Variety (Mar 1936)

40 VARIETY 4DIO Wednesday* March i 18, 1936 1 v. New York Radio Parade By Nellie Revell Those Whiteman Auditions Paul Whiteman search for pro-talent for his Woodbury program Is just that.' Plenty of dollars are being spent, not to mention quite a bit of time. [ The search is for.musical talent of merit,- either vocal or instru- mental, and no amateurs need apply. .No. bets are being over-looked. After,a town is selected every outlet in the town Is asked/to submit talent, this Includes Independents and opposition networks stations in the town, and auditions are held. Burt McMurtrie, handling the. pro- gram for the Lennen & Mitchell Agency'.'plane's to the town 'for a semi- final audition. Those he selects are then piped into the agency's New York offices where Paul. De-ems 'Taylor -and' George Gershwin sit as an audition board and select'the winner. Gershwin and Taylor are in at Whiteman's request. agio Voice' The Magic Voice, ope of the top script programs of the past returns to radio on the. 30th of . March when it will be sponsored by Chipso. Gus Barrett is doing the script and Santos Ortega and Gertrude Hitz are playing the leads. Sold arid will be produced by Cleveland B. Chase under the supervision of Carlo de Angeloi. radio director of Blackmart Agency. Nick Dawson arid Elsie Hitz, sistei' Of OerHnide-, rode to radio pi'ominence on. this program.- - K Co<op Orchestra Holds eeting Bob Crosby orchestra is a-co-op venture oh the fashion of the Glen Gray hand which , is managed by the same firm;- Rockwell-O'Keefe. In these set-ups each* member "has a piece of the band. Following a commercial and road and vaude tour the band has been at the Terrace Rooncrof; .the Hotel. New Yorker and doing;nicely. Last week, they were offered. ..' , Ken Murray; program for: Life buoy.' They refused the »jpb.*';'' inc© tjie ,1m^ v ju£> WW .tyftniva,: they ; got - togetherand figured that .aft^JC-the- comjc' vocalist, the !band would be lucky to have eightminutes.. ' * E*' v .' Paqe Boys Plant Publicity |t«m Uniformed- staff of NBC. guides and pages, are, - staging their annual dance Friday'eve the'-20tn- at the Hotel Gre-at Northern. Rudy VaUee will' lead hit) Connecticut Yankees for* the. dancers while artists Fred Alieto, Morton Downey,. Tom Powers, Frank Fay, RUss Morgan, Lou Julian, Lanny. Ross, Twln ; City Foursome and Jack Benny <if in town) will provide laughs, songs and music. These artists will positively appear and any page will sell a ticket. Retailer* Demand Fees •Radio.;cbntests rate.as audience guage whereby the agency is .able to Vtwx- .give client proof' of program popularity. •' Latest switch has been the lise;-of • .the .retailer asv distributor, of the giveaway or premium. As evolved'by the. Erwm-Wasey agency'for the Bobby Bensoh show the '; . customer takes his box-tops to the grocer and gets his premium in the; store arid frequently .spends some.' cash Aw ,RuL..the-. PhfladetohiavreVI^ ' ia this instahce the sponsor is happy to pay the charge. ;But the 1 varia-. tioris of the gag are limited and an end Of give-away contests is ex- pected.'wh^ the word, gets around--and, other .retailer organizations statft requesting-fees for this' service. Scrambled' Notes Pat Barnes^ program folds on the 27th.. .Tim Healy Stamp Club goes on the-30th although the agency claims Capt. Tim is just switching to a' $plit .network for. .the summer.. .Home Sweet Home program folds in ^.prli.. .Bob Orr and frau, of Lennen & Mitchell, left Wednesday for i», two r week .crUl.Se.Marlon Parsonette planed to the Coast on Friday eveV. .Howard <& Shelton, Peg LaCentra, Dick McDunnough (swing) ork /auditioned for Melo-Roll at NBC. agehted by Pedlar & Ryan. ..Walter Cassel goes on a one-hour program at WOR. 'Tis probably the Harmon Realty program.. .Keller Sisters & Lynch'audition Friday.. .Al Dary, pianist'member of ithe CBS Rhythm Boys-weds Dorothy Dwyer. todaj'. ' Father Ronald MacDonald, older brother of George MacDonald of the quartet-will oV the binder, Ray Kuiz of the combo is down with the flu while Ice' Switzler the fourth member of the team complains that nothing seems to. happen;. .Paul Whiteman has a swing unit called the 'three T's.' They are the two Teagarten boys and Frankie Trum- bauer'.. .Paul Gregory of the WMCA announcers is now doing the four Loft news'broadcasts on WMCA.. .Standard Oil of Calif, start's a 'How To Be Charming' program on -NBC on the 3Qth. Will be a 15-minute show thrice a week. ..James Melton- hikes to California while Benny Fiel^Makes his spol^ on'the Ziegfeld Follies program. Fields Is signed for .eight weeks fulfilling the remainder of the Melton contract.. .The Songsmiths are voeajing on the Ray Sinatra-Wedeve-Liicky Strike show ...Phil Regan's contract calls for equal billing with Ken Murray on the new Rlnso program at CBS...Arthur LaTour, manager of CBS playhouse On 44th St. is back in action after five weeks of flu and complications.. .Morton Downey hiked to Detroit last week. Biz. Short Shots Sterling Products starts a- new show on NBC on the 30th titled 'Back Stage.' Will be a half hour program. This sponsors 'Melodlana' program which will air on WJZ in May each Tuesday will be a new additional show.. .Bill Melia, the radiolte. is running a night club at 'Hastings-On-The-Hudson called the Farragut Inn. . .American Radiator program is a 15 minuter on Sunday with piano accompaniment for Willie Morris, Sigurd Nilssen and Frank St. Leger. Program rehearses daily with artist doirig about eight hours of rehearsing for the five minutes of singing they dO on show...Sabra Worth, Research Dept. of March of Time, lost her mater. She is in .Grand Island, Neb., for the service. Ruth Russell who does 'Nancy' in- Just Plain Bill lost her mother In Washington, D. C Ozzie Nelson leaves the Lexington Hotel for a road tour... Ida Bailey Allen folds at end of the month... Isabel Beach Is doing a splendid sustaiher at NEC. Titled 'Amateur Cooks.' Under alias of Frances Lee Barton Mrs. Beach was one of radio's top cooking adviser's. Stand By Rehearsals of the Sherwin Williams-Met Opera Auditions, program at NBC stalled Friday afternoon while production men searched for one of the singers scheduled for an audition. While some 20 musicians smoked she was located taking a lesson at the Juilliard institute... Clara 'Brickie' Brickmari, sect, to station mgr. Judis of WNEW is en- gaged to wed Dr. Burd, a dentist.. .Ray Noble finishes at the Rainbow Room Tuesday night after ten months and comes back as a paying guest Wednesday eve for the Casa Loma opening.. .Hal Kemp closes at the Manhattan Room in May and goes a-tourlng. He is trying to make deal with sponsor so he can air show from out of town...Jane Pickens did five consecutive guest shots on Texaco. The sponsor was about to give her a permanent spot but the Pickens Sisters* are 'booked to. appear at the General Motors show in Pittsburgh week of March 21st, so she'd miss the Jumbo program of the 24th. If she re-appears on the program of the 31st she'll get the contract which will run in four- Week series-. ..World Broadcasting shows a nice juicy profit for first three months, of the year. Their financial status is out of the- red once again" and executives and employees ore smiling.. .Benny Kreigev still Philips' Face Creams - Mail Count Free Offer— 14 days' supply of Phillips' Milk of Magnesia "Cleansing'* Cream- and Phillips' Milk, of Magnesia "Texture" Cream—absolutely. free, Elec. Transcrlptions^-Rccords No. 5, 6, 7. Jan. 8, 10,13, • * • • • *■ Totals I • I Ml New York- musicians' union arid reps from NBC arid Columbia were still huddling yesterday. (Tuesday) on a contract which is to 1 replace the one that expired March 4. Net-, works contend that assent to the demands of the union, would jack up. their payrolls from 30 to 50%, but indications are that the camps will get together on an amicable com- promise soon Among the terms asked by the hit WBAL, Baltimore, as of the first week in! April. Wm. Esty agency handling. talriing rate from' $100 to. $110 a weelc, the limitation of a musician's service to five hours out of eight hours a day,' : the acceptance of a man's' services on the seventh day of the week as a special engagement and establishment of the principle that a. musician who has been on the payroll for four greeks remains an employee.of the network for a year and may not be discharged unless, for good cause. Under the special, engagement . angle he would be paid $18 for an hour's broadcast and $6 extra for rehearsal. Morgan, Murray, Regan Set on New Air Show Talent for the Lever Bros. CBS stanza, to start March 24 in behalf of Lifebuoy and Rinso, has now been set to include Russ . Morgan's or- chestra, Ken: Murray, comic, and Phil Regan, tenor. Isham Jones band was originally eyed, but Ruth- rauff" & Ryan have subsequently made changes. Name for the stanza will be picked later, and the agency is also think- ing about adding another comic, Laugh addition, however, may, pos- sibly not be made until after the stanza has. got into its run. E. A. ADLER, JR., QUITS Bijur its at Fletcher & El Agency is Edward A. Adler, Jr., radio chief of Fletcher & Ellis, has resigned. No successor has been named, radio duties, for the moment, being completely assumed by Vice-Pres- ident . George Bijur, one-time di- rector of promotion for CBS. Agencies^-Sponsors Rplls Razor, through the Kimball, Hubbard & Pewel agency, is start- ing a.platter campaign of 16-mlnute musical discs, once a week, for at least six weeks. Stations.-able to clear' Warner music due for the longest runs. List conies to 29. Schick razors, through J; M.. Mathes,, skeddihg one-minute spot announcements, seven days a week, five, weeks. Station list fairly ex- tensive, but varies from time to time. Feen-a.-mint's 'National Amateur Night/ now running on the Mutual IT HP' LOHR TILS P. AS J. M. Breitenbach (Gude's Pepto Mangan) has acquired the Wednes- day stanza of 'The Psychologist Says,' conducted by Dr.. Arthur Frank Payne oyer WOR, New York. Through Brooke, Smith & French. M. Fur Co. setting Jerry Blaine's orchestra and vocalists over WMCA arid. WOR, both New York, on Sundays. Account handled by Sternfleld-Godley, with Philip Seheft the exec' in charge. Same agency is also signaturing 13 weeks with WMCA for the . Hi-Grade Refrigerator Stores (Brooklyn).. National Life Insurance Company signed for news broadcasts over KAPvK, Little Rock, with expiration of Little Rock Symphony orchestra airings. Musical unit sponsored for 13 weeks. Procter & Gamble Dreft shifts from the NBC ride to ether discs on March 30 with a schedule of eight stations through the midwest and south. Pat Barnes poetry readings will hit three times weekly on WBBM, Chicago; WLW, Cincinnatir WJAX, Jacksonville;. WSUN, St. Petersburg; WCCO, Minneapolis; KOIL, Omaha; WHO, Des Moines; KMBC, Kansas City. Platterized by the local World studios here and placed through Blackett-Sample-Huinmert agency. For Listerine the amateur vogue in radio is still on the upbeat. With amateur shows haying clicked for it in four countries, the mouth- wash is- planning to bankroll pro^ grams of this type in Brazil, Argen- tine and the Phillipines, toots his sax in the Rudy Vallee ork. for Fleischmann show on NBC even though he now has his own band on the Pick & Pat program Nemo Bond Bread may decide on a summer vacation this year In which event Crumit and Sanderson hike to Europe on May 11th...2.5! Howard's program folds In four weeks.. .WNEW is looking tov ■ exner - in C St, an T nCer ^ WUh ,nt0rmaI VOlces - Production experience win a d of ^!^^^ 1 ^ i r t,i int ° the LIncol » H * tel the firs" or A prll settle Glenn resigned as radio commentator of the Hotel Edison to join the Publicity Associates radio dept. Sid Weiss is stil the p.a. of the Edison...Ed Smallee does his first singing on the Whela program ^at WOR this week. He will lend his pip?s to Tis '7 vS f v ,?t k" F ^ t ie nGXt SlX Weelcs the Jullet Lowell Dumb Belle Letters Z wV a f ? a Ure ° f the NBC Wavln ^ show ' L^vcll \vill not an ea £J SliS: b ^ n ^ read "-The Red Nichols 'Singing Ensemble' replaces t!f £ h °V n the Kellogff Com^ose-d of Bob Carter Bob Moody The Wallace Sisters and the Songcopators, 8 persons ti er -d arc°?n T^^Z^o^' ^ f ^ ^ ~ , Talk is. on at NBC about merging all publicity and exploitatiori ac- tivities into a single division and under one head. Ths would take In. the press departments which cater to newspapers, the sales i>vb~ trade news arid .the faction in the NBC Artists Service which provides theatre and concert managers with plug material. Lenox' R. Lohr, hew NBC prez, delivered last week his first pep. spiel to the web's press department, He decried the tendency to turn out trite, machine-made stuff and urged the staff to get more individ- uality into their work. N. ORLEANS CATHOLICS RAP RUTHERFORD WAX New 1 Orleans; March 17. A protest against the ;brbadcast- Ing of the Judge Rutherford Watch- tower w.axed. programs over WDSU. for 'slander of things Catholic arid insults to Catholics' was contained in a front page editorial of The Catholic Action of the South, offi- cial organ of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Thursday (12). Paper has also filed a protest with the Federal Communications Commis- sion against WDSU's broadcasts of program, which they also termed 'a flagrant abuse of courtesy, of de- cency, of fair play.' Catholic Action of the South said It spoke for the Catholic population of the city in resenting the remarks of Judge Rutherford. This city's population v of 600,000 is more than 60% Catholic. Washington, March 17. F. C. C. has received protest from Saint Rose Holy Name Society of New Orleans about .Judge Ruther- ford's program over WDSU. No action has been taken. Freddie Rich Out Freddie Rich's orchestra is exiting from' the Socony-Vacuum 'Flying Red Horse Tavern' (CBS) stanza this Friday eve (20) after having spent 26 weeks of a contract that was to run to May, 1937. 'Sponsor trouble' is reported. Lennie Haytori takes over. Ac- count is handled by J. Stirling Getchell. Klotz Quits WOR Jack Klotz, in charge of vaude- ville bookings of the WOR arlist bureau," resigned early this weelc.. Leaves the station March 28. Klptz's future plans are not set. He was formerly an RKO agent vv.ilh the Marty Fol'kins office.