Variety (Feb 1938)

40 VARIETY RADIO REVIEWS tTednesday, February 2, 1938 SCHniELING-FOORD BOUT Frona Hamburg:, Gernitanjr With Edu»rd Dietze Transoceanic Sunday, 11:15 a. m. WOR-Mutoal, New York (Gerriifin) Eduard Dietze, EiigUsh-speaking German, announced from Hamburg the Max Schemeling-Ben Foord li?ht. It probably comes as a sur- prise tb many that he's German, For his English is strictly Oxford. ..'This/ said Herr Dietze, 'is a rather curious fight.' And that's a model of under-state- . mcnt. It was vei-y hands acrosis-the- North-iSeaish. For the gentlemanly German remembered that Hitler wi.shes to be pals with Great Britain and Foord of South Africa is in a sense an Anglican representative; Thiis every blow that Herr Max. placed on Mister Ben's schnozzplo ami vice versa must be repre-seinted as really a." manly fexchknge of cdm- ppliments. No hint of international i-ancor was permitted.' . ft was the piolitest fight ever fought. Indeed, there wei-e long periods when t(ie announcer seemed to drop .away from the present tense and seemed to be recalling—between the sips of tea^the not too vivid details of a bout of long ago. Now and again the return to the present. was ern- phasized by a factual report that one of the ficjhters was 'breathing quite smoothly.' It was almost possible in New York to heai" the oxygen being filtered through the fighters' teeth in Hamburg, Germany. It was that kind of a waltz. In ^'iew of his impeccable choice of words, his flawless;. self-controli and a truly superior detachment from ■ bijth time And place the announcer's persistently intimate use of the first names. Max and Ben, seemed rather Mutual networkish. The Schmeling-Foord violence as radio-teported Sunday morning, Jali. 30. 1938. must go into the recofd as a dainty crearhpuff "of gentlemanly , re.straint ill' which the fighters pre- sumably vied with the announcer in, pot wishing to make anybody's blood tingle.; In fact, the announcer as much as said that Schmieling -didn't want to hurt the South African too hiuch, although news dispatched the next day captiously observed that Der Mbxie didn't, seem to have the liecessary kayo wallop. . AH of which probably puts this English broadcast by a German in the category of a :new form of Anglo-Reich diplomatic relations. Land. FoilcfW Up Coiiiment 'Grand Central Station' (Lister- ine), oh WJZ-NBC, 8 p.m. Friday, in new complete short story skit. il- lustrated vividly a growing evil on sponsored shows. That is the re- peat performances during, a week s time of the same characters (and. familiar voices), on three or more popular shows. • . Two of voices heard in important leads were easily identified as with one or two . other broadcasts earner in the week. This tends to destroy illuisidn the director and scripters are attempting to develop about the characters, and many listeners may lose Interest in proceedings. BILL WILLIAMS News Cominentary 15 Mins. REMINGTON RAND Sunday, 6:45 p. in. WBZ & WBZA, Boston-Sprihffield. (Franklin Bruck) Ex-athlete switches from sports spieling to covering the week in news happenings over these New England NBC stations. Bill Williams (Forest Edwin Williains) has lorig been_plugged by local NBC officials as a topnotcher'^iiOPOTts'■risportirigr with plenty of commercials, and now th is ^ew news . angle immediately gets him the typewriter outfit as em- 'plo.ver. . Style' of pungent, staccato spieling can be fuirther developed into a sure fire delivery. Niews is of national and international scope, and nixes pro.<aic chronology of events. Local stiiff is interspersed, though. Typewriter table is pushed In the midway commercial plugged by ■WilUam.s. • Norm. ■ Paul Whiteman (Chesterfield, CBS; 8r30; Friday), handled verbose script, better than most of writing .iusfificd. Still answers to thait 'Father Whiteman' tag, with a feeble spoofing explanatioh oh this show and with the pater appellation used at least five times. Maybe it's be- cause, as suggested, he is regarded as the *daddy of dance bands.' Oliver Wakefield worked with other speaking merhbers 6f . cast for okay returns. Also he's toned down that doiubie-talk sputterinjg, confin- ing it largely to cutting off the last word of his sentences. Much better. Connie Boswell was tiptop most of the way, but the ragging of 'Martha' was not so forte. Raymond. Scott's quintet as. usual really was some- thing in hotcha arrangements, W. H. (Billy) Fawcett • son, Gordon, effectively. Capt. and his plugged the Fawcett fan publica tions on a 'Hollywood in Person' broadcast over CBS. "The Fawcetts' mike date was part of a tie-in with the General Mills show, virhose Lois Collier is subject of a 'Cinderella Girl' article in a coming issuie. of Screen Book.' Fo,llo\ying a drarnatization of story's preparation against a dead- line, Hollywood and New York (Gordon Fawcett played himself), the s6h introduced his father for an interview with Bob Baker. Senior Fawcett listed . company's magiazines, gave combined circula- tion ('3,000,000'), told of the, assist- ance received from publicity depart- ments of picture companies, dis- cussed -the publications' policy of 'constructive cooperation' with • the film industry and its people, and emphasized the . authenticity of all copy. . .■ '• . '■ -T ■ Captain spoke in a clear though rather twangy tone. His son dis- played a deeper, firmer voice—ex- cellent for radio. Miss Collier, a Carolina girl,. seemed to be piress- ing on her southern accent. Senior Fawcett and Baker did a little of the backslapping without -which few Hollywood guest salvos can be fired. " BORIS KARLOFF Tell-Tale Heirt' 9 Mins. CHASE * SANBORN Sunday, 8 p.m. WEAF-NBC, New York (J. Walter TlKym-pson) Nothing daunted after having met Mae West, Edgar. Bergen's Charlie McCarthy jumped from. Sex to Shock and met 'Frankenstein,' Oh the coffee chapter (30). Boris Karloff turned up to do E. A. Poe's short horror story, 'Tell-Tale Heart/ then step out of character for a bit . 6f banter v/ith Bergen's blathering bat, 'Heart' used to be . used when school-bbys wanted to. win a reci-: tation contest. Karioff started out reading in the same bated, ghostly breath.. Just after mid-way the piece:gently became a dramatization and a good one. Karloff has the prdper horror-hushed pipes for emo- tionalizing of the sort, Spotting was swell, too. It ended as a cue' for station idehtification, which gave the listeners a. chahce . to catch their wind and relax for the Comedy they knew was coming. . .. Vis-a-vis between the dummy • and Karloff was nicely framed. Charlie shied till he credited Karloff's as- sertion that he was easily frightened out of character^ Then did Charlie brazen and swagger. Bert. B. E. MacALARNEY News Commentator Sustainilti^ Daily^ 6:30 p.m. WQXR, New York . R. E. MacAlarney's 'Followin,!* the News' is distinctive only, for its div.ersifi^ material. Hes giveiv to histrionics at times, .rather ini- discrimihately so. , Also subject to stumbling, suggesting ~. a hurriedly prepared program. Voice is reason- ably pleasant. listeners a tuggbd resolve to remem- ber to avoid 'Radio City Revels.' Point here is that the thing was not adaptable to radio. It's a farce With a very .brittle central plot Iwist of a worn-out hack writer who pla:giarizes . the inspirations. .pC a somnambulistic hick who tosses off hits in his sleep. High point of the radio script vhaid.Oakie socking Burns to! induce .oblivion and an- other jcnusical. hit; It presented a most unattractive prospect as regards the picture. TALENT MILLS No; l—KHJ, L. A. Don Lee studio, otherwise KHJ, Los Angeles, both in the number of its now-doing-well alumni and in its own enhanced prestige, profits and importance prbbably summarizes, and epi- tpihizes the rapid and iiiimense growth of all broadcasting. It's only a handful, of years since KHJ was housed in a garage. One end of a floor. Used to store aiitomkobiles was partitioned off by canvas. Hence; the itaff called their quarters "The Tent.' Writers, . directors, salesmen, engineers .and whatnot oh 6c- ~ ; casioh stole out of the tent and picked up a hap in the automo- biles. They were also conven- ient for petting (always after hours, of,course!).' . Ken ;Niles on 'Hollywck)d Hotel' prbgrarn tpday> Bill Gobd.win oh numerous CBS: tran.scpntinentals. Jack Van Nostrand^ Pat Weaver and Fred Gill ciu'rently witli Young & Rubicam, Kay Thornpson, Ray- mond Paige, Betty Jane Rhodes,; now Jane. Rhodes,, a filn^ player;. , Biir Robson,. successor to Irving Reis ph CBS ! V>'orksh6pi prp- grarh in . New York, Virginia Verrill, iSladine. O'Connor, Paul Rickehbacket and .Dai^nny . Dan- . .ker- Triie Boardmari are KHJ icllumni; But the' studio turned down Bing Crosby and the Boswell Sisters as 'hot radio r*aterial.* DUNCAN MACD. LITTLE Talk l.S Mins.; Local Sustaining^ Wednesday, 4:45 p.m. WNYC, New York Little is only incidental to this sbmi-educational series on amateur filming which is a weekly feature over the municipal station. His or anyone's 'instruction' has, of course, .limited appeal but this does stand a better chance these, days in view of the candid camera craze. iSubject selected was planning of film.s. . Selection of location, .sub- jects, .story and sequences were given a thorough discussion, despite short time; Each week talk varies in con- text and voice via giiest speakers! Has more to do with regular iSmm. and 35mm. filming but also suits caridideers. Language of speaker occasionially slipped but otherwise acceptable to those in tei:ested. Hurl. _ Henry_Bu9se ^rchesti-i exceptionr alTy swingy (but melodious) style" continues as another year starts for sponsor (Mar-O Oil Shampoo), evi- dencing why the Busse program proved a real listener and customei: click "last season,'""H"as" movled' Over to the red slice of the NBC networks and should make added listeners and friends for.show and product. -. Busse is giving 'em a' real' period of musical enjoyment. His style is refreshing and fits perfectly into the time allotted him. He comes through, not only with :bartg-up renditions of hits of the moment, but also with a medley of hit tunes of other days, all excellently arranged. Vocals are by Huston and Moore, both of whom scored. Ill all. a solid rhusical program that will earn listeners and please 'em. Martha and Hal^and Andy Sanella, too—ningle-wingle . their way through a tooty^fruity quarter hour aboard: WOR, of a Sunday morning. It's as unpretentious as apple pie. And likely to be very palatable to the aplplie pie—and An- dy Sanella, too—segment. . It's all very bubbly and peppy and a lit- tle smalltimey oldtimey, But not hard to ake—and Andy Sahella, too —if accepted on the show'.s own terms. Harmony singing of this type is now fairly rare. It happens to be very workmaniike. And dulcet. With especial credit for diction— and . Andy Sanella, top.' Sanella - whams a ho t-guitar. . - - —- GBETCMEN McMULLEN Household 15 Mins. Participatinef WNAC, Boston Grelchen McMullen celebrated her 11th radio birthday Friday (28),.Each shot weaves in the sponsor's product, not merely as a paid commercial to be inserted in the script, but' from acUial testinipt in her- own kitchen In other words, when she spiels, the goodness of some particular product or recipe, .<<he makes it sound as if she speaks from actual experience in exhaustive testin) in her kitchen. . Sends out over 1.200 sets of work sheets each week. Disadlines are set for these weekly request 'sheets.' and if a listener desires the set fpr 13 weeks. 25c. will annex it. McMullen's voice and manner of presenting her spiel are as experi- enced as her recipes. Norm. Modern children are the object of startling reports. Just recently one rushed through high school in no time, called the teachers and .-its rhama backward and bourgeoisie.. But maybe Uncle Don knows that he is in no real danger; otherwise he would not get down oh his tummy and gurgle so Disney-like when reading the funnies, come Sunday noon, ovei: WOR, Uncle Don giggles and guffaws and breaks himself up and withal is so rbly-pply and snicker-snackcr that it would seein that. some advanced child will in- evitably rise up in public one Sab- bath and say: 'Uncle Don, for the love of mlcro- phonei don't be so goshawful silly.' ..Heinit 57 Varieties has altered its CBS Sunday afternoon (5-5.30 p.m.) program, going classical and semi- classical in layout and selections. Mark Warnow expanded his brch from 13 to; 28 windjammers and has gone from swing to silite. ■ Under- stood to have had not a little to do^ with the change is the serious- minded 'Met Opera Auditions' on ,NBC opposite the Heinz show. . V Caught (.30), Andre Segovia, the Spanish {iuitarist. was the. guest-^his first air appearance this season^ His classical itnd almost criticisrn-proof string-picking was a sock bighlight to the .show. "Two numbers. Morton Bowe, tenor fixture oh :the program, did two vocals that were o.k. Lyn Murray chorus (12 lads, 8 lassies) had .too little, to do. War- now's music lush and A-1, but in view of the time taken by" the. spe- cialists, the orchestra really had lit- tle opfjortunity Channing Pollock, Who. imbues the listeners With 'inspiration' for five minutes or so Qii each edition of the pickle pi'Ogram^ was: in . nice form. Has an angle on work as a means to happiness JHojlyWood Hotel's sample of 'Radio City Revels,' as brushed-off like a barber shop attendant by Jack Oaki'e and Bob Burns last week, would stop the excerpt industry cold if the studios were riot app.arenl[y determined to believe it's greai't re- gardles.s. What , that appetitte-mur- dering advance sample did in a few long-brief minuteij.'was to probably instil in lliou-satids of abcve-moron Zeke Manners' stint for. Madison Loan on WMCA. New York (29) (Bar-O-Ranch) hit a new high in corniness. As western or hill-billy rnusical program is oke for them as like it but humor should have been served with. a sedative. Jokes creaked, wbbbled and then collapsed and brought prograni down. ■Three leiTigthy spi.eLs on 'Pappy Madison' are aplernty but., salt i-s adde('. wheh Manners starts .poddlin.j; his own song, book, in itself a rub on the sponsor. Use of wh&t s-^unded .like a . Rudy Vallee. recorriin'! . of 'Tavern'; in Town' didn't help Man- ners' rep any, either. ,; 'KENTUCKY PLAY PARTY' With Cousin Emmy's Band, 'tobaccd : Pickers^ Skeets Morris Htllbillies, Jim Stiay, Bob Drake, the Rangers, Sunshine Sue, Rock Creek Rangers, Hillbilly Jamboree 90 Mins.-^Local Sustainini: Saturday, 9:45 p.m. CST.. WHAS, Louisyille A marathon session of .hillbilly fiddling,' guitar twanging, and nasal vocalizations, which, bursts on the air each Saturday night at 9:45 to compete with, similar programs em- anating from WSM and WLW. Rural frolic certainly . makes up in qiian- tity what it might lack in quality, for practically every act on the sta- tion roster is given ah opportunity to strut. Bill Bryan; station announcer, in- troes the various acts, and makes no attempt to sinxulate a hillbilly drawl. He stresses throughout the entire 90 minutes, the fact that four micro- phbnes are beingusied in the studio, and that he is sorry that listeners ca H n&t-see-the-fiCT-for-meFS.^HPwever he drops the suggestions. that per- haps, later oh, they will have an opportunity to witness the perforrii- ances in some theatre or hall. As each act is ihtrbducfed,' per- formers are greeted by a burst of applause., and plenty of the usual barnyard 'yippee' and 'whoopee.' In. fact there are so many performers on the hour and a hall program, that they can furnish everything, includ- ing their own laughs and applause. Talent is of the usual rustic type, string bands, the best of which was Skeets Morris and 'Billies, vocalists, both hillbilly and ballad. Jim Shay, station traffic man, essayed an Irish ballad 'Rose of Tralee,* with accord- ion background, while the Rangers, male quartet, attempted to harmon- ize on an old-fashioned hymn. Bob Drake,, who is heard as 'the Jackson Family' ovei: the station daily, did a brief dialect bit, during the program. Stanza is at present unsponsored. Action is interrupted at various points to. allow station announcer Foster Brotoks to. read weather and temperature reports. For a. local hillbilly conglomera- tion stack up okay and. should ar- rest plenty of rural ears. City audi* ehces will find the rustic frolic mo- notonous, but in this case it ap-« pears that stdtioh knows , what its after. Hold. Tommy Dorsey's variation of the old 'amateur' gimmick (tyro swiiin contest) on his RaleighrKot)l weed show impresses as an acceptable twist that should attract fi-iepri-: through participants, their irien/ls, rclEitiyes and jam-addict.s. Number two in .sei'ies presenlc;d clarinet, trombone, .slide otccolo, piano accordion and xylophonf; players with latter getting the $75 cake. Steers almost clear of ti'ite ■humoroi.is' boildiip."^. fortiiirttcly, Dorssyls expert, hornirit.', hoolin",. swingerooin(j ■ and Edvthe Wii'»ht,'' swin'» vbcaliziii;/.round out I'/jht (>ijt good half hour. Pro"ram.,movc*s ovr to the red (WiEAF) link t)(v<l w.i'"k. HUMPHREY BOGART, GLENOA FARRELL ^Manhattan Latin' Sketch ROYAL GELATIN Thursday, 8 p.m. WEAF -NBC), New York U.rWaUer Thonipsoni Humphrey. Bogart and Glenda Farrell did yeorruin service by - this amalgam of fictional cliches. Pace and color they put into, it made it sound ptetty important. Tale's de- vice and treatment was remini.scent of the hokey skit which bookers of family time vaudeville were wont away back td slip into-the middle of the bill. . Scripting of 'Mahhatlaa- Latin' was credited, to Agnes Ridg- way.. Emotional agitation revolves around a marqueed Spanish dancer whd really stems from New York's East Side,. a sob sister who stumbles across this background while inter- viewing him but concludes that by exposing she would hot be playing cricket, and , the romance that domes to this pair when they discover that the craving for pedal expression is a mutual one and that, despite their monikers, they're linked racially. Thiere's also a mother angle, Odec. GEORGE SOKOLSKY Transciriptions ' 15 Mins.—Local NATIONAL ASSN. OF MANUFAC- TURERS WHAZ, Troy Pro-busjne.ss propaganda, a^.fact rather empha.sized than camouflatSed by Spkolsky.'s : mike, technique^ Called a 'conrimentatbr,' he' talks; more, like a lecturer (in which capacity he freqiiently appears' at Town Hall, New York) or like a con- servative-paper . editorialist tumedV speech maker. . Well known writer does not so much as chat with the listieriers as he'talks at them. Judged by. the usiial .radio stand- ards, he is too stylized here—:an an- gle, doubly noticeable when listen- ers heard, immediately following him a recorded address ■'on r^ew York's unemployment la\v by Governor Herbert H. Lehman, in yoice, tempo and delivery, the Goverhor sounded natural for radio. Sokolsky's talks will prbbably have their main appeal to that segment of listeners tabbed 'conservative', and considered critical of the New Deal. He presents the business comimuni- ty's viewpoint clearly. And rather persuasively. If one does not mind a somewhiat high-pitched voice, slow tempt), meticulous enunciation and continual word-emphasis. On disc caught, a . slangy salesman sud- denly interrupted, his 'boss' during bfoadcast of a speech—Sokolsky so described it^to slam over a point, about present business recession. Actor comipetenf; break-in . crudfr showmanship. Propaganda platters of this type get best play pn small stations which;, need time fillers. Jaco.. tOU HOLTM^rN^RCHESTRA—^—T Paulette Woloxln, Charles Gorbin 30. Mins.—Local *** PARTICIPATING WTHT, Hartford Although fdreign-lahguage shows constitute, a large percentage of aerial oUtput in the Connecticut area, WTHT has a monopoly. On Yiddish fare. Cornbiriation of exclusiveness and favorable Sunday spot assures sizable audience to co-operating sponsors. ^ Lou Holtman's 16-piece orchestra sticks to Jewish repertoire. Music complemented by vocals of Paulette. Wolozin, lyric soprano; and Charles Gorbin, cantoi;. Material and de- livery should be enjoyable to Yid- dish listeners to whom program is primarily directed, as well as many non-Jews. Commercials read in Yiddish and English, which,: when advertising support is strong, takes up plenty of time. Elevi.: Ray Brandt, former spf)rf ("lil'ii of the Jameistown (Norih l)'ik:»l;i) Sun and manager of KRMC, J.irn"-;- town, has rnovtfd in a.i f)#w> c'lil )/ Of WCCO; ropl.'icijuj H'-I P m-j signed. IRWIN ELLIOTT 'Wordiiaster' I.** ivilns.—Local' L. GROSSMAN SONS WMEX, Boston Entertaining for listeners keen oh verbiage. An intelligently managed slic(! of educational radio. Spon.sored by a Willi bortrd dlKtributor, the com- mordal.s arc ..short and clean-cut: T]u:iv. i.Sfi'1 .'1 piece of hor.<M;radlsh in th'; whole ;,hov/, making it quite, dis- tirif;tjV(! IrK.'fiMy f>>i that ;;oore alpnc. Irwin , Klliott, the commentator. tciirt.T iii/f»r/»)iilly to hiH audicrnce, v/.rllrojjt. ;i hint of fi/Tf-ctatlon, at a t;ff fCftly pjjcod tr<m[iO, ahoiit word.s. It t|i<f ri>iir-.i- i,{ l.'i rniriiiKrH he pro- fioiifi<".; 'li-hiii:i. uhoul 2!i words'. y>'.itii<' of Hji-.c huvi- \u'fn ;iVM)t in by lc,l<7M-t:; t'lr clui )(l«-;«tior). OlherK art* jntfo'lttri') by Klliott Tv/', flokfii in. tlx- ]>rihirtnUtu'>t .< .iy,<ii -.in ;»Mf)Oiinc'T with n l(;»jfi<-(J, f/h<ini'Y n'rrt'ni; .'i pitllifl pun ir/ t)(« forfintt'iilitinr that rnn»:lii»i<»(l 111 I oIlK'fwi'K* vriy p\i-ti:mnl qirriHci - h'd.ir r li.it. f'o.t. 'A YEAR GONE BY Historical 5 Mins.^—^Local KIMMEY BAKERY TuesdayrThursday, 2:30 p.m. WGY, Schenectady (Leighton & Nelson) . , A low-budgeted show with an idea not new to network listeners but sifnopthily cpn.structed as a frame- work for local daytime advertising. Would be stronger entertainment if the ax were swung on product copy, a tviroTminutc blurb at the end weak- ens the effort created by the recital of newspaper hoadlirieij to 'recon- struct' a year gone by. At night time,-lengthy plug might be a dial- but- Ed Flynn and Sylvia Klarsfeld, members of agency staff, alternate wtith; ail annouhcei- in reading flashes. They al.so work with mikeman in the spieling7~a setup which does not heighten the dramatic illusion. Con- sidering time limit,, about two and one-quarter minutes, the story of a piarticUlar year (feature is how in the IHSO'ii) i.s well told. Flynn. with his fhicp, full tones, ih staccato headlines conviivcingly. So do WGY an- nouncers like Silvio Andre and Phil nrofik. Miss Klai:s[eld-s has oiie of the bi'lter speaking voices among IPciil fonnnc broadcasters, although her witrd p;k:o is u bit slow here. AliriosphiM'ic mii.'^ic at sign-on and oir.