Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-29
"Graharn

set the New York studios agog and
| snatched one Of their colleagues out OF
Ia deep sleep. The Graf arrived the
morning after Memorial day, and the
men assigned to cover it, James WAL
lington of the New York studios and
| Herluf Provensen from Washington,
had Memorial day assignments long
way from the scene Of the projected
! broadcast.
Wellington announced President Hoo
| ver'S address, and Provensen was kept
busy in Washington. "Skeets" Miller,
In charge at Lakehurst, arranged for a
car to meet the two men in Philadel-
phia, where they were to arrive sepa-
| rately. They were expected to arrive
at Lakehurst little after midnight.
About IL O'Clock In the evening word
reached New York that a certain tele-
gram to ProvenSen had not reached
| him. The program executives on duty
| that night in New York, not realizing
that Miller had confirmed his arrange
ments by telephone, felt sure that Pro-
| venSen hadn't received his travel or
| ders, and when, nearly an hour later,
an engineer at Lakehurst informed the
New York control room that the an
nouncers hadn't arrived on the scene
from Philadelphia, orders went out to
rush another man by car from New
York to Lakehurst.
Ford Bond was selected, and q hur-
ried call dragged him out Of bed and
| to the studios. Just before he was to
| start, however, a message (Which no
one has since been able to trace came
through saying Provensen and Walling-
| ton had reached Lakehurst.
AS a matter Of fact, they hadn't, and
| at o'clock in the morning Miller and
some OF the engineers set out from the
n q Iii
hunt. An hour later they located the
two men sound asleep at the Lakewood
Country Club, where they had gone for
a short nap. Their awakening, I hear;
was unceremonious, but at that they
were the only members Of the crew who
got any sleep that night. Bond, of
course, got the really bad break-he
lost his sleep and he missed the inter-
esting assignment.
y: Il r
Rainy nights in New York are hard
I on the .theater crowds, who are trying
to get home, but they are sometimes
even harder on announcers. especially
when they are trying to get from one
job to another. Ford Bond had an es-
| pecially tough time Of 1t one wet night
not long ago. He had half an hour to
get from the studios to the New Yorker
Hotel, which Is about mile downtown
and half a mile across town. Not a
cab was in sight when Bond started
out and IN spite OF the rain he hurried
| over TO Sixth avenue, hoping for better
luck.
Even over there the cabs were pretty
scarce, since most of them were busy
with the theater crowds. Finally he
caught q rickety old rattle-trap and
they started merrily down the street
with Bond bouncing about on the back
/ seat.
The cab hadn't covered two blocks
before tire went very. very fat The
announcer paid the driver and hurried
of to find another cab. Time was get
! ting short and there was microphone
waiting for him at distance he could
not possibly cover on foot.
Bond tried hailing private cars but
it wasn't any go. He hadn't expected
he'd have any luck, but by this time
he was ready to try anything. And all
the time the rain was coming down in
q steady driZzle. Even his raincoat
didn't quite protect the stiff white COL
lar of his evening clothes.
Finally Bond spotted a small open
truck which was running slowly down
Sixth avenue. It didn't seem to be in
. hurry to get anywhere and he hailed
it. The truckman, it turned out, was
| on his way to Brooklyn and he had his
4
| with him.
In moment Bond explained the
| trouble he was in and the truckman
saw the point. He'd be glad to oblige,
but he hadn't any room. That made
no difference to Bond. He climbed to
the platform in the rear, gave the ad-
dress of the New Yorker and hung on
the stakes for dear life as he was driven
through the streets, more or less like a
pig to market.
He reached the New Yorker more
than a minute ahead of time, but
spectators must have wondered why he
held one hand to his neck while he
made his announcements. 1t was be-
cause he hadn't time to change the
rain-soaked collar.
"'Every time I get near that darned
thing I want to go out and buy .
doc" Rockwell the other night while
he was waiting to go on the air. Rock
well. as theatergoers know, has no
trouble with his comedy while he is on
the stage, but it worries him when he
has to take it before a microphone.
Two years or more ago he made one
| broadcast. and he hasn't been at all
anxious to do any more of 1t. The
story goes that before he would sign
his present contract three men had to
drive him into a corner and pretty
nearly overpower him.
Rockwell, for the benefit of those who
haven't seen him. is slightly below
medium height. and is rather slight of
build. He's an active sort of person
and when he does get before the micro
phone to be master Of ceremonies he
wriggles his shoulders, gesticulates
broadly. and dances little in his eX-
citement.
He processes to be utterly without
nerves. but sometimes he mops his fore
head hastily at the end of his lines
At present he is spending most Of his
time getting his hotel at Booth Bay
Harbor, Me. ready for the Summer
season. He SPENDS only the day OF the
broadcast in New York, and on the
way down on the train he makes volu-
minous notes on the Jokes he is going to
use In the program. When he gets on
the air he forgets he has them-or is
too nervous to read then-and clowns
his way through the whole hour ex-
temporaneouSly. A moment before he
is scheduled to speak he can usually
be found hiding behind Reinald Wer-
renrath. as If he thought the announcer
would let him of If ne couldn't find
him.
In the dress rehearsal for his first
program Rockwell caught the mike
with both hands. When a cautious
engineer, fearing damage, drew him
away, Rockwell admitted he was trying
to choke the darned thing for being SO
hard to please.
| y X X
Another man who confeSSes 10 q
| hatred Of the microphone in his early
| broadcaStS Is Charles Warburton, the
English actor who plays in Mystery
| House." EAST of Cairo" "Neapolitan
Nights" and two or three other pro-
grams At the end of his first broad
cast, four or FIVE years ago-in which,
by the way, he did a first-rate job, he
gave the mike one of the prettiest
L