Variety (Oct 1937)

Wednesday, October 20, 1937 RADIO REVIEWS VARIETY 33 SIDNET skolsky Talk BBOMO SELTZEE Wednesday, 8;30 p. m. WJZ-NBC, New York • (J. Welter Thonvpson) ' Sidney Skolsky is still stymied by his voice. Apparently he's been do- ing some honsework on it, for there's some improvement, but that high- pitched hoarsehess still takes the edge oft the columnist's material, •which is bright, breezy, informative, loaded with personality stuff and has the same individual slant that has made Skolsky's column one of the best known of its kind. That voice drawback seems a fundamental one to Skolsky. De- tracts markedly from the appeal of the show—and hurts his m^iterial. A ghost voice may be ansWer, although Skolsky and the Sponsor may be reluctant to use a mike stand-in. , As it stands, the urogram is built along the lines of Skolsky's column. Material is bunched under typical Skolsky headings; such as 'watching them make pictures,' 'movie boners,' gossip, previews and 'tintypes.' Lat- ter are the standout piortions of the stanza. Hobe. CARBOBljNDUlW BAND Frands D. Bowman, Edward D'Anna Talk, Mnsio 30 Mins. CARBORUNDUM CO. Sat., 7.30 p.m. WABC, CBS, New York (.EJB.D. & O.) Carborundum returned to Colum- bia Saturday (16) for its eighth con- secutive network season with its cast, including Niagara FaUs, intact. Francis D. Bowman, the account's commercial manager, is still quad- rupling as program producer, con-^ tinuity writer, narrator and plug spieler, while Edward D'Anna re- mains responsible for a collection of brass instrumentation that ranks among the tops in network broad- casting. Indian legends continue. to come from Bowman between band num- bers without attempt at elocutionary .coloring or dramatization. At some point in the program' the announcer states that the listeners will now hear the roar of Niagara Falls and even if it's ■ the same sound, un- changed by even an offbeat riptjle, the interpolation has been so long identified with the program that the omission of the falls might cause some doubt as to whether the show was the genuine article. Ad copy swings from, the institu- tional to direct sales. If the product is an abrasive Cprborundiim makes it and as for the manufacturer's standing in his field it's as sound and permanent as the roar of Niaeara. Odec. pa- LLOTD PANTAGES Talk 15 Mins. RAYMONDS, INC. Sunday, 1:45 p. m. WABC-CBS, New York . (.Milton Weinberg) Former columnist joints the rade of ether chatterer^ uncorking the alleged lowdown on Hollywood. Has an okay voice and delivery; his material is also lively and timely enough, but the program setup is ar- tificial and clumsy. Should be dras- tically revised to snare its full possi- bilities. Error, app'&rently, has been in over-ambition, Insic'ad of presenting Pantages in a straight session of re- porting, anecdotes, etc., about the Cinema City, this one is a hodge- podge of cross-questioning, hoke dramatizations,^ chatter and over- board commercials. Question-and- answer portions are more confusing than the straight spiel. Dramatizations, which are aimed to build illusion, are palpably phoney and unconvincing. . Pantages simply telling the story would be better. Raymonds, Inc., sells cosmetics and a 'machineless' permanent wave. Copy needs radical cutting, but pre- sumably the hot tips on what the glamour girls and boys of filmdom are doing is just the stuff to hyoo sales with the gullible femmes who have a yen for beauty. Program originates in KNX, Los Angeles, and is rebroadcast for the Coast at 11 p. m., EST. Hobc. YALE NE^S With Bill Elliott, Mack Parker Collegre Reports 6 Mins.; Local AMERICAN TOBACCO CO. Daily, 10:45 p. m. WICC, Bridgeport-New Haven (Lord & Thomas) For five, minutes each week night American Tobacco Co. rents facilities of WICC to sell Luckies to tenants of Yale university, a few square t)locks in New . Haven. That's cutting it pretty fine. Undoubtedly cigaretter may get what he's buying—campus good-will. Yale news, isupnlied my Daily News, college nub, and read by WICC spielers Bill Elliott and Mack Parker until student commentators are picked from- competitive list, in eludes representative assortment of university goings-on—football, liter- ary events, class and fraternity fare, etc. Commercials fit order, remind ing boys who pet a pack of Luckies after that midnight snack, and so on Apoointment of two student mike- men will make five minutes all-Yale. Call for candidates brought more than 300 enlistments before end of last week, finalists of auditions Y^y- inff their attempts wf>xed by WICC and indfred in New York bv board incinHin.f Boake Carter and Edwin C. Hill. Some bi» camous n^mfis en- rolled among asnirants, and if \in- der.graduate r'-lebs haunen to winners, it will be another break for sponsor, Elem, COURT OF MISSING HEIRS' With Jack Brinfcley, Tom Shirley, Burr Lee, Dick Wells, Elizabeth Reller, Henry Saxe, M. J. Kincr- ston, Sid Marshall, Howard Hoff- man,' Bob Mlddleton, Jean Savel, Art McConitell, John .Goldswortby, Ken Carrinffton, Joe Frank, Gunther Dorsmiller, Bob Barron, Dolly Day, Joe Hosmer, John Walsh, Jim Goss, Virginia Jones, Flort^nce Ravenel, Louise Turkel, Vincent Maccelli, Peter Cavallo, Jr., Orchestra. Dramatic Episodes 30 Mins. SKELLY OIL Mondays, 6 p.m. CST. WBBM-CBS, Chicago (BlackeU-Samvle-llummeTt) 'Court' shows up -as a topnotch himian interest idea with a heart and purse twist that should garner adult listeners. The famous Drake inheritance case revealed <that many people believe that they have long- dead progenitors who left great fortunes. .And this program goes on to prove that there are .many cases of missing heirs' to fortunes, great and small. This program assumes the role of aiding in the search for these heirs, with the incidents, being actual case histories. Idea is excellent, but the program revealed a heavy-handed writing at- tack that cuts down the show's ef- fectiveness a great deal. It is writ- ten in a choppy, groping fashion that make it too hop-along for a real dra- matic build-up. . - In view of the exceptionally' large cast and the unwieldly bulk of the program itself," the show ran tathei* smoothly on the opening stanza, and credit must go to its director, Fritz Blocki, for this job. In some spots the sound effects were too smeary and blarey, but these -are trivia which can be easily cleaned up. Performances were good through- out, with the exception of the juve- nile who played Wilkins. while the gal who played oppostie him was outstanding. Program's general theme of 'you, too, may be the missing heir to a fortune' is of -^olid appeal, and the commercial tie-in of a bulletin give- away at the Skelly stations is fig- ured to drag the listeners around to ask for the hand-out. Gold. GERTRUDE LAWRENCE With Paul MoGrath, Nancy Kelly 'Susan and God' (Excerpt) Dramatization 11 Mins. SWANSDOWN-CALUMET FLOUR Thursday, 8 p. m. WABC-CBS, New York (Young & Rubicom) Miss Lawrence, starring on Broad- way in 'Susan and God,' aided by two other key troupers in the pro- gram, didn't particularly impress with the presentation of a short slice from the play on Kate Smith's variety program. Character Miss Lawrence does in the play wasn't established in the 11 mins. allotted on the air, resultant in many of the lines which bowl 'em in the theatre getting only strained and skimpy laughter.. . Scene was a reconciliation get-to- gether of a . husband, who wants to reform after having been a lifetime lush, with his wife and adolescent daughter. The 'God' angle just wasn't put across, unless the fading line of the scene, when the daugh- ter assures her ma that pa could keep the pledge by saying 'God and we can help him,' jerked the listen- ers' emotions. Established fact in the play that Miss Lawrence's character got sold on the Oxford Group and hence her religious psychology wasn't brought forth on the air. Whole slice of play was vague and produced another ar- gument against the airing of small slices of plays just because they offer names and plays associated with names. Miss Lawrence cleverly aimed her lines, and her timing and vocal cal- isthenics might well have been waxed and used in a school tutoring embryo air actresses. McGrath and 16-year-old Nancy Kelly did their stage roles well. It was the script which for radio was lame and dis- jointed. Bert. Wives of King, Duke, Duce, Hebe All Played by Time's Agnes Moorehead MR. KEEN, TRACER OF LOST PERSONS Serial BI-SO-DOL Tues.-Wed.-Thu., 7:15 p.m. WJZ, New York . (Bloc]feU-Samr){e-Hiimm<>r1) Reasonably novel idea capable car- ried through. Debut stanza be^-^an the 'Case of the Girl Who Couldn't Be Found.' innocuous tale which tioped its naw in the opening min- utes. Despite the lack of suspense, idea is bssic enough and the char- acters sufficientl.v intriguing to hold some people's attention. Mr. Kef»n is a genial bozo whose world-wide lost persons bureau never misses. All the stories will spring from that source. Initialer J-s a sugnry romsnce about a vounT millionaire looking for his Dre^m Girl—who he finds workinf^ for Mr. . Keene. And that is .service! .Dramatizations are fair, though ob- vious, and the playing is in italics, Commerpials pre surpri.<?ingly unob- jectionable. Series isn't aimed at the super intenects, and It'll prob- fWv huild atto'^*''^n pmong th«t .serial addicts. Hobc. 'HOBBY LOBBY' With Dave Elman Novelty 30 Mins. HUDSON MOTORS Wednesday, 10:S0 p.ni., EST WOR-Mutual, New York Concisely put together and neatly presented. Dave Elman had the show on sustaining on WOR for some time. Judicious choice of hob- bies and those 'lobbying' for them is evident ■ on premiere broadcast. Naturally, peak was achieved when Admiral Byrd is introduced, with his pet hobby 'boosting for world peace,' Hobbies ranged from the professor who made musical instruments from odds and ends down to the indi- vidual who helps .under-privileged children to enjby life, With the former he admitted using Hudson auto parts for one' musical instru- ment, which probably was the tip- oft on why he was present. Peda- gogue played his inventions to prove it was no gag. Elman, who conceives and pro- duces the show, also presents and questions guests, managing to be an affable m.c. Wear. TISH' With Florence Baker, June Bradley, Fay Courtnay, Charles Crumpton, Robert Brennan, Marie Hunt, Harry Shutan, Philip White, Ed- ward Latimer. Dramatization SO Mins. Sustaining: Thursday, 10 p. m. WABC-CBS, New York WPA radio project, given the op- Dortunity to use gratis CBS time, lines and outlets* got Mary Roberts Rinehart to scot-free air rights to her 'Tish,' 25-year-old piece. Get- ting back on a network (NBC dropped the project last April on grounds it" was too 'expensive') adds to the outfit's prestige," but the job done on the opening slice of the 'Tish' as transformed by WPA writers does nothing to increase project's presti.ge. Ditto for the act- in.?, and, incidentally and perhaps inevitably, ditto for the production turned in by Columbia's employee, Bill Robson. ' It was instantly apparent that the scripters should have tugged the lines of the characters up to date— especially the ones meant to inject comedy. They were of the '23— skiddoo' vintage. Sequences were choppy, which gave the idea that likely the two WPA writers, Leo Fontaine and Ed Hammel, lifted .the dramatization too literal\y out of the first few pages of the book. If the lines and scenes are snapped up and modernized in the ensuing chapters of the air serial 'Tish' may be radio- redeemed. Casting was at fault, also, in that, although , Florence Baker's - 'Tish' stood out and gave a rather stark semblance of the character of the 'old maid,' her two sidekicks 'Lizzie' and 'Aggie' were confused frequently because of the . likenesses of • their tonal timbre and character treat- ment. Very good, both as to voice, trouping and character oroiection was Charles Crumpton's 'TulTick,' a Syrian boy. Productionally, CBS might have helped out the project more. Bridg- ing'the sequences was done with the same old orchestral bursts which were old when, radio was not. Pacing was oft frequently, and the action from scene to scene far from clearly indicated or defined. Program isn't up to the night-time standard of sustainers—to i.gnore the commercials—riding the networks. Unless through the coming-stanzas the show is sparkled up, the air ex- cursion of 'Tish' may turn out to be tosh. Bert. 'LET'S GO HOLLYWOOD' With Owen Crimp, Paul Keast, Tom Brown, Ben Chapman, Leon Leon- ardi's orchestra 30 Mins.; Local CLAIROL Fri., 8:30 p.m. KFWB, Hollywood (William R. Ranldn) To Owen Crump's credit, about the best variety ishow to come out of this station. Well paced and nicely timed the piece .should move a lot of shampoo olf the shelves. Only sour note is a barker with a side show technique. Shouts the gals into buying. Aside from doing a slick emcee job and dishing out some choice film gos.sip. Crump has a guest star each week and also someone from the Warners studio who performs some kind of odd duty. He deviated slightly this week and trotted out Joan Blondell's stand-in, who gave an insight as to how a shadow spends her day on the set. Tom Brown did a playlet written and di- rected by Crump, which was down- to-earth and well handled. Ben Chapman, casting director for Major pictures, wrs on for a brief bit, talk- ing about his job and picking a win- ner in a beauty contest. Entire show reeks of Hollywood. Even the music numbers by Leon Leonard i's crew are called off as this or that stars favorite tune. Paul Keast trained his husky pipes on one ditty just ahead of the signofl, not especially good spotting. As the newest Hollywood entry it will take care ,of itself in any company. Helm. RISING MUSICAL STARS With Alexander Smallens Symphony Orchestra, Pauline Pierce, Ivan Invanzoff, Daniel Harris and Chorus. 30 Mins. SEALTEST Sunday, 10 p.m. WEAF-NBC, New York (Mc^ee, Albright L Ivy) Instrumental and vocal concert ought to be fairly pleasing to the Sunday night classical fans. Pro- gram consists of two orchestral se- lections, two solos by the 'rising mu- sical star' and an operatic finale with chorus. Each rising star is selected by an audition committee made up of Alexander Smallens, Alma Gluck, Ernest Schelling and others of this ilk. Performer each week gets a gold medal and, best, for tlie four weeks, a $500 cash prize. One judged the best for the 13 weeks gets a grand. First rising star, Pauline Pierce, was a mezzo-soprano with a pleasing voice who sang an aria from the opera Mignort and 'Hopak' by Mus- sorgsky. Advertising chatter for Sealte.st labs, Sheffield Farms and Hydrox is slipped in. Announcer doesn't convince Sealtest isn't Scaltex. Show is supervised by Mme. Yo- landa-Irion, chairman of the Wo- men's Nafl Radio Committee who has apparently switched from chid- ing advertisers to jumping on the bandwagon. Idea is along the lines of the Metropolitan Opera radio au- ditions program. 'ESSAYS IN MUSIC With Victor Bay 30 Mins. Sustaining Thursday. 10:30 p.m. EST WaBC-CBS, New York New series of half-hour music of the masters, with Victor Bay, youth- ful conductor, directing. Columbia has injected a touch of showmanship into an outright classical set-to. Re- sults are okay. David Ross handles narration with skill on such a task. Program framers exercised contrast in spot- ting soloists and type of tunes. Wear. TOMMY THOMAS 'Romance Time'* 30 Mins. Local BEN TIPP Four Times Weekly KOMO-KJR. Seattle .Tommy Thomas returned to Sealtle airlines with half hour stanza four times weekly over KOMO-KJR. His show has been a fixture on these stations for several years. Thomas' handling of 20-piece orchestra, his singing singles and trios are closer to being something apart and different in musical than is heard in this neck o' woods. He has musicians working in easy style and shifts from one tempo to another holding always to popular style. Added to this regular stand- by Show, during the winter months Thomas incorporates visiting vaude acts. Not only batons but makes his own commercial spiel. Adroit at the selling end. Thomas is versatile in that bes'des m.c.Mng, he produces, writes his own shows and presents his own 15-minute 'Little Black Book' at intervals on. same stations for same sponsor and plays his own background on the Chickering. Smiih. RICHARD BROOKS With John Jaeg^er, Paul Carlcy, Irene Collins, 'Tunc Reporters' Orch. 30 Mins.—Local MICHAELS CREDIT STORE Daily, 5 p.m. WNEW, New York (SchilUn) Newark emporium is sponsoring an o.k. output from the New York indie broadcaster in this late-after- noon half-hour. A studio band, of apparently small proportions, poui'S out some good background melody for a fairly fast, show that presents Richard Brooks reading off occa- sional news items with brief com- ments of his own; songs by a pair of mild vocalists, Irene Collins and Paul Carley; plugs and announce- ments by m.c. Johnny Jaeger. Mi.ss Collins also gives out with a gi.sty mention of latest fashion news, palmed off as ju.st pulling in out of breath from Paris. Plugs for sponsor at lea.st within reason, which is a considerable mark of merit for WNEW. considepjng some of its past petformance.<;—as well as those of its rival, stations ih the Metropolitan field of indies. Opening night for the March of Time program shift (14) to NBC studios found the cast of 30-6dd duked up in white ties and the women in formal evening gowns. Aftor the gala lah-de-lah, show will go back to hair-down norm. Audi- ence of about 50 at getaway was also largely in formal attire. Everybody. was a bit fidgety about the opening, ieven though the pro- gram has been on the air more than six years at CBS. Tension was re- laxed by a wag asking, 'Where's M^' JJ; Paley?' • Latter wasn't in evidence but Lenox R. Lohr, prexy of NBC, was in the client's booth. There wasn't really any need for the excitement because promptly at 8:30 things began to hum as ad- vertised. From the control room, specially rebuilt for this' program, Bill Spier of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne gave the cue to orchestra leader Howard Barlow, which in turn was the cue for Westbrook Van Voo- his' crisp 'Time Marches On,' which, it proceeded to do. Covering eight news-subjects, the program revealed the versatility of M. of T.'^ stock company. Most strik- ing of the doubles was Agnes Moore- head, bedecked' in furs, playing a Yiddish East Sider, a gangster's (Baby Face Martin) mother, a cus- tomer in a Bangor, .Me., sports shop, Wally Simpson, SignerIna Mussolini and the Queen , of England. Dwlght Weist was a G man in One moment, Father Coughlih a few minutes later, Other principals • in- the cast in- cluded Ted de Corsia, * Ed. Jerome, Ted . Jewett, William Johnstone, Frank Readick, William Andrews, Ken Delmar and Nestor Thayer. Still others in the cast Included George Tiplady, Rex Williams, legit- er; Mary Laslo, Elizabeth EustiS, Bar- bara Townsend, Lawrence Forsyth, Sarah Kimmel, Edward Kreillng, Charles Thomas, Hugh Farley, Rich- ard Manning, William Bock, Car- man Jones, Cyrilla Dome, Adelaide Klein, Patricia Peardon, Sarah Fus- sell, Ted Reid, Alfred Shirley and Paul Stewart.' Most cleverly integrated piece on this program was the last, titled 'Accent on Youth.' This began with a replica of memorial services at Chateau-Thierry, fading into war talk in Italy, a discussion at Prince- ton College of the Japanese situa- tion, a British gas mask and air raid drill by the royal family, and fading back to the announcer's: 'This week—^veterans, no longer young, stand with heads bared—In homage to' the youth of 20 years ago. Time marches on.' From a production standpoint this is probably the most complicated one on the air.' No other program uses such a diversity of spund effects. Un- like other programs every cue is given by the director from the con- trol room. Spier and Homer Fickett of BBDO alternate at this post. At CBS there was a studio which had facilities for the M. of T. di- rectors. To bring the program over to NBC, the studio had to be closed down for three days and the entire control machinery moved back a few feet to allow for a desk with a light above it to be placed behind the glass window of the control room. Immediately after broadcast the cast and audience tossed a few on the fl4th floor in the rooms of Shell Oil Co., and indulged in mutual ad- miration of the cast, NBC Tiine and the refreshments. * Many of the cast were recruited from the American Academy of Dra- matic Art. Bob Richards, who edits M. of T., was pointed out as thie lad who made good in a big way. Two years ago he was an olificp boy for John Martin . at Time offices. Pro- duction costs for this 30 minutes of air entertainment and promotion for Life, Time et al., come to about $10,000, which includes airtime, play- ers' .salaries, directors and the fee to the agency. One amusing angle of the party was the presence there of several who might have been recognized at 'Support the Spanish Loyalists' cock- tail affairs. These are the literati, parties to which sympathizers go and drink for the cause, proceeds going to the Loyalists. They .seemed to be particularly enjoying the cuffo re- freshments handled by Donald Hig- glns. Time's host for the evening. Perry Wooley, former KBIX an- nouncer, most recent addition to staff of KFXR, Oklahoma City.