Evening star., 1935-04-21


In the veritable maze of large and
small studio-theaters maintained in
Radio City by the National Broad
casting Co., and in the headquarters
studios. the three downtown theaters
and the several hired halls which seat
the audiences of the Columbia Broad
casting System in New York. Network
ofhcials and sponsors Of the radio
shows. since the beginning Of playing
to visible as well as invisible audiences,
have always been hard put to it to
meet the demand for tickets for their
shows
Answering the complaints of the
theatrical people, the radio folk assert
they have no intention ever Of charg-
ing admission to broadcast perform
ances, for that would bring them
into direct competition with the
theater and the movies. If they are
forced to charge admissions by the
code authority or by any one else.
they have no doubt that they can still
pack them in." judging by the enor-
nous demands for tickets, and the
theater people would be no better off.
In fact, If they could get halls big
enough for the more popular shows,
many sponsors could almost defray
the high cost of broadcasting by
charging admission. Radio thus far
has preferred to permit the sponsors
to parcel out the tickets in their own
way. and practically all of the tickets
thus 60 to business contacts such as
local and visiting dealers Of the
products being advertised
Another fact overlooked by the
complainants. say the broadcasters, is
the insistence Of the radio performers
themselves upon having visible audi
ence. Since the big name" radio
artists are preponderantly drawn from
the stage, it is asserted that the thea
ter and actor groups making the COM
plants are really inveighing against
q situation brought about and per-
petuated by their own kind. OF all the
major radio acts on the national net
works, only Amos m Andy" still in
sist upon q small studio without any
onlookers. Practically all the others
want as many people present as pos
sible. for they say that the reactions
of the visible audience and its ap-
plause provide stimulus to better
performance.
Sunday night in Radio City is like
attending the opera. In the big
studio, seating 1850, many of the
audience attend the symphony con-
cert in evening clothes. 1t is the big
day Of the week for outside attend
ance for there are 18 invitation shows
In all. with even the morning and
afternoon performances packed. On
other nights the same big auditorium
studio Is used by Ed Wynn, Fred
Allen and the Showboat-and it is
practically impossible to get tickets
unless you know the sponsors or some
one he is willing to give them to.
Often the tickets are sold out" many
weeks in advance.
Paul Whiteman uses a smaller
studio. seating only about 300. as do
Rudy Vallee, Joe Penner and Beatrice
Lille, while in still smaller studio,
seating even less than 300, the highly
popular Jack Benny show is performed.
Columbia has very restricted studio
space and only a handful of guests
attend the March of Time" and other
studio shows. The Columbia net
work several years ago engaged a
downtown theater to handle the bigger
crowds for its more important shows.
Still there was not enough space, so
1t leased two more theaters. Those
three now have seating capacities of
1000. 900 and 400, respectively, where
about Is performances are staged. Ed
die Cantor, Fred Waring, Lily Pons