Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-02
Famous Broadcaster Gets Big Stream
Of Letters and Gifts From Radio Fans

their patent remedies, good fellows
the address of their favorite boot
logger and amateur doctors forward
samples of goose grease and sulphur.
III Think Mr.. McNamee confessed
with a calculating smile, that some
day I'll just drop a hint on the air
that I need a limousine. a private
yacht. some liberty bonds and g. nice
long trip to Europe"
Grocery bills in the McNamee
household are, thanks to a troop of
admiring farmer fans. cut sharply in
two. During the Summer months
it is not at all uncommon for him TO
receive in one day two or three
crates of vegetables, just fresh from
Long Island and New Jersey truck
farms. In the harvest season the
larder is reinforced with barrels OF
apples from Northern New York,
sacks of potatoes from the Middle
west, crates of oranges from Florida
and bags OF pecans from Texas.
Housewives send in jams, 1ellies.
pickles.
Hardly a week passes that he does
not receive a cake, freshly baked and
iced. Boxes of homemade candy from
admiring fiappers are an everyday
occurrence, and the cookie jar Is sell
dom empty. Occasionally there Is
loaf OF fresh bread.
Dear Mr.. McNamee," reads the
note which accompanies the latter.
II was baking bread today and I took
it out of the oven just as you started
to come in over the wire, so thought
I'd send you a loaf, because it's real
good this time. l have the radio set
in the dining room right near the
kitchen door and I love to listen TO
you while / cook"
Here are just a few of the Christ
mas presents which he has received:
A gold key to the City OF Boston.
from the mayor; seven fruit cakes;
a meerschaum pipe from the radio
fans of Vineyard Haven, Mass; a
chusetts; three radio sets; q Persian
rug, a photograph record made of
his voice as Ii came over the radio
to Vermont fan. and seven shaving
mugs.
Most of Mr. McNamee's fan letters.
which pour in at the rate Of 5000
a month. are from women. They
write to him of everything, from the
shameful way in which their hus-
bands spill ashes on the new carpet.
or the impending arrival of a new
member of the family, to their opinion
of the respective merits OF Harry
Wills, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tun-
ney.
One Indiana miss confessed that
she liked him better than either of
her "bev friends" and inclesed a
sample of her new dress.
An old lady in Yonkers sends him
fresh flowers from her garden every
day during the blooming season.
A nurse in the South writes him
letters every week, pouring out tender
words OF devotion like a girl to her
sweetheart. Another spinster in the
Middle West also writes weekly let
tiers Of similar amorous tone.
A New England woman quite
frankly admits that when her family
troubles get so bad that she thinks
she must tell some one or so mad, she
sits down and writes page after page
to the familiar voice that she hears
each night over the radio. "And
somehow afterward I always feel bet
ter" she confesses.
But perhaps the best proof of the
MeNamee popularity Is an incident
which happened some months ago.
Those who have followed the history
of radio broadcasting closely will re-
call that Mr.. McNamee was the first
announcer to begin his program with
that phrase which Is now SO familiar
to millions: Good evening, ladies'
ana gentlemen or the radio audiences"
Many other announcers have. OF
course. adopted this phrase: but the
radio enthusiast will tell you that
when McNamee says 1t, 1t sounds
Just a little bit different. He gives a
distinctive infection that cannot be
This being the case, two men in
Boston made a bet. One contended
that the salutation would be immedi-
ately Identified with MeNamee by nine
people out OF ten. To settle the mat.
ter they wrote letter to McNamee
setting forth the terms of the bet and
sealed IL In an envelope. Across the
face OF the envelope they wrote
simply the address"
The letter was posted In Boston.
Two days later II was delivered to Nc
Nance IN New York City. The "ad-
dress" was simply the words. GOOD
evening, ladies and gentlemen of the
radio audience"