Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-01
"Graham
McNamee
Speaking"

to pry a way for him into the studio.
He was good natured about it, but 1t
didn't help his feeling of nervous ap-
prehension. It was like having an au-
dience at the dentists.
There was another crowd there when
he came out and he just grabbed his
hat and ran. That night he returned
for the broadcast His rehearsal was
run off in a small studio and just be-
fore the program was to begin. Novarro
was ushered to his studio. His escort
assured him the studio would be bare
of everyone but the orchestra and the
necessary studio attaches.
But when he opened the door, there
were no less than l25 visitors, mostly
women, leaning expectantly forward IN
their chairs. Some one had slipped and
every visitor who could find vacant
nook was allowed to slip in. There
wasn't time to clear the studio before
the program went on the air and those
who knew the agreement with NoVarro
wouldn't have blamed him much II he
had refused to go on.
But he didn't. He gulped couple
of times, settled his coat and marched
to the gallows: When II came Time 1oI
him to begin he was plainly tense, put
the moment he got going everything
was fine.
Irwin S. Cobb, the hunorist, went on
the air from the same studio the next
night. His broadcast was without I'M
toward incidents, except for the door
man, who at first didn't want to let
him into that studio without pass,
Even If 1t is B. A. Rolfe." Role him
self was standing q few feet away, and
the doorInan was new.
At that, there was some excuse for
the mistake, for there is notable SINH
larity in the general contours of the
writer and the orchestra leader. Cobb
obviously enjoyed his broadcast He
likes telling stories anywhere. AS well
as he writes, I much prefer to hear
him talk
Some of the production men were
sWappinR tales of their worst days in
the studios the other night, and one of
them had very sad story indeed.
It happened months ago, when con-
denser microphones first came into use.
Those FIRST condensers were fragile at
fairs and when 1t came time to rehearse
the program of which the production
man was speaking ne found he had
drawn a control engineer who had
never handled condenSers in an actual
broadcast. And during that rehearsal
three mikes blew out, one after the
other.
When 1t came time to go on the air
everybody in the place was in a state.
The engineer assured the production
nan and the actors he had discovered
trick which would prevent any more
dead mikes, but no one took him sert-
ously. The afternoons bad luck had
made most of the actors afraid to read
their lines with normal volume, and
two of them were almost mumbling.
One woman was excited almost to the
point Of hysteria, and she made most
of the others jumpy from worrying over
whether she might break.
Let me say now that the control man
hadn't promised anything he couldn't
deliver, and there wasn't the slightest
mike trouble during the broadcast; but
the mischief had been done.
Bob MacGimSey, the whistler, had a
great deal to do in the program, and
In fact, he had to initiate bird calls
almost steadily for about 10 minutes
The scene of the play was in the State
Of Washington, and MacGimsey. kept
to safe" birds for several minutes.
suppose he must have become a