Mever-Told Tales of Grace Moore's Unrevealed Self! Four Radio Women Tell How They Got What They Wanted MEDAL OF MERIT

WHEN DEATH RODE DOWN THE AIRWAYS TO STUN THE WORLD INTO A HORRIFIED SILENCE - RADIO'S HEROES CARRIED ON!

VIATION'S greatest disaster of officers, who protected the safety of recent years has given radio its the passengers by waiting for calm A greatest heroes. They are Her­ ground winds before trying to land. bert Morrison, an announcer. and Then into Morrison's microphone Charles Nehlsen, an engineer. burst the horrified cry: "Fire! It's They had been sent by Station WLS burning up!" For before his eyes was from to Lakehurst, N. J., to QCCuring the tragedy that shook the make a recording fOT later broadcast world of aviation! Through his hot of the arrival there of the giant dirigi­ lips he begged, "God save those poor ble Hindenburg, concluding its tirst people!" Then, crying with the utter flight of the new season. Morrison horror of it, hysterical at the sights and Nehlscn little guessed that the of suffering, he told in tears the most greatest eye-witness reporting job in tragic tale ever to reach a microphone. history was the assignment Fate would For forty-flve minutes, the recording hand them. They expected to report apparatus turned at its task of pre­ routine news. Instead, they recorded serving a record of Ute terrible scene history! -turned, because Engineer Nehlsen They waited tweh'e hours for their kept his wits, protected his apparatus, story to begin, for the sky monster calmed the shaken announcer at his was delayed by adverse weather and side. Onto the wax disc was graven head winds. Then the dirigible circled aviation's unhappiest story. Lakehurst, headed for the first of three times toward the mooring mast. FOR this most wonderful of all re~ And then Morrison began his greatest porting jobs under the most terriflc of all recordings; then Nehlsen faced strain ever endured by a broadcaster, his greatest test. Into the recording RADIO GUIDE stands with the rest ot microphone, Morrison spoke of the Ute world in admiration of Herbert Engineer Charles Nehl5en. left, and Announcer Herbert Morrison: crowd gathered to witness the safe Morrison and Charles Nehlsen. To Filte c:.lled them to what they thought was a routine asaignment­ landing; of the beauty of the sky­ them RADIO GUIDE is proud to present instellld they found themselves brOildcilIting history in the maklngl ship's sleek sides; of the wisdom of the its Special Medal of Merit! •• Radio Guid•• W••k hdi.9 Noy 22, 1917 3 IN T HIS ISS UE Week Ending May 22. 1937 M. L. ANNEN BERG Publliher CURTIS MITCHELL, Editorial Director I Small Towners in a Big Town It pays 10 come from Podunk! by KATtlERINE ALBERT 3 Puns VL Personality How 10 stay on top--ln radio! by Do:. McNEILL 8 Fake Publicity rackel-erposed! by KEN W. PuRDY 10 I I Grace Moore Crown Prill('eu of Song by ERIC L. ERGENBRIGliT 4 Ann Leaf, Mrs. Richard Crooks, Mrl. Phil Baker. Helen Jep&On Four Women Who Got What They Wanted by GLADYS OAKS 6 Mark Warnow Let's Go Partying! 22 Muriel Wilion The photo-slory of her life! 26 I~ I The Radio Week The Latesl Radio News 12 Music of the Masters b,Y CARLETON SMITII 14 Plums and Prunes by EVANS PLUMM£R 15 Inside Stuff by MARTIN LEWIS 15 Short Waves by CU-'RLES A. MORRISON 20 I Pic+or a ~,Features I Radio Show-1937 Model Setting this year's pace---on Mell yo". bellot to the Star of Star. Election Tell.,••, Radio Culde, 731 Ply_ the air! 16 mo"th Court, Chl.,a.,o, lllinoi.. P".t., il On a penny po••urd, if you wl.h. We Applaud- Deems Taylor, Bemty Goodman and his band, Charlie Butter­ worth, Maxine SteHman and Thomas L. Thomas 21 Unmasking Radio's Black Chamber (Part 11) 9 DAYS TO GO! Air horrors-in the ?lIaking! 24 I Stories of Near-by Stations 17 Slar of Slars Standings 17 NLY nine days are have your ballot count RADIO GUIDE'S X-Word Puzzle 18 left in 1937-50 as much as any other. Voice 01 the Listener 19 O far as the Star of As RADIO GUIOI!: goes to Short Wave Programs 20 Stars Election is con­ press this week, the stars Contests on the Air 46 cemed---only nine days hold their present posi­ in which to cast your bal­ tions in the ranking only lot! That means that if by virtue of very small I you haven't already margins. Thousands of Sunday. May 16 29 voted, you'll have to do ballots are pouring in, the Monday, May 17 31 it at onee---or miss your mail is growing heavier Tuesday, May 18 chance completely this each day, and yet the Wednesday. May 19 "36 year. Midnight of May voting is close. With each Thursday. May 20 39 successive tabulation Friday. May 21 41 31 is the absolute dead­ Saturday, May 22 44 line-ballots postmarked there is a good deal of later than that wiD not nuctuatiOD in the stand- be counted! ings, and it is quite possi­ Now-though littie ble that the tide may tum more than a week re­ Barbara Luddy: Actress sharply at any time. that mains-you still have Number 6 as the Slar of !tars of lesser ranking lime to vote! Votes sent Stars Poll nears its end! may rise above those who in right away will gel in hold the lead today. That on time-but you must act immediately! depends upon your votes! Your ballot-and There is no time to lose! LiWe things are the ballots of your friends-are the only bound to come up [rom time to lime to things that can make this change possible. make you put off doing the things you This is positively your last opportunity to intended to do---and they'll cost you your give them your support. Vote now, while vote this year if you don't figure on them. the balloting is still open! Make sure that The only way to be sure of your vote is your votes are in before the final dead­ to get it in the mail at ODce! The lime line! Get your ballots in the mail-today! is limited-but you can still vote-and (See Star of Stars Slandings on Page 19)

2 SMALL-TOWNERS

F YOU come from a little town, don't small town sort of gets in your bones. ever, ever again be ashamed of that Those little places set out on the arid I fact. Don't, for instance, tell people IN dust fields of Kansas, in the low you were born "near Chicago." No, sir, swamps of Mississippi, on the great step right up and name the town and plains of Montana-the towns them­ be proud of it. selves are fighting valiantly for sur~ For it takes the small-town boys BIG TOWNS viva! against the power and wealth and girls to show the city folk the and industrialism of the great cities. meaning of success. If you hail from Like a sound-vibration on your radio, a "wide place in the road," throw out I think the village citizens pick up this your chest, pat yourself on the back. IF "HOME" TO YOU IS MERELY A WIDE courage, realize that they must fight, You're in good company. too, that both town and themselves Small-town born myself, I'm thrilled may survive. to walk, geographically at least, with SPOT IN THE ROAD-DON'T BE ASHAMED, the great. With very few exceptions, EVERY little town has its lessons to heroes and geniuses grew to be big FOR YOU'RE IN THE BEST OF COMPANY! teach. Listen to some of the les­ frogs in mighty little puddles. Now sons learned by the new crop of suc­ where, for instance, do you think cessful radio entertainers. Thomas A. Edison was born? In a The first who comes to mind is little place called Milan, , listed Willie Morris, who was born in the today with a population of 678. Inci­ BY KATHERINE ALBERT doggondest-sounding place on the map. dentally, Edison had but three months' It's caHe that of being a wife. they bought a little lk'CludL'Cl. house Do )01,1 think t;he's right" There's nJ doubt that Richard Crooks adores near Palm Beach (tnd had a hom'y­ h r He fC<'l~ he might be a musical moon and a child. comt'dy tar, which he'd hatE', or even "I didn·l do "nything so definite as an )n1re·worker, if Mildred had been to decide whether I was going back to Olhcr than she is, Let's see if irs her the stage,' Peggy confessed to me. "I or \\ hich will tell you how to be gut'ss 1 alwa)·s jUJit took it for granted tile kind of wife you want to be ' •. I would •. , sometime. Meanwhile, the days were so pleasant, I kept put­ DICK CROOKS and Mildred Pine ting off thinking about it." \\ Cfl' brought up on the same slreet When Peggy had been a child her­ AREER Woman-Home Partner­ "It would be SO easy lor you to .lsk in Trenton, Nt'w Jersey, but in differ­ l;elf, 1, Watching the little bis­ dreamed of. He'd come to the com­ OR MARRIAGE terminJ:: the JX'rfed Career Woman. cuits for shortcake, she let the t;te..k fort,'ble Pine home to !iCC her. Another I call the ideal Home Partner, burn. The biscuits themJlelves wcre When he was nineteen, Rich<.lrd OR BOTH-WHICH A third, 1 named the 100 Per Cent hard and flat as lenther, The lettuce Jilted to go to New York. In the Wife-and·Mother. And the fourth, I was full of sand. m trollOlis, so near conCt'rl.:t imd thE desaibe as The Woman Who Wants "Never mind," s:lid Kliny whln 1;..'1e :'.ktropolit"n Opera House, he felt he'd WOULD YOU Everything. came out of the kitChenette, eon'dous b' able, somehow, to further his am­ Above; Mr, &. Mrs.. Phil Baker With family: Peggy brought Ph,l pe;;ace But who, you ask, are these women? that her hair Wall wild, her f'Ometimes follow an emo­ TWO) al lat~ in 1923, C)· ""ere GLADYS OAKS Through their experiences, )"01,1 and I handsome fellow himself, had wooed she had plenty of money for a maid, tional upsel came to her. She had a mal roo Dick earned $50 a week, -and women everywhere--can learn her for two ;rears before she married she cleaned the apartment aDd cooked massag~:, bought a new n"d hat, and ng,ng in the Fifth Avenue Presby­ the secrets o( successful marriage, him. Then, in the first sweet days of just to have something to do. Still, all called up Boris Morros. her husb nd s tl I.on Chureh in :>lew York. But Mil­ Ann Leaf, the (amed woman organ­ her marriage with "Kliny," she de­ that took only a couple of hours. She'd boss, "I'm a washout as a housewife," dred knew he dldn·t want to continue ist, is my choice for the perfect Career cided to give up her career entirely. been working since she was a girl. shl' managt'd to say lightly, "but I'm a Ithlll the h.mh..'11 field of church sJng­ Woman. At the age of twenty, she was "Women like me," she says, "have a Nothing she did gave her any sense of swell or~mist. That's what I oURht to ing. Slll""d search over music libraries already earning an excellent living double problem. We must satisfy two accomplishmenL Her life seemed to be doing, Barb;, Give me iln iludit!on, to find c')mpositions which would l;tim· h-.te, sh found Phil pacing up nd playing the organ at a large Los An­ sides of ourselves." her just waste, will you~' ulat him She kt:pt up ht:r o\\n piano down their little drawing-room in a geles motion picture theater, And Ann A year later, the KIcinerts were liv­ Kliny was puzzled and a little mis­ "Why sure!" answered tile director, wor so that lihe could be his accom~ Kind of tt'rror. He needed to find her was a very lovely young woman, too. ing in a very new, very modern apart­ erable, too. He and Ann had started Ann had her audition, was spoll.-'t-which 1 write m)'S"elf-or If your I)('rsonulily ill such tllat you to buy her mothel' a birthda,\' Plcsent The feud was already well eslab­ I'll bl' ad-Jibbing as I usually am-not AY something funny- -make me can't hC'lp saying: and wondered if )'ou'd pia)' an orches~ lished in everyone's mind: then B nny 100 runny, not too serious, not too any­ laugh!" "Wdl, Sprint: t<; in the air I just Ira number from her to her mother a built up Abc L~'man as a toughie ot thlllg, I hopt.'-c>pecially not a word S Yeh, they'll say it to you, too, .... omt.'body sllal my pursl' bdore I a pre~ent, t:lat's fine too. Thai's yOlL whom he was a little afraid, rh)llling' with frowsy, my friend, if you're a comedion. Your c.111e in the building." "What's your ~peak;ng' thaI's your pl'rsonalily. Li ­ Then came Fred Allen's remtlrk' intimates will say it to you when g somC'body swiping your money teners can take it or dial it out. You're '\;;hy, Benny, you're just a lugi' .\·c I DO;';:-'T want to be allotller JUt];, you're off the air. And your listeners t.) do with :Sl.ll',n~'!" sa,' a near-by nut dC'pt"nding on ga:;t alone- -'"ou're from a Ripley cartoon. 13l'llllV 01' O>lOrller Fred Allen, Every will do likewise-when you're on the tOO":l', convl'nlcnlly "Well, you iOIy, being yourself. Mar~' me;mwhill', sided wi,h Jatk o oft n, when the mood strikes me, air. ·il. [.II' a I know, it wa~ U l' libt rob­ But If your prog' am consi. I of' unexpectedly. nl rcp t my favorite story about the Irs like beina: 3 lion-tamer and b II JI SI.lI ng. COMEDIAN (ENTERS WITH B,mny and Allen leave to go out In time my lilUc son, Tommy. was learn­ t'vcry lime you meet someone, he says, A LOUD LAUGH). Heh-hch­ the hall and fight it out-return old ing to t:llk. "Go on. tame me a lion. Let's see you I tEAN" if you're thilt t,YPC of a guy heh·heh. Listen, Gu.• m)' girl buddi('s-L~'manchides Bcnn)" ag..in­ On(' day I said to :\11'.; ~lc1\eill: do it~'- .... 10 ha:i a slight impedimellt in nlS is calling me her 11ilgrim now and then Jal.'k Benny calls on his n, N "Wh~' doe. he ay 'Mamma' all the You could respond. "I'm SOTI")', the p -namely. gag~ -:.11 \\ell and STOOGE (ALMOST AS CON­ budd~· Fred Allen, to protect him time Why doe;n'l he e\'Cr say 'Dad­ lion is busy," but then you'dj1ave all good. And if )'OU can get serious at VULSED AS HE WAS OX THE Call it situation il you \\ ill-there S dy" .\f1'1" all, I'm around here, too:' the earmarks of a comedian, and peo­ ple would again beg, "Go on, say some­ At left (below): Don McNeill crosses his legs on a convenient table. Below: Don with his one·year·old laon, Don, Jr. "The older they get. thing funny; make me laugh:' leanl back. clolca hil eyel, dreilm. up his lines. He writca hi. own the lellS they lilugh ilt my jokes:' uid Funnymiln Don once. practising So where are you" seript. Below: Don bitel hi. tongue, gets an idea, lifts phone to tell it on hi. bilby son. and hoping his stUff isn't "a word rhyming with frow.y" So you're better off not being too much of a funn:)' fellow. If people don't expect a hilarious witticism to (lroal from your lips every time you 0lX'n )'our mouth-then wh~m )'OU do say something funny, unexpected like, ~'ou've got something there-besides • )'our uppers! At least, that's the way I've doped it out. And I'm jui:1. the dope that can do it. There's only one Jack Benny, one Fred Allt'n, and from then on there're your Burnses, Bakers, Beetles, Bottles, Bernies, Budds and Sioopnagles, your Cantors, Penners. Wynns, and Muen­ chausens. So what? So the first two named have gotten along on pcrsonality---especially Benny -and let the gags faU where they may ... and some Sundays they rna)'! It's taken me ten long years on the wireless to find where I belong and I hope the answer isn't equidistant from two plow handles. I'm not exactly an

announcer, not exactly a comedian­ V5. just a messer of ceremonies. I know I can't sing. I have one of those toothpaste voices-you squecze it and it comes out ftat. I know I can't tell funny jokes all the time because I can't afford a staff 01 gag writers; and then too, 1 get tired 01 hearing the .same jokes on .... ther shows. But I do know that I can be mUlel! on the air -i( that means throwing in a pun on the least provocation. IF THAT mean" _mentioning my two kidJi and my WIfe (samee one alice DRESS REHEARSAL) Why, a grand one there, 01 course-but I "Yes, I know,' she said, "1 .....3.>n't time-never changee) whenever I hap­ tell me, So and So, why does think it's all personaJity-a blending going to tell him who )'ou were until pen to think 01 something that IT'S WHAT YOU ARE-NOT your girl call )'ou her pilgrim? o( personalities-that made it tile he wa'l a little stronger." happened at home I want to mention CO~tEDIAN (WITH OR WITH­ grand show that it was, Dear reader, I can just hear you tell­ -I'm sorry again. OUT DIALECT): Because every ing me, "Sa)' something !lInnv--make After all, l'm married, I don't care WHAT YOU SAY THAT COUNTS time I call, I make a little MY POINT is proved more or less by me laugh!" who knows it. And I like to talk about progress. (STUDIO AUDIENCE the fact that eomedians using it-but I would have stopped long ago GOES NUTS AS PAGE BOY gags alone are far behind Benny and Don McNetll m ..y be heard Frid..ys il I didn't think Iistene~ rather en­ -AND DON MC NEILL IS JUST HOLDS UP SIGN SAYING Allen in popularity. The reason bemg on "Tea Time ..t Morrell." over an joyed hearing someone who wasn't "LAUGHTER, PLEASE.") that they are just automatons spouting NBC network at 4 p.m. EDT (3 EST; 3 ashamed of the (act that he's happBy If )'our program is a half-hour of Joe Millers, whereas the personality COT; 2 CST; 1 MST; 12 noon PST); married---even though being happily that sluff, I classify ~'ou as "Gags"­ boys are real people to the listeners-­ allo on "Breakfalt Club," Monday married means one darned thing after THE "DOPE" WHO CAN DOPE IT! and I'm all (or a personality program. and if they are good-real friends. through Saturdly over an NBC net­ the othe!r, After all, a bachelor's life One of the best examples of a pro­ Alter drawing these conclusions lor work It 9 ".m. EDT (8 EST; 8 COT; 7 is one undarrted thing after the other. gram chuck full of personality, to my myseU, 1'\'e decided just to be myself CST; 6 MST; 5 PST). You see-there! I go again! , .~dlo , Chid• • W••• EndlltQ Moy 22, 1937 9 8 Radla Guid• • w••• Eftdin') May 22, 1931 Next day the battle raged, The course the gogip columnists didn't chains he said would bind him forever "Tell 'em they can't have it-and then qUlbtion of the hour was, "Should know that. and the item was picked to the plumbing unless Miss Hurlbut stand by for the mob scene" is a tried­ Vandenburg have been cut off the up. And then one day. quite by acci­ relented, bade him be her \. IT own. and-true principle of the prCSl'-agent! air'?" Republican partisans said Van­ dent, Patti and Bob met in an NBC For a few days, until the public tired. "Press-agl'nt." by the wa~', is a term denburg's speech had been "censored" studio, it was great Iituff, the name of Ex­ that finds little favor in the profes* "GET IT IN THE PAPERS! GET IT and charged discrimination. Demo­ "So you're the man I love!" celsior Springs went humming o'er the sion_ "Publicity man" or 'publicity di­ crats upheld the letter of the broad­ "So you're the girl" _ ," land-and Miss Hurlbut aPPC:ll'ed on rector" is a little better, with "public ON PAGE ONE! GET IT ON THE cast law and charged the debate was That WllS over a year ago. Now they the air as guest star with Phil Baker, relations counsel" given top ranking. unfair in the first place. Meanwhile, mean it, and as Mr. and ::\frs. Bob The late Ivy Lee, one of the all-time RADIO!" IT'S PUBLICITY. IT'S BIG Vandenburg and the Republican party Simmons they're sworn to keep on WHEN pres...;-agents get together greats, is generally credited with be­ got a million dollars' worth of free meaning it until death doth them part! and tall talk goes around the ta­ ing the fir;,;l "public relations coun­ BUSINESS. IT'S PART OF YOUR publicity. And they had it coming! As fantastic a stunt as ballooned on ble, sooner or later the name of Harry sel." It was Lee who persuaded Amer­ the front pages last Winter was built Reichenbach comes up. Reichenbach, ican industrialists that publicity and LI FE-BUT DON'T YOU BEll EVE IT! TO MOST politicians radio publicity around the "love angle" by Tom Fiz­ now dead, was the Old Ma~ter of the profits go hand in hand-and he is of vital importance only during dale, Chicago publicity ace and the profession. He wouldn't work for less proved it! pre-election campaigns; but to radio same man who jarred the nation with than a thousand dollars a week, and The press-agent and the newspaper stars, it·s something more than that. the Vandenburg-Roosevelt debate. This he made fortunes for his employers. city editor are popularly supposed to They can't live without it, and they­ was the startling "chain and radiator" Millions of Americans who think be forever at swords' points, but as a Robert Simmon. and their agents-will go to any gag, and if you don't remember it, you Rembrandt is a town in Michi.':an can matter ot fact, they are vitally impor­ i1nd Patti Picken., BY KEN W. PURDY lengths to get it, weren't reading the newspapers dur­ identify the painting "September tant to each other. The press-agent A pren-agent ru" Standard, of course, is the "ro­ ing February in this year 193i, If Morn'"-and Reichenbach is the rea­ gets valuable space from the newspa­ mored they were mance" stunt. You know it well. Hol­ )'OU do remember it, you may recaU '-On. "September Morn," befon' Reich­ pers, but he gives valuable service in "that way" - be­ l~'wood fin;t brought it to perfedion, that the storics about it that flooded enbach went to work on it, was just return. No newspaper in the world fore they'd met! still uses it continuously. It·s a simple the land were all date-lined "Excelsior another calendar throw-awa)'. He could afford to maintain a stal! of rt"­ The story brought procedure. Word is allowed to "leak" Springs, Mo." Therein lies the tale. made it so famous that se\'en million parten large enough thoroughl)' to them together_ out - via leased wire - to the effect Excelsior Springs has long been lo­ copies were sold at one dollar each! cover even the United States alone. now they're wed! "Gloomy Sun, that Sanya Samovarovitch, the latest cally famous for its curative waters, His method was simplicit)' itself. The press-agent is an important day" was ju.t Continenlal importation, is in love That was just the trouble-it was only Reichenbach knew that people want source of news. But his news must another song­ with a famous male star, They're pic­ locally famous. That's why Fizdale nothing so much as that which is for­ be carefully chosen, and that's where until a clever tured holding hands, dancing, dining. was called in-to spread the name Ex­ bidden them. He worked on this the rub comes in. press,agent took Gos;;ip columnists chronicle their de­ celsior Springs over the land, And premise, First of all he had a large Many and circuitous are the de­ It over! Then it votion. Breathless random is told ex­ that's just what he did! display of the painting placed in a vices used by press-agents to sneak beca me a sensa­ actly how much Samovarovitch's lover prominent store-window, Next he past the city editor, But some times ton, You heard it, spends on the daily ordcr of 20 dozen IF ALL the world loves a lover, Fiz- hired a group of small boys to stand it works the other way! One NBC an­ O THEY shot Max Baer and carted of Broadway. The dazzling Held talked about it! orchids. But nobody's blood-pressure dale reasoned, tnen the world must gaping in front of the display. Then nounccr is still popular today only be­ him off to the hospital. beauty, this bright young man in­ goes up-least of all that of the peo­ have twice as much love for a lover in he phoned Anthony Comstock, head of cause his press-agent thinks !ast. S They shot him deliberately and formed a gasping world, was due to ple involved. It's strictly the old trouble-a lover whose sweetheart's the Anti-Vice Society, In cold blood, before dozens of horri­ daily milk baths. As a matter of fact, build-up and it means merel~· that heart belongs to another! Fizdale de­ "There's an obscene picture in So­ THIS announcer was unjustly accused .,,'