Variety (Mar 1937)

S2 VARIETY A mo REVIEWS We^oesday^ Marish 17,1937 ILOBEXTA TOUNG, TYRONE POWER *L«vc Is News' X4'-Mins. CAMPBELL SOVP Friday, 9:30 p.m. WABC, New Tork YF; Wallis ArrnstTonil) As ta^dio dramatizations of films avetage up, 'Love Is News' proved outstahding. Its plot situations were amusing arid posseis^ed the fuhda- mental flqtibnial merit of e)?b arid flow between one side and the bthei-., Thfere ;was lots of zip. Soriie confusion in voices at the istart. Couldn't distinguish the city, editor from the reporter. Tnis be- . fuddled beginning gave way tdf ciear- Jy 'defined plpt; movement and the met result was eritertainirig coriiedy. Tyrone Power, Jr., and Loretta . Young, took the bpy-riieetSrglrl parts with John Qualeri credited as tbe icturesque rustic judge. Its radio entertainment aspect put asidfe-,-"^JLove Is Nesws' may now be offered in evidence as a ,concrete ex- ample of why show biz sometimes has the jitters when the air squessies off in 20. rriiniites—arid on the cUff— the juic6 of a third of a.miUiori dol- . lairs in film production; "That angle is r^bre fully considered in a 'riew.s story ■ \the'picture section df tliis issiig^ ■' Land, 'MIDNIGHT IN- MANHATTAN' With Ed Fitzgerald, . Joe Tobin, Hdward: G. Barhies, Dave Driscdll, Roser Bower, Jerry Lawrence and Jcir Sparks. . 30 Mins. . Susfaiibine, Monday, 12 Mi WOR, New York Novel' idea.' Evidences a. treriien- dtius . amount.' of . preparation and bursting /at the' sedms with shdw,-. irianship. .Chalk bne' up . for the lads.. Theme of -Midnight in Marihattah' Was to reveal hoyr th? other half lives! To put it over, two formulas w^re used. One announcer-painted word .picture . of night^tin^e. job and surroundings, etc; Other was to work ' street interview angle. Methods 'were, nicely combined. .; '"After iritroductibn of'clock ticking :ahd hug<6 chime'boriging.put hour of 12, listener was taken to sidewalk in front of Astor" liotel, whdre taxi horns, trolley bells'and other street noiises made - realistic background for vox pop stuff. Then in bf'der came, .sessions froip ..pblice,.boat on ithe .Hudspn, Holly-. .Woodi Riestauiraht, .Washington and .-'Syiaiiiklin i;ts.,.>produce market, fire engine house, iti jthe'Sixth ave. sub- . :W,ay' excavatiph, tel«|phpne excbariee, . ,Ml-night diner ahd city room of the Herald Tribune. -In each, announcer • first tried to set the scehe, then vox pooped for explanations of workf In some casejs. remarks sounded wr^ltten and: memorized; in: others not, though fibinie of thie. action was obviously faked. Generally effect was better wMh routine seemed set' In that case questionis and .answers wcfe generally more intehigent and ;tQ the pioint Notable were Tobin's reidlistic description Of the riviiir at ight. Bower's ciaitching correct note in. the subway hole and Sparks' re- ..veilinw spiel in the. hello gials! den In any ambitious show launching some, faults are inevitable. But this one had 'wealth of: good.Points, and flaws cbuld be forgiven. If sitpilar at- tempts are made m the future (and maybe thev should be), WOR's boys should jseek punchier scripting. Arid the; interviewers shouldn't echo vic- tims' answers. Couple of off-side cracks by in- terviewees Were fairly well passed ofF by the announcers.. Everythint* considered, lads rate bows on this one. Hohe. -'OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS' lV((h Ranny Daly LIMIn. Sustaining- Wednesday, 10 p.m. KFNT. Des Moines Handled exclusively, by 'Rannv Daly, program director for the Iowa Broadcasting . Systemi, thi."? brain- . child in the nature ;of a public ssrv- ..ice program is chock full.;6f huti->"«r jriterest since the interviews are .with imoniplbyed persons exclusivelv. ,. ..Althoui»h the studios, maintain a .file ori the persons for reference for the prosnective emplpyefs. no Tiame.<; arc, used-, the. persoris intervi wed bcmg ^meriely 'cases.' In no-instprice is the person inlei"- viewed,asked ■why he is out of Vvork. Ouc."5tions VNlVERiSITY OF IOWA With John Held, Jr, 30 MIns. PONTIAC Friday, 10:30 p.m. WEAF, New York (McManiLS, John & Adaiti) Pontiac in its shifts from cariipus to campus each week is tending to narrow the nature of its entertain- ment, offering tb elements and ap- peal that the public at large will not likely fancy. It's becbme a home talent ..prbpositibn, but without ariy question bf individuals seeking for- tune, a la Bowes, and with small presumption of much interest to listeners not partisan to the colleges involved. Pontiac, of course, .most be the judge of .whethier the numeri- cal conglomerate of student 'bodies and families, faculty, alumni and miscellaneous friends are in extent an audierice woi'thy of the cost of the program: Against any doubts the fact is that with only John Held, Jr., as a salaried personality, the .pro- gram is probably relativiely cheap f rom a talent and production stand- point. Programs all pretty much the sariie and .by now monbtpnous to outsiders. All glee clubs sound alike, and whether it's a student brass band for football games or a student sym- phony Orchestra for culture, or both, the contributions merely help fill but the ihalf hour without providing anything very snappy in popular entijrtainment. rariting that this is prbbably all that the average campus could offer iand the only forriiula that could fit the.available organized units of exr tra.curricular activities, it still seems that there is littlevproductibrt ishow- riianshil>, from .thie .agency end. ,Pr6^ grams suggest riot too mUch. advance planning.. ., Contipuity is' thin $nd without ■; color; deadly. serious throughout. An occasional effort at comedy through a .student^writteri and student-acted blackout -has been made, as on this, occasion., Re$ult.s were fatuous iaind juvenile \yitH a broad vei .of smartaleck. UriiVersity of .Iowa ight seemed, in advance, a' real showmanship bp- pbrturiity. . .Here was something off the rutted pathr^.a college with a riight club of its Qwp ori the campus and with college talerit. It was a wide-bperi opportunity for showriian ship to go to town. And the way this was muffed, might open'up. a lecture on the subject. It tipped .off the whole routine of careless produc tion, the lack of change of pace, of emphasis, of climaxes, of. treating loWa the same as Podunk or. Jelopyt Night club was casually mentioned, as; was the fact. th?it it was a non alcoholic spot. -Iri:stead of using this riiade-to-o.rder production, device to create something memorable, insteac of following through and really tell"- ing listeners sori^ethirig about the night club, having the faculty ex plain the whys arid wherefores, hav ing students give their ideas, delv ing into the thing for the rich huriiari iriterest it' obviously represents, there was a tenor .singing 'My Wile Irish Rose' (without a gliisS of beei* in the house to catch the: tears) anc a soprano coaching herself on 'I'l Lpve You Always.' Just that and nothing else. It wasn't even, m^de clear if the singers wei-e students. Apparently there was no switchover to the night club itself—more of doing it thie easy way—but the whole thing, was broadca.st from the ^college hall. No doubt there are practical dif Acuities in the shape of engineering inadequacies and faculty timidity Even so, there is an absence of .strong-handed direction that is hold ing these programs tb the minimum audience implicit in a collegiate .series and not developing the mate rial that does exist. iMnd. and what-tve. or .she considers cn-on billlies for dOing-a-eertalri kind nf •work. - Also a^ked what'other •ivori- hc would consider in case he voiild be uhpble.to secure the kind of pbb w.Tnted, On the riight reviewed. Case was a j'rocery cjerk: Case B. a •<yn- iriari office worker who had aliso h.-r' exDcrlehce as' a .housekeeper, and Case C; .an all-round iob Dvi^.tlh" man.,. Through' the studi U. is claimed all three persons had iob.s by noon of the followln.i: day. Daly -handled the' questions, with siricerity arid tact, hut overloolrnd. nn opnortunity to iniect hrjtnor whc^re.- ever it Was possibl*', Follov/inti the (fir-jt Drograi7i..'an\addltioTjal l.'i mnv uto.s has been added arid. Daly will attbmpt to interview eight persons bn each half-hour . nrograrii. wit^b the oerson.'i to, be interviPwM al- ready booked through "April )4. ' Commercial pliceiinent firrms' atti- tude on thi.<j free employment ^Po^rv not reported^ MoorhT''- Radio Qorites the Publishers 'Let Freedom Ring* last Monday (15) over CBS was a pip builder- upjper for Ireedbm of the press. And. tuned in without prior identi- flcatiori, a casual listener might think the publishers had written and produced it instead of the goyemment. Indeed, the several •references, in the continuity to the Supi-eme; Court, as the consistent d|efendef bf freedom of press rights, soupded odd in view of the. pre- vailing smbke. It established a pretty tight case for the utter fair- ness of the Officie of Education. Historically, artistically arid polit- ically, the Interior Dept. seeriis to, have preserved its integrity. Since last heard, rthe production speed and grip appears to have it its pace. Not known if ditection has changed. Credited now to Nila Mac. Excellent dramati::ed bits, linked together by bpCasiorial explaniati , told with memorable force the standout incidents i the long struggle of unfettering the printing presses arid keeping theriii thiat way. Ended with a question about sOme of the currerit criticisms leveled at. the publishers as an excuse for curbing the press. Caridor of the final dialog nriight not- have been okayed; by pub- lishers had they actually staged this .event, but- otherwise the sicrijpt. presumably could have; been On the Duppnt '(jaivalcad^' sb far as echoing the iseritiments that the newspaper fraternity pught to be to have ublicized everi by their detested coritemporary—the MILTON DOUGLAS ft PRISCILLA Comedy' (5 Mins. ROYAL GELATIN Thursday, 8 p.m. WEAF, New York (J. Walter Tho7>ipspn) Comic duo hails .froni vaude where ..Douglas foi: some, time had comic 'Chatter, act sprinkled with stooges. Together witb' Priscilla (Mary Price) \ he's lately been in units On RKO time. In essayirig a turn for Yallee, this pair, exhibited ' smoothness. Their, script had a. coiiplie of holes in it. But its battirig iiverage Was pretty high on laughs. And the i delivery was sWelli . jPatter employed^ shows styling slightly a la Jack Benny-Mary Liv- irigstbh. But with more gagging. Beading of the lines suave. Duo sizes iip as having istirict radio possibilities. Edga... WHY COMIC STRIPS?' With W. Laas,. Fr^nk Oweii, Mai Eaton, 'Veriion Green, Roland Coe and Sidney HofT Symposiam 30 Mins. Sustaining Saturday. 8:.l0 p.m. WNEW, .New York : Laais is a syridicate editor, and the rest of' the'. lads riamed above are comic strip or cartoon crayoners. They, bunched together and. vented sOine smoky-., spirals of spleen; tak< ing it out of their rivals .and con tern' pbraries who draw. blood-and-thun- dei* strip serials dealing with, vicious villains; pseudor.science, .straight arid usually incredible adventure; and tear-jerking, pathetic philosophy. Seems the boys 'on this, program .think-coirnic: supplements ift newspa- pers should sp'ear for laughs, inot-try to frighten the kids-^and many adults,. too. Program Wouldri't have be'e'ri bad had not ,the campaigners for comedy overdone it.' Denunciations " at times reached absurd':''stages "And sbme of the log rolling the boys did fbr each other in their various marches before the mike tipped the mitt. And the . champions oi Coriiedy Wieren't at. all comical Over the air Bert. •HAVE You HEARD?? Educational 15 Mins. Federal Project Tuesdays, 3:4.^ p.rii; WJZ, New York U. .S. Goverhmerit, through Office of Education, Department bf In- terior, and: the Federal Radio Proj- ect, is backing this' .sustalner aired weekly byer 48 NBC-blUe stations across the land, and two Canadian broadcaster^. Fact that, the Yankees are paying rough taxes . tb . supply the two Canuck stations: With free entertainment for-their listeners is rather a quaint one. are aimed to brin" out: t>-««..«w,- j j i l • the -unemDloyed's past exoericnce.-r-^^^'^,'^^ are .designed to bring ^ . >- ._ oT^i: AO people ciiripsities of. science-^ hum.ah.s. animals, insects, topog- raphy, etc. Through a series of 13 broadcasts each subject will bie given a. whir. W.hegi' .caught, animals were dealt wUhr—and not too inter- eslin«l.y. Chap , illed 'The, rlCndty Guide' cpnverse.s witJi a woriian, desci;ibing the odd specimens pair passes through'vvhat .would seem to be a .circus .sideshow; Background con- sis1..s of r.a barker io announce each new subject, and a squealing calliope to. lend at sphere.- Noises of a crowd also built Into background. Il!s Bob Ripley .stuff done In in- ferior manner. . Whole object of program would sieem riot so miich to qualify, a.s strong entertainment, but to employ , people. Added to number alread.v noted, there is large mixed chorus to warble period on and o'fl o';sone. Coming in lull of afternoon as goverhinent-endpwed show does, may u.ei. some Jiiilehers. Bert 'WISHING RING* Willi Betty Barton. >Iarguerite Werner, Holland Thomas Household Hints 15 Mins. . SUN RAY'S WHEAT CEREAL Daily, d:30 a.m. WXYZ, Detrbii A' meritorious household program with a new twist. Gets its naritie frbm thie prolog, in which a hus- band and wife are conversing; lat- ter glances, at wedding ring and makes three ishes (|or hubby, son and home). Besides: offering several recipes, Betty Barton gives: and interprets a provei:b,'Dlus ways to cheer your- self iarid others. Her voice is' clear and talks are very informal. Mar guerite Werner turns in sonne nice organ numbers. Holland Thomas natters, with Miss Barton, and blurbs. Qke. Pete. DEEMS TAYLOR With Robert' Armbruster Talk, Music 30 Mins. CORONET MAGAZINE Tuesday, 8 p.iu; WOR,^ New York (B. B. D. > p.) WOR and three other towns on the Mutual loop get this program. Pro- gram, as well as the 'network,' is flexible and may change hereafter. Formulia of the Coronet magazine for it£i .radio program is not .unlike the magazine itself—saris formula.. It's hodge-podge. That- is adopted as virtue, arid certainly will permit Deenrts Taylor ample elbow, space. In the end, it's pretty apt to-be Deems Taylor: commeriting on the latest issue with interludes of reenactment jy dramatic pebple.' Because ."Taylbr is . good, thie Coronet prograrii is liktily to be. It's smooth; suave, sophisticated.' And the thread of - novelty and humor is a liftef-upper but pf the riitithat other riiagaziaes, dramatizing their current contents; have often followed. Slick example of not what's, dbne. but how« was Taylor's break-down of Igor,. Strayirisky's :music. givirig a strain or. two, ; thien sliding into, a historic ^audience riot over its then radical charafctfer. That biz with the various instrUirierits,' topped by the gentle giggle, is the build-up for the triangle-player to get in a Crescendo beat Taylbr has Robert Armbruster's house men. to work with. They are good radio musicians and, jointly^ 'it Is to be anticipated that- some amusing stunts may be hatched. Indeed Deems Taylbr at ft p.m Tuesday should divert plenty of listenets. to. WOR,- even those who perhaps do- not ordinarily . care .for. ra(lio. > His aopeal is above the corny lievel. ' Radio usually shies .away from that kind of a cbmpliment, but for a magaziixe like Coronet It's no objection. To the cbntrary, it's a strerigthener; ■ fbr the great* un washed would not be good prosiDectis •for a two-bit mag filled with , odds and ends of' etchings, essays, xontro- versy and the general spill-over from EsQuire; , ■/ Brbadcast trade will .probably watch the Deems Taylor program with particular care. It's a laboratory teist in a sense. First because there's no-particular pattern. Second, be- cause the tone and level are essen- tially above the monbtbnous pitch of radio in general. "ITie-up commercially is ti.eht and frequent Page 80, page 62, Btc mentioned. 'Doeis Milk Cause <?anCer' is brbught out as a question that will be an attention-getter and a dispute breeder; all soelling word-of-mouth tot Coronet Spbnsor offers $10 for listeriers who. send in cbmrnercials acceptable for broadcasting; Land. 'LET'S TALK ABOUT STARS' With Jack Mitchell, Jerry Cotter., Ray Freifclder, Bob Stokes 1$ Mins. Sunday, 1:45 p.m. W A AT, Jersey City Feeble stuff. Talks about sports stage, screen arid literary person- alities. -Dra^^back ife that little bri 1- nality - has been shown in re-Writihg press blOrb.. Same applies to manner of - recital by Messrs;- Cotter, Frei- fclder and Stokes, r Jack Mitchell acts as annbuncer or master bf cere riionies, arid ' smartest of 'four billed; V16tor ' Mci^aglen i.s described aS man of week in pictures: by Bob Stokes; Kitty CarlLsle's background is painted by Jerry Cotter as repre seritative of stage, ■while Ray Fre' felder pose.s as sports authority relating facts about Fred Perry. Listener-getter lor program is offer to Supply two tickets to N. Y. or Jensciy City theatres to IS persons a.sking acceptable questions about stage, screen and sports celebs. Wcfir. IS 'TELL US YOUR STORY' With Arline Blackburn, Law$on Zerbe, John Bre.wster Praina 1.5 Mins. WYANDOTTE CLEANSER Tu.-Thur.-Sat; 2 P.M. WJR, Detroit (N. W.. A'l/er) . A variation bf the 'true story' type this 15-minute program -presents a complete. episode from the lives of listeriers at each airing. Qriginate.s in N. Y., but is heard oyer only 11 CBS stations, including '>yJR. ;Script ed by Lillian Lowans. Good casting; plus fact $25 prize is, awarded each listener 'whbse''true life: episode' Is .used, makes it oke mid-afternoon fare for the femmes, Coritinuity is meritorioiis, and. pro duction mbves Swiftly. So swiftly in fact, that: on program caught::(2) coupla important details of stpry were lopped Off.: Nothing new about the story—^^con cerning a gal Who spurned the love. Of a boy back home becaiise he wasn't making enough money; wept to the big city and wed a fella >with do-re-mi, only to have his boiler factory and money blow up, and theri - settled down to. live on the same wages- the boy back home earned. But it's interesting even though old stuffi Blurbing short and pointed. Pete. NEtLIE BEVfilL With Jaek r—tl^ Bmrmld Levy-i Or.^ chestrl» ilnt«rvi(BW8 1$ Mins, Silsiaininr Toesday, 5 p.in. WEAF, New Ydrk This series <9) has Nellie Revell back at interviews for which her newsp^aper training gives her A-1 Siailifications. Formula is siriniilajr to ose used .on her previous, radio in- terview stints, and Sizes up as brie of the lew, questlon-ahd-ariswer for- ums that nold^.. any' real' ■water... There's a good mixtui^e of verbiage which rests on sound trade foundaT tioris, as well as a fight amount of the. gushy stuff that baits the f^n tuner-inners. ' Banter y^ith Jack Peafl had the lattier drop his dialect and spiel in straight : English'. .Questio'ris .piror pioiinded by Miss Revell phrased so as to bring out Pearl's his'cbry,. start in the theatre, etc—all of which in- volved sidelights on the'show biz not, ordinarily incorporated into inter- views. Other /nifties included the origin of Pearl's tag-linie. *Vas you there, Sharlie?' and his use of , the Baron character.: Peafl wound ' up singirig a ditty. he used to sihg In. his early stage days/ Nice close. Always a strong m&il-puller, Mlsg Revell in her V new. series; should again . get the. scribblers busy, it's that tyiJe of thing. Harold Levy's NBC orchestra;ladled.;but the open- ing arid closing, music. Ed^a. 'PROFESSOR QUIZ' Novelty SO Mins. NASH-KELyiNATOR Saturdays, 8. p.- m. WABC, New York ; (Geyer-Comell-Newett) Nice stuif .for the conservative dialers who hug the-heiaxthsides on Saturday evenings, instead bf pretty- ing up and partying. This type of program is probably right on the nose for the availablie audience. 'Quiz's' identity is hidden from public. Five volunteers are ranged before the niike . and pelted with, cerebrum-cracking .que.stions, ch iefly of the 'trick' sort. Those quizzed rotate, and one scoring; highest on correct arisweris biags $25, runner-up, $15. 'Quiz* has pair pf pipe^ at once affable apd authoritative. Arthur Godfrey comes, up from Columbia-awried WJS'V,' 'Washington, D. C, to croak the. commercials, : has a 'you air Dixie accent quite novel, aind the copy handed him is Idea for. program' originated WJS'V little .more than' a year , a jo, whence it' was brought to the. Bi Burg.: , .v. Naturally, couple contests threaded in. one; for best questions, submitted,. other on a Nash-l^elyihator promo- tion. Bert FRONT PAGE PATROL With Arthur Utt SOMibs. GENERAL GROCER CO. Sun., 1:15 p.m.. KMOX, St. Louis Patterned somewhat along March of Time program. Front Page Patrol,, ofigiriatinj^ in KMOX, provides drama iand copnedy of. high type and i^ one -of most attractive programs, produced- in this studio.-Identity of players is not announced. AU db.-ia nice job and honors also go to Arthur Utt, organist, who;furnished appro.- priate riiiislc in okay style through- out. . Producers stress St Louis events tor dramatization and during ishow caught thrse of five events which Were thosie ithat occurred locally and were timely to people in this neck of the woods. After a brief commer- cial about Manhattan coffee, which is distributed by General Grocer Co. and has a swell tie-up with public schools through which unifbrms are given boys for safety patrol duty at school corners and wrist watches to those bringing in largest number of ■Votes found in cans of coffee, pro- gram starts off with plent of zip. First sketch was that bf two young bandits :WhO comriiitted 15 -hbldups here in seven days arid we^e later slain in a pistol duel with detectives, ,bne of whom was mbrtally wotirided. Robberies and shooting were vividly acted, and.l ;while no moral was preached; there was : a definite con- clusion , oij the dialer's part that crime doesn't pay.' ' Sahu. MILTON J. CROSS 'RaisinKr Your Parents' Advice to Children SO Mins. Sustaining; Saturdays^ 10:15 a. m. WJZ, New York An inteiligerit iddie shoW. de- signed tb be of some hielp to tot? of grade-school age. Crbss, the . nouncer. Circles hiridself with half a dozen, or so youngsters bf both sexes, arid guides. theif discussibris of prob- lems that perplex 'erri. Sort of shapes the kidsV chatter irito right chianriels tb solve typical, juve troubles, .such as inferibrily complexes, over-active imaginations, varying slices of pies, comic, stri cb-operatibn with brothers arid .sisr ters in respective, househblds, etc. Letters /from listening youngsters are read, and the Cross' coliectibn of moppets thrash out the perplexities of the! r corresponderits. Program is good idea, and one thnt will get patents' unqualified apnrovjil. Bert.