Variety (May 1937)

34 VARIETY RADIO REVIEWS Wednesdaj, Maj 12, 1937 %M Radio, Feeds United States Bawdy Bedroom Farce By BOB LANDBT Vallee'^s Londoti broadcast last Thursday (6),, was notable for^ amdhg other thi (a) Sheer spectacularity in in- ternational radio showmanshi (b) A very/ very English ;an- : noqncer trying to put that Yankee into his descriptions of Royal Gelatine and sounding very funny ipd^ied to American ears. ■ (c) Charles L aught on doing^ *Lpve For Love,' naughty restora- tion farce by Congreve and doing it unexpurgated with the broadest sex innuendo probably,fever heard, on the customarily chaste Ameri- can kilocycles. Maybe, all things considered, iteih C ishould be mehtioried first. There •was a loud bellowing two years ago When, ia Mexican government-spon-' sored ^program used, a song with Archaic Spanish lyrics that trans-, lated naughty. This Laughton ear- ful in English Was all too cleaf and prfecise afteir the fashion of its ero.tic iiuthor, who always managed to con- vey the thought. Beginning with, the loudest actor- generated kisses ever to leap the At- Isintic dcfeaii with the aid of radio- telephonic impulses, the indigo ses- sion with Elsa Lanchester (Mrs. Laughton) as tlie femme half was nothing more nor less than a slightly fancy siiduction scene, The dialog permitted no two interpretations as to what the. liliertine had . iii mind after pushing open the bedroom door. Maybe it proves something about American adviertisers who. go. to liQndon for ispecial programs. Al- ways sophisticated, the Rudy Vallee Variety program has now passed tl^e Tubicpn. And it remained for Engr land, home of the 'superior' radio about which so much propaganda is .heard in American educational circles, to touch a new high—or low •^ih bawdiness. That 'Love For Love* thing may. or may not draw a .smacko reaction. tatlc Thursday night may have cushioned the Impact. But. whether a big. splash or just a minor ripple follows, it was a major blunder. It violated the radio proprieties so con- spicuously and so boldly that it must have given many thoughtful Ameri caii bi'o&clcasting executives goose pimples. Static was the unknown quantity of the program anyhow. On the Manhattan west side reception Was poor after a day of explosive elec- trical showers. Audience noise came through like the muffled roar of the stadium at a Yale-Princeton messing- arouhd. Both applause and laughter disturbing throughout A. T. & T. (not RGA) brought la program from ]^,B.€., which broadcast in England ' "but rigorously excluded commercials —eveh from studio audience. Vallee himself sounded best. After hitn Sterling Holloway's Lancaster dialect registered clearer. Oddity in that; And perhaps a fine tribute to the perfprmer's diction. Will Fyffe was crisp, but did not; have, quite the crystal ring of Hollo way. Engi- rieering or atnipspheric factors may of cpurise be the explanation. Binnie Hale suffered most from fading, al- though Richard Tauber*s high regis- ter did riot survive the journey weill. Program .was nicely timed; and ar- rariged barring the Laughton indis- cretion; (especially noticeable; coming duri the peak .of the burlesque clean-up in New York), and the cph- ceptiph and shpWmanly sPck of the whole undertaking are Worthy pf high commeridatioiL Vallee was gracious and tactful in a fPreign land; neither gushing over the Eng- lish nor bringing in; the hands- acrpss-the-sea- line of paitter. He brought With im a spiel abput real strawberries insterof chiemically- simulated ones. Iricluded, top, in-: evitably was the literary allusion, to the coronation and royalty and the 'Royal' gelatin trademark of Stand- ard Brands. Assuming that static (frequently bad in west side Manhattan on stormy nights via WEAF) was not a seriou$ question elsewhere, the spon- sor had a good show for his money. And perhaps a gpoc' scare for the dip into the 'classics' from the old Vic. Jack Pearl's weekly stint anent the dialect tribulations of Baron Muhchhausen on last week's hearing (7) seem forced and unfunny, espe- cially in the latter half. ■. Pearl is a noted word-mangier, bat he. needs snappier hiatferial than this pi'esent script. Topical stuif about burlesque shut- down and Hollywood film strike is okay; aqd .many of thfe comic's pUns a BBg iftthy, but. the hbu^e decorating s^Bf«lll flat, a3 did the Mimchauisen DramAi Guild presentation of 'The PrivSe*€^ife bf.; Christopher Coluiri- bus' as the prbgram finale,. Latter sequence is... savied somewhat by. amusing sound effects and Tommy Dorsey's orchestral interruptions. Dorsey band fills in -some tricky rhythms in the 30-minute workout, with Edith Wright chirping a chorus or two . at intervals. Morton Bpwe, tenor soloist provided a singly bal- lad, smoothly sung, and 'SKiarley' Cliff Hall, as usual, straights effec- tively for the-baron.. \: Sponsoi-'s plugs for the two brands: of ciggies^is Handled'-by-ah lintr^uei?' tory spiel- (in -several Voices')-at-^thfeJ start 'Plus a somewhat'^-silly fifakle commercial in which a confab is held between a Kentucky Derby trainer and his.horse -i!Qnc^rj0D|&^}tbe->][>riadr iicts and their valuable premiums. Trainer seemed , to try to talk like W. C< Fields without much. sUccess. Chatter was tied up to the fact that sponsor finances the Derby broad- cast from NBC. Court of .Human Relations. period on. NBC, sponsored by True Story mag, went in for lot of intricate and unbelievable, plot-weaving in the 'I Betrayed My Own Son' installment. Story from the June issue of the mag, as per xisual, the court's verdict is left to the radio jiuy, with cash prizes, at a $100 top, for the best decision.' In .order to pack a complete dia- logic yam inta 30 muiutes it is, of course, necessary to skip rapidly through the action of a tear-jerker such as this,, but the result was too sketchy, in its development for com- plete listener cbriifort This partic- ular story, a success yarn climaxed by tragedy, is trashy stuff at best, and it is not belped by the double- quick methods Used, Fault is not the actors' for the playing is .okay. It is the story itself that fails to im- press, dUe to its jerky exposure. Prograin has the usual' organ background for atmosphere and Gharles O'Connor is the. announcer. Commercial plugi go a bit heavy in selling the merits of True Story. Delmar Edmnndsen, who has been the 'editor' on Heinz morning show (CBS), has enlarged duties now that guest stars'from the literary world, etc., seem to be but On the Friday (7) broadcast he delved into the relationship of Sir,James B^rrie to his mother. Tied up with Sunday's ihbther's day and' Barrie's 77th birthday. All in all, it was a touching mono- log that had been written in advance to bring but the rich human values and was delivered by Edmuhdson in just the right combination of sentiment and dignity. It was—as shefer talk can sometimes be—a dramatic one-two to the button. HINDENBURG CRASH DISC Herbert Morrison, Charles Nehlseh Talk ' 10 MIns. Sustaining Thurs.« May 6 . WEAF—NBC; New Tork NBC shelved lO-year policy ai^ainst broadcasting recorded mate- rial in order tP b^-ing this extrapr- diriary documeM - to iisten«Jrs. It aired the disc oil two occasions the day after the catastrophe^ over the blue (WJZ) link at 5:30, EDST, and again over both the blue and. the red (WEAF) network at 11:30 that night. What has been imprinted on . this platter Will likely serve as spine-.tingli stuff for years tp come, with the chances being thait it Will bfe Iparied from the WLS, Chicago library, each time, tha.t a program undertakeis to review the outstanding events of 193'? br tb pre- sent spme of modern tiragedies. Herbert: Morrison, WLS staff an- rioUncer, andi Chas. Nehlsen, ah' en- gineer with the station, had come to Lakehurst N. 'J,, to record the landing of the Hindenburg for use at some future date when the out- let elected to put on a progratn cele- brating some ahhiversary of trans- atlantic .passenger aviation. It was while Morrison was pouring into his equipment on the field a' description of the Zeppelin!si arrival that the tragedy brokje. What 1 the disc cap? tured^aftenthat^ums up as an amaz- ing- study in Hprror-prbvoked' hys-. teriq; As reported by the disc, Morri- son's first reaction was a wild gasp. He is. next heard yelling for his partner, to get out of the way. A few seconds later there is an ex- plosion and then a de.var,tating quiet. When the sound is on again it is Morrison, babbling , incoherently and crying betwe'eh stiaccato outbursts. He keeps repeating that he can't look any miore and pleads that he must step away.: . When his voice resumes it is that of a man who has gained control of himself and he teUs of helping some of the escaped passen- gers to the sidelines. ' Od«c. . en Bernie's. American Can shP.w last week (4) over NBC blue wais notable for. several reasons. One was that it: marked comedian's debUt with his new . orchestra. Other wais presence of Ethel Shutta as guestee. Both lifted session. ; In general .setup,, Eiernie's: program remains pretty mUch along lines that have brought listener following. Major portion devoted to twisted- En£{lish spbofihg. - "Orchestra gets in. ia few riutribers, with Bernie's 'lads' also coming in for a: turn apiece; With Freddie Berrins batoning, new band is improvement over Bernie's former: crewi Ethel. Shutta:was.wallopy, showing nice enunciation, personality, vibrant voice arid Pxceptional. rhythm sense with:'That's Why the Lady Is: a Tramo' and theri comedy knack with 'The Mer-ry-GprRoUnd Broke Down.' DI7TCH REGAN Today's Winners' iS.Mins.—Local rENN TOBACCO CO. 9:15 p. m. Dally WHO, Des Moines This sportcast suriuharizing the day's , happenings in the world of sports will be handled by 'Dutch' Reagan, WHO'S ace sports announcer until he leave? next month for Hollywood to make: pictures for Warner Brbs. A natural for Reagan who has built local prominence as an all 'round sports announcer since he joined "WHO'S staff four years ago. Opening to the tune of 'In the Good Old Summer Time,' baseball scores, including runs, hits, errors and injuries, are listed on. games played . that day,, in addition to schedules and personality highlights oh the players, of natiorial note. Also included are reports on the latest boxing bouts, horse and aUto racing, and this particular program gave detailed information on the 'One Play* O'Brien memorial' foot ball game scheduled to be held at Notre Dame on May 2. Although the program is sponsored by the Penn Tobacco Co., Regan took occasion to tell Bobby Griffin (announcer on the program) about a talk with a 15-year-old boy he saw smoking that day—the reasons he gave the boy for waiting to smoke until he was older—the boy's reac- tion, etc. This bit was cleverly in- troduced. MoorMad. John Charles Thomas offered his own composition, 'Mother,' as one of three song nuinbers for his guest shot Jiast Sunday (9) night on the General MotPrs syniph ■ hour' over NBC blue.. Was in connection with Mother's Day. Baritone also sang 'Road to Mandalay' arid Toreador song from Bizet's opera, 'Ciirmen.' Had choral accompaniment for final one. Baritone whammed' all three Over in his customary socko style. One of the best voices in the cbricert fieldi plus Unusual showmanship flair. Jello's commei^cial on Jack Benny's show last Sunday night (9) was some sort. of new blurbing high. With color the keynote of the season, read the spiel, listeners should buy Jello DELL KIKG Discs, Dialect Blurbs :i5 Mins.-^Local PETER FOX BREWING CO. Daily, 5:00 p. m. SDST WON, Chicago (Schwimmer ^ Stoit) rofiiram idea is , slick example of opporturiism. Garribles ori the amount of tihie after finish of the ball: gaime,; up to the next 15-minute mark, pr. to 5:15; Consists of Swing recordings introduced, by high pres sure icomedy announcing. Dell King does a swell job as the announcer, keeping up the pace set by the swihgiest of the swing records, and the commercial is done in comedy dialect thtoughoutj sometimes one accent, and sometimes another. iot its beeootiful tints an^ Shades. Nothing will make a dinner table so gay and colorful and inviting, as a dish of lovely, sparkling Jello Which should rate spme thing pr other for pulling a reason out of the distant ozone. . Saime Jack Benny show also of fer^d an exariiple of a growing trend in Studio, audience programs. Benny, Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris and Don Wilson were all plenty slow on picking Up lines: That was probably due to waiting ior audience laughs to fade, but it merely slowed the comedy to the pthfer. listeriers.. Just ariother instance of the difficulties oi adjusting radio entertainment to the two distinct audiences. BEN DOVA (Jotoph Sffah) With Robert L. Ripley FtEISCHMANN Suhday» 7.30 p. m. EDST WJZ, New York U. Walter Thompson) Heire was a grand piece of ^show- manship fumbled by clumsy han- dling. Ben Doya (real name Joseph Spah), standard vaudeville acrobat was one ol the survivors of Thurs- day's Zeppelin explosion^ William Morris agency, which handles him, quickly had him substituted for an- other guestee on Robert L. Ripley's Believe It or Not' show Sunday (9) night for Standard Brands over the : ^^BC blue. So far so gobd. In fact so far a masterpiece. As should be obvious to anyone, particularly a radio iscripter, how- ever, any interview or story for radio or newispaper shOuld' tell the whole story, or at least all the essential der ails. Listener or reader shouldn't lave to ask further questions. And that is precisely Where Ben Dova's guest shot failed worst When the interview was over, therie Were any nuriiber of vital points unexplained-^. in fact not even riientioned. What, for instance, is the acrobat's stage name? That was never re- vealed. What Was he doirig on the Hindenburg, was it a pleasure trip or was he returning to the U. S. to 111 an engiagement? How was he lurt and what wiere the extent of bis njuries? Only thing to suggest :3eridova. was banged Up was men- tion that he was taken from thie hos- pital for the broadcast. What are the acrobat's opinions about another zep rip. and what does he think of air ravel in general? A"^ so on and on, Furthermore, in a script show of his kind, the constant cross-ques- ions by Ripley served merely to in- errupt the flow bf what might have )eeii a thrilling story; If Bendova isn't naturally a ready talker the scrijptirig should have taken cang of hat. But Ripley'.s repeated prompt- ing and his taking over of the nar- ration from time to time softened the dramatic wallop. Hobe. : 'VANISHING NEW TOILERS' With Frankle Basch, Roy Campbell Quartet, Joe Tobin, Anton Leader Novelty 15. Mins.; Local Snstaininr Wednesday, 8:45 EDST WMCA, New York Okay twist on the 'human interest' vogue in radio. Station WMCA's versatile chief exploiteer, Larry Nixon, is writer and director of a quarter-hour program that lays con- duits to unusual occupations for pro- gram material. On the sample caught, one of the handful of black- sriiiths still whamming Hhe anvil in New York was brought to the studio and interviewed. Quizzing done by Frankie Basch was the core of the prograrin. But production, values wiere added through orchestra, quar- tet and narrator. Blacksmith's history was suggested musically, and historically as a pre- lude to the actual example. Tech- nological unemployment has received considerable discussion in recent years, so on the economic, as well as the human and dramatic side, pro- gram's idea is of interest. It's been nicely timed, placed and broken up for-light and. shade. Miss Basch has had plenty of in- teirviewing experience on WMCA, and handles it okay. Anton Leaider's Voice is well suited to narratiniR, while Tobin does the routine spiel- ing. Prbgram as directed uses a variety of narrative methods to un- fold its theme. Land. PICADILLT MUSIC HALL With John Goldsworthy, Bennett and Wolverton, Fred Zimbalist, Jack Baker, Ruth Lyon,^ Charles Sears, Escorts iand Betty, Cadets Quartet, Sylvia Clark, Harold Peary, Jay . Rpmney, Arthur Kphn, Al Short's orchestra Variety 60 Mihs. Sustaining Tuesdays, 10:00 p.m.- WENR, Chicago , At least one of the. reasons why radio producers often fail When they try tP do a vaudeville air revue, is pretty well illustrated: by this show, That reason is that they seeminigly do nPt know what Vaudeville is, nor do. they realize that some sort of a compromise between, the two media is necessary for a vaudeville iair show. This full hoiir shot, supposedly modeled after ari English music hall show, fails to do its. job, for the most part, because'the comedy turns are nothing but annoying waits betweeri excellent musical numbers. Without exception, everything connected with the musical-portion of the show was grade A; this includes Prchestra, vocalists and instrumentalists. But the so-called, comedy turns, intro duced in British* (?) accent are' of such stuff- that it . may now be doubted that a woman was the cause of Windsor leaving his vCouritry. Only comedy turn to get out of the mud was Sylvia Clark, and hers is worth a study by prodjicers. In the monologues, she. replaces the loss of sight stuff, with the advan tages broadcasting gives in more ef fective vocal gyrations. That, and the fact that monologues are within the bounds of radio projection, make Sylvia Clark as a standout on the air as. on the stage. W. C FIELDS With Edgar Bergen, Don Ameohe Werner. Janssen Orch,, .Ann Hafd- ihf, Dorothy Lamour, Richai-d Rogers, Larry Hart, Ray MIddleton 60 Mlns. CHASE ft SANBORN Sunday, 8 P.M, \ WEAF-NBC, New York ^ (J. Wmier Thompson) Thompson agency spent a great deal of time, energy and worry ais- sembling the show, but as yet all details have not been smoothed. It is expected that show will be steam- lined during the sununer months, and emerge in its full flowering by autumn, Opening exhibit was so studded with niames and talent it couldn't poissibly have inissed altogether. Most impressive portion was the stretch devoted to: W. G. Fields who is set for a run bn ! this stanza. He had' Ameche straightening for him as well as Berigeri's duriimy, 'Charlie MacCarthy,' and rari off with the show. Ameche dbes the general m.c.'ing, and the job he turned in on the opening program was an excellent One. He got in his oWn big inning opposite Ann Harding in two scenes. from Molnar's, 'The Guardsman.' Mi£S Hiarding strained a bit in her characterization^ but Ameche had ai headlock on his assignment Essence of the play not too well projected in the seven tninutes devoted to it; Bergen, .who has had: meteoric zoom in. radio since he broke, broad- cast ground on the Vallee period last December didn't have particularly good material for so au^icious an occasion as his first network star- > dom. 'His act continues a swell air novelty, but he'll have to keep his. grip via riiaterial. Songwriting teani of Dick Rodgers and Larry Hart gabbed . few answers to Amechfe's quizzing on. their trade, and baritone Ray Mid- dleton obliged by: singing team's 'AH Points West' the exceedingly long combo of oratorio arid playlet which. is team's most ariibitious. effort tb date; .Middleton did very well, and the iriclusion of the song wias de- cidedly one of the. program's high- lights. . Dorothy Lamour was . on early, singmg 'What Will I TeU My Heart?' in her sultry soprano. . Jarissen's orch isounded pretty slick on the whole, but director seems to have a teridency to Use arrangements that are too Complicated for general appeal. Commercial was inserted but thrice, each time briefly.), Bert. TRAPPED' With Joseph Boland, Lois Jesson, Jean EUyn,. Robert Broce, Blair Davies, WllUam Hackctt^ Ueinry Gnrvey, George Reld. Melodrama 30 Mlns.; Local FiNLATrSTRAUS Wednesday, 9 p. itt^ WMCA, New York This is one of a series of 'detective mysteries', sponsored by. a local credit hoUse. Judged as a local station, small .budget: production,. it's pulp- wood stuff of probable appeal to the mental pitch of those fo whom Fin- lay-Straus no doubt apipeals. Author is Milton Lewis. He has the pulpwood knack of tricking the plot to keep suspense running. It's flapdoodle, but not without crafts- riianship. 'Trapped' is 'possibly some- what weaker as a story than some of his other efforts, and used the situa- tion of kidnapping, which. has been hashed over previously. After mak- ing it look bad for a political boss, it develops that latter is innocerit vic- tim Of Crooks. A sample of author's imagination and sense of novelty. WMCA averages about $20 a script for this type of writing. Plenty of sides to fill out the best part of 30 riiinutes of solid gab. Breaks it up With a few tricks, such as broadcasts of news information as an integral part bf plot Sidesteps the old tele- phone stunt of story-telling. Phil Barrison directsi. Performances, like the production itself, suffice. Quickie stuff strictly. Limited to its own ■ class levfel, but for that .purpose probably good enough. f. Land. 'HOUSE UNDIVIDED' With Noriiian Fields, Jane Morgan, Van§ie Beilby, Charles Carroll, Bea Behada,ret, Elliott Lewis, Mary Lansing, Cliff Carpenter,. Mary Mcintosh, Ed. Porter. 15 Mins.-^Coast' GENERAL FOODS Daily, 11:15 a.m. KHJ, Dbn:Lee, Los Angeles (Young Ruhicam) Another. of the riiorning script- teasers that doesn't trainscend or fall below the mean level of this type of air performance. Piece was written by Herbert Conner in what he pre- ferred to call two books. After first ran its course as a sustainer and built up a fair following along the Coastr Young & 'Rubicam stepped in and . took • oVer the seqUel for La France and Satina^ a pair: of: wash- day helpers. Second section of home life in a small burg revolves about the ppU- tical ambitions of a Dr. Jim, played by Norman Fields with conviction, Jane Morgan, as his wife, is okay as are the others caught on the opener. James Burton keeps the production flavored with homey sentimentality. Ten stations of the Don Lee chain take the show. It should easily hold its own with the other ante meridian serial scriptera;