Evening star., 1943-10-24
For RadioListeners
By Ben KabIan.

-
II catch phrase catches on, then
pine times out of ten the program
Itself is sure to catch on. For C
catchy phrase often Identifies a
radio show to its audience as readily
as an announcement of its name.
That has been proved in radio in
the past and still is being demon
strated every day.
Fiboer McGee and Molly pioneered
In the catchy phrase department
with "T'aint funny MCGEE" and the
lesson learned Was so valuable that
when Hal Peary left the show to
star in his own Gildarsleeve series,
the catchy phrase became an in
tegral part of his program. "Leroy's'
impudent Are you kiddin'" Is one
Gildersleeve phrase that everybody
knows. It was introduced On the
opening show three years ago and
Immediately Was picked up by every
teen-aged kid IN America. Last year
the druggist, Mr. Peavey" was given
a catchy phrase-'Well-ll, now l
wouldn't say that and This year the
newest character in the series is
popularizing I'm not like other peo-
pie, no stree"
Judy Canova's catch phrase is
"Are you tellin' -" She introduced
1t years ago on the Paul White
man programs and still uses it to
identify her own show On Abie's
Irish Rose, Mr.. Cohen's" catch
phrase is I'm warming you" 1t
always manages to get a laugh, as
have catch phrases of the past, such
as the late Joe Penner's Wanna buy
a duck?" and others.
But there are other such phrases
which are not intended as comedy
lines. Such is the Extra, extra" of
Big Town. On the same program
Warren Sweeney uses newspaper
dom's own Thirty =. Thirty . .
Thirty" as signotf. Catch phrases,
I repeat, are great, as long as they
really catch on.
Inside the AirSide: DenialS have
been made that Norman CorWin is
to sign an MGM contract to write
for the movies, but the report per-
siStS in many quarters Howard
Petrie, who announces the Durante-
Moore show, is being written into
the program from now on :. Idea
Is TO augment its comedy flavor
through Petrie participation e.
Don't be surprised if Charlie Nc
Carthy's rather elderly old maid
relative" Ophelia. becomes a regu-
lar member of the Bergen air show
one of these days soon :. OpheHa
made her continetwork debut re-
Gently on the What's New program
and convulsed listeners Paul
Stewart, Crime Doctors perennial
terry series next month for Holly
wood and MGM studios =. After
attaining q S25 ,000-a-year contract
with Superman, Inc, and repu-
tation as radios top-ranking author
director of juvenile programs, George
LoWther has announced that he will
never again write a juvenile radio
script ard will devote himself wholly
to the theater and to adult script
writing =. Lowther was responsible
for Superman, Dick Tracy, Terry
and the Pirates and other kid thrill
erS.
Came the War: Providing a field
day for Army grammarianS is the
title Of the Blue Network show,
Army Service Forces Presents . ..
Offhand, Forces" being a plural
noun, would seem to call for plural
verb, Present" but the official ver-
sion is that the Army Service Forces
is a collective term describing a
branch of the Army, hence calls for
the singular form, Presents"
Military Analyst Hanson w. Bald
win has been renewed for 10
weeks Jack Benny deserves
praise aplenty for the hundreds
of phone calls he has made and is
making to mothers of our boys
"Over There" That's promise
he made and one which no doubt
is thrilling to keep :. The sponsor
Of Spotlight Bands has asked the
War Department for permission to
send a name band on tour of Amer
lean overseas bases which would
last 10 weeks :. In addition to en-
tertaining the troops, the band
would be spotted on the Spotlight