 Stand by behind the mic Comedy entertainment information education a whole world at your command, but radio isn't all on the surface 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 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 Since the beginning of broadcasting has been a byword in radio Graham McNamee Presents radio's most loyal studio broadcasts of their favorite programs as they possibly can But I venture to say that no fan has appeared in the studio audience as often as our next guest miss Wilmar Gray Miss Gray about how many broadcasts would you say you personally attended? I've never counted them mr. McNamee, but I'd say I've been to an average of three broadcasts an evening for six days a week During the last five years An average of three broadcasts an evening for six days a week during the last five years That means all together during the last five years. You've been let's see you six time fifty-two times me Yeah, that's very interesting How do you get on trade of these broadcasts? What do you do tear off the top of your neighborhood grocer and write in for tickets? Yes, I write the sponsors for tickets and then again some programs put me on their regular mailing list and send me tickets every week Miss gray before you were born your mother must have been frightened by a sponsor What other type of entertainment do you like besides radio miss gray? Well, I like the theater, too Oh, you like the theater about how often do you go to the theater? I was to one about two years ago I see and and if you didn't like the theater you'd probably go very seldom wouldn't you? What kind of radio program do you prefer to see I prefer dramatic programs, you know like our Tobras plays Well, why do you prefer the dramatic programs for one thing? I like to see them make the sound effects Well, don't they have sound effects on comedy programs, too? Yes, but the jokes Radio depends so much on illusion and a lot of broadcasts are written simply to be heard at home Can you really enjoy seeing so many of these broadcasts? Yes, you see I can just sit in the studio and shut my eyes and imagine I'm at home I mean Imagine going to a broadcast and shutting your eyes so that you can imagine yourself at home when you could stay at home in the First place and be home without having to go to the studio and shut your eyes so you could imagine you were at home If you know what I mean, I don't know miss gray What was the biggest thrill you ever got at a radio broadcast? Well, that's easy the time I sat in the control room control room Ladies and gentlemen, that's the sanctum sanctorum where the engineer and the man who directs the show sit and work Well, I'd always wanted to sit in the control room And I told some of the girls in my office where I work as a secretary And they wrote to the president of the firestone company about me and what happened Well, he wrote a letter to the producer of the program saying that I could sit in the control room for a broadcast And I did and that was your biggest thrill in radio in radio Well, miss gray, excuse me, mr. McNamee. I must be going now. Why there's a broadcast down the hall And I simply got to get there if I'm going to get a seat Well, thank you miss gray. Thank you very much. And by the way miss gray If you can get me a ticket for information, please. I sure would appreciate it Presents an amazing story about an NBC page boy Years ago a 21 year old page boy who had been with a national broadcasting company for a few months Was called into the office of the supervisor of pages and prepared to take a balling out This is what happened. Uh, you sent for me, sir. Yes, livington I've been looking over your late record and it's pretty bad. Yes, sir According to your record, you've been late on an average of twice a week ever since you've been employed by NBC I'm sorry being sorry doesn't excuse it We don't ask much of you your hours aren't hard Let's see. You've got the evening shift. You're on from five in the afternoon to one a.m And it's only a five day week period There's nothing very demanding about that You don't have much to do besides collecting tickets at the broadcast and showing people around the studios Now the next time you're late, you're through. Oh gee. I'm sorry. I guess I'll just have to resign Well, if you feel that way about it, why you see you see I can't help being late I've got to fly down to Baltimore about twice a week fly down to Baltimore Yes, I'm on the board of directors of a little business down there I've got to fly down to attend meetings and sign papers and Sometimes those meetings run pretty long and I get back here and I'm I'm late You're on the board of directors of a little business. Oh, it isn't really so little As a matter of fact, it employs about 3,000 people It's it's part of a family estate that I just inherited Oh say I hate to give up this page job. I really do but I guess I'll just have to Billy that's a mighty interesting story But one of the things I'd like to know is why did you ever become a page in the first place? Well, Mr. McDonoughy, I always wanted to get into radio and that seemed about the best way for me to do it At least I'd be around the studios and that was something and and then I wanted to show I could get a job on my own merits and I did All of which goes to show that there's more to you besides the reputation as cafe society's glamour boy and Brenda Frazier's close pal Incidentally, you've done more in radio than just being a page boy. Haven't you you've been doing some acting of late Yes, I have one of the leading roles in the daytime serial society girl And I've played parts in quite a few other radio shows too Yes, and you've done a mighty good job with them too. Thank you, Billy Livingston very much Joe engineer became a top-notch comedian or less industriously in the engineering department of nbc Was a young man named ward wilson. Hey baker get off the air Yes, lately he became famous as beetle in the fill baker show Ward used to specialize in working with field units now a field unit In case you don't know and why should you Is a group of men who set up equipment for a broadcast that originates outside of the studio And is then transmitted to the studio and sent over the air You know broadcasts from hotels and conventions baseball football and so forth Now one of the duties of an engineer on a field unit is to test his microphones and other equipment before the broadcast begins To see if he can be heard back at the broadcasting station and he does this in a two-way conversation with another engineer in the studio Now most engineers have certain stock phrases. They use to see if they can be heard They count up to 10 for instance or they repeat the manufactured phrase. Woof. Woof Inumerable times, but ward wilson was different to show you how different we take you back to 1932 With wilson out on a field unit covering the national open golf championship Hello, hello 7-eleven. Now wilson coming up for a test in fresh metal. Hello ward go ahead Is your subset weaker is it mine? I think it's mine, but go ahead. Okay coming up. Woof 34 Woof 28 Woof 40. Okay. Hello again. This is jack benny about to lay the first egg on the second program of our new series Okay. Well serves him right Oh, say, you know who's down here. Amos and andy. I never saw him look so worried Well, what are they worried about? Well, Amos, he thinks the public's getting tired of them. I guess so Say ward okay This is rat rat roi well or oy rat well array No, roi roi at well. Yeah, yes roi at well, and it's it's certainly smell or sell I mean, it's well to to squeak or that is sneak. I mean speak on this auspicious position or suspicious Suscation or malicious explosion. I mean, no, uh, delicious ovations. Oh, oh, well, let it go. Let it go Okay, we're gonna be charging you guys up there. Well, I suppose the ham will out. So here goes The ladies and gentle pimples Of you 90 schnips Is what makes me poor to suffer with terrifical harping it What I'm getting up mertonally to graze in your radiator faces And undress you Greeks is what's great peoples Greeks is what's great riders Is what's one Greek is writing most from any his name's uh anonymous More anonymous He's writes one hunk of stuff, which is positively docket It goes like this Twinkle twinkle little star Up above the sky so high Like a rainbow believe me My subject tonight is what's terrifical hunk of stuff Is what's called oranges from human beams Where is come from? What memes that's cracks Oranges from human beams Oranges from human beams is was grapefruit is why we got so many lemons To prove that the oranges from human beams is was grapefruit Take napoleon he was little squirt But what I want to say I got a restaurant a crapless number seven 42 street times were opened on night stables for ladies We got a blue plate long for 75 cents Is the most senseless meal and called lousy dinner what you ever eat For 75 cents We give you choice sea lime steak with green fruity tears Grusty beef Seeking freaky sissy And corn beef and garbage For vegetables we got the shrimp beams the green pimps Swimmies Good Desserts we got all kinds desserts Cake we got two kinds cake apple cake and stomach cake We got all kinds pies I get special stuff for pies He's makes a apple pie two kinds apple apple and pin apple Cuspid or pie lemon syringi Mimps pie two kinds memes memes and pepper memes And drum berry, rice berry, hunk hunkle berry Oh, yes, I'm almost forget who's in berry Howdy ladies and gentlemen That's how ward Wilson used to test his equipment and ward how did that result in you're getting a break in radio? Well, graham one day ed whitney one of the nbc producers and incidentally I hear ed's home ill and if he's listening in We all wish him a speedy recovery. Well, he heard me doing this time foolery And he thought enough of me to put me on a sustaining program called personalities at 7 11 doing imitations It wasn't long afterwards before you had commercials of your own And which you proved yourself to be not only the first but the greatest mimic on the air You won further laurels as beetle on the phil baker show And now you're doing a swell job on many comedy shows and thank you ward Okay, sport brings you the story behind radio song plug Orchestra leaders get the songs they play in the first place and why they play them and continue to play them Well, we're going to bring you a man who is well qualified to tell you all this and more About the songs you hear through your radio. He's one of the best music contact men or song pluggers in the business George marlowe. George. Will you please first tell our listeners exactly what is song plugging? Well graham Song plugging is the business of getting songs played by orchestra leaders and sung by singers principally over the air Each time the number is played or sung it counts as one song plug A song plugger of course works for a publisher There are a lot of advantages to a publisher in having his music played on the air and how brother You see in the first place radio stations pay a certain amount of money each year for the music they use 50 of the money they receive from radio depends on the amount of plugs they get Are there any other reasons why a music publisher wants these songs played over the air george? Well for one thing it widens his sheet music sales if the listener at home Here's a song played often enough. He's likely to go out and buy a copy to bat out on his old piano And besides that if enough important orchestra play the tunes the smaller orchestras will go out and buy copies So they can play it too. I see and can you sell a lot of copies to the small orchestras graham? You may not believe it, but from our sales we figure there are around 30 000 orchestras in this country. Wow Now, how do you get orchestra leaders to play your songs? Persuasion Salesmanship and friendship. It's like any other business. And do you need a lot of breaks? Like gandy needs a safety pin There are 45 new tunes every week and most orchestra leaders were on the air can only use nine numbers on any one program Now and all those don't have to be new ones So you see our chances. Well, where do you manage to see all these orchestra leaders? Sometimes at rehearsal And then if they're playing at hotels we go over to see them between numbers I visit on an average of six or seven orchestras each evening What arguments do you use to get orchestra leaders to play your songs after you see them? Well, of course I try to convince them that it's going to be a hit I'll tell you what Let me give you a concrete example Let's say I got to see a top notch orchestra leader and songwriter like johnny green at a rehearsal of the philip maras program I come into the studio and I say What do you got there? I can't guess. Yeah It's a brand new tune. We've just put out and I'd like you to look it over It's called you walk by whose tone is it george? What difference does that make if it's a good one? A lot of bid is just a songwriter's curiosity Tell me is it a rhythm tune or a ballad a ballad Love love and more love george. Can't I ever get a light tune to open my program with? Well, this is flexible enough to be played in most any tempo. Well, let's see it Look at that lyric john. I don't have to extol the merits of it to you. You're a songwriter yourself Get a load of that line You walk by and children pause at play say that's a nice line Let me try a few bars of this thing on the piano. Sure Say that's a very nice tune. I'd like to introduce this song george. Could I have it exclusively for the next three weeks? It's agreeable to me. I've made no commitments Say I wish you'd record it. Well george. I'll certainly give it every consideration But when are you going to do it on the air? Let's see now Well, we'll do it the program after next because I want to take my time over the arrangement And I'd like to play it a couple of times on the dance floor to work it in and get it well set You know program after next day Is that a definite date? Yes, sir I'm sure the tune will show up and I'll be very glad to do it for you. Thank you johnny And that gram is our a song plugger gets a song plug Thanks george Each week we will invite the listeners of behind the mic to write us questions about radio And those we considered of most general interest We will have answered on the air by the radio editor of some outstanding newspaper or magazine Since the presentation of behind the mic was announced over various stations We received a number of questions Some of them will be answered now by the radio editor of the new york post Leonard coven Miss edna newman of bell harbour new york has this to ask She says for years. I have heard that fred allen make fun of jack fennie's violin playing Can it be the fred's jealous of jack because he can't play the violin? Well graham. I once kidded fred about that. He gave me an answer and put it put it in writing. He said No, I do not wish to play the violin like jack benic if you call that playing The violin is responsible for jack's losing his hair The instrument pressing against his throat is cutting off the supply of oxygen and his hair isn't getting enough air Either that or his hair roots are getting discouraged at what's going on inside his scalp and are checking out A ward fred couldn't have done a better invitation of himself than you just did Leonard mr. George Pfeiffer of st. Louis, Missouri writes I have a bet with a friend of mine as to whether or not charlie mccarthy was the first dummy to be used on the air I said that he was not as I remember that back in 1927 or 28 Phil cook did a ventriloquist act with a dummy on a national hookup for a shoe account Do I or do I not win my bet? Sorry, but mr. Pfeiffer loses his bet It's true that phil cook did a ventriloquist act, but he only pretended to use a dummy Charlie mccarthy is the first actual dummy ever used on the radio the first The first dummy understand graham who wouldn't say out you if you start if you stuck him with a thumb tag Well, here's a query from miss louise david new york Miss david wants to know how many hours is the average commercial half-hour variety show rehearsed Well for miss david's information the amount of rehearsal for a half-hour program is very flexible But including music such a half-hour program is generally rehearsed. Oh say from eight to ten hours And now for our last question Miss ann lee simms of 1843 north cherokee hollywood california writes in to say I have often heard on the radio the announcers say after a radio program This program comes to you through recordings and electrical transcription Will you please tell me what the difference is between a recording and a transcription? Well, I'd like to tell miss simms that a recording is a record made originally to be played on the phonograph Whereas a transcription is a record made especially to be played on the air It generally runs at least 15 minutes a side in the case of dance music You'll find oh, let's say about four numbers on one side of each record This generally just about fills out the 15 minutes in some cases and transcriptions You'll find the music faded down near the end of the 15 minutes So that the announcer at the studio can do a commercial announcement Thank you Leonard carton for answering all those questions Ladies and gentlemen our peissant as the french say If you have any question about the inside of radio the jewish answered on the air write a letter to us Address it to graham macname behind the mic National broadcasting company new york city as many questions as possible will be answered by mail And the three or four questions we feel to be of most general interest will be answered on this program. Thank you Mike presents Our radio character played a part in a boy's fight for life And it's now our pleasure to introduce to you the leading character in one of the airwaves most popular serials Renfrew of the mountain Inspector douglas renfrew known in private life as house jameson House exactly how did renfrew help this boy? Well graham a couple of months ago I was at home when I received a telephone call from a stranger A bob novak who apologized for calling Then told me a very strange and tragic story It seems his younger brother johnny a lad of 14 had been snake hunting out in new jersey with a group of friends Born johnny's return home in engelwood. He had suddenly developed stomach cramps pain so severe The doctor had ordered him taken to the engelwood hospital at once He was examined by specialist and it was not snake bite But they couldn't find out what was wrong with him except that the boy was dangerously ill and Had except for a brief moment every few hours spent the last three days in a coma bob novak went on to tell me Johnny Johnny he's still unconscious mr. Novak. What can we do? There must be something that can be done We're doing about everything we can unfortunately the intravenous medication doesn't seem to be helping him as much as we'd hoped The doctor we can't just sit here and let him we've got one chance a desperate one It all depends on whether or not we can keep him awake keep him awake Yes, you see every time he goes into a coma not only does his fever rise, but his vitality is lowered If we could keep him out of a coma for sufficiently long intervals We could give nature a chance to fight for him. How can we do it? Well, we might be able to do it if we get excited his interest in something and make him more to stay awake Fight off the coma What's he interested in mostly the usual kid things baseball football? No, he's not much interested in sports I'm not sure myself Oh, look doctor. He's waking up. I'll find out while we have a chance Uh, hello, johnny Oh bob I'm tired. Yeah, I know Johnny I want to ask you something. Uh, may sound foolish, but it's important. What is it bob? Uh, what do you miss most since you've been here playing baseball with the kids or going fishing? Yeah, I Missed them. I guess. Oh, what what do you miss most? Well, I I miss renfrew. What's renfrew? It's a radio program about the northwest monopolis Johnny never misses it and whenever it's on Johnny goes into his room and turns on his set And you couldn't tear him away from the radio with wild horses. It's on saturday. Well, that's tomorrow See perhaps yes dog. I've been thinking that I'm gonna get in touch with a man who plays renfrew and then I'll ask And then house he phoned you that's right And he told me how interested johnny was in renfrew And he asked me if I couldn't send johnny a message from renfrew And if there wasn't something else I could do to make johnny want to fight off his illness Then what did you do? Well, first I sent a telegram to johnny and when it arrived johnny Johnny what bob? Here's a telegram come for you. It's signed inspector douglas renfrew Yeah, and it says Dear johnny, I've missed having you with me on my recent trips through the canadian rockies What kind of a story do you want to hear next? I'll tell it especially for you signed inspector douglas renfrew Especially for me. Yeah, and here's a picture of him that he sent autograph to you Look diggity Say bob you think I could hear renfrew tomorrow night sure sure johnny I'll I'll get a portable radio and and you can listen and then what happened But after the broadcast next night I got another phone call from bob Who told me that johnny's excitement in his desire to hear the program had kept him out of the coma And the doctor thought that it had given him enough strength to fight it off from then on and that he had a good chance to pull through And johnny novak did pull through and here he is to tell you so himself Johnny how you feeling now? I'm much better now. Mr. McNally. I've just returned from a vacation in New Hampshire That's good, and you still have that picture of renfrew of it. Yes, sir. I've got it right on my bureau Gosh, I wouldn't be without that. Well, that was a dramatic story And thank you johnny for coming here and thank you house james Just stunned drama behind a radio actress's fight for a foothold in her chosen field How one radio program actually prevented a woman listener from wrecking her married life A thrilling dramatization of the amazing experience that befell captain tim healy of tim healy's stamp club How radio directors wishing to cast a radio program immediately reach the actors And more of the human interest the glamour the comedy and the drama that are found behind the mic This is graham academy speaking. Good night all All right Appearing on this the premiere performance of the new radio feature behind the mic Where radio's most loyal fan miss wilma gray former page boy billy livingston Orchestra leader johnny green song plugger george marlowe comedian ward wilson radio actor house jameson radio editor of the new york post Leonard carlton and johnny novak This is the national broadcasting company rca building radio city new york