Variety (Aug 1947)

Wednesday, August 27, 1947 MY FRIEND IRMA With Marie Wilson, Cathy Lewis, Leif Erickson, John Brown, Hans Conreid, Gloria Gordon; Lud Gins- kin orcn, The Sportsmen; Frank Bingman, announcer. Writers: Cy Howard, Parke Levy producer: Cy Howard 30 Mins.; Mon., 10 p.m. LEVER BROS. WCBS-CBS, N. X. ' (Young & Ruoicam) This .CBS-created show, which bowed so auspiciously as a sustainer last April, continues to rate bows^ now that it's gone sponored. Preefff- ing Monday (25) under tab of Lever Bros., for Swan Soap, airer turned out to be another amusing, warming chapter in the saga of the likeable nitwit Irma. Program has a good, folksy qual- ity real characterization, and real wit in its dialog and situations. Cur- rent (25) airer concerned the non- chalant manner in which N. Y. apart- ment-dwelling Irma brought home a stray dog that picked her up, the practical consternation of her friend and roommate, Jane, and the at- tempts of the two to get rid of the dog before the landlady found out, and threw them out. Efforts were made to palm the pooch off on Al, Irma's brash but job-dodging boy- friend; on Professor Kropotkin, their eccentric neighbor, and others. Sketch made for an amusing half- hour. Format still retains the interesting setup of Jane as narrator and par- ticipant in the mixed narration- dramatization scripting, setting forth wearily but not disheartenedly the problems of her friend Irma. Por- trayals are expert, to hold listener interest throughout. Premier pulled a switch, in an opening singing commercial, not for the sponsor or product, but for the show! Commercials were brief, in excellent taste. Bron. MEET THE MEEKS With Forrest Lewis, Fran Allison, Beryl Vaughan, Cliff Soubier, El- misa Roessler Writer-Producer: Les Weinrott 30 Mins.; Sat., 11 a.m. Sustaining WNBC-NBC, N. T. "Meet the Meeks" is Les Wein- rott's old situation comedy series which had a long and varied run under the "name, "Meet Mr. Meek." The title change doesn't mean the not-too-bright hero has acquired a family in the interim. He was al- ways surrounded and more or less snowed under by his aggressively eccentric relatives. But the broader, if less alliterative title is presum- ably intended to spark interest among a*, wider citizenry ("It'll ap- peal to the whole family, instead of Just fathers, see?"). A little less hokey scripting and performance might help, too. The show is what's commonly known as derivative. It might have been inspired (pardon the expres- sion) by "The Aldrich Family," but certain of its principal characters are reminiscent of various familiar actors, such as Charles Buggies, Lenore Lonergan (in "Junior Miss"), Corliss Archer and a combination Miss Duffy-ZaSu Pitts. In other words, the characters are stereotype. The payoff on Saturday's (23) show might as well have been announced at the opening. Possibly because the studio audience didn't react as ex- pected, the broadcast ran short, re- quiring a long organ fill, even after the detailed talent credits. The present run is a sustaining break-in for Swift's sponsorship, be- ginning Nov. 8. Hobe. RADIO REVIEWS 31 STRIKE IT RICH With Todd Russell; Don Baker, an- nouncer; Hank Sylvern, organist Producer: Walt Framer; Larry Hard- ing, assistant; Peter Arnell, stage assistant; Larry Puck, supervisor 30 Mins.; Sun., 10:30 p.m. Sustaining »v WCBS-CBS, N. Y. After only eight weeks on the air, this Frank Cooper package has just snagged a sponsor, Ludens. Ad- mitting that the potent 10:30 spot Sunday nights on CBS may have been a factor, it nevertheless demon- strates again that there's nothing like an audience participation show (par- ticularly if it has a juicy money giveaway angle) to build an audi- ence quickly and attract . sponsor- ship. Whether "Strike It Rich" can hold its popularity (and, ultimately, sponsorship) against the returning major programs, remains to be seen. On the face of it, though, this is an entertaining show, and should be good for a profitable run. The routine of "Strike It Rich" is merely another variation of the sta ndard cash -for - correct - answer formula. Four contestants get a $25 cash kitty apiece, and may bet a minimum of $5 or all of it on their ability to answer each of five suc- cessive questions. The questions are in various categories and the con- testant may vary the amount of his bet according to his. familiarity with the subject. In general, the ques- tions are fairly difficult, and con- siderable suspense is built. Perhaps the most vital gimmick of the show, however, is the letter- writing angle: Listeners are urged to write to the program, explaining why they'd like to "Strike It Rich." Thus, the production staff has in- dicative background information for the pre-broadcast selection of the most promising contestants. As an indication how well that works, Sun- day night's (24) show had an at- tractive-sounding gal artist who's gotten a part in an upcoming Broad- way legit and who wants to "Strike It Rich" so she can go to Paris to marry her sweetheart, a railroad chef who wants to take a trip for pleasure for a change, a dame who hopes to get a face-lift so she can get married again, and a sailor with a new British bride who craves an electric sewing machine for her. Each was -colorful, uninhibited, poised and well-informed. They made the program. Todd Russell, the m.c, is almost hysterically enthusiastic and he's over-jolly with the contestants, but he keeps the show in motion and isn't too obtrusive at filling in the blank spots. However, he pulled one inexcusable bit on the show caught, when he repeatedly referred to the Negro dining car cook by his last name alone, pointedly neglect- ing to use the "Mister" title that's standard in non-Jim Crow areas. Hobe. PUBLIC NOTICE With Bill Berns, guests; Carl Caruso, announcer Writer-originator: Robert Blake ' Producer: John Scott 15 Mins.; Wed., 3:45 p. m. Sustaining WOR, N. Y. Novel idea has been worked into an engaging 15-minute show by Bob Blake, assistant flack chief of WOR. Unusual items are plucked from the "Public Notices" columns of news- papers, and the parties who inserted the items are brought before the mike to tell the story behind the ads. Bill Berns, freelance roving reporter who does a couple of other stints at WOR, handles the interviewing. On the teeoff session last week (20), the guest interviewees were: a sideshow operator from Palisades Park who advertised for a veteri- narian to fill a menacing cavity in a front tusk of his performing lion; the editor of the Bowery News who ad- vertised for girls to enter a Miss Cloak and Suit Business contest (he thought she should be "a soulful" type of girl); "Sundown Slim," a hobo who will be one of the contest judges; the proprietor of a 'Green- wich Village restaurant who adver- tised office space in his eatery, with telephone service "and all the good food you can eat" thrown in; and an AWVS gal who advertised for volun- teers to chauffeur disabled yets. Last-named interview, while it Plugged a highly commendable cause, Old not fit too well into the general tenor of the show. Otherwise, the stanza capitalizes on the unquestion- able appeal of oddities in the public prints and packed a neat quota of amusing comments. Berns is an alert, genial, capable prober. Doau. WANTED: A PLACE TO LIVE With Wayne Griffin; Don Dowd, an- nouncer Producer: Ed Skotch 30 Mins.; Sun., 10:15-p.m. WM. A. LEWIS WENR, Chicago (W. B. Doner) The degree of genuine service that a program of this type can render is pretty much open to question. In a way it's a sad commentary not only on a state of domestic economy, namely, the house shortage, but on our present mores. Here are other- wise proud members of the middle class who are willing to go on the air and almost tearfully plead for a place to house themselves and their children. What still makes the effectiveness of this program more dubious is the way it's treated. The atmosphere is a combination of soap opera and agony column. Wayne Griffin, who does the interviewing of apartment seekers, pitches his voice most of the time to a quivering ministerial strain, while Don Dowd, who dou- bles from the commercial, chimes in a la soap opera announcer with the query, "Will this kind, solicitous and hardworking mother have to go on being separated from her children or will some landlord with a sym- pathy and warm heart for his fellow human beings come forward with a dwelling place for her?" On the initial stanza (17) six per- sons appeared to express their wants for a home. The response was 29 phone calls offering a place and 104 letters, one out of each 12 compli- menting the program and the others asking that they likewise be kept in mind about an apartment. Those that appeared on the pro- gram related stories of families scat- tered because of apartments sold from under them; a war veteran of- fered to lay down all his medals for a place to live, and an elderly widow explained that she could not be con- tent with less than four rooms be- cause only then would she have the space for furniture and things asso- ciated with a long and happy mar- riage. OX marked emotional impact in these stories were the facets of profiteering. The sponsor, William A. Lewis, operator of two women's clothing stores, is credited with the idea for the program. The copy is strictly institutional. A Lewis store is where the customer is cordially welcomed and can feel at home. The prospects for the first show were culled from the want ads of JACK SMITH SHOW With Tito Gnizar, guest; Earl Shel- don orch, Terry O'SulIivan, an- nouncer Producer: Carl Stanton Director: Bill Brennan 15 Mins.; Mon.-thru-Fri., 7:15 p.m. PROCTER & GAMBLE WCBS-CBS, N. Y. (Dancer, Fitzgerald & Sample) Returning to the CBS net for P&G after a summer layoff, Jack Smith's show is still a highly listenable session of straight song. Quarter- hour session,- spread across the board, is carried chiefly by Smith's smooth and ingratiating vocal style with important lifts by guest artists and a neat assist from Earl Sheldon ! s full-bodied orch. On preem (25), Smith crooned "I Feel a Song Com- ing On" and "Every So Often." Guestar Tito Guizar obliged with one expertly rendered Chile num- ber and duetted with Smith on an- other for solid results. Handling of the plugs on this show rates a paragraph by itself. They are quantitatively and qualitatively objectionable. Two main plugs for the Oxydol product, placed fore and aft, are delivered with triphammer force by a pair of announcers. Then, in the concluding minutes, a femme voice slips in another short Oxydol plug with the show fading out to the strains of another commercial for a different P&G product, Spick and Span. Total makes four plugs on a 15-minute program. Herm, THE FIVE MYSTERIES With Carl Caruso, emcee; audience participants Director-Producer: Arthur Van Horn 30 Mins.; Sun., 2 p.m. Sustaining WOR, N. Y. Take a whodunit, boil it down to something less than five minutes' telling time, transcribe it, multiply it by five, add five pinches of by-gosh guesswork and five "mystery minds" (being five ordinary souls selected from the studio audience), and you've got the makings of this new WOR diverter. It's nothing to shout about, but it could be a lot worse. If we've got to have sanguinary stuff served up to us on a hot Sabbath afternoon, this stanza at least spoons it out in easy doses. It preemed last Sunday (24). • Competent casts enacted the super- simplified murder cases, in which a single fairly obvious clue gave away the guilty party. Before the inspector (all the cops in these cases were inspectors) told why he knew so-and-so was the culprit, the panel of "mystery minds" got a crack at guessing what tipped off the inspec- tor. Two of the five "mystery minds" turned out to be almost utter voids —there just seems to be no way of avoiding the drawing of several blanks in'such deals as this—but the other three fared fairly well. Capsule mysteries such as these, of course, could hardly more that whet the appetite of a true whodunit fan. But that may be what WOR is up to — what with murders coming thick-and-fast on its Mutual-fed late afternoon and evening schedule. Doan. F.B.I. IN PEACE AND WAR With Martin Blaine, Arnold Moss, Ralph Bell, Juano Hernandez, Amanda Randolph, Duane Alex- ander, Edith Arnold, Carl Frank, Julian Noa, Jackie Grimrs, Walter Greaza, Paul McGrath, Doug Rutherford, Nat Cantor, Mickey O'Day, Ann Seymour, Bob Sloane, Andy Donnelly, Ian Mc A Master; Len Sterling, announcer Writers: Jacques Finke, Louis Pel- Ictier Producer-Director: Max Marcin Music: Vladimir Selinsky 30 Mins.; Fri., 9:30 p.m. PROCTER & GAMBLE WCBS-CBS, N. Y. (BtouO "F.B.I, in Peace and War," return- ing for its fourth season on CBS, with a new series of melodramas in a new time slot, is the same punch- ing, dramatic session. It was off Friday (22) to a dramatic start, %vith a timely yarn, bluntly discussing a social problem of wide significance. In pungent scripting and vivid portrayal, show dramatized the story of a minority group that tried to move into an exclusive residential section of some city, and attempts of entrenched real estate interests to prevent. More specifically, it con- cerned a doctor who had bought a home and now sought a building permit to set up a clinic to care for the sick of his group. The building commissioner, allied with a venal newspaper publisher in large real estate holdings that they thought might depreciate as result, arouse public opinion against the minority element, leading to mob attacks and entry of the law. Minority group—whether Catholic, Jew, Negro or Seventh Day Adven- tist—was never mentioned, adding weight to the overall problem. Here was good dramatic fare, with a pointed message, and without sugar- coating. This is what you call good radio. Bron. LEE ADAMS With Jim Conway, announcer 15 Mins.; Sat., 10:15 a.m. OMNIBOOK WCBS-CBS, N. Y. (Schwab & BeaWA Lee Adams, a homespun philoso. pher in St. Louis, has been bought by Omnibook mag and given a 29- station CBS hookup out of Chicago. He's doing a sort of Fletcher Wiley or Galen Drake for the sober, indus- trious, average-woman listener. His spiel is too smooth to be extempo- rized, or even read from notes, but his delivery is so casual and Seems so natural that he gives the impres- sion of ad-libbing. That's one way of saying he's a professional. On Saturday morning's . (23) preem, Adams expounded some i verities about marriage and finally worked around to the subject of I Ernie Pyle and the latter's post- humous, "Home Country," thence to the statement that the book is con- densed in the current Omnibook and thus getting into the commercial plug. The latter included'a free- copy offer, possibly reflecting the sponsor's uncertainty as to the pro- gram's audience pull. Jim Conway closed the stanza with a straight sell commercial. As a whole, the series seems likely to get a limited following, but pos- sibly enough to justify the modest time (once-a-week. 15 minutes, day- time rate) and talent expenditure. Since the budget is limited to only once-weekly operation, the Saturday morning spot is probably the best potential. And with Adams deliver- ing commercials, it would be hard to find as ?ood a show value for the money. The question is, will this featherweight effort make any ad- vertising impression at all Hobe. ROMANCE IN RHYTHM With Eddy Clark Writer: 'Marjorie Houston 60 Mins.; 4 p.m., Mon. thru Frl. IIELZBERG JEWELRY CO. KCKN, Kansas City (Carter-Owens) Some of the easier listening in the afternoon locally comes with this hour-long disk session which uses any kind of recorded music so long as it is sweet. Mood set for the show not only calls for current sweet tunes, but lets the choice veer over into many of the light classical faves such as are prominent in the trans- scription libraries. Formula thus calls for a change of pace from Eddy Clark, who spins the platters and patter for the hour. Leisurely pace fits him well, perhaps even better than other disk shows for which Clark is better known, "Romance in Rhythm" is now in its fifth year on the air. on the same station and with the same jock, how- ever, and following it has built up both for its mood and for Clark is sizeable. Helzberg's go in for a bit of extra plugging by running in spot an- nouncements transcribed in Holly- wood by Jim Ameche and Don Wil- son. Clark chimes in following to round out the particular pitch for the day. For the hot jive followers and the record hounds the show scarcely classes as a disk jockey session. Actually, however, the hour is one of record spinning, and of recent months considerable new emphasis has been put on currently popular recordings since the sponsor put a disk department in its store on the Kansas side. But for the matron with the housewifely chores, it has a very agreeable flavor and is every bit a disk jockey show. Quin. the local newspapers. One oi those who got a phone call from a girl in WENR's sales department . was an executive for a competitive broad- casting setup. He was Paul McClure, western sales manager for NBC, who, as it happened, had also been running an ad for an apartment. McClure declined to go on the air. Odec. . RED HOOK 31 With Woody and Virginia Klose Producer-Director: Woody Klose 15 Mins.; Mon.-thru-Fri., 1:45 p. m.; Sundays, 9 a. m. (WOR only) Sustaining WOR-MBS, N. Y. At least this is refreshingly dif- ferent from run-of-the-mill husband- wife chatter shows. And it has the makings of an A-l item. Woody Klose. w.k. radio scripter and pro- ducer, and his wife. Virginia—a couple of city folk—with their four sons have settled down on a 102-acre farm in Duchess county, N. Y., to learn, by trial and error, the ways of rural life. This stanza, which teed off a couple of weeks ago. is plattered in the kitchen of their farmhouse, a' broken-down place which they've rehabilitated. "Red Hook 31" is their telephone number. Their Monday-through-Friday stint is currently being aired over the Mu- tual net, but is not being carried by WOR, N. Y. Latter, however, is carrying a Sunday stanza, which, in turn, is not networked. On the caught sequence (19). Mr. and Mrs. Klose. who convey an im- mediate impression of being a charming couple, gabbed unhurried- ly about plans for a local clambake and about Mrs. Klose's excursion at the wheel of a pickup truck to pick up a "lend-lease" donkey and burro from a neighboring farm. The con- versation had an air of complete casualness, as though totally unre- hearsed, and both Klose and his wife have extremely pleasant voices. Stanza's main weakness, judged by (Continued on page 38) LUX RADIO THEATRE (A Stolen Life) With Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, Elliott Lewis, Lou Silvers orch; John Kennedy, announcer Producer: William Keighley Writers: Sanford Barnett, Sam Car- ter 60 Mins.; Mon., 9-10 p.m. LEVER BROS. WCBS-CBS, N. V. (J. Walter Thompson) "Lux Radio Theatre," "grand- daddy" of the 60-minule dramatic shows on the air, has again taken up occupancy of the Monday night 9 to 10 segment on CBS. Which is a sure guaranty of the network bounc- ing back into the Monday bigtime, audience-wise. For the same painstaking care that's kept the pix adaptation pro- gram in the Top 15 Hooper bracket for a number of years was again in evidence on the season's preem Mon- day (25). There's a know-how tech- nique about this Lux stanza, off the J. Walter Thompson top production shelf, and under the helm of Wil- liam Keighley, that makes its audi- ence pull understandable. That goes for choice of pix properties and showcasing of studio stars, the exact- ing adaptations, and overall produc- tion values. It's been argued in the trade that the Lux show's popularity has been no small factor in the 30-minute "Screen Guild Players" . keeping apace rating-wise with "Radio Thea- tre" through the years that they were slotted back-to-back. With Screen Guild now shoved back to the 10:30 Monday period under its new Camel sponsorship auspices and "My Friend Irma" taking over the post-Lux 10-10:30 time, the new season as such provides something of a test on the ability of Screen Guild to stand on its own. Lux's return is also the curtain- lifter on a season—the first in a decade or more—that will find four hour-long dramatic stanzas vieirig for coast-to-coast attention, the others being "Theatre Guild of the Air," CBS' "Studio One" sustainer and the new "Ford Theatre." Thus the competitive sweepstakes are on for "Lux Radio Theatre," but that it'll hold its own was made more than apparent by the strictly pro- fessional aura that surrounded the adaptation on Monday of Warners' "A Stolen Life," with Bette Davis and Glenn Ford in the lead roles. It was good radio theatre, stunningly executed. And Lou Silvers backed it up with his usually fine musical accompaniment. Between-acts Lux Toilet Soap commercials were cued to the stand- ard "beauty soap of the stars" copy, via the capsule interviews, etc. For a 60-minute show, Lux doesn't go overboard. Rose. OCR TOWN SPEAKS With Jay N. ("Ding") Darling, F. W. Fitch, Forrest B. Spaulding and others. Writer: Charles McCuen Producer: Charles Miller Conductor: F. Donald Miller 30 Mins., Sat. (16) 1 p.m. KRNT, Des Moines The Des Moines stanza on the "Our Town Speaks" series jelled well because it didn't spend too much time on any one cross-section of the town's varied historical, cultural, political, industrial, agricultural, educational or social aspects. The show took few statistics and little data from chamber of commerce files but had good pace in giving cover- age a friendly, down T to-earth ap- proach on a wide range of subjects, and all neatly cataloged for listener interest by means of musical bits be- tween paragraphs. The human interest angle was highlighted throughout, from the opening which was the cry of the town's newest citizen in a pickup recording from the Iowa Methodist hospital maternity floor against the musical background of "Rockabye Baby." The name of the town was held for a denouement at which time the Indian origin and correct pro- nounciation was emphasized effec- tively against the signoff of the Iowa Corn Song. Entire KRNT staff did a neat job in conducting interviews, which in- cluded an Iowa farmer directing a threshing Crew in his 50-acre grain field, Fitch in his factory; "Ding" on city planning; Spaulding on the cul- tural angles, etc. Play was given the Iowa State Fair which opens next week against a background of midway calliope and old fiddlers' contest repertoire. A local quartet did a barbersbip arrangement of "Mandy Lee" with professional finesse and the Drake Univ. Relays were accented by use of recording of the 440 yd. relays in this year's meet by Jon Hackett. For a sock finale Dick Covey gave a description of the town from an airplane. The show as presented made no attempt to show the importance of the town, but rather its friendliness and comfort—even accenting sin- cerity by mentioning some of the mistakes the town has made in city planning. McCuen and Miller are to be congratulated on. presenting, a program on the capital of the ,Corn State without being .corny. MOoF (