Variety (Sep 1932)

56 VARIETY RADIO REP TS Tuesday, September 2.7, 1932 4-.' ALL-AMERICA FOOTBALL SHOW Christy Walsh COMMERCIAL WABC, New York Among the season's new entries on behalf of General Foods, and postum In particular. It should serve its purpose on the strength of the annual grid fever, but will need more color than the initial broad- cast unfurled to class it important- ly. It's a once weekly affair for a half-hour stretch, and timed well, Friday nights. Listed as a conception of Christy Walsh, the sports commentator who reaches the public in devious ways,, including one-reel shorts, the line- up tabs a string of credits narrating Freddie Rich's band as playing .the college songs and Andre Kostelanetz in charge of the mob effects. Also there is to be a weekly guest in the person of a well-known coach, in this case Eddie Casey, who tells Harvard's warriors what he wants and how he wants It. Present basis of the period is the reviving of spectacular plays which won some of the big games last sea- son. Not especially, new in lieu of those air periods which have gone so far as to replay entire quarters and full games. That this angle is .apt to bacome secondary in view of another objective is probably for the best. Further intent is to name the outstanding players of the previous Saturday's games lh a.weekly sym- posium which will buildup to a final All-America selection, thereby beat- ing the newspapers to their 'all' selections and providing food for dispute, which, the more hot it rages by fan mail, the better Walsh and his sponsors will like it.. Walsh is trying to make it look good by promising recommendations from various grid writers,. air likely attached to his sports writing syn- dicate, which he will sift and Anally pronounce as the selections for the week. . These recommendations will be country-wide. It's hardly a program the women will care for. In fact, the' accom- panying clamor to the game de- scriptions will likely chase femi- ninity right out of the room If the men in the family insist oh lending an ear. Which' brings up the point of the audience General Foods ex- pects to reach with this presenta- tion for Postum.. Regardless of what they're after, it's probable that this football period's best chance is to catch a batch of regular male listeners ranging in age from 10 to 30. If so, that ought to be enough, and may be the desired range, cer- tainly as regards the younger ele- ments as the routine also carries an endorsement of Postum by some coach figured to catch the imagina- tion of the kids in that his players use it, etc.. Last week this signa- tured reading matter came- from Vic Hanson of Syracuse. These testimonials are part of Walsh's contract with his sponsors, food company stipulating same. Allowing that the aforementioned age span is about right, Walsh's n.istake in replaying games for this faction is that his listeners will be three plays ahead of him all the way. Take the average grid fol- lower and mention the score of a game and he will instantly recall not only the scoring plays, but the action which led up to them. What Walsh might better do is to theo- retically move his mike down onto the playing field and range be- tween the bench and playing field to give the grid fans an Insight of what takes place on the bench during a game or in a huddle before climax plays are run off. There's plenty of chance for color there between the assistant coaches, spotted around the top of a stadium, constantly phoning down to the bench and the messages the subs bring in when they're sent into a contest. Also there is always the coadh'g talk to the squad between halves. This is Inside stuff which the fan at large Is unfamiliar with, and hooked to a major battle, and emphasized for authenticity, could be made more intriguing than the mere repetition of plays which the listener instantly recalls through havln? read about them time and again. Program is also in danger of be- coming tiresome from the unorgan izpd yelling of the supposed crowds which comes over the air, in pre tense situations such as these, as just so much noise. Walsh could mix this up,, make it more interest ing and give the. kids a thrill by taking the organized cheering from his one-reel shorts, transpose them to a platter and run the disk in con- junction with whatever game is being recounted. For the public at large, and especially the youngsters, the cheering is almost half the at- traction, and few there are who can't get a tingle out of a 'Four N Navv yell, a 'Long Corps' blast which the Army limits to once a game, and before the game, or the unending twists which Colgate an- nually gets into its cheering. Few colleges cheer as well as Colgate, and none better. Transplant this student body 'at- mosphere' to the mike, the news- reels have got these yells on their sound grid film spools if Walsh hasn't, and this period would en- hance its value by half. Taking it off the sound track would also be economical, besides a general im- provement, for that wild burst from the stands on a scoring play Is also there and would not necessitate the TODAY'S CHILDREN' , ^ I THE WEATHER EYE With Irna Phillips, Bets Johnson, Slovens Partridge WMAQ, Chicago Around the dinner hour each eve This is conceded to be the best ning this Hearst outlet sets aside a mail-getter of all the sustaining five-minute spell for Stevens Par- programs now originating on NBC I trldge to tell the folks about the stations in Chicago. It's been portents of the weather. But it's breezing along since June 20 five never a dry recital of cloudy, rain mornings a week at 10:46, and ap- or shine with him. neais to be In tune with the family To Partridge forecasting is inci folks hereabouts. dental. What interests him more Irna Phillips is author and chief are, as he styles them, "the manifold character. She gets a good score as and rich beauties of the weather,' an author, but as Mother Moran. and these he retails with intense her Irish brogue bursts credulity poetical rhapsodizing. Frequently and alienates illusion. It's the Irish he waxes philosophical and talks of Oslo, Norway, or Amerlcus, about the symbolical connotations Georgia more easily than the Irish of the weather to life itself, taking of the Hibernians. At no point does his text, for instance, from aprevi- Mlss Phillips cease to be playacting, ous observation of Bis own that However, despite the unauthentic threatening clouds are gathering brogue she still manages to be and it looks as if the air will soon crisply dictloned, and because the be rent by thunder and lightning, capacity for make-believe is keen On other occasions Partridge in the unsophisticated American takes time oft to explain the parlor she Is probably taken at weather phenomena. After vouch catalog price bv her fans, saflng that the morrow, will be Rest of the characters are nicely cloudy, 'The Weather Bye,' for ex plausible. Story as carried along ample, goes into a dissertation on from day to dav is of the small hap- the various types of clouds. From penlngs and simple problems of that he may drift on to tell how as ordinary mortals. The home. Is the | winter comes oh the temperature Of pivot and 'Today's Children' the im petuous or misguided young citizens who must learn for themselves: Mother Moran, an enormously philo- the water changes. In summer the sea is colder than the land and in winter , it's the other way around. All this comes out of the loud- soph leal person, soothes, counsels speaker in slowly measured sen and steers them. A young lawyer (played by Wal- ter Wicker) is running for alder- man on an idealistic platform. Story is working up to his first political stump speech. To test the pro fences and weighted down by a weather-beaten basso profundo. De- livery gives' the Impression of being extemporaneous. Program is rated as being, one of the most popular on the station's; gram's popularity it was announced night time schedule, and It is easy that this speech would be. given in the big studio at NBC and the pub- lic could attend. There were 1,000 requests and only 400 seats. Public's readiness to enter Into th_ petty details of a mythical family's life has been demonstrated before now. It appears that Miss Phillips, last associated with 'Paint-, ed Dreams' on WGN, has concocted a workable formula. There will re- main, however, a grave doubt about the; projrrani applicability to any nation-wide audience while that un- believable brogue Is attached. Jjind. to Imagine Its appeal for the older element of listeners in the outlying precincts. On this score the session should have , a commercial value. Odec. PIGSKIN ROMANCE8 Sustaining/ ■ KPO, San Franeisoo Faced with the possibilities of los- ing broadcasting privileges on the coast's football games, a trio of locals Journeyed to Pasadena last August,' going before the football managers' association with a prop- osition. The trio, Lloyd Toder, pub- licity director. of NBC; Harrison Holliway, KFRC manager, and Ernie Smith of Hearst Radio Serv- ice, promised the gridiron moguls approximately flOO.OOO worth of gratis plugging via NBC and CB3 networks arid Hearst papers in re- turn for etherizing the. pigskin events. Footballers acquiesced and first of radio's reciprocations is the series of dramatic programs NBC is radio- ing once weekly, 30 minutes every Thursday night, during the football season. 'Pigskin. Romances' is from the typewriters of • Carleton E; Morse and Toder. Latter was grid star of recent years when he attended Carnegie Tech. Plot and settings belong to Morse, while Toder fur- nished the dialog. Story is probably the most diffi- cult production job local NBC stu- dios have attempted, requiring as it does two - studios. One houses orchestra, and all sound effects, which included a bunch of cheering kids (picked up in Morse's neigh- borhood by Morse), applause ma- chines, etc. Other held the play- ers. Duo of studios required con- sistent diligence by technicians who WHEATENAVILLE With Ray^Knlght, Alice Davenport, Vivian Block, Bobby Jordan COMMERCIAL WEAF,. New York Serials built around the running of a newspaper and newspaper life have come on the air In pretty, steady procession and faded with- out in any instance making an ap- preciable dent in listener popularity. That Ray Knight of 'Station KUKU* madwaggery has something here that will turn out an exception to the rule doesn't impress as prob- able, If the first episodes are a fair sample of what is to follow. As a piece of dialog writing and staging the program has every- thing In its favor.: Casting Is oke and even the commercial phase shows some originality in the way it's adroitly woven in. But the story and the plot of 'Wheatena- ville' are treading a route that long ago became a rut from use by many predecessors. Only this past sum- mer NBC put on out of Chicago a sustaining series retailing the trials and tribulations of a small town newspaper- publisher, locked in battle with the local political boss and head of the county's crime mob. Hostilities started after the mob chief tried to buy the paper. And that's where the 'Wheatenaville' story now stands.. As for the NBC script out In Chi- cago, It was pulled off the air after a two-week trial. Air and action about the sheet that the hero In the 'Wheatenaville' BRAD and AL Novelty 15 Mine COMMERCIAL WABC, New York Best thing about Brad and Al, and their value to the Rogers silverware company,, which the} exploit, is their novelty theme song. Not that there isn't a supplementary plug, ___ onr .— i including a price mention—now per BOB HOOT mlssible under the network's dis Sustaining. pensatlon—but the thematic ditty is i/i a 5 0 J? 0,os the beat P ar t of it all ' Denver Thereafter Brad and Al go in for What a knockout this pianist novelty song doubles with, comedy would be if he would realize that patter in between and don't do bad most of the radio fans are not considering that theirs is a daily pianists, and want tunes they can morning frolic at 9:45-10 a.m. over Identify promptly. Piano music is WABC. one of the weakest Instruments on Happening to come at a quarter the air when presented uninterest-I hour when the defenseless houee- ingly, but when played properly and Wives', who like to do their dusting with a real regard for the listener, to the accompaniment of a radio, it can be among the best. find almost every one of the other Bob Root's first two numbers were major stations in the N. T. belt air 'Lover Come Back to Me' and 'Para T ing talks on beauty or .child welfare; dise,* and were announced as Root's this quasi-musical interlude Is prob own arrangements of these num- ably the lightest thing that appeals bers, but he had better stick to the to them, and, as such, it's a break original, as these were mighty hard all around for the commercial to distinguish, and without proper Considering the a.m. hour, there's and previous announcements, would lots worse ethereal shindigs on the have fallen flat. His last two, | air. Abel. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers' and When Irish Eyes are Smiling' could , fcini am be spotted at once and were huge 5J ANCY NOLAN Improvements over the first two. | on J*. . Root plays in a manner that should ^"rTt n, 7iL.~ v~.l, get a large following if he does not W6AF » W« w Yor, < improvise quite so much. | Warbling, patter-peddling miss who gives the impression that she has something valuable In the way flat and miscellaneous yelling In the I of mike personality and talent to studio. In addition to which, on a sell. NBC is giving her a quarter disk the volume could be controlled hour each Thursday evening to see so as not to submerge the supposed what can be done. So far she game announcer . or launch the shapes up as definitely on the way. listener on a fair way to a fine Cueing of her songs is deftly done, young headache. Not too much wordage, but just The ear can't register the same I enough to lay the incentive for the thrill as the eye on a lad weaving 1 number to come and to dovetail the and reversing his way through a latter with the one that had pre- broken field or the completion of a ceded. Continuity that means some long pass. That's the difference be- thing and helps give pace and dl tween the air and the screen which rection to the program. Songs are must always remain until television varied and nicely balanced, a homey can offer the grid fan his Utopia. 1 lyric of greeting, a comedy phrasing, It's a handicap Walsh should a lowdown torch lament and a sud- realize and must overcome to insure den shift in tempo and mood to a longevity for this aerial idea. Last signing off lullaby week the particular plays selected Quality of the voice Is best In its were Baker's field goal against lower registers, getting its best ef Notre Dame, which gave U.S.C. its fects as long as It kept down there South Bend victory, and Booth's | Girl is inclined at times to shoot had to keep all studio lines open so series finds himself heir to reeks orchestra could, hear players, and o£ . the unreal and, the improbable, vice versa:- Tough Job and nicely incidents are forcedland the sketch- handled, ing of the-manner of a small town Setting of the sketch rapidly rep ,? rte i smacks Intimately of the moved from locker rooms, to rally, "olio. Boy stories. Other side of to game, then shifting from grand- the. serials romantic angle is fur- stand, to dugout, to gridiron. All n ">hed by the girl filling in as the lent punch and speed to the story, 80 * ie 'y editor on the 'Wheatena- seeming to shorten the-half hour I v « l « News.' Program i« on a live- considerably. Mythical center of times a week schedule, clearing out proceedings is State. College, which of New Tork at 7:15 p; m. EST. each week henceforth will play a | ' Odec. different institution of the Pacific Coast League. I 'AMERICA IN REVUE' Sterling work of the show was With Thomas Belviso, Nancy Gar- done by Charles McAlister as the ner, Jean Southern, Gracie and coach. McAllster's style obviously Charley Hurley, Alois Havrilla patterned after Rockne; in fact, pep Sustaining speeches were taken oft records WENR, Chicago made by the late mentor. Cameron Originally, scheduled for Sept. 8, Prud'homme, former Duffy player, launched the 16 th and caught In full did the football captain, and okay. Thursday (22), this new sustaining Ann Chase was the girl, reading divertissement offered a radical con- her lines with an apparent knowl- trast between its first and second edge of mike technique, Don samples. First program was heavy Thorrtpson, as the announcer, fol-I on English accent, satire, and had lowed his usual style in viewing I a couple of dashes of indigo. Sec- gridiron tussles. Barbara Jo Allen, ond was much toned down, although Barton Tarborough, Mike Raffetto the satire waB present in one skit, and Harold Dana completed cast. | the sort of blackout that Is more JOc Hornik's orchestra accompanied. Bock. characteristic of a London than a New Tork revue, • Representative of what the over- seers of this program seemingly have in mind, it's more subtle, smarter humor than the radio audi- ence generally gets. And maybe, by PEBECO PLAYBOYS Songs, Piano Duo COMMERCIAL WABC, New York . _ „ . Here's one so overladen, with now the metropolitan audience for plugging that the entertainment the dials is large enough to - be finds Itself stumbling in and out of worthy of a program which frankly ' the proceedings. Way the thing is disavows catering: to the sticks, now routined the dentifrice might For. the. rest the program con- as well turn the entire session over tained some- pleasurable musical to the credit reader. Before either moments by Belviso's orchestra arid the piano duo and the harmony singing of no special memorable- team have a chance to establish "ess by the other specialty people, themselves as part of the program It's certain that the humor will at- they're shoved out of the way for. tract attention, if any is attracted, another recital of the product's vlr- | and the vocal portions won' hurt. boot against Harvard for Yale's 3-0 final edge last fall. Program thrice takes time out to get in Its boost for Postum, and not sky-high suddenly and letting it go with a fortissimo that rocks the amplifier. Shrill reception here could be avoided through better objectionable because the plugs are co-op with the control room. brief, and has borrowed, from Win chell's formula in transferring back and forth from New Tork to the guest coach on a cue iine of 'One- two-ihree, hike' given in signal cadence. In this instance the hop was to Boston for Casey, who gen erallzed on some of the new rules, Harvard's and other teams' pros- pects and his most memorable game as a player. Walsh does the inter- viewing of the coaches. As, currently presented it looks as If the program will stand or fall on the interest aroused in the weekly selection of players for honorable mention. Walsh will undoubtedly be astute enough to ring in favoiv ites from all sectors, but even that may not be enough. Until they start to slip more color and gridiron lore into this period it will remain a football.program attracting just the most rabid football fans because, it's the only one of its kind, but leaving the field wide open for a similar period to come in and steal its thunder. Sid. She could chuck the 'Hello, Everybody,' greeting. It's too reminiscent of Kate Smith. Odec tues or some giveaway announce- ment. Whole thing seems out of place on a network key station. In what little opportunity is af forded the tinklers of the keys the unbilled pair ply their digits tune- fully and with inordinate technical brightness. Gags unreeled by the harmony twosome neither impress Alois Havrilla announces. Land. THREE ORPHANS Songs 15 Mine. Sustaining WEAF, New York This femme trio, doing oddly ar- as' funny ™7"neatly~cue* Into" the" I ranged pops/have been on the air, song number, though the voices of mornings, around 10 and 10.30. easily pass muster. Paul Douglas. ° n a varying schedule, for some spieler, undertakes to share in the time and sound like they re all set crossfire interludes with the boys, for big-league etherizing. Probably but the results are n.g. the only thing that's been holding Commercial has six 15-mlnute them away from a choice ether spot evening periods a week under con- * h at they're picked up on an NBC tract with the CBS key station and hookup from Cleveland, which the is splitting the row of ether niches I later and more choice broadcasting between the 'Playboy' idea and a serial script called 'Bill the Barber.' Latter last was used to plug: a hair, oil oh WMAQ, Chicago. Odec LO? CABALLEROS Dor Garcia Orchestra Sustaining WTMJ, Milwaukee A feature that Is rapidly gaining a popular niche for itself in local listener circles is Los Caballeros, a soothing program of Spanish and Mexican melodies sent from the Mil- waukee 'Journal' station by Don Garcia and lils orchestra. While it is rather difficult to understand Garcla's announcements at t ".rr.es, they lend real color to the proceedings. The orchestration is all strings and the music pleasingly Castlllian. Waltzes, tangoes, boleros—all played in a rather' lazy tropical style that maUes for pleasant listening. Father a relief from the noise of a lot of other musical programs. STAGEY SIMPSON Organlogs. Sustaining WGY, Schenectady Organist of- Proctor's RKO Sche- nectady house is now broadcasting a half-hour morning and late eve ning program weekly. For several years Betty Lee Taylor filled a sim- ilar spot, if memory serves well The impression still exists that in- strument here is not as good a one as several others heard over the air It sounds heavy, at times draggy, lacking the. zip and quick response to player's touch noticeable In other consoles fingered for broadcasting The organ does quite well for slow numbers, but in quick-tempoed selections effect is that of 'pump- ing While fairly enjoyable, broadcasts would be more so if organ had wider range and programs were more diversified. hours forbids. They have a sprightly routine and get attention, despite the 10 a: m. hour, judging by the repeat request for their novelly arranged 'Lime- house Blues.' They split the songs' up nicely. Probably precarious for any vo- calizing trio to come east on spec, where in Cleveland they're most likely comfortably set; but they seem to have the makln's. Abel. FAMILY ROBINSON Golden State COMMERCIAL KGO, San Francisco Golden State Milk, Co. for several years sponsored a variety program, the. Jamboree, over CBS' Coast hookup. Company, off the alr,since July 5, returned last week with a Swiss Family Robinson idea em- bodied in a once weekly half-hour serial done on NBC's KGO here and KFI, Los Angeles. It's slated for 52 weeks. Time is. 7:30 p. m„ Saturdays. Show belongs to Freeman Tilden, Ctoser"%ttenrion""to I gunner• of «hort stories and --novels. choice of compositions would lift Tilden did a sweet job with the thTleveT oFe^tertanlment7 V There |°P» n,n S chapter, neatly planting the is now too much sameness about | R ° b A n i on . s _ff.. a _ m i dd .!?.. c . 1 , a !ii am . 1 . ly . programs and not enough verve In of four anxious to travel and with Snappier" announcing | a wealthy uncle about to join them 1 on their trip. Locale of future episodes will be throughout the state. Plenty of human Interest, (Continued on page 60) the playing, would help, too. x As ii whole, not an unentertaining feature but One that could be im- proved'.