The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1927-03-23
VIRGINIA JUDGE
IN new ROLE

Slightly better than average was
I0ud-speal1er reception last night,
although there was some noisy
static and much interference be-
tween stations to contend with.
Programs came in from most sec
fiOns of the country with q fair
degree Of volume and reasonably
clear. The Chicago stations were
not as prominent in the receivers
as usual for some peculiar at
mOspheric reason. and tuning
seemed q bit broader than Is
ordinarily found.
One of the surprising things that
happens every little while in the
development Of the most amazing
OF modern conveniences-the radio
receiving set-happened last night
when Walter c.. Kelly, who has
starred in vaudeville for the last
twenty-five years as the Virginia
judge. was about twice as amusing
as radio entertainer as he ever
was on the stage.
The reason is not difficult when
one analyses it. Kelly is what Is
known as a single" in vaudeville.
But dint OF great ability and superb
showmanship he has for years been
able to make his audiences imagine
him in number OF characters and
as number of people, although
they have before their eyes only
his solitary, smiling self. When he
appeared last evening as the chief
feature Of the Eveready Hour no
such strain was put on the magma
ton Of his auditors. They could
not see him, lonesome figure on
the stage striving to impersonate a
number of people. But they could
hear all those people In the loud
speaker and 1t was not difficult to
imagine all OF them there. The
effect was that the audience could
enjoy the Kelly witicisms much
more than ever.
Therefore Keuey's appearance
last night disclosed something
entirely new to US that is greatly
to the advantage Of radio and will
give new opportunities to many Of
our favorite monologuists. The
loud speaker will really increase
their effectiveness by just the num-
Der OF characters they assume-if
one may use so mathematical a
figure.
Kelly is q WOW on the stage, us
vaudevillians term it. And he was
a veritable riot in the loud speaker.
We can't have too much of this
sort OF thing in our living room
theater OF amusement and entertain.
ment-and again we have to thank
Mr.. Eveready for a new idea and a
most satisfying hour.
WENDELL HALL
IN A NEW ROLE
Another interesting feature of the
wave lengths last evening-which
becomes more and more interesting
each week. by the way-was the
stunt WEAF has recently developed
called the Radio Cavalcade," which
came in the closing hour OF the
WRC broadcast. A novelty was in
troduced last evening by having our
old friend, Wendell Hall, the red
haired music maker, lead the caval.
cade through its journey Of enter
tainment. Hall seems to be as good
a master OF ceremonies for this
sort Of thing as he is a single enter
tainer and his venture last evening
was one OF the most pleasing per-
formances he has given us.
With all due respect to the head
line feature acts from the Palace
Theater, which dotted the WMAL
Movie Club program last evening,
the most satisfying part Of the per.
formance to us, was that given by
Dorothy Sherman Pierson, who not
only has a fine soprano voice but
has a singing personality of unusual
charm--the kind Of voice we need
in radio entertainment more than
anything know The Dornberger
Orchestra, Miss Beach, the dancer,
who doubled as a fashion noter, and
Brown and Bailey all provided ex.
cellent entertainment during the
hour.
We've but a few lines to devote
to j. e. s. Kinsella, baritone, and
the remainder of the evening pro.
Crane, which was rather interest.
ing throughout-and all over the
continent. The Kinsella performance
in the first part of the WRC pro.
gram is exactly what we expect
from so finished an artist. Ma.
thilde Harding, WEAF pianiste.
gave an excellent account Of her
self during the Viking performance,
and Don Amaizo from WIZ was
more dramatic than usual.