Variety (Aug 1932)

80 VARIETY R A D I • R E IP O R ¥ S Tuesdaf, August 2, 1932 ZIEGFELD MEMORIAL SERVICES Talk. Singing, Muaio Sustaining ' WMCA, New York A representative group from Broadway erathered before a WMCA mike last Friday (29) night to do tribute to Flo Zieerfeld. Proeram, which ran an hour and at no time, despite that, sliowed a tendency to lag in Interest, was a; commendable piece of framing, easily equaling anytliing of this description done by either of the networks In recent years. .'; > Dovetailing of the orchestral and organ music and a requiem solo by an unnamed - contralto' with the speaking contributions was perfect- ly done. It was a session packed tense with grief, as It came over the loudspeaker. At one point the announcer explained that Peggy Fears Blumenthal was unable to go on because of the emotion that throttled her, and later on Informed the listeners that Helen Morgan on the completion of h6r song number had broken down and had to be helped oiit of the studio. Voices of the succeeding speakers strongly impressed upon the listener the deep solemnity of the occasion, but It took a, 'Va,rletyV mugg. Jack Pulaski, to Inject the human note Into the picture and by a series of anecdotes recall the Zlegfeld person- ality in ^all Its vividness as Broad- way knew it. Another Interesting highlight among the speaking tributes came from Mrs. Blumenthal, who started off with saying she was thiere be- Icause she had lost a friend and de- scribed a piquant episode'' or two out Of Zlegfeld's life which, she said revealed the attectlon held for him by his employees from the stars down to the charwoman. Mrs. Blumenthal's. husband spoke pre- viously in the program, taking occa- sion to mention that he was deter- mined to keep 'Show Boat' at the Casino going until at leaiat Thanks- giving Day. Others who appearefl were Daniel Frohman, who came as a friend and as head of the Actors* Fund: Percy Moore, as a representative of the Bplscopal Actors' Guild and the I>ambs Club; lioney Hafikell as sec- retary of the. Jewish Theatrical Guild; Bert Lahr, Hal LeRoy, Harry iEUchman, who read a poem by Nick Kenny that could have been passed uik for a better selection; Ed SuUl- van« columnist; Marguerita PaduUa, who sang 'Abide With Me*; Dennis King, Korma Terris, who also dang, and Bide DudFey. . , -' Mayor Walker had been scheduled to also speak, but his brother's ill- ness called him away at practically .tH6 last miniite to Saranab. Oaec. . BALL CANNING TIME With Qraeo Vail Gray Orchestra, Talk Commercial • WJZ, N«w York ; "Weekly afternoon session seem? to have undergone almost complete revision since it made its NBC debut four weeks ago. Qaairtet is out «ind the vocal harmony has been re- placed with Interludes of instru- mental chamber music. - • Not much time left lor music, at that, by the time the commercial .experts and otherwise have had their say. From the handling of the plug angle, the quarter-hour affair shapes up as a big improve- ~ ment over the original version. Neat bit of dialoglng between Grace Vail Gray, honie economics, and her feeder, Mairtha Crane, with the former descanting on the best ways of canning and the equipment necessary. Through all this patter on the technique of canning Mrs: Gray avoids; any overatresalng. or overmentionlng of the Ball Bros, jars. Both expert, and Iiiterlocutor sell themselves with voices well suited to. the mike. In both the announcer's intro- ductory and closing credits atten- tion, .Is called to the 'Ball Blue ^ook,' a manual on the ways of preserving, given away gratis for the writing. Booklet is. referred to frequently during the Gray-Crane exchange. Information retailed Is of timely interest to the housewife practi- tioners of the art of canning, and despite the small allotment of the clock given the orchestra the pro- gram packs all the earmarks of an effective daytime sales agent. - Odec. SIDNEY B. WHIPPLE News Commentator Sustaining WOR, Newark r< With a voice whose twang Is an almost perfect replica of the Bide Dudley mike personality,; this rep from the United Press feature staff talces over a late evening quarter hour for a smooth arid pertinent ramble among the day's neWs events. Leisurely and> colloquial manner rates stirongly In his favor considering the hour. Whipple miyes his Items well. He reveals, when it comes to personal comment, . a broad knowledge of current political and economic pi:ob- lems and a newspaper background studded .with Important and colorful contacts. Inclined, . however, at times to over-edltoi'lallze and to dote too niuch on some romlnis-. cence or anecdote brought up by the Item at hand. But the session as a whole is of interest to the listener outside the metropolitan area whose local daily won't tell him about it Until the next mornlhg or afternoon. Odec. CRAZY CRYSTALS Male Quartet Disk COMMERCIAL V WFBR^ Baltimore When this Texas mineral spring 4rm,, Crazy Crystal Springs, decided to go on the ozone some two months ago, the president stowed his fav Texas singing foursome Into an air- plane and flew the batch of 'em up to Chicago. And In that, town per- formed the new transcribing speed, record by disking 22 quarter-hour platters in something like 10% hours. Then he got the vocallstQ back into the plane and winged back home the same day. : But the results here, point to the conclusion .that haste is plenty waste; The platters are now pretty evidences that It wasn't worth the effort. Not only Is the Job weak from an entertainment viewpoint, but also mechanically. Programs nabbed were physically handicapped by bad surface noise, the wlilshihg of the needle coming over the loud- speaker like a storm at sea. Po&i slblUty, of course, that this sta- tion's turntable pickup equipment is at faUlt. The foUr men sing In a lifeless and colorless mariner, the stuff general- ly allotted to Texas quartets. So that there's not even a hint of orig- inality in the Interludes of boss iarraii^einents of spirituals, cowboy doggerels, and anything with a hymn-like atmosphere. All been done to death before, and better. None of It here serves either as worth while llstenln'g or proper sell- ing of the. Crazy Crystal Jninerai springs arid product. Saucer, besides, attempts to sell too ma,ny things, giving a Jumbled effect. One disk C3ntains the four- some vocalizing, a long speech 'by President Collins, who fries to sell, Ilrst, the Springs rest cure, and sec- ond, the concentrated minerals for personal use. There are testi- monials and plugs for the curative povi>ers of both Items: Disk is also chopped rather short to leave room for the local announcer to give a long closing spleL All much too much. It Is this sort of cheap and taste- less stuff that, more thain anything else, has made the disk the black sheep of the radio family. PLAIN PEOPLE Serial Comedy Drama Sustaining KFWB, Hollywood Aimed for the small town middle westerners, of which this iieck of the woods is full; Written by Kay Van Riper, and played by a cast of five former picture and stock play- ers, serial has been on this station for 32 weeks In weekly half-hour periods, Moulded somewhat after the pat- tern of the Seth Parker program, but songless, value is in the fact that each episode Is complete, each being a Kketch ol. some phase of small town life or set of characters. All the recognized hick characters are there, but never eatired. Not a program for the hot cha followers, btit fulfills Its mission to reach the transplanted. KFI FUN FACTORY With Evans & Mayer, Rhythm Girls, Grace LaRue, Slip and Slide and John Vale One Hour Sustaining KFI, Los Angeles One of those programs in which everything goes In from the kitchen stove up, and with everyone within walking distance of the station that night getting opportunity to. do their stuff. Every station in Lk>s Angeles has one or two similar hours during; the week, all following in the wake of the success of the- Blue Monday Jamboree, CBS coast chain. Trying to crowd a coritplete vaudeville show into a 60-mln. period is jake, but In this case it would seem better to let the comic chatter stuff come from those who make a business of it, rather than to inject an over- dose' of alleged humor In the an- nouncements. The wisecracks from this end, growing whiskers, had the effect of stretching the announce- ments, which should be cut dbwn to let the names dp their stuff. Well produced, as the initial , at- tempt of David Ballou, new at the station from the picture fleld. He had the pick of the station's -talent, plus Evans and T tayer, current that week at the local Orpheum, and Grace LiaRue. Cross-fire stuff from the team, snappy although not by any means new. Miss LaRue sang two nuhibers. Singing honors went to John Vale, baritone, a regular contrlb on this station. Slip and- Slide, a wise-cracking combination featured on a Gilmore Oil program, topped the program for laughs. Others on the station staff were on and off for two to flve-minute turns, with Roger Peiiih's orchestra ' backgrounding. Prc^gram could have stood a little more band stuff, and a little lesss introduction chatter. Hour is only four -weeks old, but holds promise. CLIFF EDWARDS Songs with Orohsstra 15 Mins. , ' Sustaining' WABC, New York Wliere one might have listened with triptdaMon to' 'Ukulele Ike' Cliff Edwards in the past, fearing that his c-'centric, energetic style of songology might result In a frac- tured larynx Or a couple of backfir- ing tonsils at least, today, micro- phonlcally, he's a different Edwards, lice knows how to sell his stuff for best ear (and heart) effect. He does a mlnlmUm of-the eccen- tric hi-de-hl'lng r and goes in for melody balladTs in a, highly effective manner. So much so, one doesn't believe the radio; program billing In wondering doubt'until a snatch of the trade-marked ha-cba vocalizing POPS up. > Edwards is a canny song pro- grammer, lie dijsis far bacic for 'em, such as Berlin's ''When I Lost . You' and 'My Best Girl,' alonj with the contemporaneous stuff, and the ef- fect is startling because of the man- ner in which the old familiars sound better than the current pops. There is a mellowness to the old numbers which ecUpseer the appeal almost anything of the current song crop. Possibly p. decade hence a 'Para- dise', or a 'Lullaby of the Leaves' will have the same mellowed reac- tion, although that's, admittedly de- batable. As a corollary, it Is this penchant of Edwards for the old songs Which should bring home to radio more than- ever how valuable are these old copyrights for their present needs.: It incidentally jibes w*ith Irving Berlin's own,observation that radio is not only destroying the present music business, but what has been built up In the past. The composer, whether with prophetic kilowledg't .o'* what of his old songs were .bein«r revived for the air or riot, bad stated that rkdlo's access to the music Industry's treasury of pas.t proved son^ successes was cer- tain to ruin both the past and pres- erit musical catalogs.- To return , to Edwards, his favor- able mike Impression leaves little doubt as to his important quallflca- tlons for .the ether. Edwards has not only assured professional de- livery, but a stage and screen, rep of sizable proportionis. This name value, when"'fu/ther fortified. by ether popularity, will also have Its extraordinary effect at future box offices on personal appearances. For. such la the cycle of contemporary show business. Abel. EVERETT WHITMYRE Hobby Talks Sustaining WGY, Schenectady Everett 'Whitmyre, 'The Hobby Rider^ (who founded the Interna- tiotial Hobby Club), gallops into WGT's studio Fridays to miload a ,sadclle bag full of hobbyfeed for dis- tribution over an NBC! network. It's ah interesting afternoon feature, re- vealing the odd pastimes of famous and Unknown people.. In some cases Whitmyre reads letters from industrialists, poten- tates, novelists, picture stars, stage players, artists, etc., ort their hob- bies, while in Dthecs he glveis In- formation without revealing the source. Apparently he has lots of fan mall from lilm 'names' or their press agents; there Is rarely a broadcast in which hobbies of sev- eral stars are not mentioned. Prizes are offered, and winning letters sometimes read. Judging from prize lists, these broadcasts have good-coverage in small towns of Mississippi Valley region, Ohio, New England, and New York, with heavy representation a.mong women listeners. Recently Kansas and Mis- souri h^ve been to the fore in pro- ducing prize winners. Whitmyre is the breezy, enthusi- astic type of talker. Jaco. IVAN ^PPENOFP Orchestra Diance Muisio Bismarck Hotel WGN, Chicago Eppenoft is filling in at the Bis- riiarck Hotel while Art Kassel is away for the suriimer. Of no previ- ous fame and certainly not known to the. trade at large, Eppenoff has an easy-to-takfi brand of music. It's lilty and peppy, not strongly styl- ized In any direction but modern In Its^'tM;>F roach and treatment. It soothes' the nerves while pleasing the ear. ■ EppenofiC's probably can compare favorably with many better known aggregations with the lack of repu- tation the rather important line of demarcation.. Vocals are nicely rendered. A lato evening sustainer dividing with Carl Moore at the Drake and Clay Bryson at the Blackhawk. Land: JERRY >BAKER Songs 15 Mins^ . WMCA, New York Baker is a tenor of average vo.cal appeal -who can handle the pops in nice enough style. He makes fOr a pleasant 16 minutes. Baker has also seen disk record- ing as the vocal Interluder with dance orchestras. It's a typical mike voice. He'll require better outlet ^exploitation it he's to mean anything for theatre box gflUce. ' ■ ■ AbeJ. EI8ENHART JUVENILES Amateur Show COMMERCIAL WORK, York, Pa. Perfect tle-In for a; small town dajry. ^Every "week " Elsenhart takes 16 af ternoon minutes to parade .the tdlenta of .local, youngsters. In a small town, -where everybody knows the kids that are fiddling, warbling, or reciting, it can't be topi)ed. The relatives will go for it, no matter how bad, while those who are not in the family can get howls put of the kids. programs caught were funny enough to have been staged: the kids who forgot their lines in. the middle of . the recitation and get audible, prompting from the proud mama; little girl playing ,the first lesson in the piano book, the boy who gets up to the mike only to ^et tongue-tied and has to be bowed Crff by the announcer (who, by the way, handles his job with grace, tact and an excellent touch of QUlet hiimor). Not much of this type of program around these parts, and what little there is of it gets 6y perfectly on the smack of originality and the natural humor of the situations. 'LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE' With Everett-Mitchell . Episodic COMMERCIAL WGN, Chicago This one appears not to have been reviewed previously, although on the air for a long while and practically the sole survlvbr 6t the original bunch of cartoon strips from the Chicago 'Tribune' which were, peddled to. advertising spon- sorship for the radio. WGN has Ovaltlne behind this one. It's a kid show, and who can gauge With any accuracy the likes of Infants?. As with Kellogg's Singing Ijady, which follows during the. same twilight period the men- tal goal seenis to be six and seven- year-olds. A typical episode might be called 'The Mystery of the Missing Peaches.'And here lis some typical dialog: 'Did. you take that can of peaches?* 'Why, I don't knov^. what you're talking about.' 'Well, I opened .a can of peaches and now It's gone and somebody must have taken It.' 'NO, I didn't take it.' 'Land 'sakes, then -who did?' 'Well, I don't know. I don't know what you!re talking about.' _^ 'Well, I had a can ancl I opened It and it's gone and now you say you didn't take. It, and, land sakes, I don't know what to think,' 'I wias here all the time. I never saw the peaches.' 'Well, if you're sure you didn't take it, who did?' 'Gosh, I don't know.' •Well, peaches can't just walk off.' 'Gosh, I never thought of that.' This Is practically verbatim of -what goes on and on. Orphan Annie and Joe are cherubic youngsters of the school of emphasis. They say everything at least three times. Di- alog Is as enervating as a heat wave. Land. PROP. HENRY McLEMORE Comedy Talk 15 Mins. Sustaining WABC, N. Y. McLemore Is a U. P. sports writer who came to attention through WABC when he was put on for an afternoon' football series last fall, and with the assistance of a natural Georgian drawl, started to ramble so muoli and so faraway from his gridiron subject and to such good effect that the station figured what's the difC. For McLemore, so say the station, savants, achieves the un- usual of making them laugh extem- poraneously. And so when it was decided to spilt up the evening dance and mu- sic marathdhs with an 8-8.16 p. m. periodic Interruption, McLemore, with/a Jocular Prof, prefixing his name, was given a thrice weekly spot. He alternates with another fourth estater, Edmund C. Hill, for 22 years the star reporter of the N.. Y. 'Evening Sun,' who talks on current events. McLenjore evidences his advance heralding as a zany and clown by- going into a silly discourse on how to . write a popular' song and -vvln that house and lot. He suggested such titles as 'Staten Island, You Rascal You,' or 'Staten Island, I Love You,' with further discourses on writing patriotic songs, girl songs, weather songs or what have .you? McLemore is not without humor- ous niceties. One fears perliaps that they're too fine niceties for the generality: It. wouldn't surprise if the Amos 'n' Andy .addicts don't take the Prof, a bit too literally, but If their mental stance is on a par with McLemore, CBS Will have surely achieved its objective of en- gagingly splitting up its evening song and dance marathons. He brings to the air a new style of comedy delivery which fan mail' .alone will determine as to It" mnss appeaL Abel. GENE AUSTIN Sengs wKh OrehMtr* 15 Mins. Sustfining WJ^ New York . Gene Auptln Is another In the an., nals of show business, Vlth its upa and downs, who is a forceful re- minder that you can't be head man all the time. Not so long-ago It seems Austin was the composite Valleo-Crosby-Columbo (and name a few more) of Victor records. "Them were the good old days when there -wa» such a thing as the music busi- ness and records—^Victor's or any- body else's—sold, because Feist, Iric, had a song, 'My Blue Heaven.' which, too, sold into the 1,000,000.< mark. In Tin Pan Alley's, mournful mid- summer of 1932. that seems like an- cient history. But it was Austin who sang a song, -My Blue Heaven,? for Victor which earned a small for- tune for its writers, Walter Donald- son and Geprge Whiting, and en- abled. A^ln to reap so much roy- alty for himself from his disk tenor- ing that .he. invested a surplus in- come In a yacht and called it 'Blue Heaven' also, as a lasting reminder. Then something happened to Vic- tor records, to Gene Austin's music publishing sideline, to his other activities, arid to hirinself Including a lack of girth cOntrpI which cir- cumvented Austlri's qualifying for screen bids, which were In the Offing. Today, with Kate Snilth on the radio bandwagon, such an item as a well-fed corpulence won't stop. Austin from whainmlng 'em on per- sonals, of which he had been a pioneer In the picture houses and at fancy mpney. The main item at the moment is the NBC's building up of Austin out of the Chi sector, allotting him a choice dinner time 16 minutes. It's the effective spots which were in- strumental in bringing Crosby, Kate Smith, Columbo, et. al., to public consciousness, falling as they did at a highly concentrated meet-and-eat period. Austin's radio click Is but a mat- ter of time. His basic voice appeal has long since. been pro-ven and while Ynldsummer's vacillating in- terest in radio is something to be reckoned with, it may mean but a few weeks longer before they be- come Austin-minded. He's getting an excellent grooms ing, including an.orchestra for sup- port. Austin is wisely picking his stuff, mixing: up an original number such as 'Get Along,' with a Gersho win revival, 'Somebody liOves Me.' Abel. BILL and EILEEN With Eilssn Douglas and Robert Griffin Patter and Singing Commercial WJZ, New York .. Program serves m the eastern rep on the' air for Nivea cpld cream, with the release oh a four-time weekly basis split between two morning and two afternoon periods, On the Chicago end one of the more popular local, teams, Dan and Syl- via, have been hitting it up for the past four months for the same com^ mercial with successful results. Wide differentiation between the two shows. Chicago act sticks closely to a vaude routine, while the Bill and Eileen version strives to . Impress itself as something smart and week-endlsh. Dialog and situa- tions contrived appear to be a little too fly and clever for class that the commercial most likely has in mind. Deft piece of timing. throughout On the patter exchange, with Eileen Douglas and Robert Griffin, both from the stage, proving past masters at the art of squeezing every drop of humor possible out of a line, Similar bouquet cannot be accorded Griffin for bis warbling interludes. It's a pleasing baritone, but lacking the finer points to instill punch into, a pop ditty.' After all, he's an acto^ and not a singer. Plug is smoothly and briefly woven. In toward the eiid of the quarter-hour, - with Miss Douglas doubling Irito the sales role. Odec. . LEE WILEY With Leo Reisman's Orchestra 30 Mins. COMMERCIAL WEAF, New York Any' time one hears Leo Reisman on a record or the radio, one feels It was a mistake of some sort for the snooty Central Park Casino to grow careless and force out a band of Reisman's calibre. But a few strains of Reisman's brand of sym- phonic syncopation are needed to conjure up ~ associations synony- mous only with a C. P. Casino, New York; a Mayfair, Los Angeles; a Cafe de Paris, Monte Carlo; a Gros- venor House, London, or a Hotel Mlr^^mar, Biarritz. Not that Reisman isn't content to stick to the air exclusively, com- mercial radio being what it is for the: fortunate elect. But his is a brand of ultra dance music that should be housed in some swank hostelry as a permanent feature. Regardless,; it's a honey for a class -woriian's product sUch as Pond's and Reisman sees to it that tunes like 'Sweet and Gorgeous' punctuate the musical proceedings ■» (Continued on page 64)