Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-02
IT seems that I have been
natural news ever since ]
came into the spotlight. ]

y
from a romantic sheik to a punk
from Maine with a set OF mega
phones and a dripping voice.
have been supposed to have re-
ceived orchids and bouquets dur
ing my theater appearances. Fur
thermore, am supposed to have
ignored these trophies and to
have caused f1apperdom to be-
come stirred as it has never been
stirred before. / have been called
a menace :"
Thus the famous Rudy Vallee
opens his own autobiography,
which made its appearance yes
terday under the title of "Vaga-
bond Dreams Come True" 1t is
the story of his succesS-his rise
from a soda "jerker" in his faith
er'S drug store in Westbrook, Me,
lO years ago, to one of the coun-
tryS most popular and highest
paid radio entertainers.
1t was quite natural then that
the radio editors who interviewed
Rudy when he came to Washing
ton on a whirlwind visit last week
to sing and play before Mrs. Her
bert Hoover and the Congress
Slonal Club to ask him what it
was which caused feminine hearts
throughout the country to flutter
when he crooned sentimental bal
lads into the microphone.
But Rudy was stumped for an
answer. Frankly, I don't know"
1A&
wet with sentiment. In my pub
lie appearances women stop dane
ing and stare at me. 1 can't I'M
derStand it at all. I'm not a
sheik; I'm not a John Gilbert"
And again in his book Rudy re-
iterates: Il have always wished
that the jealous men would bring
the young ladies to see me, as I
am sure that they would be dis
illuSioned and once more return
to normal and be quite cured of
their love for radio Romeo. It
may be possible that the roman
tic songs that I enjoy singing do
fill a want for romance in the
hearts of some girls, but it is
really the songs and my rendition
of them that accomplish this.
After all, Buddy Rogers does more
damage to female hearts in one
embrace with his heroine than 1
do in 20 broadcasts."
Rudy's book, however, reveals
that his real name is Hubert Prior
Vallee pronounced Vahlay); that
Rudy Weidoeft, the saxophonist,
was is idol, and so his friends
named him Rudy; that he has
been keenly interested in the sax
ophone, and since there were OBJ
iectionS to his practicing at home,
he hired the town hall for that
purpose; that he spent the Win
ter of 1922 at the University
of Maine and in the Fall of 1922
he transferred to Yale, and work
ed his way through college by nu-
merous orchestra engagements,
graduating in June, 1927.
After that Rudy tramped the
streets of New York in search of
job until January, 1928, when
he was given a chance to sing and
play at Don Dickerman'S "Heigh-
Ho Club" where he met with
much approval. He there organ
lied the Connecticut Yankees, the
seven who have played with him
since. Soon he had a chance to
broadcast over a small station.
and during the Spring more and
more opportunities came. Now
he has a 24-hour working day,
which includes four or five public
performances day, personal at
tention to his fan mail, radio
broadcasting and listening to song
pluggers. Besides this, last Sum-
mer he made talking picture,
'The Vagabond Lover" and wrote
his book.
+ X X X
z ECENT ventures into the field
of international program ex-
change have revealed to radio en-
gineers that the so-called mag
netic storm, an effect known for
many years, is an enemy of radio
more difficult to cope with than
static.
G. w. Horn, general engineer of
the National BroadcaSting Co.,
points out that for years engi-
neers have known that the mag
netic storms affect land line COM
munications to quite an extent
and influence delicate instru-
ments, such as a ships compass,
but it is only in recent years,
since the advent of long distance
radio communication. particularly
on short waves, that there has
been any noticed effect from this
source.
1T is a peculiar fact" he said,
that the magnetic disturbances
act differently in the case of long
waves. DR.. L. w. Austin of the
Bureau of Standards, who has
been making measurements for
many years on long waves, re-
ports a general increase in signal
strength at about the time that
magnetic disturbances take place.
We have found that these dis
turbanceS react in just the oppo-
site manner on short waves. That
Is, they reduce the signal strength
very greatly and seem to offer i'm
pedance to the passage of the
wave"
The uncertainty as to when
magnetic storms may be expected
Horn explained, makes it difficult
to plan transatlantic program ex-
changes in advance. Twice re-
Gently, he said, attempts of the
National Broadcasting Co. to re-
lay European programs in this
country were defeated by mag
netic storms, which attacked the
programs coming from England
and Germany and made it impos-