Variety (Oct 1948)

22 nADIO REVIEWS Wetlnesday, October 27, 1948 CV¥ LOMBAftDO SHOW With Morey Amsterdam, cuest; nonncer, Cy Harrlce Writer - Producer - Director: Kay ■ ■■■■ "fijirvcy ■' ■ ■ 80 Mins.; Sat., 9:30 p.m. (EST) KAISER-FBAZGR Mutual, from New York (Wcirrtrttub) Kaiser-Frazer Corp. and its 4,- 300 dealers unwrapped Guy Lom- bardo'.s band in a new series over a 480-station Mutual net Saturday (23). In aiming to solidify customer jjoodwill as well as drum up fresh business, the auto manufacturer is using a formula that should pro- duce results. For Lombardo, the old reliable, has a tailormade aud- ience while the show itself has an Udditional appeal to listeners via a "customer request" feature. Tribute to K-F's 300,000 odd pa- trons is fixed each weelt uppn one car owner who's selected by a dealer for a cuffo trip to New York as well as an appearance on the firogram where he chooses both the unes and entertainers. John F. Low, salesman. from Norristown, iPa,. proved an ideal guest for the motor company inasmuch as he read his lines well; and even came off fairly well in an exchange of auips with comic Morey Amster- dam, Backbone of the Show, of course, is Lombardo's smooth rhythms. Solid was Kenny Gardner's vocal of "Buttons and Bows"; as was a : -neat twin piano; arrangement of ''Stumbling." Amsterdam's routines though vaguely familiar, came off okay for the most part. K-F really went all out to hypo its community prestige by handing Norristown High a "snazzy" teenage canteen Complete with jukebox 'n' every- thing. : Stanza marks the first time that K-F has used a name band for na- tional promotion of its product. Company is also ' due to sponsor "Thin Man" on Mutual starting tomorrow; (Thursday) in, the 10 p.m. slot. Gitb. AMERICAN FORUM OF THE AIR With Theodore S. Granik, modera- tor; Sen. J. Howard-. McGratb, Rep. Huerh Scott, speakers; Bernard Dudley, announcer ' Producer: Grauick SO Mins.; Tues., 10 p.m. (EST) UNIVERSAL CARLOADING Mutual, from New York {RaymonA Spector) • Theodore Granik's forum, the oldest on radio, returned to Mutual's ether; last week (19) with banHroUing iti a dozen key mar- kets by Universal Carloading. (The program exited the airlanes last season following a brief sponsor' NBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA With Artnro Toscanlni; Ben Qraucr, 'announcer Producer: Don Gllllt 60 Mins,, Sat., 6:30 p.m. (EST) Sustaining . „ - NBC, from New Yoirk NBC's pride artd joy and $800,- 000 a year contribution to public service programming — the NBC Symphony Orchestra—bowed In for the 11th season last Saturday (23), with Arturo Toscanml once more at the helm to inaugurate a six-week cycle of Brahms music. It was, not unexpectedly, a rare and wonderful occasion for music lovers, and one that isn't likely to be matched. Not, at least, until the: next Toscanini program comes along. For the '48-'49 season's inaugu- ral, Toscanini had as guest soloist ' the distinguished pianist, Vladimir Horowitz (his son-in-law), giving the occasion a double brilliancej with the performance of the feaf tured work, the Brahms Piano Con- certo, one that will not soon be for- gotten. For years slotted into the 5 to 6 Sunday afternoon segment, during which it had a several-season spon-^ sorship by General Motors, the NBC symph was moved into the Saturday 6:30-7:30 period last year, when Ford bought the Sunday time for its ill-fated NBC series, (It has since moved over to CBS.) While it has been a moot point whether the showcasing of the great orches- tra would serve a more useful pur- pose by returning as Sabbath after* noon attraction, last season's Sat-, urday ratings actually showed an advance, which would clinch the argument In favor of a Saturday continuance. But Saturday or Sunday, Maes- tro Toscanini and the NBC symph remain -preeminent in the radio concert world. Recognizing that 800G adds up to terrific coin at a time when more and more AM money must be siphoned into tele» vision, NBC rates a bow for its re^ fusal to molest the high standards of this weekly hour excursion into longhair music. ■ Ben Graner is also back for; the' commentary, and just as slick as ever. Rose. LORRY RAINE Mott Beautiful Girl in Radio Lorry's been dubbed that—and her records (Coast) prove her one of the most beautiful song stylists. Latest hit is "Can't Sleep." Mark Wamow . discovered ; her; ■ also starred in Rudy Vallee's "College Days," Miss Raine and her publicity manager-husband on Radio-P,A, tour, scouting new songs, new tal- ent. TIM GAYLE (Pub-MGT) Temporary Mail Address: c/o Terrace Plaza Hotel Cincinnati, CIUo GEORGE SOKOLSKY With Gene Kirby, announcer Producer: Bob Tormey ; ; - 15 Mins., Sun., 11:15 p.m. CO-OP WJZ, N. Y. George Sokolsky, to whom the Wave of the future is apparently the past, started a new: commen- ehirby^Mot Ridro anTa''nortoo!t^^^ series last Sunday (24) on successful semester as a co-op of- ABC on a co-op basis, with the fering.) The. program: will be moved back to Washington, D, C, where it , has generally ; originated during its 20>-year careeri follow* Ing the first two editions, ; : Granik has pepped up the session by cutting the panel to two oppos- ing speakers, who are given plenty of opportunity—in fact, encour- aged—-to match wits in a no-holds- barred argument of the question at hand. For .the first time, too, Granik has introduced audience participation, ; with both studio guests and listeners being invited to quiz the speakers (the dialers being encouraged ■ to write in- qucMions m advance). Revived forum got off to a spinted start with a "Truman vs. ■ Dewey' pitched battle between Ben" J Howard McGrath and Rep, Ni y. Sun, on which he's a column- ist, sponsoring him for N. Y. on WJZ, It was a strange 15-minute program, starting oft' like a news commentary and ending up like a church sermon. In the glib superfi- cial way Sokolsky cove r e d the whole world in 15, minutes, shed- ding his form of light on It all. To some. It must have been effective, Sokolsky speaks in plain, clear dic- tion and in everyday speech dra-, matically rendered. But it just didn't ring true, STORIES TO REMEMBER With Geraldine Fitzgerald, Roger De Koven, Hester Sondergaard, Lorna' Lynn, Colette McMahon, David Anderson, Jimsie Somers; John Tillman, announcer ; Writers: Jack Bentkover Director: Earle McGill Producer: Harold Franklin 15 Min., Tues., 8:15 p.m. Sustaining: WNEW, New York Extending its work in behalf of healthy human relations which reached a peak with the sock series of tolerance song spots, "Little Songs on Big Subjects," WNEW is currently airing a 13-week tran- scription package devoted to the same subject. Produced by the In- stitute for Democratic: Action; this series is .featuring top name thespers in sensitively written playlets that hit the mark both as effective ' education and. - efttertalnr ment. While it would be difficult, if not Impossible to calculate the effect of any such individual pro- gram series, it would make a val- uable survey to determine the overall impact of radio's tolerance educational programming dialer's thinking habits. TRUMAN TRAIN With Charter Heslep, nemben of Truman Cumpalgn Train en- tourage; ]Pre«eott Robtnion, nar. ■ .fator- Editor-producerai Edith Meierand, Bob Wood, 30 Mins.; Ttaurs. (XI). 8 p.m. Sustaining WOR. N Y. ^ ^ . : • This was a one-shot companion piece to a similar broadcast com- piled from tape-recordings of Inter- views aboard the Thomas E. Dewey GOP special. In this case, Charter Heslep worked from the locomotive to the rear platform of President Harry S. Truman's campaign train, the "Ferdinand Magellan," Inter- viewing everybody from Margaret Truman and the President's per- sonal physician to the man who handled the mail and the officer in charge of the radio communica- tions car. There was also a pickup of Candidate Truman speaking from the rear platform and Intro- ducing his family. Stanza became a little monoton- ous with minute detail before the 30 minutes were over. . Interview with Margaret Truman was easily the highlight, revealing how the First Family lived aboard the spe- cial (Margaret ironed her clothes and did her own hair, etc.). Per- haps a little more candid stuff would have enlivened Jthe air prod- uct, and perhaps more of Truman's off-the-cuff campaigning from the rear platform would have helped, too. ■ , '] As it was, the program—carried on a playback by Mutual Sunday (24)—came off' as a well-intcni tioned, but fairly pedestrain, un- imaginative presentation^ Doan.: ANN STERLING SHOW With Bob Harvey, Eddie Clifford Writer: Dwight Pinkerton ■ Producer; Roland Bradley - 30 Mins., Mon.-thru-Frl. 1:30 p.m. Participating KJR, Seattle The first -anniversary of this top-, rating afternoon show reveals a gay, light-hearted and listenable half-hour that hits on all cylinders and should please everyone. Miss Sterling, who also has a morning show on KJH, has wisely woven the:music, songs and gags of Bob Harvey (piano) and Eddie Clifford (organ) into the program so that the overall effect is one of informality and easy pace. Clifford and Harvey are unpredictable, seemingly, and make the commer- cials highly palatable. On this show Harvey sang a jingle composed of . commercials'; for nthe various particlpantsv and it was as: enjoyr -able as some, of the tunes spot- lighted. These; tunes included: "Lady From 29 Palms," "You Do Something to Me" and "If Yoq Knew Susie." ; Miss Sterling was presented with a cake adorned with one can- Talk started off vMlh what was 1 Prepaj-ed *or her first day in an out.and-out political speech m' s>chQoI the script rang with the favor of Gov.;;Dewey^wliom Sokol- .sky familiarly called "Tom Dewey' . die, and to tOP -off the show ;prb; " ■ I ducer , Roland-, Btadley ; sang his . . , ^, . .i.-j own-composition: "Song of Vashon Initial dramatic stanza, titled island," accompanying himself on The Lesson," explored the ugly, the piano. Bradley's offering was problem of ; cruelty and intolerance among children. The setting was a Pennsylvania mining town with the focus set upon a Polish immi- grant mother and her two young daughters. As one of the children throughout; The next, president's job; he said, was to reorganize the "sprawling, uncoordinated govern- ment of the; U. S. with its: ineffi- Hugli D Scott, chairmen respec- ciency and frightful expense, tively of the Democratic and Re-1 Herbert Hoover, he said, was pre American democratic dream for universal freedom, and ; oppor- tunity. The taunts of her school- mates, however, brought back the; piano. Bradley's offering was the topper and is one of those rare regional ditties that ring the bell. (Vashon Island is in Puget Sound, about 10 miles from Seattle,- and many commuters live there,) Guest of the day, Betty MacDonald of "Egg and r' fame, had much to do with the packed studio, making the song particularly timely, as Mrs. MacDonald also lives on Vashon Island, The future looks bright for this publican national committees. Weakest part of the period was the Question sequence, mainly because half- of the queries, sounded like plants (being directed to the speaker on the same side of the fence as the questioner and sim- ply asking him to affirm something the questioner believed). Per- < inri,-fmpnt nf Rii<:«;ia nnrl fhf. haps a little advance screening of; .^"'f navv "to ke" d wh questions would improve this seg- * ""^^ ^ went Sponsor's commercials, playing on a slogan of "For shipments commercialf specify Universal," are tolerable and fairly; to. the point. Seems odd to , hear musical bridges on a forum program. Yet they don't sound out oi place. Doan. of this country. Arid there was no pollyanna ending to spoil the paring a report on^he giver"nm"eni! bitter reality of existing hate and, show, with It solidly booked with bigotry, even among the children > participating sponsors for months CBC OPB»A COMPANY (La Bokeme) With Edmnni Hookrldge, Jame* Shield*, Mm MorriioB, Andrew MaoMlllan, Beth Corrigan, Glen Gardner, Bernard Johnson, Earl Dick; orch and ehorui; Frank Herbert, announcer Producer: Terenoe Gibbs Director: Nicholas Gnldschmifit 120 Mins.; Wed., 8 pjn« (EST) Suitaining CBC, from Toronto Again perhaps only possible in a nationalized radio system in which millions of Usteners pay a $2.50 an- nual license fee, tl>e Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has, after ex- tensive auditions, assembled a ra- dio opera company whose princi- pals are top-ranking Canadian singers. The 32 mixed voice chorus has been recruited from the Royal Conservatory of Music; this and a : 30-piece orch under the direction of Nicholas Goldschmldt. For na- tional hitch, series is carried by 28 stations of the CBC Trans-Canada network, plus nine top indies. Teeofl was Puccini's sentimental but melodic "La Boheme," this per- formed in its entirety except for a quick cut in the second act to mor- tise exactly into the two-hour slot. Opera was sung in Italian. No necessity for; an academic appraisal- except to say that principals and chorus were in top vojce and musi- cal background outstanding in sup- port. No intermissions; and descriptive scene breaks were brief. ' To follow; "Orpheus and Euri- dice;" "The Devil and Daniel Web- ster;" "Don Giovanni." These will be sung in English. McSiay, SUSAN FLETCHER Producer: Ross Mortimore 15 mins.; Mon., 10:15 p.m. Sustaining CBC, from Vancouver Shooting and firing her words about films angled for women each week for a fast ; unsponsored 15 minutes is a gal who probably spends more money gathering her , Items than she makes. Susan Fletcher, former stage ac- tress, has good material but falls flat with vocabulary which could stand improvement. Much of it sounds like something out of the movie pulps, but the average womanrlistener eats :up that- kind of material and letterperfect dic« tion helps considerably. An original and intelligent idea is her method of recording an int terview each week with some prominent personality in show- world. She cuts her disks during frequent trips to Hollywood and ■ whenever some one important drops into Vancouver, as ease with Bing Crosby on show caught. Crosby once again demonstrated bis great showmanship. Despite some weak questions, he cut some good capers as when he defined "the true American as one who chases the buck avidly" or when his kids appear on his- program'. "their mother complains they are getting much too hammy.' : Besides interview which closed grogram, Miss^ Fletchet talked of ank's attack against the Yank pix industry, of Gertrude Lawrence, warned the folks of phoney film- scouts : and about ; Jan Savitl's death. She plays her mateiial fairly straight although she could do; better by spiking her comments with a little acidity, thus improv- ing show and rating. Allen. Jl-(evfdentl)^ for Dewey fo iollow)- ■ i^^??^ by (Seraldine Fitzgerald which presumably would right ■ contributed to this show's poign- everything m this worst-of-all | qualities^ Herm. democracies. That was reaching | . into the past for the future, with TREASURY OF JEWISH to come, and if all concerned, in- cluding Pinkerton, who does the ad-lib sounding scripts, continue on this level it will remain right at the top. Beed. a vengeance. Then Sokolsky was off into, an need hat we love," A mmute later he was in FOLKLORE With Rabbi Abraham P. Bloch; Gil- bert Mack, Phil Sterling, Roc Rogers; Kay Reed, organist Scripter: Eric Arthur START THE DAY WITH A SMILE With Lanny and Ginger Grey Writers: L. & G. Grey Producer: Raymond Kaii Director: Bob Estes SO Mins.; Mon. thru Sat., 8 a.m. Participating WMGM, New York For early morning listeners, the singing team of Lanny and Ginger Grey deliver a potpouri of their own vocal harmonics, time and France. "There is no effective , Director: Jack Grogan government in France," he said. I Producer: Ted Cott "What we face is de Gaulle or the 11* Mins.; Thnrs,, 9 p.m. Communists—so let's embrace de | Siistiiimng Gaulle." Then he was off in a. WNEW, N. Y. flash to PalestinCi to' discuss the Pope's cnci-clicai on international- izing Jeru.saleiri.- insistencc that This weekly dramatization der way for several weeks now un SUNDAY SALMAGUNDI With Bill Lazar,. occasional guests Writer-director-producer: Bill ;':Lazar 55 Mins.; Mon., 12:05 a.m. ; Sustaining * WMCA, New York Here is a nocturnal sequence which departs divertingly from the run-of-the-mill disk jockeying of-- fered stay-up-laters. It's an ex- cellent mixture of fine music and good literature LENNY SHERMAN SHOW With Nita Claire, The Scat Man, Harlow Burgess orch; Bill Roddy/ announcer Producer: Harry Bubeck 30 Mins.; Sat., « pjn. Participating KNBC-NBC, San Francisco This comedy opus fits into the category of just missing being a meaty helping of good radio copy. The fault lies not essentially with the featured performer, Lenny Sherman, who works earnestly and with con.siderable moxie, but with the production, which is sloppy, and the comic material, which is There was much a companion to a current series on lUiin must love ' the same . station based on man," and regret that "it's a pity i Treasury of American Folklore." that the last war never ended." In {Stanzas are taken from a compila- all the "pious preachings and pon-1 tion by Nathan Ausubel, under the tifical ultoranoes there were some \ same title, of legends, songs and germs of truth and meaning, but ■ stories from Jewish folklore, Indie the program on; the. whole; recked i WNEW presents the dramatizations of reaction: and smug; sanctimony.: | in cooperation with the N. Y. Board ■ ■ ■ ■ '■ ■ ■■ _ .. . ... ... .... ......... .... „ o"— , with Bill Lazar ,„„,,, . . ^ , , - • - giving his .selected readings the ' ™o'"y intervals and a drag upon accent and pacing needed to woo "-"Pecncral goings on. attention. --. ■;■■.-■;::■■;..■:■■. "" ' " On a recent midnight his record- , Sherman himself, -whose bi'e »ij icculu- l?*^ chatter bears a resemblance to ed selections ranged from Brahms' '-'•'""'s Day s meanderings, hits Bron. Academic Festival Overture" to Aaron Copland's musical descrip- tion of Mexico's Roseland Ballroom, Lazar interspersed these with reci- tations of Shakespeare's 29th Son many points of effective comedy, but the inadroit routining and pac- ing—including the corny presenta- tion of the other entprtainers and orch (which are thrown at the )is- of Rabbis; With Rabbi Abrabam P. "':::..•':;•..: '.'. ;.-,.;:^': •.:'.■;' '-•^: :-''^. .-[TBloicb;'iBtroihg;jea(^':se^ -'■:,: ■;;..-;.-; ' ;'■ ■ v;.;F. Last week's (21) episode, titled, ling with go,ssip. about an upcom-; "The Father of the Poor," was a ing AFRA cocktail party, threw in , Simple, engrossing tale out of weather reports, plus rambling pat-' a plug for the musical, "Where's i Poland in another day. It was a " " "■ Charley?'', and lightly general-1 tale: expounding elemental wis net, William Ellery Leonard's poem '^ners rather than brought in as "Indian Summer," and a short''"^egral parts of the show)—do the story, "Desire." The latter, a' t<»tal no good. It takes the ter and an occasional recording; Format can't be called too original, but the Greys maintain a chatty, friendly atmosphere that will no doubt help soothe those who arose on the wrong side of the bed. On stanza caught last week, the duo augmented their okay warb- chiller, was not exactly the sort of thing to-induce sweet dreamsi but it was undeniably novel and grip- ping. (Occasionally Lazar brings listener a good part of the time orienUng himself to each item, as It comes up with the result that only a fraction of the listener's at- ized on eating establishment.s rang- ing from the Automat to Toots Shor's, Spot announcement for Cuticura Soaps and Ointments as doms, of charity and humbleness, in such a manner that it could be appreciated by a listener of .my faith. The enactment was adept in a guest for the short-story seg- i tention is directed to the actual en- well as a blurb for the Empire Gold i and the production as a whole re- Buying Sei'vice are long winded, idounded to the station's credit Gilb. i Doan. ment.) Stanza can be recommended as a mood sequence on a plane appeal- ing to the dialer who searches for something to go to bed on besides nitery banter and, swing music. JDoan, joyment of the whole .show, which in this instance is much less a quality effort than its collective parts should indicate, Nita Claire, who sings neatly, and the Scat Man, who has novelty (Continued on page 34)