The Washington times., 1927-04-02

BYfAHS kkAAMliAt on tue wave
lengths last night. The boys we're
put through but light practice
early in the evening but toward
the later hours they lin1bered up
and sent few major league
crashes and bangs and r0ars
through loud speaker. Their
work 1t fading' was In n1idseasOn
form. Broadcast programs pitched
their offerings louder and with
speed as the evening wore on
but the ssuggers were right on
them with vim. and vigOr and few
came through.
Praise be to radio, once more!
Reaching way deep into oblivion
it exhumed from the metropolitan
district where they've been so long,
good old Louis Mann and Clara
Lippman-beloved entertainers of
three generations of theater goers--
and put them before some Of their
old friends last night when WEAF
sent its tabloid version of THAT
French Lady, along the wave
lengths last evening. These two
faVorites of the stage have been
playing about the big cities all the
time-but they have not gotten out
into the country, among the folks
whose memory of them goes back
to 1.-THE Telephone Girl and the
other musical comedy things they
used to do SO well.
So, entirely aside from the Incl
dent that their made.to.orCer com
edy was good entertainment for the
dinner hour. the fact that they did
it and that tens Of thousands were
hearing Mann's inimitable German
dialect and Lippman's French ac-
cent for the first time in years
brought a flood of theatrical renni-
niscence with the desert. that gave
the young folks about the table a
new light on the way father and
mother amused themselves in the
old days. III bet some dusty old
musical comedy scores came out of
the living room closet after dinner
In many homes and were given ex-
ercise on the piano for the first
time since the Boer war!
Whatever might be the fate OF
THAT French Woman" as theatre
cal attraction--it made good, whole
some radio entertainment in its
tabloid form and all the old boys
and girls who had their youth re-
stored last night hope the Mann
family makes fortune from il!
ERVA GILES
STARS AGAIN
Last night was welcome home
occasion in other ways. too, be-
cause with the new Philco feature
which WIZ inaugurated with con-
siderable vim and variety. the Tilt.
ing soprano vote of Erva Giles was
given wave length exercise of con-
siderable length for the first time
In several months.
Miss Giles has been heard at
most irregular intervals since she
retired as heroine of the royal
exercises and her audiences have
missed her. Possessed of a voice
that has the nearest thing TO
radio technique of any soprano we
know. she does things in the mic
rophone that give a very definite
idea of just what eoloratura ex-
ercises are and how they can be
perfectly accomplished in radio.
The Philco hour endeavored TO
provide the utmost variety in en-
tertainment-ranging from the most
carefully executed arias of Miss
Giles to low comedy. of the black
face type. AS variety show 1t
was a distinct success-and per-
haps 1t would be greater success
as radio entertainment il there was
a mite less variety to 1t. The
department store school OF pro-
grams doesn't seem to click with
radiotics. who really like to deal
with speciality shops where things
of certain classes are dealt in
exclusively and one il not over
whelmed with a general display.
OBOEIST MAKES
WAVE LENGTH HIT
The Calvert hour from WRC
provided listeners with opportunity
to hear the oboe and English horn
played in the most expert way
these two instruments have been
heard in many weeks. Emil Spit
ger, the soloist Of the Breeskin
unit Fred Stark directs during this
weekly concert. is wizard with
the double reed instruments and
his demonstrations last evening
were real exhibitions of the highest
type of skill. We'd have liked
the ODO0 DIT DSIJeF, from q
musical sense, IL 1t had been just
a mite further. away from the mic
rophone.
The entire Calvert program was
well done with one or two excep-
tions and these exceptions were
made so through the smallness OF
the orchestra rather than the in
tent and skill of the players, one
or two of the numbers being of
such a character that more In.
struments were needed to sustain
the tones and give Just the proper
interpretation to the composers
thoughts.
Most of the outside programs
were shot to pieces with the static
bombardment that began vigorous
ly in the early evening and be-
came heavier as the night wore on.