Variety (Apr 1936)

Wednesday, April 22, 1936 iirnriiT-irrvnji- FRANK FAY With Eddie Kay With Eddie Kay's-Orchestra 30 Mins. ROYAL GELATIN Sat., 9.30 .p. m. EST WEAF, New York (J. Walter Thompson) Frank Fay's Impish mike person- ality seemed to get over fairishly .on its debut occasion for Royal Gelatin last weekend- (18), tout -a h a lf , h o ur seems too tough. A weekly half hour is no easy assignment, it's pretty, much of a one-man show, with Fay's always pleasant though . occasion-, ally aimless chatter depended upon to keep the ears consistently perked toward the loudspeaker. His is one of the-few acts on the air that.man-, ages to achieve a real: sense .of in- formality and intimacy, but, the formula is one that may pall or run thin. Program has Fay not only carxy-i ing the entertainment burden, with Eddie Kay's -unit giving instru- mental .accompaniment,.. b.Ut it has him delivering every, word of the plug.' .He even airs the sign off. Ad- vertising copy makes little appeal from the angle of: the product's wbrttiiness'or superiority:* Buy lots of Gelatin, pleads • Fay.vbecaUse if you 1 don't Frankie -w.on/i have ft job;- The approach is humorous, , with Fay. ringing in what is described as a letter £rom his mother, but even that; makes 9, thin, sugM-coatirtg to the blde-'. - t -dodge of them all.,''. . A yeoman'task for % come'dlah to hold tlie interest - for a half hour 1 in' person, on a stage, it's doubly so. in the abstract via mike transmission. Supplementary >tal'ent may jsolvje -it, ' ..*' - ' • >'■■' Abel. : RUTH CHATTERTON Dramatic Skit 8 Mins. .-- FLEISCHMANN Thursday, 6 p, ni., EST WEAF, New York . {Thompson) . polngthe obviously difficult .dra- matic feat of carrying on entire sketch by means of a telephone conversation, Miss Chatterton was vivid and entertaining, Tabbed *T he-Bel nvedLKoice,Ljwr .^kfttclu^^L3. strictly a monolog, with only the phone bell's ring, clicking of. receiv- er and final pistol shot as sound- effect aides. Because dependent entirely on her word delivery to hold Interest and convey to listeners terrific conflict In. her life,''this air performance at- tained new heights for solo mike work.' Miss Chatterton would be sure- fire for air series. if. enough mate- rial of this poweij could be lined up. Wear. Follow-Up Comment EUGENE, AND WILLIE hjOWARD With ; .Fiff -pfyiajf,; 'ictor Ar^ftjork Songs}^ )0§me'dy,:. Muii 30 Mins" DR. LYON'S TOOTH POWDER Wednesday, ,8" p.m., EST *>■; WJZ, New'York ? (Blackett, Sample, ilummert) Air shows with Parisian back-. 'ground are. far from unique to radio listeners, 'Evening in. Paris', Irene 'Bordohi are examples of the French 00 la la "formula: It is to^the credit of 'Eugene arid 1 Willie Howard 1 ," Flfi I^Orsay and succinct sorlptlng that - this program keeps off the-- trite path and scores so heavily.. Broadr cast has pace, variety, humor and just enough music, and ballading to please. Howard Brothers may, have here "the conveyance 'to take them places oh radio. , Thaf 'Willie' Howard Kas trans- ferred his infectious' clowning from the .stage and Screen "'to this- new medium without losing vigor; is. an achievement. If his gagmen'. and authors can maintain' the same quality and pace displayed in Initial effort, he should be safe by a mile. Story takes the two Ho ward, boys to Paris where they are booked, to play at Folies Bergere. This brings Fifl D'Orsay into plot with the French comedienne grabbing laughs with her hearty bsculatory greet- ing ot Willie, Whom she remembers' from past days. Miss D'Orsay, spotted for two songs, works In glib fashion with the Howards and con- tributes nice mike work oh own. While there's no gainsaying that Eugene Howard, Fifl D'Orsay and Victor Arden's .fine, orchestra .con- tribute much to the entirety, but..it is obviously''Willie Howard who dominates. • and .-makes' the show click. His nasal burlesque of a professor attempting to give a les- son In French, with droll lapses into Yiddish, is high point of hilar- ity. It's similar to routine done In the recent 'Scand als'. ' _ "■' iZSrifrmercraf^ptM and inoffensively projected^ Wear. WHN FORUM OF AIR With . Kenneth McKenna, Anita Block, Harold Clurman' 45 Mihs. NEW SCHOOL Friday, 9:15 p..nv WHN, New York . . . { ,, A promotional publicity stunt for the New, SchbDl of' Social, Research pn 12th street, N. Y„'and a pip eve- ning program-for the. Loew. station, this program might \ be- considered as having commercial possibilities although,, of course,, such sponsor- ship is practicably.. Unprecedented. Sponsors presumably" ..shy away" from any entertainment requiring- a little brain voltage on the theory that, the least common, denominator is not represented. .."What Do People .Want- in the Theatre?' was the' question, asked. Kenneth McKenna, actor-producer, presided amiably, while Mrs. Block, and Clurman explored the subject. Strong viewpoints^ iiix' both -case's made for controversy and challenge, although both speakers were in sub- stantial agreement.- Later questions from the floor are asked and an- swered (program originates in school auditorium) and these 'heck- ling, opportunities constitute one of the program's prime appeals as en- tertainment. ; . Mrs, Block blasted the New York, critics for 'nibbling a little at other people's point of view^ but never pei'mitting themselves the courage of- developing a different, point of view of their own.' Theatre Guildite gave the first nighters both barrels, finding the 'fat salaries and com- fortable aisle seats down front aw- fully corrupting.' ' She called 'Win- terset'. full of poetic confusion, an •escape' play and. a tip-off, in' her opinion, on the. whole mental con- dition of Manhattan critics. Land* DAVE RUBINOFF ORCH. With Virginia- Ray, Graham. Mc- Namee Music, singing Discs 15 Mins. '' CHEVROLET Mon.-Fri., 9 p. m., EST WOR, New York ( CampbeU-Ewald) An electrically transcribed 15- minute program, well dotted with advertising, .a counterpart of. which goes-on the air on^WMCA arid-some 387 stations around the niap. Keeps the radio alive with acceptably tuneful music and has been well re corded by World Broadcasting. Graham McNam'ee is. the art nouncer of the program, billed as 'Musical Moments.' He is behind the ad plug, sticking it in a bit too frequently though briefly except at the . finish when steaming up into a bigger spiel for the sponsor. Sta- tion announcer supplements before the slgnOff with more on Chev. Rublnoff programs carry Virginia Ray. She is a soprano with a voice the high and low. notes of which ar- Tive on-the air clearly. Miss Ray did a number from 'Vagabond King.' RUbinoff's. recorded numbers on wax include 'Truckin" from the Cotton Club show^ a' number from 'Littlest Rebel* (RK'O) and. 'Night at Monte Carlo.' ' FRANK"FOSTER DAVIS Dog Drama 15 Mins. GILMORE OIL CO. Tgee., 8;30 p.m. KNX, Hollywood (Botsford, Constiintine & Gardener) . Overzealous production crew got this one off 'to a bad start. Too much noise and hound barks made the reception doubtful. Mebbe the' trouble was crowding too much ac- tion in such a short, space of time. Idea is not new, but ; there's al- ways enough dog lovers at the dials to make up an audience of some size.' They'll .go for -this opus of the heroic exploits- 6f man's best friend once the action becomes less Jumbled, tries less for explosive ef- fect.. First, episode had to. do with a PQoch who gave. his.life to save a train f rom being. .wrecked in .a washout._ Supp osed to be a . true -slbry" from-''-the" Yemmlscenoes of Frank Davis, who is'best known as a judge at dog shows and producer of pooch pictures. At the finish Davis goes into a technical discus- sion of dogs and their pedigree. On signoff sponsor uses bark of two dogs, tying it in with the title for the plug, 'watchdogs of your motor.' ••'•■ * "Tab dramas were one'tlme fea- ture of KQW San. Jose, later picked Up KSFO, San Francisco, where it is now produced, and branched out to KNX for a far-flung coverage. Hejm. Jacques Fray and Charles Baum turned in a corking piano arrange- ment of 'On Your Toes' music last Thursday night, over CBS at 8:30 p.m. EST, Only two numbers pre- sented from the current Broadway musical, but sophistication pf duo's fingering lifted it to importance: One carries the definite melody, wi th th e-bther-iniecttog* interpola^ tions of a rippling order. It's punchy pianology as delivered,;,, Roger Wolfe Kahn's variety pro- gram over WMCA; New York, has perked up considerably since, de- butting as judged by recent', airing, Friday (17). the tough Job of put- ting across the commercial copy without being blatant has been split up : between two new announcers, Bob Carter: and Richard Blaine, this assignment is particularly difficult for this sponsdred program since it not only baliys -manufacturers of Three G Clothes but also two deal- ers in. metropolitan area as well as one merchant, each in. Philadelphia and Boston. It Is piped to Inter- City outlets in these latter two cities simultaneously. Musical set-up has been differ- ently routined with Kahn batid:'ap- parently having hit Its stride.'- First time j tHis orchestra, has been-heard over air in several years; .• Advertising Club program' (over WOR, WMCA and WINS. New York) last week Was devoted to the Manhattan announcers.. .^-Milton Cros.3-was the boy that..wov?e<i ' em with- h* ..cracks. David Ross was •ushered * in as the poet of the >ir and felt obliged to stay in character.' lie pulsated with a fluffy brand of sweetness and light ; that qualifies him" as the Little Lord Pauntleroy of '* broadcasting. elody-Treasure Hunt, WOR sus- tainer, previously twice caught in these columns and-clocked, as being bri the upbeat after a pedestrian start; is'now ambling along in a fair Way. Which is to say that the tyro music is. well mounted in a nice showcase. Time has been-extended to a half hour, a move that avoids the previous squeeze-play atmos- phere. ■•» What hasn't been done, however, is the task of building amateur per- sonalities. Maybe this-is impossible. Composers in all probability could not. stop before the mike and render their own works aa. well as_ staff singers and orchestra. But to the extent" that this maneuver tan't'be worked/ the program falls short of its aim. Right now it's just a fair musical with a hint of amateur background. Maybe if WOR would dump more money ih, the desired effects could be procured by such frlllery as of- fering prizes, and holding rehearsals in which the aros would be dressed up enough to be suitable mike tim- ber. Undoubtedly, however, the station won't do this until a spon- sor (or a hot prospect) is in sight EILEEN BARTON Songs 4 Mins. FLEISCHMANN . Thursday, 8 p. m«» EST WEAF,. New York (Thompson) Introduced on the Fleischman'n hour as u new Rudy Vallee discov- ery, Eileen Barton's singing proved a refreshing surprise for a- young- ster of 10. In bringing Miss Barton forward, Vallee explained that he had sought her after, hearing her sing on an indie station, only to be amazed at finding a mere child. Young miss has a juvenile speak- ing voice but balladin is that of a more matured singer. Doing a med- ley of 'Rhythm in My Nursery Rhyme's).' 'Wahoo/ etc., Miss Barton readily measured up to the optimis- tic Vallee prediction.. She possesses excellent range and remarkable volume for one of her age. "Wear.' 'BANQUET OF CHAMPIONS/ With Mickey Cochrane, Gar Wood, Joe Lpuia, Potsy Clark, Jack Adams, Donnia Hughes, Bud Shaver, Harold True, Talks. 45 Mins. Sustaining. WXY2, Detroit. In sport-mad Detroit, boasting a score of world and national chanips, any sport broadcast commands prime attention. More so when that broad- cast airs the voices of virtually all of the major title-holders, as did WXYZ's scoop Saturday evening (18).- ..-Qrjgin.attng-. from... the._._.iaeti-o.t.t Times 'Banquet of Champions'- in Masonic Temple program covered enough, sports to interest anyone, regardless of preference. Would have been a 'natural' for the NBC Blue, Which had planned to 'take it from WXYZ but feared repercus- sions from omission of the regular Boston Symph broadcast. Harold True, news commentator of • station, handled the intro and closing, with Bud Shaver,' sports editor- of the times, as m. ,c. All talks were short and snappy, with managers of the various champion- ship teams then introducing' briefly members of their clubs to the thun- derous applause of more than 600 who attended fete. Caught on the 45-minute broad- cast were Mickey Cochrane, of the world champion Tigers baseball team: Jack Adams, pilot of the Stanley Hockey Cup winners. Red Vvingsr Doimie Hughesy of "the Oke hockey, trophy winning Olympics; Potsy Clark, of the pro grid title- holders, Lions: Joe Louis, uncrowned king of heavyweights; Gar Wood, speedboat champ who planed from Miami for the-banquet; and A. E, Davis, editor of the Times. Several other Detroit sport heroes, including swimmers, golfers, bowl- ers, tennis aces, etc., were also pres- ent, but weren't called on until broadcast ended. CONRAD NAGEL With Jane Froman, Val and Ernie ..Stanton, . ..Airmen Quartet, -Six Contest'''.Winners, David Proek- man'i orchestra Variety One Hour CHAIN STORES OF CAL. Mon., 9 p. m. KHJ, Los Angeles (Lord £ Thomas) Strongly aromatic of Maj. Bowes' coffee klatch, but -withal, well done. Program. jy?.o±iad. lnr._2fi wp.ftks..wiU. salute as many cities.: in. the state, with nothing to. sell -but good will. Smart promotion for the chains and their message put over ih such a way as to not intrude-or give It a commercial tang. Object of the broadcast is to get the voters in a friendlier mood toward merchandis- ing .circuits,, what With the fall bal- lot carrying.a tax proposition that would cut deeply into the velve/L Standout for this type of show Is Conrad Nagel-in-the emceeing spot. Nothing smutrt or wise - cracky,.' he lets-the shp-W. carry, him rather than the sometimes,..offensive other way around. His piping Is softly modu- lated, never rises to a shout. He knows his way around, too, having for years; big.en the spokesman' for the picture industry at banquets and. testimbhlalsi.-i'Happy choice for the spot and surprising that he^s been overlooked for radio so long. On first program Fresno "was given the ';dr\im:. roll. Much after the fashion of}the' major, the town's virtues are- described and points of interest highlighted. Then the six performers who survived loqal ellm- • ination,- All good, too, a mixture of amateur's r 'ahd •"pros. Dialers are asked 'to. vote : 5for their' choice to participate iih -the finals for $500 capital .prize,;and.: many others of lesser. yaltieV ViFresno's sextet in- cluded Nick, Romano,. 13;-year-6id brother of .• $6ny, popular on coast lanes ; Lelahd Forsblad, Helen Brase,' Gladys Ellis, Robert Kidder and Gordon Dexter.:, Micts Froman ;dld up: two numbers in her - usual.. torching excellence^ just., enough,., to . keep tbem wanting more; The Stantons haven't changed their routine much. Their English gags could stand a bit ot freshen- ing up. ' : Broekman's crew does a neat job on the backup, breaks out with new arrangements 'of 'Wahoo' and 'Lights Out' in the Broekman manner but not quite so tricky as his other* or-- chestratlons. Cqmbo's heavily or- chestrated ideas are like olives; you've got to. learn to like 'em: Gave a nice account of itself on the ac- companiment With Airmen quartet and femrtie 'trio, latter billed as, 'Major, Sharp and'Minor/ San Diego next- stop on the tour. Eight spots on Don Lee coast chain take the show from Major theatre; L. A. Helm. 'SAFETY PATROL* With Jack Gelzer, Clinton Buehlman Traffic .Description & Mins. SOCONY Daily (fcxe. Sun.) 6:45 p.m. WKBW, Buffalo, N. Y. ^~ Here is a stunt which should at- tract cohsidprable attention and build some good will—at least in a brief series. Two announcers in short-wave equipped truck tour Buffalo streets and describe traffic- violations. Also . pick best driver -they--see - each night; for • a $10 cash award. Opener provided a couple of fairly bright incidents. At one point a. motorist, drove alongside radio truck and' apparently had been list- ening to broadcast, on car radio be- cause he rolled down window and shouted, 'How do, you like my driv- ing.?'-' ' „ \ "'-• At. another point spieler Jack Gel-, zer was describing dangerous cut- ting oUt Of line of a motorist and latter pulled alongside and . laughed,. indicating he, too had broadcast tuned in. Gelzer hastened to add 'We don't want anybody to take offense from these, descriptions'. ... Announcer Clintoh Buehlman grabbed off an ad lib closing chuck- le when he discovered police scout car following, radio truck and ex- claimed In mock fright, .'Oooh! I hope . WE .have been riving all right*. ■ , ' First broadcast was marred a "little' V. by " static b'ut subsequent stanzas have been clearer due "to F, "C.'.. C. ' permls'sioV' to increase short-wave transmitter power from 15- to 25 watts. - ; At mid*program,. different civic leader or official is. introduced each night, to. speak briefly' (from WKB,W studio) oh importance of safe driv- ing. . Serves to break' up possible monotony of safety,patrol and lends dignity- to stunt.. Sometimes turns out interestingly as In-, case of Auto Burea,u Director Henry . Seilheimer, who pointed out that, if, after only, bfending bumpers, with another car. you fail to' exchange names and addresses, simply' copying license number, you are technically a hit and. run driver. Fact not generally known. . Commercial plugs. . of 'Safety Patrol' are average—that ■ Is, too long to suit ..listener and probably riot long enough to suit advertiser. Reed. Norton McGiffin of the Buffalo Evening News staff, begins WBKN series on 'Lost Leaders'—men who were defeated for the presidency. FRANK WATANABE (Eddie Holden) Comedy Serial 15 "Mins* ALKA-SELTZER Mon. to Fri., 8:15 p. m. KECA, Los Angeles {Walter iddick) Eddie Holden has been doing this Japanese houseboy character since 1923 when he broke it in on a Sart Francisco station. It hasn't changed much since then but 'the lad hasn't had much trouble.finding a spot and a sponsor. For five years prior to his present connection he was on KNX, twice commerclaled over a long stretch. During this time, he had Reginald Sharland (Hon. Archie) as vis-a-vis to his broken English routine. Team recently dis- solved when' Sharland took to the desert for arthritis treatment. This time. Holden is a bit out of his_ old element.' . He's actually a tfousebdy^nbw; with" a "master" "ana" mistress of the household. Former role played by Cameron Prud'homnie of the N^C staff in Frisco, Holden writes his. own scripts. Caught -on the break-in, tale un- wound slowly but should pick up after the cast has a feW install- ments under, their collective belts. Opener Was f ree of. commercials.; announcement made that 'all we want to say'about Alka-Seltzer Is that it brought Frank Watanabe back to the air.' The fizz trademark was there' at the signoff, however. Piece, goes five nights a week oyer eight stations of NBC blue network. H elm. Jack Shannon, former program director at WFBL (Col), now with CBS in- New- York, returned upstate last week to appear as guest artist With Hugftle BartlettV Orchestra in a broadcast from Loew's State stage. IBS to feed ; the Drake Relays to both NBC blue and Columbia. John Harrington comes but from Chicago to handle for Columbia while Reggie Martin, special events director for IBS, will handle for NBC. Norman Crane, singer and script man on WGST, Atlanta, back after a jaunt to Tulsa, Okla., where he ni.c.'dvat the General Motors show. 'THANK YOU* STUSIA' Comedy Serial , 15 Mins. Disc ALKA-SELTZER Tues., Thurs., 7.30 p.- mr 7.45 WOR, New York (.Wade) Commercially this" disc series may be getting, by <ifs been shipped •from spot to spot for quite a While), but as an all-around program job it rings hollow. . Plot, as thumbnaile.d on paper by WOR's p. a. depart- ment, sounds promising. Film di^ rectors could have' grabbed it up for zippy light comedy. But once 'Thank Yon, Stusia' hits the ether, It becomes apparent that WOR's press scribblers are more fluent than the electrical transcriptions. Program caught for this review (16) was nothing more than very gummy slapstick. Series has been wander- ing around so that nobody rtmem« bers cast or author, and conse- quently it isn't possible here to al- locate credits. Idea of the plot Isn't new, but it's sound. Millionaire, eccentric spin- ster, Stusia Pennypacker, decides to hand out $4,000,000. equally among four natives of Eulalia, U. S., and sends her - butler Peeps from Eng- land to aliot the dough to an ex- concert singer; a goofy professor; a department store clerk", and a jail- blrd > in These satirical comedy possimu- tie3,-how.ever, --nevei: *e«ra-<to-4*oj»-- got beyond the paper stage. On the program caught,, the .butler was ar- riving in the U. S. A. with a detec- tive, and about all that happened was a lot of noise plus one of the duo falling Into the ocean. Commercials are about would be expected. Fairly long, but not over par. Bdga. 'WHO?' With Fred Harri , Rosa Bar. eejla, Dorothea ry, Lionel Bel- more, Charles Lling, Charles Car- roll, Robert Fraser, Ted Myers Serial Mystery Sustaining 30 Mins. KFWB, Hollywood Just as the title implies, a who- dunit. Pattern is familiar, charac- ters have been around before. Au- thoress . Is Sara Langman. . Adapted from. 'The Leavenworth Case,' piece dogs the trail of first this one and then the other. i= ce ™l that one Leavenworth was fouiy done away With, the cherchez la remme angle gradually taking form. Cast studded with standards, who perform their' appointed tasks wit a knowing touch. Jack Joy's u- sical backup neatly contrived. Miss Langman, one of the towns top air scenarists, has an especial oasslon for this type of dramatics, having authored more serials man any other writer on the Coast, un this same station she v."a H s 01 ' 1 !^ and produced 'Vendetta,' 'The;• Mn- lioiialre.' 'Rendezvous.' 'TaTe of -r«» CiU.es' and 'Vanity Fair.' lIe '[ n '