Variety (Jul 1941)

26 RADIO REVIEWS Wednesda7, July 9, 19il •MILLIONS FOB DEFENSE' With Fred Allen; Grace Moore, Mlokey Rooney, Jndy Gwiand, Charles Lanehton, 'Inlormatlon Flease' (ClIfloD Fadlman, Oscar Levant, John Klernan, F. P. Adams), Barry Wood, Bay Block choral E'oap, Al Goodman, Larry EllloU Variety 60 Mlns. TEXACO Wednesday, 9 p.m. WABC-CBS, New Tork (Buchanan) . First instalment of this U.S. Treas- ury Bond series, with Texaco paying the bill for the time, the band and the chorus, turned out to be a case of mass production in names but not £0 forte in production. There was a lack of fitting the right script to the star once he had been recruited, or rouUning the component parts so they would have a fluid, correlated compactness. In a few interpolated words Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, promised that this series •would be the 'finest programs that radio can provide.' As one accus- tomed to dealing in billions the secretary may be granted his in- dulgence in high optimism. Ol course, the names may get big audi- ences. Second week (tonight) offers Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. The stars give their services gratis and a Treasury's 'citation for per- formance.' Of the luminaries that appeared on last Wednesday's event Charles Laughton was deserving of an extra special award for his 'Gettysburg Address.' Although he has done it several times liefore on the air, in this instance his delivery not only packed a brilliant blend of emotion and inspiration, but it proved the most effective piece of selling for the article at hand. De- fense Bonds. The handling of the plug copy as such on the show was pretty flaccid. . To Fred Allen fell the lot of em ceelng the opening program in ad. dition to giving out with a crossfire rouUne. On the feeding end of the !gag Indulgence was Larry Elliott, Vfho reads the announcements, on Allen's ■ regular Texaco- connection. ■It took Elliott a little \Mhile before he could time his lines so that he wouldn't be treadiug on the laughs, but once he got into the-right gear things moved smoothly for the • comic. Allen kidded his relations •with the Treasury. department and made joke fare of the hot weather and vacations and drew a substan- tial quota of laughter. Later on Allen again got himself tripped up with a mike vis-a-vls: His partner , on the second occasion .was Grace Moore. Her reading as- signment, had to do with explaining What an important part the house- wife can play in providing the wherewithal for the buying.Of bonds and it was up-to Allen to fill in with questions.,' It wasn't long before they got their'lines crossed. Allen cor- rected the opera singer and a mo- ment later she corrected him_ And 'so it: went, making, hash of a not ^badly phrased bit of blurb writing. B^ore she got around to doubling as., a plug .spinner Miss Moore did 'One Fine Day' from Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly.' Miss Moore was .lii sterling voice and the pick-up was perfect, with the result that the interlude was a treat. Remaining star act that originated from New York was the 'Information, Please' crew. It was fairly diverting while it lasted. It was ' announced that contributors of imanswerable ques' lions would receive a $50 defense bond as a premium. The act's bright boys obviously passed up a comparatively easy one so that at least one of these bonds would be given away. Mickey Rooney and Judy Gar ■ land were cut in from Hollywood. The talk stuff allotted them was not ' radio and until they got going with 'Strike Up the Band' it was a stage •wait. ASCAP Was given credit on the program for the use of the lat- ter' tune and others, such as 'Any Bonds Today?', the Irving Berlin number which served not only as the theme song but the pivot for a bright musical sauce in which Barry Wood, Ray Block's chorus and Al Good man's orchestra all participated. Odec. 20 Winks The big problem among the New York late hour conferen- ciers (2 a.m. to coma)—which is more important, their own voice (personality) or the records? What a struggle! So we took a poll. The records won but the voting was close, 82,000 to 1... WHOM has quit the taps-to- reveille turmoil. This takes McCoy (The Real) and Kreuger from the scramble. . .Charlie Teagarden has a neat jump tune in Tea at Charlie's Tavern,* but the arrangement falls apart when it leaves the brass section ...Lil' Martha Tilton needs Lil' Ben Gage again to help her over those dialog hurdles.. .Bill 'Gee Whiz' Stem ought to istay away from track meets. It' only reminds that one of the regrets of radio sports reporting is that illness prevented. Huslng cover- ing the last Olympics. Husing announces a meet better than any Manhattan daily writes it Abramson, of the Herald Trib- une, leads the papers. Husing is much better at track than foot- ball. Honest. Shudders of the week: War- ing's femme vocal squad, espe- dially doing Three Blind Mice' ...Those Sonny Dunham mati- nees from Meadowbrook •with their shrieking trumpets and screaming kids. 'CAB CALLOWAY'S QUIZZICAL' 30 Mlns. Sunday, 9:30 p.ra. WOE, New York This musical quiz with Cab Callo- way, •^his orchestra and a studio of Negro contestants and spectators is such an instantaneous natural that it's a wonder nobody thought of it before. It's Douglas Storer's idea and production and It's one of the most spontaneous and infectious quiz shows on the air. Far from being any drawback, the racial angle gives it an extra boost, at least m perform' ance. Program is sub-billed as 'Harlem's own idea of what a musical quiz should be.' Except for George Ho I ian's introductory announcement, t's aU Negro, with Calloway and his boys, a lineup of .contestants demon- strating bow-much more diverting uninhibited colored amateurs can be. Unlike the whites, they're not self? conscious and tongue-tied when faced with the mike, but are natural comics, with a sense of fun and a bubbling good-humor. . , With one of the boys from the or. chestra, a frog-voiced guy they call Brother Treadway. playing handy- man and stooge, Calloway has the contestants roll dice to determine from which of a row of baskets they'll take a slip bearing a question Most, though not all, of the posers are about music and, according to an ar- bitrary system of his own, Calloway rates the answers as worth anywhere up to $5 each. Persons submitting the questions get $10. There's an opening query session, then an 'ex- pert department' (purely a courtesy gesture) and finally a 'Three-Star Special for Cab Calloway's Can of Cash.' Latter- is a kind of jackpot for all previous competitors. Besides adding atmosphere en thuslasm for the quiz intervals, the colored mob in the studio whoops it up. for the Calloway band's thr§.e numbers—particularly,., on Sunday (6) night's initial stanza, for 'Minnie the'Moocher.' Efforts are being made to extend the show from WOR to the Mutual network and, of course, to get a sponsor, possibly on a local participating basis. Only limitation would appear to be a sectional one becayse of the racial twist on the show. Hard to predict how such an intangible will work out but there' no logical reason why the program shouldn't go nationally and commer- cially, possibly even In the south. Kobe. ADVENTUBE9 OF THE ■ THIN MAN' With Lester Damon, Claudia Morgan 30 Mlns. WOODBURY PRODUCTS Wednesday, 8 p.m. WEAF-NBC, New York (Lennen and Mitchell) Aftsr much effort at finding a sponsor Dashiell Hammett's wedded characters of the whodunit realm, Nick and Nora Charles, are on the air. They're there to hejp sell cos- metics. What's closer akin to cos- metics than sex? This series ap- parently has set out to render the answer with pronounced conviction. In the introductory program (2) the alarums of death and threatened death ran but a poor second in dia- logic and productional treatment to wisecraclcs about the amateur de- tective's lothariol past and a nlghtle- hight scene. in the couple's bedroom. The lush overtones that the actress playing Nora put into the closing line, "Go away, Asta; go away' must have caused more than one affiliated broadcaster to lift his brows in spec- ulative surprise. The production itself is cut strictly to stock pattern. . The acting is uni- formly good, with the Nick and Nora of the radio doing a fairly good fac- simile of their screen' progenitors, William Powell and Myrna Loy. The crossfire/between them is Invariably crisp and diverting. Even though the direction has something wantingP Woodbury should find the series a magnet for week-by-week attention. 'The ad copy shuttles from face powder to cold cream. In either-in- stance the emphasis is on glamour, allure and the effect on the 'eyes of the man who means everything to you.' Also Sprinkled throughout the plugs are names of Hollywood lumi- naries. Woodbury's 'exciting' face- lowder, otherwise referred to as glamour dust' is 'scientifically keyed to type,'' while the use of the cleans- ing cream is described as a 'Holly- wood ritual.' Odec. •BALLADS FROM THE BIG TIM BER> Ceremonial 15 mlns.—^Loeal Sustaining Sunday, 3:16 p.m. KIBO; SeatUe 'Ballads From the Big Timber' was put on by KIRO to signalize the for- mal opening of the station on.50.000 watts power. Gave a condensed his- tory in song and story of the found- ing of what out here they call an empire. Program reflected credit on all departments of KIRO, notably Tommy Thomas, program director. Script and' musical arrangements by Paul Ashford, Ivar Haglund handled the solos in good voice, ably singing 'For Jefferson and Lil>erty,* 'Boule Roulant,' and 'Sweet Betsy from Pike* among the tunes which Ash- ford wove into his tale of liisty pio- neering. Burton W. James of the Repertory Playhouse was narrator, getting a lot out of script and Jack Klnzel struck the right note throughout In his announcing. Reed. ' JACK COFFEY ORCHESTRA With Beverley Blayne, Dick Kapa, Three Smart GIrU' 30 Mlns. F. W. FITCH Sundays, 7:30 p.m. WEAF-NBC, New York (Ramsey) Both Coffey and his band exhibit, ed sufficient talent in this, their first coast-to-coast hook-up, to indi- cate they are on the way, but pro gram was smeared by too frequent repeats of b^nd leader's appreciation cf chance Fitch was giving him, and Fitch's own incessant plugs for prod uct Copy smacked of earlier days of radio history. Band handles Itself well,^ and Coffey, outside of slight nervous- ness, exhibited good mike technique. ■Vocalist Beverley Blayne did credit- able job of The Things I Lotre,' and Dick Kaps' not quite so well on 'I Went Out of My Way.* Girl trio did nicely.. Several references were made to aid given band by Kay Kyser. There was a wire wishing Coffey success. All this might give impression that Coffey Is npt sure of band or him- self, which Should not be, as both he and his men are equal to respon- sibilities. YOU'RE THE EXPERT* With Fred UtUl 15 Mlns. CAMPBELL SOUP ' Dally, 2:30 p.m. WABC-CBS. New York Ward WheelocW This advice-to-the-lovelom style of audience quiz is so slim that un- less it's drastically revised it will have tough going even to get through the required four weeks un til Fletcher Wiley returns from his annual lay-off. About the only thing to recommend- 'You're the Ex- pert is its obviously modest budget. Otherwise it's an oops. Show has Fred Uttal doing yeo man work, but unable to keep the mike alive with any semblance of entertainment. • He has six guest 'experts' in the studio for each show to compete for cash prizes of $25, $10 and $5 (and gifts of Campbell's soup) by trying to give the best answer to such questions as 'Should you tell your best friend if her hus- band is getting involved with an- other woman?' and 'If your hus- band's father dies, should you con- sent to have his mother come to live with you?' Those were the stump- ers on Monday (7) afternoon's debut program, and they had the entrants either inarticulate with confusion or long-winded and inconclusive. It was brutal going for the listener the whole way. Each session is to have a guest 'judge' to decide on the winners for the cash prizes. On the initial stanza it was Adelaide Hawley, who conducts a 'Woman's Page - of the Air* via CBS. She did her best to unearth some s^nse from the various lanswers.' Del Sharbutt reads the Campbell's plugs in his familiar and distinctive style. This time he was plugging 'that delicious chicken i FoSow-Up Comment :; ♦♦♦ » ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦»♦♦» . ♦»♦♦♦♦< Raymond Gram Swing went tA London for White Owl cigars to speak .Monday (7) of smoked sal- mon and strawberries and who in Britain could afford them. It was a strange discourse to come over- seas from BBC to Mutual, and a strange subject to bring up, because unfortunately the net effect of the talk was that the more Swing in- sisted upon the fairness of rationing the more he kept reminding Ameri- cans of the British upper classes, the old school tie and fashionable Lon- don restaurants. It w-as neither very timely as spot news, nor a contribution to the cause. This reading of items off the menus has been done before, and when Swing spoke of the food sup- ply authorities being 'hard put' it aroused the speculation if he was not 'hard put' for material. For a man who has done such . incisive com- mentation since the early Munich crisis, this transoceanic was some- thing an embassy counsellor's wife might have done much better. It was an astonishing lapse from Swing's customary emphasis upon' first things first and at 3,000 miles a distinct disappointment Bnrress Meredith, debuting as em- cee of 'We, TJie People' last week, turned in attractive jolj. Flexible and vibrant-voiced, he finished the stint with a splendid reading of 'punch lines' from the Declaration of Independence. Meredith fits into the emcee role on such a program, hav- ing handled similar assignments on some of The Free Company's broad- casts. One of the guests on 'We, The People' was Edgar Fairchild, orches- tra leader of Eddie Cantor's air show, who offered amusing piano 'doodles.' John Gunther and Walter Puranty, guest-experting on 'Information, Please,' last Friday (4) night were called on by Clifton Fadiman as au- thorities at one point in the show to give capsule expressions of their opinions on the current Nazi-Soviet warfare. Gunther was. inclined to be bearish, which is not to say he looks for a Russian victory. Duranty, more articulate and having more definite opinions, was definitely op- timistic. It was an unusual and a distinctly showmanly twist for the show. Upton Sinclair spoke', from Cali- fornia, about his latest two novels, 'End of the World' and 'Between Worlds,' after Professor Alpheus Smith, of Northwestern University, had discussed them, on 'Men and Books,' in Columbia's Chicago studio. Sinclair spoke clearly and forcibly but withal mildly, especially in one of his crusading reputation. Pro- fessor Smith, substituting during an eight-week vacation of • John T. Frederick, professor of journalism at Northwestern, is, for a teacher, quite a dynamic broadcaster. On his first three salvos, he has talked about books which touch upon the inter- national situation.. 'While so doing, he has made slashing attacks on Nazism and fascism. In one case, when William L. Shirer was guest- ing for a discussion of 'Berlin Diary,' the Northwestern University professor lashed at American news- papers and publishers for their han- dling of the war news and its back- ground. Professor Smith seems to give the half-hour a wider appeal than Professor Frederick usually does. noodle soup.' . Kobe. 'WHAT'S MY NAME7' *- With Arlene Francis, John Reed King 30 Mlns. ROYAL GELATINE Sunday, 8 p.m. WEAF-NBC, New York (Sherman K. EMU) This audience quiz, written and produced by Ed Byron and Joe Cross, is virtually the same as when it was sponsored by Philip Morris and Ipana-Sal Hepatica. It still of- fers a sliding scale of cash prizes ($10 to $5) for contestants guessing the identity of current historical or literary figures, Arlene Francis is again the femme m.c. and John Reed King now has the male portion of the same assignment, in place of Budd Hulick and Fred Uttal, who formerly had it. Show Is sponsored by Standard Brands, holding the 8- 8:30 spot Sunday nights on NBC-Red (WEAF) during Edgar Bergan's lay- off. Product is now Royal (^elatlne and the agency Sherman K. Ellis, in .stead of Chase & Sanborn and J. Walter Thompson, respectively. Nothing much to be-said for the program that hasn't been said be- fore. It's plausible low-price sum- mer entertainment. Opening commercial on the stanza a dramatized bit about a Hollywood yes-man named Bemie Blink, was pretty coy. And of course the prod< uct gets a mention on every give- awey. Hobe. Ray Collins turned In a spiffy job Sunday night (6) as narrator of 'Be- tween Americans,' the 10th in the '26 by Corwin' series for 'Columbia Workshop.* It was more than a skill- full performance by an expert actor;, it was also sincere, warm, vibrant and stiri'lng:~C0illri5-t(Tis-heipsd: o^ course, by the part, which offered unusual scope in mood and flavor. Program itself was just an 'informal essay for informal listeners,' & dis- cussion about America and a few of the things, mostly little things, that make it unique and great. It's al- ways hard to define the qualities that make simple expressions eloquent Instead of banal Yet something in this 'Between Americans* often touched an inspiring note. Incident- ally, Alexander Semmler's musical score was pliantly exoressive, but his overture. 'Columbia Workshop on a Quiet Night* without any reflection on own^ merits as a composition, seemed unrelated to the rest of the show. 'Listen to the People,' by Stephen Vincent Benet Is the second of that poet's recent stuka-pieces for de- mocracy. As a Fourth of July of- fering, with Henry Hull, Otto Preminger. Robert Gray, Kathryn Emer.v, Richard Gordon. Harold Vermilywa and others, it was a fairly vivid re-telling in terms of radio montage and symbolism- of the basic humanity of democracy. DU^ attention was paid the appeasers, the sunny-weather idealists. It sounded somewhat like - other long free verse spectacles of recent years. Which is not a criticism, but a recog- nition of the gradual growth of a 'CLAUDIA AND DAVID' With PstrleU Ryan, Richard Kou. . mar, Jane Seymour, Irene Hqb- bard, Charlei Stark, Peter Van Sleeden oreh - - 30 MSns. GENERAL FOODS Friday, 8 p.m. WABC-CBS, New York (■young. & Aubicam; After a four-week breiik-in as a 15-mlnute dramatic spot on the K.ite Smith program, this Hose Franken and William Brown Meloney radio adaptation of the former's Red Book mag stories took over last week the first half-hour of the same Friday night time. General Foods is con- tinuing to plug Grape Nuts, but will presumably use program for another product when Miss Smith returns to the spot in the fall. Meantime, the show is now titled 'Claudia and David,* to differentiate it from Miss Franken*s John Golden- produced stage play, 'Claudia,' at the - Booth theatre, N. Y. And as added precaution, the program has a spe- cial disclaimer at the sisn-off, that it and the play are not the same and' that the events used in the program 'occur prior to and are entirely dif- ferent from those in the play.' That's apporently in response to Golden's squawk that the radio series was in- juring tfie legit show. Co-authors Franken and Meloney are billed at the close of the program, while Pa- tricia Ryan and Richard Kollmar get air -mention at the opening as Uie title players. In, its half-hour length, 'Claudia and David' remains a commercial radio natural, probably even more so than in 15-minute form. It's in- clined to be overly sentimental—or at least Its- sentimental passages tend to be a trifle mawkish—but the char- acters, particularly the two leads, are well defined, the comedy is amusing and the story has continuing move- ment Miss Ryan must have been cast and sounds as if she were being di- rected with an ear to Dorothy Mc- Guire, who plays Claudia in the stage play. Her voice is surprisingly like Miss McGuire's, and frequently her intonation and inflection further the similarity. Nevertheless, she oc- casionally sounds slightly young for the part, even considering Claudia's chlltuike quality. Kollmar is ma- ture, even robust, as David. Jane Seymour, as Mrs. Brown, Claudia's mother, sounds quite like Frances Starr, who has the same part in (he ?ilay. That's creditable enough, rene Hubbard 'suffered on Friday night's (4) chapter because of a too- rapid character transition in the part of Mrs. Norton, David's mother. Smaller parts of a maid and a doctor were satisfactory. Sam Fuller's direction skillfully accents the character contrasts and mood changes, also getting expres- sive pace. Peter Van Sleeden's mu- sical cues are helpful. Charles Stark reads the blurbs and intros accept- ably. Incidentally, an introductory announcement that 'Claudia and David' have been broupht to the air 'because you asked for them' is super-corn. Hobe. 'VOICE OF FREEDOM* With Wendell Willkie, Burgess Mere- dith, Lyie Talbot, Myron MeCor- mlok, Richard Waring, Boyd Crawford, Bernard Zanvllle, Santos Ortega, Floyd Buckley, Tom Holer, Stephan Sohnabel, Vincent Dono- hne, Carol Peterson, Patsy 0*Shes 30 Mlns. Sustaining Thursday, 8 p.m. WJZ-NBC, New York This single-shot sustainer on NBC- Blue (WJZ) last Thursday (3) night must have been promising on paper, but it remained strangely unmoving via the air. Reason wasn't readily deflnable. The theme (freedom) and the occasion (eve of July 4) were naturals, but the broadcast somehow refused to ignite. Perhaps the fault lay in the script which seemed too Inclusive, too rambling, chopped up into too many different scenes to -perm3.t,the creation or maintenance of a mood or emotional feeling. After an introductory spiel by Wendell Willkie (it, too, was curi- ously tame), the dramatic portion of the show consisted of excerpts from historical quotations ^nd poems, all more or less a contrnst to an opening and closing background of a typical- ly ranting Hitler oration. (Iricident- ally, the latter device was eloquently used by Archibald MacLeish for a 'Free Company' program last win- ter.) • The dramatic bits were more di- vided than bridged by- chor.il music cues. Burgess Meredith was sincere and'vigorous as narrator, while such recognizable voices as Myron Mc- McCormick, Richard Waring and Boyd Crawford were expressive ns various historical figures, in several cases doubling. Waring, surprisingly enough, revealed traces of the Welsh accent he uses in the legit play "Corn Is Green,' while whoever read the Gettysburg address dawdled over it. Arthur Hanna's direction wa." cap- able, but hardly Inspired. Hobe. new kind of democratic literature written for broadcasting. Taken with other activities it stressed anew that the Council of Democracy (this was on the NBC Blue) has displ.iyed aggressive showmanship ol a firsl- rate professionalism.