Variety (Jun 1943)

34 BADIO, REVIEWS Wedaesdaj, June 2, 1949 •THE MILLION DOLLAR BAND' . Barry Wood, Charlei Splvak, Doable-Datcra Bonfi, Ban4 PALMOLIVE SOAP Sat., !• p,m.; S« Miiii. WEAF-NBC, New York (Ted Bales I Palmolive may have an effcclive merchandising scheme in the format of this scries, but the treatment of the program as a whole certainly can'i be considered as a commend- able contribution to network radio. If nnythinit. it lowers the standards. The continuity throuiilioul is blatant sub-strata hoke and the advertising copy not only takes the medium back about 10 years, but indicates thiit the advertiser doesn't harbor a high conception of feminine anal- ytical tendencies. It's about the most high-powered sales . package that has landed on the networks in some time. Were the advertiser's formula for breaking in every two minutes with cither a blurb or a contest come-on drastically toned down, the program would bo as attractive a thing of its tvpe as is to be heard on any of the networks of a Saturday night. For popular musical entertainment the component units are solidly good and saleable. Barry Wood, who has attained upper-crust stature as a' singer of p >p ditties, can lay claim to a huge following and the account has done veil to have him also functloi) as m.c. even • though the hokey con- tinuity seems most of the time to go against the grain of personality. As the guest dance combination for the introductory show (30J, Charles Spivak's. proved a sterling choice. The band's style, whether the item was hot or sweet, endowed the half-hour with a richness of rhvthm and melody, and when Spl- vak and his trumpet took the spot- light for a trip on the "9:20 Special,' the jive addicts must have felt their evening complete. The Double- Caters, a mixed rhythm group, added several pleasant moments to the oc- casion. Plugged to the point of exhaustion (for the listener) was the program's fiveaway weekly of Ave rings (from IfTany, no less) to woiii^n who vrrlte in requesting a song plus a few lines telling whjr.. The romantic taffy on the opening installment fiave the emphasis to a yearning for he boy friend in the service. The come-on is a holdover as far as Palmolive-Colgate-Peet is concerned It was used for a couple seasons for Cashmere Bouquet Soap and with Wayne King's band as the sole parcel of entertainment. In the latter In- stance the trend and content of the continuity were kept within the bounds of good taste and the Idea as a whole had an'air of validity and dienity. The tag selected tor the program The MUlibn Dollar Band,*^ has no 6ii;niflcance or actual allusion other than being a high-sounding one. The sales copy assures that by using Palmolive s *14-day plan' twd out of three women can have beautiful complexions. Further expatlatlon on the theme leads to the conclusion •LOBA LAWTON' Cast: Joan Tompkins, Janes Mclfh- an. Stoats Cotsworth, Gertrnde Warner. Michael Flltmaarlce, Spencer Bentley, Saminle Hill, Ethel Wilson. WlllUm Podnore, Helen Shields. Ford Bond, Ted Steele Writer: Helen Walpole Director: Stephen Gross IS MIns.: .Mon.-Frl., 10 a.m. B. T. BABBITT WEAF-NBC, New York lOiinnr Jones) Latest daytime serial oHf the Anne Hummert-.Mr Features belt-line is for B: T. Babbitts Bab-O, through the Duanc Jones agency. It's titled •Lnra Lawton" and tells of the purple emotional tribulations of a beautiful, wisc^iind noble heroine amid the turmoil of wartime Washington. On the qucst,ic)nable evidence of only the lirst two installments, starting Mon- day i31i. the show appears to be the sort of hokum that draws a sizeable commercial audience and stirs serial- critics to balTled fury. Based on an idea and outline by Mrs. Hummcrt. the stanza is scripted by Helen Walpole. the clean-up hitter of the Air Features writing stable, and it's apparently the kind of thing she can bat out in her stride, Stephen Gross, another Air Features stalwart, directs it vid a standard AFRA cast, headed Oy Joan Tomp- kins In the title part and James Meighan as the coming romantic lead, reads the lines. Ted Steele plays the organ and sings the 'Love's Old Sweet Song' musical theme. Ford Bond reads the Babbitt copy, which so far is at a minimum. Hobe. 'ABOUND NEW TOBK TODAY' Cost: Lillian Gnttenbcrg. Jnll* GIbb Writer: Hortense Haebsch 5 MiBS.; Moa.-Sat., S:S5 ajn. WNYC, New York A show like 'Around New York Today' is one of the kind of things a municipal, non-commercial station like WNYC. New York, is admirably fttted to offer. It's a show any local station might advantageously pre- sent, as a matter of fact, but only WNYC appears to have thought of it, or at least gotten around to air- ing It, That doesn't mean the stanza Is as good as it should be. As written by Hortense Huebsch and broadcast alternately by Lillian Guttenberg and Julia Ginn. all on a voluntMr basis. 'Around New York Today' merely mentions some of the events taking place each day in 'your won- der city,' but it doesn't point them well and, neither in the script nor in the actual reading, are the loca- tions of the various places sufll- clenlly clarified. As heard Tuesday (1). Miss Guttenberg read the script much too fast and her enunciation suffered. But it's potentially a good show. Hooc. that the basic secret is frequent and thorough washing of the face. Palmolive, instead of weaving a ro' mantic atmosphere around the 'rlt ual.' makes it all sound dubious by Its triphammer tactics. Odee. 'ENOUGH AND ON TIME' Cast: Lt-Oen. Brehon Somervell. LL- Col. William Staler, BUJ. Ba>inoBd Maisey, Erie Dressier, Joseph Jn- Itan, Charles Webster, Capl. Harry Salter orehi Writer: Howard Telchmann DIreelor: Joseph Bell 3« MIna.; Sat., 7:3* p.m. Sustaining WJZ-Blue, New York. 'Enough and On Time* l< a pat title for this new Saturday eveniiiK series about the work of the Army Service Force."!, which have the task of 'get- ting the right material to the right men in the right place at the. right time.' In Army terms, that's called 'logistics.' Whatever it is, it's hardly a dramatic subject matter for radio. Nevertheless, the initial broadcast of the series Saturday (29) was illumi- nating and fairly interesting. With Lt.-Col. William Slater nar- rating, the show opened with a quote from the German shortwave radio to the U. S., claiming American arms and equipment is not reaching our troops in sufficient quantity or on time. It then sketchily dramatized the progress of a howitzer from the raw iron ore to the factory and thence to the battle front. It next explained how the Army Ordnance department tests and compares ene- smy weapons with our own. demon- strating how the U. S. Tommy gun. firing 725 shots a minute, is superior to the German automatic gun of sim- ilar classiftcation. which shoots only 368 bullets a minute. A woman's question of why mail takes so long to reach soldiers over- seas, and sometimes doesn't g^t there at all, got a reply, but not a satisfac- tory answer. Then Maj. Raymond Massey, of the Canadian Army, read an emphatic plug for the U. S, Army- film, "Prelude to War.' which he said tells 'what the war is all about.* This was notable far its frank identifica- tion of the enemy, Germans and Japs as well as Italians, as fascists. How- ever, the picture might better have been exploited by local cut-ln-plugs to boost the demand on local exhib- itors. The program closed with a message from Lt-Gen. Brehon Somervell, head of the Army. Service Forces. He was introduced by the quotation of a slogan that hangs on his office wall: The impossible we do imme- diately: the miraculous takes a little longer' Hobe. USTSN TO LVLV WUh Lain BatM. Joe Bine* Orch. U Mlns., 6:15 p. m., Friday Sutaialng WJZ. New York This ishow had a bagpipe tendency. It. started out with a lot of pep and then ran out of wind. Lulu Bates .has a likable personality in the Sophie Tucker tradition, and does well by a song, but the introduction 'for the first time on the air' of 'Un- conditional Surrender,'' a war song with more marital intentions than music, definitely snapped oR the early pep of the pro'gram. Joe Rines inserted 'Morena* and 'He's a Devil in His Own Home Town' l)|,tween Lulu Bates' numbers. THE APPOINTMENT OF DOUGLAS F. STORER Vice-President In Charge of Radio Sales yJienerox AMUSEMENT CORPORATION // THOMAS C a 0 CK Wtli, /«'»i.V»<i/ ^ NEWYORK •CHICAGO - HOLLY WOOD* C IN CINN AT I • 10 N 00 N FoDow-ip Comiiieiit : ♦♦♦«>«*♦«♦♦ . ♦♦♦♦«♦♦««♦♦» As an answer to the 'Washtub Weepers' article in last week's Satur- day Evening Post, NBC broadcast last Friday (26) a 2S-minute round- table di.->cussion of daytime serials, how they are written and produced, and how they are received. Partic- ipating were Elaine Sterne Carring- ton'. authoress of 'Pepper Young' and 'When a Girl Marries'; Anne Sey- mour, title actress of 'Mary Marlin' and 'Woman of America'; Axel Gruenberg, director of 'Light of the World' and 'Right to Happiness'; Lewis Titterton. NBC script head, and a Mrs. Ida Rollnhagen. a typical listener. The whole show seemed auestionable entertainment and of oubtful value. First of all, the confab' was too palpably a Gaston-Alphonse routine, with everybody exchanging compli- ments until even Titterton was finally impelled to remark that it was 'beginning to sound like a mu- tual admiration society.' He was courteous enough to say it semi-hu- morously. There are a number of serious and legitimate criticisms to be made of daytime serials, as there are of all types of radio programs. Such criticisms are not to be an- swered by being ignored. If day- time serials are justified, the critic- isms and those who make them must be met. Possibly the best reply would be improvement of the serials themselves. Such fatuous palaver as this broad- cast offered not only does no good; it actually tends to indicate that radio has no serious answer to offer the serial-baiters. And above all else, .it makes tedious listening. Baby Institute,' flve-mornlngs-a- week on the Blue (or Heinz canned goods, devoted its entire 15 minutes Wednesday (26) to a discussion about 'bowel training' and 'bladder training' for infants. Guest author- ity on the show was Dr, Benjamin Spock, pediatrician and Cornell Uni- versity medical school faculty mem- ber. He was interviewed by Jessie Stanton, of the Banks Street school, N. Y., the regular m,c. for the series. Since the entire spiel was expressed In medical terms and was intended for an audience of mothers, the sub- ject matter did not seem objection- able, particularly as it was so mat*' ter-of-factly presented. Teddy Hart, legit character comic, guested Friday night (28) on 'Broad- way Band Box,' via CBS, apparently as part of the network's buildup campaign for him. Hysterical screeching of the hepcat studio audi- ence, obviously out in force to ap- plaud Frank Sinatra and Raymond Scott's band, merely accentuated Hart's pitifully unfunny material. Elena Miramova, co-author and co- lead of the legit comedy, 'Dark Eyes.' at the Belasco, N. Y., also guested on the broadcast. Although her material was little better than Hart's, she registered moderately, chiefly because of her positive air personality. Outstanding aspect of the show, however, was the closing continuity handed Sinatra, a hokey. romantic spiel titled 'Book of Mem- oric.<i.' In which the singer recited an riitry in his 'dear diary' as a lead-in to his vocal of 'My Heart Stood Still,' It was so overboard it amounted to satire. If CBS were deliberately try- ing to stymie Sinatra's career by making him ridiculous it could hardly choose a surer method. Earl Godwin (Blue) made use of his Ford news program of last Wednesday (26) to beat the drum for the head of the agency, Maxon, Inc.. which handles Uiis portion of the Ford business. Lou Maxon would like to become general manager of the Office of Price Administration, This would entail a promotion from chief of the OPA's Information divi- sion, and Godwin took the occasion to put Maxon's candidacy In its best light. During the same broadcast, Godwin resurrected a rasher of the Fordian brand of isolationism. This Is Our Caase' presentation Sunday (30) via WINS, N. Y., was highlighted by a two-fisted sketch about United States Coast Guard In- vasion tactics. Ed Thorgersen, Tom. Movietone News commentator, han- dled the narration In hard-hitting fashion. Frank Lovejoy shared act- ing honors, describing landing perils in Guadalcanal and North Africa. Hie program also featured vocaUatl Pat Ryan, Kenneth Spencer and the 'Coast Guard Cutters,' a CO. quar- tet headed by Homer Smith, for- merly of the Southemaires. Miss Ryan delivered smoothly with 'Walt (or Him, Mary,' and 'Rlight Kind of Love': Spencer did an impressive so- cial significance number, 'Freedom Road.' and the 'Cutters' were prop- erly sentimental and harmonious m 'Prayer for Peace.' Jack Benny's windup show Sun- day 130) on NBC was a typical Benny olTcring replete with fast-fly..: ing gag.s, sweet and sour; several shrewd diss at Fred Allen; a poem by Mary Livingstone, and pun-ridden commercials delivered by an everl^ protesting Don Wilson. As an added feature. Dcanna Durbin sang 'Say a Prayer for the Boys Over There' (Continued on page 36) •SOUND-O' Witk Don MeNelll, Three SomeoL CUflM Utiey ^ Writer: Hobart Donavan Dlreetor: Hobart Donovan 36 minntes, Mon.-thra-FrU ll:iS- 11:15 pjn. CHICAdo SUN WBBM, Chicago Based on the listener's ability to Identify sounds created by the'stu- dio soundmen, this new comedv quiz .show Is a fast-moving and entertain- ing addition to midwest local pro- grams. Pace by Don McNeill, of the 'Breakfast Club,' with vocal selec- tions by the Three Romeos and nve minutes of news flashes by Clifton UtIey, plus a total of $1,000 a week awarded to winners, the program has already attracted quite an audi- ence. The show has both .studio and lis- tening audience participation, in the studio selectees are a^-ked to name three out of four sounds for cash prizes and near the end of the program five sounds go out for iden- tification by the listening audience Answers to these must be .sent in on- special blanks printed in the Cliicaso Sun and |200 daily is distributed to 36 players. Hobart Donovan, writer-director did a tight and competent Job ori program caught. Afore. 'BHYTBM MUSICALE' With Paul Hebert and VirilnU Dlnardo DIrecUr: Charles F. Wrlxhl 19 MIna.; Thnrs., 7:3S p.m. Sulalalng CBO-CBC. Ottawa Paul Hcbert's unusual combo (three strings, bass clarinet, piano guitar and bass llddle) is on (TBC's eastern net Tluu-sday nights with style designed to relax the war- Jumpy listeners. Program is devoid of anything that might Jar a nerve, Hcbert's arrangements concentrating on smooth music featuring strings in harmony with bass clarinet in the background, and vice versa. Except for 'Virginia Dinardo's adept "presentation of 'There Are Such Tilings' and 'Please Think of Mc,' Items on this catching were classics in modified swing, including 'Sleeping Beauty' waltz by 'Tschai- kowsky, J. Strauss' 'Wine. Women and Song' and 'Humore.sclue' by Dvorak. 'Sleeping Beauty' will be retained as theme.^ Show is a light touch in CBC's super-longhair policy. . Gorm. Sam Lcddy has resigned as time- buyer ai Small & Si<iffer Agency, N. Y. to join the Army. He will be replaced by Joya Krakauer. THEilHSWER? A radio fMlur* davolopad and praduead by Tha W. E. Long Co., b alroody dn •ilobllihad weetMin redfo...and now. rwu iNPoiulUnM iv^nn*' lit NOini (CIMK iTMIT