Variety (Sep 1933)

56 VARIETY RADIO REI^ORTS Tuesday, September 5, I933 VaDee Program Has Developed Into Radio s Top Showmanslip Eiample Unlike the Jolson-Whiteman broadcast of a few weeks back, a Rudy Vallee-Plelschmainn Teaat variety hour over the same WBAP- NBC network, and from the saihe Tlmles Square studio atop the New Amsterdam theatre, Is not the same hebti'c affair. For that matter neither is the Jolson-Whiteman air show* now, as hectically Impres- arloed ' as it was during its early weeks". A radio show, like any other production, smooths out with seasoning. The Vallee variety show, biggest, of its type and one of the longest on the air, while formula in con- cept carries distinction week after week through' a combination of showmanly circumstances. Important is the variety of names used for punctuation. The general balance is attributed to the J. Wal- ter Thompson agency'^ show build- ers (John Reber, Cal Kuhl, Bob Colwell, etc.), but the standout point is that it's all showmanly paced by Vallee,. who imparts an •unusual aura to the whole. .The pe- riod breathes class and quality, yet "It was its■ mass appeal. Bolstering One This particular show (Aug, 31) didn't happen to. be as impressive as the rest, but it's an example of whfere the qualify " background stands It in good stead to austain' a weak bill when such occurs; Not that Willie., ^nd Eugene Howard, Joe Morrison, Vera Brodsky arid Hirold Triggs, Marry Morriis- And^ her company. and Lew Cody didn't register,' but, like the vaudeville show that looks good on paper but doesn't play well, the same holds In .the ether vaude. field. Running from backstdgre to the ".front of the house to view the yis- ■ible broadcasting, there' is -much to be said about either aspect—the aural and the audible appeal. Quite natural .that Willie and Eugene Howard, ever conscious of their au- 'diences, should come out with an -ingratiating courtesy to their vis- ible audience. That's as '■ natural' with them as Willie's dialect. But after they played to the mike, they read their script, they wore their reading' goggles, they moved back' from the mike when 'Vallee looked 'Dfif into the wings and was. sig- nalled by the . engineer that their .dialog was a bit blasting. All' in all. It was strictly for the benefit of the inike. Ditto Joe Morrison, who sounded even better in the abstract with his The Laist Roundup,' which have put thd,t young man into tung- stens in front of the Para- mount when with • George Olsen- Ethel Shutta a week ago. However, in visibility, the Instrumentation grouping was educational to the laity which visits these broadcasts. Mary Lewis and a very food supporting company in° a tab ver- sion of Lewis Beach's 'The Clod' (first done by the Washington Squaire Players years ago) startled the auditor as doors slammed and other sound effects and business occurred offstage, unseen but just heard by the many of thousands on the outside and the 760 or so atten- dants on the New Amsterdam. Roof. WTien Miss Lewis admonished somebody to 'Drop that gun,' all they did was lean toward the mike and passively read the lines—sole appeal being through the ear, of course, as done. Lew Cody's Canuck stuff might have impressed more had he mem- orized it and not read it. A mechan- . leal crossfire with James Walling "ton. more or less just reading his assignment as straight man. Vera Rriodsky and Harold Triggs, with their expert twin pianology of •Blue Danube Waltz,' were Conven- tionally concerty. The Fleischmann Health Insti tute'a Dr. R, E. Lee, who reads those biological blurbs, looks suffi- ciently academic to impress the au- dience out front with the spiel. Of course the flips and flaps came primarily for a load of Vallee, for Vallee is still the bulwark of the air show. He is the most at ease. His boys ditto. They're in a mod- ified stage uniform for benefit of the out-fronters. Vallee digs up v'JF*- new tunes from shows breaking in out of ^ town and lends a little ro- mance "to them by a brief snatch of tin pan alley history or endorse- ment. After it's all over Vallee has his personal amateur moving picture camera shooting the people in this present show. There "are publicity ■tills, then Vallee signs the payroll chocks in the ante room while his secretary talccs last-minuto notes— and they're off again on some more one-nighters which Ed Fishman has scheduled. Also generally In the background Is Judge Hymie Bushel, Vallec's chief legal worrier. ^ A smooth, apparently well planned and patly primed variety revue. Reber just listens, but isn't much ^ concerned. That's 8 to 9 p.*i. From WALTER WINCHELL Gossip 15 Mlns. COMMERCIAL WJZ, New York Not new but a renewal on Jergen's via WJZ and an NBC network on, Sunday nights 9.30-9.46 p. m. . Of the same general pattern as last spring's series, sans that maudlin' 'Soft White Hands' theme songs, but otherwise a formula routine of gossip and chatter which the col- umnist reels off In the same stac- cato manner of delivery. He also heralds an 'Inipprtant. finnounce- ment' ' at the conclusion of. his broadcast wHlch predicates Its im- portance chiefly on the advertiser's interests when J36n Grauer gets in the sales' plug; Grauer Won't hold them with the ,ad, spiel, as Is; unless Wlnchell re- vives that supplementary 'flash* spot news announcement as .tag- end after the ad stuff. This wised up the audience to remain dialed in, if not to miss, anything. As for the- gossip, and' the hot news, those who are alert -to that- type of ' program. and Its cbntentb Will probably, be alert also to tne fact that much of "Winchell's stuff at 9.30-9.46 p. ni., appeared' in the morning tabs' which were .on the streets around two hours before his broadca'st.'' That means the metro- politan sector, - of course. He also quQted from his own Mpnd.ay.'morn-. ing gossip column l;ut made .men- tion of. that,. The other stuff was wir6 release matter,"' such as the- Tombs'"prison • break, the Lil Slat- tery Brooklyn gsingster murder,- Huey Lonig (another version), re- hash of Gllbert-Garbo which, ..iri- cidentally, his own paper, the 'Mir-* ror,' although' not persons^Uy. first erroneously . publicized that-.Gilbert, had been eased out of. the pic. Thus 4he 'flash!, stuff,.,with the clicking teleirraph keys, assumed a'more or less. familiar air in the main. ' One questions the wisdom of etherizing snatch-stuff, mentioning a $30,000 . 'guarantee' -to kidnap threats, under existing national cir- cumstances. One n^ust no longer question the Wlnchell program appeal. The Jergen's sales' chart must have jus- tified this renewal for the. fall. . Ahet. a group.of over WGY SALT and PEANUTS Songs, Instrumental Sustaining WGY, Schenectady Mixed duo is one of acts which broadcasts 4n order to lincrup, and often to^ plug while playing, appearances in' small to'wn theatre's a'nd halls with- in a 200-miie radius of Schenectady. Like the others,"it leans toward the hill'billy style of entertainment with a garnishing of. modern pop stuff added. The request angle Is stressed. Broadcasts usually are around noon although an occasional sup- per hour program Is given. NBC airs the turn sometimes. It's a solo and duet affair, to guitar accompaniment. Woman's voice is better than the man's; harmony fair. 'Salt' is a good yodeler and apparently also a whistler. Latter feature might be built up. Pair work with zip and good spirits, the woman called 'Peanuts' being vivacious. Okay for its type. Jaco. MINIATURE THEATRE Drama Sustaining WJZ, New York With the first two samples already unveiled on this Tuesday night spot NBC has struck a commendable av- erage. It started with a heavy- handed and dull reproduction of Cosmo Hamilton's one-acter, 'Jerry and the Sunbeam,' but last Tuesday (29) the web's production depart- ment not only made full amends but lifted the level of air drama by a row of notches. Second program brought Sheila Hayes in the slavey part of * 'Op-o'- Me-Thumb,' another favorite one- acter among community groups. Hers was a crack performance, carving out a characterization that Impressed deeply and unllmbering a specimen, of line reading which left nothing wanting. Helping to bring out the girl's talent in, sharp and colorful relief was tl^e support given by Eustace "Wyatt as Horace Queensmith, the' slavey's dream prince and the laundry's best cus-_ tomer. in Miss I^ayes radio has a' dramatic personality with fine, pos- sibilities.'. This playlet, with these- two, is worth a repeat. Direction of 'Thumb' was a- credit to those responsible. Timing' was deft and the casting given the minor parts made it easy to picture for the script's background. For the. first stanza William S. Rainey, In charge of dramatic pro- 'duction In NBQ's New.Tork studlos, cast himself for a character. -Lee .Patrick played the sketch's' other part. It . was fluffy stuff requiring the lightest of' touches. Between them, they .gave It the pace of' a Strindberg tragedy^ It- might have .b'^en one 6t those-things that doesn't lend Itself to tlie limitations of the medium. P<ieq, fTH^E FRIENDLY ADVISOR, Talli - > Sustaining WMCA, New York it was Inevitable, this cropping up of-imitators once the -'Voice of Ex- perience' CM. Sayle .Taylor) pro- moted hiniself a.conimerclal on the- big time. ■ WMCA' now "has Its 'Friendly Advisor,', white WHOM;' a- small-watter with studios in Man- hattan but transmUfttirig from Pat-' •ersoh; N. J., regales 'em daily with the; fireside solomonizing of a' lad It- bills as 'The Family Counsellor* Routines ot'all three are pretty close to the same lines Most conservative of the threer some, however. Is the .WMCA dis- ciple. Sex rarely extends into his text. When he'doies mention It 'Thie.. Advisor' gingerly tiptoes around the edges, obscuring the issue with a windy and disjointed dlqtlon that, meand little and' tells less. Person- ality- he projects Is that.of a kindly, well meaning elder whose lack of something 'Incisive or pertinent to say makes Itself obvious-by. a tend- ency to wander around his subject, whether it has to dO with neighbor- hood gossip or the proper •wsf.y to deal, with the In-laws. •Like 'Experience' this exponent also has pamphlets to sell 'The Ad' visor's library consists of 30 of them which he offers at a nickle apiece, or $1 for the lot What they contain isn't made clear. The announcer does vouchsafe that they treat of sub- jects that come under the head of personal hygiene and that everyone under and even over 40 should have them on 'their reading list. Odec 'LIGHT OPERA NIGHTS' Musical Revue 60 Mins. Sustaining WJZ, New York One of the best arguments Tin Pan Alley has in favor of its con- stant wrangle with the radio Inter- ests and other users of their copy- rights Is an hour's program such as •Light Opera Nights' which H. M. Neely, the 'Old Stager* of radio rep, produces for a full hour Sunday nights- from 8-9. With John Hol- brook announcing Harry M. San- ford*s orchestra, Muriel Wilson, Willard Amlson and Walter Pres- ton among the soloists, it strips the song catalogs of America of the cream selections and packs into a half hour what needed years of combined labors of authors, com- posers, publishers, musical comedy producers, not to mention the finan- cial sponsors, to establish. The license fee to the society for the use of copyrighted music for public perfox'mance fOr profit, or otherwise, directly, or Indirectly, Is Indeed a bargain under the circum- stances. Revue eschews all libretto dialog -and lays its'hands on anything suit- able Its own created 'anniversary' celebration of this and that pre- miere of a musical, comedy or comic opera. As the thenie .song, 'Mem- ories,' conveys, if the date coincides with any notable premiere any number of years back, dating from four to 25k this air show revives the best known numbers. Thus Kern's .'Sweet Adeline* of four years ago, Friml's 'Rose-Marie' of 11 years, ago, the 'Girl of Guttenburg' of 1908, an entire medley of pop songs which ,were-In vogue 26 years ago, and other such selections are most pleadingly revived by the com- .petent casJt of singers. : Apart from the songwriters' cause, this new. series rates among the topnotcli light opera ' hours. NBC. probably looked around and saw: how well and how long a simi- lar type revue .on WOR had been. r.^t-^r^ and. decided It's not a bod air scheme. ' ' Abel. HAZEL WALTON Songs Sustaining WMCA, New York . WMCA bills her as the 'Jean Har- low of Radio.' Hazel Walton's voice personality doesn't enter into the association. Reason for the tag is that there is a similarity in looks. It's a far-fetched selling point, but it will have to do for want of a bet- ter one. Of s.a. the WMCA girl's larynx suggests little. It does im- ply an immature pair of pipes, though capable enough of making a pop song listenable. For her repertoire the 'Jean Har low of Radio' specializes in ditties of the torch genre. The knack for rhythm is there and so is the fiair for giving' melody and meaning to a lyric. Also in her favor are a set of rounded head tones of style when it comes to building up a number to a throb finish. Prior to her unveiling on the New York airlanes she did a stretch over WLW, Cincy, but it's from KFI, Los Angeles, that Miss Walton originilly hails. Odec. 10 to 11 Jolson-Wiiiteman do their stuff for another Thonipson client, Kraft Phcnlx. That gives an hour's break. The Vallee bunch hang over until the Whiteman bunch arrive There are pleasantries, small talk, but both are now,getting into the vet class among aii\ shows. There's not much ncrvou.snoss or tension. AheJ. Frank WINEGAR Orchestra 30 Mins. Sustaining WABC, New York Saturday morni:i::3 at 1-J-10:30 Frank Winegar is etherized by CBS via WABC, .New York, in' a relay with WCAU, Philly, as playing from The Rafters, Philadelphia. At 10 a.m. that's a pretty early hour for any eatery—presumably that's what The Rafters is, or are—to be "giving out . dance music, especially in QuakertoWn. No matter the hour, Winegar sounds like a pretty competent lit tie dance combo. It's. , a college bunch, at least that's what it was when Frank Winegar first hit Broadway some years ago and called himself the Pennsylvanians, a la Fred Waring, both being U. of P. alumni. Nd-vir It's just Winegar's orchestra, giving out conventional dansapatton with vocal interludes on an unconventional a.m. hour And when it emanates from Philly, that's sumpin'. Abel. MEXICAN MARIMBA BAND Sustaining WGY, Schenectady Unit, directed by Senor Garcia, plays a half hour Sunday mornings over NBC's rod "network. Outfit is competent, producing music of the soft, lazy, type. Easy on the car as well as a bit different for tlie Sun day a. m. There is, however, a sameness about marimba music which be comes noticeable after a time. Fast tempoed numbers do not always sound well, either, for the mike ac- centuates the pounding of the ham mers. As usual with such bands, this one has a vocalist who sings in native tongue. He is Hector DcLaro, with a pleasing trained baritone. No group singing. Jaco. PHIL NAPOLEON Three -Harnianiacs, Merrill Lee 3and, Songs, Comedy CiaMMEROIAL.. ' WEAF, New York Most active of the auto .brands on the air is the Hudson-Essex com- bihatiori. It's 'plugging away -with a cro'ss-co'untry ' network re'preserit'a- tipn, live local programs and alsO spot broadcasting of the recorded variety. In'addition to the Saturday riiglit so\ind of the clock with B.A. Rolfe listeners in the metropolitan area are regarded with selling points on the cars through' a half- hour session on W;BAF Wednesday eyjeinins. Eor the latter time and -en- tertainment thei distrib Is footing the bills and, the spot is his until NBC gets a network customer for it. WEAF affair mixes a sizzling melange of Instrumental syncopa- tion with some nifty vocal harmony and a - bunch ■ of blackouts. The blackout, ihterpqlatlpns are quite sad, witli each "'more' distressingly' unfunny than the other. With these comedy attempts eliminated the program would stack up as a snappy little show of its type. Phil Napoleon is there to,feed 'em that old style of hot, blaring rhythm reminiscent of his Memphis Five days. Merrill Lee to add s.a. to a voice that makes listening to a pop tune pleasurable and the Three Harmaniacs to help round, out the proceedings with an unobjectionable imitation of the Mill^ Bros. Distributor obviously padded the .V/ out to a half hour so that he >.-ould have enough time to name all his dealers and their addresses. The plug intrusions may be frequent but they're handled with commend- able conciseness and tact. Odec. voice, rich, shows itself VERNA OSBORNE Soprano 15 Mins. Sustaining WOR, New York Exceptional radio lusty soprano which off the better through proper selec- tion of songs.' They're of the mel-^ ody, better pops or semi-classics, Ideally suited for her style of sing- ing. Orchestral accompaniment and a nice manner of announcement-pres- entation via Bob Hall on this WOR Saturday nite quarter hour. Miss Osborne makes the most of her op- portunities on her own through knowing how to pick the ditties. Abel. Minn. Wants to SeD Itself Over Ahr as Year-Round Resort St. Paul, Sept. 4. Other states might well watch' Minnesota's lead when, starting at 6:46 p. m., Saturday (9), that State goes on for 16 minutes' free time over WCCO. Object of programs, which will alternate weekly -over WCCO and ICSTP, is to sell the State as a year- around vaqation center. Tourist Director Bradley, seeing no reason ^vhy the Gopher State can't be a St. Morltz In the winter months as well as the 10,000 lakes fishing mecca In summer, sold the stations on the Idea Of getting to- gether and making way for Min-^ ndsota program's." Present plan Is to broadcast weekly for a trial period of 21. Talent to be furnished by varloxis state departments, with Bradley as continuity chief. Big Booze Account Lord & Thomas, has closed for a $5,000,000 account with th^ Schen*. ley Distilleries, which markets Golden whiskey,, has the Martell cognac. and Heldsick champaeme agency for th'e U.S. and other brands. The certainty of repeal is so gen- erally accepted, that, the L&T agency Is going ahead planning its cam- paign, 'vvhlch 'may also include' a ra- dio ' shoW' TOOTHER' SHIFTS PIPING Hollywood, Sept. 4. Charles Hamp, who, since re- turning from. • Chicago, has been singing over KPO, San,. Francisco, on. the Straska "Tooth .Paste.".pro- gram,, will be back kt KN?;) Holly- wood, Sept. .11. Tooth , paste company- has switched Its account here tor three half hours a weiek.r 'IN THE MODERN MANNER' Johnny Green and Gertrude Niesen Orchestra, Soloists, Songs 30 Mins. Sustaining WABC, New York An ultra modern half hour on WABC-CBS Sunday night, labeled 'In '.the Modern Manner,' and' fea- turing Johnny Green, composer- pianist, with Gertrude Nie.sen, ad- vanced delineator of contemporane- ous .song .cLyles. Green is the young Harvard alumnus who came to at- tention with 'Body and Soul' and is regarded as one of tlie most prom- ising of the younger popular com- posers. As .soloiHt with orchestra, and do- ing Ilia own m. c.'ing, that is the CFCA Folds Up (Continued from page-.66) stream of profound ' regrets that CFCA will no longer be heard on the air-waves.' • Af'.' ....usion Ottawa, Sept. 4. With the politicians tuning up for the opening of the Federal Parlia- ment, Intimation has been made that various members of the House of Commons will attack the new Canadian Radio Commission and its policy of Government control of broadcasting. A curious feature of the situation Is that most of the brickbats are being thrown by prominent Parliamentarians on the Government side of the House. One of the strong pr,otesters is J. Earl Laws on, member of West York, who is the legal adviser of Associated Theatres and Allied Ex- hibitors of Ontario, two of the strongest groups of independents in the Dominion. Chief kicks are that French-lan- guage programs dominate, the broadcasts from Government-con- trolled stations; that two of .the three members Of the CRC are dis- courteous and arrogant, arid that the tribunal has been too aggressive in decisions affecting broadcasting personnel, including the removal of recognized experts. Prime. Minister R. B. Bennett sharply reprimanded one of the new commissioners for his attitude but this has not satis- fled, even Bennett's own supporters in the House who are demanding that heads should fall. Expensive inauguration of the Commish. in times like these has been branded as unnecessary and Government control of the air prom- ises to become a hot issue when the session gets under way. explanatory chatter, he, with Miss Nicsen combine into a highly effec- tive UiiW hour.. They interpret Gershwin, Ilupfeld, Frinil and other contcmp composei'.s, including Green. 'Savage Serenade' from the forth- coming 'Murder in the Vanitie.s' is a sample of odd orchestral stuff in the dance-rhythmic manner. Mi.ss Niesen's own ai*rangemcnt and ver.sion of the Russian 'Two Guitars,' along with her pop song- aloging. wcro all highly imprcs.slve. It makes for an unusual Sunday night half hour. Abel.