Variety (Oct 1941)

84 RADIO REVIEWS Wednesdaj, October 29, 1941 FBANK FAT Kltti Bob Hannon, Beverly A Boy Friend! (Continentals), Harry Salt- er's orohestrs, Eddie Parks, Keenan Wynn Variety te HIna. TUMS Tharsday, 10:3( pjn, WEAF-NBC Bed (Stacfc-Coble) Much was expected from Frank Fay's return to big-time radio, but tte so-so material, slow tempo and tar-from-new variety formula pre- sented opening night (23) launched him with a major disappointment. He •was still Fay, clever, glib, suave. The guy everyone wants to like. But that delayed delivery must compete with Hope, Skelton, Cantor, Benny, Allen, The old VBUde routines are not enough when the mugging and by- play is lost Fay has the talent, but evidently not the writers who can furnish and embellish that ability. Opening show. Fay didn't have a strong laugh for his fireside audience, though the visual crowd in the studio appeared to be getting a lot more a'ttiusement. That's puttinjg the aim of a radio pro- gram in direct reverse—pleasing a --comparativ«few.«nd-leaving thevast air audience wondering 'what's so funny?' Having the audience ask Fay questions, with the comic supposed to pay $2 for every wrong answer, was strictly for visual consumption. And for what radio purpose was that lexy-voiced Dagmar from the Bronx? That's a repeat from the old Palace. It was as Gumless as it was unfunny, £ermittlng the sequence to trail ofl ito virtual uninteUiglbllity. With Fay's quiet delivery and the girl's low,- deep-throated voice, their dia- log had the animation of a Quaker meeting. Fay's opening couple of gags showed some promise and that •Public Understander' (or P.U. for sliort) routine with. an unbilled stooge might be built into a good running situation if written "up.' But then came the first bad letdown with Murphy (Parks) and O'Brien (Wynn), the hokey playwrl^ts. It was low-grade com. An. NBC staft producer directed the show. A tough and perhaps unfair assign- ment Show's other entertainment quall- ' ties are good. Bob Hannon, tenor who is coming more and more into his own as a topnotcb radio singer, did well with Time Was.' Beverly •nd Her Boy Friends, formerly billed as the Continentals, neatly harmon- ized 'Hi KeighborV and 'One, Two, Three O^Leaxy,' while thst radio de- Sendable, Harry Salter's orchestra, elivered accompaniment to the sing- ers and.a 'navy song" medley on its own In crackerlack fashion, Salter, however, took tne rap at the end tor - oS-timiiNS, the pjrogram's abrupt finish cutting shairply into Salter's medley apparently a minute or two before its natural ending. Turns, howevei:, made sure of one aingr-its plugs weren't sacrificed. It might weoA a sample package to all the listeners of the inauguraL Scho. ' Kerby CnshlncKYW Philadelphia Iports gabber, has been appointed apecial' assistant in charge of radio .'for the 'Hale America' campaign under the Office of Civilian Defense. The appointment was made by John B, KeUy, U.S. Director of Civilian Health. ADBIENNE AMES Tan Mar of Air' Talk IS MIns.—Local Soslalning T-T-S, 7 pjn. WHN, New lo.k Taking over the spot formerly held by Lyle Talbot who went off the air about eight weeks ago. Miss Ames is currently dishing out the conventional type ol too-too-sweet film, theatre and Broadway gossip. She gushes breathlessly about name personalities, dwells with girlish ex- citement on approaching marriages among celebs, and sounds as it she's well-nigh overcome by the mere mention of the greats and near- greats in the industry. Miss Ames has voice of good mike timber and suffers largely from ma- terial which listens like a sloppy re- write from dailies or press releases. There is a lack of novelty in treat- ment of such mimeographed items, many of which had already been published, as Harry Carey's possible selection for film version of Mark Twain, John Barrymore's checking out of hospital, Rosalind Russell's marriage. Among other 'startling' items of information was one of a femme film star who went all the way from Hollywood to New York and back without being recognized by^a single 'pe)reoii""en rbilte; Isan f that wonderful? Chatter is split up and designated in form of pages. The fashion page appears likely to catch housewife audience. . Show caught included plug for 'Bundles for Britain' and opening of. 'How Green Was My Valley' (20th), preem funds going to the U.S. Navy ReUef Society. Mori. 20 Winks AMEBICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL' With Howard Barlow Orchestra, Nloolai BerezowsU Classleal Hosie 3* Hlni. Satnrday, 7:30 pju. WABC-CBS, New York CBS, in at^mpttng to present a full half hour of contemporary American works every week, is fol- lowing a highly commendable course, but one which is ndt very likely to have great recepUvity. Amerlcaa music, or at least Ameri- can symphonic music, has languished urmoticed for a long time and despite every attempt to interest the public in it, or its composers, continues to play a back seat to its jazzy sister. The first work presented was Be^ezowski's concerto for viola with the composer playing the viola. It exemplifies better than any words why American serious music fails to catch popular fancy. The work is well orchestrated, and some of the melodic line is excellent but the consistent dissonances and violent discord of clashing Intricate har. monies is not likely to interest a pubUe brought up on the catchy tunes of lAodem jazz. The second movement, an allegretto rubato, is the most melodious, but even here, the technicality of the work pre- cludes deep Interest on the part of any but musicians interested in new forms. American composers seem afraid to write melodies, and yet if the most intricate scores of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Mozart or Haydn are examined-Ihey will be found to abound in melody which' Is basically what makes for their endurance and lasting popu- larity. To take a page from the books of these masters , would not be amiss for our budding composers. Shouldn't WEAF blush a littl* for that 10:30-11 p.nL half-hour of a Friday night?... .Some of the main comics are alr^dy pulling back material from last season, and the year before that while sticking pretty close to the formulae that got them there. But you can't hate 'em for that, Allen has cut dawn his ad libbing, as well as the amount of dialog formerly assigned Kenny Baker and Al Goodman, and probably is the slowest come- dian on the air outside of Frank Fay. However, you've got to be awfully good to take the lib- erties that Allen does with tempo or repeat an entire se- quence, as he did last week, from the previous season.. Hope hasn't quite done this verbatim like Allen, but he's just put a dif- ferent color tie on the same idea many a time and thinks nothing of merely changing the "socks""bh~a'pe"f g"ag~and' send-' ing it out for another walk. Youngsters can learn something every week listening to Allen and Hope, the same as the kid band vocalists should make it a rule to hear Kate Smith and Bing Crosby each broadcast.... And doesn't Buddy 'Clark sing much better when he forgets about those grace notes? Vote 'Yes'... .That's an awful noisy- half-hour Count Basle chops out on WOR.'..We11 drop a nidcd in that thing to hear Al Goodman play 'Will You SUU Be Mifie?' Shudders of .the week: All band leaders who, when tm the air, talk like a limp handshake. Artlmr and Morton Havel, v«t comedy team of vaudeville, guestad Saturday (26) on th* Lever Bros, weekly vaude show on NBC-Bed (WEAF), getting creditable laugh resiUts with their familiar brand of clowning. While virtually all' their gags were standard, their delivery was nicely gauged for radio. Pair revealed themselves as a potential bet for regular appearance on a va- riety series. Also heard on the pro- gram caught were. Sylvia Froos, un- corking a sultry edition of 'Have to Dream the Rest,' and 'Windy' Cook, Philadelphia schoolboy, with a hu- morously uncanny collection of trick- voice sound effects. Harry Mc- Naughton and Ward Wilson, repeat- ing for sixth time on the show, nicely filled the closing spot with a com- edy routine stemming directly from their former work on the Phil Baker program. McNaughton played the same 'Bottle' characterization, with Wilson straightlng. Madeline Pierce and the Three Cats and a Canary handled the ingenious musical com- mercials, Dick Todd continued as so- loist, Jim Ameche as m.c, with Jlarry.Salter Adlrecting-4he -orches> tra. In radio, too, it's Better to be Lower Being in the right spot is impor- tant. Reminds lis of WMCA. It has New \brk's lowest frequency. (570 kc) with enough power (5000 watts) to reach over 12,500,000 people without waste. The reason? Simple. Lotv fre- quency means longer wave- length; /<?«^er wave-length means' maximum utilization of power. The best spot is the low spot. WMCA FIRST ON NEW YORK'S DIAL 'AMEBICAN HELODT BODB' With 'Vivian. delta Chlesa, Conrad Thlbanlt, Frank Mnrni, Frank Black 3« Hlns. BAYEB'S ASPIBIN Wednesday, 10 pjn. WJZ-NBC, New York. (BUzckett-SampIe-HumTnerC) What might rate in the trade ,bs the most interesting incident on this program is the fact that Frank Hum- mert, after many years of public anonymity, has stepped out to take a bow before, the listeners. He is crediting himself on this series as the 'creator and author.' The bill- ing announcement as aired on the initial installment (22) of 'The American Melody Hour,' suggests another precedent It Is perhaps the first time that an official of an advertising agency has, as far as the public ear is concerned, directly linked himself to the writiiig or pro- .duction of a commercial program. In pattern and general composition The American Melody Hour' may be deS9ribed 9s a carbon copy of the same account's 'American Album of Familiar Music,' which has oc- cupied a Sunday evening niche on the NBC-Red for over 10 years. "The American Melody Hour" is by rote, authordiip and design 1931 ra- dio. The orchestral arrangements couldn't be less unadorned with the finer nUances that radio music has gathered in the past few years. And If Hummiert is framing his late evening fare for the older folks who would assuage their day's harass- ments with such anodynes as soft music and Bayer's aspirin he nilght tone down the brasses. For the vocal department the pro- gram has gathered Vivian della Chiesa, one of radio's more talented sopranos; Conrad Thibault, whose baritone has ranged across the net- works for years; Frank Munn, a tenor of perennial standing on the Sunday night 'Album,' and a mixed choir. Frank Black, also as stand- ard as Munn, is the batonlst. Opening night's repertoire In- cluded 'Carry Me Back to Old Vlr- glnny,' 'In the Gloaming.' 'Just a Song at Twilight' and Schubert's 'Ave Maria.' "The finale consisted of' a medley of southern airs, and this one was certainly from Dixie. The third notable feature about this series Is its commercial section. It contains but two short lines of Identity copy; one line coming at the opening of the show and the other at the end. This line read, 'This program Is brought you by American druggists who supply you with Bayer's Aspirin.' Hummert is maybe establishing still another precedent Odec. Frank Danxlg Joins CBS Frank Danzig, formerly staff pro- ducer at WMCA, New York, has joined the production staff of CBS. Before working for WMCA, he did direc tor and announcer work at WHN and WNEW, New Yoric, and was at one time with the radio divi- sion of the Federal Theatre. He is a brother of Jerry Danzig, publicity head of WOR, New York. Follow-Up Comment Norman Cerwln presented "The Odyssey of Runyon Jones' Sunday night (26) as the single repeat of his '26 by Corwin' series on CBS. Larrv Robinson again olayed the title part, giving a full-dimensioned, nicely varied performance of the young- ster's touching quest for his little dog, Putzy. Play itself is an en- chanting fantasy, with a steadi^ en- grossing story line, many delightful comedy moments and a tenderly sen- timental climax. It's one of Cor- win's 'most successful creations and decidedly worth the repeat perform- tince. Alexander Seinler's musical background was expressive, the sound effects vivid and the produc- tion expert. HdcB Hayes triumphed over a dif- ficult characterization assignment and THE BOWEN BUGLER' With. Ken MeClore, Bil} Arms IS Mins,—Bcflonal BOWEN BUS LINES M-W-F, 5:00 pjn. KTSA, San Antonio From the studios of station KGKO in Fort Worth via the Lone Star (^hain in behalf of the Bowen Bus Lines comes this quarter hour pro- gram three times per week. It con- cerns itself with items from the various army camps and flying fields. Ken McClure has the task-of telling the folks at home that the boys are coming along -all right AS human interest,- letters from soldiers are read. Stress is on humor, pathos and routine in army life incidents. Contest to induce the soldiers to write is being held each week. For the best letter each week service man gets a round trip bus ticket from his camp to any point in Texas with $25 cash added for spehding mone^. Second prize is a round trip bus ticket and $10 while third prize is a bus ticket. If the soldier who wins is unable to get leave, he can reverse his winnings and have his mother or sweetheart come to visit him in camp. McClure has a pleasing voice and a nice manner of presentation. Com- mercials are handled by Bill Arms who stresses the fact that 'If you're goin*, -use Bowen.' Andy. an unnecessarily eoraplex narrative technique Sunday nignt (26) to give ■ believable, if ciirlouily unmoving performance of 'Kitty Foyle.' Ac- tress Is b;^ temperament and back- grouqd unsulted to the role of the 'fresh' Philadelphia shopgirl, but she brought the part to life regardless. Three perceptible fluffs (about par for a full season for her) doubt- lessly upset her, but didn't seri- ously mar the performance. How- ever, the technique of having the heroine's alter ego talk to her via the fllter-mlke as a switch to and from flashback scenes was artificial and disillusioning. . Myron McCor- mick and Richard KoUmar were ex- cellently cast as the loyal doctor- sweetheart and the weakling Philly scion, respectively. The story was, of course, sapolloed for the air. Jan Masaryk, foreigii minister of the refugee Czecho-SIovak govern- ment in London, guested via tran- scription Sunday night (26) on Jo- hannes Steel's program on WMCA, New York. He revealed little ac- cent and a surprising (if genuine) command -of-Idiomatic English; - Re-:"' cently arrived in the U. S., Masaryk told of latest conditions in London and related up-to-the-minute news via his underground sources from Prague. Neither he nor'Steel made any pretense toward the myth of neutrality or Impartiality about the war, both referring to Hitler, Goering and Hlminler in the most contemptu- otD terms. It was quite refrcishlng. Jack Benny htfs added a new char- acter to his show, apparently slated as a fixture. Newcomer Is 'Belly- laugh' Barton, a moppet gag writer, played by DIx Davis, juve actor from Coast radjo ranks. Kid debuted on last week's show and had a sockier spot Sunday night (26). as Benny signed him to bis scripting staff. Episode provided a chance to es- tablish the youngster's character and loosed several hef^y-lau^. It also supplied a springboard for a jibe or two at Bob Hope, for whom the urchin had intended to work. Bal- ance of the Sunday show was in Benny's familiar style, except that Eddie ('Rochester') Anderson was absent. Phil Harris' orchestra was ragged for the opening selection and, as a centerpiece, swung the trite 'Poet and Peasant', overture to death. In general, the program is getting into customary stride after its shaky start 'Mnsle Hall of the Air,' NBC Sresentation for the Radio City luslc Hall Sundays from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., had Ross Pratt, Canadian pianist, in his American .debut last Sunday (26), and Jan Peerce, tenor soloist, returned from three weeks with the San Francisco Opera Co. Pratt played only the third move- ment of the Rachmaninoff Concerto in D minor, but. that was sufficient to establish him as an outstanding artist at his instrument. Brilliant color and dynamic control were the keynote of his performance (a pre- Inde to a 'Town Hall recital next Saturday). Jan Peerce almost blew the radio apart with a tremendous rendition of 'Rachael Quand Du Seigneur' from 'Julve,' in which his golden tones rang the bell time and time again with top 'A's and 'B' flats. The 'La Donna e mobile' from 'Rlgoletto' was equally good, and Peerce concluded his program with 'El relate de Rafael' from 'La Dolorosa,' with a seat-lifting top 'C ^Ififlfl Ahead/ Tm, sir.. .there's a plenty hot winter ahead for sale* here in the TVArea! Old re<»rds are being cindered as sales, employment, salaries flame to new heights—new millions pour into TVA dams and defense industries! L hot market...and Tennessee's oldest station is . the matidi to set your sales on iire! _ 'Serlppi.Howard Radio, Inc., afflllatad with The Knexvllls Ntwi-StnUntl KNpXVILLE. TENN. N4£ "BnANHAflCoi^^