The Washington times., 1928-11-14
DRAMAS Of ALL
TYPES FILL
THE AIR

Static noises here and there and
o bit of tllickening in the atmOs-
.phere that made programs difficult
10 dig out, impeded tuners last
evening. Then, too, there seemed
To he quite a bit of interference
among some of the new ALLEGATIONS
probably due to brOadcasters not
vet able to stabilize their transmit.
ters or the developments Of actual
interference where none had been
anticipated.
Drama filled the wave lengths last
night-reaI drama of human actuah-
ties as well as make believe designed
merely to entertain or enlighten
Dinner parties were awed and loud
speakers hushed during the early
evening hour as another o 5 from
somewhere at sea stirred imagina-
tior1s made sensitive by the tragedies
of the "a hours previous. But the
Jazz bands and orchestras We're
silent but a short time. Then came
iGovernor Alfred Smith and his zoe
per cent American plea for support
Of the Government a majority had
ordained at the polls a week ago
together with his definition of q
useful and constructive minority.
Two dramas of the make believe
totally different in character and
purpose-came from WMAL and
WRC as chief features of the broad
casts during the succeeding hours.
There can be no relation whatsoever
between the Romance Of the Night
and Joan of Arc"-yet each served
q rather definite entertainment pur-
pose. The first named came from
WMAL as a Columbia feature and
was as fine an example of radio pro-
duction as we've heard. The atmos-
phere of the crowded restaurant with
its jazz band and its two pairs of
human beings whose skeins of life
had become mixed, was most vividly
brought to listeners. The happy end
ing. brought about by modern melo-
dramatic trick, though easily fore
seen as the comedy progressed, was
nevertheless m ost satisfactorily
worked out.
JOAN OF ARC
CONVENTIONALLY PLAYED
The story of Joan OF Arc" came
during the Everyready hour in a
rather doIeful, tragic way that told
the story-or rather recalled the
story, of the patron saint of France
which everyone knows. Joan, a
young shepherd girl, and her par.
ents and sister, were made to talk
in highly cultivated Harvard accents
and those hushed, impending-do
tones that actors and actresses
seem to feel they must assume In
poetic tragedies. -
The fact that the heroine was a
simple country lass and her par
ents very ordinary and extremely
human people never seems to occur
to such players. Nor does the fact
Z that depicting the drama Of their
lives lies in emphasizing their
elemental humanity and contrasting
1t with the sublimity of the achiev-
! ment of the chief character Shaw
. and Mark Twain seem to be about
( the only people who have made
i Joan the really great figure she lie
serves to be. The Eveready people
gave an excellent performance. -
I however, even if along most conven-
. tional lines.
There was more or less of this
and that-elsewhere and otherwise
including rather in-and-out
. presentation of lie Cocq's La File
\ de Nine. Angot' by the United
Light opera Company from wMAL.
! The cast could sing fairly weIl-but
their dialogue was stilted and any
thing but the sprightIy text of the
opera. In the Thirty Minute Men,,
program which fWMAL also pre.
sented from the Columbia chain.
our old friends OF several years ago,
the Record Boys" made brief an.
pearances.