Variety (Jun 1943)

S4 WcdncscUj. June 16, 1943 Tarietjr' Sweys the Soap Operas. Lmk Under Atfaick by Lay Critics By BOB! MOBBISON DaytlitM ierials have long been crlUciwd and ridiculed both by men and thoae In radio. n>ey have also, from time to time, been con- demned by certain educators, psy- chiatrists and civic-minded groups. Latdy these attadis have been in- tensUed and even some of the spon- sors themselves have begun to ques- tion the value, or the iustiflcatlon, of the daytimers. Much of the criticism has un- doubtedly been Joatifled. However, It has occasional^ seemed that some of those who abtued the serials most violently have been at least partly motivated by seH-interett. or have judged them more by hearsay than by consistent o|ien-mlnded listening. With that idea in mind. 'Varietv' recently began listening Intensively to certain of the daytimers. Others will be heard later.. This article is tHe first of a merles on the results of that coverage. This and the suc- ceeding pieces will attempt to evalu- ate the programs, not only as com- mercial media for their sponsors, but for'what, if anjrthtng, they have to aay, for the t^ and skill with which they are prepared and pro- duced, and even from a social and psychological viewpoint. If, in the opinion of 'Variety,' the serials heard are entertaining and other- wise acceptable. the«e articles will' say so. But If the shows are terrible. Variety' will say that, too. 'Pepper Yeaag' One of the oldest and best-known serials is 'Pepper Young's Family,' which is written by Elaine Sterne Carrington and is sponsored on both NBC and CBS by Procter & Gamble. Although It is a standard daytlmer, it Is possibly not typical, being above average both in quality and popular- ity. On the basis of content only the most biased critics could quarrel with 'Pepper.' Its story stresses everyday family situations, with lit- tle or no melodrama and nothing lurid or emotionally upsetting, fi anything, the action is too mild for maximum dramatic effect Hie pace is relatively slow and the dialog inclined to l>e a trifle innocuous. The ideas expressed in the show are certainly unobjectionable, lliere's considerable treatment of love and romance, with stress vtpon marriage. There appears to be no villainy, nie characters occasion- ally disagree, but are nearly always affectionate, kindly and tolerant There Is no hand-wringing tragedy and, while there are occasionally scenes of pathos, *there is no moan- ing or labored sobbing. Story Line The current plot sequence has sev- eral threads. There is the heroine, Peggy Young, who recently heard that her fiance, overseas with Jhe Army, has been saved after being reported missing. She has turned Vtte house she intends living in when she's married into a servicemen's center. There are several other men in love with P^ggy. The treatment of that angle, with Mrs. Young's su- per-wise nobility, is a bit saccharin, oiie of the weaknesses of the pro- gram. Other current story threads In- clude Pepper's quarrel with his sweetheart Linda, a nurse, because slie wants to {[et married riglit away. Pepper, working in a war plant be- cause he's 4-F, wants to wait until he can support her better. BIS Brad- ley, an Anny flyer, has Just left to be shipped overseas, his departure from Edie Gray having been a touching installment after an at- tenuated buildup. There would mevitably be diller- ences of opinion about the literary taste and skill of 'Pepper.' It is un- questionably not Nobel Prize mate- rial. On the other hand, the writing is better than pulp mag stuff and at least equal to the romantic yams in the slicks and superior to many Hollywood films and Broadway plays. Its social viewpoint is on the conservative side and its philosophy would probably be classed as homey, It is definitely war-slanted. Predaetien The production, in accord with the script, is quiet and unobtrusive. The acting is uneven, the chief fault be- ing the tendency (usual in radib) of (Continued on page 36) 'Drama Not as Usual' By ARCH OBOLER Re-evaluat«« the part of Radio Drama in the aueeeaaf ul proaeeu- tion of what la te eoma. An 4ddtd Feature in the Forthcoming Radio 'REVIEW AND PREVIEW* Special EdUion of the 1943^ Radio SeoMon THE Tiii^cr. SISTCI^S "So Miy OA tho otn' SsysWINCHEU A Great New Vocal Trio pMhircd on Columbia Records and WABC..CBS Ptnonal Manw)*nicnt GALE.Inc 48W.AathSt,N.Y. 'CALLINO AMBBICA* B«b Trent Walter Caasel, Vlclw fay. Cheras Dl^eetor: BlMner Lariea Writer: Jack Lewi Thik. Se^ M naie SQOIBVS MNTIFBICE SwL. g pjia.: M Mtas. WABC-CBS, New Terk (Geyer, CovK" & SetcelO Squibtts has pitched its own con- cept of what broadcast entertain- ment ought to be opposite Chase ti Sanborn's (NBC) combination of Paul Whiteman and Dinah Shore. The chance.<s are that even it the listener' doesn't lean to popular mu- sic, the humdrum, numbing atmos- phere produced by the Squibbs ses- sion will drive him in the direction of another station, if not to slumber. Squibbs has sought to infuse a ITth Centui7 drawingroom' musicale with a touch of current evdits, but the result is a double dose of stodginess. The 'Calling America' herald is founded on the bits of 'greetings from the b^ys' that Bob T^ut. re- cently returned from IB months in London, spreads throughout the half- hour. Trout relays the 'regards* from the 4oldier to his parents, limiting the Intelligence to the fact that when last Trout talked to the son he was in good health and spirits, or that he (the son) is looking forward to returning home and again tasting a slab of his favorite home-baked cake. These "personals* will undoubtedly induce a flicker of excitement in the parents or those acquainted with the family, but for the general listener- in the messages offer anything but interest or excitement. The musical reiMertoire ranges from the classic to American folic stand- ards. Walter Cassel, of the Met Opera, offers a well-trained baritone and when Cassel isn't holding forth In his conventional manner a sym- phonic group under Victor Bay's di- rection is filling in the gaps with excerpts from the opera. A mixed chorus shuttles its support from or- chestra to vocalist. Squibbs submits two classifications of blurbs. In one plug it touts its dentifrices via a verbal barrage which includes such terms as 'zestful taste,' 'healthy glow.' 'tingling feel- ing.' and 'refreshing sensation.' and in the other the account goes strictly institutional, underlining its conser- vativeness and longevity with a little 'parable.' Odec. 'LIVING SHOULD BE FUN' With CarHon Fredericks IS Mlas.; M«ii.-Fri.. 11:4$ a.m. Sastalnlng WJZ-Blne, New York. How to live a long, healthy and happy life by getting the proper vitamins is the theme of this daily series of straight Ulks by Carlton Fredericks. It's claimed that proper diet will insure healthy, attractive skin, thick hair, proper height and weight, good e.vesiuht. pprfect (eelh. pleasnnt disposition and practically everything except a sure thing in the third race iit Jamaica. At least, so Fredericks says, and he's ju.st the guy to tell all about it. The opening broadcast Mondav (14) dealt with vitamir. A and its prime effect on eyesight. Fredericks sound.s plausible enouqh. despite his extreme claims, but his stvle of spieling has its own vitamin de- ficiency. He has an ultra-correct accent, drives inexorably through his spiel and. although there are faint suggestions of humor in his script, he invariably fails to express it III his reading. Ho olTeis a ion- densation of the show for lOe in stamps and a seir-addressed.- stamped envelope. 'Living Should Be Fun' should be a listcnable as well as informa- tive program. At present it's oiilv the latter. Hobc. ' WKEY Joins Blue WKEY. Covington. Va., joined the Blue network Monday il4i as a bonus station. brin:>ing tlio total number of Blue affiliates to 13". WKEY will be available a.< a bonus station to those advert i.^er-^ who buy time on the three Vircinia oiiiletii. WLVA. Lynchl)iir«: WBTM. Daii- villo. and WSf^S. Roanoke. The new Blue .ifTiliate operate^ full time at 2.S0 watts on I..140 k.c. PotenUaliUes for a sock comedy turn when Phil Baker guested on the Groucho Marx-Pabsl Blue Rib- bon session over CBS Saturday night (121 were enormous, but only at in- termittent intervals was it the click orogram it should have remained through the 30-minute stanza. It was all the more surprising. In view of the robust material provided to ac- cent the individual styles of the comedians. That it didn't ring the bell as often a.<! it should could be traced directly to the faulty timing, Qointinp uD thg interminable length The coverup ad libs weren't strong enouch to offset the lapse. VlrA>i« O&ien and Donald Dickson's vocals and Robert Ambructer'a orchestral treat- ments were pleasing interludes. Tkla la Oar Caaae' offered as ii« Mth Skduraa metres' wVr effort presentation last Sunday (IS) via WINS, N. the weU-lntentioned but extremely overwritten sketch. 'Give Them a Gun.' Prepared by lI>e.po»jn«ltte* for a JewUh Army of Stateteaa and Palestinian Jews. "Give Them a Gun' was a frank ap- peal for the formation of a Jewish Army, and u such didn't hesitate to portray the plight of the European Jew in its grimmest aspect. How- ever, neither, the fine narration of Conrad Nagel, nor the intensive acting of Stephen Schnabel could counterbalance a too zealoua appli- cation of montage .and chorus effects. *tt*ttt* **ttttMtM l Mt4- I FoUow-up Comment | ** "•tft i nnnil Foltaa Lawla, Jr„ devoted his Frl> day night (11) broadcast on Mutual (locally s^naored on WOR, New York, by Plough, Inc.) to a discui> sion of the Four Freedoms. He ap- proved the first two—freedom of speech and religion—although he re- marked that they, are long-estab- lished principles, thus apparently implying that President Roosevelt is guilty of some sort of Intellectual Slagiarism in having esp6used them, lowever, he seriously questioned the third and fourth freedom*—free- dom from fear and want Such Ideas , are un-American, he asserted, as well as 'shocking' and 'frighten- ing.' He called them visionary catch-phrases concocted 'behind the scenes in Washington as a vote-get- ting 'humbug game' for the Presi- dent. Declaring that it was fear, and want that made America great, mo- tivating men to success, he argued that freedom from fear and want would remove such incentive. Peo- ple have a 'responsibility to pull their weight in the boat,* he con- tinued, urging that instead of pro- posing freedom from fear and want the Administration should have pledged itself to a fifth freedom, 'the most inMMrtant freedom of all' —freedom oi individual enterprise. However, he didn't define the term more precisely, but dosed with an attack on Vice-President Wallace's mllk-for-the-world suggestion and his own version of what the average American soldier and sailor are fighting for. No matter how obtu.se and infan- tile arguments such as Lewis' may soiind, they probably d6 have some value, if only of an inverse nature. Being partisan, they evoke discus- sion and controversy, which are essential for an active. Informed public opinion. That Is why. in a democracy, freedom of speec-h Is not only a right, but a necessity. 'Braadwav Band Bex' was a panty- waist's picnic (11) via WABC. when emcee Frank Sinatra and Harry James, guesting on the .session, put up a mock high school battle for Lenore Lonergan of 'Junior Miss.' fame, also visiting. Script was crude and amateurishly contrived, but the listening teeners must have had a drooling good time, for the kings can do no wrong. With James throwing bouquets at Sinatra, (re- counting the time that Sinatra sapg with James' band) and .Sinatra cat- ting James on the back and Miss Lonergan making verbal passes at tioth. it sounded like a meeting of the mutual adolescent socletv. Script should have been cut in half and let James do more than one number. 'YouH Never Know.' Sin- atra had the better of it musically, by far. warbling 'Close to You' 'It's Always You,' 'Lover Come Back to Me,' and both opening and clos- ing themes, but about the only bit of adult entertainment on the entire bill of fare was the Raymond Scott rendition of 'Love Dance.' and smooth backgrounds for both Sin- an-a and James. HELD OVER Note in Our 16th COHSECUTIVE —til w twlww !■ Atrtca SGT.ALDEE and CPL. EDWARD SACHS (38th Combat Engineers) AvallaMr fw taaq*««« mat dab datf*. Hmwr tai'i (!■ Mth kaib). Will lmT<>l aaywhrn la r. B.—tat MmHtlr. U. S. ARMY Mala OSIrp. WaahlaatM, D. C. New CAXBL raOGItAII. Thai*.. M p.m., r.Wt Mat.: ToiHrLArrON D'ARTEGA AND HIS ALL GIRL ORCHESTRA NoK On VSO Camp Showa Personal Mana:(ement ERNEST LIEBMAN 1440 Broadway, New York liiSTii n lur LULU BATES SINGING YOUR FAVORITE SONGS from THE GAY NINETIES and THE TORRID TWENTIES via WJZ and the BLUE NETWORK MON. TUES. WED. FRL 6:15 to 6:30 PMSONAL MANAGEMB^T 48 W, 48 ST. GAIiJnc N.Y.C