(3 of 5)
Trend of the Yean Most significant aspect of last week's round-up of radio listings was the increasing tendency of some of the biggest and smartest U. S. advertisers to get their glamour this season at the nation's glamour headquarters: Hollywood. As evidence of Radio's Hollywood trend, admen pointed to a dozen important programs scheduled to be regularly broadcast from the cinema capital this season, in comparison with last season's four or five. With Radio thus definitely established in Hollywood, cinemactors gazed bug-eyed with joy at Variety's report that "[Radio] salaries of $10.000 and over for individual names for single performances may be paid," and that "over a 39-week season . . the lowest requirement for Holly-wood shows alone will be in excess of 1,000 names." Only croaking voices in Hollywood's radio boom were those of film exhibitors, who claimed that on nights when cinema stars were broadcasting, their theatres were sparsely attended. In the Midwest, in Southern California, in Arizona, Colorado, New York and New England, the embattled members of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America protested bitterly to studios for permitting stars to go on the air as well as the screen. Admen's attitude on the exhibitors' yowl to the studios was summed up last week in a four-word Variety headline: RADIO JUST DOESN'T CARE. Some of the programs which produce strife in the cinema industry:
Lux. Most ambitious dramatic broadcasting by cinemactors is done in the "Lux Radio Theatre," which started modestly two years ago as a program emanating on Sunday afternoons from Manhattan's Radio City. Policy of the program was to pick up cinemactors who had gone East for some fun. Top for an actor's appearance on the Lux program is now $5,000. Last June the Lux program moved to Hollywood. In its Manhattan run, the "Lux Theatre" had supposedly been administered by one "Douglas Garrick," fictitious character created for advertising purposes. In Hollywood, the "Lux Theatre" also had a dummy director, but this time he could walk and talk. While production was actually handled by J. Walter Thompson men, it was announced that oldtime Cinema Director Cecil B. De Milk was putting on the radio show. For his opening program from Hollywood, California's De Mille presented handsome Clark Gable and long-legged Marlene Dietrich, in a radio version of the six-year-old cinema Morocco. Miss Dietrich, whose voice is not her most celebrated asset, fascinated listeners with a mysterious whispered drawl. The Gable personality, currently one of the most popular at U. S. cinema boxoffices, registered more favorably n the air. Since then, on a talent budget whose maximum is said to be $15,000 a week, Lux has favored the listeners of the country with an hour of high-priced acting each week from a cross-section of the cinema's most glittering stars. Since radio advertisers are quick to drop a flop, the Lux show clearly demonstrates that certain cinemactors make excellent salesmen for certain products. In the coming season, Lux plans to offer listeners such Hollywood celebrities as Jack Oakie, Helen Twelvetrees, Lily Pons, Joe E. Brown, Ginger Rogers, Brian Aherne.