Golden Age of Radio

SAY HELLO TO . . . AL GOODMAN —who is back on the air after too long an absence, directing the music for Fred Allen’s program on CBS tonight. Al used to be the late Flo Ziegfeld’s favorite musical comedy maestro, and broke into radio when Flo brought his shows to the air. Since then he’s led the orchestra for virtually every singing star in opera and concert. Al is short, stocky and genial. He manages to get along with only four or five hours of sleep and does most of his work at night. He was born in Russia, but fled from there when he was a boy, hidden in a load of vegetables in a cart. His family settled in Baltimore. 

Say Hello To- RICHARD GORDON—who plays “The Bishop” in tonight’s serial on NBC-Blue, The Bishop and the Gargoyle. Richard started his career in 1898 as a reporter and cartoonist for a Bridgeport, Conn., paper. In 1900 he switched to the stage, and began a long succession of increasingly important Broadway roles. In 1930 he joined NBC’s staff of actors, and won fame as Sherlock Holmes —but after a while he refused to play the part any longer for fear of being typed. He and his wife (she was his leading lady in 1905) live in Piermont, N.Y., in a home with a big basement where Richard pursues his hobby of carpentry.

Say Hello To- WALTER GROSS—the very busy conductor of a CBS band which provides the music for many of the network’s sustaining features. The piano is Walter’s own instrument, and on it he can perform the classics, popular dance music, hot jazz and boogie-woogie with uniform ease. He first joined CBS eight years ago, playing in a band which included Raymond Scott, Benny Goodman , Artie Shaw, Will Bradley, Bunny Berigan, and Jerry Colonna (who played trombone). That was an all-star group, although no one knew it at the time, and Walter thinks the same is probably true of his present band. When his radio schedule permits it, Walter likes to spend weekends with his wife at their new country home.

SAY HELLO TO- KEN GRIFFIN—the actor you’ve all been wanting to hear about, judging from your letters. Ken plays Larry Noble in Backstage Wife and Dr. Jim Brent in Road of life —two of radio’s drama’s fattest roles. He landed in Chicago a few years ago without any previous dramatic experience and with only one dollar in his pocket, and secured a $15-a-week job as an actor at the Chicago Fair. Later he took an audition that started him on his radio career. Ken’s on extravagance, now that he’s a success, is his sloop, Revenge , one of the finest racing boats on the great Lakes. He’s 29 years old, weighs 180 pounds and is six feet tall.

ON THE AIR TONIGHT: Helen Hayes , starring in a different half-hour play each week, on CBS at 8:00, E.S.T., rebroadcast to the West Coast at 7:30, P.S.T, and sponsored by Lipton’s Tea. Unless you’re a fanatical devotee of Charlie McCarthy (or unless you live in the Pacific Time Zone, where Helen and Charlie aren’t on at the same time), you couldn’t do better than to tune Helen Hayes in tonight. Most radio acting is good, but hers is magnificent. You’d never guess than Helen was one of America’s greatest actresses if you watched her rehearsing her radio shows. She loves radio, but is quite willing to admit that other people know more about it than she does. No displays of temperament ever go on at a Hayes rehearsal, and afterwards, when the script has to be cut so it won’t run overtime (it always does have to be cut, too), Helen goes home and lets other people wield the blue pencils. “ I’d only get in their hair,” she explains. Besides acting on the air, Helen is starring

Bernard Herrmann __brilliant young symphonic conductor who returned from a recent tour of England to CBS’s Invitation To Music, heard Wednesday nights at 11:30 EST. part of composer-conductor Herrmann’s time in England was spent in the Bronte country, where he made notes for his forthcoming opera based on Emily Bronte’s masterpiece, “Wuthering Heights”.

Hedda Hopper __ wearing the creation by Hattie Carnegie which was inspired by the March of Dimes . But it really all began when a little Quaker girl (Hedda) saw a great Barrymore (Ethel) play in Captain Jinks. For Hedda decided then and there to become an actress. She ran away from hom, went from acting to reporting for CBS. The Quaker bonnet evolved into a series of the gayest, maddest hats in Hollywood.