Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-16
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candidate for President two
years ago, probably guessed that he
hadn't changed much in his attitude
toward the micropohne in that time.
If so, you we're right. He hasn't.
On the occasion of a visit he made
to our studios to broadcast just before
the end of the campaign, studio execu-
have only small party with him, and
that a small studio would be more
suitable than a large one.
Acting on that tip, a small one was
assigned, but just before Smith arrived
word went out that he really would like
to have a few people in front of him.
Seventeen chairs were set up and
small group of staff members hastily
assembled to fill them.
Smith and his microphone faced
them, and from the old campaigner's
manner you might have thought those
IL people were a whole convention hall
full. Smith gestured at them, shook
his fist under their noses, eyed them
severely through his pince-nez, and COLI
fldentally let them in on the joke when
he poked fun at his opponents.
The former Governor wasn't disturbed
by the fact that there were only II
people in his visible audience; three or
four would have done just as well. But
he feels the microphone is a cold, me-
chanical thing. 1t gets between him and
the people he Is trying to reach when
he becomes too conscious of it. He is
extremely anxious to get real conviction
into his appeals to his radio audiences,
but apparently he isn't yet able to Wis
ualize them. Real people must be there
beyond his admonitory forefinger to
enable him to get steamed UP. When
he sees them looking up at him, he sees
not II, but a packed auditorium. And
he can forget that merciless micro
phone.
The brown derby still is in evidence
and he wears 1t at that cocky, fighting
angle. And he still looks as If he en-
joyed good argument as well as ever
+ X
COLLARS that shrink half size at
the laundry and collar buttons
that part In the middle under stress
have probably been responsible for as
much misery In this country as Jersey
trained mosquitoes. Personally, I'd
rather lose or break collar button
than find myself with nothing but tight
collars. If you lose the front button
you can always use the back one and
hitch the collar to the shirt with bit
or string or wire. Well, almost always
But a tight collar is different. III
they try to put them on. Perhaps not
audibly, but have a bunch the proper
words go through their minds.
Robert Stevens, second tenor of the
Cavaliers Quartet, was dressing for the
broadcast one Friday night at his hotel
and found he hadn't single unshrunk-
en- collar to his name. He'd tried them
all and was afraid he might have to
slit buttonhole-which always spoils
the set of a collar.
The words generally accepted as fit
ting the situation were coming readily
to his mind, he admitted the next day,
and he repeated them all TO himself
with some fervor. He lives so high up
in his hotel that you couldn't hear him
in the lobby, but all his neighborS were
getting the general idea.
There was a rustic at the door, one
of those where the hotel staff can rush
In bundles without disturbing the oc-
cupant of the ROOM
"a bell boy!" thought Stevens. MAY
be can send him out for some more
collars"
He went to the door. No one was in
sight-at Least no one in a bell boys
uniform Puzzled, he looked in the
service compartment of the door. A
solid, black book fell out. It was q
Bible, bearing the stamp of the Gideon
Society.
Just the feel of the book gave Ste
vens an odd sensation. 1t was almost
as If spoken rebuke had come out Of
nowhere. 1t made him feel rather
ridiculous over his display of temper,
but it set him somewhat at peace with
the world again. But he was even more
surprised when the collar buttoned
easily at his first attempt.
- +
CPEAKING of incentives to rectitude,
- the microphone provides them more
frequently than good many people sus-
pect, imagine. Take the crime-preven-
ton program, for example. Bill Shell
ley, who plays the detective, and Arthur
B. Reeve and FINS Farr, who write the
of letters from people telling about spe-
cif1c crimes or lesser misdeeds which
the program has prevented.
A mother who felt her STRIPPING son
had been getting in with bad compan-
ions and had been unable to keep him
at home nights wrote that after hear
ing one of the programs by accident
her son seemed thoughtful, and he's
avoiding his rowdy friends ever since.
An anonymous letter confessed that
the writer, a cashier in a restaurant,
regularly, but that after hearing q
couple of the programs he had told his
boss all about it, had paid back part of
the money and was arranging to pay
the rest.
A similar case came UP in connection
with surety company's program. The
morning following one OF these broad
casts a man appeared at the ofnceS OF
the surety company and placed IN their
hands several hundred dollars in cash.
He said it represented q loss for which
he had been responsible several years
before, a loss which the company's de-
tectives had been unable to trace TO
any particular culprit.
The man explained he was a regular
listener to the program and that while
he had been for several years behaving
himself in another position Of trust, he
was impressed with the ingenious ways
of tracking down criminals disclosed on
the air, and also bothered by his own
conscience. He had decided to make
restitution.
The man was allowed to go, but by
reference to its files the surety company
identified the case in question and even
the man who had left the money. BY
further inquiry it also learned the man
had told the truth when he said he was
going straight.
But this is only hint OF what some
of those letters contain. ! wish might
print them all.
X X
T SUPPOSE you know that Phil Cook
will try nearly anything on the air
except grand opera. He's actor, mu-
stefan, jokesmith, dialectician, singer
and author. Unlike Joe Cook, who
isn't q relative, he will initiate four
Hawaiians or any number Of anything
else.
Rllt Dale WinahrnW will try anything