Evening star., 1937-08-22

ton from many angles, becoming
more and more convinced that there
logically can be no such upheaval at
the time. When the conviction has
been established solidly. Anderson in
lects blunt reality-the actual COM
mencement Of chaos.
Maxwell Anderson is almost synony-
nous with the unusual in the theater,
and his reputation for innovation is
maintained as he writes for radio.
At various times during the presenta-
ton, the audience may not know
which character Is speaking. The
playwright explains his purpose by
declaring that he has attempted to
weld, emotionally and intellectually,
the entire group of protagonists, max
ing possible the immergence OF single
persons less as individuals than as
the voices Of certain broad tenden-
cles He points out, for example,
that Lafayette is not only the idealist
OF the group, but also the spokesman
for idealism; that LaHarpe. cold
realist represents the voice OF hard
experience.
The Feast Of Ortolans" is to be
heard on September 20 over WMAL.
according to present plans.
pROBABLY the most uncertain
jobs in broadcasting are those
held by the so-called standby" Or
ganists. They never know when they
will be called upon to perform at
the console or for how long their
services will be required A great
disaster may necessitAte q rush ere
mote" pickup and the organist must
be ready to fill in If it fails to ma
teriAlize. Musicians or other network
artists may fail to appear at the
studios on time, or there may be
line failure.
There are four organists who do
standbys At c B s, and they lead
hectic lives when they're not waiting
around.
Johnny Hereford, for instance, re-
members the night the Hindenburg
burned at Lakehurst She had been
regularly scheduled to stand by in case
Of line failure for the dance band
programs from II O'Clock on. but when
she came into the studio they told her
to be ready to play music of . dig
nified nature any time they called.
There was a remote broadcast sched-
uled from the Hindenburg, but, in
case it didn't come in. Johnny was
the one to keep the station on the air.
She didn't have to go on until 8 80
O'Clock that morning, and then she
played a full hour. not knowing
whether she really was broadcasting
or not, because the announcer who was
announcing her numbers was in an
other studio.
Fred Feibel is an early morning
standby man. He got up at am.
during the coronation ceremor s from
London. England, and was ready to
go on the air from O'Clock in the
morning till in case weather con-
ditions spoiled the show
Ann Leafs widest experience was
during recent New York Philhar-
monic broadcast from the Lewisohn
Stadium. The orchestra was coming
through fine when all of a sudden it
began to rain. The concert stopped
and it was AIMS turn to play her
standby program. She played stead
lily for one hour and a half before
the next program relieved her. That
wouldn't have been so bad, except that
her entire program was symphonic
music. in keeping with the spirit of
the program she was substituting for,
and she made the mistake of starting
one piece without her music. In her
excitement she started that piece in
the wrong key and had to transpose
all the rest Of it.
Elsie Thompson had the most hair
raising experience of all. 1t happened
last Summer on Saturday after
noon, when for some reason the musi-
clans scheduled for an ordinary studio
program at WABC didn't show up.
Naturally there was no ordinary stand
by for the program. Frantically the
engineer called up the organ studio,
on Seventh avenue Nobody was
around until. just three minutes before
air time. Elsie Thompson popped in.
She wasn't scheduled had Just
dropped in to say hello" The en-
gineer let out one wild yell-and be-
fore poor Elsie knew what was hap
pening she was up on the organ
bench.
Got any music with you?" asked
the engineer
She didn't have. but already he was
starting the organ motor. In one min
@A Dill m