Variety (Jul 1943)

54 RADIO REVIEWS Wednesday, July 21, 1943 BOB CBOSBY 'With Les Tremalne, the Pied. Pipers, Eileen Wilson Songs, Band, Talk OLD GOLD 30 Mlns.; Sun., 10:30 p.m. WEAK-NBC, New York ' (/. Walter Thompson) Old Gold's leaning (or radio fare Is shared between sports and soinc 'THE EYES OF THE AIB. FOBCE' Cast: John Alien Wolf, Mitchell Field Chorus, Ben Ludlow prcb, guests Writer: Joe Ruscoll Director: Richard Sanville 15 Mins.; Thur.. 10:45 p.m. WABC-CBS. New York Superseding its 'Eyes and Ears ot the Air Force' program, formerly ******* *** I M I H I M I M* , :: Follow-up Comment :: thing built around a"band. The Bob | hoard locally, on WEAF, New York, Crosby program makes the second of! and by transcription elsewhere, the this category current supported by the Cig manufacturer. The other is the Sammy Kaye event oiv CBS Wednesday nights. The Bob Crosby, entry fills its late Sunday evening half-hour with a pleasant 'assort- ' ihent of i pop music and badinage.. Wrists vAn't'be sprained in the.rush First "Fighter Command of the. Army Air Forces is now offering this new series. 'Eves of the Air Force,' on WABC-CBS, New. York. It's, much like the former show, dealing with the same general subject of civilian plane-spotting, but' is more, ambi- tiously, and skillfully presented, as t" diaUn the program, but once the greater facilities of CBS permit, the condensers mesh at the.point of As heard Thursday night (15), the the broadcast, and the listener is in ! program introduced a bright-sound- the mood for that class of entertain- ing Carolina mother: of three :chil- ment, the tendency should be,to give dren, who, besides a host of other it a complete and cordial hearing. ! activities.; heads the local civilian The program has the benefit of 1 plane-spotting crew. She spoke Carroll Carroll's style of banter,, a ■ brielly of the work, confabbed with style that has long been associated ! a flyer at Mitchel Field, N. Y„ about "with Brother Bing's weekly contribu tion. On the opening incident (18) the flow' of chatter was benign , arid appropriately fluffy, but with very little of it charged with the stuff, that communicates laughter around a living room; One marked impres- sion conveyed by the program was that it could have-been more eco- nomical on patter between musical numbers arid more generous in song, particularly the brand dished up by the Pied Pipers, in Les Tremalne,: the show has an all-around crafts- man of the .spoken word. ■ His de,- liverv falls ' kindly on" the ear, whether it's in the patter exchanges or pitching sales woo. for the prod- uct. . ■.■--■■'■" There was also; pronounced crafts- manship in the mixing ;of the band and song numbers and in the pro- gram's production. The - younger Crosby was at his best -when uphol- stered by the Pied Pipers, a smartly recruited crew of mixed voices, and his guest of the occasion. Eileen Wil- son, an undergraduate at the Univer- ; sity of California, proved herself capable of carrying the melody of a current torch tune and of turning a heat phrase in the - subseauent verbal tete-a-tete. . ■ Odec. his experiences fighting the Japs, and segued into .a two-way talk with a pilot on patrol- over the New York- area: The show flnaled with the presentation of a citation to a spot- ter post.: - Written-' by Joe Ruscpll, directed- by Richard Sanville and jjroduced by John Dietz, all of the CBS staff, 'Eyes', was a fairly impressive stanza that-apparenly hasn't.yet been com- pletely smoothed out. The produc- tion, notably the complicated bit involving the pickup from the pa- trol plane; was excellent and the music was capably handled. ' Capt, Arnold Lee. of the First Fighter Command, supervises. Hobe. THE BLACK MARKET' With Dave Driscoll, John Whitmore 30 Mins.; Thar., 9:30 p.m. (One Time) Recorded■ : Sustaining WOR-Mutual, New York In an attempt to repeat their 'Death in the Dimout' broadcast of last winter, Davie Driscoll and John .Whitmore, of, the special events de- partment of WOR, New York, last Thursday night aired an expose of Black Markets in the greater New York area: Compiled from record- ings made on the..scene in various places, it was an . effective novelty ********** * * *********** » Betle Davis and. Helen Menken wore brought together on last Thurs- day's (15) installment ot the 'Stage Door Canteen' series (CBS v to bandy coincidences and- engage in a his- trionic duct; The springboard for the emotional flight was a scene from 'Mary of Scotland.' The line- reading and the coincidence ex- change came off smoothly and ingra- tiatingly As.the girls disclosed, one had . done the legit lead and the Other the screen portrayal, not . only 'Mary of Scotland but 'The Old Maid, Latest knot in the twosome's string of coincidences is the circumstance that one (Miss Menken), ranks as Hostess No. 1 of the Stage Dbor Can- teen' and the other (Miss Davis) holds similar niche in the Hollywood Canteen, which, however, is not un- der Theatre Wing auspices. : Charles Boyer was the logical choice to head the Bastille Day pro- gram via CBS last Wednesday (14). 'CONQUER WE MOST' Lt. Lanny Bos*; Guest Star Writer: Pfc. Isaac T. Cohen Producers: Capt. Brace Conning and Sgt. Sterling Ludgate Music; Drama 30 Mlns.; Thurs., 8 p.m. Sustaining WRVA, Rlohmond Lt. Lanny Ross extended his visit, at Camp Lee, Va.;.from two to three davs in order to appear as guest star on the post's fighting : radio series 'Conquer We Must' Thursday even- ing (July 8). On this," the 48th. in the series; the War Department's new music officer sang three songs, 'Black' Magic,' 'Sleepy Lagoon' and 'Bless This House.' \ The design of the show was not changed in order to present the pop- ular radio singer. 'Conquer We Must' features popular and- patriotic songs, a script on some phase of the war, an inspirational poem, and the music of one of the many post bands. This ~ week's show presented all these . features, with Lt. Ross re- placing one of the- soldier vocalists. He was received with thundering ap- plause by the audience at the Serv- ice Club 1. where the show is broad- Jn"A^(Mn^-&i^n"Bovef' : i$ -cast. Music was by the Reception Now an American , citizen. Boye_r is Center balld un der the direction- of known for his support of French patriotic causes. In his broadcast from Hollywood; the actor came out with ah impassioned. exposition of French aspirations and prospects in the post-war world. - He also told of the work of the French Relief Fund, the Coordinating Council of French Relief Societies and Fighting French Relief Committee. The quarter-hour program, arranged by the Coordi- nating Council, then featured all- French music. Zino Fraiicescatti. Sgt. Jack - Piatt, . with original ar- rangements by Pvt. Jimmie Hayes. .This week's, script by Pfc. Isaac* T. Cohen was on the subject of safe- guarding military Information. With smooth characterizations and punch dialog, the dramatic tale of a tongue- loose soldier, a couple of Nazi spies, and a' torpedoed troop ship, made excited listening.;. .The cast was well balanced and included Sgt. R. L. Corns. Cpls. Si Weiss, Harry Davis and Andrew. Benedict; Pvts. Michael violinist, performed , a Saint-Saehs ^ ivey William Myers, Harry Renn selection and Rene Le Roy, flutist, rr. - - - — • • did a piece by Debussy. 'FAMILY HOUR' (Summer Show) Cast: Eileen Farrell, Mark Harrell, - . ■--.--- ----- -------- Jack Smith, Del Sharbutt, Frank broadcast, though possibly not living Gallop, AI Goodman orch, chorus Director: BUI Rousseau , 45'Mins.; Sun., 5 p.m. PRUDENtTIAL INSURANCE WABC-CBS. New York (Benton & Bouiles) . Just as it required many, weeks of sharpening to get the 'Family Hour' into click form after its shakey start two years ago, the present summer edition of the program, also needs plenty of tinkering... As heard Sun- day afternoon (18), it had the in- gredients for pleasant listening, but they weren't completely integrated. Eileen Farrell, subbing for Gladys' Swarthout, was apparently handi- capped -by the choice of songs, for her singing lacked the warmth, vibrance and impact' that , she has demonstrated on her CBS evening sustainer- series. Particularly un- fortunate was her ooener, 'It Can't Be Wrong," which jlist never came alive. She w s better, but still not at par, with Gershwin's 'Summer- time' and Anally clicked with 'Beau- tiful Morning' and 'People Will Say,' from 'Oklahoma', (although Al Good- man's arrangements of the latter two numbers took unpleasant liber- ties with the melodies). Mark Harrell, also, new to the •eries, scored emphatically with his rousing singing of the Toreador song from T Carmen,' was okay on the spiritual 'Witness,* but seemed a trifle heavy for 'All the Things You Are" and dueling with Miss Farrell ion 'People Will Say.' Jack Smith, a. holdover from th*' regular stanza, got. by with the chorus in 'Great Day Coming, Manana.'.'I Want My Mama' qnd the 'Oklahoma' medley. Good- man's conducting had his usual slick - ness and. color. Except for the 'Okla- homa' imedley, the- arrangements- were attractive, notably in the intro and playing., of 'Always ' Chasing Rainbows.' Del Sharbutt, standing-in for Deems Taylor, read the continuity easily, though his commercial back- ground led. him into trying too hard for 'expression' once.or twice. Frank Gallop read the Prudential" copy, which continues to be exceptionally well written. Hobe up to the'elaborate advance bally hoo. Its effect .in combatting Black Market activity would be a matter of opinion. It might easily have helped. Unlike the 'Death in the Dimout' broadcast, the 'Black Market' subject did not lend itself readily to graphic treatment. Much of it was inevi- tably confined lo static word-pictures of places, instead of events. A live- stock auction was heard briefly, then a Black Market slaughter house was visited and . described, . after which OPA officials were faintly heard grilling the owners.' Then a retail Black Market was covered, and OPA representatives were heard cross-examining the owner, who finally admitted his guilt and signed a confession. After covering the self-conscious.sentencing of the law- breaker, • the show, closed with an outright exhortation by Driscoll to the listener lo stamp out. Black Mar- ketsand fight the war more strenu- ously. Except for Driscoll and Whitmore, no. names or exact locations were used on the show, (unlike the 'Death in the- Dimout' stanza, which gave the license numbers of speeding cars), 'Black Market' was broadcast "J cooperation with the Newark OPA office and was announced in huge display ads in the New York dailies that day: The program was heard via WOR Thursday night and repeated on Mutual the following Sunday afternoon (18). Hobe. LOUMELL MORGAN TRIO PWOB-MBS, N. Y. Loumell Morgan Trio hail from Cleveland via WHK, from whence 'Mutual Goes Calling' Saturday aft- ernoons picked them up. They're an unique combo, a cinch for a big- sp ot. D ak Jackson complete the combo, which makes with the rhythmic jive, but they do it in a different manner. Their hokum recitative of the lyric to 'Blues in the Night,' while the trio performs it instrumentally,. is a novelty which alone would, get them over in some class- N. Y-. riitery. It's a tongue-in-cheek treatment of the wor'dage, completely out of tempo with the melody, and can be develV .oped into an important trademark, akin to Jack Haley's how-established .style of vocalizing -pop. lyrics to some longhair operatic aria. When they do "Slender, Tender and Tall' and 'Diga Do' they're just as dicky with the straight tempo tunes. Abel.; 'VACATION SERENADE' With Wilfred Pelletier orch (27), Dorothy Klrsten, Reed Kennedy and Ben Grauer ' ' ' Writer: Marlon Todd Director: Preston Pumpnrey'■■ 30 Mlns.; Mon.; 10:30 p.m. H. J. HEINZ CO. WEAF-NBC, New York (Afa.tori) , The summer replacement for 'In- formation Please,* which returns, to the air Sept. 13. soothes: rather than stimulates, but for: all purposes sat- isfies the warm Weather yen for light classic melody; At the same time it also maintains something of that clans' appeal built up by 'Info,* so there is an even chance of retaining a share of the quizzer's audience un- til the answermen return from their first vacation, in the five years they have been on the air. Charlotte! Manson gave a smooth, convincing ' performance as the ferome lead in 'Gangbusters' Friday (16). The Sloan's. Liniment night time show on the Blue hot only did well in the acting department but registered with a tightly-packed, bizarre installment about safe rob- bers. Carey, McWIlllams. author of Brothers Under the Skin,' the book onrae'e discrimination, criticized the. Town' Meeting of the Air' program when he appeared, on it Thursday night (15). As he expressed it. the entire tone of the discussion -about what should be done with the loyal Japs now confined in concentration camps on the Coast was inflamma- tory and tended to incite to the state of mind in which race violence might occur. That, plus his- tolera.nl alttiude toward alien minorities, statements about race hatred in the South and a stinging attack on Con- gressman Dies, drew little sympathy from the Santa Barbara visual audi- ence, in some instances even evoking loud booing. Congressman Costella: expressing a more typically Cali- fornia view of the resident Jap ques- tion, had the crowd's approval more frequently. The other participants were present, but hardly more. jimmy Durante turned the 'Cham- ber Music Society of tower Basin Street' program into a shambles of laughter Sunday night . (18) on the Blue. The show expanded back to its old half-hour length with that broadcast, and thereby hit its all- time, peak.. Durante's outrageous clowning contrasted with Milton Cross' comically fatuous readings and when Schnoz raspetl out his Tosca- nini, Stokowski and Me' number, or his 'Carmen' burlesque, it was non- sense In the best Durante tradition. Ella Logan, guesting on the same stanza, clicked with two songs, Take Me Out to the Ball Game', and Mississippi Dream Boat.' besides, un- corking a few laughs with Durante. Paul Lavalle's woodwind group num- ber-was his best of the show. Wood- bury's commercial copy was lengthy, but shrewdly followed the flavor .of the balance of the program. Carl Cederberg; and Miss Virginia Durand. Many of. these' actors have had Broadway experience. The 'Poem of the Week' was an original/one, written to fit the theme of the show. 'A Military. Tongue,' by Sgt. George Kossoff, legit actor known as Gregory Morton on Broad- way, who is casting and dramatic director, of the series. Its powerful message was well interpreted by ■Pvt. Sivey. Cpl. Davis'sang 'Hitler's Funeral . March' to the tune of Chopin's familiar, funeral march in which , the audience joined in: the last stanza. 'Conquer We Must' is announced and produced by Sgt. Sterling Lud- gate. under the supervision of Capt. Brace Conning.. Assistant Camp Spe- cial Service. Officer. The series, which will.rnark its first anniversary Aug! 4th, is'a Camp Radio Produc- tion. Tony. ' n Alth o ugh Wilfred r eHetter , of th e Metropolitan Opera Co., is intro duced a little too pretentiously as maestro, his 27-piece orch-mbre than copes with Dvorak's 'Slpvonic Dance No. 1' and -Kreisler's 'LiebesfreUd.' The vocal department, shared by. Dorothy Kirst'en and Reed Kennedy, als.0 meet prestige and musical re- quirements with tbpnotch. serenad- ing.- -. . On the preerh Monday (19), Miss Klrsten was heard in 'I Give My Heart.' followed: by. a selection from Puccini's 'Tosca,' and ftnaled with Kennedy in a duet from the 'Student Prince.' Kennedy likewise offered a balanced diet of operetta and opera .numbers . that characterized, the broad "appeal 'Of the entire program 'RHYTHM ROAD' Cast: Johnny Morgan, Ann Thomas, AUstatr Kyle, Victoria Cordova, Sidney Fields, Glenn Riggs, Jimmy Lytell orch : Writers: Mort Lewis, 'Lester Lewis, Sidney Fields Director: Dee Engelbach 25 Mins.; Mon., 10:35 p. m. Sustaining WJZ-Blue, New York Johnny Morgan, a nitery and vaude comic, is the principal in this j hew. variety series 'Rhythm Road,' | . IT „ A p PE1 J ED Tn ME , which the Blue network is offering | happened TO ME for a sustainer run. The show is one, o.-,..„ of a number the net is airing. for Writer: Charlotte Strauss RAYMOND SCOTT SHOW With Jack Smith, Sii Vocal Chords Music, Songs Director: Bill Brennan Sustairiihg 30 Mins.: Frl„ 11:30 p.m. WABC-CBS, New York Initial broadcast of this new series featuring Raymond Scott's CBS stu dio band and singer Jack Smith was a pretty poor effort, all around Script. Smith's: handling of it and his singing, and the performance of Scott's musicians all ' figured -in the bad impression in that order. Only portion of the show that was of high order was the- Six. Vocal Chords, i better-than-average group of voices . CBS has been turning out these intimate-sounding sustaining scripts for weeks now. first with Frank Sinatra and Scott, now with Smith This one was corny, meaningless, and Smith's delivery ot it was poor. That goes for his singing, too: he frequently wandered off the beat, made a wrong entrance once and otherwise impressed as anything but a discovery in the current baritone boom. Scott's orchestra, now using string, section to . augment usual brass, reed and rhythm instruments tion. was unsatisfactory. This is one of the" best- studio combinations in radio , when it-plays right, but in this instance it sounded as if it had no ''rehearsal of the numbers used, an impression strengthened by inter pretations of 'Huckleberry.. Duck and. 'Show-Me the Way to Go Home, which it has been playing' consist enly. They were far .better done than the rest of the material, even though they weren't up to past per forinances. Particularly . annoying was the drummer's monotonous, col orless work... Vocal Chords handled 'Johnny Zero' handsomely,' ditto other brief background bits. Wood possible sponsorship and, incidental- ly, to nil its . unsoia time, n s pass- able -entertainment for a sustainer, but needs tightening and sharpen- ing. / In addition to Morgan, whose voice and style are faintly suggestive of Red Skelton, thie'reBu^rs are Ann Thom- as, playing a" Brooklynese secretary; Alastair Kyle, clicking as a clipped- spoken, undercutting straight; scrip- ter-cOmic Sidney Fields, doing incir dental characters; Glenn Riggs, an- nouncing and stooging; Jimmy Ly- ■ toll's; swing- orchestra, and guest femme vocalists. Diane Courtney had the. asignment on the first two broadcasts and Victoria Cordova, the Mexican singer, got the nod on the July 12 edition. Hobe. Director-Producer: Ken Powell S Mlm; Mnn. Thru Frl., l-H prn, Sustaining WOR-Mutual, New York Letters submitted by the audience, dramatized by Charlotte Strauss and narrated by Ken Powell, form the basis for a wide-a.Wake five minutes climaxed by an O'Henryish finale The letters arc selected for their un- usual descriptions of coincidences or unusual occurrences, and net their writers $5; The series was opened Monday (18) with, a letter submitted by'a soldier; . Effectively rewritten by Miss Strauss and forcefully narrated by Powell, the piece clicked solidly, IT'S ALL IN THE FAMILY' Cast: John Neal, Martha Green-, house, Constance Coleman, Rosa- lind Carter, Jackie Ayera -. Writer: Peter Martin Director: George Asness 30 Mlns.; Tues., 8 p.m. Sustaining - WNYC, New York Peter Martin, eastern story editor of Universal Pictures, is the author of this .new series, titled 'It's AH in . the Family,' being heard. .Tuesday nights on WNYC, municipally-owned New York City, station. Offered as 'pages from the dally life of a typi- cal American family, in wartime,' the initial broadcast (6) was an unprc-. ". tehtious little yarn about how the cheerful, affectionate members of a small-townhousehold solved the ■ problems of how best to help win- the war. It . was distinctly pleasant, creditable listening. Scripter Martin's story-telling technique is simple and effective- He has. the . head of the family, . Charles Bartlett, casually open the- narrntion and then as quietly fade into the dramatization- The charac- ters of the yarn, to remain through- . out the show, are believable and at- tractive, the incidents commonplace: et dramatic, and the movement icely paced. .'-..' .';'■ The production by George Asness was : capable; particularly considering the limited technical facilities at WNYC. Skillful use was made of recorded - musical cues and' back- grounds, though there was ho neces- sity 'explaining' it in the dialog and much greater use ;c6uld have been made.of it in any case. John Neal's reading of the narrator-lead was. re? strained .and '-persuasive and the : other performances were convjnfcing, - except that the. femme:voices- were not always readily distinguishable. ■ The two sound-effects men,-Bavidine. • Schwartz , and Paul Pinsleur. were - given closing credit. H«*be'. . TOM TERRISS We Americans' Sunday. 10:15 a.m.; 15 Mlns. Sustaining WJZ-Blue, New York Tom Terriss belongs'to the old school of lecturers with his theatri^ , cal, highly cultivated delivery. It may have been effective in film trav- elogs of a decade ago. which Terriss- made. It may also have been im- pressive on his 'Vagabond Adven- tures' show for the United. States Lines via WOR, N, Y., back in 1932. But a hew generation of listeners has grown up weaned on hard-hit- ting Americanized mike technic, which is a far cry from the lotty Terriss approach. Heard recently on the series' tee- off session of 'We Americans. Terriss did a sentimental resume of the last days of Col. Nicholas Kraw. the first American. to be killed in the: North African campaign. Ter- riss went overboard on the dra-, matics bv impersonating two char- acters, who still sounded, like one. I SUSTAIN THE WINGS' : Cast; Capt: Paul Walker, Cpl.. Tony Martin, .Cpl. Broderlck Crawford, Cpl. Bav McKlnley, Pfc. Bob Houston,"Pfc. Joe Sehulman. Pvt. Damlan O'Flynh, Pvt; Arthur M»l- vln, Capt. Glenn Miller orch. Glee , Club „. _ , Writers: Sgt. Sol Meyer. Pfc. Paul Huston, Pvt. Ivan Tors Director: Sgt. George Voutsas 25 Mins.; Sat., 2:05 p.m. Sustaining WABC-CBS, New York The Army Air Forces Technical; Training Command is using a blend . of pop entertainment and document tary drama in this ponderously-titled 'I Sustain the Wings' series. On the basis of the early Saturday after- noon time, plus the pop music con-,, tent of the show, the appeal is ap- parently intended to be for prospec- tive Air Force enlistees. It seems likely to have some effect. The initial broadcast Saturday (17). delayed a week because of • script-clearance trouble, was a rea- sonably slickly production for a premiere. Capt. Glenn Miller's band offered a couple of pulsating num= bers and Cpl. Tony Martin warbled several ballads in his familiar style, with, the soldier glee club back- grounding ! nicely. Dramatic spot presented Capt. Paul Walker.in his story of a mechanic Sergeant .who parachuted'behind the Jap lines to repair a .disabled plahe. It wa» fairly, well scripted and neatly pro- duced, with the mood and. cue miisi notably helpful. At the start of the broadcast '.herr was an echo effect, as if the studio were too live,' but that was less ap- parent later.' ^Possibly panels or sevens may have been changed ln : UBS' studio No. -4. in New VOI'K, ,tu correct the fault, or maybe the serviceman audience was late, in arriving and the sound reverberated in the. unfilled place at the start, . Besides the credits listed'above, Cpl. Mel Powell. Pvt. Danny Good, Pvt. Perry Burgett and Pvt. Jerry. Gray wrote the musical arrange.- ments, Jean Hight was CBS produc-: tion man' and Philip' Goulding was the network announcer. Hobe. Harry : Bailey, who formerly coir laborated on, the script for the Ben' It was of the long-arm-of-coinci- Bernie program 'for Wrigley, has den.ee school.. The soldier-cone- joined the radio '-division of the OW1 (Continued on page 40) I in Washington.