'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
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