Evening star., 1932-11-06
THAT puzzling question, why
/ can't a stage play be trans
farred to the radio saS iS.,n
1eIC6Q W Illc IdUlO ~ ~,
WAS answered by playerS OF


ferred to the radio as is,'"
was answered by players Of
the Columbia Broadcasting Sys-
TENS Dramatic Laboratory in q
recent demonstration at the new
school for social research in New
York.
The radio troupers showed an
audience of the uninitiate Just
what vast differences exist be-
tween radio and stage presenta-
tionS. A short Skit, specially
written, was presented In three
forms-first as a stage play with
all theater lights turned off, then
as stage play as the audience
would see 1t, and, finally, as the
same play would be presented
over the air.
In the first presentation, with
the auditorium in total darkness,
three characters were heard. The
dialogue indicated a wife had
killed her husband. Just before
the end Of the Skit there was a
protracted silence, broken only by
the occasional sound of footsteps.
The sudden violent sobbing of a
female character ended the scene.
When the act was run through
with the lights on the audience
was surprised to see that four
persons had taken part in it. The
fourth char 1cter, a detective, had
entered i,-,-, ediately before the
final curtain, and, using only
gestures, had placed the two
principal characters under arrest.
The protracted silence had cover
ed a period Of time during which
the murderess and her lover
sought to make it appear that
her husband had committed sui
eide. This, Of course, was not ap-
parent in the dark.
In the third version, with the
lights once more turned off, the
actors went through the playlet
as 1t would be written for the
radio, with much additional dia-
logue inserted to make every bit
of action clear. The long silence
was filled with lines designed to
indicate that murder was being
made to look like suicide When
the guilty couple were stopped in
their flight by the detective, the
latter character was heard by the
audience in lines revealing his
action.
The demonstration was given as
part Of lecture series On'"A A New
Conception Of the Voice and New
Ways Of Reproducing It." spon-
sored by the new school and ar
ranged by John Carlile, produc-
ton manager Of Columbia.
THERE is considerable mystery
1 surrounding the new official
method of giving the WJSV
local announcement every Is
minutes. For the first few days
after the station went on the air,
Washington listeners were much
impressed by the variety of adjec-
tiveS employed by the announcers
in describing the current state of
our own Potomac River.
Serious fans reported such
phrases as e-tinted Potomac" "
serene river" "limpid Potomac" "
and one earnest fan even reported
"pellucid Potomac" which, by the
way, prosaic engineers interpreted
as polluted Potomac" One in
terested listener actually made a
long and conclusive list of good
adjectives with the intention of
sending it to Alexandria as an
inspiration to the hard-working
ahnouncers. but she was thWarted
by the sudden elimination of the
descriptive phrase in the new an
nouncement. 1t is simply, that
is the new WJSV, Alexandria,
across the Potomac from Wash
ington.",~
No one seems to know the rea-
son for this sudden blow at a
vestige Of poetical fancy which is
all to rare in a Grass commercial
age. Perhaps it is merely a lull,
while WJSV photographers thumb
dictionaries in quest of unusual
words, but meanwhile the Po-
tomac remains bare and unadorn-
ed, stripped of all descriptive
phrasing
MEN are more popular than
III women as radio artists. At
least. so it would seem from
figures recently revealed in the