Variety (Jul 1946)

36 1IADIO ItEVIKWS •SPOTLIGHT ON AMERICA" Villi George Carson Putnam; Mau- rice Tarplln, Wendell Holmes. , George Tiplady, John Stanley, I Barbara Anderson, Ethel Wilson, "JERGEN'S JO URN All" (Summer Edition) With Ben Grauer, Florence rrltchctt, Queiitln Reynolds; an- nouncer, Cart Frank; others . -■ - . -, . . ,».!,, 1 ■, | IllfUllkk I , V^U, * w»kl«», a Haskell Coffin, Mel Burlell; Guy; Producers: John Lovcton, Don Mar C. Uccker; Bob Martin, Ted Brown tin announcers i 15 Mins., Sun., 9 p.m. Producer-director: Herbert Rice ANDREW JERGENS CO. Writers: Paul Milton, P a I m e r WJZ-ABC, N. Y Thompson 40 Mins.; Frl., 10 p.m. AMERICAN TRANSIT ASSN. WOR-MUTUAL, N.Y. (picpii & ClmpiK'lh "Spotlight On America" is an in- teresting program, with its brief, varied vignettes of Americana picked up from the news, and fea- ture pages of the nation's week. II is also a clever program, hi the way the excerpts tie up so. well with the sponsors' services. This is ad- vertising with a flair. Program, sponsored variously, by local transit or bus companies, (in N.Y, they arc the Third Ave. Tran- sit Co. and Fifth Ave. Coach Co.), all members of the American Tran- sit Assn.. picks up some vivid ma- terial—dramatic, humorous, but all effective—in its. wanderings. Locale shifts swiftly from one city to an- - other, (as it did on Friday's (19) premiere), to a one-armed coffee- pot in Chicago , and two expectant fathers, whose wives turn out to be long-separated sisters; to a Wash- ington, D. C. trolley and a disabled G); to a Tennessee hillside, and the railroad crew that subscribed for a sick girl's medication. The brief stories are sentimental and' old- fashioned, but rather appealing. They are all well-scripted and acted, while the interpolated music of Harry Salter and orch is in keep- ing, to help point up each drama - let. Overall production is most commendable. Program has added, feature of narrator George Carson Putnam adding last-minute news at 27 min- utes past the hour, hot off the wires, which is another good stunt. Mid- commercial Friday by Guy C Hccker, exec sec'y, of ATA. was a plug for local bus and trolley serv- ice and in good taste. ATA is re- ported to have authorized expendi- ture . of $25,000 for car card posters to promote the new show, flron. RADIO REPERTORY ("Marry Them Both") With Robert Goodler, Luclenne Lelondal, Betty Taylor, Rupert Caplan. Writer: Cleely Howland Producer-director: Rupert Caplan 30 mins., Thnrs. g pjn. Sustaining CBC-Canada. Here's neat summer fare that .somehow fails to make the best use of a topical subject in Canada—con- stant tiffing between English and jrench Canada. Comedy scripting by Miss Howland. was clever and 8?,°; P Ient y,. o£ yoeks, except that the sock quality was completely Sf.'u 6, A,r , er reached certain lev- els, then would fizz off in a welter of wordy cross talk. ■ Story concerns a Milquetoastish A h i? r !S te , r (with the corny name of Alfred Jones) who is advised by the Unknown Stranger to marry two women English and French, in the interests of Canadian, unity. Com- plications that result are obvious with even a gag about Canada's hew Snnrt^n 6 thrown , in ' Situations aw StWc'Vi. SOme , places and fat in .o t h ?&« t e h n e i^ ea,rerbei,,ginneed ♦u C i a, J. ,an ,' s dire ction is okay exceDt a ?Utle e to^ S n / t | ,ingS get out V hand a little too often, with baby gurgles and women's saueals takinoT ♦iff spotlight for little effect 'let nl s™rhtt Ur with P t0 .l he qualit y ° f t^e bein^ntcessa"^ 10 ^ 0r bou °- uet s wWch r m fl v n L back eround music, winch may be reason for the flat- afBufT?* f ° r very brlcI testing at the begin ning and end. Lory. •VOICES DOWN THE WIND" With John Seagle, Helen Spahn: Ed- ward A. Bice's Silver Strings; an- nouneer, Howard tapper Producer: Earle Pudney lusted 3 ' *•-•■ WGY-NBC, SchenecUdy An easy way to wake up of a Sun- w£j. m0 . rn,ng ' Voi "s Down the Wind stands well in comparison to any program of its type fed to the network by a local outlet. ■'Featur- ing tunes from popular operettas ana musicals, show gives every evi- dence of careful rehearsal and me- ticulous production by Earle Pud- WGY aSSIStant pr0{fram director of Instrumentally, the program has finesse without heft, as Edward Rices string group sounds under- manned at times. John Seagle, son of the late Oscar Seagle, Met star has a long professional background which shows well in a stirring ban TAFIA hv\» » (Leimeii & Mitchell) I While Walter Winchell takos his summer vacation, thcJergens people fill the vacancy : this year with a three-way parlay made up of an- nouncer Ben Grauer, glamor - ped- dler Florence Pritchett, and com- mentator Queritin Reynolds. It's. an excellent team; for anybody's list- ening, any time. Grauer, who regularly does the commercials on Winchell's show, has a relatively simple assignment read- ing newscasts, but he does it with the authority of the trained, mature radipite that he is. The Pritchett gab is strictly for the dames who are impressed with oblique but un- subtle mention of names in fullfacc caps. The lady is the kind who never meets people outside 21 or the Stork Club, , and knows no one who doesn't wear rocks from Car- tier's. Incidentally, she throws around, free plugs worth good com- mercial dough as if they were pea- nuts. But there's no doubt that her four-minute session is palatable to a goodly number of 'hose who like to Live by Proxy. Then comes Reynolds. .And: for sock commentary oh meaty stuff, there's no one better on the air right how. He spent his entire session ripping Sen. Robert Taffs galluses right off that Solon's back, with ' a sideslash'at Winston Churchill's lat- ter-day conservatism and a plea for "good, healthy anger toward law- makers who've failed us." He was superb. Carl Frank superintended the Jergens commercials, and no doubt sold some of that stuff at 39c. Cars. JOHNNY MORGAN SHOW With Hope Emerson, Gloria Mann, Norman Brokenshlre, Jack Arthur, BUI Keene, Walter Klnsella, The Smoothies; Jack Costello, an- nouncer Producer-Director: Kenneth Mac- Gregor Writers: Seaman Jacobs, George Sumner, jack Houston 30 Mins.; Thurs., 7:30 p.m. Sustaining WEAF-NBC, N. Y. * Johnny Morgan, who was fea- tured on the Ballantine show last year, is sparking this lightweight summer session with a familiar brand Of mild comedy. Show is easy-to-take entertainment, nicely paced by Kenneth MacGregor and played for maximum laughs by a sturdy cast. But whether it's strong enough to pull in this important p.m. spot is doubtful. Script for the series builds a fra- gile story framework for Morgan's gagging. As heard in the second stanza (18), Morgan plays an un- heroic, limpish sort of guy who wants his sleep badly.. Rest of the cast plays an assortment of cracker- barrel characters who give an ami- able, if not hilarious air to the pro- ceedings. The Smoothies quartet, who also are heard on the Saturday afternoon Bernle West show, har- monized brightly on "Doin' What Comes Naturilly'j and "I Don't Know Why' 1 as a between-the-acts refresh- ment. ♦♦♦♦t♦»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ifollowup Comment} ♦ ♦♦♦»♦♦♦♦ « ♦ ♦+♦♦♦.■{•■»»; Fletcher Markle, Canadian Broad- casting Corp.'s lend-lease gift to CBS «ind the U. S. kilocycles in'gen- eral, did his "Life With Adam" satire on Orson Welles last Friday night (19). He did it, with Welles' connivance, on Welles' own CBS Pabst show. And it was a lallapa- l0OS£. It was a scream, literally, from start to finish as "Adam," the 27- ycar-old produccr-writer-director- actor - lecturer -pianist-painter-lover hammed through scene after hammy scene. Markle . played- . ','Adam" (Welles), and elicited the last smear of schmaltz from the rich role. Grace Matthews, who did the femnie lead when Markle first produced the Welles saga on CBC's "Stage 46," came down from Canada to do jus- tice to the lady who's about as fabulously cynical as the Great Man himself. For the rest, a group of CBC people were cast in supporting roles, with Mercedes McCambridge, of Welles'. oWn Mercury Theatre group and a few other refugees, from Blue Ribbon beer managing to. get within shouting distance of the CBS mike. The whole thing shaped up. into an evening of mad radio— deliberate madness done with great skill by everyone concerned. Hugh Kemp,' scripter of "Life." might be asked to do some more radio satires, judging by this one. And Markle, of course, has made his mark on this side of the border. As for Welles—he deserves a bow, in his own "obediently yours" man- ner, for giving his show to this pro- duction. He told the audience the show's "less than a compliment, more than a commentary." It was— and his understanding underscores' the commentary. Wednesday, July 24, 1946 tone. For this origination he is paired with soprano Helen Spahn. a C ? mb ° which has been heard in other local originations. Gal has a pleasantly toned, rangy voice, al- though somewhat lacking in warmth. More change of pace and variety might be in order, together with an occasional violin solo by Rice, who has been, with testation since' it JgeMjA-r ift >j;922.i/.' ■■JQefflrd. - >u»Afc "MIDWEST PUBIJC FORUM" With Monte Randall, Dr. George Watson, Dr. Charles Orr, others Producer: Monk Randall 25 Mins.; Sunday, 8:05 p.m. Sustaining WIND, Chicago Illustrative of a profound analysis of human foibles alleged to have been originated by one Prof. James Durante—i.e., "Everybody wants to get into the act"—this forum (the only one of its kind aired in Chi- cago) has. as its admirable purpose the stimulation of public .under- standing on various questions of the day, always presenting both sides of those questions and giving. the stu- dio audience a chance to participate too. Latter device is where Du- rante's observation comes in handy in this review, because the bystand- ers really come in swinging in their allotted 10 minutes. Question discussed on the pro- gram heard was "Are We Headed Towards An Orgy, of Inflation?", with Dr. George Watson, head of the political science dept. at Chi's Roose- velt College and former director of the Federation of Tax Administra- tors, taking the affirmative, and Dr. Charles Orr, professor of economics at the same college and former sta- tistician for the League of Nations, upholding- the opposing contention that inflation can—and is—toeing avoided. Pail- had seven minutes to explain themselves, whereupon . moderator Monte Randall invited members of the audience to join the fray, which they did, and with a will. One got all excited about his landlord hav- ing him by the neck rent-wise; an- other, obviously more mature in nis thinking, went into the question of immediate adoption of the interna- tional dollar, as proposed at Bretton Woods; another blasted away about our loaning Great Britain S3 r 750,- OOChOnQ, when they, already owe the u-A «o much;etc. Koboay -wins, •exceirt- In"the mind Drew Pearson's invasion of the KKK's own bailiwick in the heart of Georgia last Sunday (21). after a challenge from that outfit, was more than merely a piece of brilliant showmanship. . Airing on the ABC net from the steps of the state capi- tol in Georgia, Pearson was hitting home hard and courageously for the cause of human decency. It was a job well done. Pearson poured vitriol on the Klan for its bullying methods and his plea for fairplay towards America's multi-minority groups was delivered with inspired passion. The mike caught the full drama 1 of the scene. Originating outdoors in the rain, the session had the aspect of a Columbus Circle (N. Y.) rally- only this one was loaded. Partisan tempers were high and Pearson had to override the racket stirred up by the cat-calling hecklers, obviously Klan members or sympathizers. An- other wing of the crowd cheered ■ ea ui S( i. n , each tune he slammed the nightshirts. Pearson tackled the Talmadge issue directly and re- vealed that the gubernatorial pri- mary winner was turning over the solution^of the race problem to the pir nd A C y$°J> s °f the KKK. Gov. Ellis Arnall briefly introduced Pear- f°n. r . e , mar king that the fight for goodwill and tolerance in Georaia was given a big lift by his decision to appear. Interest In broadcast was height- ened by full-page ads in metropoli- ifSn" 8 ?" 3 ' a .?t weekend wherein ivS^w? dvlS€d U had taken out $1,- 000,000 insurance on Pearson's safe- ty for the 15-min. session. Tommy Dorsey's "Dorsey Drive" summer replacement for Fred Allen didn t take long to round into shape. He put on a highly gratifying half- hour Sunday (21) (NBC-8:30 p.m) with Rudy Vallee as guest. From all angles the show was far superior to the initial broadcasts; this year, Dor- sey is not putting too much emphasis on comedy scripting as he did last summer for the same sponsor (Tender Leaf Tea), although the shows go off the air in a light mood due to the cross-fire between T.D. and the guest batoneer. T.D.'s crack band (and it is that a Sain) did a swell job oh the past weeks show. It covered the stand- ard, pop and original Held smoothly and with eclat. Vallee's part, in ad- dition to nicely delivered lines, in- cluded participation with Dorsey in a sax-trombone duet and the con- ducting of the orchestra in a vari- tempi arrangement of the U. of Maine "Stein Song," which he made a national institution. It capped a uniformly listeiiable show. of the listener, and that's an admir- able twist, considering that the stanza is only 25 minutes arid that a lot of the interesting discussion would have to be sacrificed to a summing-up of the score. Nonethe- less, it would have been a pertina- cious individual who would agree with Dr. Watson after hearing Dr. Orr's masterly presentation of the thesis that what's happening in Eu- rope, can't happen here because of our productive capacity; that buyer strikes can hold prices down better than OPA ever could, and in a more democratic manner;,and so dn. As pointed out, show is unlike others here—"University of Chicago Roundtable," for instance—because of the audience participation angle. AlscyJt keeps fresh'and interesting by taking in a wide variety of sub- jects. . Mifce, "HARVEST OF STABS" With Raymond Massey, Tlvis Wicker* Howard Barlow Orch, Don Han- cock, announcer Writer: Sam Taylor Producer-Director: Glun llcisch 30 Mins., Sun. 2:30 p.m. INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER WEAF-NBC, N.Y. (McCami-Eric/csOJi) Without turning in anything n- nique in the way of programming, "Harvest of Stars" in its Summer Edition adds up to a highly lis- tennblu. session of light music spangled by Raymond Massey. Brightness of this early Sunday aftcrnbbh show may be dimmed somewhat by the fact that it follows the RCA Victor musical session which is keyed in a precisely iden tical mood. Pattern Tollows. in the groove, of accenting semi-classical orchestrations and established pop tunes. Massey, piping in from a Hollywood hookup, contributes the prefatory patter for the numbers together with a dramatic bit on some item of Americana. . Preem. summer session (2) opened with Howard Barlow's orch giving a sturdy symphonic buildup to a collection of marches from the American Revolutionary War. Orch also played a medley of Johann Strauss waltzes and closed with a trio of Friml pieces, "Only a Rose," "Some Day" and "Song of the Vagabonds." Baritone soloist Tnvis Wicker guested oh the show with vibrant renditions of "Song of the Open Road" and Jerome Kern's You Are Loved." Massey was standout in his brief characterization of Patrick Henry. Excellent script gave a credible version of that incident in the colonial rebel's fight against British r, u , le . which ended in the memorable; if this be treason, make the most of it. Plugs for International Harvester were brief and dignified. THE ARTHUR MURRAY SHOW M Mr Ted Grizzard, Gerald Brown, Audrey Craft, Louise King, BUI Seymour, Ford Canfield and orch, guests . Writer: Wally Olsen Producer-Director: Ted Robertson 30 Mins.; Wednesday, 7 p.m. st"dSos MI,RBAV DANC,NO WBBM, Chicago (Huber, Hoge) Commercial layout tailored for" that guy who teaches dancing in a hurry is so obviously a natural for television that the listener is bound to wonder sooner or later what it's doing on radio. Withal; if stacks up !5.JPJ**Ji y audio fare, what with Ford1 Canfleld's orch supplying lis- ■enable music during dance lessons in the studio and Louise King chirp- ing pop tunes betweentimes. Theme, of course, is "Arthur .Mur- ray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurrv " sung by Miss King. Ted Grizza?d. who impresses as another Bob Hawk rh»1? ly d Sf s he kee P thl "e s moving! chats with contestants (there are five .chosen from the audience in WBBM's Studio 10) about romances that start on dance floors, whether a woman should apologize if she steps pn her partner's toes, and other trivial but entertaining (thanfoTto Gnzzard) subjects. * Contestants take turns terping Murray teachers Gerald Browfi S» d „r K" dre ?: Craft - wit h Grizzard describing how they're doing and M ff K .">« giving out with musical fh=f s „ inter n» tently, to the effect Jm5- M " r r a y students "have a lot of nf ^2 d - two can dance *or the price offeHni , mean,n S they're currently £ '2 «"t cut rates. Bill skYwuUy hand,es announcing chores . Canfleld and the orch do a good job of providing the brief snatches of dansapation (show would be ,nori istenable, incidentally, if these were longer), and Miss King sines two songs The two teachefsf BrSwn and Gri^i;?"' 1 r i okav «dlib^ W s n but Grizzard contribs the job that reallv keeps it moving, being J able to make a production number out of the most We^ee? 1 "" 11 dr0Pped ^ thS tateS Vlewees - Afifce. RUSSELL DAVILLE Producer: Lee MorrUon - ffei '" Ftl '' ,:Mpnl ' WLIB. N. Y, WLIB's program dept. has come up with a juicy plum Its just a straight session of folksinirinB hi.t and S? fil! Dav » lc >.simplici?i^?i"ccrUy and fine voice lifts it into a topshelf f ,as u s - DavilJe belongs right up There w '* h Burl Ives, Richard Dyer-Bin ■ nett and John Jacob NUw in his mastery of the minstrel form Daville has a limpid, melancholy tenor mgde to order for this style of- songs. Accomping himself with a guitar, he obviously has a wide■ rep- ertory ranging from native tunes of foreign lands to contemporary songs of social' significance. • 6 On his debut (22), Daville oneneri with "I Was Bom'when the Day Was Long and followed through with two West Indian ballads and a number called "On the Highway" Closing number was a touching piece in memory of two Negroes recently killed in a Long Island police fracas, entitled: "Trouble, Trouble, When the Land Ain't Free." Daville fur- nishes the In-between gab in aatis- factory manner. ' v< "MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER " WUh Manrlce Tarplln, Ian Martin, Frank Behrens, Anna Karens, Rov Van Rooten, John Gibson Writers - Producers - Directors: Bob Arthur, David Kogan Music: Doc Whipple 30 Mins,; Sun., 4 p.m. Sustaining WOR-Mutual Spook stories on a lazy summer Sun- day afternoon meet with nn audience reluctant to gel their chlUs via vailio With strmmer ratings down in any case, and the Sabbath potential prctl v thoroughly kayoed by the luro of local swimming holes, it's doubtful that "Mysterious Traveller" can ex- pect stoiit listenership. Nevertheless the. show provides steady entertain- ment and, given a more propitious time slot, could better live up to its present promise. Program format follows the ac- cepted formula for spinetinglers, in- troed by a velvet-voiced creep who as the "Traveller," warns the audi- ence to keep a hypo handy for com- ing emotional emergencies. Drammer of Sunday (21) was called "It Might Be You," and told of a man who was almost killed by people he didn't know and for reasons he couldn't fathom, until his cousin and supposed best friend turned out to be the cm. ployer of the hired killers in an at- tempt to cinch a'dead uncle's for- tune. Nightmarish quality of repeat- ed escapes from something incom- prehensible built suspense well, al- though constant reprise of certain cliches was. annoying. Introduction is followed by narra- tion, which segues': into straight drama, with story told via flashbacks. Mood payoffs by Doc Whipple at the organ set the program's tone in nice fashion, Fundamentally this story was weak, and leads one to wonder if perhaps Bob Arthur and David Kogan haven't tackled too much in the combined producer-writer-direc- tor burden. Motivation was missing throughout the. piece and, when it was provided at the climax, proved too weak to carry the rest of the play. Thesping by the cast was compe- tent, though unsensational. Entire program will have to pack much more sock before it can make hay while the Suiiday sun shines. Tomm. IS THE ATOM ALREADY OUT OF HAND?" With Roy Britten, Dexter Masters, Daniel Melcher, Dr. Edward Wic- kers; Setden Menefee, moderator Producer: Ed Breeker 30 Mins., Tue. (IT) 7 p.m. Sustaining WOV, N. Y. This program is another instance of wide-awake policy on part of. WOV and its program director, Arnold Hartley. AWare of the recent two-day Institute on World Control of Atomic Energy being held in Washington, and general interest in the subject, Hartley arranged for a round " table discussion of atomic issues by four experts, and had Metropolitan. Broadcasting, D. C. make a platter for him. Half-hour program was aired exclusively by WOV Tues. (17). Program wasn't' particularly, dra- matic or hypoed, (except for its title), but it was honest, and to the point, and therefore just as effective. The panel, more scientists than com- mentators, sometimes sounded a little timid, but on the whole carried themselves off well. Board included Roy Britten, scientist who worked on the atom bomb in Oak Ridge; Dexter Masters, editor of the sym- posium, "One World Or None,? and a promising radio talent; Daniel Melcher, director of Nat'l. Comm. of Atomic Information, and Dr. Ed- ward Wickers, of Nat'l. Bureau of Standards. Selden Menefee, Chris- tian Science Monitor correspondent, who was moderator, was quietly efficient, throwing questions back and forth, keeping the atomic ball moving to avoid any longwindedncss on the part of any one speaker. It was a good discussion, away from the academic, discussing such mundane matters as whether the press did a good or bad job in hand- ling the Bikini test story (consensus was bad): opinions on Bikini's sig- nificance; the "secret" of the bomb; defense against a bomb (argument being, there isn't any); international control and peaceful use of atomic energy; reconciliation of U. S. and Russian points of view on atomic control. All good stuff, and very, very timely, Bron, "CLUB MATINEE" With Bill Packham, Elmlra Roessler, Lola Ameche, Boyce Smith, Four Vagabonds, Harry Kogen and Rex Maupln orcbj, Fred Kasper Writer: BUI Packham Producer-director: Phil Patton 30 Mins., Mon thro Frl., 2 p.m. Sustaining . WCFL-ABC, Chicago Revived by ABC as a replacement for the Al Pearce show, this Chi- originating network layout is light- weight stuff that's remarkable mainly for the manner in which writer Bill Packham contributes to butchering his own gags, many of which arc very good Indeed. As on the late-lamented "Packham Inn." he emcees the doings on this revival of a variety show that was popular with daytime audiences for, many ypars, As on the former, the' timing (Continued■ on pa^e 40)