Variety (Mar 1945)

tl RADIO Wednesday, March 28, 1915 ;♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦«♦«»♦♦♦»♦♦♦♦»»♦ ■» * ******* *** *~^ \ From the Production Centres j > ************************* ************ «♦♦♦♦♦-♦4 |]V JVEIT YORK CI7T . . . Ann Kelly, who left the Blue lo go with Y&R to work on the Alan Young show, has joined WJZ as assistant to John Huric, program manager ....Guest policy has been Inaugurated on the Alan Piescott "Wife Saver" show on WNEW....A1 Helferand Bill Slater will do the Giants and Yankees baseball games play-by-play over WINS this year. Heifer succeeds Don Dunphy, Slater doing an encore from last year... .Hugh Boice, veepee in charge of sales at WQXR, has been notified that his son, Lt. Orrln Boice, previously listed as missing, has been killed in actior. in the Pacific.... Sol Klapper, formerly of WQXR. and Robert O'Brien, formerly with mid- west stations and recently discharged-from, the Army. have joined the Seidel Agency as co-directors of radio. Kathleen Norris pulling down a reported $1,000 weekly for scripting Lever Bros.' "Bright Horizons" on CBS. . . .Writers' War Board Script of the Month for April is Sgt. Laurents' "The Face." one of the CBS "Assign- ment Home" series... ."How Writers Perpetuate Stereotypes" offered free Jo anybody who's interested. .lust address Mi's. Pat Klopfer, Writers' War Board, 122 East 42d street. Booklet is worth owning... .Trade noticed WTAG, Worcester, which knocked off three awards In a* many weeks, Dupont, "Variety" and Peabody Old Dutch Cleanser auditioning Elaine Sterne Carrington's fourth serial, "Marriage for Two," via Gray agency.,.. Bill Ackerman's Reference Division at CBS breaking out of present space, picks up additional footage for new reading room nn 13th floor of 485 Madison... .Pete Lyon, president of the Radio Writers Guild, to Italy along with Frank Telford, Bill Robson, Bob Shayon. Tony Leader Lois Holmes joins "Valiant Lady"'players William Post, Jr., added to cast of "Lora Lawton"... .Stacy Harris joins cast of "Evelyn Winters" Albert Aley and Kenneth Daigneau are two new additions to CBS serial, "Second Husband." while Martin Blaine and Reese Taylor join the "Stella Dallas" crew. Jo Ranson. WNEW publicity director, getting up a Vocational Guidance Manual tabbod "Radio As a Career," tied in with the GI rehabilitation scheme, and which is skedded for publication... .The Fitzgeralds bow in.on WJZ April 18, date being moved ahead from April 30. A Blue network show is being lined up for them in. June... .Edith R. Summer, story editor of the "This Is My Best'' series for BBD&O, goes to the Coast on April 1 on a three-year contract to RKO. She was formerly on the NBC script z staff and has written programs for "Cavalcade of America," "Radio Read- er's Digest" and "Words at War" CBS' "School of tha Air" program Fii. t^O i will dramatize the workings of tha American Junior Had Cross. Marks initial bow to Junior unit of tha agency during currant Had Cross campaign. Pierre C. Verse-put,: with' WMCA about 15 years, lias baen upped from transmitter chief to chief engineer Ruthrauff & Ryan has new mystery thriller, auditioned last Thursday (22) ready for marketing. Package, labeled "Smith of Scotland Yard," is set for writing by Bob Shaw. Script- ing cieal put through by John Glbbs Garry Moore "Hall of Fames" it Sunday (1) NCAC has signed Frederick Jagel of the Metopera i or .some less austere vocalizing on radio guest shots a la Lawrence Tibbett, Lam-it* Melchior, etc NBC's University of the Air and Eastman School of'Music. Rochester, will celebrate a double anniversary with a special half-hour symphonic program on April 19, at 11:30 p.m. Show will mark 20th birthday of school's American Composers' Concerts, and 15th anni of Festival of American Music inaugurated by Dr. Howard Hanson. IIS CHICAGO . . . Commander Bill Eddy, head of the Navy Radar school here and former head of video station WBKB, has been upped to a captaincy... .Michael Romano has joined the cast of "Backstage Wife"... .Les Welnrott dickering for a new night time show with one of the bigger agencies..'. .Dutch Hous- ton skedded to replace Bob Buckley as network salesman on Don Roberts CBS staff here... .Roberts is still looking for a man to replace Dudley Faust currently a" Lt. in the Marine Corp.. ..Jim Shelby, former radio director at McCann Erickson here, is radio director at Camp Pendleton, Murine training base... .Tony Ross, of the Glass Menagerie cast, guest of honor at a Pump Room farewell party thrown by. cast of "Women in White"... .Jimmy McClain tDr. I. Q.> celebrated his fourth year in the role this week. Johnny Neblett going into production on a new series titled "Stay Tuned for Terror".. . .Bob Farrall is the new announcer on WMAQ's "The Coun- try Sheriff" show Ed Morroff, Blue central division manager, in New York this week for series of huddles... .Don McNeill is staging a contest for a singer to replace Nancy Martin, "Breakfast Club" songstress, who is getting married next weeki.. .Sherman Marks, out of the Army with a medical discharge, Is back oiv-the WBBM staff as a writer Bob Farrall and Hugh Downs, NBC announcers, will appear in several operatic pro- ductions next month... .Blue Net has signed a lease with the Civic Opera Building for 5,000 feet of space. Sales offices, research and general office will move Into the new quarters. IIS HOLLYWOOD . . . KFI's purge of commentators has drawn its first official Are, a protest made to FCC by the Free World group in Hollywood headed by. Marc Connelly. Organization's credo is wrapped up in free speech and KFI's action has its spokesmen hopping mad. ...Jim Andrews east to talk over summer replacements with the Old Gold gang....Don Searle and the missus sunning at Palm Springs, his first vacation since taking over as Blue headman in Hollywood... .John Come got top rating from his draft board so Al Kaye is looking around for another "jockey" as sounding board for Frank Morgan's tall tales....Hub Robinson set his production house-in order at the Blue and hustled back to the home grounds.. . .Sam Zagon. attorney for Don Lee net and other radio folk, elevated to cap- taincy in the Army Air Forces... Jimmy Higgs a civilian again after being Col. James Higgs for some time. He's the former midwest buyer and lunched with Harry McCahn (& Ericksonl which may or may not be sig- nificant". ... Bob Hiestand, KFI's production director, is in the Army now and Announcer Russej Stewart moved into his berth.;'. .Lewis Allen Weiss and Willct Brown back from Mutual board meeting. .. .Dick Compton east- after office talks with Murray Bolcn and Whila Wilson and to welcome Ralph Edwards to Hollywood in a pounding fog... .Wick Crider around on divers publicity chores for J. Walter Thompson clients... .Such scurrying around by network and agency p.a.'s to regale the N. Y. World-Tele's Harriet Van Home and Cleveland Press' Norman Siegel....Sgt. Bob Welch, ex-producer for Eddie Cantor and Jack Benny, getting "shot up" for overseas duty with Armed Forces Radio Service. Naval Lt. Pat Weaver, whilom agency exec, takes over production of "Command Performance" during his absence.. . .Bill Lawrence turned over the production reins of "Fitch Bandwagon" lo Lou Fulton, who has been doing the writing. Law- rence will solo on Screen Guild Players. . ' — : : ■ ——♦ *"****" — = CIAA DXers SSm Continue* from p»gt 30 — will attend the conference, but also the littlt* mini who'll insist on being heard about world pcucc after dc-' feat of Germany and Jupuii. Rostcu's not the only prominent radio writer who's scripted shows for pcunuts for the government out- fit. Others have included Archibald MacLelsh. Arch Oboler and Norman. Corwln; Henry Walsh, one of the CBS stand-bys on its "School of the' Air"; Harry Granick, Ethel Deckel- man (u relati ve newcomer who's been doing fine work'), Hedda Ros- ten, Walter Anderson, Charles Mon- roe, Sheldon Stark, and Oci:ivus Roy Cohen, Jr. Best Sellers Included Plays that huvc been dramatized, or. books that have been adapted on the scries, include "Oxbow Incident." "Bell for Ad'ano," Stephen Vincent Benet's poetie narrative "John Brown's Body," "Abe Lincoln, in Illi- nois," "Outward Room," "Grapes of Wrath," and "Our Town." Scripts are done in English and translated into Spanish and Portu- guese, then beamed in these .lan- guages. Professional radio talent is in- volved in the venture all the way through. Wilfred S. Roberts, head of the" N. Y. radio operations for CIAA, was head of NBC production when he went into the government service in 1942. Under Roberts are Mucio Delgado, former manager of KYCA, Prcscoll, Ariz.: Joseph Liss, Rockefeller fellow in radio and formerly "Report to the Nation" and "Human Adventure" writer for CBS; John White, Jr., former Coast producer for NBC; and Julian Muriel, who was with both NBC and CBS International divisions until he Joined the CIAA. Overseas for USO Since Jan '43—Now in Germany FRED LIGHTNER Dir.: PHIL C08CIA KLZ EXCELS IN LOCAL PRODUCTION! , -it — mare local IWe taleat • KU creates and P'«*«» ha. deliberately tSr^J^^^jn^ eeeeeatrati^ oa otaer Diver .trfl.n. Sponsors Beef Continued - oiu pase 26 5 well with the newsmen, more especially those that are "scoop crazy." But the sponsors retort. "What difference does it nrike if NBC beats CBS by 20 seconds with a fU-sh? People listening to CBS at the time don't know what NBC was doing, and vice versa, so, as far as the actual listeners are concerned, whichever station they're tuned in on had the scoop." Furthermore, it's pointed out, many listeners object to having favorite shows interrupted so a breathless announcer can pant a bul- letin containing little or no actual news value. The nets have cautioned news- roomers before on the situation—this isn't the first time they've had squawks—but as soon <:s the battle tempo increases the fourth cstaters of the air succumb to the excitement and break out anew in "flash" jags and "bulletin" rashes. Sometimes they're even spotted on a show that gives way in a manner of minutes to a straight news program where the item would make more of a sock im- pact. And don't think the newscast- ers don't howl when, that happens. Here's Reverse Switch Minneapolis, March 27. ' When the trend is away from in- terruption of news broadcasts by commercials in consequence of agi- tation against the latter, WCCO, the CBS - owned - and - operated station here, flgurately is thumbing its nose at the development. For the first time the station is cutting in now on its 7 a.m. (Minne- apolis time) CBS "News of the World" program with a commercial for a seed company which just has taken over sponsorship. In cutting in at the middle of the program the station omits a small part of lt. As far as can be learned, thajre hasn't been any listener, protest yet, Sidney Andvufc COLUMN... Ten years in the life of man is only a drop in the bucket against his life expectancy. But, in radio, ten years for the same sponsor is practically unheard of. Yet, Sidney Andorn has done the unheard of, and has been on the air six evenings a week at the same time and over the same station for the past ten years for his sponsor, The Standard Brewing Company of Cleveland. Featured each evening at 6:00,, Sidney Andorn brings to WGAR's listeners intimate chatter about their town, its entertainment and other activities. Not satisfied with a full schedule as Special Events Director of WGAR, he is constantly'on the'go as Master of Ceremonies at War Bond rallies and Red Cross drives, and serving as a committee member on these and other events closely allied with Cleve- land'a war effort. It's because of a staff of sincere, civic-minded people such as Sidney Andorn that WQAR does a Barter job in serving its community • ■ • and it* advertisers, too! (VGA* CLEVELAND'S FRIENDLY STATION .IBIiiitnl in . W./ ■ fin lit :i II A ) ith riir f)li/tiown REPRESENTED hAi 10NALLY BY [HE U\i AGrh'JT