Variety (Oct 1937)

Wednesday, October 6, 1937 RADIO REVIEWS VARIETY 33 SHEILA BARRETT With Joe Rines Orchestra, Roy Campbell's Royalists, Graham MoNamee 30 Mins, GRUEN WATCH Snnday, 5:30 p. m. WJZ, New York . . , ■ (McCann-Enclcson) Sheila Barrett has lots to draw UDon for radio. She is many things by virtue of her mimicry. With the itijcic touch of voice emulation she can" reproduce known people or handle a variety of characterizations. Essentially a vaudevillian in the best sense of that tradition and word (al- though of late more identified with other branches of amusement), Miss Barrett is adept in more departments than one. She can thus be heavy Or light, can talk or sing and can roam the range of methods from hokum to high satire. She will need, as all artists need, intelligent spotting and handling and a sympathetic environment, but she herself can and should contribute much showmanship to the program. For her, radio starring is a logical culmination of her increasing prom- inence as a reliable stellar enter- tainer. Since the regretted invalid- ism of the varieties, performers of such versatility have been getting ever scarcer and they never were numerousl Miss Barrett has been more or less a fixture at the Rainbow Room, class N. Y, nitery.- Gruen program- got off, in general, to a satisfactory start. Joe .Rines' music was especially well arranged and had both lift and body. Roy Campbell singers very okay, too. Then there was Graham McNamee out over his head. Because the big name announcers get such substan- tial honorariums, .the idea continues to fester in radio that they must, .per se, be actors as well as an- nouncers. McNamee himself added some credibility to this usually—misr taken notion oy establishing him- self as a first rate vaudeviUe-style straight man. for Ed Wynn. Material handed McNamee on the Gruen premiere seriously endan- gered the program. Momentarily the; .level of professionalism and first rate production swerved oS. the road into a bog of silliness. Crossfire with Rines required too much of McNamee. He had to register the whole scale of anger, exasperation, pique and other emotions. Common sense suggests for his own sake and for the program's sak6 that McNamee be hereafter worked into the script with greater restraint. Gruen is selling watches, a luxury Item. On CBS just a half hour, ahead, the International Silver program also hypoes articles for sale via jewelers. Land. CHARLES M. COURBOIN Organ 30 MIns. Sustaining' Sunday, 12 noon WOR-MBS, New York Courboin is the only member of his clan holding forth on the webs currently. He's been on the Mutual web for a number of years, .original- ly shoved into all sorts of program vacancies, but. now getting a betler break because of the publicity he garnered as organist for the Roose- yelt-duPont nuptials. As an organist playing straight organ music, and not transcriptions from piano, saxophone, etc., Cour- boin is tops. His favorites appear to be Bach, Widor, .Guillmant and Franck, which makes for an impos- ing repertoire, though slightly too heavy. Courboin needn't get out of the fold of the masters to find plenty of shorter, more sprightly stuff, and a nod or two in this direction wouldn't hurt along about the mid- dle of the program. Stanza is nicely placed on Sunday, but should be spotted somewhat later in the afternoon. Works is fed to Canada, where organ music is a favorite (due to the large church- going sector), and a better time break would reap heavier on this situation. Edga. VARsirr SHOW With Paul Dumond 30 Mins. PONTIAC WJZrNBC, New York (McManus, John & Adam) This program comes back much Improved from a-production stand- point. An idea plausibly capable of surrounding and holding a large mass of collegians—past, present or prospective, and their aunts, uncles and sires — has needed seasoning to find a formula which met the showmanship problern both jvays. University of Alabama night, the opener for the new series, was light, swift, relieved by a faint but extremely welcome touch of spoof- ing. Paul Dumond now travels for Henry Souvaine and Pontiac to ar- range the programs. His manner is aulhoritative and the tempo notably steadier than last season. But most of an and best of all, the script, the gen- eral conception of the pro.gram, the retention of the good and the gentle ^.^?{">nation of the awkward has in- siuied a higher tone of professional- ism in the arrangement and ring- niastership of the talent which, of ■°i""se, is amateur campus stock. V.?^ of a student announcer with a sunt edge Dixie drawl, thick as pea , ™up. was a cute idea. Program ad- o^y^ }° ^he usual straight diet of siudent band and glee clubs and the «'rna mater heart-tug stuff. All nicely done. Land. 'HER CARDBOARD LOVER' With Tyrone Fower, Margaret Sulla- van, Harry Sosnik Orchestra (Dar- ryl F. Zanuck guest speaker) 30 MIns. ' WOODBURY SOAP Sunday, 9 p. m. WJZ-NBC, New York (Lennen & Mitchell) Spectacular upward zoom of Ty- rone Power in the past year under 20th Century-Fox, like the saga of Deanna Durbin, at Universal, is one of those Hollywood fables that the broadcasters, quite as much as the film biz itself, dote upon. Young actor tops off several attention-com- manding screen performances with this new radio program of his own. (Miss SuUavan co-starred only for the first broadcast.) •Her. Cardboard Lover* was not a very sturdy script. And not too ably adapted for the air. Several lines, including one about a yellow rose, on the lady's chest, were oblique snickers. Sheer acting and story-telling on a half-hour program is one of the most difficult—not the easiest—of program formulas. Power gave a good'performance as did Miss Sulla- van, but the artificial basic situation of the story was not glossed over for easy digestion. ^A gracious gesture to the actor from his boss and good showmanship by reflected glory for the program was the appearance of Darryl Zan- uck. Producer is proud of picking Power when others snubbed him. Confirmation of his choice even out- side pictures .by the Woodbury radio contract pleased Zanuck and he said so in his spiel. Incidentally the pro- ducer speaks well on the air. Another asset to the first show was the original score of background music writteh.and directed by Harry Sosnik, one of the eastern composer^ arranger-conductors who has gone west along with the umpteen person- ality programs. It was excellent tie-together and mood stuff reveal- ing even in its small touches con- siderable musicianship. Land. • JACK COHN, JACK WARNER Shlpside Interviews Sustaining WMCA-Interoity, New York Martin Starr called Jack Cohn (Colimibia Pictures) and Jack L. Warner (Warner Bros.) by their first names in these gangplank interviews etherized the night of their sailing via transcription, preceded and sup- pleniented by live filler material, Starr and (Miss) Frankie BascK split the S. S. Normandie interviews, lat- ter doing a more dignified chore with her Pat Paterson crossfire. Jack Warner tipped off the inter- viewer's first-meeting by asking Starr his name and, once introduced, pulled the usual polite glad-to- meetcha stuff. But that didn't stop Starr's 'Jack' salutation to both the Columbia^ and WB execs. Starr, in these theatrical inter- views, soimds like an-audible Broad- way column, with a slight tinge of Variety lingo. And while it's a type of language that may read interest- ingly, it certainly doesn't listen too well. Both pix execs took care of pro- Hollywoodian plugs in no Uncertain manner. Cohn woimd up dubbing Columbia 'the house of joy,' as the climax to a buildup for light comedy, ranging from 'Theodora Goes Wild' to 'The Awful Truth,' the latest due from the studio. Warner didn't over- look 'Tovarich' and 'Zola,' with 'Dis- raeli* and 'Pasteur' in between. Both also weren't at their usual ease with the passinjg of time. Cohn started off with fine restraint and dignified address, until Starr led him into the plugs for the pix. Then the Col. v.p.- (whom the studio voice, in- cidentally, mis-identified as chair- man of the board of Columbia— wait 'til Harry gets a load o' that!) let himself go. Warner likewise was easy for a time but then tried to get flip and caught himself by cracking 'we could go on for hours,*^ etc. Warner's tag- off to Starr was something to the effect 'it was nice meeting you, and when you come to Siberia I'll make my salt mine yours.' Rudy Vallee's father and brother also were among the Normandie de- parters as were Miss Paterson and her husband, Charles Boyer, latter interview well handled by Miss Basch. Abel. CARSON ROBISON BUCXAROOS With 3 Mitchells, Frankie Novak $ongs ' ^ 15 Mins. E. W. ROSE CO. M-W-F, 1.15 p.m. WOR-Mutual, New York iEricin, Wasey) Carson Kobison, that radio vet (he helped make 'The Prisoner's Song' popular back in the air's antedelu- vian days) is presenting his stand- ard hillbilly album of songs and prairie plaints on a new layout over a 33-station spread on Mutual. Type •of program is a thoughtful selection for the sponsor who wants to reach an audience interested in Musterole; and Zemo, pair of patent medicines. Robison's singing is less annoy- ingly nasal than most warblers using songs in same category, and his tonal sense is far superior to average. Backed up by his familiar standbys, who join in on the vocalizing and twang the string instruments which accompany. Pearl Mitchell, ridge- country soprano, does a solo now and then. Bert. PHIL BAKER With Patsy Kelly, Harry McNaugh- toh. Ward Wilson, Al Garr, Oscar Bt-adley orchestra 30 Mins. GULF Sunday, 7:30 p.m. WABC, New York CYou7io & Rttbicam) Virtually the same show, a la the same formula, as last year. During the foregoing season Baker ended up in eleventh place in the Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting cumulative (standard time) reports. With prac- tically the same show imder prac- tically the same competitive circum- stances. Baker looks due for a repeat of his last year's performance—if his writers can keep up practically their 1936-1937 pace. Whole show leans with exceptional heft on Baker's trio of scripters (Sam Perrin, Arthur Phillips and Hal Block). Baker has always read his stuff off the paper straight, with- out injecting any mannerisms of his jown save a slight air of nonchalance. This makes him a tough guy to write for, and may be one reason why Baker,, of all ranking come- dians, stuck to gags when the tirend was to situation comedy. Gags, ac- cording to the initial sample (3), appear again to be largely of the insult variety. Patsy Kelly is a good fit in this setup. She's been the rowdy ex- ponent in the films, and she's roWdy here. Her voice matches the part well. Bottle (Harry McNaughton) and Beetle (Ward Wilson) are standard fixtures in the program, with Wilson again drawing his role anonymously. Also in the holdover class is the Bradley orchestra. : Al Garr, singer, is new, and his first assignment con- sisted of a chorus to Baker's ac- cordion pumping, rendered okay. Continuity is fluent, and the com- edy progresses through gags to. a blackout sketch, .this one being en- titled 'Dead End.' Writing on the whole classifies as fair, and in an attempt to leave as many loopholes for escape as possible, the scripters this year have dropped the tourist and country, editor background of other years. Baker is simply Baker now, with a couole of stooges to pass the. gags around. Show this season comes from Hollywood because of Baker's piC work (Sam Goldwyn), which means that Young & Rubicam pipes the works across a lot of open soaces, whei:e there aren't any Gulf gas pumps, to the east. Agency has dolled up the program with several touches that by now are tjrpically Young & Rubicam—mention of other Y, &, R, shows and kidding the or- chestra leader, etc. Edga. DON ISHAM'S ORCHESTRA 'Sunday Evening Playhouse' 30 Mins., Local Weisfield & Goldberg KOL, Seattle. First show opened with intro by band followed by three act playlet. One of performers was hard to im- derstand at times. Between second and third act first commercial cleverly worked in and not too long. After drama proper, boy with the horns gave out. Music provided the wallop necessary for presentation of a five-minute story in the form of a tribute paid to an outstanding Seattle figure. Woman who did some rescue work in a fire got the blurbing. Story itself was read rather tamely by the announcer. Good idea here but needs more punchiness. Longer commercial followed with band do- ing a fadeout nicely. 'This show was built for the wash- their-own-clothes listeners as spon- sor credit jewelers looking for the $1 down boys and girls. Spotted every Sunday at 7 to 7:30 evenings. Smith. MOSHE NATHANSpN CHOIR Songs 15 Mins., Local JUNKET WMCA, New York (American Broadcasxing) Weekly program for the dessert- preparation sponsor consists of songs assertedly popular in Pales- tine. They are acceptably and sen- sitively sung in Jewish by tenor Nathanson, backed up by a male quartet. Not strictly religious vo- cal fare, romantic ballads being ren- dered as well. Program aimed to appeal to Zion- ists in that a femme talker delivers a minute or so each period to in- terpreting news from Palestine. It's interesting in that at the moment Palestine is making news—of page- one calibre—with England trying to solve the Arab-Jewish problem. All the .spieling is in English. Plugs for product are prudently placed. . LYNN WALDORF With Francis J. Powers Football TalkoVer 15 Mins. Sustaining WMAQ, Chicago Intelligently authoritative go-over of college football situation. Name value of Waldorf, North- western U. Coach, is good locally and his delivery is that of a profes- sional radio actor. Interviewing done by Friancis J. Powers, Consoli- dated Press sports writer. Is okay, but his voice is a little light. Material well chosen, being non- technical enough to grab those only mildly interested. in the game, and yet solid enough to catch the rabid fans. . Loop. Oton Cross Regrets He s Unable To Contact Mr. Tauber by Shortwave GENERAL MOTORS CONCERT With Grace Moore, Maria Jeritza, Helen Jepson, Richard Tauber, Joseph Schmidt, Donald Dickson, Erno Rapee and Orchestra, Erna Sack, Jussi Bjoerling, John B. Kennedy, Milton Cross 60 Mins. - Sunday, 8 p.m. WJZ-NBC^Niew York (Compbell-Eiuald) New streamline version of this GM show represents an attempt to keep Ford from playing with any of GM's marbles. Ford and GM have been in each other's hair ever since both got hepped on high class music, with the upshot that GM this year has hired eight singers exclusively for a season to keep Ford and all other comers out of their backyard. Like all competitive maneuvers of this kind, the GM stunt involves a number of intangibles. Out of the eight singers picked for the series, Erna Sack and Jussi Bjoerling are total newcomers to the average listener, while Dickson's status in topflight musical circles still needs some tempering. Grace Moore, Maria Jeritza, Helen Jepson and "Tauber, on the other hand, are pretty well fixed in the public mind, as is Rapee, the conductor. Last year Ford and GM had, within a short space of each other, the following identical guesters: Flagstad, Swarthout, Melchior, Hof- man. Pons, Lehman, Menuhin, Crooks and . Rethberg. That makes nine. Variety Radio Directory info shows Ford had .'em on ahead of General Motors five times, and GM beat Ford the remaining four. GM idea is not to plaster all eight singers into each program, but to arrange a .partial list each time. As usual, the series emanates from Carnegie Hall, where a visual audi- ence can be piled in. Initial shot (3) sounded nicely tempoed, which may turn out to be an asset to the pirograhi if the dyed- in-the-wool music crowd doesn't squawk about undue, sprightliness. Coupling Dickson with Jeritza in a duet, gave the former, still some what untried in this type of work, the chance of building up with the aid of ranking operatic help. Attempt to go overseas, however, via short wave and garner greetings from missing, members of the com pany was a notable flop. After what seemed like a considerable silence, an announco.ient had to be made that Europe wouldn't come in via the peewee waves. Looks like this detail, which magnified itself in the actual program, should have been attended to before things got started. Program, all told, is of the variety that can't be sized up on one listen- ing. Until GM puts its singers through their combinations, the series stands as a competitive experiment which probably involves a lot of coin in signing eight exclusive contracts. Edga. FOOTBALL JAMBOREE With Bob Newhali, Red Barber, Mary Paxton. Peter Grant, Joe Lugar Orch. and Male Octet 30 Mins. KELLOGG Saturday, 2:30 p. m. WLW Line, Cincy (N. W. Aver) Here's a potent pre-game cocktail for Notre Dame rooters who sit in at football via radio. Packs a wallop from first to last. Sponsor is smart in lining up this series to prefix the Fighting Irish, which has as great a following as any college's team, through the season. School will not permit commercial linking with play-by-play accounts of :its grid tilts. So .Kellogg stepped in and sandwiches the game broadcasts, carried as a sustainer by WLW and the WLW line, with in-the-groove stanzas for pigskin bugs. For the opener, Prentice Winchell and Mason McGuire of the Ayer production staff, hopped in to smooth out a hurry-up job with Crosley's program groomers. All hands scored a touchdown. Rah-rah spirit sets in with the opening gun. A sweet male octet, tagged Kellogg's Collegians, dishes up the college tunes, sans accom- paniment. Orchestra music is sup- plied by a combo that's beaucoup strong on volume and quality. Mary Paxton, pop songstress, is fitted nice- ly into two spots. On initial show she war.bloin 'Sailboat in Moonlight' and 'Me, Myself and I.' Commercials, for Kellogg's Pep Bran Flakes, are loosed efleclively by Peter Grant. Gab wallop is by Bob Newhall. vet .sports commentator of Crosley's super waiter. lie comment.'? on and predicts winners of principal college games of the afternoon. But real sock is the cutting in of Red Bar- ber, from the scene of battle for the Notre Dame griddera, with eight minute.s of just-before-the-kickoff dope on the game he's about to de- scribe. Koll . The almost painful dignity of the General Motors Concert premiere was sadly shaken Sunday (3) night by a couple of unforseen events, but it takes a great deal to shake an- nouncer Milton Cross as he proved on the second attempt to reach Richard Tauber In England. Cross will probably rest more easily when he doesn't have to depend on short wave. You can't trust these foreign stations. Several times Cross re- gretted that 'conditions' would pre- vent hearing from Erna Sack and Jussi Bjoerling, in Sweden, so no one was expecting them. Mme. Jeritza, being no farther away than the wings, appeared oh schedule, in fact, just a tiny bit ahead of schedule. It Is quite likely that the opera star had a few well chosen words to say to someone about the arrangement of the en- trance. Said entrance was neatly Blocked by a large potted palm. To exit bowing, and still not connect, with the palrh required something' in the nature of acrobatics. Mme. Jeritza was an imposing figure in petal pink satin with deep deooUetage front and back, out- lined in sparkling bands. An in- genious scarf draped across the bac^c formed elbow sleeves. At the conclusion of her first num- ber, and a duet with Donald Dick- son, Mr. Cross again regretted the non-appearance of the Swedish artists, and announced that the audience would now hear greetings from Richard Tauber in England. A few minutes of breathless silence, and something that sounded remark- ably like Donald Duck filled the vast reaches of the Hall. It wasn't Mr, Tauber, though. Jqst static. After several uncomfortable moments Mr. Cross gave in, and resumed the pro* gram. It was his second attempt to bring Mr. Tauber to Carnegie, which really proved Mr. Cross* metal—rand broke down the persistent reserve of the respectful audience. Birmingham, England, was again told that Carnegie was ready, for Mr. Tauber. Followed an indis- tinguishable series of sounds after which Mr. Tauber was clearly heard to say, 'Good night.' Mr. Cross firmly said, 'Thank you, Mr. Tauber.' That's when the audience-reserve broke down, and laughter echoed from Carnegie's astonished walls. Hollywood came through nobly, though, and Grace Moore was heard in a burst of girlishly enthusiashi greeting Helen Jepson in song. Newspaper advertising listed all eight artists as coming 'direct from Carnegie Hall,' which must have been a bit confusing to listeners un- prepared for the hazards of short wave reception. 'MORNING VARIETIES' With Joe Gentile, Gordon Fleming, Bill Lewis, Bobbie THeureaux. Walter Townsend, Toby David 30 Mins.—Local PARTICIPATING Daily, 8:30 a.m. CKLW, Detroit Jiarly-morning stuff which spells sock. Show's talent comprises sev- erer of station's headliners, and it's knitted together by Joe Gentile's nifty m.c.'ing. Background and Interludes are provided by Gordon Fleming at the organ, while Bill Lewis uncorks his baritone pipes for coupla neat num- bers. Bobbie I'Heureaux, a new gal songstress on program, contributes two contralto tunes which set well, while Wally Townsend performs on the ivories. Show abounds in short, snappy skits, ..nd listeners' interest is piqued by u.se of request numbers. Blurbs for participating sponsors are okay. Pete, MAREK WEBER ORCHESTRA 30 Mins. Sustaining Tuesday, 10 p.m. WJZ, New York Weber is from Europe. It is a Viennese type of light music he spe- cializes in. His arrangements have lilt and beauty and sedative charms. That ha offers something distinctive for American radio in obvious. He's got plenty to sell. But needs to be sold. He is not a name in the U.S.A., known only to a limited number via his recordings, and the spon.tor.s. ednosjlcd by their adver- tising agencies, have a phobia on that. Arresting, enchantingly pleasant Weber makes mu.sic that is the happy oppo.site to the shrlU swing emphasis which kids like but older folks tend to abhor. Land.