Variety (Dec 1933)

32 VAKIETY R A D i REPORTS Tueadaj, December 26, 1933 SETH PARKER CRUISE With Phillips Lord Aboard Ship 30 Mins. COMMERCIAL WEAF, Nevy York Loyalty and slinpleTiijliiflediiess chai*actei-lstics the Selh Parker fans. That, fact alone keeps those Avbokly pickups from soapott towns from being ticketed Inimedl- atolj- for prize-taking dullnesis. Phillipa Lord (Seth Parker) iis HKikiiif? a.tripl around the world in a «c'h(»onpr. For this first 13 weeks; ho procieeda leli3.urely down the At- lantic seaboard from north' to. south and- 6nc<i a wieejc .ties up at soiiie .convenient.dock to glve a bfoadcast. .For wlilch: Frigidalre .pays him money. It's a victory for Lord aiid Bob Bergef. his ihanagier. .Frlgldairer 0|f course, bought, and expeqts to capitalize on the loyftUy of those Seth Parker addicts. They Will have to be the judge of their own bargain. Meanwhile, by the only criteria that a ra-dio progfam can be judged under for the pur- pofies of a.; trt.de paper record, the 'Cruise of the Sfeth Parker' is in- tolerably sappy. Froni Providence Lord handed: out for 30 minutes what, the advance announcements stressed as. a great rad.i6 riovelty. Nariiely, there was no continuity and no prepared pro- gram. . It would be. truer to say that an attempt was .made to make a virtue out of poverty of Inspiration. This was th6 thirdl of the seaport frolics, the first .&hd second being from Portland, Maine and Boston. And If Lord has so soon'riin out of ideas,. maybe Frlgldaire Ought to protect their investment and hlrie an author. ' , Microphones were spotted in various parts of the ^hip. There was a good deal of pseudo-technical shouting of orders- and an' effort throughput to embellish tlie pro- ceedings with ., glamour. .. Minute after minute trickled by> hOwever, with nothing happening. There was little to describe and no amount of synthetic pxygenization could quite turn those, sailors. Into picturesque per^i^onalitles. They were scarcely j[^telligible. Lord succeeded in amply proving his claim that the program was ad lib and the talent was amateur. Which Only proved again that care- ful preparation' and experienced performers are fundamentals the neglect of which Inevitably results in disaster. Lord himself la a canny radio trouper,, but he's lea.ning with both elbows in this series upon the nOn> critical and endlessly good-natured chairacter of his typical audience. But presumably even the blind, the halt, the invalid,'and the Polyannia Is capable of that univei'sal muscu^ lar relief the yawn. JAnd. CALLING ALL CARS. With Frederick Lindsley- 15 Min«. COMMERCIAL. KHJ, Los Angeles. . It's patent that the idea for this weekly series was taken from the Lucky Strike pi^ograms based on cases from the Federal Secret Ser- vice files. For local consumption KHJ has taken Its material from criminal cases handled by the local police. On for tlie last three weeks the program is building to a good popu- larity among listeners who go for air dramatics,' Touch of authentic- ity is given the broadcasts by intro- duction of the weekly air cases by Chief of Police James Davis. ' Half hour driamas are divided be- tween narration by Frederick A. Lindsley and the enacting of the JiiighHghts by station's stock play- ers. Material well written with choice of cases picked being those which help to build for suspense. Crime dOpsn't pay angle Is put over,' but not In-those words. Chief Davig ln his introduction takes an opportunity to pat the local police department on the back and remind the listeners that crime is a losing game. Only cases to date have been those In which the police' have got their . man. Unsolved mysteries don't figure, Start. DEL CAMPO Tenor 15.Mins. -' SuStiaining WABC, New York CBS at lea.st is trying to dp some thing .to. develop, new talent. No question, but that radio sorely needs a triaining school for jtiascent talent, else in short order It will .have' haUsted all its talent resources. Bel Citthipo. Is a tenor who may win that, peculiar public fancy which suddenly makes certain ero.oner..,. bands, . et al.i household words. He's a roniantic warbler who doed his'fituff corapetently. but. It is feared,, with not sufficient distinc- tion to threaten another national craze. He's sponsored by Cori Con- rad, who piloted Russ Columbo. ^ Abet. PINKY HUNTER'8 ORCH ESTRA Sustaining 30 Mins. WQY, Schenectady A new combination playing Over NBC from the Lotus Garden; Res- taurant, in Cleveland, where Hunter long was a featured singer on pro- grams broadcaist by Em'erson Gill'd orchestra.' Hunter left Gill near the close of the latter's engagenient at the. De Witt ClintOn Hotel, Albany, and'its WGY .airings, tp organize his own band. Hunter's unit. plays as smoothly as. though It were a veteran organ- ization. Leader, bnei of radio's pio- neers, knows the ^tyle "of .music and the type of program that will appeal, to listeners. Luncheon-hour broadcasts make ezceillent loud-, speaker entertainment. They blend with the dining atniOsphere> too. A. capable pop singer,. Hunter does many of the vocals* Another bandsman occasionally warbles,' as do^s a femme vocall$t'. One thing Hunter lacks .'is a theine soiig com- parable in distinctiveness to the number he sahg some 10,000 times with Gill's band. Jaco. REPEAL PARTY Booth's Pale Dry Oris Hour COMMERCIAL WCAU, Philaddphi This program—6ne time shot, was aired from lt^l5 to 12; 15 the night of repea,l, and. sub-titled 'Thru the Years with Booth's—a fast moving, fascinating microphonic word pic- ture of h^dlinea and happenings from 1919 to '33. Mac Parker,, local newspaperman did the commentating, and handled over 6,000 words of copy at the Floyd Oibhonesque rapid fire tempo. Sach yeaf split by music (Paul Mason'9)-r-^nd ensemble numbers nicely tied in with continuity done by eight voice mixed chorus.. Good twist was a bit by one of Philadelphia's mOst famoUs ' bar- tenders (Mike Gannon of .Green's) Who t%minisced about'. John L. Sullivan, Jim Corbett,- Nat Good- win, Dan Daly, and other celebs of the 90's vintage. The broadcast caused a lot of comment and clicked nicely. Watera. Honesty HoUjrwood, Dec. 25. Gloria Stiiart has turned down a.$600 pfter to sing.one tune with !Rudy yalleo over the Fleischmann hour/ Vole© not property trained for etherization, she. said.-^ —^from Dailif Varietv, Holly- wood. " Runkel Brothers chocolate high- light the sedative influence of their product for insoninlacs. There's malt in the cocoa and slumberi they say. is irresistable. Program over WOR that carries this, message Is 'Maverick Jlni^ a hallf hotir program .that seems like a whole evening. It's a . rambling^ leisurely • sort of a show heavily freighted with effects Of moping steers .and .other . sounds tyjplcal Of Arizona. <Tha^ Mexican' and 'greaser' are expressions used for the villain, proving that radio is startinig where Hollywood after reimousuratlohs from iMexlco City, left off somo; years ago. Riiby Keeler hit the ether for the first time the other night on the coast, and Went over in gr^at style, it was on the Fleischmann NBC program where she and D>Ick Powell were billed. SViend Al Jolson was an Anpromptu member of the cast; and after a few remarHs introduced the ntissus. She slipped over an individual , number, then chanted, with Powell. Later she did a dramatic sketch, 'The F'irst Kiss,' with Powell and Ann Stone, that went over to re- sounding results with the audience of 300 in. the RKO broadcasting studio. Texaco boasts of itself as one of the first In the oil industry to sign the NRA. code; which, is e-idently to persuade the public that Texaco was'an exception in the reluctance of that chaotic industry to give in. Louis A. Witten speaks for Texaco. Meanwhile Ed 'Wynn's gags were heavily sprinkled with quips about drunkard^. Thiar-sounds strange over the air. So fair as radio was concerned, iintil the'laist cou{>le of weeks sUch a thing as alcoholic drinking did not exist. CAMPUS NliSHTS Songs» Band 15 Mins. Suataining WMCA, New York Just another label for a program framed around a' quartet and a stu- dio band. Brand of warbling mixed by the foursome Is pretty bad and any complaint from the universi- ties, or colleges ihentioned in the continuties r.ould be justiflable. Each of the Thursday evening quarter hours is dedicated to. some institution of learning in or near New York City. Program opens with a tiiumbnail sketch of the uni- versity's history and purpose, as set forth in its charter, and. he- tween song bits the announcer con- ducts. a CooK's tour of the institu- tion's architectural layout. Besides the alma mater's own songs the quartet for its repertoire resorts to sentimental and niarchr iiig . tunes of ancient vintage. Ap- parently the program's appeal oh- ject.ive. are the alumni pt similar orlgi Oder. HALP HOUR IN 3^ TIME Dorothy Miller, Garfield Swi Songs, Band 30 Mi . Sustaining WOR, Newark Program auLhpiitl<;f, al WOR could make this one,easier on the sensibilities by eliminating the ijue- rlle patter that runs through an •otlifrwii<e pUraKaut half hour. Wliat adds irritalion to annoyance is the .practice, of repeatihg the sjfinc line of continuity week after .week, f<implo.st solution of this obvious =wi7amti(m-=^f^«o!itiimrty""="ia^ir^ would . be to cut 4he announcer's contributiPiis down to mere moiitlon of numbers and soloists. Musically, .ilio. program for lis kijul siumld have . better than averufec :api>p.il. German tunes arc culled with fine taste for lilt and melody and cover a wid(!. variety of sources. Soprano rmige of Dorothy Miller and Gar- field Swift's baritone, whether in .solo or, diiet, lend, themselves Esnioothly to the voCal requirements of the operetta or standard excerpt." allotted them. Odcc. LYON AND hiPALY CALENDAR Records 15 Minsi COMMERCIAL WBBM, Chicago For some ycarfe now phonograph record companies have been .print ing a line Pn their discs:, 'hot for radio broadcasting,' But the sta- tions continue to use the discs and the phonograph firms do nothing to stop the . practice. The notion has grown up throughout the Industry that thef- phonograph companies 'seeretiy=^aepin'X)vc^x»f=^thc-=broadcast==' Ing, labelling It free advertising. And tltlf-. program,' paid for by the Ijyon .'tud Healy music store, locally, v!iUdute>! ' thi.s notion. This music .eonipany is playing . 15 minutes worth of records on the air each niorning and then tellfi the audiPnce that tlio records or the. manuscripts c»f the muKlc can. be .purchased at Lyon and Ilttaly. This has beeh ro- ink on f(ir some Ume so It must be assumed to have been successful flnano.ially. M (>.".• I of th<' records chosen are Qsrtrude Bfei^s'a slick script .'Rose of the Goldbergs' continues, to dup- pprt a high average of literary and production merit. A dozen little detaiVs of' well-thought-out action can be counted in almost any of the installments. Not only is the dialect of rerharkable- fidelity but the -naturalism of the characters and the things that happen to them is of legitimate. 6tage quality. Not hard to understand why this show keeps' its favOr. classical numbers,' evidently on the belief that the morning air is crowded with popular discs due to stations' morning musical clocks. GOLDEN EAGLE DRY GOODS COMPANY Santa Claus Program 15 Mins. COMMERCIAL KLZ, Denver This program, going pn daily for 16 minutes, is a topnotch program to capture the child interest, and but for the fact that it's time to start the dinner, mother probably would be listening in also. 'That's not . necessary,' as in many Instanced she hears all about it from the youngsters. For a slgrnature song to open 'Jingle Bells' is used, and to close the same tune but with words that sell the store. In between: Santa and the kids indulge in season chatter and he sinj^s ^ieveral songs, and. together they put on a tab play, 'pied Piper' was used when. .covered. B.anta urges, all listeners to gather thifeir old and broken toys and send them to the Are department to' ba ror paired and painted for boys and girls less fortunate. Air Line News By Ndlie ReTe U A movemeht reported aifOOt In, legit and which Is golns the rounds ot the studios Is that ft protest Twfiil be made by represeintativ^s of the. legit theatre agalnat radio's free audiences, . WTille there can be no legal grounds for a kick, complaint wlU .be, made that it is unfair and iih^ ethical competitloh. It yr\\\ W pointed' out that the theatre Is feeling the oppbsiubn .of radilo enough without eitudio audiences to make it worspr Smith a Radi Alfred Smith lis authoritatively quoted, In his capacity of chairman ot thO board of WMCA, as being strongly opposed to. broadcasting pf liquor-sponsored prograjns. Further, he w.ill nioVe. aga^^^ the station having any. Sparton Knows Own Mind Sparton Radio show startingr Dec. 31 on NBC, with pick Hlmber, th<^ 'Three SdampS,' Frances Lahgford, and Joey Nash, set a record in radio for the: rapidity, with, which the. deal consumntated..; It took just six days. to settle everything^' NBC show will: replace Seymour .Simon On CBS. .:■ Short Shots The Leaders start commuting to ^^ew Havpn next nionth wheii they start a comniercial for the Conheoticut Mutual- I^i^e Insurance Co.. on WTIG... .Maurice Barrett has. a hew sustaining^ at tVOR... .Bob Sim- mons :is making . a short . for Warners... .Llttman's has. rehewed the Ben Alley; Betty Ray, Abe' Goldman .morning show foij 13 weeks.., ,Miils Bros, will do two pictures, 'Operatpr 13- and 'AH preissed 'Up' while on the coiast.; i .R^ube Goldberg ;'and Frank Parker beeh signed .by Gopdrlch;TIres- fpr a >onimercial. Rest of the ishow and the time now being settled.v. .Frank .Crumit and Julia .Saihdejrspn auditioned tot:. new commercial, .to fpllow their Blackstone - Cigar show, last, weeif.. v'i Ben Bernle is yaOatipning in ploridqu . pltto. K; K;. Hansen, Who's in' lahassee.;, .pick Hlmber aiid his band, an NBC outfit, played a Xma.s. Day date for CBS.^.. .Paul Stewart> former legit actor turned to; riadio. Is back/In New York from 13 months with WLW, Cincinhati,. .^Vic Irwin and the Betty BoPp show with Bonnie Poe, due back on NBC in February..'. .LionerStander,. who plays the Russian waiter .On the new Sx-Lax show, got his long .awaited break in radio. Both he and Geof- frey Bryant, in the same show, are from legrlt. Stand By Peter Van Steeden replaces Will Osborne on the morning Linlt-Karo- Mazola shows On CfeS at the end of January ..Harry Wlnsten, pf the Lesan agency, moves to the William Ssty outfit Jan. 1 to handle the RUppert's Beer accoUnt... iCheerio, dissatisfied with the time given his evening show opposite Lowell.Thomas, Is trying.to have it shifted.... Caniel show will start using guest stars shortly. Mary Pickford may be one of them., ...Dave Casem, WOR press head, was. prevented from at- tending the WOR Press party la^t wpek due to the illness of his wife..,. Eleanor Radclilfe, 11-year-old daughter of Vemon RadcUfFe, h&s landed a,, commercial berth aft^r being in radio three months. She'll be in the Itay Knight Kuku show when It $tarts to plug spark plugs... .Edna Luce is doing a radio column for the Journal of Commerce.., ...Buddy Rogers, Ted Lewis and.Ted PlolUto auditioned for Old Gold'last week... Mort MUlman is .due back .from the coast this week. . Jack Arthur, on "WOR for. two years, goes eifC Jan. 6 for vaude .dates. . . .Jesse Smith is conducting the Leo Reismftn orchestra on the Philip Morris show .'While the band leader recuperates from his fall. ; . .Scrajivpy Lambert and Billy Hillpott return to . CBS as vTrade and Mark Jan.: $ fOr the Smith Bros, cbughdrop outfit.. .Donna. Damerel, Marge in Myrt and Marge, will' niarry Gene .Kretzinger of Gene and Charley in Chicago Pec. 30,...Hor- tense Rose and pibn Hall, of the Don Hall Trio« celebrated their third wedding •anniver^sary Xmas Day, ..J The Pickens. Sisters are back from HPllywopd. NUtlSERY RHYMES. With Milton J. Cross, Lewis Janiies, Josef Stobak Orchestra 15 Mins. Sustaining W£AF, New York •Many a gem from a rhastei* pen' combined with 'Herp's a rhyme- I'm sui'e you know, about a laihb with fleece like snow' tells , the report on tMa..-jlB C qu arter , hp^^^^ and gentlemen between^ttfe^ages of three and seven'. ,It's as "ilngly as ,Santa'.s sleigh and As captivating as Jack Who Climbed the Beanstalk. Actually the program po.<isesses lots of merits. Milton Croiss, NBC announcer, and Lewis James, oftr used tenor, are ci^edited with l)utr> ting il together. Rhymes are good, so is the musiid, and the show dis- plays a blithesome bounce and uraicty well calculated to delight tots. And Incidentally can make adults chuckle reminiscently. Scrambled Notes Richard Hudnut sponsors Jeanie^ Lang and the Rhythm Rogues on CBS soon... .Mildred Bailey is making shorts series for Educational.... Joe Morrison's coast departure held over. until Feb. 1... .Vera "Van's brother, pick,. is in. the jpicture nylng Dpwn to Rio.* Van will come east before iFebruary.... Irving Kaufman starts for iiipew yaudcvllle in January..Ernie iioitz auditioned last week, for Royal Gelatine.... Albert Spaulding is making Victor records Jane Wilson, soprano, is sighed for 13 transcriptions for Pr. Scholl's foot products... .And, as the late Rennle Wolf said, 'Forgive * us, our Xmases, as we forgive those who .Xmas against .' ' Gossip CBS is. auditioning Consuelp Gonzalez, west coast isongstress. Like- wise ^ Charlie Leland, Los Angeles m,c..,..Ward Wilson will shortlj'- team up with a female mimic for another air spot.... .Vera Van, has dropped two sustaining spots over CBS In order to devote more time to the preparation of her twice weekly POntiac proirram. .. .Reggie Child's band, formerly-at the Hotel Roosevelt, goes Vaudeville shortly^ with In'fez Courtney featiu*ed.... Donald Novis-gpes into the Brooklyn Param'-unt December 29 and then shoots to Baltimore for a. Lbew tour.. RPb Wilder now handles all remote prpgrams at WOR, taking that job over from Lpuis Reld... .Teddy HUrtig, son of Hurtig (Hurtig and Seamon), Is ti'ying to crash radio with a trio. The kids are how on WEVD. FRANCE PEPS RADIO Paris, Pec. 16. French governjnent has- tal.jn over so'-calledi Radio Paris, station, privately :owned; and christened it PPste Nationale. With an increa. i in wattage and Iniprov^ment of equipment It Will fOrm a. French, re- ply to the Nazi high-power .trahs^ mittprs. Expected that government will organise a radio symphony orch tra and g:enerally strengthen the prograrhming of station. Legit and opera personalities previously not available are already being used. -==Desplte=^a-r^latively=^lgh-^numb6r-= of receiving sets,. broadpastihg in Prance is distinctly backward. Noble Sissle band ppehs at the College Inn, Hotel Sherman, Chi- cago. Sharing the rOom with Paul Ash band, which plays the early evening shows. Arthur Karr now with Coconut Grove in Manchester, N. H. Music by Arthur AUard's orchestra. GERSHWIN TOUR NOT HALTED BY MISHAP George Gershwin tour of one- nlghters will s^rt "as scheduled Jan. 14, despite the cracked hip suf- fered by Leo Reisman, who had been booked to go along, as conduc- tor. Charles Previn leaves the Par- amount; New York, pit to replace Uelsmani Harry'Askin,'-booker of the .-tour, engaged i>revin. after Gershwin had wired hini frorn the west .coast ad-- ^vising,--^ngainst-=^a====postpPjtiementW Concert combltiatlpn including Jas. Melton will open in Boston, ing as far south as Richihpnd, west as St. Louis and. north as Toronto and complete, the circle in Brooklyn. Route takes in 28 one-night stands. Columbia - Phonograpli radio disc division- is set-to -move out "of- pres- ent quarters on Canal street, Chi- cago, nearer the center of the radio [industry locally.