Variety (Sep 1946)

46 KADIO Wednesday, ScplcmLer 25, 1946 Radio Reviews Continued trom pas* 36 comics can grow. Down from Canada only a couple of years back with lots on the ball but no rep to •peak Of and needing some polish- ingy Young has hit the bigtime. His first NBC show last Friday night (20), filling the former "Duffy s Tavern" time on the net, was not just a promise. That was inherent in Young's former airings on the ABC web. Now, on the net which thus far maintains its comedy lead- ership, he has delivered. The two Schwartz boys, Sherwood and Al, plus Joe Young, gave the comic a good, smooth, poleiitially amusing script to work with. But of course he could have fouled it up at any one of a dozen places. That he didn't is a tribute to his own mastery of being funny without mugging or milking. And that's a tribute also to the east that sur- rounded him. For each one really hnd something to (Jo in the-script, and tlicy carried their roles oil neatly.'. : , Ilosult was a half hour of palat- able probabilities wrapped up with neat showmanship that should augur plenty of payoff for Canada's cohtrib' to the American radio scene. Jim Backus. Ken Christy, Dons Singleton, and Charlie Cantor came through on their assignments in top faslvion, with Cantor earning a double-A and Miss Singleton^ rating something less than a B in one schoolmaster's markings but doing well nevertheless, and the othevs falling in between, '^he "Smart Set" quintet helped , -vvith .iingles that simultaneously plugged the show and the .sponsor's fpana and Vitalis products, with Jim Wallington okay as the official Bristol-Myers salesman. The five siiiCcrs, ably backed by George Wyle's music, al'O did themselves •well in tlieir own version of "South America, Take It Away." Cars, n WAS A CONVICT" With Edwin J. Lukas, Dr; Ralph ^'.anay, Charlotte Carr, Craie: jMc- 1)onoaki. Larry Haines, Paul Dnhov Writer-Dirc«tor; Murray Burnett Producer: Elsie Dick 30 M'ns.; S-Jturday, 9:3tt a.m. : Snstainins; WOR-Mntual, N. T. ■ ■ -A gpngible. well thought-out show "I Was a Convict" is ample proof that listeners can get meaty enter- tainment from a public sei-vice pro- gram. This program, as its catch- phrase billing says, has a purpose, and fulfills it completely. Show is designed as an articulate protest against a penal system which leads to crime increase instead of correction; and against school and community systems which refuse to concern themselves with problems of their members, moral illnesses which they alone can doctor. "Convict'' took a summer hiatus; but is back with more punch than ever. Opener to the program is a dra- matization of the crime for which the ex-convict guest was convicted and served time. Cons are never identified, even to the studio audi- ence, who are blocked by a screen. On show caught Saturday (21) "John" was accessory to a drunken murder of a barkeep, well-thesped in a short skit. Remainder of the. fust 15 minutes was devoted to ad lib interrogating of the con by Ed- win J. Lukas, exec director for the Society for the Prevention of Crime, and the equally ad lib answers. This period was a revelation. Background loading to commission of the mis- deed presented con's case sympa- thetically but without the usual tenr-jerking, do-good smear. Second half of the program began with a forum discussion between Dr. Ralph Banay. former chief psychia- tri.st at Sing Sing and Charlotte Carr. director of Citizens' Commit- tee on Children, with Lukas. Then the specially. jnvited audience of people active ir. juvenile delin- quency and crime prevention was invited to ask questions. For the job it does, "Convict" should be given top slotting by the net. Currently it's heard Thursdays on Mutual and Saturdays on WOR, N. Y. Tmnm. winner, "Craig's Wife." Dialog was tautly tfimmed to fit the hour space, while theme of the play, and simplicity of the situations, seemed right down radio's alley. What es- pecially made the production notable was the' performance of Florence Eldridge (Mrs. Fredric March),. as the wife, in a many-sided portrayal of the self-centered, superficial femme. March, himself, was of in- estimable aid as her easy-going, de- luded spouse. High-grade . drama here made high-class radio, and Lawrence Langner and associates may well take a bow for bringing a IcRit know-hoW: to an audience of nillions. K ^ WTAG leads In 83 Out Of 96 Of (Ke H pwiedlj pef iVfttJt rwM by H4«p«r jtO»t. - AjJf, '46) la Wofcerter orfw, WTA© l»ad> (jt 93 ond U « «!«>•• lemnd in th« remain- 4'/j hown per w**k W T A G WORC ESTE R I Foliowup Comment CBS's "People's Platform" last Sunday (22) had been skedded to take up the subject of wage stabili. zation but was switched to the day's hottest topic, I'affaire Henry A. Wallace. The net drew on two ra- dio personalities from rival broad' casting organizations to handle tbe ticklish debate, Frank Kingdoii be ing borrowed from WOR (Mutual) and Tex McCrary from WEAF (NBC). The choice ciJuldn't have been better, since they really kicked the topic around. Striking, however, was one out standing fact about this show—as well as what the Wallace uproar has come down to in general. McCrary, while declaring himself against Wallace, used terms like "stupid man," "second rate" and other derogatory remarks. And these re marks were directed against the' President of the United States, Tele Foliowup ~ Continued from page 36 , into the proceedings without over- doing it. With Stanton signed to do the Army football games over WNBT. Daley will probably con- centrate on thei Sunday afternoon iro games and should be welcomed yy the fans. Scanning of the game,, under the supervision of producer Burke Crot- ty, was not up to NBC's usual par. (jrotty depended too much on a medium shot when a closeup of a running play would have been better. Most of the passes in the first half, which saw seven touch- downs scored, were brought within good range of the lenses, but the cameras wore never able to follow the ball in flight on either a pass or punt. • ' ■ .■ ''Ladies Be Seated," a recurrent audience participation sliow on tele- vision, was revived last Thursday (19) night by ABC over WABD (DuMont. N. Y.). This time, how- ever, the program was sponsored with a. T. Babbitt paying the tab to plug Bab-O. Show inaugurated the premium giveaway plan on video, with home viewers invited to send in the Bab-O tag fr(Sm a can of the stuff in order to receive one genuine Egyptian scarab pin. Number of returns should be a good indication of the number of viewers watching the show, but the results have not been disclosed yet. Price paid by the sponsor was also kept under wraps, but whatever it was, he certainly got his money's w6rth, to the detriment of the show. Besides an opening and closing spot, iilmost 10 minutes of the half-hour program was devoted to describing the scarab pin, modeling it via live pin-uppers and making with the spiel on the premium plan. That's much too long for a commercial. Video-wise, the show followed the usual "Ladies" format, with Johnny Olsen handling the emcee chores in okay fashion. Producer - director Harvey Marlowe again demonstrated his prowess with dissolve shots that come in the wrong places. Reason why Marlowe won't make-a clean cut from one camera to another re- mains a mystery, but he could cer- tainly perk up his shows if he did, "Tlicatrc Guild on the Air" con- tinued its fine pace Sunday (22) with a high-grade performance of the George Kelly Pulitzer prize- STATION GETS BIG HAND Li$fetters hearfily applaud Cleveland's CHIEF sfafion again and again for the best local shows on the air. WJW has more local daytime listeners in , Northern Ohio than any other regional station. Spingarn Continued from page 37 the Navy as lieutenant commander, started out as scripter at WNBX, Springfield, Vt., migrated to New York where he did radio and gen eral publicity, then moved on as at torney. in FCC's law department. Most recently, he served for several months as radio consultant to the Senate Small Business Committee turning out pieces for Harpers, Readcr.s' Digest and others on the side... Theme of his latest radio opus is that whether they know it or not, the people own radio, having put out $2,1 in receivers for every dollar put up by the broadcasters for trans- mitting equipment. The pamphlet urges listeners to make both their likes and dislikes known through formation of community radio court cilg and the like. Less impassioned than its prede cessors, the Public Affairs pamphlet sticks pretty close to the facts, quot- ing widely both government and trade sources to dociunent both sides Of controversial issues. But like the publications that went before, it lands with both feet on soap Operas; plug-uglies and the middle-commer- cials on which radio has grown fat. FCC's Blue Book, newspaper-radio relationships through the years arid the . do's and don'ts of the radio statute are also spelled out in full foi; the radio-minded layman. To impress the inner workings of radio more clearly on the neophyte, script is amply illustrated with Public Af- fairs Committee pictographs. Author Spingarn is also respon sible for the Senate Small Business Committee's report on "Opportuni- ties for Small Businessme,n in FM Broadcasting" last spfing whlcK was persuasive in eftecting a change ol heart at FCC on holding out some FM slots for latecomers. Naturally, his enthusis^jn for FM carries over I into the Public AflEairs piece, 'Batter Up' —- Continued from page 31 sas sessions, with any transcriptioners who choose eligible to attend, will probably be held evenings during the month of October. The main drive in the transcription field will be to bring transcription fees up to parity with live broadcasting; and to get what AFRA calls "decent" rates for spots, one-minute an- nouncements, and jingles. ,i The present transcription contract is really four years old; it was signed in 1942 and renewed with virtually no Chaiiges in 1944. AFRA will main- tain that the spot-jingle-announce- ment issue was not as prominent in 1942 as it is now, and must there- fore be looked into as a fresh issue. Still one more set of -negotiations is on the schedule. This concerns staff employees of the nets and sta- tions. These talks will also proceed during the month. Fact is that AFRA has one big point on its side—all the contracts expire Oct. 31, and the union plans to tie them all up together by the end of October. On the whole, the union is going nfo the negotiations with good strength, its membership now being about 25,000 nationally. Two political wings, particularly in N. Y., have made peace for the time being, in order to show "unity." There is a third group springing up—insisting on a special meeting of the New York chapter to consider- a resolu- tion placing it on record against Communism. It's possible that this meeting may have to be held by middle of October, smack ■ in the middle of the labor negotiations. Many New York members who used to battle over political mat- ters are agreed that the special meeting during negotiations would be a miKake, declaring that the fight against Communism is really a fight against any kind of liberal la- bor policy on behalf of the union. Net execs, aware of the move, sit back and smile; knowing that move is in effect on their side—anything that will cause union friction will help them. October, therefore, shapes up as a hot month for the radio talent peo- ple. As one said this week: "If we get hoarse on the air, it will be the fault of the negotiations." WNYC-FM Bigtime With New Grant New Yoik City's FM station, WNYC-FM, was given the money this week needed to place It on par with any commercial station in the country. Without dissent, the New York City Board ot Estimate, which passes on city budgetary items, voted $19,000 to the station to ampli- fy its FM transmitter to the strength of 20,000 watts—maximum power for FM under current regulations. At the same time, the Board voted Seymour N. Siegel, program director and station's acting chief, extra per- sonnel budget for the hiring cif three engineers whom he will: need its a result of the station's expansion of its FM programming. WNYC, the city's AM outlet, op- erates on only 1,000 watts; and is restricted in broadcasting time to daylight hours only. The FM opera- tions, which have been on a nine- hour-per-day schedule until now, will be increased to 12 hours be- ginning Oct. 1, Siegel said after the city group granted the new budget. The FM station's license permits 24- hours-a-day broadcasting. Plans are under way now, Siegel said, to increase the FM operations on an independent basis, entirely separate from the AM programming; The Board of Estimate grant to the station aroused comment in the trade in view of the repeated re- ports, since William O'Dwyer suc- ceeded F. H. LaGuardia £(s Maybr, ; that the present administration ex- pects to dump the station to private intereat.s sooner or later. Trade sees in the adoption of the new budget an indication that O'Dwyer has been won .over to the principle of not only keeping WNYC as city prop- erty but, possibly, to an idea of ex- panding its facilities. Cincy Grid Continued from page 43 , WCPO, which carried Mutual games last year while WLW broadcast NBC offerings, will follow a football scoreboard schedule, sandwiched with its established news and head- lines stint on the hour and half- hour. WKRC has its Dick Nesbitt and Syd Cornell team of pigskin mikers back for their sixth season, this time under Alms and Doepko, local de- partment store, tagging. They will follow Ohio State, except for two Univ. of Cincinnati clashes. Nesbitt was an all-American pro in '32 when playing with the Chicago' Bears. WSAI will carry ABC football feeds; and WCKY, indie, will add period scores to its 'recorded music, special and news programs. ' Charges Fly Continued from page 44 not appear at hearings here and is expected to show at next session Oct 18 in Washington. Heavy soap opera output of WTIC as NBC's New England outlet was pin-pointed by Yankee counsel, Thomas Dowd, who obtained from Leonard Patricelli, WTIC program manager, admi.ssion that station has five hours and a quarter of serials between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily. Patricelli. noted, "People don't have to listen. If they don't.like it, they can tune in to another station/' Joseph Lopez, manager of WIGC, admitted that routine of "Dialing for Dough", station's telephone-cash fea- ture, had been switched on counsel's advice to eliminate phases which might be interpreted as a lottery. Interesting aspect of situation is that no matter who wins the CPs, the transmitters will be located: on property owned by WNAB's Thomas in nearby Trumbull. 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