Variety (Jun 1934)

E P © R T S Tuesday', June 12, 1934 JOE WILLIAMS 8pQi*ts Comment IS Mins. COMMERCIAL WABC, New Vork .. Joe Williams does the New York World - Telegram's lead, sport col- umn. Last Tue-day (6) he trans- planted his athletic comment to the air for a cigar manufacturer. This quarter hour opens with the an- nouncer handling the ad copy and racing result- then Williams, and the announcer again, picking up for the finish with: the baseball scores. The news aspect of the program, hitting at. 6:46 p.m., gives it the bulge ori Ford Frick (WOR-7 p.m.) and a -local baseball resume by WEAF at 7 o'clock. But the main item here Id Williams and his sense of humor. Williams chose the cominc Car- THE DERpY. Epsom Downs, England BBC Sustaining WABC, New Vork Because hundreds of Americans held prize, money sweepstakes tick- ets, on the "Darby,' England's racing classic which was run last Wednes- day (6) the broadcast of the event at 10 a. m. was an unusual/morning interlude over. ; the American air- ways. Through an arrangement with WEAF and WABC the BBC BERNARD GRANVILLE | VAL and ERNIE STANTON With Lou Kaplan orchestra, Alfred Comics Patricia Leeds, Vaughn de| COMMERCIAL ROSA PONSELLE With Andro Kostolanet* Orch Songs, Music I Gigi, 15 Mins. Leath COMMERCIAL 30 Mins . WABC, New York , . w T* Do you play Hamlet on the stage Susta —in radio you're Skippy. Do you WOR, Newark sing ShS in tne great operas-in Artist bureau of WOR use* this radio you lyrically inquire, 'Did hal f hour interlude to showcase its somebody steal your kiddie car talent and solicit club, .WMWj | flower . They belonged to that group away?' or warble 'Little Bo Peep. part y and other bookings, B | r " a ™ Q f performers, ever a minority, who There's something pretty rl.dlcu* (Granville officiates as m.c: and cmei Could trUt hfully boast 'booked solid WEAF, Now York Val and! Ernie Stanton, date bat to the old Orpheum and Keith cir- cuits. When big time was in flower the two silly ass English dia- lecticians fitted from flower to short-waved the description with i OU s about Rosa Ponselle in a thick personality df the half-hour. excellent reception in New York on rebroadcast. . . . . Heard over Columbia's WABC station the relay was clear and could be tuned in as loudly as de- sired. Difference in announcer's methods over there as. compared with the American style was appar- ent. Instead of a continuous stream of comment the expert who reported the race frequently permitted sev- eral seconds, or more to elapse be- tween remarks—that. is. until the Italian accent gibbering a la kin tergarten that two-finger master piece, 'Cuckoo Clock.' And doing the more serious •Rosary' quite Granville has been, and still is. a fine performer. He is especially | blessed in the matter of a voice. It's a fine*, deep, masculine, larynx. until next year.' For the last couple of years they've been in radio. They handled 13 yreeks for a regional sponsor over WFAA, Dallas, and another 13^ poorly, since that sort of thing is I Nature improved through years, in weel? run for another regional, ad not her Specialty. Chesterfield is using tlllery on a midway shooting range And seemingly missing the target, Land. nera-Baer combat as his opening | race s t ar ted. Then he became ex- cited and didn't mind saying so. Ensemble sounds of the crowd came over distinctly but the voice of the announcer was in-no way Impeded* : Two announcers participated, first a smooth. cultured.Brltlsh voice and then the limey, broad accent of the D.I subject, making it both colorful and interesting. If memory serves it sounded as if the basis of the material had been drawn from one of his recent columns. And why not, if he keeps the aerial follow- up. sufficiently spaced from his GYPSY TRAIL With Jack Chapman, Vedder 15 Mi ... Sustaining WGY, Schenectady. Chapman, bass-baritone, Vedder, ! I musical comedy and upon the leglti heavy ar- | ;mate stage. Granville was a-star not many semesters ago. His sal- ary was at or near four figures. So he had to be good. And that poise and authority he now brings to radio where seemingly* if he can find a salable program idea to use as a vehicle, he ought to find a niche. Ma*.' i> In particular it would seem that vertiser over WTAM, Cleveland, and have done guest appearances. . So they are not new to broadcasting, although they appear at this' time to be new to Variety's radio re^ ports, v And for' radio they look like a. cinch, bet for network attention. Their comedy formula Is compar- atively uriexploited on the air. They obtain laughs without gags. May- Granville's voice would be ideal for fair accents, exaggerated fluency, the sales plugs on some of the de multi-syllables are combined into a luxe shows where a pursuaslve | patchwork of amusing lunacy. It's writings? The danger of getting reporter. He said that Colombo, the take listeners of WGY and a group I are v musts, them too plose .gether is that lis- favorite, who was beaten, went to 1 «- lkror "" nn an 1 - ■ tenders may wonder where they've the post i ook i ng very cool, 'in fact heard or read that before and pos- j s hould say disdainful.' He thought sibly deduce that it originated with tne fin i sn was close and first be- some other writer. Which, wont do I Heved Colombo won instead of coih- Williams any good. , J ihg in third. However, the an- Spdrts writer launches n Imselc nouhcer declared the race to have with a 'Hello, fellas'—an immediate been entirely fair. Indicative of his tip for. all femmes to twist the dial | oyrn emo tion his one word rating of narrator, and a studio orchestra manner and Ingratiating personality the type pt thing that could very dr concentrate on the stove unless they're particularly interested in 1 the subject of perspiration for glory. Williams kids himself a 'good deal, especially as to his vie-, tory predictions. But maybe he's not .joshing on the level, for most sports writers' correctly heralded wins are as dear to them as a ball- player's 'four for four', or birdies to tfte golf pro when they'll 4o the most good. It's to be presumed that this; commentator will- not stick entire-; \y. to boxirtg, although, with the; coverage desired', it is doubtful If ne can wander too far away from the ring or ball park , or for too *Pl6ng. Which is Just as well for his forte is boxing, racing and base- ball. the contest was,'terrific,' which he repeated three times before turning of stations In NBC's red web on an aerial hike Into the land of ro- mantic music on this program. Originally, it was an early-evening broadcast; later the shot was fired over the network Friday noon, and now it hits the wave lengths at four p. m. on Monday. The artists' names are not mentioned, for an unexplained reason, Presumably the setting is gypsy Land, the mike over to the BBC man who camp, with Vedder, as chief of the politely said goodbye until next year. Jbee. FLETCHER'S CASTOR IA FROLIC Dan Hornsby, Novelty 8inger, Band, I nlng. bartd, commanding fthat there be music and merriment. Chapman bursts forth In Bohemian ballads, to. .orchestral accompaniment. In- strumentalists also have their ln- Chapman has a resonant voice, of some range, tonal purity, and sweetness in the upper register. Songs 30 Mins. COMMERCIAL WSB, Atlanta This half-hour variety show (.Thursday evenings, 9:30, CST) is I . . ^ aces in this section and represents | camp-fire ballad singing. Chapman handles the melodic theme in easily capture the general fancy and Vaughn de Leath was more | elevate the boys into top bracket's prominent in the earlier epoch of at express speed. Their long stage broadcasting than at present. Just experience is reflected in the .sure- one of ?hose things. She still has ness of their work and Pdise and a lot df what it takes. A 'sweet' I their slick timing, | voice and a professional style ought to put ^r onthe^vai^ble Ust. She s NQRMAN QROKENSHI an alumna of NBC and tuo. I ,, , _ ... Other WORltes did nicely in solo With Helen Daniels assigmehts. Program as a whole is Patter, Band I 30 Mi Sustaining. WOR, Newark WOR has given Norman Broken- shire two half-hours a week, a stur dio dance cdmbo, a girl warbler and ,. ., ..freedom to disport himself ;as he Voice or | willfl aa an . entertainers. Broken- engrossing. an interesting experiment by ha tlonal sponsor to present local flesh broadcast. WSR chosen as one of key stations to be used by Fletcher's This ph^ttflp la easv to listen to| Castor,a to test theory of sponsor ^cauL'william" make? Itl^pleas- that # 2S?^^iStKltf*StS ant, and it was bright on the htfa^ic spo^s throughout country first time out. Columnist was a wI » P ro Y| rt ^tive. Wfc stiff bftinff nartlcularlv eon- Dan Hornsby, probably WSBs SWawith^ THE THI Talk Sustaining 15 Mins. WMCA, New York Another twist to the 'Voice of Experience' and 'The Family Cf^f shire makes his pleasing mike per- A , ... _ . . sellor* routines, Elected by WMCA sonallty go a long way oh a session However, a tremolo mars the effect £or a buildup, along these lines is a| that should have no difficulty insin.- slightly at times. Generally, his | lad descr ibed as 'Wynn, the eminent uatlng itself with the WOR clien- American astrblogist and the man tele. . „ ... with millions of friends.' Despite Besides engaging in bits of phi- the astroioglst tae the program is losophizing and reminiscing, Brok- plloted with, extreme cautidh, which enshire batons the band through a. should keep it within the lnjuric- tuneful assortment of stock arrange- tlons laid down by the Federal ments and does the m.c.'ing of the Radio Commissions regarding show as a whole. Lending a voice soothsayers. I to each installment as a guestee is voice and style are well suited to smooth fashion. Vedder makes the swaggering, hearty-voiced chieftain a convlnc ing character, and the orchestra | skillfully pours out atmospheric music. Not a pretentious program, but | I a pleasing one. Jaco. is the star of the Frolics and sells with tension eases it should become eas- ■ ,. , . , , „„„„„ ler, and maybe funnier. Williams novelty and standard songs at least rates a few sessions from network technique. Ho™sby sings fandom to find out. The chances sweet or hot and has deflnlte micror are they'll like him Plug copy rests on the argument that the GIrard cigar is the. best nickel stogies, made and has $10,000 to prove it There's also a contest I phone . personality that places him tops on WSB talent roster. He also doubles as lead in the Lions' Den Quartet, his. own outfit, with Tay- lor Flanagan, top tenor; Perry Two tickets to a Yankee's game for Bechtel, baritone; and Sterling Mel- the best letter giving five reasons vin, basso. This quartet also is why the GIrard is all that the an- worth a listen by network pro- nouncer says it Is. Required with I grammers, Palaver about astrology serves some friend in the mike fraternity, merely as a leaa on for the 'adviser' On last Friday's (8) frame he had thing Announcer in his introduc- Artell Dixon, who went from the tlonto the turn descants on 'man's bluebird to the^down south swamp- relltio^s with the heavens' and lands 'Chloe' for his song reper. waSS? the listeners about trusting toire. Helen Daniels, who formerly embody with a claim to divine billed herself as pien Rpwland haj JS,T inqieht while Wynn him- the regular vocal assignment in the STS^^uSffiS. meStion of Brokerishlre stock i Cdmpa„y. Hers is , a. x ■ MA ■ . the word 'horoscope,' but is clrcum- a soprano and style that does, richly is a real estate promotion. „"®J 9 ™.X„ntTo eo Into any of by a heart lyric, sic is used to hold WOR "sten- fPe^fnengh not to go ln^» any^ oi y^^^ affalr ^ brought long enough for a couple of sales "aj 1 ^ 1 'TO t ? ftom Brokenshire heaps of senti- Wynn opens his act witn a par i entalizln& Band's playing of a i tune o£ 1927 vlntag e cued him into WEST POINT Y. A C. CLUB Robert Yapp's Hawaiians (3) Music 16 Mins. COMMERCIAL WOR, Newark This is [Music ors talks. ~ Object is to get listeners anxious for spare time money to able, having for its source visit the office of the company'and I n « tnl " k fl*f e ' ^^fdnesdly I a Hne of reminiscence. He recalled vs. Broadcast is | 4 >»S V ^h* 6 ** i« S w ® 2nd I some of his contacts around Atlantic City and qtiav fr6m resorting to that ttejn ln ihtal ^ learn the big news. the letter are five cigar bands. Con- solation prizes are boxes of the I product itself. .. Webster-Elsenlohr, advertising agency. is the Orchestral music played by Mar cus Bartlett's orchestra which is consistently better than average, Lois Lewis, soprano; and the Calico Kids, juvenile sister trio of singers, complete talent line-up.. .Jimmy Davenport, 1 WSB announcer, handles show. Only criticism of show is too that the invention of.glass doesnt ver [ng rendition of the song's date back that far didn't Prevent ^ BroUen shire's remarks in in- hours are the next day on 42d street, > Wtle- fishes and a New York. Words 'salesmanship' or 'commls sion' never mentioned. Instead 'em narrative. His recital gave Mm an £ thQ personal ab dut them, Dixon, the earmarks of an Uncle Bob I ^ ... programs are built with skill. While Hornsby frequently reaches away back for a tune, the other music is pop and snappy. Bartlett's orches tra has no string section and he JEANETTE CRAMER 15 Mins. COMMERCIAL KGW, Portland Jeanette Cramer's cooking school broadcasts every morning over KGW have plenty of realism. Recipe and instructions for making a custard is followed over the air by the Sound of an egg-beater, a knife as It slices the mixture, and the clatter as the prepared material is placed in the Oven and the oven door closed .'.There is no sound technician on fyand to. assist. Miss Cramer, home | for broadcast series, economics editor of. The Oregonlan, broadcasts direct from the Oregon ian kitchen, just on floor above' the KGW-KEX studios. With a micro- phone and inter - communication telephone system she has no trouble at all. Microphone sets on a bench and as she talks to the radio audi- ence she actually prepares and cooks the food. Response to this new method o: cooking school broadcasting ha been tremendous. Miss Cramer has maintained a wide listening audi ence ever since she first went on the air, five years ago, and that's about a -ecord for the life of a Single radio cooking school. She gets an airing on the next program. But regardless of what it might For the second and final part df nave been for Brokenshire, he- his act Wynn reads his fan mail. snow g here that he still packs the stated this occupies the former es- tate of J. Pierpont Morgan up the | Hudson. Strictly fill-In music, neither good I nor bad. Obviously no thought | gets good effects from brass and given to production or showman- reeds ° j ship. Whole object of the sponsor Fletcher's Castorla Frolic easily Us to reach as many ears as may is in the first two in point of popu- ordinarily be supposed to be listen- larity of WSB Ipcals. Shows are Ing to WOR, but without attracting built by WSB and all talent local. I any new ones. Land. Hubb§lt Robinson, Jr., of Young & Rubicam, made all arrangements Ernie. One letter recites that the writer | has been offered an astrology serv- ice that will bring him thousands of | dollars in stock market profits and wants to know if this astrological info would be reliable. Other com- munications deal with problems of job getting, domestic relations" and affairs of the lovelorn. With the last Wynn exercises particular care. Ex- patiatlon on sex he avoids, giving mike personally that satisfies. Odec. GUY LOMBARDO SALUTE International, pick-ups, with Marion Harris, Mills Bros* Paul White- man, Gus Arnheim, Charles Dorn. berger, Bern! 55 Mins. ARMAND With Jane Froman, Don Ross, Len- nie Hayton Orch. Disc. 15 mins. COMMERCIAL improvement over the earlier and rather misguided endeavors on be- half of Armand's Symphohie face powder. Most of the palpable mis. takes enumerated four months ago ard now eliminated.. Purely per- sonal angles anent Carl Weeks, the Weeks is still on HARRY SAVOY Comedy , COMMERCIAL WEAF. Now York ■ - , . .... „ - _ i — —■■ Harry Savoy, standard vaude each query shortshrift and a ™ess I ^ comedian and on the boards usually df vague e eneralitles. Wynn^. c ft 0U °Jf ^"p'" 9 ^ Y . very funny, failed to- command his stuff in straight from^^.^ side- WEAF, New York much respect as a radio funny man walk verbiage. As an oracle.for the Guy Lombardo's irK^Ugural eve when debuting to the kilocycles (7) mob mind his personality and style ^ ftt Waldorf-Astoria^ New through the medium of the Rudy carry little selling power. He ■^ now York, was the occasion for this pub. Vallee Fleischmann show. Perhaps dn two nights a week. If his mall uclty stunj; arranged by NBC to - — it worth while more spots compliment not dnly Ldmbardo but WOR, Newark x . r _. This program represents a Vast on a second time out he might do makes «,».. e .^ » sponsor, are out. - - attributes the success of her school the show (or his ghost), but he con to the fact that the listening house- I fines himself to a few remarks about wives get. what they want every —day, and that is the planning of r meals. The KGW cooking school does not consist one day of 15 min- utes on how •tb stir mayonnaise and '— the-next-day-on how- to-make.-rock candy. Each day the housewife re- ceives practical suggestions oh plan- ning the meals for the day.. It is Miss Cramer's theoiy that women do not really object to cooking. What they dislike most is.the plan- ning of meals. The Oregonian kitchen, from which the broadcasts originate, is a shdw place of the city in itself, and With the radio publicity tie-up, there is hardly a minute out of each day that visitors are not present in- specting this new gadget or . that new device or admiring the archi- tecture and colors. the nature and values of. his partic- ular brand of pulverized talcstone. It Is a pleasant musical 15 min- utes as now waxed with Froman, Ross and Hayton under the. super Yisioja_Qt tlie Naturally no . of such conventional ing: a dance orchestra and a couple of better. Just what was amiss, or lacking Is hot -easy to say. His stuttering didn't help. Stuttering on the radio is chiefly an annoyance. His visible personality, did hot get itself trans lated Into strictly audible terms. He tended to ramble and his remarks tended to be just conversation in- stead of brain-ticklers. Charley Williams and Marcy will be added to his schedule. Odec. DUFF'S GINGERBREAD MIX 'Minute Manners' with Mrs. Riley Disc. 5 Mine. COMMERCIAL the NBC artists' bureau, which now proudly roosters that Lombardo has joined the RCA family as a royal cousin. Opening nights of orchestras are all alike. But if they must be, this is the way they should be (from the leader's viewpoint), for the public is more impressionable and more worth-while impressing than song WGY, Schenectady. , ■■ • -— - . . m this series of five-minute discs, Plue&ers and other orchestra lead Klauber, film and stage writing plugging Duff's GingerBread Mix. ers. »fi rt „ n i team, equipped Savoy with material a Mrs. Riley discusses household Mechanically the international for his radio start. Probably an matters, the handling of children, Part of the broadcast. Including open question whether* the actor. e t c Mrs Riley comes right to the England (Marion. Harris), scouana =Brosf),^and^ArgentIne"Was.= Show ran smoothly endugh. trace of the I Ben Bernie was next to closing. sin^rsVgoingto asTonisnT amazed I seemed, in abstract, not unslmilar I lecturing or teaching tone is notice- There again having the public or otherwise achieve radical reac- *P a B reat deal °* t,.e jesting that able in her remarks, she probably brought in meant something, since * 1ST W Aver acAriev y *"=u iiuconun .wiieuiw mo »tiur. etc. Mrs. Jttiiey comes ngnt to ine ^»b»«.h entional ingredients as terial didn't fit the performer. As task can be efficiently performed, dkay. 'patter the Williams-Klauber stuff Despite the fact a " '" adequately serves other comics on hits home with, the average Women obviously the regular opening night the air. listener. There is an air of author- crowd knows all those Bernie catch- Obviously, what Savoy needs for ity about what she says and the phrases by heart, radio is exactly what all comedians manner in which she says it. All in all, it was an appropriate need in that department, a central Announcer spiels twice, and at salute to a celebrated aggregation , _ „„ comic pattern, some memorable some length, considering the fact by other celebrated dittoes. As powdered isinglass is mixed with phrase, something that identifies the the shot is flred in flve-mlnUtes, an radio showmanship it rates, As a it. Spotlight ad in the dailies the individual as an individual and not offer is attached. Platters are personal compliment to Lombardo night (Monday) of the broadcast just one more In a series of gag- placed on the revolving table at it's genuine, since only the top- on WOR called attention to it. tellers. an early-morning hour, several kicks of the biz could command Land. I Savoy's diction is good. Land. I times weekly, Jaco. I such a stunt." Land. tlons. Suffice that it's nice and will probably hold those tuned in. That's as much probably as any radio.disc can hope for, Armarid states its product is •transparent,' which may mean that