Variety (June 1942)

88 RADIO REVIEWS Wednesday, Jane .24, 1942 BEN BEBNIE With Cesar Fetrlllo's Orchestra, Jack FnltoD, Kiofs Jesters, Gale Bob- bins, Boss Brown Variety P. K. vmiGLET 15 Mlos^ Mon.-Frt., 6:45 p.m. WABC-CBS, New York (.Mayerhoff) Ben Bernie is back for Wrigley gum, with the same format as last year, a flve-times-a-week late after- noon quarter hour. It's heftier in general substance and, even more advantageously, lighter on the com- mercials. Show was almost a yowsah plugfest last season, and even the ole maestro, with his in- gratiating musical con, couldn't quite onset the overly talkative commercials. Now he does it more palatably, further attuned to a 1942 war-production keynote; that is. If you want a little respite, and still not lose a minute at the job, chew gum, Wrigley's or any other chicle. In between Bernie intersperses the competently tenoring Jack Fulton, the vocally rhythmic King's Men, songstress Gale Bobbins and Buss Brown, plus other by-name- mentioned salutes to the side men who take the riffs and the breaks in •trlde under Cesar PetrlUo. The inclusion of the sundry variety specialists, and their manner of handling the small talk (such as Fulton and the Jesters, ex-Paul Whltemaniies, with emphasis on the difference of. money between the ^ean of maestros and the ole maestro) is good change of pace. Finale, per custom, Is 'Pleasant Dreams.' Withal, at the 5:45 p.m. slot it's a focko 15 minutes and the 'chicle for llefense' commercial format sells well. Abel, •ADOtF AND MBS. BDNTON' SflOi Bctt« Davis, Banal Conrled, Arch Obolcr, Charles Dant orch $0 Mins. Snoday, 5:30 p.m. .WEAF-NBC, New York This 20th and final program of Arch Oboler's 'Plays for Americans' merles on NBC-Red from the Coast was obviously intended and expected to be something ultra. Script was written . before Pearl Harbor, but was kept oft the air at that time, reportedly because it was regarded 4s too explosive. Bette Davis played ihe principal part and Oboler him- self spoke at the close to express thanks to the listeners and to those who had participated in the series. It was supposed, quite plainly, to be •n occasion. Under the circumstances, the na- ture of the show was all the less explicable. Miss Davis gave; an ini- Ctsive performance,.as one of those Oboler characters who talk to them- selves. Having just seen hubby off to an Army camp, she wished. to God, as she drove home through .Connecticut, that Hitler were there with her. She'd tell him a thine or two. Whereupon a hltcTi-hiker turned out to be Adolf himself. When he realized he was in America and thpj a crazed woman was going to wreck the car to kill him, he blub- bered and sobbed In hysterical, cow- ardly terror. After the crash, Mrs.' Bunyon was told by rescuers that there'd been no one in the car with her. At that she was in a frenzy to see the next morning's news- papers, apparently expecting to read of Der Fuehrer's death. Doubtless that was fantasy and erobably it was supposed to be sym- ollc, or something. It was fantas- tic, but what -it all. meant was best known to Oboler, and possibly Miss Davis and Hans Conried, who played Hitler with revolting effectiveness. It was pretty incomprehensible. Hobe. THE WILL TO FBEEDOM' War Dramas S* Mlns. Bostalninr • Monday, 10:30 p.m. WABC-CBS, New York Leather-strips brought down hard on workers' backs by Jeering essoh- bees in Gestapo uniforms seems to be the dominant note of this series. It undertakes to make depravity vivid In terms of conquered nations' resistance to their autocrats. It's a mirror held up to hateful gentry and it s likely to produce a hateful leehng. The series is a legitimate exhibit In the running debate on how piuch we must feel and what place feeling, as distinct from plan- ning and fighting, should play in this .war. , ,,This episode concerned the Czechs.' More especially^ the late, delightfully departed Heydrlch, he of the flat- skulled, blonde Nordic bestiali^. The script by Leigh White and Ranald MacDouglall was peppered with small incidents, captions, part dram- atized, part shouted. The direction of William N. Robson held them to- gether. But it was not a standout example of war propaganda. It re- iterated the familiar, and added the- atrical touches to the headlines. . Fundamentally this sort of pro- gram does not need to be memo- rable, or even especially momentous or moving. It Is one broadcast, one blow, one Impression among many ell designed to drive home to Amer- icans that this war Isn't a trifling matter Involving a few economic gains or losses, but a challenge from creatures who feel, think, act, reason and aspire wholly differently from Americans. Land. LOn HOLTZ With Jeff Alexander Orchestra, Mil- dred Bailey, Stories, Songs, Muslo 16 Mlns. Soatalnlng Sunday, 7:16 p.m. WABC-CBS, New York That master raconteur of the folk tales of the Bronx, Lou Holtz, is pre- sented by Columbia as one of its offerings of the new and more imag- inative program department of the network. Apart from the faith in Holtz as a talented guy ..lat CBS has revealed, perhaps the smartest CBS touch of all is in making it a quarter hour. This enables Holtz to spin two or three of his fancies in mutilated grammar. Holtz can prob- ably meet this material demand rather than 30 minutes or more, with plenty of salami to spare. Two—or, three—Holtz stories at 7:15 p.m. may become an ideal antipasto for the Sunday night radio diversion. It helps, too, that Mildred Bailey is there, torchy and wowy, and that Jell! Alexander's rnusic is tastefully barbecued. Marx Loeb produced the quarter hour, which was neat, smooth, sav- oury and promising. Z,and. 'SOLDIERS OF GOD' With Conrad Tlilbault, Vincent Prioe, Jeffrey Lynn, William Bolden, James Roberts, Robert Keasbey, Llent. David W. Bray, Capt. Marl' ner T. SmIUi, Joseph Stopak Orchestra 30 Mlns. Sustaining Tnesday, 8:30 p.m. WJZ-Blne, New York Robert Eisenbach, now a private but formerly under Abe Schechter at NBC, wrote this one-timer with Corp. Williams Davidson on an idea of Private Carl Ruff, ex-Mutual. It was produced by Charles Warburton as a one-timer on the Blue. Public Relations Section of Eastern Defense Command lent its auspices, the 40- voice choir directed by Lieut. Bray and the presence of a chaplain, Capt. Mariner T. Smith. Piece was frankly out to glorify chaplains. The narrative-illustrative method was used, the Influence of Corwin ■ being ever present In the script. Results were middling. The program asserted rather than proved its thesis. It was all pretty surfacey, obvious, not quite grand enough for the implied grandeur .of religion on the field, of death. Talking about men who serve God calls for one of two possible treat- ments presumably: one, simple, heart-tug stuff which is infinitely difficult to write, ot second, epic di- mensions equally difficult to pro- duce on radio. 'Soldiers of God' came to Its most moving pa.vage with the climax that ha4 orchestra and chorus rendering a new patriotic ballad by John La- Touche and Earl Robinson.. Charles Warburton made the pro- duction stick together well enough. What was there was brought out Vincent Price was not the Ideal voice for the requirements of the occasion. . Land. ■YANKEE HOUSE PARTY' 30 MINS. Snstalning Tnesday, 11:30 ajn. WNAC-Yankee Network, Boston This snow proved fast-moving. The 14-piece band sounded ftill and was especially appealing because the arrangements stressed the melody, and also gave the vocalists fine back- grounds. Ted Cole gave stirring rendition of 'Bombardiers' Song,' fol- lowed by soprano Ruth Owens in 'Now and Forever' for good change of pace. Then the program swung to Fran- cis J. Cronin at the new mammoth organ improvising interestingly on 'Three Blind Mice." Another pleas- ing shift brought on George and Dixie in a hill-billy, 'Skip to My Lou.' Band played 'Playful Prelude.' Ruth Owens and George Wheeler combined in a pleasing duet of 'Silver Moon' from 'My Maryland.' All took part In quizzing Mrs. Colin P. .Kelly, Jr.^ widow of the war hero, with questions ranging from her baby, home life, to her present activities on sale of War Bonds and Stamps. She handled herself ex- tremely well. Band closed with 'We Did It Be- fore and We'll Do It Again.' An encore from each artist would have been welcome, plus more in- strumentel numbers, but show would necessarily have to be stretehed to an hour. WNAC has shot the works with nice results. Paul 'DEAR ADOLPH* Letters to SeUeklegraber 15 Mlns. Snstalnlng Sunday, 6 p.m. WEAF-NBC, New York. With this series by Stephen V, Benet, the Council for Democracy reasserts .itself :.s an encourager, producer and booker of eloquent pieces. The Council did much he- fore the war to articulate the ideo- logical issues rf this struggle, using for that purpose on several occa slons this same writer. Each week Herr Schickleg^ber Is to be addressed by an American, First, a farmer (played by Raymond Massey, without v/hom no morale series of broadcasts could be offi- cially launched...In. this, war) and next week a businessman to be im' personated by Melvyn Douglas. Helen Hayes, as a housewife, will follow, and so on. It's an 'are-you-lIstenlng-Adolph?' Idea. The voices are ried for sec tlonal dialect, for related points of view. Tom Bennett's music (directed by Joseph Stopak) sketchlly unites the elements, all of which funnel through the-narrator personality. It adds up to a vivid reminder to Americans, a hurling of scorn ' at the would-be enslaver. Pieces of this kind acquire their basic sincerity from the author rather than the actors. Benet's method is to sound familiar chord, translate ordinary people's political thinking Into the vernacular. Here the farmer considers his own life, his neighbors, his son in the army, the vagaries of nature and crops. Life is hard, but his' kind of people would not make it easier, if they could, by de frauding anybody. The Nazis aren't nice people. They aren't decent. And the slow-spoken, furrowed' and fur- row-cutting farmer slowly gets very, very angry. Farmers ' in the aggregate will 'choke Adolph on wheat and corn, smother him in cotton and soybeans. Land. • 'SUSPENSE' With Charles Rnggles, Julie Haydon, Bob Emory,. Ted Osborne, Irene Winston Mystery Drama 30 Mins. Snstalnlng Wednesday, 10:30 p.m. WABC-CBS, New York Columbia has token up here where it left off last summer. The 'Suspense' framework was part of the 'Fore- cast' group of sample programs. The thing that marked the presentotion of the mystery. Item last summer was the attachment of Alfred Hitchcock's name to the piece for publicity pur- goses. Hitehcock was supposed to e the producer, but when rehear- sals were called in Hollywood the film megger was in New York en- joying his favored two-inch steaks. Charles Vanda produced the sample 'Suspense' and the job that came out of CBS' studios last week by way of New York was also •performed by him. It .was okey-^pke entertain- ment but nothing to get especially excited about For the revival of the 'Suspense' idea as a regular series the Colum- bia producing menage could have chosen a better openmg fable; John Noxon Carr's story 'The Burning Corpse,' didn't lend itself to the "sort of adaptotlon that makes the most out of radio's peculiar technique. Both the. scrlpter, Harold Medford, and the producer appeared to have no little difficulty keeping the skeins of the narrative from getting en- tangled. At times it was rather hard on the listener to keep the numerous characters properly indexed. ' The plot had to do with a femme poisoner, the theory of reincarnation on empty crypt and the stupidity of a, 8uy Tt'ho knew he was dealing 1.=*^ Borgia but who qualified the mickey anyway. Cast credits over the air were nmited to Charles Ruggles and JuUe Haydon. Ruggles who was described as a comedian whose craving to play l^iti^^^iJ?^}"^ ""O^® was herein being fulfilled, gave a sharply de- fined performance in the -character of the author with a yen for poi- soning cases. The mechanical device was the now common form of having S.,^°J£*""'.^°""L"^*^ *e unfoldment and the action being interstlced be- ijy.tf-?- first-person comments. Ruggles was that narrator. Julie Haydon underplayed the part of thfe niodem Borgia almost to the point of vocal extinction, while Bob Em- ory and Ted Osborne each put plenty of dread into their lines. T^e scor- ing of the musical bridges was of standout quality. Odec. THE NATOU OF THE ■mCHn' With Barry Kroeger, AUeu Eawltt, Ta4 Oabenie 25 Mlns. Tnesday, tM pjn. WABC-CBS, New York What makes this a noteworthy contribution to radio's literature on the war Is Its forthright, blunt, scornful but stlU factual treatment, of the personalities behind the Axis front. As with the previous CBS •They Live Forever" a network Itself has elected to take off Its frockcoat, roll up Its sleeve and apply the verbal shillelagh to quarters that It has been long due. It's a superior job because of neat surgical tech- nique. "The Nature of the Enemy' pulls no punches, splatters its victim of the occasion with odium of a most seering grade and yet con- veys the impression that the author of the indictment is indulging in under,stotement The note that reverberates through the program is not one of anger, fist-cIenchlng or defiance. If any- thing, it suggests a tone of warning, A warning which is backed up by the blistering white light of fact culled from personal history. There are opening charges that may stortle the more squeamish listener but by the' time the program has run Its course those charges have been proved conclusively and in a way that it will be hard to forget im' mediately. 'The Nature of the Enemy' tees off from the thesis that the figures that have or are playing a grand and bloody part within the ramparts of the Axis are men whose acts and backgrounds classify them as per verts, pimps, dope-flends, thieves and international second-story ex- perts. It's a tough narrative for a network to bring into the homes of the American people but, to resort to an old wheeze, to be forewarned Is to be forearmed. That element of warning is lifted .to a superbly dra- matic pltoh at the closing moment of the program when a victim of Axis invasion takes over the mike for a brief statement. In the Instance of the Initial instaUment (17) that fadeout speaker was Jan Masaryk, former vice-premier of Czecho- slovakia and now representative of that Government in Exile in this country. All that Masaryk had to say was that the program has given the American people a pretty good- idea of the nature of the men that are now running my country.' And then he added, 'Make damn sure that they don't run yours.' For the Introductory Installment of this series Colombia chose the per- sonal history of Franz Von Papen. The writing, the direction, thk nar- rating (Barry Kroeger) and acting on the program were uniformly tops. The production was perfectly balanced and the paie with which ft moved and socked earned a spepial tribute for Charles Vanda, who was in general charge. von Papen has devoted "his lite to treachery, betrayal and villainy. He has been for decades a 'professional Judas.' Characterizations of Von Papen and Hitler were deftly compounded by Allen Euwitt and Ted Osborne, re- spectively. Odcc, Sumining Up For Democracy l^>r^u''^''^o^ roundteble discussion between Rex Stout,' Herbert Agar Michael Strange and Henry J. Taylor was televised by CBS In New York under the chairmanship of George Seldes. It concluded with what may weU serve as an ideally concise, clear and punchy appeal for war bond purchase, to wit: , " ' Announcer: The most important thing, about the program we have Just transmitted Is that we could send it and. you could receive it—In Short, that we live in a free country. You are free to approve or dis- approve of the opinions of one or even aU of the table' talk guests. And they are free to think, to talk, to persuade one another-or you. To preserve this priceless freedom—which has disappeared from vast portions of the globe—buy war stamps—buy war bonds—buy them every pay day—for Uberty. • *^ ' " u^—ouy HELLO FROM HAWAIT 25 Mlns. Snstalnlng Satnrday, 4 pjn. WABC-CBS, New York "Under strict military regulation 'and, for a time, curfew, Hawaii has not been enjoying this war. Nervous and cut off more or less, with mail and phone and other contacta re- duced to an official ordering, there is ;}Ossibly ample morale reasons for his. servicei of programs by which the Hawaiian garrispn ' speaks to friends and relatives In the states. It is as such that 'Hello from Hawaii' should be judged, for as entertain- ment it was just filler-inner, not quite up to network standards. , Material is of routine local studio quality. The weakest portion, as might be supposed, was the attempt at comedy. Gab about a date, with a Polynesian beauty, a supposed trip by jeep, through downtown Hono- lulu, was pretty vague to the Inex- perienced listener 5,000 miles away. Strange-sounding, too, was one line of dialog In which a soldier ad- dressed his date as 'my brown- skinned cutie,' or words to that ef- fect However, for those who know the Hawaiian background it may possibly have "been very nostalgic. The program conveyed little infor- mation, although a few generaliza- tions about things being ship-shape now at Pearl Hsrbor, ete, were in- cluded. New York was 'saluted' on the program reviewed. Soldiers from this area spoke, reading 'letters' to their families. Nevada and Penn- sylvania will be addressed by this method in the succeeding two broad- casts. Idea Is that three fighters broadcast what they have written just before posting the letters for physical delivery. . Atmospherics were not Ideal this Saturday, but program was reason- ably clear technically. No doubt' there are many technical production difficulties, including censorship, in an undertaking of this sort at this time. Webley Edwards, of KGMB, Honolulu, Is credited with the pro- duction in collaboration with U.S. morale officers, whose names were not quite clear over the air. Lajtd. VM^B. DETROIT* • With E. A, Clark, orchestra, chorna 30 BUBS* Sustaining Satnrday, 3:30-4 pjo. WABC-CBS, New York . First of a series produced by WTR. Detroit, and aired Saturday after- noons by C^S in cooperation with the Automotive Council lor War-Pro- ductlon to show what the auto in- dustry is doing to help win the war was mostly highblown tedium, but It contained one reasonably interest- ing and Informatiya bit That was a straightaway spiel by E. A. Clark sales vice-president of Budd Wheel and a member of the board of direc- tors of ACWP, contrasting how France did too little too late indus- trially and the U. S. is building for victory. He ended with the sugges- tlon that listeners write for a book- let called The Job Is Being Done.' That part of the program, running about.. 10 minutes, was frank and rather good ballyhoo by a major in- dustry to sell itself and Its usefulness to the public. It was directly; simply and clearly written in words anyone could grasp. Its main fault was that it gave too little, rather than too much, detail about what is being done and how, though presumably some of that lack was due to war- time censorship.- Clark read the script capably, with agreeable voice and diction and, no apparent mike fright Rest of the program was orchestra and chorus music and it was defini- tely dull, There was 10 minutes of it to open the show and 10 minutes to close it. Selections were intro- duced amid a fog of pompous blurbs about 'music for America working" and 'we work as you fight," ete. But it was undistinguished music, or at least was made to sound so, and it was all Irrelevant .to th6 theme of the program. The Idea,' obviously, was to dress up the ACWP message and sugar coat it Possibly that might be done by using dramatized episodes, sound effects and fairly elaborate production. It certainly won't be pointless music. Hobe. FALLS CITY BREVITIES With Jaok Brooks, Ardella Layne, Howard. Dorsey, WHAS Chorns, Carol Watson, Robert HotseU's Orchestra 30 Mlns. —Loc al FALLS CITY BREWING CO. WHAS, LonlsvlUe New half hour series produced by the WHAS staff is a blend of music, singing and a dramatization of an Incident in which the partici- pant Is a resident oi the WHAS area. Stanza maintained a lively pace partly thanks to Jack Brooks, singing m,c. with effervescent-per- sonally. (He's whilom partner of the team Brooks and Ross, of Chi- cago stations and CBS.) ' ' Group of 12 choristers, directed by Ed Barrett, was markedly im- proved. Singing group was much more flexible, and handled pop harmony arrangements with more skill and ease thap when they were on a Sunday night sustainer, fed to CBS, during the winter months.' Barrett has the -group well blended, liointing up each nuance, and the >oys and girls now compare favor- ably with network mixed voice en- sembles. Chorus had Important chore in 'Who,' 'Summer Tiftie,' and the group lent solid vocal back- ground -to the songs of Brooks and Ardella Layne. Fimme vocalist, Ardella Layne, formerly a chorus member, han- dled a couple pops In standard style. Gal's voice is pitched low, with a sultrv .quality, and she has good in- tonation." Her tempo seemed to be draggy and had a tendency to slow up the pace of .the show. . Supported by the chorus. Miss Layne limbered up her pipes on 'Sleepy Lagoon' and 'Here You Are.' Dramatic reading by Carol Wat- .json was of an editorial 'Freedom Is Made of Simple Stuff' by Hazel Parker, young Courier-Journal' re- porter. -Straight-forward, down-to- earth recital of our basic American privileges was potent program ma- terial. Miss Watson gave it a sin- cere reading,.. neither .under nor over 'emphasizing. The-iemme re- porter was Interviewed by Howard Dorsey; and gave an account of how she came to write the piece and her surprise that It caught the in- terest of other publications. It was backgrounded by an excellent mu- sical arrangement, well cued. Playing of the "WHAS orchestra under Robert Hutsell was in the groove. Arrangemente by the lead- er were llstenable, and the strings and woodwinds attained a tone qual- ity well above par. Commercials were smoothly worked into the program continuity flow, music cues were tight, and well-timed. Howard Dorsey did a nice Job of emphasiz- ing the quality of the isponsorls beer. Plugs were brief and to the point, and slanted toward the femme cus- tomers.' Show is well routined, and stacks up as a pledsant half-hour of radio fare. — Hold. Samnel H. Llnoh, director of radio education for Atlanta's 'public schools, in Cincinnati for a fortnight to -study operations of Crosley's WLW, WSAI and short-wave WLWO.