Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-28

4 @
Il dramas about as long as any
body elSe-reu1ember the Bible
dramas and Great Moments in History
lis impressing that fact on all his
actors.
Several weeks ago Stopp hired for
| one of his shows an actor who had had
great deal OF experience on the air,
but who had been away for several
| months. In the meantime the new type
OF microphone, which hears things from
| afar, had come into use.
In the cast Of the same show was
another actor whom the first man
| heartily disliked Stopp knew of the
enmity, but he also knew that each
would try to Guido the other. and the
script didn't give them much chance
| to ruin each others performances.
The rehearsal went off nicely. and
when the show went on the air, Stopp,
| sitting in the control booth, wasn't look
! ing for any trouble. But along came a
| place in the script where the first actor
was requested by, one of the characters
to call the second, playing the part of,
let US say, Joe" The first actor was
to fade out as II he were walking away.
Taking his cue, he answered, Yes,
| certainly, Mabel (and what I'll call him
will be hobody's business) oh. Joe, come
herei (come here you low down so-and-
| so and this-and- that. oh, Joel
And what he did call him really was
| nobody'S business With the micro
phones of two years ago not word of
the interpretations would have registered,
| but the new microphone picked them
up and hurled them through the loud
speaker with such volume that Stopp,
| powerlesS to do thing about 1t, was
sure every listener must have heard the
profanity.
While he expected to receive bushels
of letters of complaint, the only one,
| curiously enough, came from a radio
| engineer who realized exactly what had
| taken place. But the actor had i'm
| pressed upon him one of the Strictest
rules of the studios: When you are near
mike, whether 1t be open or closed
never utter a word you wouldn't like
the whole world to hear.
y 4 **
r CAN'T vouch for the truth Of this
story but a certain radio humorist's
| friends are telling it around town with
! straight faces. 1t seems that manu-
| facturer was negotiating with him for
| his services as permanent master of
ceremonies on program which was
| shortly to go on the air.
About that time the Socialists handed
him political nomination and a few
days later-and nobody .pretends to
know whether the nomination had
anything to do with 1.-THE negotia-
lions were stopped. The manufac-
turer had changed his mind.
The humorist didn't particularly
care, and, in fact, he had almost for
gotten about 1t, when Alexander Wooll-
colt, the dramatic critic, called up to
ask him to be guest speaker on a
broadcast program he was to tnaugu-
rate
The humorist told the critic he'd be
| glad to oblige II he could, and that
he'd let him know later. just before
ringing OF, he inquired the name Of
| the program. It was the one for which
he had been turned down.
Woolleott did some first rate work
| on the air last year and all listeners
who are interested in smart goings-on
| around New York will be glad to well
come him back to the air. He has
pretty thoroughly conquered the slight
nervousness which marked his early
trips to the mike and this year he
ought to rank among the most finished
performers.
The experience Of the humorist re-
minds me Of one that befell an actress
not long ago. While she was on her
way TO the studios to try out for a job
reading talk for women on q morn
ing program, she met friend on the
street. The second actress had never
seen the inside of q broadcasting
studio and she was invited to come
along and have a look.
At least fifteen women were there
when the addition was called and each
in turn faced the mike and read a
script. None of them was satisfactory
and the casting director was becoming
innuatient
"Herel You try it; and put some
life into It'll" he snapped at the visitor.
But" she began.
That's as far as she got The direc-
tor made her read the script. And
she got the job. They say the two
aren't speaking now.
~
NORMAN SwEETsER has been
admitting for months that he is
q bum guesser. 1t happened when he
was a production man and Rudy Vallee
was just getting toe-hold on the net
works.
Rudy had made something of a repu-
tation on local stations and he had
asked to be considered for network
jobs. If any came along requiring a
small dance orchestra and a leader
who could sing and announce his own
programs. Ben Bernie and Vincent
Lopez had already created vogue for
conversational conductors and Rudy
was ready to prove he could do that,
and sing. too.
just at that moment along came q
manufacturer who wanted that sort of
thing, and Rudy got the job. However
his name was not announced on the
program. But that did not stop lis
tenors who we're familiar with his
work. Dozens of them called up the
studios and said they had spotted him
by his peculiar style of announcing.
But to get back to Sweetser. Norm
was assigned as production man for
the program. and 1t was his duty to
see that the orchestra was properly
balanced before the microphone, that
the numbers were properly timed, and,
sNZNzl1.1us- .r.u.s.uuuuu.uuu.--