Evening star., 1936-09-27

night spot formerly held by Maj.
Bowes. Curiously enough, both Of
these shows have adopted as their new
recipe the old human interest angle
and, of course, both of them are trying
to sell coffee. There's no doubt that
Songstress Smith will be successful in
her sales campaign, for even if she
must do battle with Rudy Vallee for
the Thursday night dielers there's no
doubt the Songbird of the South has
strong following of her own, not
to mention the additional pull of Jack
Miller's orchestra and the roster of
big names appearing as headliners
on her show.
How the goodwill Court" will
fare on the network is a more
cebatable question. But at least one
angle becomes apparent the very first
time you tune in. That is the fact
that the listener must be given bet
= ter chance to picture the people he
hears on that show before he can
really become intensely interested in
following their problems Those
court room scenes undoubtedly would
compel your attention if they had the
benefit of televiSion. And lacking
that-it's up to A. l.. Alexander to
give a word picture of the pitiful
pieces of humanity as they step up to
the microphone. That skillful con-
ductor of the program would have to
cut down on the number of cases he
ushers up to air their troubles. of
course, but there is little doubt that
the additional time thus afforded for
the airing Of each case would render
the story more dramatic and human.
AS it is, there's nothing very COM
pelling about the judges quick hand
outs of cut-and-dried legal advice.
It's all very enlightening, but scarcely
entertaining.
T ANY rate, the battle of the
broadcasters is on-full tilt. In
addition to the Smith-Vallee contest,
It looks as if other sponsors and
broadcasters-maybe even the radio
set manufacturers-had a plot afoot.
Maybe they're trying to make us all
two-radio-set families. How else can
tLS SeIlle IIie plOOlcfH VI
whether to tune in the Good Will
Court" Nelson Eddy or Eddy Cantor
these Sunday nights-Maj. Bowes and
the amateurs or Show Boat" when
Thursday comes around-Fred Astaire
or Rupert Hughes and their accom-
panying variety bills-Ben Bernie or
Fred Waring? The sponsors just
aren't doing right by the dialers put
ting such choice up to them. But
maybe they aren't doing right by
themselves, either, as they may dis
cover when they begin to chalk up
the results of their advertising efforts
in few weeks.
THERE'S another curious angle to
this eternal search by the spon-
sor for something new in the war of
air fare-the way he flocks around
with contracts for every brand-new
star in the entertainment heavens.
: Meanwhile, he persists in overlooking
a lot OF good-and sometimes
better-talent right at hand Listen
to sustaining shows of Dorothy Dres-
lin, Margaret McCrae, Carol Deis
Fred Hufsmith, Jimmy Farrell and
Jimmie Briefly and you'll see what we
mean. All of those songsters are do
ing splendid jobs. Why they haven't
come to the enthusiastic attention of
some air-minded sponsor is a puzzler
But getting around to hopeful
notes-there's a plan afoot to put
some of the leading playwrights to
work on dramas for the air. They'll
do original plays designed for the
microphone exclusively, not adapta-
tions of vehicles written primarily for
stage or screen.
SPEAKING of drama, that first lady
Of the air, Helen Hayes, will have
her hands full tomorrow when she
comes back to the studios for serial
ization of "Bambi" on N. B. C's blue
network. She'll be in rehearsal for
the radio show from 10 in the morn
Ing until that night. Three min
utes before her program gets off the
cir she'll slip out of the studio, board
private elevator and be off to the
theater in company with a police
escort. After her theater performance
in Victoria Regina" she'll trek right
back to Radio City for her Pacific
Coast broadcast of "Bambi" at 1890
am.
THE not-so-large output of come
dians takes on substantial in
crease, just by the addition of Charles
Butterworth to the network scene.
Along with Fred Allen, Jack Benny
and Phil Baker, he has the happy fac
ulty of being able to twist laughs out
Of odd situations-even create a few
giggles. just by his own treatment of
lines. With Butterworth all set with
a contract and Col. Stoopnagle and
Budd having re-established them
selves among the topnotch comics, the
current comedy scene would now be
complete If sponsor would only get
around to putting Edward Everett
Horton on the air regularly.
Comic Charlie Cantor meanwhile
bobs up in the cast of Walter Tetley's
new Jack Masters" show, a juvenile
scrip at c. B. S. Arthur Boran car
rieS his mimicry to c. B. S., too In his
new March of Time" show E. . Those
rural COMICS Lum and Abner, will be
with you for the next year and a half
at least, according to their new $685.
500 contract . No such luck for dial
ers Of Clara, Lu. n EN- as yet. though
their current contract ends this
month and to date N. B. c. has made no
move to put them on again. All OF
which means now is the time for the
dialers to sit down and pen few let
ters If they go for the gossipy humor
of that trio. Letter writing listeners
just turned the trick for Ann Jamison,
who is back with Hollywood Hotel"
because the fans told the sponsor what
they thought of her excellent work ). Z.
And speaking of smart moves on the
part of a sponsor, the outfit back Of
Carmela Ponselle took a step in the