Variety (Apr 1934)

36 VARIETY RADIO REPORTS Tuesday, April 17, 1934 GENERAL MILLS— 20TH CENTURY PICTURES With George Arliss, Ronald Colman, Fredric March, Constance Ben- nett, Tullio Carminati, Jack Oakie, Rupert Hughes, Vivienne Segal, SCHLITZ PRESENTS Henry Busse Drama', Singing, Band 30 Mins. COMMERCIAL WABC, New York It took SchUtz about a year to RIP LASHER With Guy Robertson Chatter, Guest 8tar* 15 Mins. COMMERCIAL WABC, New York Rip Lasher comes td the kilo- Abe Lyman Orchestra, Al Neu-1 decide on a program with which to. cycles .a complete stranger, and for man Orchestra, Beatrice Se I vara, I make its air debut. The brewer's, that reason it seems a reasonable hunch that myriads of radio listen- ers will think they're hearing: Wal- ter Winchell. One person could scarcely be closer, in style, manner, vocal pitch, and the essentials of choice, authored an.d .produced • by Ted Scherdeman. dishes up a va- ried and diverting half hour, even though.the program idea involved isn't exactly original. ^Vhat Scher- deman'has done is to. add a facet or I personality than Rip Lasher is like two to the 'March of Time.' Re- Winchell. _....,.,_„ suits of his initial effort (13) were Very little Is known to the Broad- That ' load of names guaranteed. of a mixed flavor. Some ingredents way crowd about Lasher, but that Qeneral Mills and 20th Century Pic g- 1 Vtcnff Indicates that Lasher is about tures a large listening audience for | oth £ a £eI1 sa £ly flat. Betty Crocker! Armida, Royal S. Cppeland, David Percy,. Teas Gar- delia, Donald E. Davi Howard Claney. 60 mins. COMMERCIAL WEAF, New York. while What was unquestionably one of the most ambitious undertakings in : radio showmanship to date. There have; of; course, been several pro- grams hopping from Manhattan to Hollywood and back again: and sev- eral Instances of a radio advertiser 'The Program of the Week,' with Henry Busse dealing out expert samples of dansapation for the in- termissions, is divided into five acts. One dramatizes what is sup- posed to be the 'Laugh of the Week,' the second, the 'Song of the Week,' the third; the big news of shooting the bankroll on one vol- | the week( the fourth the 'product of the week* and the fifth any one of the following three items, the" canto eruption of stars.' This, particular enterprise repre- sents a tie-up between the Minne- apolis miller of wheat flour and the 20th' Century studio observing one year in the field of motion picture production. This tie-up brought | cago. George Arliss and Ronald. Colman to the microphone for the first time. It also delivered moat of the big- gest nan.es on the hour program. General Mills' part of the program originated in New York; One result of the two-way deal was the duality of commercial plug. 'book of the week,' the 'play ; of the week' : or the 'personality .of the week.' This was an excerpt from The Shining Hour,' playing; simul- taneously in New York and Chl- 22 years of age. It is also said that. he la an ex-stooge for Win- chell. It is hard to say whether Lasher is good or bad. Probably he's In between. It does appear that, he is not being himself, always a good rule. However, not. knowing what his own personality Is like it is im- possible .to affirm that the idola- trous imitation of another is pre?- ferable. His copy is delivered, In the racing tempo with the racy idiom fashionable at the moment. His diction is fain On the inaugural program he stumbled several times, cue-bit Guy Robertson, twice. "Venida probably is watching the First 15 minutes were identifiable | many shouting and shrieking voices with General Mills. Ditto the final stretch^ But the heart of the pro- gram, the middle half-hour, spoke lengthily Of 20th Century Pictures and never alluded to wheat. This must have been somewhat confus ing. Enactment of the dramatic bit copy closely. And a wise precaution; would have been highly effective if *°r casual slurs oyer the air are in'the direction some one had given n °t the same as little digs burled thought to the subjects of tempo m text. Lasher made a crack about arid voice shading. Some of the a New. York daily losing $7,000 packages packed the deftness of weekly and likely , to expire. Rumor line reading that it takes to make mentions Lasher as an applicant for moving radio drama while others a,columnist Job on that.particular came through as a jumble of so | daily. All things weighed, the Venlda The awkward handling of the con- I program is no great shakes. Too trols didn't help. This negligent little production thought and prepa- manipulatlon of the studio dials ration. Guy Robertson from 'All marked also the orchestra portions the_,King's Ho rses' sang a couple of of the show. . songs from that show. They hap- Dramatization of the news item I Pen to be show numbers, of little selected was neatly carried out. It appeal as solos. Robertson has a dealt with the setting of a new al- I nice voice, but didn't shine as more Primary criticisms of the program I titude record by. an Italian aviator, melodic songs would have permitted would' be that the gathering to-1 *Iad the author stayed closer to him. gether of the various threads was| horne ^ e might have come upon Venida la . plugging a wave set not- auite as smooth and ftdroft as several Items far more colorful and Which comes in bottles, First pro- S£ Z^St ^ rtS >-JH\ editing. With the 'March of eram offered a free premium in the ^ occasion required and that the \ TimB > out of the way , He could form of a clgaret lighter guaranteed mechanical switch-oyers from Coast I borrow a leaf from its mode of to work. Three- 10c cartons or one to Coast were poorly timed. Seemed preparation and pick an. almost up 25c carton, together with a dime like SO to 45 second gaps between [ to the minute bit of news for trans- to cover postage brings the lation to the mike. He could also lighter to anybody* Probably a try to emulate this air classic's Bood bait for those Venida seeks to adroitness at building suspense and reach. And it Is the cheapness of background. the product that may be the best For the song * of the week the asset Rip. Lasher has. He may be SchUtz frame elected Gordon and 1 okay for the sub-strata, even while Revel's 'Love Your Neighbor* from unable to meet regular Broadway the picture* 'We're Not Dressing.' columnist competition. ~' " Nature of the product was not was several notches below the I made clear enough. Offering the smart interpretation that the girl ^igaret lighters to men as well as warbler gave the melody and I women suggests that both may be Verses. The 'laugh of the week* smacked of a chestnut out of the 'Arkansas Traveller.' Plug represented a mixture of moods, though fairly effective. From NELLIE REVELL Interview* 15 Mins. Sustaining WJZ, New York Nellie Revell's afternoon series of Interview broadcasts rates among the best in that field of ether pres- entation If not tops. For Hiss Revell manifests a keen sense of audience values in not making it the commonplace puff-blog of the guest star. Instead she presents her subject humorously, novelly . and interest- ingly, as in the Jack Benny gabfest. The latter, of. course, is of more than normal assistance through his unctious delivery of the lines allot- ted him. The script may or may hot have been his own mike-literary contribution, although it is more likely that Miss Revell authored the continuity In toto, seeing to it that it conformed with the personality and character of her subject. There is a good-humored, au- thoritative conviction ' to her style of address as she puts Benny through the routine interrogatoriea t which she enhances with a rather distinctive 'dress. Miss Revell tops off with a reci- tation on 'Courage.' Harold Levey's orchestra accompanies, all combin- ing Into ain above par quarter hour. She was caught last Tuesday after- noon at 2:45-3 o'clock. Abel. each. Radio audiences now are ac- customed to letter-perfect engineer- ing miracles, .. Rupert Hughes performed superb- ly as the master of ceremonies on | the Hollywood end. ...His copy, self- written, was suave, unctuous, so- phisticated, yet simple. As a radio | Dialog that cued into the number personality he is distinctly there. Indeed, since Arliss and Col man are scarcely available it may be stated that Hughes is the net residue of talent possibilities devel- oped by the show. Tess Gardell (Aunt Jemima) considered purchasers. Land. ALICE REMSEN and RAY „ ( b „_„ HEATHERTON opened the performance. She seemed straight copy readng it turned to 1'^'*^. w \ ,,ia '" ^.'. r ? 0 * to be too far from the mike. David Percy followed Vith 'Why Do I Love You?' pleasantly rendered. Throughout the eastern portion of the show-Abe Lyman's music was a dialoged narrative of the found- ing of the Schlitz dynasty and the brew that 'made Milwaukee fa- mous. The ..closing commercial went poetically mellow with the an- nouncer, swooning a la David Ross ! Castlea in the Air' 15 Mi ' ; Sustaining WJZ, New York By no means new to the air* Miss Remsen and Heatherton with Bill richly melodic and a. fine support over the smooth amber glow of the r Wireea piand accompanying have a If anything, there was too little of beverage, to the obbllgato of violin, "* it. United Artists' musical con- ductor, Al Newman, did a good job in California also, so this depart- ment was 100%. Jack Oakie saved himself from a 'cello and oboe. Odea WHITNEY BOLTON Theatre Gossip 15 Mins. ■ Sustaining brodie with a self-deprecatory gag WNEW, New York Increasing number of newspaper- about having 1 gotten paid in ad vance. Fredric March and Con stance Bennett handled neatly an excerpt from 'The Firebrand.' Outstanding was Ronald Colman, whose splendid voice sprayed a mil- lion parlors with the same sort of appeal he exercises from the screen. He combined chattiness with dig- nity and addressed himself spe- cifically to Great Britain, and South America, where international hook- ups also were bringing the pro- gram. k Equally authoritative in poise was I Arliss, . past .master at curtain • speeches. It was a curtain speech that he gave to the radio audience and he culminated with a gay anec- dote exquisitely, timed for an ap- plause-ringing' exit. During the Hollywood end of the, hour various current or pending 20th Century re- leases, notably "House of Roths- child,' were mentioned frequently. Of the Other performers, Tullio Carminafi surprised with his slng- Armida was attractive, Vivi- enne Segal likewise. Which leaves the three commer- ^.„.„ c laJl __ splj&le.rs _fg^'th^ja st._.__ _pjp^ld Davis, president of General*~MiHs, begged indulgence for the advertis- ing in a neat little speech. But in view of the growing disinclination to credit endorsements from Senator Royal S. Copeland, whc.is the heir to the late Alfred W. McCann. as the big league professional endorser of the advertising world, he was hot the prize package General Mills may suppose, Far better seemingly was Beatrice Selvlra, beauty consultant to United Artists. It was a major mult not nice little romantic interlude Tues- day and Thursday mornings at 10:15-10:30 am. He's Jim the gringo and she Rita from across the Mexi can border. They open with a 'border' song and ring in 'Rio Rita,' 'CariOca,' a couple of other Spanlsh-Mex pops plus 'Thousand Goodnights,' com- bining everything into a pleasant quarter hour of romantic song, in- terspersed with just enough of a men are taking a whirl at the air- waves. Increased prestige, possible sponsorship, are sufficient motives. Whitney Bolton is a well-informed Pk>t' thread to keep it going. Times. Squarite whose personality I Abel. is- agreeable across the. kilocycles. He dwells pretty much on actual news items (or publicity. releases) of the current theatre and film, worlds. It's ' good fan stuff. Land. ROMANCE OF MEAT Dramatic Sketch 15 Mins. COMMERCIAL WEAF, New. York Faced with the problem of over- coming two factors that have done heavy damage to the butcher's till, the Institute of American Meat Packers has turned to radio as one hopeful way out. First to deliver a hefty sock to. the meat -business was- the anti-fat fad, and then along came the depression and the house- wife out of necessity had to cut down the number of meat days a week. In due time the family got away from the every-day meat habit and even with the Improve- ment of conditions the swing back to the old diet has been slow. The articles of food substituted for meat have themselves become the habit; For its propaganda purposes the packers' institute has chosen an odd dish. To persuade the consumer to get back to using more meat the abattoir men have resorted to dra- matizing the old adage, attributed to every warlord from Hannibal down to. Napoleon,, that- an' -army travels on its stomach. And the army elected to "carry out this theme is George Washington's own. It's a highly dignified method of institutional selling this, but what may be okay, for insurance will likely turn out amiss for tom-tom- ing the virtues of the animal tissue. Program makes use. of the narra- tor and interspersed dramatic bit device. Only this one goes • overly heavy on the narrator. The dra- matized interludes are short and few between. In the installment caught they had anything but ver- similitude and sparkle. Episode had to do with Benedict Arnold's flight after he had been exposed as a traitor. The writer stretched hard on the historical facts in Order to perk up the narrative with sex ap peal. Limned as the siren was Ar nold's wife, Peggy, but what her coquettishness had to do with her husband's sellout of his compatriots wasn't made clear. _ Plug makes capital of the fact that the meat industry has been co-operating with the NRA and that, during the past year the pack ers' payrolls have taken a Bubstan tial boost Odeo. to have used her rather than Cope- land as the pivot Of the Institu- tional appeal. She should have been built up more and better, and. the Hollywood angle brought, out. Dry as.dust, Copeland can convince only on the strength of his medical de- gree and senatorial toga, but Holly- wood and slender graceful beauty GRANDMOTHER'S TRUNK With Nelda Stevens, Eva Taylor Music, Narrative 15 Mi . Sustaining WEAF, New York Midweek sustaining filler on NBC is a pleasantly meaningless program that hardly deserves to be panned, yet equally is guilty of the stereo- typed duplication against which radio Ig seeking to extricate itself. Outwardly it may seem novel, that of a lady sentimentalist supposedly rummaging through a.n ancient hamper in the attic and fishing out songs and ditties of the Old South 'HOMICIDE SQUAD' With Ted Athey, Mark Dani Melodrama 80 Mint. COMMERCIAL K EX, Portland, Ore. 'Help! Help! Don't shootai shot rings, out, sirens eoho into the night air, and another Homicide Squad drama swings Into action. Thusly, each Friday night at 9 : IS p.m., do the crime-thirsty listeners in the area of 6,000-watter KEX re- ceive their potion of authentic police drama, thrills. Homicide Squad Is a snappy, fast-moving half-hour dramatization, based upon, actual flies cases from the Portland Police Department. Idea back of series is to point obvious moral lesson, as only cases where convictions have been obtained are used. Police de- partment co-operates 100% ln<. mat- ter, of divulging details of cases. Production formerly broadcast Oregonian'a 1,000-watter KGW on Sunday evenings. New sponsor re- quested the five-fold power KEX set-up, and program shifted to Fri- day nights* On weeks of change, more than 500 telephone calls were received, as well as numerous let- ters, voicing, opinions and asking info , on where program could be heard. Present set-up how running smoothly, with listeners apparently satisfied with the fish-day crime club airing. Two principal characters are De- tectives Frost and Berry. Ted Athey, former legit character actor, plays Frost, while' Mark . Daniels, baritone soloist on other programs, portrays sleuth Berry.. Script writ- ten by Dave Drummond,. short story writer of same vein for past fifteen years. Production under care of Archie Presby, program director of KGW- KEX.' Technique of series is unique in that first portion of program re- lates the crime being perpetrated, with all attendant heavy-breathings, padded footsteps, muffled cries, etc. Then commercial is inserted at half- way point, leaving listeners well up in the air for the final fifteen min- utes, wherein blundering Frost and officious Berry track down their, man, always to Success. A touch of eastern showmanship has been added by agency handling account, in that visitors are per- mitted in studio to observe show if they obtain free tickets from office of sponsor (credit concern). News- papers -are used to plug show, as well as placards ..in lobby of down- town Oregonion building, directing. passersby to the studios on the 7th ' floors. While some parents have been vociferous In' their abuse of the rather bold realism with which; stories are handled, still, as a whole, the listeners within 600 mile radius of Portland approve of the program. as evidenced by satisfaction of sponsor both in biz and demand for tickets. are synonymous in the minds of womankind. Direct target of the I wnichthe talent hereupon lenders' program, and General Mills is. to Essentially. it's the kind of pro- break down, resistance to wheat duction idea that gets trotted out bread as fattening. A Hollywood regularly. Just an excuse for beauty expert was an inspiration, stringingsome songs together, but she was snowed under the gen- | Neither good nor bad. Land. eral set-up that should have high lighted her, I SLEEPY HALL and Orchestra -JF e Hy_ c r^ker, jfo - J-30-M ins..„ „- — eraTMills broadcaster, is an experi- Sustaining enced spieler and a good one. She WJZ, New York delivered the talk to induce women When NBC or any other chain to ask their local baker for a free picks up any band by remote control booklet containing flour propa- that in itself is some warranty of ganda^ — :J-Worth, Sleepy Hall is currently at This 60-minute all-star show ^Vl 0 ^ 1 , S y SSfe J n Syracus f °' WWdTToT-be bad. It could not fall g^''^ n ^J la n w I f£?' fe^JXft£ to achieve some, perhaps big, re- Jhrwgh WJiT NBC llnk outlettlne suits, it emerged on the air quite H e's on an early afternoon inter- different from its original member- hide for 30 minutes and belies his ship and scope. If anything, It was 'Sleepy Time Gal' theme song by overboard on big names and weak dishing forth a palatable medley of on big moments. Land. I sprightly dansapatioa. Abel. BOB HARING'S ORCHESTRA With Arthur Lewi Band, Songs 15 Mins. Sustaining WMCA, New York Haring is the Federal Broadcast ing Corp.'s (WMCA) house maestro and officiates at divers periods through the week. On this quarter-hour evening ses sion, 7:45-8 p.m. Wednesday nights, he has Arthur Lewis, warbling the pops in an okay baritone voice, manifesting distinctive delivery and a generally pleasant style. It's sustaining quarter hour and highly palatable. Abeh CHRISTINE KENDRICK Soprano 15 Mins. Sustaining WIP, Philadelphia Afternoon soprano heard Wednes- days over WIP, Philadelphia, with Sarah Lewis accompanying at the piano. Straightaway stuff, okay, but not memorable. A typical sample of sustaining filler in the hinterland. - Pays eff In prestige and thrills for the local Galll-Curci. Kills ah awkward late matinee niche. Land. HOLLY SMITH 'Sing, It's Good for You' 30 Mins. Sustaining WBT, Charlotte, N.C. This new musical script act made Its. debut as the second new show to be" atfded to the-WBT pfogram-ln a week's time by Holly Smith, who has just joined the station as pro- duction manager. 'Let's Get Friendly' is the other new Smith spot. T-hifr-sheWy slightly-similar to the other, features chatter and songs by Smith; It-has the professional "touch and should meet with success With a southern audience. Supporting Smith are Bo Buford, pianist, and Thorpe Westerfleld, guitarist Program is based on the song, •Sing, It's Good for You', Informal continuity. LARRY FUNK'S ORCHESTRA Dance Music 15 Mins. Sustaining WAAB, Boston To one who knew him when, it seems hard to realize that the smooth dance rhythmns emanating from the Club. Barclay nightly over the Yankee web are under, the di- rection of Larry Funk.' The same Larry Funk whose four Or five-piece band was known by^ several names while playing over. NBC not so many years ago. One of them be- ing the band of a thousand melo- dies, the name by which the band is now known. There is nothing tricky .or stagey about, the band. It . is one of the better dance units that's easy oh the ears either at home from the speaker or at the Barclay. With such smooth rhythms and arrange- ments it'$ too bad the vocalists do not measure up to the standards of the band. Otherwise, it is good entertainment. DANCE TIME IN DENVER Herbie Kay, Vic Schilling, Donnelly* Smith Orchestra Sustaining KOA, Denver This broadcast from three of the popular night_clubs of Denver is be- ^Hg""tttlCeTT"by^airth§^we , sT"coas£; = sTa-^ tions of NBC, Who ordered it after hearing it once. There is never a dull moment, not even a second that some band is not playing, due to the three-way hookup devised by KOA engineers. Announcers at each spot has ear phones, and for practical purposes might-just-as-well be talkr ing to each other on the phone. The hookup is so sensitive that one can cut in with a word or two at any time, and is not missed—and neither does it gtim up the broadcast. Broadcast and the fast manner In (Continued on page 38)