Variety (December 1954)

88 RADIO REVIEWS Wednesday, December 15, 1954 AL COLLINS SHOW 1954 CHRISTMAS CAVALCADE I THY KINGDOM COME 55 Mins.; Mon. thru Frl., 12:05 p.m. With Howard Reif. Gene Hamil-1 With Ray Middleton, Participating ton. Bill Hanrahan, Arthur Gray, WRCA N Y. Phil Alampi, Sydney Smith Al Collins, the hip jock with the Producer: Steve White hot rod who has come to the NBC Director-Writer; Draper Lewis flagship station after a long roost 2 Hours, 55 Mina., Sat. (II), at WNEW, is set for a lot of work 2:05*p.m. in his new spot. In addition to an oustainiiy: hour cross-the-board noontime slot, WRCA, N. Y. Collins will also pilot a three-hour swing on the kilocycles, WRCA came up with a full-course serving of Yuletide music and stories on a three-hour disk show Saturday afternoon (11). Divided into half- Collins pushes a product, he never h 0Ur segments, each stanza was indulges in rlifiaaina has the keyed to a different theme and lung power had a surface brilliance the co . ntr ^y. his plugging has the mood ranging from pops to hymns about it, but somehow Hubble same fresh *J l P ^Mjner that makes and appealing, at one point or an- occasionally got so wrapped up in his general gab distinct . other, to all age brackets. cleffing exercises that he ignored Collins’ middle name is Jazzbo, The s h 0w wa s handled by var- observing that Salvation Army but WRCA is aPP^tly keeping ious sUff announcers and disk like brass can often sound corny that facet under wraps on this . . ., . . . when combined with hushed voices, daily hour show. The selections jockeys who. for this special get- Q r0U p d j d religioso themes, segue- on the preem stanza (13) were up, subordinated their chatter j n g from some more famous pieces strictly for squares with lush in- completely to the platters. Bill like “Holy, Holy” into less w.k strumentals predominating. 7 he Hanrahan teed off the Xmas caval- but more spirited themes, regular Jazzbo Jans * cade with a rundown of the pop Between musical numbers, Ray numbeMike ***♦-«’ ” ho , lid ay hits over the past decade. Middleton, sounding like a spiritual m — Saturday morning show and an- other cross-the-board segment in the evening starting early next year. Collins can do it. He works easily and wears well. Even when Harriss Hubble Brass and Voice Choir Director: John Dunn 30 Mins., Sat., 6:30 p.m. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES NBC, from N. Y. “Thy Kingdom Come” was pleas- ant and showmanly on NBC Satur- With the holiday season in full | ^Vhurehes. ‘ WhXHhe^iSw desired it or not, however, religion took a back seat to entertainment. The Harriss Hubble Brass and Voice choir skimmed through always intricate, often pleasing, religioso musical themes. The con- stant interplay of instrument and spinning such sides as Jimmy Gregory Peck, rendered selections but he did and not in a cool v r- Boyd’s “I Saw Mommy Kissing from the Scriptures. Singer (but sion either. But Collins carried it Santa Claus” and the alltime fave, no t for this one) and thesp Middle- off niftily and his repertory was Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.” ton read clearly if a shade too tastefully planned within tne The secpnd slot> Posted by How- grandiloquently. Producers didn’t mood music genre. ard B eig, presented “Peter And bother injecting any announce- Locale for the show is a mythi- The Wolf,” “The Juggler of Our ments during body of the 30-min- cal penthouse atop of the RCA Lady,” narrated by Sydney Smith, uter what with the segued tunalog Building from which Collins can and other familiar stories with mu- and the unintroduced change-of- pick up the city’s sights and sounds s [ c pieces. Gene Hamilton followed pace to the Scriptures via a “musical telescope.” This is up a session of traditional songs Choir was sharp, with solo voices okay for an occasional song intro, delivered by the Robert Shaw of highly professional calibre. In- but Collins tended fo overwork chorale. Phil Alampi. the station’s cidentally, the show, though spon- this angle on his kickoff show and f arm and garden editor, offered sored by the National Council of almost became cute at times. That tips on Christmas trees. Churches as a whole, receives its may have been opening day jitters Another segment was devoted to coin from the Presbyterian Church selections from legit and film pro , , ductions having holiday .settings Variety of plugs on the show yv h i 1 e Fleetwood presented a were handled by Collins himself “p 0ps ’' concert featuring the Leroy Anderson orch, the Trapp Family Choir and Arthur Fiedler conduct- ing the Boston Pops. Bing Crosby closed the show with a narration of a religious story. Herrn. Art. From the Production Centres and transcribed jingle inserts. Herm. FOR THE LADIES With Konnie G. Worth 30 Min.; Mon.-thru-Fri., 1130 a.m Participating KGW, Portland, Ore. IN NEW YORK CITY ... Eugene Burr, a Goodson-Todman exitee, to take over as radio-tv supervisor of Dancer-Fltxgerald-Sample agency . . . Producer Jerry Franken (Lester Lewis office) due back In harness about Jan. 1 after recent surgery . .. Shirley Downs, teenage holder of WRCA’s “Favorite Farmer’s Daughter crown, made whirlwind personal appearance and press rounds last week, also distributing baskets of vegetables to editors . . . WCBSinger Bob Haymes accepted as member of Explorers Club, coincident with okay on his pilot’s license . . . Ole Morby named mgr. of station relations of CBS . . . WCBS program chief Sam Slate in Athen, Ga., as rep of Radio-TV Executives Society, while sales boss Henry Untermeyer is back at his desk after a Palm Beach vacation . . . Ham Shea, newly named v.p. of NBC, who’s general manager of web’s N.Y. stations, saw his promotion publicly recognized last week when a workman on the huge Xmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza held aloft a sign reading, “Everything okay, Ham?” Mildred Dunnock doing guest stint on WMCA stanza, “Young Book Reviewers,” Sat. (18) when film “Hansel and Gretel” will get o.o. . . . St. Patrick’s Bishop Joseph F. Flannelly to conduct Midnight Mass on Xmas Eve, with Charles Courbin at organ and Mons. Edwin B. Broderick preaching sermon via WMGM . . . Also in Xmas vein, WHLI’s (Hempstead) 21 special Yule stanzas, starting Sunday (19) . . . WMCA’s “New World A’Coming” dramatic skein returned for 11th year last night (Tues.) . . . Large batch of local and out-of-town deejays on hand last week in N.Y. hotel room taking turns taping interviews with London Record's David Whitfield. James McMenemy, ex-director and producer of the Bobby Benson stanzas, to tv staff of SSC&B . . . Art Henley’s CBS “Make Up Your Mind” pulling Xmas festival all next week covering “the psychology of Christmas giving-and-getting.” with guests including Eartha Kitt, Vincent Price, Journal-American’s Jack O’Brian, Gov. Robert B. Meyner of N.J. and Elsa Maxwell . . . Oscar Brand, director of folk music of N.Y. City (WNYC), establishing a free Americana information service for anyone in search* of folk tunes and all problems relating to the same. Brand airs “Folksong Festival” Sundays at 6 p.m. ... As of Jan. 3, WHOM is gonna expand its Latino programming (sixth time in 15 months) to 10 hours a day and for first time offer a “wake-up” Spanish stanza (six to eight ayem) with Mario DeLara emceeing . . . Mutual organist-vocalist Harvey Harding opened at Hotel Berkshire’s Barbary Room . . . Bob Sullivan, WOR and WOR-TV ad-promotion exec, engaged to Mary Jane McDougall, press editor for same outlets . WLIB’ll hold fifth annual Harlem Xmas fest Sat. (18) at the Savoy Ballroom, with Jackie Robinson hosting Jack Gregson has been on the air for ABC radio since last May, first in a five-a-weeker, then in a IJV CHICAGO four-a-weeker. and now, indirectly through the offices of General Mot- With Coca-Cola, General Finance and Sinclair Oil aboard as bank- ors which ankled the Henry J. Tay- rollers for the 1955 season, Bert Wilson kicks off his 15th year as , "show designed to ^entertain and 15 Mins. Mon.-thru-Fri.. 5:45 p.m. lor # Ito 8:15 p.m. Monday news- WIND’S play caller of the Chi Cubs baseball games on the curtain inform the lady of the house. Soft. ParPcipating J" 1 ' i Ve j!H S a . g / m T™* ralSer April 12 ’ ’ ’ ABC “ mm entator Paul Harvey next month starts clear-voiced Konnie Worth- has WEEI. Boston throueh-Fri with a Monday 8-to- easily become a top drawer, per- A newcomer to WEEI’s live pro- 8:25 se8men j bei the lat J addi . A DATE WITH ST. CLAIRE., KGW - hit the airwaves here with I With Bill St. Claire sonaiity. She has had plenty of gramming, this cross-the-board 15- t -“ n ^ ith all th °L the Gregson ^ iw tiw, *ivoo*nr ie I minute sesh features the vocalizing shatter show hasn’t changed much of Bill St. Claire, a local baritone Onl v ^ w“h_a Pleaslng_set t of_pipe s ._He ofaguest on™he prevail background in the theater which is used to the hilt in making this 30 minutes a “must.” In addition to giving a variety of recipes and household hints to her listening audience, she interviews people of interest other than celebrity cal- ibre.. Between times are used for playing disks that appeal to the ladies. She spins about three plat- ters daily using femme approach to selection of disks. “Miss KGW” also works hard and gives her sponsors ample coverage. Each afternoon, she appears at a different sponsor store for two hours with a couple of real door busting specials during her visit. Miss Worth’s personality, know- how of show biz, and “makes ya wanna listen" style combine to make this one of the best programs of its type in this sector. Fe re. penning a thrice-weekly column syndicated by General Features . . . Vocalist Cela Roter and Jimmy Lee awarded 13-week staff pacts at WBBM as winners of the CBS station’s talent hunt . . . Mutual sales veepee Ade Hult in for Chi conferences last, week . . . Eileen Mack, ailing herself in Passavant Hospital, is masterminding a Xmas show for the Veterans Research Hospital here Friday (17) which will be has an easy approach to his songs X f Yh \fn ndVv k non fern p*n t" c tI taped for distribution along the VA Hospital network . . . Gettelman tying in the introing of his forth- Eric W ilde whose 88 rendition of Brewing bought “I Was a Communist for FBI” for WGN airing starting coming number via casual gab with Ghopin’s “Waltz in E Minor” was J an * 7 . . . Jean Morehead new member of the Chi ABC publicity- announcer. Using "We in contras t to the pop melodies by promotion staff . . .Richard Thorne has written and directed a 26-week Could Make Such Beautiful Music talented vocalist Peggy Anne Ellis dramatized health show being distributed as a public service by the together ior a tneme, a typical and clever batoner Bobby Hackett American Osteopathic Assn. . . . Metropolitan Life has renewed its FaU in C Lov!” and “Z?ng Went the and crew ’ longstanding identity on Norm Barry’s 8:45 WMAQ morning newscast Strings of My Heart,” plus a pop Emcee Gregson intoned his for another year. ballad, each handled with taste and Pointless, time consuming stories pn iwnor/i authority. In addition, the guy. a " d was once again pleasant uut f J\ SAIS FRANCISCO . . . does a fairly competent job of ac- r g a u y S p ha £ge n U p nighttinfe^efwork Weldon Kees, former film critic of Time, conducting a series, “Behind radio. the Movie Camera” on KPFA, Berkeley non-commercial FM station . , , The Gregson Mondaycast is part Salzburg Marionettes debut Wednesday (15) on KQED, Bay Area edu- of the net’s forthcoming “Music cational tv station . . . Del Courtney pitching for blood donations for Monday,” with other shows to be the Northern California chapter of the Hemophilia Foundation on his added around “Voice of Firestone.” KPIX show ... A mammoth “Toys for Tots” show featuring almost companying himself on the 88. A staff announcer handles the plugs in standard fashion. Elie. BREAKFAST WITH THE VALEN- TINES With Dan and Elaine Valentine 120 Mins.; Mon.-thru-Fri., 7 a.m. Participating KDYL, Salt Lake City This two-hour cross the board session is proof that non-profes sionals can whip together an en- tertaining program and hold their own with pros. Don Valentine, col- umnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, has been on the air from time to time. His wife, Elaine, hit tills show cold. You’d never know it from the results. Mixing an assortment of disks, gags, comments and com mercials, they keep things running smoothly and briskly for a pleas- ant eye opener. Valentine’s forte in his column is humor, with occasional good natured cracks at one thing or an- other. He hangs on to this style on the air and Elaine lends a Cheer- ful air to the proceedings without falling into the trap of being one of those “gee it’s great to be alive’ optimists. Music is pretty much on the straight commercial side without any particular attempt to grab af- ficianados of one school. All in all a lively session, with everyone get- ting a good shake out of the time spent. Bert WINS UPS TWO WINS. N. Y. radio indie belong ing to the Elroy McCaw-led Goth am Broadcasting, has upped two of its execs. Robert Smith becomes adminis trative assistant to general man ager Robert Leder and Jacques Biraben assumes the directorship of sales. Network Radio Art, all the talent in the Bay Area last weekend, was produced on KPIX Saturday (11) to gather Christmas toys for underprivileged children Tidewater Associated Oil Co. has bought 28 basketball games on FiinVilflmA J* mu I blAUI 011111 VI LUC 1/CV1Q1 OllV&l I KR0W. Buchanan & Co. is the agency . . . Metropolitan Life has , r ?« ^ „™ e „ y „ a f ™ I Of Human Rights last Sunday (12) | renewed Clarence Leisure's 7:15 s.tn. newscast on KNBC lor a year. Continued from pas* 33 Boston Symphony Orch saluted I the sixth anni of the Declaration on 4 l _ toe moo uuuuoj \ a / i cucwcu uii9ui c s i.id a.m* iiuwaiddi vii j fir h nr fi 2 RW°TSfitaiMnrS with a melodic and relaxing 90- The company has sponsored the program singe 1946. the air, or 68.3% of the total. More minute concert. Program, aired important, they account to- 0V cr the NBC net and broadcast niTTIJ/lfT gether for 895, or 40.9%, of the from the General Assembly Hall of 111 171,111,7,1 • • • _ Assembly total of 2,185 commercial night- the United Nations in New York, time minutes. Figure assumes im- was directed by orch’s conductor, portance when viewed in light of Charles Munch, and spotlighted the fact that there are only 35 com- Viennese soprano Irmgard Seefried mercial half-hour programs on the a $ soloist. air out of a four-network total of Occasion was marked by a brief Ross Mulholland, WWJ disk jockey broadcasting from the Ford Ro- tunda during Christmas season, has~devised a way to eavesdrop on conversations between Santa and kids and listeners are avalanching him with letters of praise for the “cute” chitchat . . . Lyn Osborn, of “Space Patrol,” spent two days last week with his family in sub- urban Lincoln Park . . . WJR gets greenlight from FCC to build tv , j 1 • , , _ ~ ma muii uiiivvu a a win • • • »» wi* 51 vvuugin iiv/m 1 vv/ 11/ muiiu v w 216 half-hour units available dur- speech delivered by U.N. Secre- station in Flint when petitions for reconsideration filed by Trebit Corp. ing those nighttime hours. tar;r'u n j‘ ra - . Hamma r s kJ° ld » and W. S. Butterfield Theatres, Inc., were turned down . . . WXYZ-TV ABC is leading the five-minute „ r h ° id Jnf Gpnprfli n A«PmKlv installin 8 new color transmitter, requiring diminishing studio space thcTair'during'the 1 hourf amounted ^ical portion of the broadcast ini the air during the hours accounted cludpd the -water Music Suite” by for (webs saturation news plans Ha ndel as arranged by Sir Ham- mclude daytime too). CBS is well iiton Harty, several vocal rendi- represented with 10, Mutual with tions of Richartj Strauss works by five. And though NBC hasn’t sold Miss Seefried and movements from any yet, the five-minute idea has Hector Berlioz’s “Fantastic Sym- been the subject of an advertising phony. campaign by the network to back up its strong pitch. NBC is strong est in quarter-hours with 11 com- mercial and 10 participating (and well sold at the moment). Mutual has 11 commercial, ABC 10 (in- cludiqg the AFL business which moves over soon) and CBS is last with four. In half-hours and hours. ABC and Mutual are weak- est, the former having only four half-hours (one of them a simul- cast and three religiosos) and Mutual only one commercial and six participating. Neither have any hour shows, but it’s worth- while pointing out that CBS’ two hour shows are Edgar Bergen’s deejay stint for Kraft and the “Stop the Music” segment, while NBC’s are “Lux Video Theatre" and the Gillette fights. Three out of these four are represented on tv. Concert had to be cut short as it was running into overtime. Jess. 316 kilowatts . . . “Traffic Court,” WWJ-TV’s award-winning program which emphasizes traffic safety by reenacting actual Detroit Traffic Court cases before Judge John D. Watts, returned to the air Tuesday (14) and with a sponsor for the first time—Chevrolet • Dealers of De- troit . . . Milky, the magic clown, will celebrate the beginning of his fifth y«ar on WJBK-TV with a three hour show Sunday (18) . . . Marv Welch, the Wixie of WXYZ-TV’s “Wixie Wonderland,” and crew, will fly to the Oscoda Air Force Base in upper Michigan Dec. 18 to do a show for base personnel as guests of the Air Force. IN PHILADELPHIA . . . Council of Reform Synagogues of Greater Philadelphia presented citation to Roger W. Clipp, general manager of WFIL stations in con- junction with 20th anni of “Message of Israel” on WFIL and ABC net . . . The Philadelphia Kellys—Mr. and Mrs. John B., Mr. and Mrs. Jack, Jr., and Grace Kelly, will guest on Steve Allen’s “Tonight,” Dec. 15 . . . Bill Banks, president of WHAT, is back on the job after 10 days illness . . . WPTZ’s “How’s Your Social IQ?” off the air due to the illness of program conductor, Gertrude Novokovsky, is skedded to resume after holidays . . . Kenneth Mayer, former Boston newscaster. According to Harold Essex, ex-1 has taken over three morning news programs at WCAU . . . Joseph T. Connolly, v.p. in charge of radio at WCAU, off on a three-day Navy cruise out of Pensacola, Fla. . . . Mike Ellis, WPTZ commentator, is preparing an offbeat tv dramatic treatment of the Salem (Mass.) witch hunt . . . Growing problem of juvenile delinquency will be discussed in a three-times-weekly forum on Creighton Stewart’s “For Women achieved, will enable” WSJS-Tele- Only,” on WCAU radio. Stewart’s program represents first continuous vision to serve an area equaling in radio study of problem. size that covered by any station Mrs. Zara Bishop, of WCAU, has been named chairman of program now operating in the southeast (Continued on page 42) Essex Big Stick Bid Winston-Salem, Dec. 14. Tn an application filed with the FCC, WSJS-Television proposes maximum power of 316,000 watts from a mountain-top antenna, 2,000 feet above average terrain, 3,071 feet above sea level. ecutive v.p. and general manager of the station, permission to move the transmitter site to Sauratown mountain, where maximum allow- able antenna height can be