Variety (May 1932)

VARIETY RAD !• REPaRTS Tu^sdaf, Maj SI, 1932 BAB-O BRIGHT SPOT . I RUTH ETTING-BOB TAPLINGER Wititi Irving Kaufman and Sidley Interview Brown's Orchestra Sustaining COMMERCIAL WABC, New York WBBM, Chicago Usually these 'Interviews' are a . New series for this sponsor, Bab- bore. This wasn't, In truth, quite bitt company, which Is out to spll its Interesting, thanks to an unstilted trade-marked Bab-O cleaning fluid delivery, which featured an easy over tlie air, yet is prepared to gam- flowing, informal style, ble with a type of program that has Tapllnger, of the CBS press dept., its dubious aspects. In Irving fed Miss Etting the right sort of Kaufman this period has a type of questions and while her replies, radio warbler who has trouped sketching her career, were chiefly around the dial for years every- along success lines, they packed where and a:nywhere. . quite a bit of human interest. They Kaufman, with viaude experience] were made the more interesting by behind him, comes from an old a, sincere, diction which, in a meas- schbol, one in which he apparently ure, offset, even to the most so-, learned his lessons well. For he's phlsticated, the general feeling that not averse to borrowing an idea,. a it's being read froni script. It'is done routine, or whatever it is that might that way anyway,; but this didn't help his cause along. As a result he sound llkei most of 'em. , does a liodge-podge of whatever he A nice top-off . was 'Shine on knows, such as doubling in charac- vest Moon' which, the radio song' ter a la Phil Cook, fading into the stress signalized as her greatest program with a boo, boo, boo and thrill in that she was honored with whistle which cian't help but. remind the assignment of reviving the fa- of Crosby, and also retain a good mbus Nora Bayes song of the '31 memory for moth-eaten gags and 'Follies.' Shei sang It, puns. . It was an Interesting quarter Musical background supplied by | hour. ■ Abel, Sldley Brown is only that, except fdr an. instrumental specialty here and , , «b,-ai mv»« nsru there which is made to appear like P^^S J» ci ibi?cS" ' Kaufman is doing that, too. Or- ^ cliestra doesn't sound bad . and | Orche8t_ra,^ Comedy doubtless would, mean more to the ' program if it had a spot of its own. There Is an unidentifled girl de COMMERCIAL WABC, New Yorl< A good seti'up tliat delivers, but scribed only at Miss Bab-O, who | la injured by too mUch advertising, Ruii^ 15 minutes, about seven of t which are devoted to the advertis- crosSflres with' Kaufman for the plug, after which follows the cus tomary giveaway spiel, in this case I ing talk a ba,th sponge. Phil Spltalny has a 6well crew Oh his laat commercial Kaufma,h of music makers and a fancy flock termed himself a 'one-rman minstrel of arrangements. Band opene<t show,' and seemingly, he's contlhu- with the Cuban 'Siboney' and closed Ing with the multiple Idea ahsrway- with a plop. In the interim It ac What attention he's getting comes companied a songstress for. bne frpm his straight singing, something song. number with time! not permit- he can handle on his own and thete-1 ting for more, due to the seven min tore need not attempt to Imitate - others. Span. AIRY-FAIRY SINGER Sarah Anne McCabe and. J. Wilson Doty COMMERCIAL WBBM, Chicago Some nervousness in the local CBS studios whether this title would get by the sophisticates, They can quiet their fears. There won't be a wise guy within a mile of this 16-mlnute' early morning session for the Commander Larra- bee's ■ flour flrm'^ product, Kwik Bisklt.. The matrons who may listen to this singing lady probably I opening won't be Annoyed by . any other In terpretation of the label It shapesiV a weak period of ordinary warbling. Miss McCab& sings a trie- of tunes, usually of the semi-classical sort, without par- ticular verve or mike, personality, Much of It Is dull and lifeless stuff, It doesn't , sell through the loud- speaker, " Unusual itemi is the accompani ment of the warbler' by an organist. Vaudeville houses occasionally made ute's of commercial spiel. Jay C. Flijppen is. a surprisingly entertainment comedian with a difr ferent style. He gags well, talks naturally and easily and gets over. He Is also the lifesaver of the pe- riod with his wisecracks Interrupit- Ing the advertising gab. This alone prevents Itching Angers from turn- ing .the dial elsewhere. Gqodall, a palm'^ beach suit com- pany, is the money behind this, and not content with the unusual time devoted to an ad spiel, is in addl-. tion running a, contest. The Thurs- day night (26) broadcast wad. the second in the series, but the flrst t<y be heard in New Torok, as the period did not ■ receive INTERNATIONAL OLYMPICS INVITATION CBS, from KHJ> Los Angeles Innovation originating. with the All Tear Club of Southern Califor- nia to invite the wide world to Iios Angeles for the OlymMcs games; CBS and KHJ, outlet here, donated the tlnie. Selling aplpeal was thrown In the lap of the picture industry. with the Ha:ys offlce coming to bat to line up a list of picture celebis who could talk to their fellow country- men in their oty'n languages. . For English speakers the show was saved by Will Rogers, who was billed as 'ambassadorrat-large.' otherwise the hour was. rather flat. Opened with Raymond Paige's or- chestra In a medley of national a,n- thems' and lhterna,tional patriotic aifs. Band and glee club of the University of California contributed college airs. Only other musical entries were a couple of soprano solos by Olga Baclanova, and 'De- licious' by Rol Rulyan. • There were a few last minute slipups as is usual with promised appearances of picture people. De- lores Del Rio,; billed to Invite her countrymen below the Rio Grande, didn't show, excuse being given .she was 111. Reported inside was she resented previous snub from official Mexico because she had apipeared in 'Girl of the Rlo;' which didn't show the Latins in too. nice a light. Rogers wrapped up the broadcast. Routine was .'Thera's no reason for not coming, you've nothing else to do; : So bring iUong your, only cus- tomer; he'll like It, too.' Otherwise it was only patriotic duty only that could keep the dials turned to this nu*nber—or novelty of the things for tho9e overseas. Picture Iriviters included Fred Niblo, m;c.'lng; Ataria Alba, Tom" Mix, , Ellssa Landi,: Bela Lugosi, Marlene Dietrich, Jill Esmond, Maureen O'SuIlivan, Claudette Col- bert, Jean Hersholt and Olga Bacla- nova. ^llliiSlMlillHlllHIIMHin RADIO CH/iTTER aniii ii t f ' ' ' "''i ii'H ' '""'"'*" ''' '^"""""''''"''""""'""'""""""'^" ' ' n'i WABC The songstress, Peggy Sentra, started out well with 'Lord', but faltered toward the end of the num- ber. AUNT SALLY and BETTY Virginia Lee Songs ' ivCOMMEROIAL IWLS,. Chicago This is a continuation of the . th 3 attempt to. accompany their acts regulaji Monarch Foods program, on organs, but most gave it up. Irnown as the 'Lyon Family.' In the Organ is kept far in the background previous session Miss Lee wad the here- principal character, that of a col- ' Middle of the progrfim is Inter^ ored maminy, in the story of the rupted by another femnne who. in- Lyon family. Miss Lee took several serfs-a'heavy commercial talk on femm** roles, playing Aunt Sally, top of her few^ 'household hints.' the mammy retainer, and Miss Regular male announcer is weighted Betty, the young girl of the house- dowi heavilyWlth still more skies hold whoste love affairs were the gushing, so much so ^that any pbs- backbone of the series slbly good effects are ruined. A bit In the present program the at more-finesse, both.In the handling tempt at story and continuity is en of the plugs' and the program | tirialy wiped out. Only remaining proper would help. TOM TERRIS 'Vaioabond Adventures' COMMERCIAL WOR, New Yorl< Tom Terrls has niade numerous short fllm travelogs. He is a natu ral: tialent tie-up fOr this comnier cial, the United States Lines. . Terrls, has a pleasant speaking; | radio splash. voice with an English accent In the line of the continuity, he speakfa of. foreign places he Has visited. En tire program is framed to instill the nomadic urge, in audiences. , Scene of the. program Sunday (22) was aboard, the' 'Leviathan,' where Terrls and a friend were flirting: with a film: actress, traveling incog nlto: Terrls gets to first b4se first Actress says she is going to • Ger many, which cues Terrls Into some Te.utonlc data. \ iSketch type of presentation gets away from the direct form of ad- dress often, employed for program . Oold, I are the two characters. Miss . Lee plays both parts, does the sales plugging and the warbling. Her slnefing rates as just passable. It will please a. good many of the femme listeners who have become acquainted with her style while on th<i Lyon script. It's just IB min- utes of morning song, twice weekly, that may have its admirers, but hardly capable of making a real " Gold. MR. MALIK Mysterjt Yarns Sustaining. WMAQ, Chicago After about two years on this local outlet, the 30-minu.te mystery series Is oii NBC. It started on the transmitter here as a commercial, but was retained by the. station after the sponsor blew. / Shapes as a well-written piece as turned tfut by John Gihon, and ex- hibits once more the growing menr tality of the ether. Much of the old-time moronlcs of the air, espe-- cially as far as the scripts are con- cerned, are being replaced by a somewhat more intelligent handling. While In the first of the series the treatment, was rather weak, the script stood out for the excellent characterizations.. The people at least ar.e real and the words they have to speak are vivid. Series is based on the detective angle, Stanley Andrews doing the role of the French snooper, Malik. He does a capable job. Co-featured are Bernadlne Flynn and Douglass Hope. They fit. Weakness of plot-handling in the initial period was revealed in the lack of actual suspense, since the villian in the piece was easily rec- ognized, long before the ..blow-off. He was the only one that acted as if he weren't guilty. First of the series was labelled 'The Silent Murder,' and was based upon a killing in which the only witness was a par- rot. Just before the closing, an- nouncement the parrot condescend- ed to voice the name of the mur- derer. Gold. Hatold Peary and-Bill Royle are doubling from- NBC to KlrA,_ San Francisco, for a sponsored service. Tom Mitchell back on staff of NBC, San FrkhciSco, after a years stbsence, Luther L. Putnam, former studio manager KGB, San Diego, now on KTAB, San Franci<:-p, with a com- edy program. Monroe. ijpton 'has returned to KFRC, San Francisco, after several months at the NBC studios there as producer,' staff artist and continuity writer. , . V Leo Daugherty and band, WAPI, Birmingham, a.re now in, Paducah, i-y-' .■ ■. Three new, faces at WAPI, Bir- mingham. . They are J.: B. Roberts, H. T. Wells and George Best. Bob Tapllnger celebrates his first year on CBS with 'Meet the Art- ist' today (Tuesday). He will Inter-, view Col. Stoopnagle and Budd, .also celebrating their first year. . Leo Belsman booked to play at seven college proins during June; Belle Baker may tie-tip with an NBC food advertiser. Buss Columbo'bought himself a new house in Brohxvllle. Arthur Tracy^ 'Street Singer,' comes into Loew's State, in three Del Casino, baritone and protege of Pete Hylton, making_Saturday night appearances over WRNY. Joe Whit., 'Silver Masked Tenor/ celebrates his 10th year of broad- ciDisting July 4. White sang with WJZ when it was located in New- CLrlc.' When (Qeorgle . Price begins his Chase & Sanborn CBS periods, he wiU r€que3t extra choruses to his theme song, Imagine My Embar- rassment,' which Clatence Gaskill authored. . . A bust of Ed Wynn will be pre- sented to the comedian tonight (31) after his Texaco broadcast In the Time Square studio. Bust was made by George Voss, advertising mana- ger of Texas Oil. Nat Bruslloff returned frohi Syra- cuse with a police card signed by the Syracuse mayor. After investl-. gatlon, the orchestra leader revealed that the police card was his pay- ment for a violin solo. Mills Brothers now singing four songs , on their programs instead of three. Victor Young, orchestra leader, sometimes uses an umbrella rib for a baton; Graham Harris and his concert orchestra will feature Viennese tunes oh NBC. starting June 27. . Sisters of the Skillet dickering for a month In vaude in Chicago. Col.. Stoopnagle and: Budd start On talking shorts soon. Al Zugsmithi Whitemah's p. . a., LINIT BATKi CLUB ' Irving: Kaufman, Roger White's Oreht Orchestra, Songs COMMERCIAL ■ WABC New York The Linit Bath Club .until recent- ly featured a series of femme inter- views on its broadcasts, but decided to adopt its intermittent nOon-day artist, Irving Kaufman, to supplant the former Interview style. XDne angle in favor of the former Bath Club evening air periods were subjects, such as this and simplifies I they had novelty. With Kaufman Terrls'verbal observations. An In- It's strictly the songrorchestra teresting iB minutes.. OZZIE NELSON Orchestra Sustaining WABC, Ne.w York Etherizing from the Glen Island Casino'at New Rochelle, O^zie Nel son, who has Just .resumed his sea son cV this summer spot, where he has been, holding forth for several seasons, rates with the crack bands on the air. This explains the late half-hOur spot assigned him over WABC. Nelson has a smooth, subdued, yet dance compelling style, not. unlike stalndard type of entertainment layout. . Kaufman is a versatile artist who can deliver in more ways that one and should not be confined to songs alone, ^^ome time ago, as another commercial, he staged a protean minstrel show, billed as 'the man with a 1,000 voices.' Ho has a like- able baritone and pleasing delivery and' also' tempers his selections with good novelties. The Roger White orchoblra Is a good instrumental group who in- clude some novelty Instrumentation, Also featured is a xylophone solo by Harry Brewer. Kaufman closed this broadcast the Vallee' rhythmatlcs. Vocally, Friday (27) With 'Sonny Boy,' de- too; he suggests, the 'megaphone ll\'ered dramatically a la Jolson. It crooner. • Nelsori >ilsa'. . utilizes a was a bad selection, and caln't stand femme partner for vocal doubles. repetition regardless of the treat- Abel. I ment McCRAVY BROTHERS Harmony Singing Sustaining WMAQ, Chicago . Another one of those NBC build- ups^ which doesn't promise to go far. This gambling with unknown names'ib dubious at best. One out of 100 or better measure up to cOnn merciial possibilities, with the net- work meanwhile spending good time a-d moniey on a long shot These boys, for example, are just another couple of singers. There a.re bushels of them around the dial; The McCrayys, if they are.. real brothers, possess fair enough voices, yet with . nothing particularly out- standing in their style cr delivery. They specialize in the fireside type of tunes, throwing in an occa- sional hill-billy ditty for good meas; ure. At a time when straight and ordinary kind of yodeling has ceased to mean anything over, the air, the brothers here are> plainly hindicapped. . Thete; might be the chance, of them d&yeloping as they go along and possibly find some thing new eventually, if NBC. is will- ing to gamble that long. Span, WIRT G. BARNETT Adventure Tales WGY, Schenectady Introduced as a radio pioneer, for merly heard in story-series under titles 'The Nomad' and others, Bar- nett guested on after-supper broad- 'cast here. Displayed an agreeable voice and a l^naclc for tale telling, but his material only mildly inter estlnisr. Might please boy scouts, but for average listener too tame. ' Barnett, who is widely traveled, should be able to spin peppier yarns. Overdoes use of 'well* and other words. in town in advance of the leader. Smith Ballew's orchestra will be aired over WABC from the Pavillion Royal. Jack Denny preparing a gala all- Irving Berlin prograjn for the first Gem.period with Ed Sullivan, who. will have Berlin as one of his guests that night. "Ted Weems and his Chlciago band may head east for radio. Boswell Sisters received 12 dozen roses from an unknown admirer iii Boston. ■ Phil Spltalny feels undressed without , his cane, B. A. Rolfe 'worried.. Lost 10 pounds. Welcome Lewis already sporting a good coat of tan. Tom Riley, announcer ifor WFBE, Cincinnati, married' to Eugenie Beck, a belle of Louisville, Ky. They met at University of Kentucky. Ralph Haburton, formerly head of artists' bureau for Crosley, now sell- ing time for L. B. Wilson's WCKY, Covington. . Wally Maher, . the 'Chatter' of WLW, and Jack Zbller of the Cros- ley dramatic air staff, .teaming, for personal; app.earances. ■ Johnny Burkarth, on WHAS, -Couisville, from Inn Logbla. Re- places Al Crowder's O^ch. Geraldihe Thompson^ WHAS pi-: anist, obtained divorce firom hus- band, Walter,; last week. Davidson Taylor, .'C-J' radio ed and WHAS announcer, back on job after brief illness, during which Dan Thompson, 'Times' radio ed, did his news 'column.' University of Louisville hour on WHAS to be ..discontinued for sum- • mer. Jeff King, who moved np from WBBM, Chicago, has been titled CBS ■western district manager, as- signed a two-window offlce and be- stowed with a flock of futuristic furniture. John Glhon, Chi NBC continuity editor, latest success subject for the fan mag interviewers.. Car driven by Johnny Fullerj WBBM, Chi, was tapped by a bolt of lightning. Although the chariot was tossed into a ditch and Fuller out of it, only injury he emerged with was a temporarily paralyzed arm. Steve Trumbull, CBS midwest p. a., is still that way abo.ut sailboats. Henry Selllnger, Lord, Thomas & Logan radio pilot, recalls when' he pounded a piano in one of thosis hot-cha spots. L. J. Fitzgerald Is back at his desk in the Chi NBC Artists Service after a . six months' tour with Pa- derewskl. ■ ■ FREDDIE RICH and His Colum- bians Sustaining WABC, New York Taking the Monday night half hour from 10-10:30 formerly allotted to Robert Burns, Freddie Rich has an extraordinary orchestral oppo tunity, and more than fulfills If, with his Columbians. It's an appropriate enough name for Rich, considering the CBS outlet^ also one of his Co- lumbia recording labels: . Rich has patently - designed this half hour for variety and novelty. It is thoroughly muslcianly, but ex- cellent ether entertainment above all. There, are some excellent novel- ties... The music picture of the side walks of N. Y. may not be especially new .in motif, but It is done with eclat and a 6.istinCtlon' that gives it nuance. Wholly new, however, is the 'river* medley, vamping off with 'Blue lianube,' and embracing 'Beautiful Ohio,' 'Ql' Man River, etc. An excerpt from Ferde Grofe's 'Mississippi Suite' was excellent, and a post-mortem'tdne poem, 'In a Mist,' by the late Ttlx Beiderbecke, one of' Paul Whiteman's standbys, equally, distinctive and<> distin- guished. ■■: . , Rich conducted an orchestra of 45. Abel. BERNICE CLAIRE Songs, Talk WGY, Schenectady Musical comedy principal in after-supper broadcast from RKO's Albany theatre. Less time to ques tion by femme interviewer and more to display of star's vocal talent, on this b. c. . After brief Introduction, Miss Claire sang two numbers announc- ing them and introducing accom- panist, Granville English. Both handled splendidly; Radio technique excellent, high notes coming over loud speaker smoothly. Miss Claire's speaking voice Is pitched lower than her singing voice; talks rather deliberately. For first time, Harry Black, house manager, was plugged here, along with his brother, a. film 'heavy.' 'Ad' for coolness of theatre and excel lence of bill sounded naive, coming Ci'om Miss Claire. Back to Farm (Continued from rage 1) lui-e of the spil mi.ust still be strong for these laiids are selling. Agents are convincing the unem- ployed that they can live indefinitely cn the vegetables they could grow on their lots and the fish they'd get out of some nearby lake. Others make sure to mention the excellent game hunting on the property. Your ancestors lived off the land, say the agents; why can't you? They are even making use of tho old Rousseau philosophy fn" their sales talks, priming the prospects with the notion- that city life is in- herently a washout. Man was never" meant to live in concrete cages, and that untii .he gets back to Ma.ma Earth he's bound to be unhappy. Give-Aways Other agents are, however, ex- plaining how easily man can wrest a livelihood from nature. Many of these agents will build a log cabin on the grounds for the purchaser; others merely furnish plans." Sev- eral are throwing in a tent with each deal. Others a few baskets of canned goods and a canropener. Of more interest is the fact that not only a;re the unemployed edging for these vacant lots, but also sub- stantial citizens who are now gain- fully and plentifully employed. When asked \vhy, it's practically unianlmous that, 'Well, it's just in case. If things get too tough here, we can always settle dcwn on; Our acres and whittle.' Following is a typical ad directed to the unemployed and would-be whittlers of this great burg: 'UNTIL PROSPERITY RETURNS HOW WILL YOU LIVE ? Three acres of woods land; good soil to grow hardy veget- ables; near beautiful lake, best fishing and hunting. Only $15 down and $6 a mOnth for 12 months. Building timber on place. Will furnish plans for cabin, or will build ohe fgr y.ou. . Healthful, happy and inexpen- sive way to live this summer, or for an indefinite period,'