Variety (Aug 1940)

Wednesday, August 7, 1940 RADIO 25 EADIO DAY SALUTE N^MT York, Frisco TBlr* One Hour Saturday, 8 p.ra. All networks An elaborate oneTtlme ohc-hour brogram in salute to the American radio industry, and, more par tic ii- larly. to free speech on the air,' was broadcast Saturday night (3) over jiBCi CBS and MBS, with many indie stations also hocked into the nation-wide network. The program was inspired and the preparatory detail partly flnahced by the Na- tional Association of Broadcasters, which chose Au^. 3 as the Saturday before the, opening cf its, 18th annual ' convention in San: Francisco. . The World's Fair in that city and the World's Fair at New York were the princijjal .points of origin for the Vprogram and . the ceremonies, although there were also- ; .switch- overs to Hollywood for Orson Welles, to Lake Placid for Kate Smith, and to Saratoga for Ted Husing. The production detail ef this gigantic galaxy was hbmihally in charge of William Rainey, until recently pro- duction rrianager of NBC, who iivas retained by the trade association, to' bring the pieces together. i The program was divided, roughly, into two parts: first, a cavalcade of radio peirsorialities who briefly gave excerpts of their characteristic radio Ktyles, whether oral or musical; scc^ ^ond, the speeches. . After John S. Voiihg, radio di-: rector of the N. Y. Fair, spoke the intrcductpry .'howdy,' the opening montage concerned itself with voices and Greek choruses who vvere used as symbols to suggest the vastneiss of radio and at the same* tiine its intimacy, in the lives of individual:!;. Thiere were imaginary visits to hall ; bedrooms and undei-privileged farm- houses; and shatehes of. talk by lum- ; bermen and fishermen.. Narrators came in and out :of the script. The reciirrihg therhes of 'be proud you're an American,': 'appreciaite the Ameri- can : system of broadciasting;'- 'don't take free speech for granted,' 'only heire are there such Drivileiges;' were cbrtstahtly reiteratea. In rapid suc- cession, and with, only fractional lulls (but some studio noises) the . pro^gram presented: . , Orson Welles, a curtain Speech. Morton Downey, 'Irish , Eyes; Are Smiling.' . Hedda Hopper, her formula greeting. . Gene Autry, western di-awl. Kay Kyser, 'glad to be here.' ;: Stbophagle, pert patter -Virginia Rae; sbng saniple/ Ted Husing, nost; Igia froin Saratoga. Prof, Quiz, a question on free speech. .Gertrude, Berg, In ard out of character... ■. Major Bowes, roimd and round. she goes. ■ Dorothy Gordon, in Europe ,''s n.s.g... H. y. Kaltenborn, news sample. Lucille Manners, song sample. Guy Lombardo, half a chorus. Graham McNamee, seems only yesterday. J (2 s s i c a • Daagbnette, song • sample. Clilton Fadiman, cash register Hound'effects. : Tommy Riggs, Betty Lou is . curiou.s. Kate Smith, .'Gcd .Bless Amierica' (without accompani- ment). \ Paul Whiteman. Rhapsody. Blue;:: Lone Ranger, Hi Ho .Silver! The speech es, after station. identi- fication, weren't as bad as they might have been. Qiiincy, HoWe of the American Civil. Liberties Union (wrongly introduced as Roger Bald- win) was the most bn-the-nail, and of all the pilaudits handed the N.A.B. his remarks came from the ^ohe $6urce that knew aV out radio, from its own study and analysis, hot from claims of interested parties, and spoke words of praise that carried nieanihg. because the Civil Liberties Union spokesmen; unlike ethers on the rosier, are capable of being out- spokenly critical. . Toward the end of .the speech period there were missed cues. Two^ stage waits, ohe of them necessitating" an organ fill,': marred the score. , W. W. Monahan, 'cf the Frisco Fairj never was heard: after Harvey Gib- son, of the N. Y., Fair, gave him a direct cue. Vague;, too, were ..the xerembnies: of presenting: free speieeh plaques to. Neville MiUer. Most listeners cbuld hardly have gcit the pitchinig here. The vital words of necessary explanation of what was gbirtg bn, and .where; got diropped' ^OUt.^. Father Bryan McEntegart for the Catholics, Walter Van .Kirk for the Protestants, Rabbi Jonais Lie for the Jews,. Mrs. Harold Milligan .for the clubwomen, - William Green fbr labor, .Jbhn Studebaker, for educa- tion, and Steve Early for the Presi- dent made'speeches. ' A BMI «ong, 'High on; a Windy Hill,' was introduced froin Treasure Island; played by Jack Joy's brchieis- tra. ■;. ■■; The difficulties ,of cntlcally re- viewing a ispecial, : all-out,, name- loaded, purpose-hampered, policy- hobbled prbgram such as : this are ob,vicus;. Director Rainey was the NEVER FORGET' With Pat Barnes, Frank Xuther, Jerry Lawrence . 15 Mins. MACFADDEN PUBLICATIONS M-WrF, 1 p.m. WQiEC-Mutual, New York (Kndner) ^ On the theory that a program- should be suited to the product it's supposed to sell, 'I'll Never Fbrget' is good commercial radio. In this the product' is True Story mag, ipub- lished by Macfadden, vvhich ali-eady bankrolls Gabriel Heatter for Liberty mag. 0n the basis of Monday's (5) edition, 'Forget' is sentimental hoke that should .corral .a sizable house- wife aiudiehce, its only comparable competition being 'The Goldbergs' over CBS. Based bn the similarly-named col- umn in True: Story, the program uses dramatized letters from listeners, who get prizes of $50, $25 and $10. Kudner agency writers adapt the contributions into script form, obvi- ously retaining the hokey romantic elements. Yarn caught was a heart- throbber about an : apartment ele- vator boy who cupids a romance be- tween a couple of tenants in the building, Scripted in the form Of first-person narrative, with the hero and the matchmaker coming into dramatic portions. Plenty of emo- tional heavy breathing into the mike. Frank Luther sings 'I'll Never For- get You.' which will be the theme until ASCAPjnusic goes off the air. Also handles ballad in the show proper, in this case 'Oh Promise Me.' Pat Barnes as emcee is an ideal choice to spiel the info about letters and prizes,, while Jerry Lawrence is announcei". Hobe. servant, not the master, of cere- monies. The program was doomed to produce a few bad moments in the unfolding. A certain self-con- sciousness of the industry itself crept into the script at times. The opening sequence statied its thesis, then re-stated it, then repeated it. It was a little dull, a little slow, a little labored in that section. After- wards came the impres:-ve parade of household favorites. The program spoke of th^ pleasure radio gives people, but, except for Stoopnagle and Tommy Riggs, the scripters .Seemed afraid to go after a snicker or two to prove it; It spoke much of free speech without mentioning by name a single issue of the day and/or illustrating how free speech actually operates. As a study in symbol'', manipulation much of the continuity made, lifeless i-epetitious use of phrases rather than a vivid . illustration of their applica- tion. Land. DUFFY'S TAVERN With Ed Gardner, Gertrude NIescn, Cpl. Stoopnagle^ Larry Adier, John Kirby's Orchestra ..: 30 Mins. CBS Forecast No. 6 Monday, 5:30 p.m. KNX-CPS, Hollywood Columbia must have had a tobac- conist in mind when it sprung this, see - what - the - boys - in. - the - back-room-will-have type of offer- ing for sponsorial approbation. It's rowdy and rough and reeks of saw- dust and brass rails. Withal, it's quite okay for male ears but hardly palatable for the dainty sippers. That sets it apart in its niche and shbppers after that type of program will know just where to look. Ed Gardner, producer and actor by turns, is 'Archie' air over the place. He runs the works as emcee and takes a fat slice of the show toward the end for his malaprop- isms and corner-mouth..Brooklynese. All the action takes place in Duffy's saloon (pardon, tavern) and the per- formers,: so listeners are told, are those ;who drop in castially. -This show's visitors were a pretty pro- fessional lot. Running gag of Duffy phoning : in ; after every ■■ turn is geared . foi:: chuckles, with Gard- ner's chatter providing the motiva- tion. The vaude pattern was not en- tirely overlooked. Bill opene'd with Gertrude Niesen torching 'Si Si' in sound fashion, al- though it was not a particularly happy choice. "Tempo was a bit too fast for her beist delivery. Stoop- nagle followed with his usual non- sense, stooged by . Archie, and gpinjg into an ersatz, Irish delivery to keep alive the gag that Duffy wanted a son of auld sod on the show. It proved only mildly diverting. Larry Adler gave his harmo.iiica a fast workout on 'Danny Boy' with . some tricky variation s. He was sneaked in on. Duffy by being tagged O'Adler. but that 'Danny Bioy' squared him with the tavern keeper. ' Where there's Gardner there's 'two top' so that brought on the monolog about the two-headed freak. Routine was the comedy high- spot of the show and: deep in the laugh groove. The character has endless possibilities with Gardner's deft handling and could be inte- grated into any program for a solid sock. • .. Duffy still wanting an Irish tenor on the program and the time getting short, it was not totally unexpected when Clancy, the cop, burst into 'Irish Eyes.' That brought the tears to Duffy's eyes for a crying finish, which, if nothing else, is a novel de- nouement for a comedy show. Helm. 'GOOD NEWS IN ADVERTISING* With Ken-Fariisworth 15 Mins.—'Local WABREN NORGC Dally, 6 p.m. WMCA, New York Radio, once somebody points «. thing out.'is not lacking In apprecia- tion for a hovel idea. PM, the new New York daily, carries no ads, but. describes each day the copy carried at paid rates in other dailies: And that comes under the heading, of. something unusual; In borrowing, or : adapting, . this slant for radib the WMCA aiispiceij: have selected one Ken Farnsworth as the announcer. On the basis of his first time at mike it did not seem that he possessed the right kind of gossipy style for an entertaining re- port on what's what in . the: ads. Actually he was. dealing with ads • due for publication a day or two ahead, so that it was hardly atten- tion-calling stuff in the accepted sense. of easy reference to the b'rig- inal. This was just one further proof of ..the ektremely trying assignment ' the . young man faced. It wDl not be held against him that he gave the impression of hot knowing what he . was talking about. Neither would the average radio announcer. But it will be held against the program. ; " ' The kind of talk and descriptive power that this idea demands will not be easy to find. Moreover, if found, it may be that the, proper • personality would demand or com- mand too high a fee for the purposes , of a local distributor of ice boxes and radios. Farnsworth ranged over the; Macy, . Bloomingdale, Gimbiel, Stern roster. Seemed evident that the stores were limited to those with whom arrange- ments had, been made in advance. Farnsworth was particularly uncom-. fortable attempting a description of cotton dresses for the girls.:. He did better on some maple furniture arid seemed disappointed that the weather had turned cool in the meantime, thereby, taking away; the. point of his eulogy of the dollar dinner and moonlight ride to Sandy Hook. ■ 'All I know is what I read in the ads' is the slogan used fore and aft. . It docs not quite excuse the amateur impression. . Lanif. At Smith, CKCK Regina. sales manager, is shouldering his musket twice a week at the local armory as ^ a member of the non-permanent Re- gina (Sask.) Rifles regiment. SHREVEPORT, LA 50,000 WATTS CBS KWKH senres neailY three mil- lion people within a ISO-mile For more information ahout KWKH, one of the sixteen CBS 50,000 watt stations. Inquire of The Branham Company^ i) SERVING THE RICH TRI-STATE MARKET