Variety (Nov 1933)

Tuestlay, November ^8r-J^33 RAH I VARIETY Mudio Chatter -q^i«?=c=ny/i* Jim Cook gettlhe up early agalh, doing the daytime shift on the NBC press staff with Tom J^lzdietle doing the star "watch, ■ Norman Gregg hack on the Eir- ■win-Wasey ■ agency payroll as ex- ploiter after a season is World's Fair p.a. |>aul Kapp adds Adele. Starr and Jack Owen to his talent list. Bill Young sprucing.for the Mrs. Bill Young return homiB on. Thanks- giving. Alex Rol>b routine , returning to normal 'With the Settle stratosphere Alight, finally accomplished. Jap Qeude of N. "r. p.o.' Chi CBS for the first time. Eli Oberstelh of. the eastern Vic- tor qfllces due. In town niext "week for special reeordings. Will do some hill billies besides angling, for an ensen^ble singing grdiip composed of the King's Jesters and the Ddr- Ing Sisters. Columbia and WBB.M people rushing: in and out of hospitals; the t'rank Wilsons drew a new baby daughter; J^hil Porterfleld getting his appendix yanked; Kelly Smith being separated from his tonsils; Len Erickson home with flu. Ken Shirk, former chief engineer of KOIL, taking saine post .with WIND, Gary, replacing Bill Adder. Relnald Werrenrath,. hiere with ^uslc In the Air,' and others ot the cast on WMAQ for" a quick plug. Fred Blttke, fortntirly of . the coast, added to the Wdrds and Mu- sic' show on NBC. Charlie Hughes celebrating third anniversary of his 'First Nlghter* script. Eddie Pierce on the road with •Oddities' unit. Dave Balaban trying to drum up' some oil paintings for his first run spots. Kelly Smith absenting himself on a two weeks' trip. Auditorium doing turn-at^ay bus- iness with its series of isix Mon- day concerts. Long Sam Tack rehearsing his newly enlarged unit. East Stoopnagle and Budd on WCAU, Philly, one broadcast. Gov. Ruby Laiffoon of Kentucky broadcast a special NRA radio pro- gram of 'Kentucky Colonels' over CBS. New car used by Skip, Step and Happiness, WGY act, in making theatre Jumps, wft^ l?anged up in an early morning collision with a truck near Lowville, N.. Y. Three- some and their guitarist. Bill Ban- don, were not injured, but occuv pants of truck were. Jim Healey, air caster for an- Al- bany newspaper; kidding Chet Ved" der, WGY announcer, about carry-. Ing a razor in the studio, and Ved- der explaining to listeners that he used It for an emergency shave;./ Norman Hapgood has begun" a series of 16-minute supper hour talks on current affairs "over WGY, Schnectady. Program sponsored by Columbia Conserve Company, an employe-owned concern in Indiana. Hapgood recently concluded a se- ries of talks over another upstate station. Forty-piece band of..Singer Sew-; Ing getting Sunday half-hour at WICC, Bridgeport. Will Harrison's ork leaves WICC to tour midwest and south with •Miss America iSi33' (Marion Ber- geron of West Haven). Latter ends engagement at Chez Paree, Man- hattan nlterle> Nov.-80; Troupe will play ballrooms and theatres dated by Harry Moss. Freda Swirsky, formei? accom- panist for 'Miss Anierlca.1933,' finds herself a new songstress, - Sally Winston, ex-RKO'er. Spotted Mon- day afternoons on WICC. New Havenites soloing dally, ex- cept Sunday, On WlC.C's 'Elm City Digest' programs, put on . at Yale-> town ' studios. Perforrners include: Milt George, Sani Pahza, Silvio Pisano, Peter Prostano, Estelle Glazer, Ozzie Granniss, . leanpre Keffer and-Florence Paul. Pete Stevens, sax, leaves Jack Keller's ex- WCR Bridgeport ork to join .Huston R^y in Boston. Edith Josephson, WICC. blues singer, out of hosp; doc won't.let her warble Until'34. WLBZ, Bangor; Me., has added to its production staff Moe Blumen- thdl, for several, years on the: pr.OT duclng staff- of Station - W^IO; at Hartford, Conn. WNRA, at Muscle Shoals was dedicated last week with a.continu- ous 36-hour prpft-ram. Station is associated with WLAC, Nashville. Freddie Russell, sports reporter for ..WSM, Nashville, has. returned from honeymoon, Birtnlngh.lm stations WAPl and WKBG joined hands last week for a special broadcast of an appeal for donations to Cipmniunlty Chest. Miss Clemmle Reid,| crooner with WBT, Chariottei N. C, suffered slight Injuries when the car In which she was riding blew a tire and overturned. Gene Wliltapis, remote control op-. eratOr fOr WBT, Charlotte, N. C,, 'possum hunting. Misses Mary and DOrls Terry An- drews, the Andrews Sisters of WBT, Charlotte, N. C-i had the .feature., spot In a minstrel stage show last week: at Charlotte. . . : Harold D.. (Wayside) "Brown, who conducts .fi: dally broadcast . from WBT, Charlotte, N. -Ci» for: shutlns and cripples, broadcasts from a whi^el chair—like Connie Boswell. . George Hartrick, ^ formerly with WWNC, Asheville, N. Co is now an- nouncing ahd ginging; over national networks froiTi Cleveland, . Three Songbirds, female trio, re- turn .to the air over WSJS, Winsitoni. Salem,, after an 'absence, of three months. WSJS., Winston-Salem, Is sjpon- soririg ' mystery tenor khown. as the Whispering Tenor. 'His nanie is being kept a mystery. \ Carnegie Library Foundation Ihr forms WSJS it Is only, radio sta- tion broadcasting: program -from a library in the: United States.. ChiV-' dren's- stpry hour is broadcaet. each. EViday afternoon for 15; minutes' direct .from the children's room of the Winston-Salem library. West Mrs. H. B. Lockwood Is in Chi- cago to open offices in. the Drake Hotel for Radioart Guild of Ameri- ca, . "Lob Angeles disc company. -Bill /Davidson has the lead in ^Builders of - America,' new disc se- ries by Radioart Guild. A. Di Robison, 'Uncle Robbie^ of KOB, Albuqueraue, took . bpdy of daughter wbo died to. Kansas. He has been with station 10^ months as caller on Southwest Serenders hoUriSi Added to kVI "Tacoma CBS outlet is Elv4n Evans as announcer. Edward Retry of New York, na" tlonal representative for KLZ, Den- ver; spent a day at thiat station, flying In and out,- Westgate. Seafood Products Co., sponsoring Irving 'Riley 'and Biiib Young, piano duet, over KGB, San Diego,. tiested program's appeal by. offering recipe and can of Breast o'Chlcken tiina to all wrlters-lnners. Response has the fish factory work- ing overtime. Bob Bowinan, KGB, San Diego prog^ani director, experienced one of those suspensel3 that turns hair gray. American Fidelity. prograni was slated to go on at 8:30. At 8:26 Ted Si<^an; ..tenor, noted that al- though script called for slngliig of 'I'm Failling in Love With Someone,' the lyrics'were ihisslng. ,j Record was found and played, while Wanda Hunter, Bowiiian's sec, shorthanded the words and handed Ted the typewritten lyrics ju^t as aoeompaniment vamped the Intro-of the piece. Whew! Lincoln Dellar, mgrr. KGB, San Diego, put In new . $1,000 audition system in the local studio. Harofd G. Peery, chief engineer of Don 1*0 system, made Insallation. Wyoming Broadcasting Co. of Sheridan, changed its name to Big Horn Broadcasting Co. and its re- quest .for a Jlcense is asking, for,un- limited tlhie. • , KOL, Seattle, after facilities of KXA. Seattle. KFKA seeking permission to move froni Greeley, COlo., to Chey- enne, Wyo., and to jump its power to 1,000 watts, unlliuited ^ime, ' Santa Fe.,- Ni. M.j- nO'w has a- 25- watt police broadcaster. Tacoma; Wash,, Is after an exper- imental station for Its police de- partment In addition to its regu- lar cop-catcher. Charlie Luiig and his gang, a KHJ feature, how on. the Colunibia coast chain twice a week. kiiy Thompson -arid the Three Rhythm .kings haye replaced. Joan Marsh on the Bing Crosby-Wood- bury soap program,, San^ Diego Consolidated 'tG|as & Electric Co,, proud, of its .series of elght^. programs Over KGB^ which began last'Friday night (24), in- sists Upon.anrioUntlng it, 'This is a local production.' Mid-West -Margaret LeOr for-merly with-Duke Ellington, 'Shuffle Along,' is moanih' low for KSOi Des Moines, ^Secretapy^of--Agr-iculture-WallaGe= Is almost a sustaining artist for WOC-WHO,. Des MoineS. jEJe was on the air three times in one week. KSO, Des Molne.s, follows its Church of the Open Bible propram with a brewing comnpany jprogranl. Charlie Fink, formerly RKO, is teamed as Fink and Hamman, 'king Of the banjo and queen of the ac- cordion' for WOC-WIIO, Dos Molnos. KSO, Des Moines', has a swell au- dition room in modem scarlet, silver and black for visiting ofilcials of national accounts who like to hear their programs while they are elp- ■=trthg 'teaf'=^'»:'^™*=^' t^"- ■<T^--,*rv^"t^-*---r,".i-^«ijuT, Vi c, of Vic: eind Mi).rge, on WOC- "WHO, Des Moines, Is a brother of William Kephardf, NBC announcer; Paul Blen, Akron p. a., has joined WGAR, Cleveland. He is managing personal appearances of WGAR en- tertainers, . WHBG, canton, has added three- <iuarters of an hour to its .sustaih- ing weekly program, .with a line in at Moonli?ht ballrooin at Meyers Lake Park, where the station is broadcasting three 15-minute pe- riods. Nick Sutmier doing the ani- hounclhg. Mayme Curtis, . WADCi Akron, staff, plahist, uses tune-giiessing stunt at 10:30 av m. on Sundays. Sani Timmons, of Sam and Car- lisle, WFBMi harmony team, to CkY, where' he will'broadcast over the ^southern NlBC.' ' Jim Carpenter, former manager of WKBF* Indianapolis,, handling exploitation and . managing Pile's 'Believe It or Not' oh the road. ' Mel' Roach, .announcer at WFBF; leaves: sobn to go to, KQCR, Long Beach; , William Hand, . NBC political commentatoj:, booked for a personal appearance at tiie; Town Hall series In Indianapolis. . Wallace Robertsj)n of ' WFiBM 'taking his annual vacation in New ■Qrlean's. ■.•'■:...'■.. . Reid -Kilpatrlck handling ju-venilc hour from hew wolf & Dessauer ibroadcasting room, via WO WO, Ft. "Wayne.-.. , . Connie' Beaver, pianist, back on air with Marguerite Hitzman .after wrist injury, which laid: her . up for j^everal. months. Two present piano and organ sustalner over WOWO. Al Bates, KFAB, Lincoln, Neb., transferred to Omaha studios same station. JOhn. Shaffer,. KFOR announcer, Is still limping after doing a Prince: of Wales dismount from ohe of the local ridlhg academy plugs. ' Miriani Kissinger, KFAB'a 'Shir- ley, the Fashion Plate,' is driving the office force huts by 'Wearing an epi-. demic of jingling metal buttons, TAKE A CHANCE (Continued from pagie 20) this picture mostly falls down on the technical end. Otherwise the direction Is Speedy and keeps .things moyihg for the full SO^mlnute Stretch. ' Along with the others In the cast Who turn in okay performances, Robert Grleck.ler is form-fitting ih a mobster role and George McKay (McKay ahd Ardine) contributes an interesting performance as a stage manager. Bige. BROkENDREAMS Monogram production knd release. Fea- tures Randolph Scott &qd . Martha Sleeper. Associate producer, Ben Berschleiser. Di- rected hy Robert Vlgnola. Story by Olga, Printzlau: adaptation, Matide. Pulton;': photography, Robert Flanck: recording, John A. Stransky. Jr. At Loew's New- fork, N. Y., one day. Nov. 22, as single feature. Running time, M' mlns. Dr. Robert Morl,ey .....Randolph Scott MartUa Morley..... ..Martha Sleeper Pop .......'....>...v>>:....Joseph - Cawthom 5?.?."* L' -•:••'?*»•.»»•-♦ mti»i• jJ^ry.LJlercer Billy Morley.......4........Buster Phelps Madamolselle ' ... .Adele St. M^ttr Broadway and Those Adv. Agencies A tried and true thematic base, the love of a father for his son, serves appreciably well once morei and brings this indie-made the pros- pects of a better than average break all around; Despite the sentimental slahts. obvious attempt tO swab the story with pathos, and some ihcon- slstehcies',' there ts' sufficient- enter- tainment to please the not, too fussy patronage. Picture ' also has. the benefit of strict cleanliness. At first the story 'threatens a cross between sohiethlng O'Neillish and what's been- done In pictures up to now, with a young doctor re- fusing to.even see his'sdh because the mother died 'on bearing him.- But after 'a six-years lapse; this slant on the story is sidetracked, the doctor developing stout affection for the lad oh the first encounter, then running up a^lnst difficulties with relatives who had raised the boy as well as 'With his .second wife. ^ It is frOm this point. on that the picture exudes strong. synipathetlc interest, much of it due to. the fine performance given by the kid actor, Buster Phelps. Martha Sleeper is an understandable character but it has ..been. seen flt.to haake her par- tially unsympathetic In arriving at the tear-jerker situations. Miss Sleeper, who appears: to be rapidly . Impro'vlng |h her screen work, together with Randolph Scott, afford good playing strength In the two top assignments. Scott .hitherto has been used In 'Westerns. He's with .Paramount but thrOugh /^Bit)ken- Dreams—gives -a -UttJe befc^ ter , than a rough Idea of what he can do outside of u saddle. Humor is=^wrung-=-from--bit8--wIth-=a=;Freheh- tutoress.'who-finds the boy a tough little Case at times. Adele St. Maur shines as the French hireling. A heavy Occurs toward the close in a sequence in . which the boy comes to. the aid of his stepmother, only to get hurt in favor of- a fin- ish that has him Tfcoverlni? from what looks like certain death. Jt also brings about a reconciliation between the father and the kid'.s step-mOm. Char. Why the Broadway type Of radio agent flops when trying to sell tal- ent to the. ad agencies is explained by a number of things, notably the time and. money angles. Unless the agent is peddling a name—and these by now iare. exhausted-^much builder-uppering must be extended by the iagent to sell ja. singer or a lesser artist; ■ " There-is no central booking ofllce in radio. No route. No practical means of modus operandi as with an agent going., on .the booiilng floor of a theatre circuit. To begin with; ad agency sales' resistance tougher becauise the advertising agency ."guy selling. It's a case of . .selling sellers. , Hehce, those who manage best Ih agehcy contacts are hot the hus^ tiers but the meek, Solite, cohservatives who humbly offer their wares, sans salesmahshlp or ballyhoo. May.be somebody's ego is flattered by the deferei^tial stance. Adv. agencies, reajlzlng the standing of the Cantors, Bennys, Jolsohs,' et al., clanior for more of them;- But name mike talent of this, calibre has- long sihce been signatured, so the agents, throujgh the Rimple de« m.ands of supply ahdi' demalhd, . endeavor to sell, lessor people. That starts .tiie headache all Over again. It meana auditions, patient educations as to the antecedents of this or that individual, and mild persuasiveness of .i^ type tha.t taxes .iaelling- patlence^ to the degree that agents.are saying ' w nuts' to the radio thing. It may surpriSje many to khow tha,t In New York alone there are some 20Q market cohtaets for. radio talent aihohg ad agencies. It .m'eans, of course, (several in the same agency, as well, but all must he ai^roached and salved, for there's ho telling what the ramiflcations are. Inside Stuff-Radio Despite the low level of intelligibility that has marked the pickup on this end of the Byrd South Pole expedition. General Foods .viU continue Including the relays; as part of its Saturday night Grapehuts , show oa CBS. Though last Saturday night's (25) double relay, froih the Byrd ship in the South Pacific 7,000 miles from New Tork to Honolulu and then on to the States, was slightly clearer than the ,previous week's, iritelligibliity of the former signal rated only 80%. Food packer believes that regardless of these muddled recieptlonfl the Ustehers will continue tuning in because of their scientific interest. Oh the initial broadcast (18) short wave relay came by way of Buenos Aires, with the distance of the S. S. Ruppert, the Byrd ship, then arOuhd 5,000 miles from New Tork. Announcer oh each of the two broadcasts has hiade it a jpolnt of advising the listeners that the rfelays must bo considered only In the light, of experiments. hiore.thah eight years, WLW/ Clncy,. has tried out hew talent daily, except Sa,turdayB, Sundays and holidays. Station has three reg- ular mike scouts, William G. Stoess, Grace Raine. and Arthur Chandler, Jr., who see and hear all applicants. Dally average of aspiring air artists is 10, the number running as high as 26 at times. FeW have enough on thei ball to warrant Consideration. Present headUners and know-abouts in ether amusement ."hannels who were auditioned in the beginner class at the Crosley 50,O00rwiEitter are. Jane Froman, Mills Brothers, Gene and Glenn, Ramona, Jack ;3rooks ahd Don Roiss, king's Jesters (Howard Bros.), Jean (Boaz) Fay, Mary Steele, Fred Shawn, Gene Paul King, Don Hall Trio, Morin Sisters, Ben Alley, Southern Singers, Wally Maher, Mary Smith and Ann Seymour, 'among, others. Tehsest broadcast £d Wynh admits he's yet gone through was the one be put on for Texaco last Tuesdaiy (21). Crowding his thoughts as .he went through the performance that night was the dread of a hostile studio demonstration plus the unloosening of stink bombs. . EiarUep-4n-the-day..NBC offl(^l8-J'ef^ved-a-xe|>ort-thftt--oxrem^pl^ of Wynn's defunct Amalgamated Broadcasting System, disgruhtled with the. comic's.refusal to pay off their claims for twq Weeks' Wages out of his o-wn -poeket, were conspiring to stage a demonstration during the broadcast ahd also drop some perfumed notes around. Web prepared for the threatened event with a cordon of coppers and a score Or so of dicks spotted in. strategic spots around the studio. Broaacast went^off Without untoward incident. Studio from which the show originated was the largest ahd most swankily decorated of the Radio. City layout. , KFWB jand KFVD are burning at the manner in which their station's reception has been affected south of Dos Angelas by the increia,slng of. power of XEAE, TJa Juana. Mexican station,, on frequency close to the two spots, has just increased from 2,000 to 4,000. watts with force xiow sufficient to broadcast into this territory and double, upon on receptiion of. the locals. However, the two stations aro powerless in protesting inasmuch as .the.. North . American Radio conventibh a,t Mexico City blew up. without any direct action. Mexican station is commercieLlihg mahy medical ac- couhts of the type not permitted north of the line by PRC. His staging of an excerpt ifrom 'Design for tiiving' on the Fleischmann yeast show last Thursday night (23) was Eriist Lubltsch's first contact with radio. Although'the agehcy. produceria as a rule do their own direct- ing of the program's dramatic bits, they readily stepped out of the pic-, ture when litibltsch announced at rehearsal that he would do the setting of the excerpt's pace for mike purposes. In the air bit were Marlam Hopkins and Gary Cooper playing the parts they had in 'Design's* film version which Lubitsch directed. KOH, newspaper oWhed station'.'n Reno, has a Vay Of combating the CBS news service which is broadcast over that station. At the end of the Columbia bulletin is the usual 'For complete coverage of news see your dally paper.' Immediately following comes a spot announcement 'for complete coverage of all news in this section read the Sacramento Bee,' N ew York Evening P ost' s radio cblumtilst t ook exception t o the lan^ guage used by "VAniETr In Its poll of the most popular air'"pi^ramBr 'Va^iettt said 'the. 12 be$t,' meaning to imply the best In a popular sense. ^It^r'wnH^lntftpprftted^to^mean^.best^jn^.tho^Bftnae^f^.qtiaJity^ Eddie Cantor's new. writer setup, on. the Chase & Sanborn show takes in, besides J. ■Wolfe Gilbert, Grant Garrett and Matt Brooks. Latter scripter w'ls .concerned with Jimmy Durante's dialoging for. the same program. Garrett's last, air writing was for Olsen and Johnson.' Hollywood report that Jimmy Durante has been signatured for 28 .week.s on Ukj .Cli.aso & Sanborn program during 1934 is denied by the J. Waltf-r Tliornpsyli jigency. There has been negotiation, agency states, but it isn't .set.