Variety (Sep 1937)

0 36 VARIETY RADIO REVIEWS Wedhesday, September 8, 1937 BEATRICE FAIRFAX Advice ir> Mins. HECKER PRODUCTS Tuesday-Friday, 2.45 p.m., EDST WOR-Mutual, New York (jBtttten. Barton, Durstein & Osborne) [ Alter a generation of 'Advice -to the Lovelorn' in newspapers, Bear tjL;ice Fairfax (Marie Manning) has taken off via the kilocycles for Heoker Products (Gold Dust, Silver Dust). Session is hardly a treat for the sophisticated, but pointers on dom.estic troubles seem to be meat fbr . the masses — who presumably comprise the Gold Dust market. On ^at basis, Miss Fairfax should do. But program needs polish. 1 Motif is somewhat in the style of the newspaper column, . Perplexed ladies and gents pour out their mis- eries and the heart-thrObber dishes the cure-all. At times the announcer simply reads the letter and Miss Fairfax answei's.' In other cases the .ajtU^tion is dramatized. Latter idea Tt'iiitended to carry more punch, but s'oMhds hokey. Whether too hokey is one of those questions the mail re- sponse will answer. Miss Fairfax's voice is not too well suited to radio. Noticeably hoarse and without much modulation. Speaks deliberately and clearly. Faults will undoubtedly diminish in irepeat stanzas. , Questions chosen for airing occasionally seem sappy, but the advice is generally okay. Hubby with a lazy, jealous wife got ho sug.gestions at all, but the frau took a beating. Another spouse who wanted to know. hQW to ditch his -jirife was told" off plenty. Spiels are concise. : Program carries a gift offer—free copy of the Beatrice Fairfax Person- ality Chart, whatever that is. Hobe. MODERN MELODT With James McDonald, Four Men of .. Class, Ethel Uarrett, riaho I'ais ' and Randall's Orchestra 30 Mins. Saturday, 7 P.M. Sastaining . ipiGY, Schenectady ■ Music in the popular vein filters through on this program, WGY's biggest from viewpoint of artists's roster and perhaps the best from the angle of entertainment of its type. With a few changes. Modern Mel- ody would be*a good bet for spon- sorship. The talent is there, but it Tii^ould be integrated better. At j^resent, feature is strung out too much in specialty fashion, with lengthy number announcements by mikeman. . However, the music is smoothing, Particularly when McDonald and quartet swing into action. McDonald baritones current numbers very pleasantly. Men of Class 'hum a Soothing accompaniment, and har- mony, on their . own, competently. Combination are standouts. : Miss Barrett pops well if not bril- liantly. Might be well to havie the quartet, and its soloist, work more •with her. The Piano Pals (Monica Leonard and Dorothy . Sherman) stroke the ivories acceptably. Ban- dall's unit plays fwell on accompani- .¥nents and solo spots. The Satur- day seven p.m. slot, in the summer- time, is hardly one on which a turn Tike Modern Melody will enjoy a large listening audience. Jaco.. •THE NEWS FRONT' News 15 Mins. Suatalnlnjr Friday, 5.30 p.m. EDST. WNEW, New York WNEW is experimenting with an .idea of newsreeling interviews and events coverage. Not entirely a new idea, since Pathe reel formerly used some of its stuff over the air on dif- ferent stations around the country on which Pathe could arrange sponsor- ship,' Reel's method was to select the sound and description of filmed coverage which was deemed able to stand on own feet with the celluloid clipped, ~ A 'sneak preview' was given WNEW's idea Friday (3) and proved good enough to warrant fur- ther exploration into its possibilities. So completely was the film technique fallowed, it defeated itself at times, and it should be remembered that only sheer sound stuff is best. In advance of Labor Day weekend, mobile sound equipment and crew visited Newark airport. Grand Cen- tral and Greyhound bus terminal and made recordings of quick ques^ tionings of officials in those trans- portation bureaus; the season's first oyster was greeted at Fulton Mar- ket; the editor of the Chinese Natlohalist Daily (N. Y.) was briefly quizzed on the Sino-Japanese fracas; Elizabeth Ambrose, fashions ad- visel* at Saks-Fifth Avenue, was met on the deck of thp incoming Nor- mandie and asked what she thought Paris -trends would be during com- ing year. • The wallop of the lineup, however, was a visit to 'Faithful Mary,' one- time 'archangel' to Father. Divine who has" recently severed connec- tions and opened a 'heaven' of her own in Harlem. 'Mary' was per- mitted to too intensely plug a book of her authorshib, but otherwise the interview was a? pip, and especially I'ipe in humor. Production throughout was suave. Recordings had been pruned down to their maximum meat and effec- tiveness before being put on the air, and the explanatory palaver put on at the studio was sharp. Perhaps it would" be best for the air newsreel to try to confine itself to personalities. "That would give a wide enough field, maintain the aura of authentic newsreel coverage and yet keep safely within'confines of radio practicability. Bert. AUNT JEMIMA ON THE AIR With Sammy Williams, Hariette Wid- ■ m'er, Roy Brower", Forrest Lewis, ; Van McCune, Noble Cain Chorus Variety 15 Mins.—NBC AUNT JEMIMA PANCAKE FLOUR Dally, except Sun., Men., .S;45 a. m. i CDST . WMAQ, Chlcaj^o (Lord & Thomas) J ^ As a half-hour idea, maybe once ' or twice a week, the show might have plenty of appeal. As is, it's a hodge-podge. In it is talent that is notable at least as far as Chicago in^dio is concerned. Sammy Wil- liams, for example, will have plenty of people getting up early to hear the program because of his orchestra. His own ivory pounding is at its !best, and the piano pick-up, by the >ye, is one for which NBC engi- neers deserve a bow. Harriette Widmer and-Roy Brower •are also notable. Their Negro char- acterizations have helped pull sev- ;eral script shows out. Forrest Lewis 'and Van McCune form the comedy iteam of Buck and Wheat, which name indicates pretty well the kind iOf material they're being given. Loop. .;AFRO-AMERICA SPEAKS ' 1!» Mhis.—|.ocal i Saturdays, 9 p. m. tynHY, Oklahoma City Here is a sure-fire dilly for mah- .'on-the-street broadcasts. The mike .-is taken straight into Oklahoma ;• City's Harlem where an all-Negro ■ cast, station and amateur, sets about °. having grand time »t the old ques- /tion and answer game. And so does ; the* audience, for WKY has hit upon i something here that wise boys in {other burgv will lend an ear to; lit is packed with humor and plenty ! of it without any effort on the part ■Jof the inquirer.. Attendant humor .! derived is spontaneous. Listeners '[like the program plenty. Lots of care- has g<»>e into the preparation for. which all hands are ' due pi'edit: careful selection of the q's has a lot to do with it. Fair, THE MELODY MEN Vocal and Instrumental 15 Mins. / Saturday, 11.45 a.m.—Network Sustaining WGY, Schenectady New combination, at first filling local spots, is now swinging on the NBC red loop from WGY. Consists of John Sheehan and Edgar Moul- ton, tenors, Fred Morris, baritone, and Stephen Hall, pianist-director. Sheehan is a WGY standby, while Hall long keyboarded with the Banjpleers on area and web-fed shots. Other two are radio new- comers, although experienced vocal- ists. '■ . Threesome do a pleasant quarter- hour.. Improving steadily since the debut and likely to continue on the upbeat. The harmony is smooth and rich, especially in the more melodi- ous standard numbers. Effect is not so striking in faster-tempoed cur- rent tunes. While the boys do not fall down on- the swingy stuff, it is hardly their forte. Hall takes a spot for himself, in addition to- providing the accompaniment. Choice seemed best the first time heard. Arrange- ments are creditable, for non-metro- politan output. Melody Men are a little remin- iscent of Three Shades of Blue, formed when David Bultolph (now a filmusical arranger) was WGY's director, and still airing.' This is particularly true of the humming signature, which might be changed. Number announcements should be sheared-too long now. Joco. GABRIEL HEATTEB Commentator 15 Mins. ROGERS PEET Mondays through Fridays, 9 p,m.> DST WOR, New York {Marschalk & Pratt) Men's furnishing emporium will get Mkely satisfaction from Heatter. Commentator's views jibe with those of buyers, sought by sponsor. The plugs "are nicely phrased, and the ap- peal to listeners to send young sons to Rogers Peet effective. It's the first air adventure for the bankroUer. Bert. SIDEWALK QUESTION BOX Lee Kirby 15 Mins. GULF SPRAY Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, 1:30 p.m. WBT. Charlotte, N. C. Lee Kirby's Sidewalk Question Box-is not an original idea but has new twist. With a harsh cowbell he takes a stand on the curb in. front of a downtown Charlotte office building. ' With his questions in his hand, he nabs passers-by and pro- pounds puzzles, questions and' riddles. Sometimes the answers are funny; sometimes they are pathetic, but most of the time interesting. For instance, he asked a sleekly-groomed woman how many senators North Carolina has in the United States senate. 'I don't know,' she replied archly. 'You see I just moved to North Carolina.' Only those listen- ers who knew that all states have two senators could laugh. Kirby has a good line that he rings in several times on each periodl 'Let us spray that there will be no in- sects. . The spot, like all question and an- swer periods, depends on the .quick wit of the passers-by that are but- tonholed as to the interest it is able to hold, but Kirby displays show- manship in his manner of handling the- program and'manages to keep it going at a pretty good clip.. Harden, Follow Up Comment 'TEXAS RANGERS' With Woody Smith, Texas Rangers Quartet and Band Musical 30 Mlns.-^BS Sustaining Sundays, 10 a. m. CDST WBBM, Chicago When Arthur B. Church tosses a show together, it's a pretty safe bet that it'll be a whopdoodle as far as audience appeal is concerned. This one is no exception; it takes a flock of western and folks songs, wipes 'em clean of nasal tonsiling, and whams 'em through Columbia's Sun- day morning air as a class produc- tion. Instead of bringing forth a picture of barefooted, o-yerall'd country jakes as a soitgs-of-the-soil stanza • usually does, this one builds it of smartly dre3.sed range riders, silver trim- mings and all. Mixing a hymn in with the westerns occasionally, and letting a homespim voice introduce everything without loo much talk, is swell showmanship, as is keeping the numbers down to a couple verses apiece instead of letting 'em run on indefinitely. Quartet and band (four pieces) are same outfit that did 'Red Horse Ranch' and 'Diamond City New.s' be- sides- furnishing numbers for World and Decca library. They're plenty good, whether singing, playing straight stuff, or whipping out on novelty instruments. Loop. Todd' Duncan and Eva Jessye col- ored choir guested on Ben Beirnie's (American Can) program last week over NBC-blue. The Negro baritone as well as the choral group appeared in 'Porgy and Bess.' Choir 'socked home with pair of real Deep South spirituals, 'Little Angel,. Play ,on Your Harp,', and 'Hang On.' A well-trained group, singers get' that intensity and pitch into spirituals which lend them necessary authentic touch. X>uncan might have used a fancier and less hurried arrangement of 'Got Plenty of Nuthin'.' GANGPLANK With Frsnkli* Basch and Martin Starr 15 Mins. Sustaining WMCA, New York There is ah expectant interest ob- tained in thought or contact with sea-going travelers. By whatever glamour they possess for others, wit- tingly or otherwise, travelers who are personages or persons of accom-' plishment cause an intensification of interest. Show people are like that, visiting royalty, etc. Such p-jrsons are more apt to be contacted aboard departing or ar- riving, steamers. This is what pro- vides listeners expectancy of inter- est in svtch a program as Gangplank. But the fact that consistency can- not be obtained in the grade or tech- nique of such spot interviews and that truly glamorous personages can- not be- contacted regularly is the greatest disadvantage to such a prQ^: gram •and niakes it of prepariou^ value. This is as applicable to !spot in- , terviews, on land, or in the ait, as it is aboard ship, departing or' ar- riving. But the i,q. of the interviewer.ahi his ability to pace his task with c'orn- edy and drama and deliver a punch is important. Personality interviewr ers are the desirable kind. This program which' was caught Wednesday (1) was of scant interest. Persons interviewed were Hervey Allen, author of 'Anthony Adverse, Clifford Fischer, impresario of the French Casino on Broadway, and William Howe, a retired member of the U. S. diplomatic corps. Of how much general interest, locally and otherwise these three.at- tract is a matter of opinion. When considered with the q. and a. volley the entire program sounded pretty washy, thus casting some doubt also on the mike value of .the persons interviewed. A femme and a male interviewer are employed, namely Frankie Basch and Martin Starr. Miss Basch comes over smart alecky, and St^irr showed little imagination value. That 'off-the-record* crack which he employed .while so many are lis- tening in is silly. Miss Basch in in- terviewing .Allen pulled a boner when she asked him whether long or short books sell better, and then provided her own cori-oboration to his answer. This hurry-up kind of spot inter- view takes high class, intelligent, quick-thinking and; knowledgibility of subjects under question, which has not been demonstrated in the program caught. However," WMCA is ingenious in broadcasting the series. The inter- views are recorded on discs and broadcast by transcription. This per- mits WMCA to put the platters on at any free time during the day. . . . Shan. Henry R, Luce, editor of Time, Fortune and Life, delivered a brief, incisive plea for faith and pride in our democracy, on a Columbia broadcast from the Institute of Hu- man Relations sponsored by the Na- tional Conference of Jews and Chris- tians at Williams College, Williams- port, Mass. Luce is a clear, straight- from-the-shoulder speaker, talking like one would expect the publisher of three of America's livest maga- zines to express* himself. Wilbur Forrest, executive assistant to the editor of the N. Y. Herald Tribune, followed Luce with a six- minute commendation and defense of American newspapers. The most in- teresting statement by Forrest was that, contrary to charges by certain critics, the dailies gave labor's side of the picture, especially in strikes, more space than it did the employ- er's. The reason: 'labor sets a little shop up around the corner' in every important strike and gets its argu- ments to the public iirst, via news- papers, while reporters find difficulty in obtaining statements from the management. Forrest declared that John L. Lewis and the CIO o'we much to newspapers for publicity. Broadcasts on both networks from Williamstown. Mass., tended to be a bit high in'tone. The airing of actual rouhdtable discussion, with the match of -wits and the clash of views that followed the remarks of scheduled speakers, would have been interest- ing. 'Night at the Inn' over WCAE, Pittsburgh, last Wednesday, pre- sented Earl Wild, 19-year-old Pitts pianist-composer, in the radio pre- miere of his latest composition, 'Manhattan Rhapsody.' Wild at the piano performed flawlessly and piece has definite symphonic pos- sibilities, which will be better brought out when bigger\orc is be- hind him. Earl Truxell's crew fur- nished satisfactory accompaniment but studio acoxistics at WCAE for this type of music aren't so hot and band's personnel was' too small to bring out delicate shadings in Wild's work. 'Night' is last becoming one of Pittsburgh's top commercial shows, Victor Brewing, sponsors, having just renewed for another 26 weeks. Bob Carter's corking tenor is spotted slickly several times. Three Girls do some good harmonizing, and Tavern Players are coming through with smart short dranvatiza- tion of incidents In famous inns both here and abroad, iShow's chief fault lies in those commercials^ They're st?n too long. IDA LUPINO With Don Ameche 'Salute the Baroness' 9 Mins, CHASE & SANBORN Sunday, 8 p.m., EDST WEAF-NBC, New York CJ. Wolter Thonvpson) Miss Lupino, guest (5) for the weekly sketch on the W. C. Fields- Edgar Bergen, impressed.. Playlet, by True Borden, was another link in the apparently endless chain of World War spy yarns, but a neat twist applied lifted to upper, level of air dramatizations. Locale was Berlin, where a group of German intelligence officers were assembled applying test of fitness to a young Baroness. Ameche as a Major played opposite. It was good going all the way, and the surprise conclusion proved topper. Both Miss Lujpino and Ameche projected nice Teuton accents, and were also slick with the French lingual colorings required. in the sketch's closing moments. The playlet was followed by a travesty on spy stories, done, in ad- dition to Miss Lupino and Arheche, by Bergen's 'McCarthy' and Nelson Eddy. Light treatment of theme was the highlight of the program and considerably robbed 'Salute the Baroness' of the natural post-per- formance effectiveness it had other- wise implanted in the listeners. The travesty lampooned most of the action and characters that had been treated with acceptable seriousness five minutes previous. Bert. SCRIPT TEASERS Musical Skits With Buddy Rogers, Tommy Harris. . Patricia Kay 30 Mins. Wednesday.,. .7 pja. KHJ, Los Angeles Novel idea that has all the ele- ments of a parlor game. Gag is to guess the title of the pop musical number to be. played or sung, which is either spoken or implied in dra- matized vignettes. Most of the titles, hidden away in the dialog or broken up, are too confusing for the aver- age mob, Rogers, who has a nice delivery, sets the plot and the players go into their turn. A slight pause after the sketch is finished to allow for home scoring, etc.. and then into the tune. Tommy Harris and Patricia' Kay handle the vocals nicely. Produc- tion is all aroiund good job. Should made- the- grade commer- cially. Jfelm. . GEORGIA ORWIG Pianist-Soloist 15 Mins, Three Times Weekly Sustaining WSOC, Charlotte, N. C. Miss Orwig came to WSQC froni Pittsburgh. She is the wife of Dick Faulkner, special events man for WSOC. «. lo^ Performer has a clear, lilting voice and is a grand technician when she manips a piano keyboard. Her playing leans to the concert style. The vocal selections, ori the other hand, are more toward the popular favorites. . ■ . I She opens and closes with a theme of her own composition! which she calls 'Berceuse.' Her advanced training at piano was iri Germany under Moritz Mayer-Mahr and in New York under Mischa iLevitSki. She has played with the Pittsburgh Symphony, has has been .featured soloist with the Pittsb^irgh String Symphony. Her voice is lyric soprano, which ?he. used largely for church work prior to her recent connection with WSQC, '.LET'S SHARE THE DAY' With George Morrow, Clyde Kelly; 'G'orddn Fleming, Arthur Sutton Songs, Poems, Music 15 Mins,; Local . • ' - Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:45 a.m,| Sundays, 2 p.m. < MILLER JEWELRY CO. CKLW, Detroit New quarter-hour program aired thrice. weekly, have an entertaining twist that should jgo far. Produced and. announced by Arthur E. Sut^ ton, CKLW's production manager, show -embodies plenty of quality, and runs smoothly. On the menu are lively poems by George Morrow, 'Hoosier Poet/, ■who has published a book of his efj- forts; nifty baritone offerings by Clyde Kelly, who's appeared in sevt eral Shubert operettas; organ melo- dies by Gordon Fleming, and thie m.c.'ing of Sutton. All done nicely. Spieling is quite short and choice, chief blurb being in form of a story told by Morrow. Pete, ' MRS. PATRICK CAMPBELL Interviewed by Peggy Wood 10 Mins. j Sustaining Wednesday, 2:45 p. m. EDST j. WJZ-NBG, New York. The British actress was a good guest on flMiss Wood's sustained aimed at femmes. Just back from her first excursion on the New Eng- land straw-hat circuit, Mrs, Camp> bell gave out with enthusiastic en.- dorsement of 'em. It is her idea barn-side productions during sum- mer should be intro'd in England, i Actually most interesting minutes were those during which the Sha- vian star spoke of her early stage playing and well told the story of how she broke into the biz. Miss Wood did the usual swell pacing and pointing job she always turns when using a guest'on her stint. Bert, ' EARL SANDE Turf Talk 15 Mins. TYDOL WGY, Schenectady Earl Sande, former jockey and now a. trainer, did a crackling quarter- hour of reminiscences and gossip as guest of Leo Bolley on the Tydol sports program over WGY. Green-lighted to -read the day's results at Saratoga and to range over the turf field, with bits about hi's experiences, views on horses past and present, and on jockeys, Sande did well enough to suggest that he might do as a radio racecaster. Obviously an expert on the sport, he possesses the name and back- ground to command listeners' atten- tion. Voice is clear, command of lan- guage fair, and personality is modest and likable. Jaco,' HERE COMES HARRY Kerr Enroute to Soft (Lux) So^p the Newspaper Boys Harry Kerr, handling radio pub- licity for J, Walter Thompson, went on tour last week to sweeten up the radio eds of newspapers in 16 east- ern and midwest towns on the Lox Radio Theatre, which . reopens on CBS Sept. 13. He's due back an New York at the end of next weelc. Kerr is out telling the boys about the stars and the plays that are be- ing lined up for the Monday night stanza. Agency has always . had - a ticklish problem to contend with jas regards the program's newspaper listing. With trade names out, t^e average inrogram listing refers to tjie show as 'radio theatre,' Vagueness of this billing has b>een anything but pieasing to both the aigency and the account. It's up to Kerr to Agiire out how this situation can be ad- justed.