Variety (Aug 1932)

48 VARIETY A D I Tuesday, August 30, 1932 JjUtl^J^^ ihejiir . Ward Wilson on WJZ mlsse^-flre •wltih.' hia Wlnchellingt) 'impressions of the Broadway columnist. He -■ spoke too fast, wsis indistinct and too shrill in his take-off of Walter ..Wlnohell, with tlie chatter,.. 1£ of ^any value, more or less a secret i>ecause of the dizzy pace. The Yagrabonds ofchestra's dance inters f ludea were the sole-saVinfir graces : of it aU. Jerry Solow, tenor; Sliver Bell, so- prano, and Kenneth Kln^,. baritone, split a nice half hour on WMCA, Solow'B 'When Fm liboklngr' at You' r from the. 'Rogue Sons' registering particularly; also t^e anonymous , Silver Bell's soprano numbers. ! Georga Howard of thei Song F^If- ' lows on- WJZ rang the bell with "It Wiaa' So Beautiful,' current ttbp ballad favorite. Quairtet closed with *Dlnah' In snappy mannier. '-Among 'the best, coritemporanous vpca.1 harmonics., Billy flilurray, Walter Scanlon and Maircella Shields, assisted by. the Bower dt-ches'tra, try hard to be dlf- ~'ferent with thehr comedy Interludes. Some of the gags are good; some not BO,' but in the main It's aWay : from the straight singing stuff. ^Otherwise .their pops - eire- light an<)i palata.ble. \' Enrip ' . MadregueroV : hauntlpg ,', tSieme,^ witb. Its Cuban rhythmaiticslr 'ought to be played throiiisrh, as a * dance, number; ' - Thfe 'C6mmod6r6 ' hoitel combo does nicely on Wb^l 'for 16 minutes. ' Ditto Isham Johie^ ;. from: the Bitz-Carltdn'a- Pompeiiaa ,-ro6ii|^ Atlantlp . Clty< . : i , frying. ..Conn'a nicely .rhythmed dance - music from . Ben Rlleyfa .Arr " rOWJiead '^tnn ° also. holds [plenty- [of 'compelling temp6 there.'. A rumba tango' wail' especially oke, 'but that : goes generally for those melody fox-. &ot 'medleys of short choruses.. Edwin, C. .Hill, yet N. T. 'Bvenlng Sun' reporter, who does a thrice- rwefekly news broadcast for WABG, ^ha9 a breezy, newspaper style' aboUt his reports, not forgetting much of the human interest stuff for the r-necessary .highlight, color and final cpnvlncer. -IVa 'apparent from his .:.talks on the day'fl .toplos Just wb^ .HUl, for ^2 years, or thereabouts, the star reporter bf.. 1;he "ISun,^ aclileye'd thav standing. ; -The- conithiehtialry 6h Joseph tlunr thingdr, " tho '• tnaglciah;''-whO' Ih6l- >de;itally received 'quite A plug,' In itself v unus.ual via. that Dunnlngei*, ,''Rbil9..now a> more or less society AQtertainer. isstill opexi to sua .'plcloQ of theatrical press- .agentry. r-Aiiyway/ Hill ^poke of him as an J ABE I .1 AND HIS CALIFORNIA ORCHESTRA^ OolomMs 'Broadctisiliir S7St«ifa phIllip's dental magnesia: Toes., Ibnn., Sat. .8:Itt (East) COAST-fo.c6AST iwAB cr rHCUUP'S' I>ENTAIi liAOMBSIA WABC-!-rTae0., Thnrs., Bat., 8.15 P.M. FRANCES LANGFORD - MANnATTAM BIEI.ODIES irOB—Wednesday, 10 P. Bf. Atop Empire State Bids. accjBPted standard, - particularly in view of the spiritualistic' episode which he recounted as occurlng at the Lionigr Island estate where Dun- ninger was the invited entertainer. Jack Frost's Melody Moments re- tains its standing as one of the ace orchestral shows coming through either of the networks. Always a fljje balancing and blending of thia classical operatic and bop .schools, with the deft batoning of - Josef Pasternack giving It all a flash and flair that's bound to please and also Impress.; (Spod piece of spotting, tha.t of Oliver Smitji, tenor, for the warbling . interludes. Ad credit shaved down to mInimMm, Lucky Strike, it would sieem, feels that it's slipping, on the air. Walter O'Keefe .voiced a 'flnale invitation to write in requests lor whomever the public Would llke to /hear on the radio and promised L. S. will get em,. That!<? a pretty wide-open orA der, ..btiit the dggie account is In- tent on reviving public interest in what 'was the major commercial hour, but which has begun to wane!. Lucky's band routine with' an m. Ci^ a thing 'started by Walter WlHchell and capably' enough car-^ rled on by Walter O'Keefe, does need some new 'wrinkles. Getting big names bn the air such as Capt. ^. A. Molllson a 'week ago Saturdaj^ Is pne.good stunt, but It looks as if an entire new scenario Is ni^cessary. Lucky - has been auditioning air m09t everybody (if everybody; on Broadway Is to be believed), hencd it tiiay' bb flirting with new ideas all ready; although' the- Jack Fearli MiUon, Berle, type,.of talent which has been auditioned could just aif well fit into the present formula. Waynp King and.HalKentp played their waltzes and foxtrots in proi fessional manner, and O'Keefei did the dizzy-paced announcements in prescribed manner and all that sort of. thing,, but Jj. S; oiighta give A, thought to Bomei new ether continu- ity. Paging Monte Hackett Hollywood,'Aug. 2»; ' The stagp bijnch out hero follow the Eld Wynn hour pretty ' closely. Despite .the rush pit picture production, ■Marx Brothers) Cantor, J6l- son and the rest of the tods manage to get to a radio for. the weekly '^yUn chatter. All "claim that from a per- former's standpoint, Wynn has solved the radio problem with his' -hodigre-podge matierlal. Thought out. here Is that Wynn has tried nothing ;new, adhering to his tried and true stage material, and thereby takes no' chances With the ether fans. Coast bunchi who are on- and-offers as regards broad- casting, • also those ' who are figuring on fall radio engage- ments, claim they will • stick to their stage material ex- cept to throw out the sight laugh stuff./ ' Ojjien and. johilisoh's cackle on the Fleischmann "Teast hour Is get" ting to be rather Irritating. Maybd because anybody passing the Palace on ;^roadway. several times daily, and getting a load of. the. phono- eiraph Recording of a laff miarathon, hals thiat still fresh in memory,-but the- ihtensive giggling. White intend ed tO'be contagious,' nidy bis'other-^ wise.' .- - •• • . O&J are trying to. bring some- thing'new in comedy-styles to <th$ ether to back up the,standard Vallee music on Flelscbmann's. bnt . It's 'stUl 50-60 whether the team Is mak- ing itself as ImpresslH^e via the air waves as it has so signally'distin- guished Itself on th(9 variety, stages of the country. • Meiibe..it's the .n^w .corapetlsh of the,Three Keys, but the. ^tUs'.Bros, sefem t6 have pepped up' In .thieir Chipso stuff. They .'<i7ere in Wceedr ingly'fine fettle last weeic,- limpr umplng their odd rhythms in en-i- gaging manner. The last detail, sblentlstff declare, for perfect television is the perfecj- tion of the shortest wave length, or 'baby wiggler,' as they call It. While waiting , for technloal informatloh on a wave bender credited to Gia- como Marconi, General EUctrlc men, by reducing wave lengths to 12 and 16 feet, now claim television Is 75^: set.- . /• If advance datia, on the Marcom discovery la substantiated, then, state this Amerlcsin engineers, tele-- vision's problems will be' over,' be- cause the. Italian inventor cuts the serial stream -of transmission down to 18 inches,' • General Electric, 'conducting' isbme Of its na^JPr' broadPast espOrimehts from the Empiire State tower; iManV hattan, reports/that its own short- est lengths ' ha;v6' promoted • tele* ■ ■■■■■MU l llHU| «MllllMllllll^UMMlllll^ll"i"l'WIIII"""""" | || || |||y |r| East Soudi flAL BECKETT ORGANIST Fox, Brooklyn, New York indefinitely RAYMOND PAIGE MoBloal Director KIIJ, £ob Angeles • . OCEST CONBOCTOB . HOLLVWOdD'BbWl STMPHONr. July 29th DlrectliiK OersliwIn'B "American In Parte" and the Belclicr Ballet . Dr. Sigmund Spaeth has a nice 16 mlhs. on WJZ with his 'tune detec- tive' stiifC Spaeth has built' up for himself a sort of tune-larceny cloak. He's the: man who always gets his Brahms or Chopin and has been doing it for years. . He takes the current and past pop tunes and dissects them to show up the tin pan alley boys for con- genial but also congenital plagiar- ists who, apparently, can't make tbp nation's songs without digging back into the classics for Ihspiratlon. : Anyway, thems as likes that sort 0' thing win think the Doc a Very devilish fellow as he. traces the sources. of origination, imagination and mbtiyation of blues and styfiC. Still packing a hefty, descriptive wallop, Tom Terrls Is doing a week> ly travelog seriea for NBC. last .week's program- that came over ■^VJ^AP had the 'Vagabond Director' skipping from one foreign clime to another, sketching each scene in colors certain to make a deep Im- pression on the imagination and in- vesting his narrative, with a dra- matic quality that has little com- petition of its kind on the air. He is. inclined at times, however, to overbuild the climax of his ad- venture anecdotes and give too much emotional significance to in- cidents that the . aiverage listener would And hard to get excited about Adroit cueing of the musical in- terludes tiiroughout and a. neat blending, of the song numbers into the narrative. Jinjmy Walllngton (Continued on page 51) VIRGINIA KARNS musical comedy AND RADIO ARTIST Recently WI.W, Cincinnati, BKO Circuit Now at KTM, Irf>9 AnRcles—Special Engragentont THIS tVEKK PARAMOUNT THEATRE/ tOS ANOELES Vision frofni the. strictly close-up! to mediiiin-shot class.' ' ■ Marconi's Feat" The wave that Is measured lii Inches, ^uch as the Marconi dlipov- ery,. how;ever, is heeded before teler vision oian. Include long shots and lend definition to mob scenes. •Babjr wiggler^.' In" the, perfect state, not only.-will serve ad the goal for television eiperts, but w.111 add such an imprbvement to the broad- casting of sound that present day radio will be literally revolution ized, it is maintained, by such ex perts as Dr.'Alfred N. Goldsmith. Just SIS the short length defines the television picture, so that a mob on Broadway, for instance, could be broadcast with sharpness of de tail, so will the clarity and frequen cles of sound be Improved, It Is held. All types of motion pictures will be available for television broadcast with the Introduction of the tiny wavelet. Now only film dealing with, a limited cast, chiefly semi close-upped, is available, for tele visor reception. Aside from what it wlU do for the tele picture, short waves will en- able television broadcastiiig to be operated on a far moris extensive scale. Instead Pf .covering only a, few major cities,, pis. has been the general plan of the American elec^i tries, the short wave will enabW scores of stations to be erected so that virtually every, square, mile in the country will be. enabled to re ceive tele broadcasts. Wave Lengths To cut a wave to less than 20 feet and still get clear carrying power for 170 miles is a feat which RCA execs state they have accomplished from mountain tops at given points^ Making a 'cheater* out of thei shbrt wave is .an element rheld . of primary interest by elcclrlc sclen tlsts and one of the many reason^ why they are Manifesting such ah eagerness for details of the Marcoiil discovery, The 'cheater' is visualized by .American exports as a •nave trans mltted directly into the sky and there meeting a reflection, ora pos slble hook-up with other waves of greater length, which carries . its message- onward. — Ken Casey, erstwhile 'mysterious crooner,* Is framing a vaude act. James Meltbn hopes to land in a Broadway production .this fall. Beaucoup auditions and every- body optimistic ' ■ Sam Kopp p. a'Ing Morton Dow- ner, in associa,tIoh with Gedrge D. Lottman, Bucceedlng Barney Mc- Deayltt, who resumed as p. a^. for 'Warlng's Pennsylvanlans.: .. Jack Pearl auditioned for Lucky Strike. r pverett Crosby,- Bing's brother- tnanager, W T. awaiting' the singer's return. ■ Del Casino, baritone, 'wlU 'take two weeks from the WRNT mike starting Labor Day to find out 'whjr they go to Canada, Graham Prince quits, the Pjailals D'Or, New.'"3rbrk, !Sept. 7„ to reader another band for a prospective com- mercial. , . Renewal gives Bay Perkins an- other 13 weeks for Barbfisol. Same, goes for Peter Van Steeden'fl' cpmbo.^ •• yrank Mason, ■ NBC •, Vi-p.- and propaganda chief,, was. a , military attache at the AmerIrian einbiassy. IiX-Berlin. 1 '^ Arthur Pryor, Jr., 3.B.D., & ,0. radio director, visiting the Fire- stone plant in Akron to get art Ih- slde-line on-tire malcing. .: ',Bob Royce is a, new Con Conrad discovery. • . . . • , Stars they imitate . advise . the Funriyboners -what phases of the routine they'd like imitated.. Mildred ■ Bailey plays the Para- mount, Sew York, as a single Sept. 9. ■ ' • Louis Dean doing the road guide for SheU Oil nightly over.WABC. It's the Columbia Key station's first flve-mlnuto program this" season. ■Federal Radio Commission grants •new police licensies to NeWto^n, Mass.; Anderson, • Ind.; Ghanute, ICan, - Roland Bradley substituting, for Bill Meenari, p. a. for WGT, Sche- nectady, on "News Items,' afternoon broadcast presented in co-operation with 'Union Star' and United Press. America's Wage Earners' Protec- tive Conference of Newark, N. J., has applied to FBC for a. new sta- tion permit of 5 kWf Pqw.er, request- ing the present facilities bf .WLWX,, New York. WTBO, Cumberland, Md;, sold by Associated Broadcasting Corp., to Interstate Broadcasting System, InO. Edwin Drillings, of Middle Village, N, Y-., applying for a IM-watt sta- tion, to share time with WWRL, WMIL and WMBQ., Due to death pf Cllve B. Mere- cilth, WSYR-WMAC, Syracuse, N. Y.i has its license assigned to James G. Tracy and Sdmuhd D. Smedberg, executors of Meredith's estate. Golden Dragon,' mystery chiller over WHEC, going so big, sponsors, Tide Water Oil Co., nibbling on na- tional hookup idea. William Fay, manager WHAM, auditioning new talent, a baby daughter. Dr. Robert . N. Dett, Negro com- poser connected with ^he Eastman School of Music, training singers for WHAM, Rochester. Harry Salter now heading orches- tra for Hellmon'a mayonnaise. Margery. Moffett, wife of Harold Stein, the radio photog, slated to get a hearing from the NBC program board. Billing, herself as a 'dlseuse.' Chester Stratto.n, NBC Artists Service, sponsoring Dave and English for a buildup. "George. Welderhold, program dl^ rector of WHAS, lost his tonsils laatl Walter B. Halsilp, i WHAS an- nouncer,, on vacation. Pete Monroe Just retui*ned, will'handle day an- nouncpments. Greater Louisvllie Players wound up series of 'true police dramas' over WHAS, ' Boyd Martin; dram, mer dammeo 'Courier-Journal,' dl. rected. WAPI,; Birmingham, planning its 10th birthday soon, says Bill Pape may present birthday program, over NBC... .' ., " ■ Sylvester Gross ventures as proi gram director for KFUL, Galveston. Permission to ihanige from 60 to 100 watts has been asked-of the Radio Commission- by KRMD, Shreveport, La. The license for WTSL will- probably be transferred to Southland' Radio Corp. The iita. tion is at Laurel, Miss. Tracey-Boswells Will , Sub for Ruth Etting^ Ruth Btting takes a two-'Week vacation at thei end of her current contntct -with Chbsterfleld, Sept. 10. New contract given her by- the clggle account-last week will bring her back to the sesslbn Sept. 24 for a 14-week stretch. During her absence at Lake I^lacid'"the 'Sfreet Singer and the Boswell ' Sisters will , split ' the Ettlrig' ' twlce^a-week assignment between them. <£B A!N0 ZEB' BprSWED '^ian Francisco, Aug. 29. Shell pil Co. haip renewed Kb and Zeb, country store serial team ,on; ICFRC and the Don Lee chain in California, taking a second 13 Iwceks of the pair. Eb and Zeb, who are Al Pcarce an.d: Bill Wright, also are on 13 Northwestern and Hawaiian stations via transcription, sponsored by' Shell. Oil company will take a one shot crack at the Blue Monday Jamboree on Sept. 5 sponsoring the two-hour Coast network program for one ^Ight only as part of a western sales campaign. Sisters West Ted Mack conducted a contest among singers and instrumentalists over KLZ f or h!l3 act at the Denver theatre. \ " Six thousand five hundred pieces of mail received by KLZ first day after announcing Philco contest. ; Frank Bishop, formerly commer clal maTiager KFEL, DQnver, made manager KVOR, Colorado . Springs, KVOR la owiied by KLZ, Denver. Fred Allen, assistant commercial mariiager KLZ, Denver, to Chicago, combining vacation and business KGBX moved from St. Joseph to Springfield, Mo. Evening 'Wisconsin,' Milwaukee^ sold WISN to American Radio News Corp. ■ . ■■. .' WMBH,: Joplln, Mo., sold by Ed win D. Aber to W. M. Robertson. Red River Lumber Co^, West- wood, Calif., awarded two special emergency . construction permits for forest fire broadcasts. Bob Bence added. to announcing staff of ICFRC was formerly on KPO, and for past two months on Dobbsle's morning hour over Don Lee network, Adcl-i Burlan, blues singer, has four sustaining programs on KTAB -formerly on staff.-of-KYA^ - fVESTINGHOrSB EI.ECTRIC .'Present! . AL'NpETE : (Have Yqu Had Your . iron Today ?) iZsiS P. M. B.S.T. Monday, Wedinesday, Friday— WJZ Tuesday & Thnrsday—WEAF JACK DENNY AND ORCHESTRA Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Victor Records Gem Safety Razor Program Lucky Strike Dance Hour Management M. 0, A. . Master Without Ceremony on the' M. J. I*. Demi Tasso Revue, n. . c. Statl((ns Coa«t Network ■ JOHN SHEVLm (TENOR) After 18 weeks on WOK, am tok- ihgr a vacation.' ' To resume my activities on tho nlr I.nbor Day. Permanpnt AddreRn: Amster- dum Avo., New York