Variety (Jan 1948)

34 ttADIO REVIEWS Wdlneaflayf Jmtuary 14, AVE BURROWS SHOW >V-th' Milton De Lnec Quartet; MteiMel Fltzinaurloct »nnouu«er WHt«r: Bucraws 15 Mint.; S«t; 7:3* y.ni. USTEBINE CBS, from HAllywAod (Lombert It F«<islev) CBS can boast one ol the most re- freshing half-hour parlays in radio, witlj Abe Burrows now slotted back- to-back- with Hoagy Carmichael in the 7:30-8 Saturday evening bracket. Burrows, moved up from 10:30 Saturdays, now "that he's got Listerine banltrolJing .his 15-minute stanza, is emergiiig as one of radio's sock comedy personalities in the New Listen era.: ■ They'll be watching the Hoopers on Burrows, since a lot of tbe skeptics have been arguing that the satirizationd eftibodiefl in the Bur- rows "type" songs are strictly lor the sophisticates and, as such, that he isn't "coromercial." It's this de partrhent's conviction, based anew on the past couple of broadcasts since BUMows has had the earlier time segment, that he's plenty commer- cial; that the Burrows buffoonery (his very deficiency as a singer enhances rather than detracts from his show) has a. universal appeal, The Milton de Lugg Quartet sliJl gets in its few licks (how much variety can you get into a quarter-, hour!}, while t'ne Listerine tooth paste-taouth AiiFash plugs ten4 toward overcutiiiiess in An obvious attempt to pattern them to the "Burrows type"'foBmat.- Res». WB CARE ' WUh Fsnlette CM^d, Burcess MereiUtb. Joan ' t*nsr< Edwin Brdee; Gene Klrky, announcer; Ralph Nornuin, muste Writer: Arnold PeH ^Producer: Martin Andrew* 1» Min«.; Sun., p.ni. "Sustaining ABC, from New York , A temflcaly eflective litUe show' Is this,' a modest quartet>hour dra- matic sequence presented by ABC in' cooperation with CARE (Co- operative for American Bemittances to Europe, Inc.) and the Advertising Council. The enacted stories, taken from the files of CARE, are designed to show simple way.s in which Americans can help Europe's hun- gry and tell what happens -when CARE packages reach their destina tion. Without any production trappings save Ralph Norman's well-tailored music, the preem stanza Jan. 4 got acrdss its point beautifullyj with straight-to-the-heart appeal without being, either maudlin or sensational It took the case of a vot and a school- boy in* this .coiiiitry who heard from « French school teacher and a little igirl in , Brittany, where the vet had soldiered, and showed how the kids' of this land can bring new hope to tha youngsters. In war-ravaged countries.. The^'stanza opened and closed-with Burgess Meredith ask- ing, "Listen to the sound '<>f %. starv- ing child. (No.sound.) iTou hear nothing? Well, that's the Sound of a starving child too weak, too tired to cry for help." Arnold Perl's fine scripting, with its human, down-to-ear.th concept and naturalness of lines, gave trie production a strong start. It was rounded out by skillful handling on ' all scores, the perfomances of P&ulette .Goddard an'd Meredith as well as the two children, Joan Lazer and Edwin. Bruce, being hoth adept And convincing. Domi. FRANK COOLEVS FABI« NEWS IS -nOMk; M(Wi.-tiii!tf-5«t;. «15 ».ib. FREEDOM THEATRE ("Get On Board") With Eddy Arnold, Roy Acuff, Brad- ley KIneald, Snooky lianson, Flsk Vulv. Ctaeir, WSM Chorus and staff orchestra Writer: Saul Carson Froducer-direetor: Jfaok Stapp 60 Ming.; Mon. (5), 9 to 10 p.m. (CST) ■ WSM, Nashville (Rebreadcast WNEW, New York) On the credit side of this hour-' long documentary airted from the studios of WSM, Nashville, and also carried by the New York City- owned WNYC on both its AM and FM facilities, is the fact that "Get On Board" represents one of the most ambitious attempts to date at programming on a local level from an off-the-beaten track production center. Actually, this 60-minute show, for which WSM knocked off the Car- nation Hour ^nd General Electric's Fred Waring commercial shows, is but the first in a Series of 13 pro- grams bcaiSng the Overall "Freedom Theatre" title. t As a public service endeavor cued to radio's participation in the "Year of He-Dedication" to Ameri- can principles and heritage, it de- serves all the kudos that wiU cer- tain]^ be bestowed upon the station. For WSM backed up its own faith in the "Freedom Train" perpetuation by shattering some of the hidebound- traditions .of broadcasting in ■ the south. It permitted, for example, the Negro-participants, including the- Fisk Univ. Choir, to broadcast from the same studio as the others, in.i stead of piping them in from the university. It may not have set too well with 5ome of the citizenry, but WSM stood up for its convictions. Giving due credit to the com- mendable intent behind the program, the fact remains that WSM's big-, time 'production .fell short as a documentary. It had a message to deliver, but somehow the message was diluted in what amounted to 45 minutes of music. Even in the south, where one must walk slowly and tread water in espousing the cause of tolerance, fervor and excite- ment are needed to back up belief in order to sway an audience. And this show didn't pack a' wallop,, noi? ^et too excited. What it had was some very fine singing by the Fisk Choir and the WSM chorus, with an excellent assist by the WSM • stall orchestra. It had. Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys (from the WSM- originatirig "Grand OV Opry"). It had some of the Hy Zaret-Lou Singer tolerance iingle.s integrated into the show's musical pattern, with even some original lyrics by the show's scripter, Saul Carson, as well as by Carl Sandburg. However, in molding this wealth of material into the musical documentary pat-: tern, the script was comprised mainly of series of dialog, cues' by Bradley Kincaid on^ Snocicy Laii' son, which served to'intro the vari" ous numbers. ' . , WSM went to the trouble to "im- port" a New York scripter for the- show and was wilting to go out on a limb by inviting New York ap- praisal via its WNYC audience pickup. Thus the show cannot get ofT from critical appraisal judged by bigtime standards. Weighed oh this basis, it was a pleasant ^musical interlude, and .as- such -might have fared better had it been tightened to a half-hour production. Rose. BREAKING THE TRAFFIC JAM With Barry Thomson, Molly Dodd, Pare Boyer, Joseph Keen, Leonard . Staerer; Kay'Reed, innsle Writer-predneer: Riehard Pack Director: Jaek Grofan Research! Henry Morgenthau HI 15 to 30 Mlns.j Mon.-thrn-Fri. (S-IO), 10 p.m. Sustaining WNEW, N. T. There isn't a Gothamite who doesn't realize what a snarled, per- plexing problem Manhattan faces in its traffic situation. It's one of those things, like the weather, everyone talks about—but virtually no one does anything about. WNEW decided to try to do something about it, by way of showing how costly as well as inconvenient the situation is, and by: suggesting some, outs;. The result was a series of five hard-hitting broadcasts employing every device from wire-recorded pickups and let-: ter-writing prizes to dramatic sketches and symposiums. Overall, "it was a firstrate public service job, tackled with imagination and vital- ity,, and carried off .with sincerity and professional skill. In ; the opening blast, producer- writer Dick Pack, WNEW's publicity and special events chief, artfully pointed up how old, how complex and how costly the problem is. One "flashback" depicted a jamup q£ Coliseum-bound chariots in Caesar's Rome; another looked at N. Y. head- lines in 1923, 25 years ago, when the problem seemed just as pressing. Still another skit depicted a "brief- ing," a la war bombing: raids, of drivers of taxis, buses, trucks, pas^ setiger cars, etc., on their "target for today"—Manhattan. The punchline: "by conservative estimates," the traf- fic jams cost Manhattan $1,000,008 per day! In the succeeding four stanzas, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes in length, station aired opinions of vet- eran taxi and hiis drivers, .suggest tions by experts in Chicago, Detroit arid Pittsburgh, prize-winning letters from listeners, on-the-street de- scriptions of traffic tieups, and. Anal- ly, a symposium on proposed solu- tions by some .of N. Y.'s own traffic authorities. ' By unfortunate coincidence, the WNEW series was slotted at the same hour Nathan Straus' WMCA tackled another pressing problem, ■"housing. Generally speaking, foUow- throughs are forgotten in radio, whereas newjspapers have: long made a practice, once a civic campaign is launched, to keep plugging awa.y at it until some action results. WNEW, in this case, would do well to blaze a little trail by reporting back to lis- teners from time to time on flae prog- ress of steps to meet the traffic prob- lem. Bom. WHAS. Louisville WHAS" Frank Cooley, farm co- ordmator, must have something on the ball when a muxs; gets up in the dark before 6 a.m. to review his farm news stanza. After checking veports that Cooley pulled 3it)00 re- quests for a cook book put out hy the National Livestock & Meat Board, Chicago, with six announce- ments, it was evident that a lot of the farm housewives and their men folk were listening regularly to Cooley's. early morning airings. Cooley precedes hw regular farm news stint with a brief livestock market reports weather, etc.. team- ing with announcer Bud Abbott. The pair toss the chatter back and forth, which tends to liven an other- wise dull recital of hog prices, to« bacco market.<!, etc. Regular farm news session gets vmder way at 6:1,^, and at show caught Cooley had a lot to talk about. Farm Bureau Co'nvention had heen in -.session all week and at this hearing, Friday (9), Louis Allen, prez of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation was interviewed. He's an operating farmer, and had had an interesting discus.sion with Coo- ley on strawberry co-op.s, predictions for the future in agriculture, new insecticides, and the like, ciooley also had an intere.sting farm imple^ ment and machinery story, the motif "farm equipment going t) foreign countries, when it i.s badly needed on American farm.s." Handled the subject with common sense and good logic. ^ Cooley impresses as a well-in- formed farm man, with an apparent .practical and theoretical background. Hi8 WHAS voice has a predominant rural audience, and he is pci-form- ing a fine public service for bis llstenets. Hold. conductor; 11:15 p.B WHAT'S NEW IN THE STORES Wtth Nancy Dixon (Jill Maatt), Sam fteld U MlMb 1:30 p.ui. Mon;-tlnni.>Fri. CLUETT-PEABODY WTAM, Cleveland (Young &i Rubicnm) Smoothly written, expertly de- livered, this across-the-boavd-.stanza on sales in major Cleveland depart- ment stores is one of the neatest women's programs in the area. It's one of several such local promotion efforts bankrolled in various cities | the guest took over ROBERT Q. LEWIS With Howard Smith, guests :' Pcodueer: Win Roland 15 Mins.; Mott;-thru-Fri., Sustaining CBS, from New York Moved up to an uncommonly late inning for a comedian^ Robert Q. Lewis i.^ off again on an experiment. It's the same ad lib chatter, couched in a lazy, informal style, but this time with a guest girl singer and an orchestra helping to span what could be a long, drawnout quarter-hour This late evening relegation is CBS' latest experiment with perhaps one of the most amorphous personalities it has ever tried to devMop, and the chances of his stirring up marked excitement about the pin^am or himself in this ^ot don't look to be ui his favor. ^ .There: was little ol comedy bite in either of his two initial installments (5-6). Bach segment could have been quite dull if It weren't 'for the warbling interludes of the two guests, the first (opening program), Louise Howard, a cafe impressionist of promising talent, and the other, Monica Lewis, who has been coming along by-way of recordings and per- sonal appearances. If listeners felt that twin sensation of perkiness and curiosity during the two quarter hours, it must have been only when TRUE OR FALSE With Bill Slater; studio eontestantai; Glenn Riggi, annenueer rredneer: Jean 0Mlr|t9n ' 30 MID*,; Sat., 5:S« pjn. ■ Smtaining MBS, from New York Dr. Harry Hagen's "True Or False" Was one of the tost two air .shows • (other was "Information Please") to make successful use of the quiz format. Original stanza hit the ether in 1938 and was sponsored (by J. B. Williams shave cream, among others) a total of more than five years, part of that time on the Blue (now ABC), part on Mutual. It hit a 10 rating on a $1,00<) tab. Then, in 1943, it faded. The revived version, a Frederic W. Ziv package, teed off on MBS last weekend (10). It's Hagen's "T or F" in name onlv and highly unlikely to achieve anythmi^ ap- proximating the original's success unless the producers resurrect its format as well as its good name. In fact, it's quite impossible to understand Why the producers of the new show Went out of theit way to avoid a proven formula in favor of a formless yea-or-nay thing that builds little .suspense and, as hap- pened on the initial ahrlng, is apt to have an anti-climactic payoff midway in the, show. Hagen, to look back, lined -up two sides of six each, ifemmes vs. males, to run the (Elimination gamut of questions. For novelty, the .sides were always attractively combatant. For example, he'd pit six young lawyers against six-lassies from a secretarial achooi; He paced the quizzing fast, and interest was sus- tained right up to the final account- ing. Ziv's packagers have knocked out all this, merely alternating femme and male quizees, who get a fl-ve- spot for each correct answer and a chance at a $150 jackpot if they come up with enough correct guesses. The pot rides over to next week if nobody cashes in, and ah-, other $150 is added. (The pot, incidentally, is called the Mutual candy box,'' part of the buildup for the day next month when the Shotwell candy company of Chicago picks up the tab on the show.) On : the getaway sequence, a teacher walked off with the "candy" OH the back stretch, leaving the show to lop along to the finish mark, where the announcer had to break in while Bill Slater was in the midst of tossing another question." To make matters ■ worse, Slater, quip- ping merrily .along between ques- tions up to this point, tripped bland- ly into one of those situations which are the nightmare of quizmasters— but which they so often lay them- selves open to. A femme with a Mrs. tag came to the inike, said she was in N. Y. on a vacation, but no, she didn't bring her husband along. "What's the matter, don't you ever take your husband along on trips?" Slater inquired lightly. The woman replied: "No, he's dead." The rest of the show wasn't the fault of Slater, ■ who normally does an okay stint as emcee.: Somebody,, though, had better give the show a shot of the old T-or-F medicine be^ fore Shotwell comes alolig, Dooti. by Cluett-Peabody, to stimulate sales of it :SanfOrized non.<shrii:^ process. Similar shows are aired in Boston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Los Angeles, and more cities are being added from time to time. Jill Maas, using the sponsor's reg- ular Nancy Dixon pseudonym, does the script and, with Tom Field as the collaborator at the mike, the two pull off a punchy, rapid-fire, easy-to- listen to stanza. Most of the items cover general merchandise, but there are always a couple of plugs for articles with the Sanforized label. The extent to which Dixon and Field can bend to make the program socko was realized in their special day-before-Christmas show. Mi.ss Dixon wrote the .script, a delightful failtasy about Santa Glaus and how h;s helpers came to be; a joyful tidbit that grew out of a poor boy's dream for a Chri.stmas present. In the show. Field had to play three parts. Between Dixon, her script, and Field, the 15-minute stanza was one of the top Xmas shows ever given in Greater Cleveland. It would do well for other shop- ping guide programs to take note. mark. When not giving with chatter or cueing in the house.band for a num- ber Lewis himself tosses off a lyric. Like his patter the vocalizing f.ills within the off-the-elbow' pattern. Odec DOWN AT. IVAR UAGLUNDS IS Mins.; Sat., 12 (noon) NATIONAL GROCERY CO. KING, Seattle , Ivar Haglund, local singer of folk songs, and particularly those of a salty tinge, packs a nifty variety of sea-going ditties and fooling into this quarter-hour segment. Featur.e of the program is a clam-eating con test, -held at Haglund's waterfront restaurant. And there are such gags as having present the chemist who {?ives saliva tests to horses at Long acres track. All this makes the coii test a hilarious one. Winner on day caught put away IQO clams in 10 min utcs, with runnerup swallowing 83. Haglund sing-s several ditties, in- cluding his theme song, "Surround- ed By Acres of Clams," and makes the 15-minutes whiz by'. More .songs would make it easier hsteniug, how- ever, as the chit-chat while the clam-eating race is in progress could stand some hypoing, THE AMERICAN HERITAGE -With Lyman Bryson, John A. Krout, Stanley T. Williams Producer: Robert Bi Hudson Director: Dr. George Crothers 3V nilnr.;-Sun., 12: noon'-: Sustaining CBS, from New York CBS' "Invitation to Learning" has come up with an- excellent series ln< ■'The American Heritage.'' In 13 programs, CBS is examining a.s many examples of classic literature, to .study the spiritual basis of Amer- ica's- present strength, and the light they shed on our present and future. It sounds Uke a serious, • adult sub- ject, and it is. But judged by the second program Sunday (11), airer is an urbane, witty, literate discus- sion, and well worth one's while. Subject for discassion was Michel- Guillaume Jean De Crevecoeur's Letters From An American Farmer for its sidelight on colonial life heritage. Lyman Bryson, professor of education at Columbia, acted as host, with John A. Krout, of Colum- bia, and Stanley T. Williams, of Yale, as guests. Discussing the Grevecoeur book, which they called one of the great books of early American literature, the trio were able even to point a parallel, de.spite the divergence of era.s, to our times. They discussed the book, the co- lonial times and the man. One mar- velled how a Frenchman, coming to America when 24, could so absorb the new land, as to b^ able to write in such lucid English style, Greve- coeur talked with farmers and trap- pers; plowed fields and broke wilder- ness land; and wrote letters describ- ing his farming experiences, his ex- periences with fellow-Afflerican.s, tliat not only mirror the times but explain somehow what went into the making of an American. . Crevecoeur's stature as writer and journalist, as naturalist and ob- server, came in for comment. There was even reference to the melting A HOME TO LIVE IN With Jaekson Beck, natrator Writer: Michael Sklar Producer-Director: Mitchell Graysoii $• Mini,; Mon. thru Ffl.. 10 p,m. Sustaining WMCA. N. y. Openly slanted to pressure public- opinion in behalf of the housing theories held by WMCA prexy Nathan Straus, this series of docu- mentaries is a type of slugging ' public service air editorial that'U serve to fracture the FCC's namby- pamby Mayflower decision' banning stations from taking sides. These shows have a cleanly stated bias in favor of the ill-housed that should arouse comment and' bring some . action. Immediate target of these airers is to stir N, Y.'s Mayor O'Dwyer into ordering an open hearing on the public-financed low-cost hou.sing plan sponsored by several authorita- tive housing agencies. The station is sparking a postcard deluge of the Mayor's office through programming of the five documentaries across the board, then repeating them tor five weeks. Tagline of each show, in addition to daily spot announce- ments, urges dialers to intervene in the housing muddle. No matter what the response will be, the series has -: already psid off In tetms of exten- jsive coverage' Id the liberal N. Y. dailies. Despite their slant, these shows contribute to an objective under- standin'g of the problem. They are evident^ the product of extensive research which has thrown up an immense pile of facts and theories little known to the general public. Scripter '/lichael Sldar has mar- shalled this dry .scholarship into a fighting, dramatic structure that passes all standards for showman- ship. Sometimes, these .shows err in a shrillish tone of over-anxiety; but they -never commit the , error of dullness. ■ ' Initial documentary in the series of five is devoted to an examination of the housing situation in New York as .seen through the eyes of a doubled-up vet's family desperately on the hunt for an apartment or private home. Caught in a medium:, income bracket (about $60 per week : salary ), the vet finds himself in the middle of a squeeze: ineligible for municipal hoasing projects and in- capable of affording the towering rentals or prices demanded for available homes. Several gold-brick housing schemes, propagated mostly by speculative builders, are worked over, thoroughly riddled and re- vealed either to be dishonest or futile pipe-dreams. One of the standout features of this series is its fearlessness in tagging seme real estate interests for their obstructive tactics. As its positive solution, the series plumbs for an already worked-out blueprint for self-sup- porting low-cost housing projects which would be able to provide some 50,000 homes per year. Among the best of the half-hour documentaries is the attack on Robert Moses, city construction co- : ordinator, who, according to the ; script, is heavily responsible for the housing fiasco since the war which ha.s seen more buildings torn down than constructed, Moses' official optimism is put directly on the spot with a vivid description of actual housing conditions in New York. "You've climbed the stairs of old- law tenements. Mr. Moses. Yoih've smelled the evil smell of thos-e houses, the odor of stale food, the stink of damp, moulding walls, the .stench that comes from outside toilets in the hallways," etc. Highly effective because the vision is true,, and the direction petsonalized. The indie has thrown its full re- sources behind this effort and Mit- chell Grayson's production of these documentaries has scope and depth. The casts, headed by Jackson Beck as narrator for each, renders the dramatized portions with high feel- ing and conviction, while John Gart's background music is sensi- tively attuned to the urgency of the .series. Bertn. MILTON RETTENBERG 15 Mins.; Sun., 12:45 p.m. WINTER * CO. WOR, N. Y. (Al Paul Le/lOn) Vet radio keyboarder, 'Milton Het- tenbei'g, has a bankroUer that's a natural for him. Under sponsorship of a piano manufacturer, it's a good break for both inasmuch as Reitcn- berg knows his way around the, 88s. If any desire for piano ownership can be created it's through the tal- ented playing of top practitioners. Reltenberg plays a nice pop-.styled piano that's easy to take, sticking mainly to tunes from musicals. Selections get a smooth once-over- lightly touch. His spoken introes also add to the informal tone of the .session. However, the commercials oome perilously close to voiding Rotten- Tlie frequent berg's good work. - „ , sales spiels when heard endangered pot of nations that the colonies were | the entire mood and transformed in those days, with the advantages the show to a demonstration. More accruing—as well as the indirect | emphasis on Rettenberg's stylings allusion to the value of such a polic\ : could do more for Winter & Co.'s for now. It was all verjr good stuff, i sales dept. than its heavy-handed firon. Ipitches. Jo«««