The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1926-12-31

IL one were asked the most ols'
tinctive feature Of the radio year
on this. the eve Of the new twelve
month. one would be tempted to
say it was what might be called the
headlining of amusement. empha-
sized in last nights program by
the snappy l5-minute motion picture
summary Of Davis and LaPrade
from WIZ. which they called '"The
To-Be-Weds."
There was nothing very remark
able about the feature in itself
other than the shortness and direct
ness of it in its general character
and the subtle indirectness Of it as
an advertising feature-an Indirect
ness that made it possibly the best
advertisement for the motion pic
ture play it advertised of any of
the longer and more elaborate at
tempts to give direct outlines of
the picture story.
GROWING AMUSEMENT
HEADLINE CHARACTER
For some months past the convic-
ton has been growing that such sta
lions as WGN in Chicago and, in a
measure, WRNY in New York, to
cite conspicuous examples, were pro-
viding the finest Of daily entertain
nlent for loud speaker addicts not
only In the average quality Of the
performance, but in the shortness of
each feature. What other stations
labor with for an hour these two
stations present in 10 and Is minutes
Of snappy, direct entertainment.
Thus 1t is entirely possible that
the radio program of the future viii
b like the good newspaper Of the
future--a collection Of short, VIVID.
features reduced to almost headline
brevity and presented rapidly in
regular classified eorm at certain
regular hours of the day and night.
That is what WGN has been doing
FOR the past year, and the expert
ment seems to have been a distinct
success.
ROMANCES NOW
IN BOOK FORM
last nights program was the return
Of Old Man Donaldson to the micro
phone at WIZ with one of the best
OF all his romances-and with the
announcement that the ones that
have gone before have been incor-
pOrated in a book that is shortly to
be published. Last nights affair
was Scottish romance and a New
Year story that had action in every
sertence-which is one OF the dis
tinguishing features of the Davis
LaPrade output. The Kilt hour
was unfortunate enough to miss,
but the Carlton Hotel Orchestra that
followed it I didn't miss and thor
oughly enjoyed-as I'm convinced
many others did. These hotel Or
chestras, as we've remarked before,
are getting better and better.
The bridge game of last evening
reminds us that next week there
win be. a change Of time for the
presentation Of this feature. 1t will
come at 10 o'clock Tuesday evening
as a part of q network broadcast
from WEAF and the discussion OF
the hands following the play will
frequently be by Messrs. Work and
Whitehead themselves at the micro
phone. The last concert Of the
Royal Hour to come to WRC had
no particular distinction to 1t mu-
sically but was doubtless listened
to with attention because it was
the last OF this feature WRC will
probably hear.
On the outer wave lengths the
Goodrich zippers on the WEAF net
work gave an excellent account of
themselves and the 10th United
States Field Artillery studio pro-
gram, somewhere in North Carolina
made itself quite a factor during
the evening the announcements being
so interfered with that l couldn't
straighten out the call letters
Louisville, from WHAS, was heard
from r-afhar diotirnAlr, ter