Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-07
McNarnee
Speaking

chance for American composers to get
their serious works properly played, but
Rolfe's idea is first rate, and hope
something comes of 1t.
k%
THERE is one singer on the air who
has no further ambitions to do
his stuff on the stage. His name is
Leo O'Rourke, and he is first tenor of
the Cavaliers, one of the veteran male
quartets of broadcasting.
| Some months ago the Cavaliers did
short spell of vaudeville in q New
York theater. Part of the act was q
tramp skit, in which the four singers
stood with their heads through a cur
tain. On the front of the curtain q
typical tramp scene was painted It
had box car and the figures Of four
| hoboeS.
The quartet had started the second
song when O'Rourke, with a look of
anguish on his face, suddenly lurched
forward. The whole curtain shook and
beloved, and stage hands thought It
might come down. Several Of them
were all set to rush out and rescue
the singers from its folds If anything
| gave way.
The other men quit singing, and for
a moment Darrell woodward, the bass,
| tried to keep the show going by sing
| ing the melody. The audience thought
it was all part Of the act and applauded
| heartily.
From behind the scenes later came
the story. O'Rourke, with his head
| through the curtain, had been pro-
jecting rearward in most provocative
manner. A chorus girl with a pin
had been unable to resist the tempta-
ton.
For the rest of the booking O'Rourke
wore a protector made of some pin
resisting material, but all the time he
had his head through the curtain he
sang with a marked lack Of assurance.
Incidentally he is another Schu-
mann Heink protege. The woods really
are full Of them, for the grand old
lady has always gone out Of her way
to encourage deserving young singers.
The great diva heard him sing once
| at Glen Falls, N. Y, and urged him
to go on with his voice studies.
ORourke was born near Rutland,
VT. studied at the Cincinnati Conserva-
tory of Music and served year in the
Navy without ever seeing any water.
He is unmarried and likes golf.
X X
7 DON'T know why people must think
of anything quite so strenuous as
| foot ball during the hot weather. but
even during that particularly mean
| spell of weather we had few weeks
| ago letters began TO come In asking
me about the foot bail season.
There isn't much ] can say about 1t
| at present. except that I expect TO
| cover at least ter games between Oc-
tober IL and the first Of the wear.
Some of those tentatively ON the sched-
ule at present may be changed before
the first whistle of the season blows,
so I think 1t isn't wise to talk about
/ individual games yet You'll see 1t all
in YOUR newspapers later. anyway.
Bill Munday will be back on the job
again this year, and on Saturday after
Moons you will practically always find
us on the air with different games, OF
course, at the same time.
There are several games on the
| schedule for which the announcer
hasn't been picked. and several people
have hoped 1t might be possible to
have Phil Carlin do them. All OF us
would like to see Phil back before the
mike again, but since he has taken on
executive duties he has had very little
chance to announce anything that
didn't take place in the studio-and
very little Of that.
It was Carlin, incidentally, who dis
covered" Munday, so far as the net
works are concerned. That was at
New Haven two years ago, when Phil
had Munday go on the air between
the halves of the Yale-Georgia Tech
game. Bill did such a good job with
the summary that 1t wasn't long be-
fore he was called upon to do other
Jobs. Listeners, am sure, will be glad
to hear the Georgia Drawl." as he has
been nick-named. back on the air again
with his "crap-shoofin' formation"
All told, it looks like a pretty inter-
esting season. but we don't know much
about 1t until the teams get In some
good stiff Fall practice and q couple
Of games.