Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-06
McNan1ee
Speaking

OAlBC1S1 dI1u UCSO way 10 yet IL Is
for the persons in front Of the mike to
be natural. This improvement in micro
phones in the last two years has prac-
tically driven the STACY" actors out of
the studios. In the old days it was pos
Sible for them to get by in character
parts, but the new microphoneS are
merciless to anything artificial.
The new mikes have also made pos
sible better rect-from-stage opera
pick-ups. We used to have to use as
many as Is mikes, hidden all over the
stage, but now we can do better job
with four in the footlights. This ability
of modern mikes to pick up sound easily
from a distance also had a great deal
to do with the success of the talkies.
But the little tin box will still whistle
the IS" II the speaker gets too chummy
with 1t. But that teaches a lesson in
proper respect.
Tonsils Needed Attention.
Speaking of voice characteristics in
broadcasting. wonder If have ever
mentioned the classic retort of one of
our engineers assigned to the broadcast
OF the Democratic convention in Hous-
ton. 1t was hot in Houston. All of us
fe.t it, but the engineers, in a cramped
little booth without much ventilation,
felt it worst of all. It's wonder they
didn't come back in padded compart-
mentS.
One day an orator was Grating fit to
blow the mike off the table. The engi-
neer was spraining his wrist trying to
keep the volume within bounds. Just
then a message came over the Morse
circuit from our New York studios. 1t
said: Speaker has bad nasal tone.
What can you do about it?" And the
engineer replied Give us half an hour
and we'll take his tonsils out" 1 con-
fess I didn't believe the story when 1
heard about it on my return to New
York. but the telegraph supervisor
yanked it out of his files to prove it.
The man who is supposed to have sent
the wire has always refused to COM
ment. Maybe he is afraid of being
bawled out for impertinence, but I
maintain he should have been given a
raise for resourcefulness.
Another engineer, assigned to the
broadcast Of some banquet speeches, re-
ceived q telephone message from the
studios that there was a very bad
creaking coming over the wire, and to
find out the trouble and get rid of it.
After checking his apparatus twice over,
the engineer, sitting in a nook directly
behind the speakers, discovered that two
men near an open mike had very stiff
dress shirts.
Apparatus o. X" he reported, "but
I am getting a strong pickup on two
sQueaky shirts Am 1 authorized to
douse them with water?"
I remember at one banquet that a
strange noise was traced to a speaker
who had fallen asleep and was snoring
and it is of record that at another BAN
Quet one of the microphones had to be
moved from the vicinity of a well known
parsonage because he drank coffee very
audibly all through the speeches. And
once upon time a microphone came
back from a rather high-hat banquet
with a wad of chewing gum stuck to its
base. The only speaker who sat near
that particular microphone has his
name in New York'S social register and
is model of elegance.
An Incorrect Address.
An incorrect address on a telegram
once nearly led to bloodshed around the
studios. A production man received a
wire from an orchestra leader with
whom he had had a disagreement The
telegram said merely, Go Wash an
Elephant" In spite of the disagree
ment, the production man didn't think
it merited an insult, and he wired in
return, Telegram received. You are
through"
A few hours later he received tele-
phone call. The orchestra leader. en-
ragged, was at the other end. whats
the idea of firing me?" he demanded.
And what's this about a telegram?
haven't sent you any kilograms lately"
The production man, very stifhy. ex-