 Radio's own show, Behind the Mic. Radio, with a switch of a dial, radio brings you tragedy, comedy, entertainment, information, education, a whole world at your command. But there are stories behind radio, stories behind your favorite program, and favorite personalities and radio people you never hear of. Stories as amusing, dramatic, and as interesting as any make-believe stories you hear on the air. And that's what we give you. The human interest, the glamour, the tragedy, the comedy, and information that are behind the mic. And now presenting the man who will carry on in the absence of Graham McNamee, one of radio's foremost announcers, the popular Ben Grower. Thank you, Gilbert Martin, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today, behind the mic brings you the man whose name has been a stumbling block in announcers' tests. The famous radio actress and dramatic coach, Elsie Mae Gordon. A well-known radio editor to answer letters from listeners. Your old favorites, The Mills Brothers. And finally, an unusual human interest story told by Cheerio. The boys and gals, our first guest is a man who for years was a legendary figure in the announcers' group around NBC. All he represented to a great many new announcers was a practically unpronounceable name. You see, the applicant for an announcers' job must pronounce difficult names that come up in musical programs like Mussorgsky or Muscagni and so on. But one of the names in the tests was spelled Yoichi Hiraoka. It was spelled Y-O-I-C-H-I-H-I-R-A-O-K-A. Well, it was pronounced by many taking that announcers' test as Yoichi Hirokawa or Yoichi Hiroike, and a great many other variations, all of which are wrong, because right from the voice of the authority itself it should be pronounced Yoichi Hiraoka. You see, anyone can pronounce it just like he did. And Yoichi is the name of one of the world's greatest xylophone virtuosos. Mr. Hirooka will reveal the skill which makes him a musician important enough for his name to be part of that test as he plays the Chadas of Monty. Now for your magnificent play. The performer is just getting his or her start or an experienced performer feels that he wants to widen his field, learn how to interpret different types of roles in dialects than he's used to doing. You sometimes go to a person who plays a very important part in radio, the dramatic coach. As a sideline to her being one of the best and most versatile of actresses in radio, Elsie Mae Gordon is a dramatic coach. And here she is to tell you about and show you something of this art. I'm very happy to present Elsie Mae Gordon. Mind if I call you Benny? I love it. Elsie, what ability must a dramatic coach have? Well, personally I believe a dramatic coach should be a pretty good actor, should have a thorough knowledge of acting and of voice production and to be able to teach both. Well, now you're an expert on how to speak correctly. As a matter of fact, Elsie, you had a program of your own on voice. Yes, I had a program called Your Voice and You, an NBC feature. I've announced it many times. But now you're not only an expert dramatic character actress, you're also a dialect expert. You do practically all dialects. I wonder if you could give us an example of your dialect coaching technique. Well, I'd be glad to give you an idea at least. Oh, well fine. For example, here's a young actress, Elaine Kent, Elsie, who has appeared in such shows as John's Other Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Great Plays and Other Productions, and Miss Kent's Problems This. In three days she's going to try for a role in a daytime serial in which she has to do an Irish dialect. Yes, it's a part of a cook and I know very little about Irish dialect. Miss Gordon, I wonder if you could coach me and it didn't time for me to try out for that part. Well, Miss Kent, to really do a good character job you have to know your people and that requires time and study, of course. Oh, I understand that. But you see, I haven't got the time to do that because I have to do this audition in a couple of days. I know, and I am frequently called upon to coach in just such a hurried manner. So we have to learn by imitation purely. And in imitating, we approach it from two or three points of view. First, physical aspect, then the mental, and then the sheerly technical. In other words, we're going to pick a character that is typical. If I go and show you how to do a negro dialect, don't mean that every colored person talk like this, but I go and pick something that's typical, I mean. And if we're going to do a Frenchman, they don't all say Zis and Zet, but we pick a Zis and Zet. Miss Bond. So to get back to the Irishman, I'm going to select Brigitte O'Halloran, the Irish washwoman. So to give the physical aspect, separate your feet and get a good broad stance there and put your hands on your hips, elbows a Kimbo. And I'm going to ask you to demonstrate how we get to the mental state of mind of Brigitte to imitate me as I say a few phrases, characteristic phrases. I'll go on with you now. I'll go on with you now. Ah, the loons. They talk and they talk about, will they be fighting? Ah, the loons. They talk and talk about, will they be fighting? Ah, sure, and you kiss the blur in the store. Oh, and sure, and you kiss the blur in the store. Well, now you begin to feel more like the Irish washwoman, don't you? Yes, I do. And it helps a bit to wave the head to talk from the hips. Now, I'm going to give you this sentence, and it reads, yes, the gentleman told me if I came to you, you would show me how to speak with or without an accent. And I want you to give it to me in your best Irish. Go on now. Ah, yes, the gentleman told me if I came to you, you would show me how to speak with or without an accent. And that's pretty good because you got the Irish there and know the rest of it, but it's not good enough. So I want you to imitate me and we'll change yes to yes. Listen carefully, and the gentleman to gentleman, yes. Oh, yes, the gentleman told me. Oh, yes, the gentleman told me. And you notice what we did with the word told? We put an extra L or two. We want to twist the tongue around and make it a good brogue. Ah, yes, the gentleman told me. Ah, yes, the gentleman told me. If you'd come to, if I'd go to you. If I'd go to you. Now, we put in a phrase, a technical phrase, you'd be after showing me. You'd be after showing me. And we don't spell after, A-F-T-E-R. We say A-F-T-H-E-R. After showing me. After showing me. How to speak. S-H-P-A-K-E. Speak. How to speak. How to speak. How to speak. You see, how we go at these words. How to speak with or without me accent. How to speak with or without me accent. Now, would you be reading it for me with that way? Ah, yes, the gentleman told me. If I came to you. You'd be after showing me. How to speak with or without me accent. Would your girls be after permarting me and making me listen to her up to me? That's all the time we have. Well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow at last. Right. Thank you very much, Elsie and Delay. Audities in radio. Doing odd, true little behind-the-mic stories that help make radio sometimes amusing, sometimes exasperating, but always interesting to the people in it. This week's Audity. Now we'll give you further examples of your favorite announcers' flups. Mistakes on the air. David Ross, in advertising a popular mouthwash, said, You will be delighted with the taste of this new invigorating mouthwash. Yes, some years ago, the Dean of announcers, Milton Cross, was giving an announcement from the Veterans Bureau to financial assistance to indigent World War veterans with 50% disability. But Milt said it this way. Requests to the Veterans Bureau should be sent by indignant veterans who can prove 50% desirability. Add a couple of weeks ago, our own announcer on this program, my colleague Gil Motton, made an announcement on behalf of the government, and he was supposed to ask, Do you want a civil service job? But it came out like this. Do you want a chival-gerver sob? Carl Dickerman of WEI in Boston in plugging a well-known dishwashing machine said, Try a con over a dishwashing machine to wash your dishes. Then we recall Harry von Zell, who in introducing the then president of the United States said, We pay tribute to our great president, Hubert Heaver. And finally, finally the announcer, who shall remain nameless, who in plugging a well-known beverage said, Fill up your glass with Boopert's Rear. Behind the mic salute, a program you love. We in radio believe that our profession has a tradition of which it can well be proud. A tradition of good programs that linger fondly in the memory. And so each week we recall a star or a part of a regular feature you used to hear, a program you love. This afternoon behind the mic brings you one of the most popular singing groups in the history of radio, called The Mills Brothers, who were on the air from 1931 to 1937. They've but recently returned from a successful tour of South America and are now appearing at the Flatbush Theatre in Brooklyn. So let's go back to October 5th of 1933 and one of the early programs of The Mills Brothers. Good evening, everyone. To open their program tonight, The Mills Brothers' four boys and a guitar present their own unique arrangement of that old-time favorite, Swanee River. Some think it's better to be all married not inside, to find inside. But we love to spend our time in singing some joyous song, some joyous song to set the air with music really ringing. It's far from wrong, it's far from wrong Listen, listen, echo sounds so far Listen, listen, echo sounds so far For Nicule, for Nicula, for Nicule, for Nicula Echo sounds so far, for Nicule, for Nicula And on behalf of our listeners, I want to thank The Mills Brothers for the pleasure they've given us in the past and express the hope that they'll soon be on the air regularly again. From listeners. Each week, we invite the listeners of Behind the Mic to write us questions about radio and those we consider to be of most general interest. We have answered on the air by the radio editor of some outstanding newspaper or magazine. Today's questions will be answered by Fred Samus, editor of Radio Mirror Magazine. Mr. Samus, Fred Lewis Jr. of Saginaw, Michigan writes in to ask, Very often on radio programs, you hear actors' voices fading out, usually at the end of a radio scene. How is this done? There are two ways in which actors' voices are faded. As they are talking, they gradually step away from the microphone and the farther they get away from the mic, the more their voices fade. Or you may have what is known in radio slang as a board fade, in which the actor talks normally at the microphone, but the engineer in the control room dials and gradually fades out the voice. Ms. Ida Hollander of Miami Beach, Florida, sent this one in. How are stations on a network able to receive the same program at the same time? Do the programs travel by radio from one station to another? No, on a network broadcast, the program travels from the point where the program originates, as for instance, let's say, in Radio City, New York, by special telephone wires to the various stations on the network. When the program is received by the station by telephone wire, its volume is then amplified or increased and sent out by each individual station over its own radio transmitter. And Mr. Henry Bart of New York writes in to say this, Jack Benny is now in New York to publicize the opening of his new picture starring himself and Fred Allen. Can you please tell me why he doesn't stay here in broadcast regularly from New York as he used to do? The reason Jack broadcasts from California is that he now makes his home there and has done so for the past several years. Furthermore, it is a matter of convenience as he has various picture commitments and living in California finds him right on the spot. Thank you, Fred Sammers, for answering those questions. There are certain names in radio which are remembered with genuine and lasting affection. High in this list is the name of Cheerio, who for many years conducted one of Radio's most popular inspirational programs. It was always a boon to the ill in health and in spirit. And now here is Cheerio himself to tell us a human interest story behind his old programs. I'm proud to present Cheerio. Cheerio, first I want to tell you that we've received a great many letters from our listeners asking what's become of you, just what you've been doing since you left the air last April. Well, Ben, I've been spending the past year putting together the material for a book. Cheerio's book of days, comfort, cheer and encouragement for every day of the year. It's made up of favorite selections that I've used on my broadcasts over a period of 15 years. It's published at last. And I've got writer's cramp, Ben, autographing copies. Well, it must be a great book, Cheerio, because you broadcast some really grand material and your old loyal audience will be glad to hear about your book. Now, come on, Cheerio. You must have some extraordinary human interest stories to change your broadcast. Well, Ben, I don't know how extraordinary this one is, but it does stand out in my memory. Well, tell us about it. Once upon a time, I received a letter from a restaurant's hospital from a soldier in closing a poem and asking me to read it on the air. He said it had been given him by a nurse who had helped him back to health after the war. I read this poem over the air, and a few days later, I received a letter from a woman who said that she had been the nurse who had given the soldier that poem. She told me why she'd given it to him. The story starts in a base hospital in Paris in 1919. She was taking care of a patient who seemed to be particularly grateful to her. One day, as she was dressing his wounds, the soldier became very... There. How's that? All right. Now that the dressing's over. Yes, I know. Changing the bandages does hurt. Have a cigarette? Thanks. Gee nurse, I... I don't know how to thank you. You've been pretty swell to me. Oh, that's just my job. Well, maybe, but you're swell just the same. I'm not the sentimental kind, Miss Wilson, but there's just one other person I think as much of as I think of you. He's dead now. He was my buddy. Oh, I see. Yeah, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here, even with this bum leg. I remember going over the top. We ran into a machine gun nest that almost wiped out the whole company. It got me in the leg. The rest of the boys beat it back to the lines. They had to. But there I was out in no man's land. My leg felt like it had almost dropped off with pain. Then Fritz started dropping shells all around me. I didn't care. And then I felt myself being lifted. It was my buddy. He'd come out after me. He started dragging me back to our trenches. He got me up to the parapet, and one of the boys pulled me down into the trench. Just as my buddy began to climb down, the machine gun started again and got him. He never knew what hit him. Your buddy must have been a brave man. He sure was. He was never a better, finer guy than Bill White. Bill White? Was he tall, good-looking man with black hair? Did he have a small crescent scar on his forehead? Yeah. Yeah, that was Bill. Did you know him? Know him. He was my fiance. He was reported missing. He never knew what happened to him. I thought for a while that he was captured, but then somehow I knew he was dead. I used to wake up night screaming, seeing Bill lying in some muddy field, suffering, suffering horribly before he went. I'm glad he died the way he did. Fast. I'm glad. Thank you, soldier, for letting me know. Now at least I know what happened. You see, later, the nurse gave the soldier this poem. It had become her favorite because she said it expressed her experience. Achirio, what was that poem? It was by a woman, Jesse B. Rittenhouse, and that nurse explained that the poet speaks for all women in war. Over on the battlefield, I do not go with sickening fear at heart. And when the crier calls the latest horror, I do not start. I have no lover on the battlefield. I am exempt from terror of the night. I can lie down serene and unregarding until the light. But on the battlefield, had I a lover, our life would purge itself of petty pain. And what would matter? All the petty losses, the petty gain. I should be one with those who suffer greatly with pain all pain above, and I should know then, per adventure, the heart of love. Thank you, Achirio, and success to your book. Friends, be sure to listen again next week when Behind the Mic will bring you a salute to Roxy's gang with members of the original gang, an actual rehearsal of a radio version of the Citadel with screen and stage stars Ralph Forbes and Jill Esmond, in addition to which there'll be more of the glamour, the human interest, the comedy, and the drama that are found behind the mic. This is the National Podcasting Company.