Evening star., 1932-10-18

Your announcer has been Richard
Mason, who bids you good night and
good luck"
deep, clear voice, the same way of max
ing words sing when they had no
reason to sing, the same voice that
thousands of girls were hearing and
thrilling to at this moment, all over
the country.
Girls as pretty as Judy Allison. Girls
nicer than Judy Allison. Maybe one
of them was sitting with Dick right
now, as Judy had with him the night
when Dick took her to meet Ben Bernie
and Paul Whiteman.
Maybe he was saying things to some
girl in the same deep, clear voice she
remembered so well. Saying the same
things he had said to her, and meaning
them, and thinking of Judy Allison only
as girl who had lied to him and
cheated him.
So again it was morning and again
they stopped at the restaurant, and
again Judy and Elsie parted as before.
But this time Judy did not ride south,
far south. She walked, instead. Up
Michigan, then down Michigan. Then
on State street, for long time. Here,
in big windows, were gowns she would
be talking about, perhaps, in today's
show; this kind of bolero that kind
of bias cut, that sort of fur trimming
high around the throat, that new little
hat with the four-cornered effect
Clothes she would have loved to have
because she loved clothes; she loved
looking at clothes she couldn't possibly
afford. But now they were only dresses
in a window.
AS going to WAOA, being there just
hAf1r n.AE 80 -.
was just going on the air again now:
not an adventure, not a great triumph,
not thrill at all.
So she waited in the studio. She
was early She had not read through
her script. Mustn't get careless
Mustn't forget that words are more
than words when you say them to many
thousand people. She read carefully.
A good script, again. With the same
fresh, eager tone Elton Day seemed to
be able to put into every script he
wrote. Yet he hated them. he hated
doing the work; he really didn't care
anything about all this.
Then how could he do it? By de-
taching himself completely, by forget
ting himself And he had done the
trick so often, he had learned it SO
well, that he was not able to come
back to himself any more.
She saw the clock hands. creeping
close to 10:45. Three minutes to go.
With professional deftness, learned al
ready, she arranged the script care
fully on the little table. She stood up
very straight, filling her lungs with
air, eXhaling deeply, inhaling again.
Ten times over.
Dick said it was trick, it frightened
up your muscles, it quieted your nerves.
made your voice steady. He was right.
Dick was always right. He knew his
job. Anything Judy Allison did to
make her program right, to send her
voice over the air as it should go, she
did because Dick Mason had taught
her how. And
Ten-forty-four A minute to 60. The
announcer was at the microphOne, his
back turned to her, ready. The man
in the control room looked strangely
familiar. But there was no time to
look again Overhead, the red light
flashed. Judy Allison was on the air
again.
She could not hear the announcer.
But she knew what he was reading
thousands of letterS-She hopes to
hear from you as she hears from so
many other women-she will be glad
to give you the benefit of her expert
ence and her special contacts"
'Ready, Judy. Ready. Go ahead"
She read carefully, quietly. No de-
sire to shout, any more, as there had
been her first few times when she
faced the microphone. This was
Job. AS long as you could believe YOU
were talking to only one person. you
couldn't go wrong. Just go straight
ahead Hit the high points sharply
and slowly, so nobody will misunder-
stand. Go especially slow in the sales
talk, so it will really sell. So. 1t was
done.
The announcer took up as she left
off. The final sales talk, the address
so women could write for the beauty
builders advice. Now the light was
off. Now it was over.
Judy gathered up the sheets of the
script carefully. folded them, put them
in her bag Tomorrow she'd send
whole file of them home to mother.
Mother would show them to the neigh
bors, and be proud of them, and with
pathetic determination she'd try to
follow all the suggestions all the ex-
ercises, but in a day or two she'd for
get about the old ones, she'd be SO
busy trying the new ones But she
would be proud Of her daughter tell
ing so many women all these things.
Very proud.
The days work was done. Fifteen
minutes day and you get a Sl00
check every Saturday And in hun
dred thousand offices afmillion girls
work all day six days week, and get
much less. Lucky Judy Allison. Lucky!
Her mind stood still. She could not
breathe Her eyes were wrong. What