Variety (Sep 1947)

RADIO REVIEWS Wednesday, September 3, 1947 OZZIE AND HARRIET SHOW frith Oizic Nelson, Harriet Billiard, Janet Waldo, John Brown, Henry Blair, Tommy Bernard; Vernie Smith, announcer; Billy May, con- ductor. Writers: Ozzle Nelson, Sol Saks, Foot Fray, Ben Gersharoan, Paul West. Producer: Ted Bliss 30 Mins., Sun., 6 p. m. INTERNATIONAL SILVER CBS, from Hollywood (Young & Rubicam) Ozzie and Harriet, back from vaca- tion, have established residence once more at 1847 Rogers Road. Which is to say that one of the prize situation comedy packages is back on the air, again entrenched in its early Sunday evening slot on CBS. Here is a type show that, like Fib ber & Molly, is a sure guaranty for a season-after-season reprise, multi- plying in stature as the years pass by. And just as Johnson's Wax, years ago, was willing to gamble with its Fibber & Molly comedy duo in the face of initial unenthusiastic audience returns, but convinced that the F & M formula would eventually pay off (as it has done in spades) so, too, will International Silver reap the benefits of the qualities that have gone into the O & H stanza. At the moment, the 6 to 6:30 segment may be a mitigating factor in holding down those precious Hoopers, but it's a'foregone conclusion that it will eventually be yanked out of that spot and given prime time showcas- ing. Right now it's one of CBS' most valuable properties. The Ozzie and Harriet Show is one of those happy blendings of strictly professional qualities. It strikes a responsive chord with the listener- at-home; it has a warmth and natu- ralness about it that suggests to mother, dad or the youngsters: "this, too, has happened to me"; the writ- ing and the casting remain top- drawer, with the Janet Waldo and John Brown characterizations, along •with the Nelsons, combining a note of realism with a wonderful exag- feration of an everyday incident, erhaps one of the secrets in the suc- cess of the show is that it knows when to halt these delightful exag- gerations before they enter the realm of absurdity. Commercials accent the new Re- membrance pattern of 1847 Rogers on the occasion of the company's 100th anniversary. Copy on last Sunday's opening show was a bit on the rhapsodic side. Aside from an- nouncer Verne Smith, both Ozzie and Harriet also get in their own - personal opening and closing plugs. Rose. CLAUDE THORNHILL Fresh from a triumphal road tour through the middle western states, the great Claude Thornhill aggrega- tion will come to New York fur a six-week return engagement al Hotel Pennsylvania's Cafe Rouge (September 8th). During his stay in New York. Claude will cut a second series of transcriptions for Lang-Worth sta- tion affiliates—now 500! LANG-WORTH, INC., NEW YORK DENNIS DAY SHOW With Barbara Eller, Dink Trout, John ' Brown, Bea Benaderet; Charles Dant, conductor; Verne Smith, announcer Writers: Frank Galen, Arthur Alls- berg, Chuck Stewp.rt Producer: Bill Harding 30 Mins.; Wed., 8 p.m. COLGATE-PALMOLIVE-PEET NBC, from Hollywood (Bates) Starting its second season, "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day" im- presses as a sure click for commer- cial success. It has the ingredients of thoroughly professional radio en- tertainment. At the same time, it's precisely the sort of program that gives outside-the-industry critics the fidgets. That is, the show's rigidly set story flavor, its .carefully exag- gerated and maintained characters, and the America's boy aura of its star make it a natural for mass pop- ularity, but inevitably draw the sar- castic comment of "intellectual" lis- teners. The basic quality of the series re- mains the same as last season. As developed over several years on the Jack Benny show, the hero remains a callow, eager, timid and essentially likable boob entangled with various dominant characters. On Wednes- day night's (27) seasonal premiere he was still trying to win the girl JACK SHAINDLIN Leading film musical director in the Bast. Universal Pictures* March of Time. Columbia Pictures, Louis De Rochemont Prod. Conductor Carnegie "Pop" Orch. Last all- Bridgeport Gershwin concert at aTthough"any V no7fnarmVdern~youth I Stadium drew 10,000. would have recognized her as self- Lang-Worth Transcriptions; landed long ago. In this episode, I "Moo'd Music" - "Silver Strings"; LISTEN, LADIES! With Monica Mugan and guests Writer: Monica Mugan Producer: Howard Milsom IS Mins.; Mon.-thru-Frl., 12:15 Noon CHRISTIE'S BISCUITS CKEY, Toronto (MacLaren) After eight years with the Cana- dian Broadcasting Corp., Monica Mugan has switched to a private station for her pleasant noon chit- chats with the femme listeners and has'such a pleasant voice and choice of gab-subjects as not to infuriate the male who may be hanging around the house. The ex-prairies- schoolma'am. who got into Canadian radio in 1936, is reputedly the first woman commentator in the British Empire to have a daily series but she's still young enough to be back on the airwaves this season after having her first child. With the help of a- legman, she whips her own program together and does her own writing, using Howard Milsom as vis-a-vis when she is not interviewing a guest. Format is three stories of current interest, particularly of the Ontario scene. Guest, on program caught, was Mrs. Walter Thornton, one of the "10 best-dressed women in America," who is currently estab- lishing a model agency in Toronto. Monica Mugan writes good copy, the commercials are unobtrusive, and she has a rich contralto voice that is breezy in delivery, without that breathless chi-chi that is often the annoying trademark of lady gabbers. McStay. YOU HAVE SEEN ITS SHADOW With Henry Fonda Director: Thomas Teluso Producer: John Swallow 30 Mins.; Frl. (Z9), 10 p.m. Sustaining WNEW, N. Y. -"■ - This is a plattered documentary being distributed in behalf of the National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis. It details, through brief dramatic sequences tied together with narration by Henry Fonda, the long battle • by medical science to isolate and destroy "the invisible foe" of polio. It's a worthy theme, deserving wide airing, but the over- all effectiveness of this stanza is only fair. ' Fonda is the program's greatest weakness. It's not his fault— although he did seem to walk through the assignment. Obviously he was picked because of his name appeal, but if the producers had to have a picture star as narrator, they could easily have chosen one with a voice better suited for the chore than Fonda's, which is thin-strained and uncommanding. Script, however, was packed with § good quota of facts on the polio Tight and the dramat sequences, MR, KEEN . With Bennett Kllpack, Jim Kelly, John Raby, Vivian Smolen, Walter Greaza, William Zuckert, Florence Freeman, Joe Curtin; Larry Elliott, announcer; Al Rickey, music Writer: Lawrence Klee Director: Richard Leonard Producers: Frank and Anne Hum- mert 30 Mins.; Thurs., 8:30 p.m. WHITEHALL PHARMACAL CBS, from New York (Dancer-Fitzoerald-Sample) Mr. Keen (played by Bennett Kil- pack) returned last week (28) for another season of sure-footed sleuth ing, courtesy of the makers of Koly nos tooth powder and Anacin tab- lets, for whom he's been gumshoe- ing for several years no.w. Still around giving Mr. Keen a hand at bringing a criminal to brook once each week is his Irish sidekick, Mike Clancy (Jim Kelly). Larry Elliott is still on the delivering end of solid, straight-forward (but too numerous) commercials. The whodunit con- tinues in the slick Hummert mold- technically neat, professionally packaged. From a story standpoint, it's stand- ard stuff. Preem edition was "The Case of the Man Who Traveled with Death," death catching up with him in a hotel room after he licked an envelope—his-wife had poisoned the glue on the flap. A public stenog gal is held for the murder until Mr. Keen clears her and traps the vic- tim's wife by inviting her to lick another envelope from the same pack. Programming-wise, it can be said for the stanza that it is less gory than some and doesn't indulge in creepy or fiendish goings-on. It could, however, have a little more personality. Mr. Keen doesn't come through as much of a "character' One mystery about this mystery is why it clings to the "tracer of lost persons" tag. Mr. Keen gave up this novel (for radio, at least) pursuit in favor of ordinary private-eyeing several years ago. Doan. Day was trying to put the skids under a visiting summer theatre star, and he worked out a ludl crously complicated plan of becom ing drama critic of the local paper to carry put the^scheme. If the plotting was a bit less than inspired, it at least supplied hooks for the required number of gag lines, nearly all of which were neatly laid out and expertly de livered. The theatre angle per- mitted Day to do various of his cap- sule impersonations of Hollywood stars and there were numerous jibes at the drama and radio critical fra- ternity (but which were mostly too tradey for studio audience compre hension). Day's singing is, of course, a recognized asset for such a show, and the stooge performances of such dependables as Dink Trout, John Brown and Bea Benaderet, are un questionably an essential ingre- dient. But without that professional scripting job, there'd be no frame- work for the operation. "Radio Production Aids." FOX MOVIETONE STUDIO, NEW YORK CITY. RETURN ENGAGEMENT With Peggy Stanley, Burford Hamp- den, BUI Keene, Jim Boles, Edgar Stehli, Vinton Hay worth, Joe Con- way Writer: Irve Tunlck Director: John Becker Producer: Leon Levine 30 Mins.; Tues.; 10:30 p.m. Sustaining CBS; from New York "Return Engagement" is CBS's summer series based on reprises of standout shows presented during the past several years by the "American School of the Air." Slotted at a late evening hour to serve as a trailer for adult audiences for the 1947-48 sea- son which opens Oct. 4, these re- peats are a representative display WALTER WINCHELL With Hugh James, announcer Producer: John Homeland IS Mins.; Sun., 9 p. m. JERGENS ABC, from New York (Orr) The unique qualities that have made Walter Wmchell the top solo radio act and established his name as an international byword are again evident as he returns for the fall sea- son on the ABC network for Jergens. The columnist remains a controver- sialist and his broadcasts pulsate with excitement. Whether the lis- tener agrees with Winchell or vio- lently disagrees, he won't remain passive. No one can hear his show and fail to have feelings about it. That demonstrably means high Hoopers and enormous influence. And, incidentally, though WincheH's taste may be questionable at times, no one can quarrel with him about his enemies—he has a collection of enemies anyone might be proud of. As frequently happens on a Winch- ell broadcast, his show Sunday nisht (31) lacked any particularly explo- sive material, so he apparently felt it necessary to use an even higher voltage delivery than usual. It was still extremely provocative listening. Among his items was t prediction that the Army will whitewash Gen. Lee of the current charges against him (Winchell muttered an eloquent "Oh, my God"" aside comment), quo- tations from a patriotism talk he re- cently made in a veterans' hospital, a report that Nazi agent G'eorse Syl- vester Viereck claims to write the speeches of Sens. Langer and Wherry and a tip that Mayor O'Dwyer will be a candidate to succeed Sen. Wag- ner. As usual, Jergens had an opening commercial spot and a major, sales spiel near the end. The latter , an- nouncement used male and female commercial voices, with announcer Hush James socking the hard-selling pitch. The products mentioned were Jergens lotion and under-arm cream'. Ben Grauer, currently out of the country, returns to the show as an- nouncer next week. Hobe. of the "School's" educational prow ess. But a show that's excellent at 5:30 p.m. doesn't always hit the same , mark at 10:30 p.m. Heard in this The commercial copy on the series new i a f e hour context, the pedagogic conforms to the Colgate-Palmolive- Peet trip-hammer pattern, with several voices in a dramatized bit and two announcers reading the sell. Some of the blurb about tooth paste "cleaning the breath while it cleans the teeth" sounds silly, and the whole halitosis approach is distaste ful for living room reception. Be- sides the regular product plugs, there's a closing announcement for Lustre Cream shampoo and a hitch hike for Palmolive's" "14-day plan Hobe. *♦♦♦»♦♦♦♦♦♦ MMMMM »»X Follow-up Commentj tone sounds a bit broader and the series' high school slant becomes far more obvious. Nothing, however, not even the fact that its shows cannot stand up as sock entertainment at 10:30 p.m., can detract from the un- compromisingly high standard set by the "School" in its own field of edu cational radio. Third show in this nighttime series was entitled "Figuring the Odds," originally aired about two-and-a-half years ago. Part of the "School's" science curriculum,' this program's objective was to humanize the meaning of statistics. Scripter Irve Tunick handled the problem via an imaginative little fantasy in which a new born babe's future was cal- culated by acturial tables. Show was a pleasant blend of fact and whimsy which was handled from all aspects of thesplng and direction with care and finesse. But aside EDITH DUNNE SINGS With Edith Dunne, Gerry Duval Quartet; Bill Bellman, announcer Producer: Charles Wright Writers: Bellman, Dunne 15 Mins.; Thurs., 7:30 p.m. Sustaining CBO-CBC, Ottawa Here's a gal who's filling a va- cancy on Canadian radio. Former femme voice with Len Hopkins' Chateau Laurier Grill orch, Edith Dunne has a set of pipes built for the mike and she knows how to feed it to the air, both singing and talk- ing. It's a gal and a show that ought to draw raves from Trans-Canadian web dialers, What she needs is bet- ter musical backing than she had on teeoff (28) but the quartet's short- comings seemed more mechanical than musical, and with shifting and improved placing in the-studio, the little band- will probably give her the support she requires. Miss Dunne uses "Linger -Awhile" for her theme, a song particularly suited to her low, almost but not quite husky voice. First show, she also sang "Peg O' My Heart," "Do I Worry?" and "Alamo." Quartet, with Woody Hill on guitar, Marcel Lafprtune on violin, J. A. Brisbois on piano and Gerry Duval on clar- inet, gave with "Pair of Nylons" and "Should I?". First few Dunne shows will be produced by CBO manager Charles Wright, then announcer Bellman will take over. Gorm. sheer entertainment value. Herm. Wallace Beery put in an unpre (26)' h P ,?nS fhl ^^if t da ^" lgh - from cleverness with which it ^t V .ttL\X c ^;\^ »s point, it. was lacking in with an affectionate reference to the late Marie Dressier. Arthur Tracey, also guesting on the stanza, had one of those concocted human interest stories that habitually serve singers on such shows, and in this case it seemed slightly skimpy. Roger Pryor had range, flexibility and warmth as the temporary m.c. of the show and Danny Seymour again proved himself one of the most versatile and persuasive an- nouncers in the business. But Oscar Bradley's music was only as usual. while not overly well enacted, were injected with sufficient frequency to keep Fonda's narration from pall- ing on the listener. The platt»r, all told, is worth airing, but it's impact should, with proper handling, have been 100% greater. Coon. "Big Town" was just another cops 'n' robbers potboiler Wednes- day night (27) on CBS. The re- porter-gets-gangster yarn was hackneyed, the characters were rubber-stamps and the playing of Ed Pawley and Fran Carlon was stock. Just to wrap up the package consistently, the commercial copy for Ironized yeasf and Phillips"milk of magnesia was unpleasant-living room confab. However, the Molle shave cream hitch-hike was one un- objectionable moment out of the half-hour. Eddie Cantor, who's turning more and more of his attention to causes for the public welfare, didn't kid for a second last Wednesday (27) when he narrated a special 15- minute airer via WNBC, N. Y„ in behalf of the New York Infirmary. Stanza, with dramatic sequences, told the story of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor, and her struggle to start the first hospital (on N. Y.'s lower eastside) ever to open its doors to the sick and poor, regardless of race, creed or color. This is the N. Y. Infirmary, and today it's seeking contributions to build a modern 12-story medical plant. Cantor's appeal was from the heart. CREED, COLOR AND COOPERA- TION With Kenneth Johnson; Wakefield Holley, announcer Director: Hoyt Andres 15 Mins.; Sun.,-11 a.m. Sustaining WKY, Oklahoma City One encouraging sign in radio is the growing awareness of the me- dium to its social responsibility, especially in the area of race rela- tions. WKY, an indie operating in a city that is predonffhantly south- ern in its outlook and prejudices, has recently joined that -group of stations, many below the Mason- Dixon lines, which are bending their efforts to the problem's solution. WKY's approach in "Creed, Color and Cooperation" is to skip the rough spots and concentrate on the rosier side of progress already achieved. Program is straight com- mentary with Kenneth Johnson, a Negro -student at Langston Univer- sity, handling the chatter. As the series shaped up on its first session (10), it was not too im pressive either from the viewpoint of its intellectual boldness or dra matic effectiveness. Johnson angled his talk exclusively to the Negroes in the community, thus sev.erely lim iting the scope of_a program which is ostensibly aiming for cooperation between the races. Commentary, moreover, in being compelled to play up the brighter side, magnified out of all proportions the progressive significance of Oklahoma Governor Turner's appearance at an all-Negro town where he straddled the fence with some shopworn platitudes about race harmony. Johnson hailed the event as a major step forward but his analysis lacked conviction, and in general, his commentary was marked by a deficiency in critical penetration. KID'S WORLD With Vern Swartsfager, John Hicks, Wayne Babb, Joe Hogan, Johnnie Kitts, Bob Kennamer, Tommy Mills, Bob Sheridan, others Writer-Director: John Hicks Producer: Roy George Sustaining KRLD, Dallas A program of documentary sta- ture, "Kid's World" constitutes a potent contribution to stem the spread of juvenile delinquency in the Dallas area. Actually, show is an offshoot of a wide movement, having the support of the entire region inasmuch as there's an actual organization which picks up way- ward boys and attempts to set them straight. - . There's no hocus-pocus in this session. Interviews with delinquents recorded in jail, and talks with families of the boys provide a com- plete case history that's dramatically presented. There's fodder for pa- rents, social agencies and the public at large in what the boys have to say. Unfortunately on the session caught, regeneration came' too late. A trio of lads had been sentenced for a total of 18 years for a series of armed robberiesr Their talks served the purpose of pointing out that crime doesn't pay to other boys, which in itself serves a useful pur- pose. Leader in this movement is a Texas pastor, Vern Swartsfager, known as the Padre. He has formed an organization Gremlin Club, to keep the kids in line, help former delinquents get started again. Club has its own kangaroo court which metes out punishment to malefac- tors, generally by putting them in a boxing match. Other, program by the organization "Kid's World Court" describes their judicial proceedings. This airshow represents an ex- ceedingly high type of public serv- ice programming and could be re- peated in other cities throughout the country inasmuch as juve delin- quency is a national problem. FAIR WEATHER HOUR With Rosalind Marquis. Bill Pickett, Kenneth Meeker, Bob Flournoy, Fair Weather Quartet, Robert Hut- sell's Orch Writer: Jack Brooks Producer: Peter Disnev 15 Mins.; Frl., fi:30 p.m. , FEHR BREWING CO. WHAS, Louisville / (Bensorrfc. McClure) Pi-obably the most ambitious com- mercial show on ihis 50.000 clear channel CBS outlet, 25 minute suds stanza' packs a xlot of wholesome listening into the\ abbreviated half hour (cut five minutes short to ac- commodate the Johns-Manville news shot from CBS). Session is scripted by Jack Brooks, currently a pro- gram director for a Lexington. Ky. station, and he turns in a profes- sional job. Stresses the quality of the sponsor's product, particularly in combination with fine food, and as an adjunct to parties, picnics, and family gatherings, a slant which never strays over the border line of good taste. Program's title Is a natural, as Is the opening and closing bars bv the male quartet "For It's Always 'Fehr* Weather." At show caught, vocalist Rosalind Marquis displayed plenty (Continued on page 40) ■ ' '