The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1927-02-16
PICTURENAKIIVG
RADIO THRILL

uIlUlU IIlIJkL
Everything was hotsy-totsy--
jaIxe--tOp hOle--Or whatever form
one might care 10 use to describe
the superIatiVe i'm reception last
evening. Most OF the stations one
attempted to tune responded with
prOmptness and good volume and.
while occasionally one faded out
and, bit more frequently, there
would be q bang or crash or two
what did that matter when there
was 50 much entertainment to get
and It came so clearly?
1t may be that all the scenes Of
Knockout Reilly" tens of thous-
ands OF radio listeners heard being
made during the Eveready Hour
last night, win be remade before the
picture Is finished by the Paramount
Pictures Corporation-but those
listeners can be assured one thing:
The most thrilling Of radio pro-
grams that has been staged this sea.
SON was no fake-because the re-
hearsal OF such q mob Of people IN
such a performance would have been
absolutely impossible!
There has been nothing like this
novel method of bringing the mil
lions who listen into close touch
with the motion picture industry
through their radio sets and the
result Of 1t leaves q commentator
struggling to find some way to de-
scribe it. Description Is really i'm
possible. There was too much to
even attempt such a thing. And
the chances are that the people
responsible for it are just as much
at loss to account for its tremendous
success and the great impression 1t
made on listeners as are the sur.
prised and delighted listeners them
selves.
1t was one of those experiences
that probably will not be repeated.
It provided one of those thrills
that probably will never come
again.
MILLIONS LISTEN
AS PICTURE is MADE
What was done was simply to
take millions of people from living
rooms, scattered over the North
American continent, into motion
picture studio and have them listen
to the making OF three scenes of
motion picture ending in boxing
contest that seemed to sweep even
the participants in it off their feet.
Graham McNamee did one of the
best jobs Of his life in his descrip-
tons, even though he might have
had a manuscript for most of his
stuff. Director Malcolm Sainte
Claire, Richard Dix, Mary Brian
Eddie, the camera man; the as
sistant directors and carpenters and
electricians and the rest of them
couldn't possibly have had any
such aids for all they said and did.
Nor, as we have said, would it
have been humanity possible to re
hearse such a performance.
It was the real thing and the one
idea in the mind of everyone who
heard 1t today is to wait for the
picture. to come to the neighbor4
hood theater and see the rest Of it..
Knockout Reilly" was absolutely
ana Internationally a clean, com
plete knockout as a radio show
whatever It might be. as a motion
picture.
All Of which has left US little or
no space In which to tell about a
dozen or more things that crowd
into the memory Of the evening on
the various wave lengths. Carlos
Feretti, the Capitol Theater bari
tone, possibly made the next best Inn
preston Of the evening with his
singing OF sole Mic" during the
WMAL Movie Club. There isn't a
listener on the air who hasn't heard
Feretti sing with Roxy or Major
Rowes' gangs-and all were waiting
for him and anxious to applaud him
last night. He delivered exactly
what was expected Of him in ex-
actly the way it was expected.
NEW FEATURE
MADE A HIT
The new Busy Bee" feature that
started things going with the WRC
program gave the evening an ex-
cellent beginning and promise of
much to come in the future. The
Bee" is a subsidy like the Harvest.
ers, which flies about the world
and gathers raw materials for the
products Of the advertiser while the
orchestra plays or singers sing
music appropriate to the nation
from which the materials come. The
Star Radio Twins, the bakers quar-
tet and the bridge game were all
they are supposed to be.
From WIZ, Erva Giles was heard
during the opera concert hour.
Cesare Sodero produces for that sta
ton and Don Anaizo did a few of
his interesting musical things while
Malcolm LaPrade told exciting
stories about him. The Spring
field, Mass. Symphony Orchestra
played an excellent program from
WBZ and a novelty in the form of
a French horn quartet performed
at WGN. But
1t was Knockout Reilly that
made the big Inland set a new
standard for radio entertainment,
Three cheers for Mr.. Eveready and
his fertile mind!