Variety (Sep 1942)

Wedneeday, September 2, 1942 hside Stuff-Radio Kay Kyser's earnest plea for War Bonds, morale and the man-behind- the-man-behind-the-gun highlighted last week's March of Time. Unusual in itself for an actor to be grooved on an Interpretative news program such as MOT, the whyfore of Kyser's contribution became readily ap- parent following his Initial words. As a personality who has rubbed shoulders with the masses, entertain- ing them and getting the feel of Vox Americanus through camp enter- tainments, war bond rallies, and the like, Kyser is an authoritative in- terpreter of the average American's attitude. His plea that 'we can't lose if 130,000,000 hams' (first calling himself a 'ham,' who takes pride in his work) do likewise, was a rousing topper. Incidentally, Time mag does a slick merchandising job of its own which is a credit to bossman Frank Norris and his scripters. Finis Farr and Joel Sayre. ^ Coast agencies had a scare thrown into them last week when the War Department ordered Lieut. John Kimbrough off the Kraft show, which was interpreted by some as meaning that no more uniformed men would be allowed to make guest appearances on commercial shows. Fears were later allayed when semi-official word was circulated that the Kimbrough matter was an isolated case wherein Army officials didn't like the idea of the former Ail-American football star talking about the good old. college game while other oflicera are in the thick of the flghing fn active war fronts. 'Joltm' Jawn' was. booked on the Kraft show to get in a few .plugs for the Army Relief football game in Los Angeles. Agency men had visions of Rudy Vallee and Gene Autry being taken off the air and strict orders against further appearances of uniformed men in guest spots. Station CKLW, Windsor, will resume putting its announcers on the pan, publicly, again this fall. Program is called 'Bulls and Boners,' with all of the announcing staff up for public trial on mistakes they made via the mike in the past week. If convicted, they have to pay off the listener who caught' the mistake. Program has had a good response from' the public—one of the oddities being the number of Detroiters who write in to correct the pronunciations of the Windsor staffers. The twist here is that frequently American and Canadian pronuncia- tions of the same word vary. They don't pay off if the announcer is right, according to the British dictionaries or useage. 'Take It or Leave It' broadcast of a fortnight ago, in celebration of Phil Baker's birthday, is still eliciting comment for the showmanship displayed, plus the dough dispensed. Program aired before a studio full of Bakers, 750 of them. Every contestant was named Baker, albeit none of them were relatives, and the final contestant picked a question where each answer was the word 'baker.' Six of the seven quizzees hit the $64 jackpot, the other flunked the deuce spot. Only angle overlooked was the jackpot question, which had nothing to do with Baker or baker. About the biggest load of fan mail that 'Easy Aces' had drawn in years came from a recent series of script episodes in which the lunch habits of executives as a class received plenty of needling. The scripts dealt with the lack of consideration bosses show when they spend two hours at lunch (with a session of gin rummy included) and on their return expect the secretary to limit her lunch period to a quick dash for a sandwich. Stenogs wrote the 'Aces' that this particular program series had taken up the lapce in a good cause and expressed the hope that executives who had listened in will have gained a much needed lesson. Reported overall price that Ironized Yeast (Sterling Products) is paying for 'Lights Out' is $1,350, of which Arch Obler, the writer, gets the bulk. The cast on the average will consist of four actors and there will not be much additional expense beyond sound effects. The series, which starts on CBS Oct. 6, will contain several of the scripts Obler did for this show when it was on NBC out of Chicago. When one of the participants fainted while KQW's, San Francisco, Inter- American Forum was being aired, a yisiting dentist stepped out of the audience and subbed in the profound discussion with complete ^aplomb. First, thougli, the tooth yanker. Dr. Harold Carson, of Eureka, Calif., who has spent considerable time in Latin America, administered first aid to the stricken man. John V. L. Hogan, founder and president of WQXR, New York, goes on the air Sept. 9 to explain to the station's listeners the new setup under Time mag's recent purchase of an interest in the outlet. He conducted a regular series of talks about the station during the early days of WQXR and if the present broadcast draws sufficient response he may again make it a regular practice. Ben Bernie's Wrigley commercial—'chew gum to relieve the old nervous tension on defense jobs'—has been expertly pounded the past several weeks. A late-afternoon, flve-times-weekly show, the quarter hour is breezy, and the idea of chewing gum, Mr. Wrigley's or any- body else's, is glibly tied in with a topical war effort theme. Hal Tale and his wife, Nikki Kaye, have sold a yarn to the Baltimore Sun entitled 'Ten Million Devotees,' the life story of Irna Phillips, the radio scripter. J. P. MacAvoy is .also currently doing a feature on Miss Phillips for Reader's Digest. Lt Col. Ed Kirby of the U. S. Army Bureau of Public Relations last week passed out to the Washington press reprints of 'Variety's' recent piece captioned 'Showmanship and_the Army Hour: A Triumph Over Time, Water, Static and RedtapeP' .-ft- Is The Buy ,„ Hartford. >A/OBC U. the buy . . • I ,.w rat. for .11 .dv.r- ti..r.. nat.onal, re I gional and local. V»M WDRC to do • b.O ipbl at > low eo.t . . . J important market. Bas.cj CBS for Connecticut. War Church Programs Minneapolis, Sept. 1. Because a survey shows that the war has greatly stimulated religious interest and activities in this terri- tory, with church attendance at a new high for recent years, WCCO is returning its 'Bible School of the Air' to the ether waves. The program, on at 8:30 to 9 a.m. Sundays, has the Rev. E. T. Randall conducting international uniform Sunday school lessons, a mixed quartet singing favorite hymns and Bee Bailey of the regular staff at the organ. A unique feature will be a Bible quiz, with two different teams from various Sunday .schools competing each week. Some of these teams will be brought in from as far distant as 150 miles; As a promotion for the program, WCCO is mailing out 2.500 letters to churchmen throughout the territory asking for cooperation in enlisting an audience. RADIO 41 'Honief Player Wms Mkhigan Beanty Tide Detroit, Sept. 1. A gag as old as radio itself, 'Radio artists should be heard, not seen,' didn't jell here when Patricia Uline Hill, socialite feminine lead on na- tionally broadcast The Green Hor- net,' walked off with the 'Miss Michigan' title in the annual 'Miss America' contest. Her brother, a soldier, slipped his sister's entry and picture into the contest and broke the subject to her just before her Saturday night broadcast Fact that she won to please her brother didn't set any too well with her social register family. Her father is a chief surgeon at Henry Ford hospital, and her mother, un- der pen names, has done radio scripting and placed pieces with the Satevepost. The 21-year-old looker, educated at finishing schools In the east, was initiated to radio on Edythe Fern Melrose's "The Lady of Charm' pro- gram. George W. Trendle, WXYZ owner, heard her and Invited her to audition for the girl reporter part which she has since been playing on 'The Green Hornet' ' Miss Hill, who admits she can't sing, dance or play. Is getting, a de- cided grooming for the national con- test, with the station's script writers whipping up an opus for Atlantic City, special Arthur Murray tutelage and even special exercising to whit- tle slightly a svelte 24-inch waist Commentators On OWI Tact' Discs; Sponsors Asked to Permit Insertion ^ ********************* * i ± PayroH Traffic Akron.—Wayne Byers, announcer at WJW, Akron, for more than a year, has joined WTAM, Cleveland. HemphU.—Igor Ivan, chief an- nouncer at WMPS, has enlisted in the Navy as an aviation ordnance- man. He leaves Thursday (3) night for Great Lakes Training Station. Toledo—Todd Williams, formerly with WTCN, Minneapolis, has be- come program director ol WSPD. Lola Smith has become staff pianist at WSPD. Chleago—Paul Courtney, WBBM radio news writer, resigned this week to join the staff of the Air Edition of the Chicago Sun. Plttoborcb—Charles F. Malley, of the editorial staff of the Akron, O., Beacon-Journal, has been appointed to station KDKA's news sUff. He succeeds Francis FItzsimmons, who has gone Into the Army. A new (Continued on page 63) The Office of War Information has asked all radio stations to broadcast a.series of 43 transcribed one-minut« announcements designed to inform the American people of the facts of the war effort of the United Nations. The announcements are to be sched- uled at the rate of 10 a day, seven days a week, starting Sept. 7 and continuing six weeks. The OWI suggests that stations ask advertisers to donate a minute be- fore or after a program for the mes- sages. The other announcements could be inserted in sustaining or participation programs. The messages have been tran- scribed by nationally known news commentators. They Include: Pearl Buck, Raymond Clapper, John Gun- ther, Walter Winchell, Quincy Howe, John W. Vandercook, Lowell Thom&s, Earl Godwin and Raymond Gram Swing. H. V. Kaltenbom was also scheduled to participate, but bowed out at the last minute. Westbrook Van Voorhees and Arnold Moss are the announcers. Walter Schwimmer, of Schwimmer Ic Scott wrote the scripts, and George Zachary, OWI production chief, directed the recording last week at World Broadcasting. WOR thinks you ought to know about a man who had to market a substitute product pronto. It was a flavoring. To be specific, like vanilla. Said the maker, "Please go out and shout loud for me. Make people look up, listen, go buy my vanilla. In 8 weeks WOR doubled the high sales-expectancy this harried maker had set for himself. In 8 weeks WOR put the product on the shelves of 50% more dealers. WOR, in fact, opened up grand new distribution for this man in the residential conunimities of New Jersey, Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. Said he generously, "WOR did a better job than any media I've used." Have you maybe a substitute product you'd like to sell quick? Get in stores? Turn maybe into a grand after-war investment? at 1440 Broadway, in New York •k or his agent, or advertising manager MEMBER OF THE MUTUAL BROADCASTING SYSTEM