka' and gets close to the cartoon character. His style of delivery befits the part, although Bergman suffers in comparison with Frank Readick, who plays 'Knobby,' the fight manager. Readick has a choppy harsh style that's a natutal. With the exception of one girl, playing a gushy lady much excited about Palogika's coming exhibition fight -With the champ, no femme characters have as yet been Intro-, duced. The main femme is 'Anne Howe,' yet to be heard. She will be played by Elsie Hitz, REPCALL PROGRAM Pianos Dialog and Songs COMMERCIAL WBBM, CHICAGO What falls to distinguish this broadcast from so many other early morning ether frolics Is Its thumb- nailed, form number so and so type There's nothing particularly new or thrllUng to listen to a couple of boys, Virho while, not necessarily bad,'have little to offer in the way of outstanding entertainment.; They sing in accepted harmohy style, even using, special lyrics at times but which somehow fails to 'mean anything, . Their patter is stereo typed. Rexall is a pretty big drug. out fit and spotted all over the coun try. it might be well to check up on what results. If any, have ac crued from this broadcast. If the net Is nil then the obvious answer would be there's something wrong. And that sornethinfe is radio sliow manshlp. Span MILLS BROTHERS With Victor Young's Or<?h. COMMERCIAL WABC, New York After being off the air fdr a while, the four Mills Brothers returned last week o" Crisco, with the as- sistance of an instrumental group under the leadership of . Victor Young. During previous . radio broadcasts, the four colored boys worked alone, without any orches- tral support. The' assistance of . the. Victor Young group. Which Is not really meant to asslist, but to share-hon ors, makes this period much more entertaining than it would be other wise, besides making it ^a little easier for the colored vocal harmon- ists. Mills Brothers are the only male group of their type on the air, and fair, and away ahead: of any other group affecting the same style. Young has a strange instrumental aggregation. It was chosen' ■ ex Illicitly for its contrast to the Mills' instrumental simulations. . It con sist.-! primarily of strings and per cussion instruments. orchestra has. two feature num bers, while the Mills Brothers have three. Former does not accompany the vocalists while they are at the miUe. IMPERIAL IMP Freddy Rose Songs COMMERCIAL WBBM, Chicago , Local program for a local cleaning and dyeing establishment. . Strictly , an advertising venture, coated very . thinly with the entertainment flash. Management of the cleaner .and dyer's firm states'he's being flooded with response to the weekday 13 minutes, wblftb occur if > th !g.lRte _^ vlnce^ of the effectiveness of radio iln boosting his business' that he's entirely withdrawn his ads from the local dailies. Has been so flooded . with business that he's been forced . to zone the town at present, arid accept customers only in certain' sections. in this case has sliced the city at Madison street, the numerical dlvid* ing line; of Chicago, and is taking orders only from those north of that line. Later, as he adds niore trucks and facilities, will expand to take Ih the rest of the town. This in spite of the fact.that the powerful WBBM thoroughly covers the entire town and surrounding territory. That Is what radio business la fond of calling a 'success story." And according to the tale of this cleaning spot, it is a success, arid once more demonstrates the peculla-n power of radio to sing a song and sell a cleaning service at the same time. This program Is largely a .vocal ad. In th^ 15 minutes much time is spent in howling the praises of ^this Imperial cleaning store and in end-- lessly reiterating the phone number. For the frugal housewives, however, the sting is taken out of the phone- number gag by the free offer of a dust-glove, 'simply for the asking.' Session is a sample of what mer- chandizing can be: done on a local account on necessarily short coin. Entertainment feature is one man, Freddy Rose, who.sligs, plays the: piano and does the spiel. Rose does a .good job. and will do for a 15- mlhute local. Sings without Im- pressiveness, . three or four pop tunes; and tinkles the black-and- whites also with just ordinary tech- nique. But for a local advertiser who is not satisfied with phono- graph records or. simple spot spiels this appears as satisfactory an ar- rangement as any.. (?oZ(f. HARMONY TRIO Sustaining. WMSG/New York Two women and^ a man in 16 Thursday night minutes o£ vocal work over indie WMSG, 'The Voice of the Bronx.' - They probably must sing haivmony, due to the act's title, but the hai-mony as they sing u doesn't mean anything. - Sentimental compositions and lulr labjes of the past are favored. T.o- gethor the three get by irt the low registers, but there is niuch con- flictlon up high. Solo efforts, espe- cially one number by the contiaUi.', I are riiore effective. BWC.