Variety (Oct 1936)

RADIO REPORTS ETHEL' BAttXHOBE Revived Pi*y« 30 Mlns. BAYER'S ASPIRIN Wednesday, *a» pjn. EST WJZ- N*w York (Btacfcett-Sample-Hummert) Bayer's took, the easy way out by giving the actress the signal to go through, all her old works in chrono- logical ' order. In short, there'll be '•••ra'HLbt of historical recapitulation, ' "' rriueh i)t which, it's €asy to guess in V; advance, wfll be inferior radio ma- '' 1 ,' Opening shot was 'Capt. Jinks Of "•'.,'ihe Horse Marines,' written by Clyde ' 'Fitch in 1901. It was Miss Barry- '. "more's first major opus; but today ; ','"'.lVs a .silly' weakie of a bygone era. ■ ./,'Historjeal interest is about the only \cparm that can be distilled, and it's '; " {Joubtful it that is sufficient. Es- ip^cially when Burns and Allen are ( .,the competish on CBS, and the NBC .' .Red link-is offering Wayne King. Lux Theatre frequently runs into weakie situations, too, but they have De Mille and a flock of.guesters to ,, .camouflage the works. Miss'Barry- .,,,,,mare and a stock cast have to haul .j, ; , ; themselves out of the literary mire . 11 by their own bootstraps.. It's not , , vgoing to be easy, hauling. . s Acting itself is commendable all around, and the production was staged reasonably well. Engineers don't always do right by the. full- throated- Barrymore voice, garbling, it in spots. Slower reading of lines would correct this, if the engineers can't. ^ Possible that the plays will ^im- prove as the schedule moves out of the early 1900 s into' modern times. • There is better fare on the advance list. Would have been wiser to use some of this first, to give the series a better sendbff. As is, the debut was marked by good acting, a mediocre ' play, and ditto reception. ■'Blurbing, in- keeping with the calibre of the talent, is 'considerably ' "less wordy than is usually the case. Edga.. ' i ——_ : ■ PERSONAL COLUMN OF THE AIR >,;; Transcriptions 4 'i5 Mine. ' PROCTER & GAMBLE (Chipso) r ' M0n.-Fi-i H 9 a-m. WGY, Schencctary •' (Blackman) ' .Program, heralded as • new and ,-' different, is another example of radio . borrowing from the press. It- is the long-popular newspaper feature, the personal column, adapted for broad- casting. Acknowledgment of idea's origin made by a deep-voiced'exposi- tor m the first of three statements. Is described as a 'unique humani- tarian service', rendered by radio to persons, trying'to get; in touch with .fiends, relatives, and acquaintances ' 'out of the past', and present where- abouts unknown.' From'messages running one-half to one-minute in "length and without •names or addresses given- (nick- names sometimes used), contact is to be made with listeners. Latter are to write—not wire or phone-MJhe sta- tion, giving reasons why they think a message (listing date heard) is in- tended for them. Sponsor may decide to forward reply, without, revealing signer's name. -Reports of results are promised during series. Octavus Roy Cohen,-who conceived • the program, and Inez Lopez (Mrs. Goheri in private life), who arranges ' and edits the messages, have done a ' good job. with the aid of a group of capable actors. There are five or six a 'personals' on each platter, with a »kii w ide-variety of human-interest com- i<> inanimation's' succinctly and expertly ■*therized. New York was the city t'.'vfi-ctm which many of the messages, •^"bn^ shots heard, originated, with •''^'Birmingham and Gadsden, Ala., (in "' ! 'C6hen's territory), ' Kansas City, Trenton ( ■ Seattle, etc., mentioned. Players have been well- selected as to .'••voices, although it is apparent some of^them do more than one stint. 'Explanations of what the program aims to accomplish and how listen- ers may use it are so detailed that lour of the 15 minutes are consumed. Organ music soaces the stanzas. Procter #c. Gamble's advertising is restrained for a daytime household- product shot, one minute at the sign- on and another- at the sigh-off being v,r.-,used to tell how Chipso washes dirt i Out by suction. Jaco. JUNIOR BROADCASTERS CLUB 'With Ray McConnell, Jean and '•>■ Georgle ""Music, drama 15 Mins. '■ MALT-O-MEAL \ Tues-Thurs-Sat. • WJR, Detroit Maybe Ray McConnell has at last ■ ' found his right spot on the air. Suc- cessively, he's been a trumpeteer, ar- ranger, composer and now 'Uncle Russ' on this late afternoon kid pro- gram. He handles his end quite well as narrator and counselor of teen-age boys and girls. He even gets off an occasional song, and spills the' com- rnercial stuff, which is unusually re- strained for such shows. Dramatic angle revolves around Jean and Georgie (two clever per- formers), their school experiences and the school bully. Principals 'go , "up their dance' without much ado. , ,.ahd move along swiftly. About half f of program is enlivened by accordion and vocal solos. Other kids will get a chance to. -..appear on show by submitting the\ tissual carton top. Tele. 'WE, THE PEOPLE' With Phillips Lord, Mark Warnow Oroh., Fred Utel Novelty 3* Mtas. CALUMET BAKING POWDER Sunday, 5 pan. WJZ, New York (Young dV Rubicam) One more in the. cycle of novelty programs that have been so numer- ous this season. Phillips Lord, once the sanctified Seth Parker of sus- taining eminence, has been active in exploiting topical values and per- sonalities (notably his Gang Busters) and has in this instance patched to- gether ah odd quilt of entertainment composed of Ripleyesque oddities, a touch of pathos and Mark Warnow's always ducky music. Net result stacks up as promising radio diversion. Lord has' been canny in arranging his material. He offered on Sunday's (11) program a blacksmith from Vermont who ad- vised men to pick wives as he judges horses—by their feet. There was a gent from Ohio who got heavy re- sults by subjecting his hens to radio music and who got a laugh by say- ing, 'Farmers, if you want to lay more eggs—I mean if you want your hens to lay more eggs.' There' was William Shakespeare, much pub- licized previously, who constantly complains about his name getting him into jams, but who really seems to enjoy the distinction. Finally- for' the punch there was Tad Jones, football coach of " Yale, who expatiated - on fatherhood and then brought one of the State Aid's charges, an 11-year-old kid, up for adoption.. Boy reads his lines very well. . He was then sent out of room and an appeal for his adoption broadcast although no details or the boy's name were given. _ Lord solicits candidates for his program, to. write-in. If acceptable their traveling expenses are. paid (whether by train or bus not men- tioned—presumably the payoff it- self is in glory). Unusual angle has the announcer state in advance the precise number of minutes or seconds allotted to the next speaker. This is done twice for the commercial spiel which is tabbed at 58 seconds. Calumet , is of the General Foods ' ' ' ' ■" ' Land -* JERRY BELCHER 'Our Neighbors' Novelty 30 Mlns. Sustaining Sunday, 3:30 p.m. WJZ, New York Belcher- is the vox popper- from. Houston formerly ■ teamed with Parks Johnson. He is a .nimble* witted, smooth-talking ringmaster for the type of thing he is now doing. It's an offshoot of vox pop— an invasion of average American parlors for the purpose of inter- viewing the whole family and the family's neighbors and iriends, For the inaugural Belcher had a pip family in the Clarks of London Terrace, New York- Mrs. Clark, the mother, Dr. Clark, her son, and Mrs. Clark, the daughter-in-law, were interviewed -long with goo- goos from the two small grand- children. Announced in advance as wholly spontaneous and unrehearsed the adroit guidance of Belcher found the Claxks a family with', a sense of humor plus strong personal char- acteristics. It made amusing listen- ing throughout. Incidentally a great free plug for' the real estate development which got repeated mentions. One of the neighbors turned out to be the of- ficial interior decorator of London Terrace and while not stated it ap- peared that a woman psychologist had something to do with the Lon- don- Terrace kindergarten. Maybe' it's an unconscious commercial, sans b.r. Belcher has showmanship. Land. THAT'S MY" JOB' With Helen Oviatt Griffin 15 Mlns. Sustaining Friday; 7:30 P.M. WHAM, Rochester, N. Y. This program got off to a nice start and ha* plenty of possibilities. Helen Oviatt Griffin, who also conducts the Society Secretary pro- gram, and who has had newspaper, as well as radio experience, has a flair for bringing out the unique, and the humorous. A lot depends on the subject interviewed, but the first program indicates'lhat with a bit of coaching, waiters, salesgirls, night club entertainers and whatn.ot. will be good for some unexDected an- swers, laughs and revealing philos- ophy. Hairdresser, as the first subject, opened with the quip 'when a wom- an lets her hair down, she virtually lets down hci» soul?' Girl indicated intimate nature of some of the confidences and' went on to tell . some of the foibles of her customers, desires to look like a fa- vorite film actress, even when not the type, and described various atti- tudes toward her and unreasonable demands by some FOOTBALL WABC, NEW YORK (JFordhdm-So. Methodist) Ted Husing apparently had an off day Saturday (9). Failed io mention the score in his broadcast of the/ Fordham-SMU game from the begin- ning of the third quarter until just before- the last quarter started al- though there was a break for station identification in between. Perhaps the combination of numer- ous , tough names to pronounce on both elevens, a wet, rainy day, and Southern' Methodist's tricky ahd fast combination tied up his usual smooth delivery. At any rate, Husing became so absorbed in relating the innumerable substitutions .that he failed to follow the play closely. Typical of this per- haps was the manner he left his lis- teners hanging in mid-air as SMU tried td score from the one-yard line. Eventually his air audience was ap- prised of the players' failure to make the touchdown. What made Husing's failure to break down and tell the score the more aggravating was that he read several telegrams giving the scores of out-of-town games. Weir.* WWJ and WJR, DETROIT (Michigan vs. Indiana) Kellogg's has just about tied up everything hereabouts for University of Michigan-grid contests. It's ship- ping, stuff out over two of Detroit's key . stations ahd has Ty Tyson* top sportscaster in these parts, handing out the play-by-play as well as the commercials. Missed a good bet opening week, with 'M* .grappling with its ancient rival, Michigan State, but local chain outlets were- tied up with World Series. Initial airing Saturday (10), however, covered opening Big Ten contest with Indiana U, and clicked. Tyson needs no introduction to local sport fans. He's been handling everything, in the sport world for many years and has things-nicely- under control. His chief forte for many years was baseball, but past few seasons he's • also been handling football and struts his stuff well. Dishes out info without bias. Commercial blurb is as constrained as possible, with Kellogg running a slogan contest, which involves a lot of explanation. Tyson hands it out nicely, however, and it's confined to before game and between periods. Doc Holland, also of WWJ staff,' aids Tyson with- statistics, etc., but doesn't go on air. ■■<.-:. Initial broadcast, however, wasn't up to snuff in the way of clarity, due to mechanical difficulties. Wires carrying stuff from Ann Arbor, 40 miles away, seemed to blurr. Pete. WHAS, LOUISVILLE ■ (Kentucky vs. Georgia Tech) Grid go Saturday (10)' between University • of Kentucky Wildcats and Georgia Tech YelloWjackets was aired quite acceptably by remote control from Atlanta, through facili- ties of WHAS in Louisville. Game was bankrolled by Standard Oil of Kentucky, with headquarters in the Kentucky metropolis, but which has distribution in Georgia and other- strictly southern states. Longest plug preceded _ the game, and was spieled over the . WHAS home studio mike. Announcer ex» plained that Standard Oil had ar- ranged .to give play-by-play account of all games played by U of Ky. whether at home or out-of-town. U of Ky\ is located in Lexington, about 30 miles from Louisville, putting all broadcasts of games by that college in the remote pickuo category.- Joe ' Wheeler, WHAS' sports spieler, handled the pre-game com- ments, and gave a clear account of the standing of the two teams'in the Southern Conference. Sounded like the. lad was reading from ..script throughout the preliminary palaver, which rather took away from the actual color and excitement just be- fore the kickoff. Preliminary gab ran from 1:45 until starting time, in- cluding a rwitch to pick up the school bands, both rather off key, but probably no different from many another school band when trans- mitted over the ether. 11 Wheeler gave good account of himself calling plays. He showed a nice change of pace, highlighting the standout plays, and slowing up for a bit of relaxation both to - himself and to listeners during the periods when time was called,' and the action temporarily suspended. Sports announcer turned mike over, to an unnamed local man at the quarters, for the' commercials. Plugs, were brief, and stressed fact that Standard Oil was interested in bringing football games to listeners. Hold. JACK OSTERMAN With Harold Stem's Orch, BUI Smith, Eleanor Sherry Revue 30 Mlns. VIM STORES Sunday, 5:30 n»m'. WOR, New York . Program is not new. Osterman is. New to the program and to radio,, but an old hand as an m.c. and comedian. Osterman's long experi- ence in vaudeville and musicals should carry him along in radio. That he also provides his own ma- terial is a further plus. Osterman possesses a style that is different ioT radio. He is just a tri- fle fresh, but that can be ah asset rather than; other wise subject to the criticism that, he must remember radio is not as broad-minded as theatrical audiences. In other words, he must be fresh within the taboos of the medium. May or may not be important that in reading the name Kirschbaum as the winner of a prize Osterman cracked '—a Spaniard!' Probably innocuous but as a principle of radio showmanship, racial. allusions are always dubious and frequently dan- gerous. Osterman's breeziness, his vigor- ous style of working,' the clarity of his voice and diction (he talks rather loud but that, too, can be dis- tinctive and is not a criticism), all suggest that he may find a place for himself. He has written better ma- terial than he had on .the opener. With a greater familiarity with radio and hitting his former stride as* a wit, Osterman, should bring plenty of local listeners to this program- He has been well known to the. New York theatre public for year's. Vim might do well to give hi.m< a corner of space in their newspaper adver- tising. Stern's music ahd the two vocal soloists combine to c'reate 6 a nice sta- tion commercial. Advertising is not too heavy despite price stressing. Land. WARREN B: FRANCIS Political Comment 10 Mlns. Sustaining Friday, 11:05 p.m, . WEAF, New York Subbing for George Holmes, regu lar NBC spieler on Washington mat ters, Warren Francis revealed a nice easy microphonic delivery plus syl lable-perfect diction. His radio voice is distinctly pleasant, his tempo fast enough, but not too fast. Handled the campaign situation as of the mo ment. Clear and impartial. He's Washington representative for Los Angeles Times and Varietv. -••?*» - Land. very commendable job-, gave, a com- prehensivc picture, and has a. good radio voice. He handled the assignment in a showmanly manner, interviewing local football enthusiasts before the game as they filed into the stadium during the half and at the end of the contest. He was assisted in this by J. B. Lake, the station's regular 'man on the street,' < * Martin knows his football pretty well and gives out such dope as yardage, . substitutions and general atmosphere almost as fast as it hap- pens. He laid off the ad plugs al- together, and let the stadfo handle this end. A break for the fans who, hate to have a dish of blah-blah' handed them in the middle of a tense grid scene. Barn. KFAB, LINCOLN (Nebraska vs. Minnesota) Nebraska nuts the foot down on broadcasts of home games, but okaved this away-from-home contest. Min- nesota nodded to the idea of going etherward. but was against sponsor- ship. KFAB here got around the ruling by pulling the advertising just Mrs. Griffin kept well in the back- J before the game, between the halves ground with lust enough prompting and at the close of the contest.^ ^ to bring out the girl's ideas and per- "" " " "" sonality. ' Program rates as human interest with canital letters and should go y>ver with'a bang. Cord. Handling the broadcast was Re,t Martin, station manager, who used to be a sports announcer with WGN. Chicago. Martin, although away from the mike a long time, did a WFBC, GREENVILLE, S. C. ( Furman-Citadcl) No novice behind "a sport mike is Jimmie Thompson. Last week he successfully faked a telegraphic re- port of the Furmah-Georgla game ir> WFEC's studios for Coca-Cola. Many listeners were fooled, . In etherizing the Furman-Citadel fracas, the booming voice of Thomo- son Came over in clear, resonant tones, with just enough of the stac- cato quality to place the listener in the spirit of the game. Thompson's patter reveals his thorou^.H fa- miliarity with the- game and is full of the slangy ga*b that goes With the game. . Thompson was ably assisted by WFEC's h»ad mike man, Bill Bivens. who handles the numerous brirf plugs which arc dealt out only nt times when inactivity oh the field exists, thus keeping at a'minimum ca»"-sorc among air addicts. Coca-Cola's opposish is V/BT'.i At- lantic Refining' football stlnfr aired by Charles Crutchfield. Gym. WJBK, DETROIT (Oklahoma vs'. Dettoit) Sports is WJBK's forte: Some of University of Detroit's grid'adven- j tures occur on Friday nights, mak- ing it almost impossible for chain outlets to carry 'em, so WJBK has won a warm spot among thrc urban university's alumni and followers. First airing was of Oklahoma A. and M. fracas. Friday nitfht (9). Al- though an alumnus of .U. of D., Al Nagler spills the play-by-olay un- biasadly and docs a nifty job of it. He's been handling sport broadcast*: for station for past six years, and knows his football, Voice register* well. Angus Pfaff contributes commer- cial, spiel, which is oke, George Gil- bert assists both Nagler and Praff. Out-of-town games are also aired. Nagler reconstructing 'em at this end from wire reports.' Pete. STANDARD- SYMPHONY HOUR With Mbhel -Piastre Oreb. «ft Mini. STANDARD OIL OF CALIFORNIA Tha**. feU: ■ JP* PST KPO, San Francisco (McCann, Erickson) Standard Symphony Hour, starting its 10th year on the coast NBC-Red web, continues to set an example fol- lowed by few other programs when it comes to advertising on the air. This oldest of current commercial, networkers in the West has consist- ently limited , itself to mention of the name of the sponsor, the Standard Oil Company of California, with no plugging, of gas, oil or other prod- ucts to distract the attention of dial- ers from, the topnotch orchestral music played by the coast's leading symphony orchestras. As a good will builder it has no peer here. Current series of symphony con- certs are being played by a 65-piece ork recruited from the ranks of the San Francisco Symphony and ba- toned by Mishel .Piastre All-orches- tral programs have been the rule ever since the start of the concerts in 1928. Only oh rare occasions have there been exceptions, such as the times when John MCCormack and Gotthelf Pistor, tenors, and. Mary Lewis, soprano, were guest soloists. In the spring of 1935 Mary Garden filled" a brief engagement as com- mentator. Popularity of the all-or- chestral concerts was indicated some time ago in p. poll of listeners, who voted overwhelmingly for the con- tinuation of that type of program. Anniversary broadcast deviated somewhat from the customary pro- cedure in that various sections- of the ork were spotlighted, the strings in Hellmesberger's 'Ball Scene,' 1he woodwinds, in Liadow's 'Music Box/ the brass ahd percussion in Tchai- kovsky's- '1812 Overture.' In addition, a string quartet con- sisting of the ofk's four first chair- men, Naoum Blinder .and Eugene Heyes,' violinists, Nathan Firestonej violtst, and Willem Van den , Berg, cellist, were presented in a selection from Glazounov's- 'Novelettes.' Pias- tro himself played the brilliant' Saint- Saens 'Rondo Capriccioso' for violin and ork, with Van den Berg direct- ing. Program also included Berlioz' 'Roman CarnivU' overture an^ the scherzo from Tschaikovsk? ! s Fcurth Symphony. Titles of all selections Were an- nounced twice, before and after each performance. Brief .descriptive con- tinuity, written by John Ribbe, who also produces the programs, was read in a dignified but not pompous-man- ner by NBC announcer Cliff Engle. The weekly broadcasts originate on the stage of the "Cohimunity Play- house, a 640-seater in the western : Women's Club building. Look-seers are permitted, tickets being obtained through application cards obtainable at service stations and dealers. Alfred Hertz returns as conductor . of the Standard Oil Company of California's weekly symphonic' pro- grams over the NBC-Red "network on the coast October 22. Mishel Piastre concert, master of the New- York Philharmonic, who was sighed to direct the airers for 15 weeks, has been forced to curtail his coast stay to go east for a meeting of Philhar- monic execs. His contract had three weeks more to rup. Piastro's final bvoadcast here will be Thursday (15). . Elbs. YE MERRIE MEN OF OLDE With Olc Focrch Ocehestra Comedy, Son?, Music '5 Mlns. TIVOLI BEER Tu,-Th.; 6:45 p.m. WWJ, Detroit ■Initial venture In WWJ's new free radio theatre, and a nice starter. It's costumed and written by Mel.Wissv man. . ' . With scene laid in days of King Arthur's court, 15-minute show, has benefit of swell music by Ol£ Foerch'3 ork, which turns in some novel arrangements, of pop tunes ur-Jer such titles as 'Take Ye My Heart.' All roles are taken by, De- troit News Players. At show caught (8) plenty of comedy was -supplied by 'Lady Gwendolyn (who also has some nifty contralto pipes).-.:'Sir, l oncelof and 'Sir Gavelhead,'.. 'Mer- rie Men* group did the vocalizing,. Commercial, spiel, dressed in lah' '- "guage of the olden days, is choice end well pointed. Laugh-off at show [ caught was the use of the Tivoli suds to fcyive Sir Lancelot's qkl steed. Unfortunate- tight' prog'ram-sked | forccs'this show on at ,6:45 p.m.,(not 'he best for visual audiences), and lets it'run only 15 minutes. Pete. | CTiAStY- SETTEL 'The Old Observer* Sports Comment i 15 Mlns. |ROI TAN CIGARS ! M-XV-F; e:30 p.ni. ICF1', Los Angeles ' j (Lawrence C. Gumbinner) \ A lotta smoke but no fire. Lacks i punch, drags and suffers from poor i delivery. Strictly male fare but I won't sell many cheroots. Fan stuff ; blotto. Doc Crandall was called in for a chat but the old Giant pitcher couldn't lift the program out of the slough. His biggest thrill was a foul he once hit into the stands in a worlds scries. Lefty Grove was brought on via wax for the com* mercial, Just .a foul ball—and not into thf stands. Hefon*