Variety (May 1941)

St RADIO Wednesday, May 7, 1941 Kate Smith Is Born 1909—Kathryn Elizabeth (Kate) Smith is born at Greenville, Va. • * « Her First Experience 1920—Kate Smith, aged 11, is a child singer in vaudeville around Wash- ington. • « * Family Frowns on Profession 1925— Kate Smith is temporarily a student nurse at George Washington hospital, Washington. • « « Eddie Dowling Brings Her Back 192^Kate Smith singing around home town as an amateur is picked up as member of Eddie Bowling's turn. Sli'e begins three-show career as a knockabout singing comedienne. First is 'Honeymoon Lane.' • • « In a Broadway Hit 1926— Kate Smith is in Broadway musical, 'Hit the Deck.' Ted Collins Steps In 1930— Kate Smith is in "Flying High,' a success in what she Is doing, but hating il. The slapstick offends her sensibilities. Ted Collins, then an executive of the old Columbia Phonograph- Company, encourages her and guides her into new career as a sont stylist and a warm-hearted person- ality, roles congenial to her temperament. CBS Underwrites Collins' Judgment 1931— Kate Smith makes her debut through Collins' managerial arrange- ments on NEC. But later CBS-provides the guarantees for career build-up that Collins wants and the 10-year association (which this special section celebrates) begins. In .the fall of 1931 La Palina Cigar becomes Kate Smith's first sponsor. She introduces 'When Moon Comes Over the Mountain.' • * * 11 Weeks at the Palace 1932— The Kated Corp. comes into existence and the radio popularity of the singer leads to long and profitable stage engagements. Presently she has played nine weeks at the Czpitol, New York, and has topped this with 11 straight weeks at the Palace in Times Square. « o « On the Crest of a Wave 1933— On the first big wave of her radio success Kate Smith plays eight- month theatre tour, including 30 cities. • * • The Hudson-Essex Deal 1934— William S. Paley keeps the temporarily unsponsoreu Kate Smith program going despite the'costs. Late in the year Hudson-Essex becomes her sponsor. • o « President Appoints Kate Smith 1935— President Roosevelt appoints Kate Smith chairman of the stage, radio and screen committee of the NRA. She adds 40 people to her own payroll for work in connection with this. In the fall of 1930 the associa- tion with Atlantic & Pacific Tea begins. • » ♦ 1,000,000 Pounds of Coffee 1936— Kate Smith and her program is credited with increasing sale of A. & P. coffee 1,000,000 pounds a year. The A. & P. Parties 1937— Kate Smith nukes personal appearances in big auditoriums at A. & P. 'company parties.' « * • Introduces 'God Bless America' 1938— Kate Smith introduces 'God Ble<u; America' under an exclusive association with this Irving Berlin anthem. Her General Foods night-time hour is supplemented by a noontime quat'ter hour of chats by herself and Ted Collins. Her autobiography, 'Living in a Great Big Way,' is published by Blue Ribbon. Overcomes Rudy Vallee Thursday Lead " 1939— Kate Smith, the artist is on her crest, said Variety (Land): The singer and her program at last in full stride bore down like a jugger naut on the once-invincible competitive 8-9 p.m. situation Thursday nights . . . sensational climb in the C.A.B. is one of the grand scale object lessons in applied and sustained showmanship. . . .' This was in reference to the then amazing feat of dislodging the en- trenched popularity of the Rudy Vallee program. After long threatening to do so the Smith entertainment flna'Uy overtook and passed the Vallee entertainment on the NBC Red. ... a long uphill fight for the program •nd CBS was triumphant. She sings at the White House for the visiting King and Queen of England I Tops Four Polls 1940— Kate Smith wins top place as singer in four radio popularity polls. * • * Completes 10 Years 1941— Kate Smith completes 10th year of broadcasting, -ranking as a great artiste, a national personage, a distinguished American. Saluted by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt (see page 33) in letter to publisher of Varibtt. TED COLLINS Showman and Broadcaster Ted Collins once referred to Kate Srnith as 'the Elsie Janis of the de- pression'—an allusion to her innum- erable participations in movements and drives and rallies for charitable, patriotic and sporting purposes. It is certainly true that Kate Smith has. been free-handed and energetic in giving of her voice and presence. In the showmanship behind all of this, in the building up of a composite picture of a warm-hearted, generous personality, the canny judgment and practiced hand of showman-manager Ted Collins has always been evident Collins was born at what is known as the turn of the century. He is a New Yorker and a Fordham Univer- sity man. He had a turn as a mov- ing-picture assistant director. But it was as a phonograph recording showman that he developed that ear for entertainment values which is the flair that no advertising statistician will ever understand or measure. Personally, Collins is seldom or never seen out publicly apart from such occasions as his managership- partnership with Kate Smith require He lives on Central Park West, e snowball throw from his Columbus Circle offices. He has a blonde* wife and a debutante-age daughter. In the advertising and amusement industries Collins is known for bis drive, his alertness and his confi- dence in what he thinks is correct He is a tough hombre across the bar- gaining table. He is equal partner in Kated, the corporation he and Kate Smith set up in 1933. On May the pair began their 11th year of shrewdly making the most of radio and its by-products. First with Okeh, later with Co lumbia Records, it was as a phono graph man that Collins originally knew Kate Smith. By that time she had stepped ak>ng from her ama- teur status in Washington. She was a 'protege' of Eddie Dowling and was booked as part of Dowling's en tourage by Rufus LeMaire, then < Broadway agent, since a Hollywood film executive. Her salary was then around $350 a week. (She went into the Capitol, New York, for $800 a week anS her salary in "Flying High was $500.) Ted Collins, after gradually plac- ing the nighttime hour for General Foods on a dependably high level of popularity, began three .years ago developing the noontime series of commentations by Miss Smith (and himself) and just last week this sup plemental series took the C.A.B leadership in the daytime division. Collins has picked for the big Fri- day night program such attractions as 'The Aldrich Family,' now high-ranking program by itself. He also picked Abbott and Costello, now established as film, stage and screen comics. THE MEDIUM J Where Radio Was in 1909 1909—In the year Kate Smith was born it \yas news when two ships col- lided off New York and wireless was used to summon rescuers. The year's Nobel prize in physics to Marconi. * • * The Cross-Licensing Period 1920—In the year Kate Smith raised her childish voice in vaudeville, Westinghouse, taking note of RCA, set up imitative rival radio concern in collaboration with holders of Fessenden patents. (j.E. and RCiA signed cross-licensing agreement with A.T. Sc T. and Western Electric. * * * Silent Cal Is Inducted 1925—The Coolidge inaugural is carried by 24 stations. , * * * . The Networks Are Organized 1928— NBC is organized. M. H. Aylesworth becomes its first pi-esident. The next year CBS is organized with 16 stations. * * * First Aid for CBS Arrives 1929— William S. Paley enters the wobbly CBS as president. * * • Radio Emerges as Big Biz 1930— Radio shows signs of being big business. Plans for tiadio City are drawn up. * * * CBS Zooms at $4,000,000 Annually 1931— CBS, the outsider, is jumping its billings at the rate c. $4,000,000 a year. Almost half of the U. S. families now have radio sets. Yet the $11,000,000 CBS gross of this year is but one-fourth of what it .will be a decade later—so swift is to be the ascent of CBS. * • * The Miracle Decade: 1931-1941 1931-1941—The miracle decade. The old frontiers are gone: there are fewer and fewer advertisers hidebound in the conviction that radio cannot sell goods for them. The dead space (from a sales point of view) has been cut down to a few hours a day—late in the evening, early in the morning, Saturday daytime, and Sunday until about 5 o'clock. And even the last two <of these great stone walls are crumbling. In 10 years the number of radio families has almost doubled. The number of CBS stations has increased by half again the 1931 total— but the network's total power has boomed 171%. Kate Smith's network, like Kate Smith's artistry, doesn't stop improving. The history of any network is to a large extent the history of its spon- sors. CBS's leading advertisers in 1940 were in the following industry classifications (in order); Foods, drugs, tobacco, soaps and house supplies, lubricants, confectionery and soft drinks, and automotive. That represents some stabilization—for CBS advertising repeats the scale of all advertising. All of the 10 largest advertisers in the United States in 1939 advertised on CBS, and by 1939 they all were veteran CBS sponsors, for CBS has an impressive record of sponsor loyalty and stick-to-it-iveness, Kate Smith's sponsor, the General Foods Corporation, was the third heaviest spender on radio in 1940—put more than $4,000,000 of its $5,867,349 6>^penditures' on radio on CBS. The Campbell Soup Company, second largest food advertiser on radio, .lut alb'^ts $4,044,389 on CBS. Colgate- Palmolive-Peet Company put more than three-quarters of its $4,334,222 on CBS; Lever Brothers put all but $114,152 of its $3,171,074 on CBS. The Battle of Thursday Night One of the famous chapters in rodio netuiorfc history reuolued oround the 8-9 p.m. niche Thursday night. The Rudy Vallee hour on the NBC red loT years domiTiated the audience and when CBS put Kate Smith against this entrenched popularity it seemed like a heart-breaking han- dicap. The battle tuns hard and long but eventually the Kate Smith program, under Ted Collins' guidance, turned the trick and in a dra- matic cliTmix the Smith show finally overtook and then passed Vallee. Today, of course, Kate Smith's Grape Nuts program is heard Fridays at 8 p.m. and Vallee has Thursday at 10 p.m. for a new sponsor, Sealtest. These are the C.A.B. facts of the fight: KATE SMITH RUDY VALLEE FIRST VAUDE CRITICISM Kate Smith, a Local Favorite, Played Earle, Washington, In 1926 WILLIAM S. PALET President Colambto BroadcMtln; System (From Variety Feb 10, 1926) KATE SMITH Songs 11 Mins.; One Earle, Washington, D. C. (V.P.) Give Kate Smith about six months' 'experience and she will blossom out as a blues singer who will grace any man's bill. The routining of her songs, with the exception of the final number, did not show to the best ad- vantage, Not only has this single a good voice but one of much volume. She switches from a sentimental ballad into a 'Madame Sophie Tucker' with ease and with a wallop behind it. Then, for good measure, she does, a dance handling 200 pounds plus with such grace as to take her away to a great finish. Booking followed the rapid rise of Miss Smith within but a very few wee|cs. Meakin. EDWABD KLAUBER Executive Vice-President Colambia Broadcasting System FIRST RADIO CRITICISM Kat« Smith Bevlewed While First Briefly WIUi NBC (From Vabiety, April 22, 1931) KATE SMITH Songs WJZ, New York Formerly a principal in 'Flying High' last season, Miss Smith recent- ly was engaged by NBC for exclusive broadcasts and has been assigned two IS-rninute periods weekly over this station. Her programs are bound to grow in appeal,« Miss Smith is one of the novelties NBC is using for some of the time taken from the Slumber Hour. Miss Smith appears after 11:30, which seems a handicap with name orchestras on at the same time. Miss Smith, however, should build up a following as she has a voice which is catchy^ using a crooning style which pleases. . PAUL W. KESTEN Vice-President Colombia BroadcmstIng System