Evening Star Newspaper, July 20, 1930, Page 48

Behind the Microphone BY THE RADIO EDITOR. YNCHRONIZATION of broad- casting stations on the same channel, the goal of engi- neering research for several S years, will be the next step in the development of radio, according to Edwin K. Cohan, director of | § technical operations of the Co- lumbia Broadcasting System. With synchronization, Cohan predicts, will come better recep- tion and the elimination of the terrific congestion in the broad- cast band. “Of late the subject of tele- vision has been so pre-eminently in the limelight and so many pre- dictions have appeared in print relating to the possible addition of this science,” Cohan said, “that another equally important gift of science and one which also will have a decided effect upon the listening public has been ignored. That is simultaneous broadcast- ing of several stations on the same wave band.” Cohan predicts on the basis of recent results that within a short time it will be possible to operate several stations on the same channel, extending from coast to coast. This development, he thinks, probably will be forth- coming before television becomes a means of practical home enter- tainment. A PROGRAM of real Gaelic mu- sic in the almost forgotten Gaelic language is scheduled to be heard throughout the United States for the first time Tuesday afternoon, when the National Broadcasting Co. attempts to pick up and rebroadcast from a meet= ing of the Inverness Gaelic Choir at Aberdeen, Scotland. The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 2:15 o'clock, Washington time, and is to continue 45 minutes. The Inverness Gaelic Choir is among the outstanding groups of its kind in Scotland. It is com- posed of approximately 50 voices and has been in existence more than 50 years. * ok ok % INCENT LOPEZ, who is heard ! regularly through the Na- tional Broadcasting Co., has signed a contract with the St. Regis Hotel management in New York which assures him a gross income of $1,000,000 in the next five years. One hundred thou- sand dollars was the cash consid- eration involved in the contract. The hotel management will di- rect the activities of Lopez and his group of orchestras. The lead- er himself will be heard regularly over the network. e e TATION WRC celebrates its seventh birthday anniversary August 1. In its first year of op- eration the station broadcast for several hours every other day. Today it operates more than 17 hours daily. The station was opened by the Radio Corporation of America. In 1926, however, the National Broadcasting Co. took over the management and operation. Of the employes on the opening day, only Kenneth H. Berkeley, tion he makes suggestions as to how their voices may be improved. He also gives advice as to the preparation of material for the radio. “ e e TAGING a sponsored radio pro- gram is not always a mani- festation of mere commercialism. Roy Durstine, the advertising man, recounts in the book “Ra- dio and Its Future” how broad- cast programs are sometimes or- dered by executives of large com- panies simply as an “exciting plaything” for themselves or their wives. Comes now the periodical of the show business, Variety, with these observations about the foibles of the men who pay for radio programs: “Paralleling the instance of a picture producer ordering changes in a talker because of his daugh- ter’s suggestions, it’s more or less of a standing gag that one of the most prominent advertising agents in America is governed in | the commercial radio programs he presents by the opinion of his young daughter. If the youngster okeys a program’s reception, that’s all this high-powered ad man cares for. “It’s quite a gag, too, among radio commercials how a flock of vice presidents endeavor to evi- dence their showmanship in fram- ing radio entertainments. One head of a tobacco broadcaster is a bug for old-time tunes, and his program includes a good percent- age of them. He also stages par- ties, rolls back the carpet and hoofs to the hour his company sponsors. “There are instances galore of the interference of commercial men or their advertising agents with the actual radio program di- rector, not to mention the talent and how they must yes them more than an assistant director in Hollywood.” R AMERICAN and Canadian radio cum of satisfaction from the knowledge that the cycle of radio business inevitably turns upward during the latter half of the year. Radio Retailing estimates, on the basis of reports from radio deal- ers who furnished monthly sales figures for 1929, that by far the greatest amount of radio buying is done from September onward. During 1929, for example, only 38 per cent of radio retailing busi- ness was done in the first six months. July marked the year’s lowest ebb in radio sales with 3.96 per cent. But after that sales in- creased progressively in the fol- lowing percentages: August, 5.67; September, 8.94; October, 12.27; THE SUNDAY B \’ THE THREE ‘Winsome She is heard contribute to the “Works of Great Com; N. B. C. soprano. STAR., WASHINGTON GROUP OF POPULAR RADIO ARTISTS GITLA : ERSTINN | CRAWFORDS Mary McCoy Is probably one of the busiest sopranos on the air. several times a week over an N. B. C. network. Today she will ”” program. Gitla Erstinn is another She is one of the featured soloists in the Chase and Sanborn broadcast. The threr Crawfords—Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Crawford and their ){lovember, 14.23, and December, Thus it will be seen that ap- proximately 53 per cent of all ra- dio buying is done during the months of September, October, November and December. Never- theless, the first quarter of 1930, according to Department of Com- merce estimates, accounted for total retail sales of radio equip- ment amounting to $144,500,000, compared with $132,000,000 for the now manager, remains. There are, however, a number of em- ployes who have been at WRC five years: A. E. Johnson, division en- gineer; Ynez Whitney, secretary to Mr. Berkeley; Sanford Rose, field supervisor, and George F. Ross, announcer. = . MORSE SALISBURY of the ra- dio department of the De- partment of Agriculture is the Government’s most frequent net- work broadcaster. He is on the air five days a week, introducing department officials who address the farmers of the country. In addition, it is Mr. Salisbury’s task to select two speakers every day for the national farm and home hour, a feature which is princi- gnlly for farmers. Mr. Salisbury as 1,000 speakers to choose from each day. Before any of the department’s officials go on the air, Mr. Salis- bury gives them an audition in first three months of 1929. Prospects are reported to be fair for the radio business this year, et one shadow casts itself athwart the trade. Fears are cur- rent that another season of over- production, such as led to heavy dumping and price cutting last Winter, is in prospect. Some 4,700,000 radio sets were manufac- tured in 1929, of which 4,200,000 were sold. This year every indi- cation in the radio field, as in general business, points to -re- stricted demand—a repetition, not of 1929, but of 1928, when sales were 3,000,000. According to reliable authori- ties, the sale of 3,500,000 sets is the top that can be expected this year. Nevertheless, some set man- ufacturers appear determined to g0 on a 1,000,000-set program. The danger looms of overproduc- tion, with consequent disaster to the radio business as a whole and with consequent good in the long the N. B. C. studios. At this audi- D. C. Naval Reserve Considerable _improvement in _the training and efficlency of the 1st Bat- talion, United States Naval Reserves of the District of Columbia, was shown this year, as compared with last year, according to a preliminary report on the result of the recent annual inspec- tions held at the armory here, Officers and men were highly elated over the report made by the special board from the Navy Department which conducted the tests, and a wireless message con- veying the result was dispatched imme- «liately to the United States Destroyer Abel P. Upshur, which is cruising off the New Sngland Coast with the mem- bers of the 2d Fleet Division aboard, taking their annual sea training. While the full report showing the standing for each battalion and fleet division throughout the country has not been received, it was said that the Jocal battalion stood twelfth among the 34 battalions. Of the 148 fleet di- visions in the country the 3d Fleet Di- vision of the local organization stood forty-third, the 1st Fleet Division forty-sixth and the 2d Fleet Division ninety-third. Evidence that the competition be- tween all of the divisions was very keen is indicated by the relative figure of merits given to each division. The '3d Fleet Division was given a per- centage of 79.4, with the 1st Fleet Di- vision 79.2, a difference of two-tenths of a point being sufficient to move the divisions three places apart. The 2d Fleet Division was given a percentage ©of 754, while 47 places removed from the 1st Division, yet only a difference of 3.8 in the merit figure. Those familiar with the workings of the local battalion say that the figures given in this preliminary report show that the local battalion and the di- visions have moved up from 8 to 10 points since the inspection of last year, | which they consider very good. The officer personnel, with the aid of Lieut. Comdr. R. S. Field, inspector-instructor of the local battalion and former com- mander of their training ship, the Abel P. Upshur, have been putting the men through an intensive period of training | | during the past year for the purpose of | Climbing close {5 the top. As a matter | of fact. Comdr. Field. with other of- $cers from the Washington Navy Yard, rrranged a rehearsal inspection several Tmenths ago for the specific purpose of Aetermining the training in which the local Reservist: were deficient, and im- mediate steps were taken by the Re- | e officers to stress these points in e drills, This preliminary inspection, it was said, probably did more than enything else to raise the standards in the local organization. The battalion is commanded by Lieut. r<muel W. Stinemetz. The 3d Fleet run to no one. commanded by Lieut. C. H. Willlams. The 1st Fleet Division is commanded by Lieut. John M. Fewell, but up to and including the annual inspection was headed by Lieut. Harold E. Rich- ardson, who since has been promoted to commander of the Headquarters Di- vision and executive officer of the bat- talion. The 2d Fleet Division is com- manded by Lieut. John F. Moore. The 2d Fleet Division yesterday when the United States Destroyer Abel P. Upshur returned to her berth at the Washington Navy Yard. After spending part of the week with the Atlantic Scouting Fleet Destroyer Squadron in war games off the New England Coast, the vessel was detached for the pur- pose of holding target practice off the eastern end of Long Island. Upon their return yesterday both officers and men were placed on an inactive status for another year. ington Navy Yard here until next Sat- urday, when the officers and men of the ‘Third Fleet Division will board her for & two weeks’ cruise over the same itin- erary. With the Washington men aboard the destroyer will be a fleet division of Reserves from the battalion stationed at_Raltimore, Md. Earlier in the week the pay rolls for the crew on the first voyage were re- ceived at the Washington headquarters and were sent to the Navy Yard pay- master, who had them ready for the payment of the officers and men soon after the arrival of the ship here. It is expected that five officers and fifty enlisted men will take the cruise next Saturday. On Friday night they will report at the local armory for the examination to determine their fitness for active service. Lieut. Comdr. P. V. H. Weems is ex- pected to come here soon as the new inspector-instructor of the local Reserve battalion to relieve Lieut. Comdr. R. 8. Field, who recently was named as aide to the commandant of the Washington Navy Yard. Comdr. Field reecntly re- linquished command of the destroyer Upshur while it was at Norfolk under- | going_its annual overhead, the vessel | now being temporarily in command of Lieut. Dayton. | _The commandant of the Washington Navy Yard has received a copy of or- | ders directing Comdr. Weems to report | here as inspector-instructcr. However, completed its two weeks of sea training, | . ‘The vessel will remain at the Wl&h-i purpose of going through & physical | (Continued From Yesterday's Star.) TWENTY-FOURTH INSTALLMENT. ITH Cranson's dramatic de- nouncement of John Dia- mond, a silence fell upon the room—a_silence which remained unbroken until a rusty squeak announced that the latch of the front door had been lifted. All eyes turned in the direction from which the sound came. In the hall, just outside, stood a dirty and woe- begone little figure. It was Willie Prentice. Seeing him- self observed, the newcomer took a step forward and asked, with what, under the circumstances, was the anti-climax of anxiety: “Has any one seen that man who went out with me a little while ago?” Cropsey said in a shaken voice, “You mean David?” “That's” what he called himself, I think.” Prentice crossed to the center of the room, scraping his foot on the backs of his trousers legs at every other step. “Did he come back here?” Miss Barth told him no, adding with nervous impatience that it would be well if some folks knocked before they walked into houses that didn't belong to them. It was evident the good lady had her mind set on hearing the rest of what Derick Cranson had to say, and was displeased to the point of dis- traction upon encountering a delay from such trivial sources. Annassa West, however, was of a different mind. She stepped forward. The light from the candles on the mantel shelf fell full on her tense face and gold gown. “What happened—to my—stable boy? When did you last see him?” Cropsey cast the girl a look and saw that she controlled herself, but with an_effort. “We went as far as the cellar in the red barn,” explained Willie Prentice in his high-pitched schoolboy tenor, “and David showed me the mouth of the tunnel. He sald some one must have been through it in the last hour or two because the packing boxes had been moved and not put back. I got down on my hands and knees"—invol- untarily he crouched as he described the scene—“and crawled a little way into_the hole. I didn’t hear anything of David. I called, ‘Are you coming with me?” No one answered, so I backed out again.” Here the narrator retreated a step or two by way of help- ing his hearers to visualize what had happened. “And he wasn't there. He'd gone from e cellar.” Plaintively, “left me flat.” Annassa West half closed her eyes. For a moment she swayed on the high- heeled brocaded slippers. But as Crop- sey reached out a hand to steady her, her voice, firm, unshaken, demanded, hat did you do then?” “Why, then,” sald Willie Prentice, as prosaically as though dark underground tunnels were a part of his everyday existence, “I went to the hole again and crawled through it until I came to the en “And you found * * *?” Cropsey and Annassa West put the same ques- tion, both in one breath. | . Willie Prentice wiped some mud from his face with a still muddier hand- kerchief, “Nothing,” he said in a discouraged | voice, “nothing at all. Suddenly, there I was up out of the ground, no better off than I was before.” ‘To most of the company this talk of a tunnel was an irritating and mean- ingless digression, but to Miss West and the managing editor of the New York Free Press no topic could have been more grippingly vital. There was one other in the room who lstened with alert attention, had the others but noticed it, and that was the little veterinary. Cropsey asked eagerly, “Where did the tunnel end?” “On the other side of the graveyard,” sald Willie, and wiped his face for the second time. “In that boggy patch of_wood. “Ah!" The veterinary flung himself forward with such unexpected fury that both Cropsey and Garling, who had been his_jailers, were taken un- ! aware and lost their hold on his arms. But free, the little horse doctor made no attempt to touch the wounded man on the couch. Instead, taking up a position near the mantel, he snatched | the heavy wrought-iron poker from its Took, swung it about his head. “Stand back,” he ordered. And they obeyed | the tone of desperation in the voice. | “There was a breathless moment while he glared at them from 1~ bushy brows. Then, in an unexr |calm and_rational voice: “I see I must tell all” one hand dramatically. “Behind me lies the secret of Bride's Iy He raised while it was indicated that the orders are silent as to whether Comdr. Weems will assume command of the Upshur, it is probable that he will, because it has House, and before me the author of it.” Pointing to the owner of the Daily Free Press, “That man, cringing there been the practice in the past for the under the name of Diamond, i8 in real- iohy ohtnined the highest di- . ol outhit, is inspectag-instructor to also command it: the training cnctroyer, John Renny, & cljgap adventurer. . Almost 30 years go he came to Hales dealers may derive a modi- | daughter Jessie. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are the popular Columbia organists. Ask No Questions By Beldon Duff Copyright, 1930, by Nerth American Newspaper Aliance, Ine. Crossing, wormed his way into this peaceful home, and, hypocrite that he is, persuaded Jane Runnels, against her father's wishes, to marry him. When the marriage had taken place, when the father had died and the Runnels’ money came into his wife's hands, he——" the accusatory voice quavered and broke—“he killed her— beat her to death with an empty whisky bottle and hid her body behind the bricks and mortar of this fire- place.” ‘The unmistakable ring of truth in the recital sent a thrill of consterna- tion, of sick foreboding, throughout the room. With one accord every person present turned toward the millionaire, What they saw did not tend to lessen their anxiety. Squirmjng over on his uninjured shoulder, the owner of the Fress Press buried his face in the sofa cushions. His muffled cry of “Don't, Cranson! Don't! was all too obviously the pro- test of & guilty man tortured beyond endurance. Cropsey laid & hand on his employ- er’s _shoulder. ‘The fellow is mad,” he said hurried- ly, “stark mad.” John Diamond flung the hand away and with an effort dragged himself into a sitting position. Reading the purpose in the eyes that stared at him out of the white face, Cropsey was quick to follow up his protest with a warning. “Don't say anything tonight, chief. You're hurt. You'Tre not yourself.” ‘The words fell on deaf ears. In a voice from which every emotion save had fled, John “I must speak. His gaze swept the room, to pause at last, unwillingly on the mammoth fire- place. “When Derick Cranson says I killed Jane Runnels, he speaks the truth. I killed her—beat her to death, here, on this very spot. It was a drunken crime, & crime of the moment, here was no premeditation in the act, ‘only a frenzied man’'s attempt to check the tongue of a shrewish woman He paused. “When I saw what I had done, fear and the recollection of & story I had read suggested a means of cover- ing up my crime. I was rebuilding the fireplace at the time, trying to model it after the one in my home in Maryland. There was quite a wide space between it and the outer wall of the house.” Without rafsing his eyes, which during the recital he had kept studiously fixed on the rug beside the couch, “I picked my wife’s body up in my arms and dropped it into, this space. The sound it made as it hit the floor did something to me. I had to drown the recollection of that thud before I could go on Wwith the rest of the walling up. There were two full bottles of lquor In the cupboard. How much I drank I never knew—a tum- blerful with every row of bricks I set. Maybe more. When I came to, the Lext day, the fireplace was finished, but across its face were scrawled the words you see there now—'Ask no questions.”” No one spoke. The horror of what they had just heard semed temporarily to have destroyed the power of speech. ‘The millionaire, uninterrupted, resumed his confession: “I scraped the words off with a trowel, but the next day they were there again, and the next and the next. Every time I recovered from one of the drunken stupors with which I tried to blot out the memory of what I had done, those terrible words faced me.” With a contraction of the brows, ‘‘of course, I knew I was putung them there myself—that my subsconsclous mifd had decided to warn the conscious me against too much talking—a hunter- hunted fixation. But I also knew that if the thing kept up I should go mad. So I packed what few things I needed, closed the house and fled.” Still no one spoke. There was noth- ing to say. John Diamond semed depressed by the silence, but he struggled on, be- | ginning_painstakingly from the point where he had left off: “For the first week or two I thought of course my crime would be discov- ered, that I should be hunted down and executed. 1 even resigned myself to the thought of death, welcoming it as a blessed relief. But as time wore on and I still walked the earth, a free man, hope revived. I wanted to live. I wanted to succeed.” With a grim smile, “I have done both. At this, without rhyme or reason, the emotional Abby commenced to cry. Like her virtue, her grief was uncontrolled. It took noisy means of expressing itself. Until the worst paroxysms had been hushed, no_one could get a word in edgewise. But at last the monotonous voice was able to make itself heard again, “After three months I summoned up sufficient courage to come back to Hales Crossiffg, bringing with me & hermeti- cally sealed coffin. The coffin was sup- | posed to hold the body of my wife, dead D. .0 PATENTS ON RADIO FLOW FROM OFFICE Television Devices Lead Field at Present as American Inventors Bend to Task. Patents covering radio devices con- tinue to issue from the United States Patent Office at a steady rate, both to notables in the radio realm and to ob- scure inventors. Particularly note- worthy recently has been the flow of patents covering various systems of television. American patent rights on their tele- vision systems have been secured by Alexandre Dauvillier of Paris and Pedro Torrabadell of Concepcion del Uruguay, Argentina. Other television systems have been patented jointly by Willlam H. Whitten, jr, and Thaddeus R. Golds- borough of Pittsburgh, who have as- signed their rights to Westinghouse, and by Alfred N. Goldsmith and Julius ‘Weinberger of New York, who have as- signed rights to Radio Corporation of America. Frank Ryuzo Tanimoto of Los Angeles, obtained a patent on a television device and numerous new pat- ents on varlous television parts have been issued to C. Francis Jenkins, the ‘Washington inventor. Dr. Lee De Forest, whose invention of the three-element tube has won him the soubriquet of “father of radio,” has been turning his attention of late to talking pictures and within the last week ob- tained three patents on devices for re- cording and reproducing sound. Ed- ward H. Loftin and Sydney Y. White of Loftin-White amplifier fame, Tespec- tively obtained patents on a system of teledynamic control and on electrical detector-amplifier circuits, the latter assigning limited rights to the Radio Corporation of America. A device for protecting dirigibles and balloons from radio and destructive disturbances has been patented by Al- fred Crossley of Washington, who has assigned limited rights to the Federal Telegraph Co. Frank Conrad, pioneer broadcaster, has taken out patents on his new short-wave antenna arrange- ment and in collaboration with John B. Coleman of Pittsburgh also patented a frequency-control device. A tube con- nector has been patented by Harry P. Davis of the Westinghouse Co.,, and a radio amplifying system by Dr. Green- leaf Whittier Pickard of Newton Center, Mass. ST & STATION ON BORDER Equipment in Mexico Ready August 1. MCALLEN, Tex. (#).—The Texas- Mexico border’s most powerful radio station will be in operation by August 1. The 5,000-watt station is being built in Reynosa, Mexico, across the Rio Grande, because the Federal Radio Commission was unable to issue a li- cense for operation of such a unit in this section of Texas. Studios will be maintained in McAllen and Reynosa. Programs will be broad- cast simultaneously from each. ——— i Millions in Radio Audience. Daylight radio programs over the networks never have less than 1,000,- 000 listeners and evening programs sometimes have as many as 17,500,000 listeners, says Frank A. Arnold of the National Broadcasting Co. Powerful of smallpox, which was then raging in Montreal. It was buried unceremoni- cusly in the Runnels family graveyard. No one attended the funeral. No one wanted to come near me. Smallpox, as 1 well knew, was a dread word in that day and generation.” Abby’s grief suddenly changed to in- dignation. “Oh, the villain!” she cried, only to be suppressed by a warning glance from Miss West. 1930—PAKT FOUR. . 1 PERFECTLY executed shriek 18| her box and asked if she might have one infallible hallmark of a fin-| plause, passed it over. He has been ished radio “thriller” actress. wondering ever since what became of it. recognized in the studios as the |the caricature. Bill, amid much ap- | kind of shriek would do, just as long as back of the balcony. But in broad- casting it isn't so easy. Now, a good, substantial shriek that hasn't much besides volume and a penetrating qual- ity may be all right in its way, but it isn't subtle enough for the microphone. When a woman screeches in & radio melodrama, the listener must be able to make a good guess as to whether it even delight. The stage actress can make a lot of noise and rely on the expression of her face to tell what she hasn't bothered to put into the scream itself. A first-rate actress, of course, would be just as care- ful on her own account to select just the right kind of screech as the radio actress is forced to be. When just the right shade of shrieking isn't forth- coming, it's up to the production man assigned to whip the particular pro- gram into shape to see what he can do about it. A shriek of delight is a cinch. You can get 1t from any actress without half trying. The distinction between pain, fright and just plain surprise is some- what more difficult to bring out. You can get the “pain” shriek very often by a slight twist of the actress’ wrist. It isn't enough to hurt her, but usually she expects it is going to, and shrieks anyway. Besides, the shriek is always indicated in ‘the script, and the bit of external persuasion gives it the finish- ing touch. Joe Granby, a very frequent radio villain, fears he won't have a friend left among radio actresses if directors don’t quit drafting him as the wrist twister. Just the right degree of fright is somewhat harder to obtain. Most di- rectors get this and the right degree of surprise by long rehearsal. Occasion- ally they assign some one to clutch the actress suddenly by the shoulders just at the moment her script calls for a scream, but usually it requires patience and a great deal of explanation. The actress who can deliver the proper shriek on order is a rarity. * kK X I don’t know how I missed it, but I have just discovered that Bill Steinke of “Jolly Bill and Jane” used to be a clown in the circus. have suspected it. Bill is clowning al- most all the time. He has been a news- paper man and a cartoonist. He still works pretty hard at cartooning, even now. His drawings appear every day in a New York newspaper and in the convention numbers of a good many trade journals. And here's the circus story I just heard about Bill: When the big show was playing in Washington during the second year of Mr. Coolidge’s first term Jolly Bill had an act all his own. The President and Mrs. Coolidge had a box near the middle ring, and Bill, all dressed up and decorated in approved circus fashion, clowned around the out- side track, drawing caricatures of mem- bers of the audience on & big pad of p-pehr. vlv(hlch another clown carried on ck. As they passed the presidential box, Bill decided to outdo himself. He gan to draw, and at first not even those who craned their necks almost out into the arena could make out what he was trying to picture. In a moment, how- ever, it was clear that he was drawing the head of a man, but it was upside down. way up there was a roar of laughter, th joined. The drawing of Coolidge w easily_recognizable. As Bill and his partner were about to (To be continued.) move away, Mrs. Coolidge leaned from On the stage almost any old| |1t was loud enough to penetrate to the| | means fright, anger, pain, surprise or | T suppose I might| ‘When he turned it the right| which the President and Mrs. Coolidge | Bill makes use of his skill in drawing |in his daily programs. There is a black- board in each studio, ordinarily used for scheduling musical numbers, but program begins, pictures and charts of the morning’s adventures. In this way, he says, he finds it much easier to point out to little Jane just what is going to ‘happen.nnd why. And both of them | think it's & lot of fun. * ok ok % ‘While all of us in radio do a good bit | of flying, most of it in the way of busi- ness, the only man on the air I know | | who has a plane is Andy Sannella. | | Andy has been an ardent sportsman pilot for a long time, and what he | Wn\an is speed. He gets it, by the way. He won't have anything to do with aerial ice wagons. The chief engineer at our studios had a plane, and is a first rate pilot, ‘but he had so little time for flying that | he finally decided to sell it. I'd like | one, but my wife, who doesn't seem to | have much confidence in my abilities | along that line, says she doesn't think widow's weeds would be becoming. Some of the other folks on the air | spend their extra time—and pennies— on the water. Sam Herman, one of the crack xvlophonists (he's so good that | they give him a program all his own), has a speedboat, and takes it out no matter what the weather. He's been | unusually lucky, or perhaps he's an ex- | ceptionally good pilot, for he never high winds have driven almost every- body else to shelter. Gus Haenschen, who conducts the | Palmolive Hour, likes boats, too, but he’s a little more conservative. He has a big cabin cruiser, and during the hot weather he practically lives aboard it while it is anchored off Larchmont. Jimmy Melton, top tenor of the Revelers, has, I fear, just bought a cruiser, too. I haven't seen it, but those who have tell me that it is the last worgd in maritime luxury. Floyd Gibbons recently set a speed record around Manhattan Island in a fast motor boat, but Floyd desn’t own |it. He can afford one well enough, but Floyd is the kind of man who | doesn't like to acquire possessions. He has traveled around the world so much | he is footloose, and he likes to feel able | to cut and run to somewhere else at a | moment’s notice. As a matter of fact, he boasts that he can start on a two year's trip within an hour, without leaving anything behind him. It prob- ably isn't much of an exaggeration, at that, L ., . o 3 ‘This radio business is “catching.” It | affects people who aren’t in it, even | children. Rosalie Wolfe, the soprano, | has an instance of it in her own home. | Although Miss Wolfe really specializes in German Lieder, and has been heard on the air a great deal In so widely different a fleld as_comic opera, she really likes to sing Bach for her own amusement. Miss Wolfe happens to be married to a physician, and they have two little sons, 7 and 4 years old. Their mother doesn't want them to be singers or mu- sicians when they grow up, but she | suspects she may not have anything to say about it. Incidentally, Miss Wolfe's listeners often take her for a native German. Although she was born in the United States, listeners who have come from different parts of Germany often write to tell her they are sure, from her ac- cent, that she must have come from he same district. The letters, she says, ave come in a steady stream during all the years she has sung these songs on ihe air. Bill hastily sketches, just before the | | seems to have any trouble, even when | McNAMEE'S QUESTION BOX Q. Is Virginia Gardiner married! How old is she? Does she look like ht pictures>—G. R. V., Washington, D. A. Miss Gardiner isn't married. think she is about 25 years old, a she is even better looking than her pi tures indicate. She is a blonde, wel over medium height, and she likes dogy | When she tried to get & job broadcastd ing she asked for an audition as singer. However, actresses were need and she was immediately booked in dra« matic programs. She starred in thd Empire Builders’ program, in which shd occasionally sings. Q. Is Al Bernard of the Dutch Mas- | ters’ Minstrels a Southerner?—Miss B L., Malden, Mass. A. Yes. He was born in New Or« leans, and began singing comedy songi theaters there. He has been iif New ork since 1919, and most of his work before he began broadcasting, in 1922 was for phonograph records. Old- timers in radio will remember him a4 | one of the Record Boys, a group wh\rj he organized. He made a radio tour the United States, in which he sangd over most of the first-class stations. | Q. Is Arthur Allen, the comedy actor, | & Canadian?—George Halsey, Toronto | Ontario, Canada. A. No. Arthur was born in Gowanda, |N. Y. However, he once played stoch |in Toronto. Before his stock experis ence he was a church organist, and before he came on the air he was playe ing character roles on Broadway. Hid mother advised him not to go In radio, telling him he “hadn't the voice. Now his New England characterizationd are probably unequaled on the air. H hobby is gardening, and he paints his own house at Hemstead, Long Island. Q. Are Milton Cross and Alwyn Bach married?>—P. T., Chicago, IlL A. Yes. Both of them are. Q. What is Keith McLeod's native city?>—Mary Norris, Oneonta, N. Y. A. Loveland, Colo. I have often heard it said he is a native of Denver, but this is a misunderstanding, prob- ably due to the fact that he was gradue ated from Denver University. Q. Have Amos 'n’ Andy any children? —Herbert M. Phillips, Sabine, Tex. A. Mr. and Mrs. Freeman Gosden (Amos) have two. Q. I understand that Rudy Vallee is coming to town. Is this true?—M. K., Pittsburgh, Pa. A. Rudy is going on a short tour, which, I understand, will take him into New England and Pennsylvania, but I do not know the cities in which he will appear. Q. Please help settle an argument. ‘Which announcer died, Ralph Wente worth or Alois Havrilla?—Mrs. Martin Horst, Pueblo, Colo. A. Neither. You may be thinking of John B. Daniel or Willlam S. Lynch, both of whom have died within the year. Q. Is there any truth in the rumor that the National Broadcasting Co. and the Columbia Broadcasting System .are '!ro be combined?—R. M. Nashville, ‘enn. A. That’s an old rumor in radio eir- cles, and as far as I can find out there is no more truth in it today than there ever was, and that is none at all. There is plenty of room for both in the field. Q. Do the broadcasting companies pay the artists or are they paid by the advertisers who sponsor the programs? —Russell P. Garland, Evanston, Ill. A. Sometimes by one and sometimes by the other, depending entirely on arrangements made to cover the specific program series. Q. Is Philips Carlin announcing only on a part-time basis?>—B. A. W. Rome, Ga. A. Carlin has an executive position, which makes it impossible for him to announce very many programs, but he gets in as many as he can. 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