Variety (Oct 1943)

34 RADIO Wednesday, Oclober 6, J9i3 Radio Reviews Cciiiiiniird irom: ii:ikc 'ib ~" ap))ariMitly rcquiii'-- i-lrikiiii; ninleriiil it he's 1(1 c;irr.\■ slVow o/i his own. HiiUcvfi'. be'.- ;i nutural- in llic'pre.-:- eiil siirriniiHiiiiiiS unci should carve a suro liiclio fill- hiniscif.. Otherwise. 'f'n)l)6i- and , MoUv" re- tain.- Ilavlinv Wilcox as announcer and bit pla.vpr. witli Arthur Q. Brjan and Gale Gnrdon as logulars aiid Shirley Mitchell, who plays the' honeysuckle-voice belle of 'The Croat Crildcrslcevc' due lor a run- ning pan liilcr. in the season. The KinR's Men. and Billy Mills' orches- tra provide their familiar music. The commercial copy on the sta- soi'.'s opener was notably slick., par- ticulariv the integrated first pl'.is. In all. Tibber and , Moll.v' remains nift.v popcorn. Hobe. 'NOiV .\ND FOKEVEE—.\ LOVE STORV C'aH: Carl Frank, Barbara Weeks, PCKRV . Conklin, Frank Eeadijck. Betty rhilson. Alex Knglaniler, Tony Marvin, GeorRe Davis Writer: Frances Ellis Director: ..lohnny Wilsun 15 .Slins.; .Moii.-Ki i., .3:;i0 p.m. Su.stainin^ W.\BC-CBS; Nc« York ^inicd as.'a drama of iiiuiet rellcc- .tion and mood, rather than' any .star- tling events.' this new serial sustaincr on CBS is likely to be an uncertain bci for popularity. Experience indi- cate.-; that strong plot.' lather than glmosph'ore and flavor, is generall y the vital rcnuiremom■ lor mass iis- tener draw. To overcome this appar-. eiit llmilalion. 'Now and Forever—A •Love Stor.v.' will need orcentlonal cliaraclcri^alion and emotional in- tonsity. The premiere iiistallnient may be an luifair'saniple of. the sliow's qu.il- iiy. andobvidii.'ily the, Monday 'bi'oadi':i>t of this line w'a.s not typical :of tlu' cl);iplor> til follow. It mori'ly cslapli.'.ho'd the principal characicrs of. Hex aiur F.llcn Harris-and etched iji the iinltnics of thi-'ir happily mar- ried .siuialion.. the tact that they're dcviAod ))aroul.> of □ young daugh- ter and son. and that some of their friends are Ic-^s^ blls.sfully wedded. But the episode seemed to indicate that 'N'ov. and Forever' may-be in daiiger ot becoming- sentimental rather thaii inlenso. and garrulous rather than rcdective. The future will determine whether, in both writing and performance, the serial can a\oid falling into pat- tern. But one thin;; is immediately aoiiarc.nt in the show. That is that Coorse DavisV pi.ind bridging lends a riistin.cl oualily. It might profilabl}' be e.xtiMidcd as a background for the entire script. 'Hobe. collaritcs.-Barry achieves neat crtect of speaking with authority and at the .same time including his listeners in the class of intelligeiil persons who understand what is taking place and wh.v. ■ ea'rd Friday tli, Barry smartly skelchcd niilitary backgiound of fall of Naples, and made it plain how American and British forces cooper- atod in seizing the city. Going on to FDR's stalemcnt. commentator point- ed out that, although liberation of t.'ie Pope furnished best headlines, real inessagc from President was that the fate ot Rome rested entirely with the Nazi.s, and that their dec.Lsion will save the Holy City or doom it to destruction. Analysis closed with advice to watch developinents in Corsica and 'Yugoslavia as bases for possible dc-' cisive flanking movements in Battle of Italy. Barr.v'i voice and delivery are excellent —no try , for sensational effects and no attempt to lift the program will) a 'last-minute scoop.' Show is announced a.s an analysis, anii that's jut what Barry makes it. Plug by siaiY- announcer stresses safety of sponsor's institution. •niONT LINE HEADLINES' VVilh John B.-irry .News aniilysis l.T .Mins., Mon., Wed., Fri., T:4f>' p.ml .\ATIOXAI. SIIAWMIT BANK WBZ. Bnrton; WBZ.V. Springfield iDorcmiis <£• Co.) TopMicht Boston Globe newsman John Barr.v continues his threCr- times- a-wcc k series. for_l.he_y(>U.QJtia]. "Shawnnit Baiik. Hub^s second large.!t financial: institution.' and scores with an even-tempered report of latest r'pvp'opmert,<-. Aiming at white- DX-ing World Sei ies To All. Battle Fronts ' Washingion. Oct-. .').; The World Series play-by-play is being short-waved til soldiers, on all fighting fronts, the War Department stated. Five DX stations on the East and West Coasts are beaming, the baseball classic. -—epmmand«'s'novei\seas~lTa[V'e'lJiccn notified of, the broadcast times through arrangements worked out by the Special Service Division. Old Gold Rides Close To MBS' Series Airings J. Waller Thomp.iOn's time-buying department went in-last week for a rush job of picking up chainbreaks on Mutual stations on behalf, of Old Gold cigarets. The spots the agency bought were those before and after the play-by- play broadcasts of the World Scries games. ^ you haven't met Janice... DAYTI.ME radio, suys Hooper, enjoys greater, audience in Washington than in ntost big cities. Moral: coiubinc proved duytimc tocli- liiqtics with never-failing local apjtcul. WtOP did it. i?csu//.•"Janice Grey ,Wa8hinglon.D.G,,"' a daytime serial that has all the anima- tion, all the suspense, all, the lieurl-throh of good daytime radio, y^nrf —a story'so localized—so typically Wa.sliingion —that it grips the listener's imagin(itiori...rucusrs licr attention...r/<>»ian(/.'i her loyalty. Tlic leading character is a girl frbin out- of-town, working iii wartiiuc \K'ashinglon. Its locale and many of its incidents are'sd familiar to Washingion lislcnor.-^ that thcv' Rriiropiiletl by Rtiilio Sides the SPOT Ihniiilrnxliug nii islnn of C.BS might have happened next door—and somctimcB do! JanU'e—on the air Monday through Fri- day afternoons' over WTOP—follows a -proved riadio fortuula, personalized .and localized for Washington women. One of the new "capital-ized" WTOP shows. Let us—or Radio Sales—tell you about them. WTO WASHINGTON'S 50,000 watt Station COLUMBIA OWNED VICTORY NET BIG HELP TO BOND DRIVE IN NW Seattle, Oct. 5, , 'The Washingtoiji" State Victory Network, which includes all twen'ty- six radio stations in the state, is l)e- infi put to good use during the Third War Loan Drive, adding to its'rec- ord of public .service which dates fi:om a week after Pearl Harbor. UniLMial. in its seliip, the network alTords qiiicU contact with the mar jorily of citizens of , the state for -omorgciuy radio announcements, and a policy of iriter-station rela- tions, which nukes available all war- help broadcasts in either live or wa.\ed form,, has kept the network alive and active through'all types of ^w;iv aiid salva.ge drives. The Planning' Committee for the netwo rk, headed by Birt, Fi sher. iC^MO^KTir Seattle, has Bill Mq- shi • of the same stations as vice- chairman; Jack Clark, KMO. Tacorna, handling traffic: Jerry Morris, KOL, Seattle, and Wallace Brazeal, KFPY, Spokane., on progranis: Harvey Wixoii. KHQ-KGA. Spokane,, aiid Mary Dollins. KIRO. Seattle, doing promotion and publicity, and W. B. Sluhl. KOMO-KJR, and Mrs. Cole Wylie. KPQ. Wenatchee. assuring sponsor cooperation, designated three stations - best qualified to feed pro- grams to tlie others_ and to make transcriptions for the use, of any sta- tions which could hot carry a live broadcast, so that every outlet par- ticipates in tlie program.s; All, ex- penses are. divided pro-rata, accord- ing to the individual-station's night- time rale, and every station is rep-- resented on at least one of-the sub- committees of the net. Follow-up Comment Coiiiiniied from page 2S ; brought out that Mutual expanded from a four-station network in 1934 to a web with 211 affiliates in 1943, 'rhese dp not include outlets in Alas- ka, Canada. Hawaii and Mexico. He also pointed out that Mutual can now reach 96.000,000. people, and that it is fully aware of its. responsibilities to these listeners by offering them a highly personalized service which maintains old loyalties and estab- lishes new ones. 'Moonbeams,' the harmony stint which filled the WOR, N. V. (11:30 midnight i, spot from 1928-'35 .'and jvas revived again for Gambarelli &■ Devito over that same station in 1938. was the second old-time radio show presented Friday (1) by WNEW, N. Y., on its revival series or yesteryear's favorites. Geoige Shaklcy. who doubled as director and instrunientalist pf the original 'Moonbeams.' (tiled the berths Fri- day. . Veronica Wiggins, Mary Mer- kiii and Lillian Stuart, the original vocalists, were also featured. They clung to the soft delivery and senti- mental song that characterized their WOR show. Theirs is a style seldom heard nowadays, but which still po.ssc.s.-;cs appeal for late hour listen- ing. Coca-Cola's program on WABC, featuring the chromatic fantasies of Andre Kostelaiietz' brchestra, pre- sented as its guest stars Bidu Sayao and Oscar Levant Sunday afternoon (3). Highlight ot the half-hour (4:30- 5) was Levant's keyboarding of ex- cerpts from the 'first movement of Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor. Levant showed-his mastery of the rhythms and melodies of a more classical composer as opposed.to his well-known penchant for interpret- ing George Gershwin. Miss Sayao, the Metropolitan Opera's Brazilian color- atura, expertly plied her Way through 'Para Ninai-' and 'Mdcinha Bemfeiti- nha,': two Latin-American numbers, and 'Carry- Me. Back to Old Vir- ginny,' a decided switch. Kostelanetz led the orchestra In satisfying, though musically static perjorm- ances of Romberg's 'Desert Song,' Gershwin's 'Lady Be Good,' and' a iamba nvedlev. Duff Buys .Participatitih bult Desserts is buying participa- tions, One-ot the bookings is four 15-minule ^segments a week of the Galch Drake-Housewives Protective League scries on the CBS Pacific Network, originating out of KNX, Los Angeles. ■ W. Earl Bothwell, of Pittsburgh, is the agency: , , TREND OF THE TIMES: WLW MINUS GRIDCASTS Cincinnati, Oct,. 5. The gaine btiiiig dropped -by nu- merous universities in its four-state area, WLW has booted football out of bounds for this season. 'What's left of traditional games , will be broadcast by the Crosley 50,000 wai- ter's little brother,. WSAl, feediiiff from NBC. In recent years WLW did special coverage of selected games most popular with its listeners, the an-r nouncttig being done by Dick Bray. (Arrangements had been made, to carry most of Notrie Dame's 1943 games before the WLW management decided to paSs up the sport this fail, allbwiiig more time for programs backing up the war effort. Cowles' Scholarships Dos Moines, Oct. 5. .Gardner Cowles, Jr., owner of WNAX, Dcs Monies, ■ and . publisher of the Des Moines Register & Tribune and Look Magazine, has established the S3G,000 Gardner Cowles,- Jr., agricultural stady scholarsiiips for five farm boys and girls. The scholarshi will bo awarded to inhabitants of t he fol- lowing slates: ' Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota. There will be an additional scholarship to Yankton College, Yankton, where WNAX studios aie lociited. MORC pcom£ MORE MONEY MORE BUYING thnn ever m ih^ ALT l.AK !VI A R K F: - Y The lOlVi Dir. WIIilJAIkl .VOKRIS AGKNCS