Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-31

story interest III plot and Situa-
ton, are listeners fiocking to GER
tain radio dialogue features be-
cause they like to hear unfamil-
lar characters Ieacting naturally
in their native SettingS-becauSe
of human curiosity to know
Just how "the other half lives?"
These are questions which pro-
gram officials of the National
Broadcasting Co. are bordering
popular dramatic features. For
those behind the scenes are be-
ginning to recognize a distinct
trend in radio continuities. Au-
thorS whose SubIect-matter has a
definite locale are becoming in
creasingly numerous. Scripts are
beginning to SAVIOR of intimate
| familiarity with factors of back
| ground, dialect, racial and local
chara teri S tics. And these
sketches which ring true seem to
be the very ones to win and hold
| the radio audience.
| Radios latest recruit from the
ranks of regional writer's is Lula
VolImer, famous American play
wright. Miss Volmer was the first
| of the successful dramatiStS to
recognize the Southern noun
taineer as remarkable stage ma
terial. Reared in North Carolina,
she felt the urge to write about
the hill folk when she was a H.
year-old schoolgirl. Her first full
length play, "Sun-Up," was SEN
| sationally successful and paved
the way for several other re-
markable folk plays of the South
ern mountains. And now her
radio serial, "Moonshine and
Honeysuckle, portraying love and
adventure in the life of a noun
tain lad named Glen Belts, is be-
ginning to grip the radio audi
ence.
Whether or not legitimate local
color has played a major part in
the success of Amos N Andy is a
controversial question, but it must
have been a factor. For the two
comedians undeniably know their
| characters and dialect.
Correll and GoSden did not
blunder onto their characterize
tions. They spent years visiting,
\ chatting, fraterniZing with happy
/ go-lucky Negro types, laboriously
building up their knowledge of
Amos N Andy until it has be-
come almost instructive. And
Gosden is a Southerner, reared by
a colored nanny"
Another serial which has its
roots in the authors firSt-hand
knowledge of what she's writing
! about is 1.-THE Rise of the Gold
bergS." Mrs. Gertrude Berg draws
her material from long observa-
ton of the "cloak and suit" folks
of Manhattan. She knows the
speech, habits, traditions, sorrows
and joys of the New York Jew.
Then there are the widely pop
ular Down East" or rural pro-
grams of the air-"Sunday at
Seth Parker's," Uncle Abe and
David" and the '"Thompkins Cor
ners Real Folks" The first two
are written by Phillips H. Lord,
native of Maine. He also plays
the roles of Seth Parker and
Uncle Abe. Lords credo as a
radio writer is authenticity, first
and last; in fact, he entered radio
because he resented the shallow
thick" Characterization of rural
burlesque which he happened to
hear over the air one night at
the home of a friend George
Frame Brown, who writes the Real
Folks scripts, also knows rural
folk first hand. And he brings to
his observations the trained in
sight of a veteran actor.
And so the list grows. THE
Harbor lights" sketches are writ
ten from material gathered by
Burr Cook, the author, in long
chats with the residents of an old
sailors home. East of Cairo" the
serial melodrama of the Far East,
is fashioned by Raymond Scud-
der from memories of his own adj
ventures in the Orient. And the
authors who write the Winter Sc
ries of Empire Builders" sketches
spend the Summer months col
| lecting material and atmosphere
from the history Of the. great
| Northwest. Authentic local color
is becoming a dominant motive In
radio drama.
In analyzing the situation, pro-
gram officials have concluded that
| these sketches are not popular
because the radio audience recog-
nizeS types and situations. The
rank and file of those who listen
week by week to THE Rise of the
GoldbergS," for example, never
knew an East Side family in real
life. Then it must be, they rea-
son, an instructive, sympathetic
| interest in the unknown neighbor
or countryman.
T EoPoLD sToKowsKI, con-
ductor of the Philadelphia
Orchestra, has perfected mys-
terious new device which is said
! to remedy tone deficiencies in
broadcasting. The device will be
given its initial tryout Sunday,
October IL, during the first of a
series of nationwide radio con-
certs by the Philadelphia Or
chestra.
For nearly a score of years an
outstanding figure in the world
of music, Stokowski will take a
leading place in the field of radio
development if the apparatus he
has designed accomplisheS all
that it is limited it will.
Deep secrecy surrounds the de-
vice. Beyond admitting that he
has been carrying on extensive
researches with radio engineers In
cooperation with the National
Broadcasting Co. and Philco, Sto-