Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-25
"Graham

TINE announcement Of plans for
the second good diction" award
by the American Academy OF
Il Arts has stirred up quite a buzz
Of argument and shop talk
around the studios. It is surprising
what a lot of unexplored byways YOU
can open up when you begin to look
into this diction business. Frequently
the line between a slang phrase and a
respectable figure of speech is not
clearly drawn. Trying to speak ire
~proachably, n may talk like a Mice
Nellie" which is almost as Dad as SLOW
emily speech. Then there is that old
question of the difference between
print" language and talk language.
How can one get the finished and dec
orous effects of the former and keep
the easy and natural qualities of COLO
quail speech? Rules do not come easily.
Progress is made by trial and error.
Old timers in radio announclrg-and
that means veterans of seven or eight
years-remember the days when these
problems were much more troublesome
than they are now. At an off-shift
session at the studio the other night
some of these old G. A. r. men "ecailed
a speech conference in the early days.
One of our bosses, an executive of the
company. had been greatly disturbed
by the way some of the boys had been
DpOJLlR LHe OlCIOIdTy around. Al"
though We knew him as a free and easy
chap, given to unconventional speech.
he read us a formal and precise little
address, in which he condemned slang
as "a crutch upon which the Ill
equipped person is inclined to lean"
At this stage he was interrupted by
q semi-outsider, a technician who chal-
lenged something he had said. The
speaker was caught of the base He
foPOnf hic Snocch onH hanaNnA 1,inheoIf
for a moment.
Lay off, you big tramp" he said.
rather indignantly. "You haven't any
chips in this game. I'm talking to
these birds about how to deal the right
line of talk, and all you have 70 10 is
to rig up your gadgets so they'll carry
1t when we are ready to shoot"
The vulgar and indecorous laughter
which followed caused the speaker to
throw away his speech, descend from
the dias and face his audience bellig-
erently.
Listen" he said, IT came here to
give you bozos a big earful about how
to talk over the radio and I'm going to
don't want the folks to think they are
listening TO a lot of touts or ham-and-
egg prize fighters or retired yeggmen."
It was one of the most effective
speeches against loose speech habits I
have EVER heard. We understood n
needed. But it has remained in my
mind as an instance of how real emo
ton is apt to explode in unconventional
speech-and there, 1t seems to me, Is
the crux Of the radio diction problem.
Can it be colorful, emphatic, colloquial
ard natural and yet formal enough n
correct enough for fireside consumption?
It can, of course, but the finest details
of workmanship are involved In making
1t so.
There also was the tale of the fas-
tidious editor who substituted in a radio
speech the word "expectoration" where
there had been a reference to a sano
spit, But these tales 60 on endlessly.
we all concluded that radio speech Is
improving and that 1t will improve q
lot more. .
Radio has taken just about the high
est rampant of the last citadel Of artis-
tic aloofness with the c~apitulation OF
the Philadelphia Orchestra. Splen-
did organization has adopted an att
tude of watchful waiting so far as radio
is concerned. It's decision to broadcast
a series of concerts, starting October
6. under the direction OF Leopold Sto-
kowski, puts what probably is the most
exclusive and critical symphony In
America on record with full sanction OF
radio ~broadcasting as artisttcaLy SOUND:
This Is an answer to the diehArds, and
there are still many Of them extant,
who maintain that the radio is incapa-