Variety (Feb 1935)

52 VARIETY Tueid^ Februuj 12; Wi^ OLD WORDS AND NEW MUSIC With Peg La Centra, Terry Berg- . ■ man ■■ Orloinal Musical Comedy 76 Mine. Sustaining WFIL, Philadeliihia NBC piped this one through here, it Ih a show that was aired by the British Broadcasting Company, last year and brought over by. Its writer, James Direnf orth, . now - anscouncecl in America. Latter gets book credit,: and music Is attrib- uted to Kenneth lieslle-i Smith. program Is, a typical BBC pro- duction Idea which Is Just catching .. bold in the. States; that of writing musical comedy shows for single broadcasting. Gibson Family Is an American forerunner, although handled^ as a' continued series. Sbort^^wavers ' who tune In the Britons are familiar with this $tylel of broadcasting,, although ■ with the American system, commerclial spon- ■orship; it becQines a rather expeii- Blve output on the sustaining basis. Shows , entail original script a.nd. anUsie~:vrlters,—dramatib-mnd7Ti*ocal- cast, as ,well as a large ork iihlt. to capably piresent the opus;: In Eng- "land, musicals'rate " high as "iradio' fare, and their talent participants reach I the same popularity which the Bing .Crosbys, and Buth Ettings Co here. ■ ■;' ; With Old WordS;and New Music NBC went, yirhole bog, caiatlng the best on the chain's talent list And, ezceptlng a. few slips in' production, the result was a happy 75 ininutes. Prngrn m d palg with nna Rigby, a . disillusioned but rank Liondbn' jplay- . Wright In futile search of a pro- •ducer^ Contending that . fevelii •Shakespeare, coming back unknown, couldn't snare a backer for: hlis "Slamlef, iRlgby contracts his soiil' .ito the Devil in rtetiirn for ah oppor- tuhliy to'prove bis point. Show Is ■ then a- blrd'a eye view-of the Avon bard as he tramps over modern lioh- don seeking a stage for his tale of tragedy in Denmark, each pitfall and disappointment the' 3ourc(e of much glee for Rigby. : However, Toto lia Tour (Peg lia Centra), the blond sweetie of the - hpbe producer Joe QulzemaTi- (Teddy • Becirman) concocts a yen for drama ■ andinislsts that 'Jake Speare's' play, ," aa Gulzeinan calls him, - should be" LiLbpufht as a vehicle for; her bidden dramatic talenti. ' Thence istarts • the torturing of Shakespeare, as ^amliet goes Into production. Anally twlndlng up as a miisical melodra-, xaatic melange "of soniethihg rotten In Denmark. Every twist of screwy. :t beatre is thr own In, from the^lay : doctor to fSelbard's half~of one ptir'^ cent contract, arid the* presentation .V At court of a dozen debs In ostrich feathers. M^nwhile, as Shakespeare . travels from one sanatorium to an- other, suffering the tortures of the damned, openingr night arrives and with it Rigby and his satanic escort. L:L But Danish Love is abit, l^and^ Shakespeare : becomes the typical Ogotist With , a sell-out under his b«lt. : It Is all puzzling Indeed to lUgby but it saves his soUl, for the .fDevii takes Shakespeare down under : '06 that he may watch Bigby's very bad play night after night and comr . taune on the loss of his artistic In- . tegrlty. More than half of the time oc- cupied by this iJbow .is allotted to the nutty production of Hamlet . I>ra;fnatfc"parts' Wisre'^'^hattdled :ex- Cellently all iaround, and the orig- inal music WEU a. standout. One tune. Not a Carei In. the: World, could even be a pop hltk Presented at night, Instead of mld-aftemoon aa this was, th^ alrcast would cer- . talnly start a lot of prospective , sponsors to thinking. If Dlrenforth Und his colleague can produce ' a Weekly job like this one, they're too good to. be true. - . : < Goachi F^CINATINQ PACTS Art Dickaon, Charlia Mprgw Songa, Talk, Piano 15 Mins. COMMERCIAL V/ABC, New York. Delco Appliance Corp., a Q^naral Motors Bubsld, la apparently after a catch as catch can audience with this early Saturday evening stanza. The entertainment consists of a few tunes by a competent baritone, accompanied by an eiually com- petent ivory masseur, and the ira- talling. of a couple not bo 'fascinat* ing facts.' Art Dickson not. only rhymes Moon with June and ox- poiinds a marching song effectively biit shoulders the task of disbihff out the fascinating' facts. Pact No. .1 on Delco's initial event Saturday (9) revolved itself around the amazing discovery that the cost of Columbus' expedltioii to this aid* came) : to only $7,000. „ The other 'fascinating fact' had*\t6 do with the discovery 6i blottiiig paper. For similarly dull bits of research the program is offering a weekly priM x>r-;2 5. Delco's program originates from CBS* little white house on Park av- e'n'ue. The announcer (sxplatiU that the little white house la heated ud air conditioned by Delco appliancaa and adds: a similar contraption can be obtained with the aid of th« General Motors Flnahcinj? Corp. or, the HOLC. . Odee. EARL HARPER Sports Comment • : ■':- -• •.■:■: ,. 15" Mins.:^":—" ■■~^7' : ■. .. • '^'^ Sustaining, ; WINS, New York Hearst station has Earl .Harper down" for sport's palaver dally. H« tttkes ln past events as well as cur- rent activities on the dlarnond;. Ico rink, race triabk, etc. Especially In-: teresting at this hjiarlhg . was"; hla picture of the Madison Square Gar- den situation, and the~intrpduction of basketball. Harper: is' glib and fast^ That's the fundamentals for spoi-ts-casting. He'uses a ticket gag to get listen- ers' interest down in, letter form. On evenings at -7:30 EST; - . - WXY2 VARIETY REVUE Eduard Warrier, Coinduetor M'vMina.- ^iistaihing '(pR, Newark /A part of the nation's ot)servance fit^t President Roosevelt's birthday 6eleJ>rati6n^'Came but of Detroit for ^airing-over-the^utual--wek^^ iWerner, a. musical name in the au- tomobile city, conducts his orches tra with skill and displays marked rhythmic effects 'in the arrange inents. , He Is. responsible for . this end of bis program also. Incidental —:e ingln g th readed throughout; -but the mustc . was topmost . Openlnig number, title. of which • was not caught and the tune itself rather unfamiliar, ran Into ten mln- —nites,-—sbpwing--Tthat--xbnslderable time is- devoted to arrangemehta 'Si(!gjValks ot Cuba' out of the cur- -re-it Cotton-Club:J'ai'ade, perraltted flome Jangling of bells for extra rumba atmosphere. Gpod'^ to listen . to. A trio In for 'Darktown Strut- -^;4e»is--Bair-i.with--some-Of - the-lihes dbahged to, iflt In with the Roose- velt party. . TU Follow My Secret ; Heart,' by: the Variety Singers —Btressed-smopth-blendlng,- - : . /June in , January,', which has flooded the channels a lot of late, - was twisted into all shapes by Werrieh Prom a Chinese New Y0ar _-iarade_lQijLJNfeni..WIdpTV_baIcpn5i waltz. Not monotonous on this hearing.' After some other tunes V and sPlba In this .same isteady-vein, a isong was: almsd directly to the KatiPh's chief. Closing remarks -courteous and dignified GENERAL FOODS KITCHEN PARTY With' Frances Lea Barton, "V/arrbn :>liill,' Martha' Mears; Jimmy Wilkinson, Al and Lee Reiser COMMERCIAL 30 Mine. WGY, Schenectady Atmosphere projected on this new one-^afternoon-a^eeic^is -simllar-to- that created on last/year's 'Aunt Maria's Party' ('Matinee Show Boat'). . But the talent lineup la not as imposing, nor is the enter- tainment punch anywihei'e near aa strong. Program is cut to the same pat- tern^ it's a cooking shindig con^ ducted "by Mrs.T'Bartbhk the only holdover from the previous hour- long hour affair, and the artists go musical, dialog, and pass compli- ments freely, the while varioua dishes are being 'prepared' In the studio. A. certain amount of realtam is achieved, the group succeeding in making the :proceedlngs sound spontaneous:.. Actually, the Infor- mality is script-produced, as dialer* who listen, cairefuUy may detect Judged by'^he standards of day time coihmercials, this one rates fairly high, albieit It may not hypo sales as markedly as the every- afternoon or thrice-weekly swlnga do. Most'of the micrbphoners ftr« heard regularly on NBC ^uatainers. Mrs. Barton, Is an exception, being a standby on sponsored food stanzas. She does her uisual . ex- perting here,. mixing with the ra- -clpe-^ingredlents-.plugs -foc-Calumat Baking Powder, a Jello, tapioca, etc. These G. F. products are nsed in the dishes which she tumii out with - sPund effects. In ah NSC room. Mrs,. Barton manages to be not only informative but- cheerful and sort of motherly. , Hull, whb dubs hmiself 'Tba Country Boy, is a genial m.c. and -ahtipunccr. He, m aintains the, he man touch even Whch' uhm-u6m" Ing etbout the, gastronomic delights of the food he Is tasting.' How- ever, tbe bouquets: he tosses at Mtsi Mears are too sweet ^ • : Hull, a baritone. Joins - at th% the close with Miss. Mears : for .*« AkaiCtalklng^&Qnjgdiwt. Miss Mejgit RED TRAILS Serial IB Mine. COMMERCIAL WJZ, New York An adult seFial. It must be. . At 8:30-9 p.m. It's too late for the,kids.' And the product is HaU-and-Half Pipe tobacco. So that removes any, question. But It sounds -Very similar to some of the adventure tales serialized for the kiddies. . Having in: mind the large circu- lation -enjoyed by Argosy, All- Story; Adventure,, Sky filots, and numerous . other pulp publications with Just this type of flctibh, it ,inay be presumed that' there are adults who will smoke their Pipes and flhd the : fbrihula complication sufn- clently eniErrosslng. ; For the purposes bf a: critical sunlmatlon and for the record. Red Trails' is Just sorso bn the basis of installment one. And this verdict Is made in the full acknowledgment that serials develbp their punch and following over a period of time. -itftders - trappers - killers -Indians Is the theihe highilghted. In the spbt-' Ugbt ads. . PrPgram relies upon the tradltibnallzed giambr of the; Royal Northwestern Mounted Police of (Tahadit. Tales are piiiTorted to be from the archives more or less. Red jacketed boys give the program a slogan, to wit 'It's two to one the Uoiintles get their man and it's two- tb one: you'll like Half-'and- Half Tobaccb.V : :. ■ ; Story opens ia 1885 when .the Northwest territory Is Just passing but oi the Hiidsbns' Bay company's haphazard admlnietratlon into' the strlbter regime of the Queen's gov- ernment. No doubt a harsh coun- try and hard guys, yet the impres- sion was that-the Indians and others weren't so savage or unreasonable In resisting and resenting the Mbuntles with their, avowed inten- tion p'fim^pslng law and order with -themselves-as-Judges^of-rlght^hd- lierong. That's a note- of supercili- ous self-righteousness that may or may not be generally experienced. Heroes are not habitually repre- sented as advocates of. the whip;: noose -and.-: buckshot- (so bamed.. in. the scrli>t) as weapons, of per- suasion. This is. an imperialistic viewpoint - hot wholly congenial to people nurtured on democratic no- tlonsV^Reailties and iBentimehtalltles- need to be adjusted In; fiction If maximum popularity is . sought. Author in this case succeeded In inaklng the Mounties about as cruel, bloodthirsty . and vindictive as ■ the-. 'breeds' "whom., they con-, stantly-derl'de, contraitb, warbles pops conipetent^ lyi Wilkinson has a resonant barl' tPne which comes over the ethei' satisfact oril y. His singi ng and talking Efts are more limited tlwtt is the case with fellow mlkers. Th» Relseria accompany on baby grands and tear off-nimble-fingered duets. Broadcaster, a, magazine. Is free offered during" saUvo. . ■^'^ HELEN HATHAWAY Songs - .■ Sustaining 15~Min8? WGY, Sehenectady A trained soprano singing better grade pops, and standards on an afternoon broadcast from statibn'jT Albany studio. Voice is pleasing In folrie and'fair lii range," but rather light Ih volume. Handled well, al- though .liothlng. particularly dlfilcnlt or showy is attempted. Currents rartd musical comedy selections com prise the larger part of program* ^ Not a smash shot but okay for an afternoon local. • ■ J9c», JIMMY FIDLIR't Q088IP Film Chatter IB Mint. COMMERCIAL . KFI, Los Angeles . ,Thlei Is a-one man show that hnakea a stab at being different; "Wbether it succeeds or falls short must be weighed by the femnlesr at whom It Is directly aimed. It It sells more Tangee lipsticks it will have more than paid its pay. That's about the only way Its efficacy as a cbmmercialer can be measured. Fidler has a tough assignment To dole out a quarter hour of chat- ter without as much as a musical interlude Is no sinecure. As western editor Of Screehland and onei of the veteran p.a's of the picture biz, be has access tb as much or more gos- sip than the general run of chat- terers. He knows what's going on and , could Intersperse some chblce tidbits but he's held down to a straight matter-of-fact recital. New to these parts is his air previews of pictures with the bell ringing.adjunct, patterned after the -star rating-Idea.—Four-^bells-ineani extraordinary, three.good, etc. The idea Is novel but the execution flat. He'll have to - experiment with -a new sounding apparatus to get tb* right effect. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences came in for a. gentle panning in the nomination for statuette awards. He added that It shouldn't be taken seriously with its membersblpi of less than 700. Gosslper V also took a whack at., a Broadway gpsslpe.r. also on the air, by calling attention to the Lee Tracey-Isabel Jewell splltup whicb he said was aired by htm three weeks before the eastern chatterer claimed it as an ex- clusive. . The wireless; dot-dash affair that precedes and follows the plugs is not new but it dovetails in to give the effect bf news being Moi-sed, -to-hlm.--The-wIndup-of-reading..the fan mall had that portion of the program devoted, in Its entirety to Garbo, opinions pro and con. Fldler's crisp delivery and good diction sustain the program. His material is up tb date and It's good personality copy but there's too much sameness. It could be hopped up with a few bars of music or a guest star to take over the Jumps. ■. Show gbes'transcontinental-Wed- nesday nights at 7. Fidler !« set for 13 weeks. netm. In the spinniiig of . the story there Is perhaps too much resort to sound effects. 'Transitions aren't always easy to follow. Murder of one of the Mounties Isn't clear as to where accomplished or by what method. A romantic element Is Introduced, but minor. Contest - with - -$8:50 ~Kaywoodie pipes Is Introduced adroitly. This aspect is well bandied in toto by the N. W. Ayer agency. Land. BETTY BOWKER •onga 1ft Mine. •uataihing WMCA, New York Hill billy gal gone hi de bo beat describes this warbler.- Mention is ^ade at first of sizzling bacon, cof- fee from' tin cans and, wide open wees and then the gal bops Into Harlemanla. Six numbers Included In the run, all rhythm tunes, with a Just a wee bit of Lone Star twang tA remind that she la frOm 'down around the border. 'Solitude,"Moon alow'- and: ^Sophfatlcated Lady' all trled.>^ Has a fun range though wnich allows those off-key varla- tIonB._JPlayflJiejE-Owh-plano Also.-. - 'Round Up Time In Texas' Is the hlpplty themer. Betty Bowker is tto real monicker with her radio DUlIng played up aa Texanne. Also airs from other stations In the metropolitan area. Okay per- former. TOURNA- LITTLE THEATRE ■ MBNT-:^- -: ; ... Drama . Sft MIns. COMMERCIAL WOR, Newark Once a, year L. Bamberger & Co., Newark department store and WOR Ueensee, gives the torchbearlng groaps scattered^rough the State of New Jersey an opportunity to air their talents and at the same ttste compete for a cup. Tourna- -ment -nlght-on—WOR-is--Thursday- and the series runs as long aa there are contendants. , . Last-Thursday's («1-) -half hour went • to the Beaux Arts Club of Newark, a colored group, which elected as Its medium a play oq the AU God's- Chillun -theme.- Sketch's title was 'Uplift, 'with the author- nhip credited to Edward Payton Harrison. It attempted to apply the satiric touch tb-the-white brethern's penchant for placing all Afroamerl- cans ,In the same cultural mold as the characters In 'Green Pastures.' As a piece of protest literature, the script mighty have.been effective Jf the" characters, to show they were so different didn't stress qo much thblr. disdain for the dialect and the spiritual singing. AcUng waf with otie oe two w oeptlons of a torohbearlah quality. The spiritual Interludes were not so good, either. OUo, MILDRED WINDELL 'Mademoiselle X'^ Songsv Orchestra — —— :-■,•' 15 Mins. Sustaining WMCA, New York WMCA Is playing a mystery game with this one. Although the listings In the New York dallies carry the warbler's name, the sta- -tion persists In-glving her-a- 'mask- ed' buildup.: The announcer and the continuity handed work hard at the pretense. She Is described «i a singer whom the lovesick swains of twb continents have adored un- seen and as surrounded:In the stu- dio by a crowd anxiously waiting for a slight glimpse of ber face. What - comes out of the loud- speaker proves the 'mystery lady's' a prima donna of fair talents. The voice registers pleasantly* showing off at-: Its best with the head tones and turning out not so limber and harmonious when It comes to the low notes. A string ensemble accompanies. The'program gets a thrice weekly evening release. . Odec 'ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN' Chatter . , .16 Mina ._- ._ __. : Sustaining KTSA, San Antonio Chatter by Lewis Lacey on. oddi- ties in recent news, culled with a View to the humorous and unusual angle. Lacey has a chatty style of delivery. Kid who swallowed Igni- tion key of family bus in order to prolong a visit In the city and how departmBnt±o^C-Ommbrc.e proved It profitable to grow weeds sample Items on program caught. Chatterer pauses midway to give correct pronounciation of a gener- ally mispronounced word. Bait to catch listener Interest on succeed- ing program is two. questions, at end ot-each-stlnt-tho .correct ..answers being ali-ed the following night. Hits the air at 7 p.m. nightly and figured to catch this family group in _ receptfve mood after dinner. "lt'jalfed.;the SouthwesTe'rnTWeb-key- stations. Oke for commercializa- tion. :' Key», CY WALTER Piano . 16 Mins.-- -'- -— :;.-:——■■■ '. , Sustaining WGY, Schenectady A newcomer to WGY'a program chart Walter-is stroking the ivories on an afternoon broadcast from the 50,000 waiter's Albany studio. Wal- ter plays Jaz^ and classical, Selec- tions frPm the first-named, class predominates. He Is a competent pianist, but apparently hot one who strives for brilliant effects. Although Walter touches off some pyrotech- nics In the treble, the general mood he prbjects is one ot quietness, shading to restfulndsa. . Qkay for an afternoon hour. KITTY CARLI8LI Soprano COMMERCIAL WEAF, New York On the Budy Valleo program the prima donna who la currently oA the upbeat In Ulm popularity did not sound well. Perhaps It was « matter of numbers. She sang 'Jiinf in January' and 'I Give My Heart: and neither offered much for her rather flutey, hlgh-soarlhg voice. Oddly enough It seemed as If her voice was over-coached for radio, or else the sound-mixing wasn't to« good. It was mechanically askew* Entirely different Impresslbn to given by Miss Carlisle In fllms. ..- Land. •', STORIES OF THE BLACK CHAM* BER Dramatie Serial . IB Mina. ■ . . COMMERCIAL WEAF, New York Credited with the authorship of thla-tbrlce-weekly-serlal-over NBO are Major Herbert O. Yardley, codo expert, who during the World War ■ operated the'government's Crypto* graph Bureau, an^ Tom Cuftln, spe- cialist . In crime and spy stories, who did the scripting bf Lucky , Strike's cops and robbers recitals of two : seasons ago. Combination might. have been productive of % good radio program. If, Instead of thinning their tales out In serial form, they had packed a complete' story-witbln-tbe span-of a. half hour. ... As the program is how routined It's not deft radio drama. Charac-' ters are not clearly defined, the at- tempt at suspense Is futile and emo- tional punch Is sadly lacking. About the only mystery pervading the epi- sodes Is that suggested by the an- nouncer when in • his introduction he refers to beautiful women spies arid t he a dventu r es o f seci'et ayrerita in tracking them. Unless he were furnished with a synopsis a chance tunor-ln would have a tough time making out . what the row was about Last Wednes- day night's. (6) sample, built Itself Ito a mild dither by injecting an auto wreck. Chatter about missing documents, with -the characters-par- — tlclpatlng composed of a couple U.S. agents, a f emme spy with an accent,— and a young French bflftcer over here on a mission, served to suggest that there was intrigue afoot. ; Following the episode there was a lengthy spiel about the listener equipping bimself -wlth^a-klf of se-:. cret Ink, similar tb - the one- thalt Yardley used when be operated his Black Chamber, or Cryptographio Bureau, for the government Outfit It was . suggested, would be . Just: dncky for Valentine Day. To get It all the prospect had to do wae send in the. name and addreias on, a—cartonr of- :Porhan'a-toothiiaste.'- Stressed by the ad copy was tho product's 'double duty* slogan/ good for both the teeth and the gums. McCann-Et-lckson Is the agency. Odeo. 'RANGERS' — Songs ■■, ' ■ 15 Mins. COMMERCIAL WL8, Chtoago . ...-^^—^ Six days a week this choral group rides on the Prairie farnier stattbh to sell Crazy Water Crystals and It should do the. Job since their type of chorallng Is right In line with the type of entertainment WLS fans go for and the type of singing po- tential Crazy Water Crystals users , would like. No use In yelping at the amateur and:bokey. style..of-yodeltng .put on: by such quartets as the Rangers. The Rangers sing without Tooal training biit their tonsils carry the tone of friendship and easiness which on WLS loudspeakers mean listeners. : They sing 'Sailing Down the Chesapeake' and 'Liza Jan** and It sella Crazy Water productB. It has been .demonstr&ted_BO. miuty. times, that the users of these medicines Preiser'the hokiest bf entertainment that it is Impossible to squawk that the show doesn't^bme up the stand-; ard of classier programs. To the patent medicines and . their hill- billies belong - the grandest- success -stories-on-the^radlo.- -—— ~Q«M. —^ GULF FlLLINQ STATION PART^T Chaclea_Winninger, Frank- Parker . Pickens ' Sisters,' Reveleri, Frank Tours Songa,-Talk-, rBand— - •-- —— 30 Mins. COMMERCIAL WABC, New York _ Good Gulf "last Sunday night .(10).' premiered Charlea Wlnnlnger as m.c. of. the musical menage which -the—refiner- has brought back to span .Will Rogers' five-week absenoO from the spot 'In addition to put* ting on bis usual Jovial charaoteri* zatibn, a la Cap'n Henry, etc., Win* nlnger—warbled . ditty .-ot_tht_ naughty nineties. 'The Cab Mftn's Last Trip,' and participated la tho frequently intc^rpolated pliigglnv. : Wlnnlnger kept thlngi ^ morlat along and wits dlvartlif M Mat as he laid oft the ga«» All THn* ninger has to do to rogalo ttwa «Mh (Contlnuod OB PMT* tS) .