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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1936)
'w-prtf'". . Out of the Thousands Who Have Sought Microphone Glory, Less Than 200 Have Been Given Professional Engagements-Here's a Frank "Confession" on How the Game Is Worked ll' " ' L The A hurt from the audience, a kindly word from I iv" iVll I 1 I Wi'trd i V A' V fA " " ?"" Major Edward Bowes, and another radio amateur step away vlnVv I I fliuM T fy-""" ll rsr ' "V 'i fi from the microphone. The "victim" does not get profes- VY Vj flrT ;C i. J ')i r ' ,ion1 ,"tt but he doe get paid for "takfeg the rap" IT IS "Amateur Hour" on tho air. A voice, unctuous, exuding paternal Interest, acts as entrepreneur master of coremonles. Interlocutor, judge. "First on the list of amateurs you wlU hear tonight Is young baritone . with winning smile," the kindly, ' .itiv voice announces, and then, ad dressing the amateur, "and what Is .your name, young man?' "Rooco Sala garni." replies a hesitant voice, with a somewhat broken, accent "What do you do, Roocot" 'l am a pauts presaer," re plies the amateur. "And what does your father dor" "Be Is a street cleaner." replies Itocco. "80, a street cleaner I" repeats the unctuous voice. "Where does your father clean streets?" "In Podokus, Minnesota," replies H.occo, stammering slightly. "Are you visiting In New York?" asks the daddy of this particular amateur hour. "Yeah, Cap'n," says Rocco. "I gotta sister here, and I'm gonna stay here for while. All my life I love singing. Now I wanna slug In opera. Some one else can press my pants." Boers from the Invisible studio au dience. Bursts of applause. A hearty, nntural-seemlng laugh from the entre preneur. "What are you going to sing, Rocco?" "The Volga Boat Song," replies the amateur. "All right, go ahead I" The anxwipamst plays and Rocco raises his voice In soaring song. IT IS but one of a number of "acts" ' put on by amateurs under the direc tion of entrepreneurs of various ama teur hours on the radio. It reminds one somewhat of an old-time minstrel show. The "actors' have varied stunts. They slug. They tap-dance. They yodel. Whistle, Make sounds like gargling. Play cornets and Jew's-harps and an as sortment of Rube Goldberg type of complicated Instrument. Thlrusama. jlga made of cigar box, caps of whisky bottles, an old rubber band. Music (or nolsemaksra, according to how they hit your ear drums) concocted out of shoe strings, brass buttons and empty spools I Under the guidance of the master of ceremonies of the amateur hour the performers confide that they are colora tura sopranos, deep-sea bassos, dramatic tenors and In quavery voices, cocksure voices, husky, tremulous voices, affected voices, shrlnking-vlolet, timorous voices, stuttering, stammering voices, glib voices they give their names, the nature of their work, their parents' status In life, their own future ambitions, the number of their children, and so on and on. Tlu-y pour out their histories Into the microphone, prompted and questioned by their "benefactors." It Is like a conrpwlonal. Stenog raphers, bootblacks, waitress's, long shoremen, messenger boys, deep-sea divers, stock clerks, customers' men. Iirocery-store salesmen, rooks, dishwash ers, porters, rhsmbermald.v strert-rai conductors, poultryntcn, nlKht watchmen, colored, white, Chinese, Kpantah. Enn llsb. German, Japanese they are nil there, ostensibly wooing Lady Luck Ready to answer all questions. 'To take a lot of Joshing. To sug. il.uur phiy tile trombone, do their stud tu a quin tet, accompany thoniseKes on nuuulo- 11ns, banjos, violins. 81ng operatic aire or Just plain ballads. 1 Their voices range all the way from very sour to pretty fair. They get ap plause, some "kidding,' "telephone votes," medals, laughs, compliments and sometimes the gong. Occasionally hut only very occasionally, as you will dis cover they get an engagement as a result of their efforts and because of their talent. This, briefly, Is the air picture of the amateur hour. But what is the whole thlr.g behind the scenes? What actually happens from the mo ment that a little typist out In Dubuque, la., gets bitten by ths bug to be an opera star to the time that she struts her stuff via the ether on an amateur hour? Is the smooth-running amateur hour show rehearsed? Is all that pat dialogue spontaneous? What do little Jennie Schmalhaus and Billy Mlnselberg do to get a spot on the program? Do they know In advance whether or not they are going to get the gong? Do they care? Are they paid? How many get real, honest-to-goodness vaudeville en gagements? How many go broke wait ing? How much do they earn If, and when, they are eventually booked, and bow long are their engagements? These amateur hours which are now featured on the radio programs at speci fied times each week are mixtures of hope, despair, ambition, tragedy, fulfill ment, frustration and disappointment for many a youth from the whistle stops In the hinterland who are filled with glamorous dreams of future fame, In spired by what they hear over the air on these "hours' which hold forth sc much golden promise to them. There was a time, not so long ago when relief organisations were swnmpea by stranded boys and girls who had hlU'h-hlked to New York City for then "big chance" on an amateur hour. Most of them had no funds whatsoever: soim possessed only a few dollars. Most ol the young men and women sere In their early twenties, some IS and 17 years ol age. These stranded smaleurs. yearning for s place on on amateur hour, encour K0d by letters olTerlng Ihrin auditions became such a problem that the heads oi relief o-Kninzaitoiis got In touch with those responsible for the amateur hour, and the nuisance -nun the tragedies eventually reascd as a result. "Wo had. a lew months nto. more X. r f.'MA I . 1 V 't 1 of than 300 stranded amateur hour aspi rants every week, applying to us for aid." said a spokesman for the Emer gency Relief Bureau of New York City. "They came from all parts of the United States and very few of them had any money at all. They were lured here by the belief that they would receive prompt engagements In vaudeville ami elsewhere, and they became stranded when they learned that their dreams were only that. "The trouble was that the people re sponsible tor these radio amateur hours often sent out letters to these young people which were amoiguous In con struction and too encouraging. They promised them auditions, but to the optimistic and ambitious boys and girls who received these epistles that meant nothing short of an engagement. f f v m Fred Allen, left, and Kay Perkins, righl, have a lot of fun on their ama teur hours. Allen offer professional ensssemcnls as priies for the winners on his program V V f : ;m I p-f 1 1 ,1 i , ?) ft I l: I Cv rrt;- C. ' lit r;l xjw i They may look like they came from they are a group of Passaic, N. J., amateur-hour T. Is up to those who send out let tevs of this kind, granting auditions, to make It very clear Just what an audition ii, so the meaning will not be misinter preted, and so that the recipients of these letters will know an 'audition' Is one thing, a real, paying vaudeville en gagement quite another, ami that It Is often a far cry between the two. The wording of these letters must not be too encouraging. "Some of the hopeful amateurs, fired to dreams of fame, either by one appear ance on an amateur hour or by the promise of a chance to appear on one, arrived here broke and in need of Im mediate work and funds. They traveled ' ; i f J, :,m em. YAW. .. Jl fat Oklahoma, but aa a matter of fact boys who "got a break" through an performance from one vaudeville agency, one book ing agent's office to another, spending weary days In this routine, only to find no openings for untrained talent. They discovered that so many professionals were out of work that there was slim chance for them to get bookings. We are grateful that the plague of amateur hour traveling talent has about ceased. It was getting pretty thick for a while." That is one side of the picture. Now for the other. WHAT about all those marvelous en gagements that the lucky Irish girl nurse got after singing "Mother Ma chree"? And how about that booking that Tony Amatto, the Italian boot black, annexed after playing a medley of all the Instruments In an orchestra? How about all those marvelous "breaks" for ths "talented amateurs" which the masters of ceremony, the "benefactors" of amateur talent, boast about, for which the sponsors of the programs are thanked so heartily and so often over the air, about which the broadcasting companies announcers go Into enthu siastic hyperbole? The sponsors of the amateur hours are pictured to the air audience as veritable Santa Clauses, great philan thropists, wonderful backers of amateur talent, patrons of the arts, so to speak. Everybody gives them a hsnd and thinks kindly of their good works. But what about the amateur? Some--how, after his lnltls.1 sppeernnce on the amateur hour, he nets lost In the shuffle. He is generally forgotten. It seems, except In the rare cases where he gets an engagement and a few weeks' salary. Every one remembers the kiiidly 'General" So and So who handles the amateur hour, the pater nal "Captain" or "Colonel' or "Major," and the laxatlvo pillmakers, the tooth paste manufscturers, the coffee brewer, but how about the amateur? Let ur, visit the headquarters ol Major Zdward Bowes, who claims to be the originator of the amateur hour ami who introduces a program of ama teur talent every week on one of the big networks. Ee has a suite of offices on several floors of a Broadway office building In New York. It is filled with stenographers, typists, filing clerks, publicity writers, switchboard operators messenger boys and girls. From an office assistant you learn the procedure, the way an amateui takes to get on the air. On each "Amateur Hour" night announcement Is made that any amateur who wants to find his place In the sun should write a letter giving his name and address, what he can play, sing or what not and all other details. The applicant "must live in New York or vicinity,' the announcer says, making this point, perhaps, as a result of the Emergency Relief Bureau prodding. However, It goes without saying that many an amateur listening in from Squeedorp, Tenn., will soon leave his mountain fastness and pile helter skelter on his way New Yorkward. rAJOR BOWES receives an average auditions a week. Out of that number he hears about 800. A studio at the National Broadcasting Company is used for this purpose. The major attends these auditions In person and selects those amateurs which he wants to appear on his programs. Out of these thousands of applica tions and hundreds of amateurs who have appeared on the Bowes Amateur Hour, 149 individual amateurs have re ceived engagements. Ten units arc now out on the road, playing vaude ville engagements, appearing at auto mobile shows and other entertainments, and you can figure out for yourself whether ambitious, optimistic amateurs should or should not get so steamed up over "Amateur Hour" opportunities Almost one year has elapsed since the Amateur Hour first became an air fea ture, and In that time less than ISO amateurs have succeeded in securing paying engagements. N Those who have been booked are often booked for only brief engage ments, though It was said a' Major Bowes' office that the first unit of aim. teura and these units are made up of ten or twelve amateurs each have been out since July. Salaries? The office assistant couldn't be certain, but thought they were about $60 a week and up. Trans portation Is paid, but the amateur per formers must handle their own hotel and food bills. And how about the amateurs who merely manage to strut their stuff once on the amateur hour program? Is nil that glib patter rehearsed? Is It ex temporaneous and. If so, how timed to fit In so neatly with the hour limita tion set? What does the amateur eft for his work, the strain, his humilia tion If he gets the gong? The famous Bowes gong. Incidentally, has been gold-plated, and perhaps that helps the unlucky amateurs to "lake It on the chin" a bit more graciously. Besides, an amateur hour wouldn't be an ama teur hour without a gong. Each ama teur gets paid $10 by Major Bowes lor his evening's appearance on the air PAGE TWO t
