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Show Notes of a New Yorker The Wireless: Radio historian Harriet Van Home quotes a medico as saying that listeners to the daytime day-time soap operas expose themselves to "increased blood pressure, nocturnal noc-turnal frights, vasomotor instability, vertigo, gastro - intestinal disturbances, disturb-ances, profuse perspiration, tremors and a slight touch of tachycardia" ... Of course, that doctor is talking talk-ing about only those who LIKE the programs . . . Marion Coveridge, the minor (she's 14), packs a wallop with her ballads Sunday ayems via NBC . . . Too many radio jesters really believe the studio audiences' howls as legitimate. The result is that the comics are getting careless. care-less. What brings big laughter In studios often brings yawns in the parlors. The Love Letter of the Week: From Quentin Reynolds' book, "The Curtain Rises": "Most of what I wrote tn the diary is nothing but gossip. Still I suppose if a thousand thou-sand years from now someone were to dig up the Winchell columns of the 1920s, he would get a pretty clear picture of Life here during those hectic days. You cannot dismiss dis-miss gossip columns by saying they discuss only trivial things. To a great extent they reflect the age irj which we live." Editorial Dep't Novelette: It happened hap-pened in the city room of one of the Big Town gazettes . . . Two of the boys were back to say hello . . . One (who has never been out of the country) wore the army oak leaf . . . The other wore the gray-green of the marines, with a couple of hard-won stripes . . . Tippled and blustering, the Major called upon the Marine to salute . . . The kid responded re-sponded quickly . . . After all, he had been only a copy-boy; the Major Ma-jor had been an editor, If you please ... It was a tight, tense moment ... A real editor looked up from his work with studied puzzlement . . . "Tell me," he said in clipped, quiet, carrying syllables, "which one of you was it who killed six Japs on Guadalcanal?" . . . The Major waddled out the door . . . The kid was too modest. Midtown Vignette: This is one of those shawt-shawts that caress the eyes and ears . . . He is a very young member of a Fortress crew now being rehabilitated after service serv-ice among the flak in Europe . . . He has most of the campaign ribbons rib-bons but no medals for outstanding heroism . . . Two of his buddies have several . . . The lads had a few hours leave last night and decided de-cided to go to one of the night spots with their buddy and his bride . . . And because he had no silver star or other medals the other two. didn't wear theirs. The Magic Lanterns: Hollywood, which has too often pictured a kick in a Jap's pants as the pay-off foi Pearl Harbor, gets down to cases in "The Purple Heart." Here's a flicker that brings the film colony up to date. Its story gets inside you and twists and burns with its report re-port on the Sneakanese savagery. The tale is told not with a ladle, but with a typewriter of cold steel. Dana Andrews, Sam Levene and Richard Conte are superb as the captured fliers . . . Nora Bayes gets hei biog sung and danced in "Shine On Harvest Moon," a rich load of ye old tyme nostalgia. Its typical oi the them-was-the-daysish musicals, and you can't Imagine anyone no) reveling in some of the memories oJ the big town before it went soft or crepes suzettes and laced shoes. In the forthcoming film of Nora Bayes' life "Shine on Harvesl Moon," they omit this incident . . . Nora once wired E. F. Albee, tht vaudeville magnate: "Beginninj next week my salary must be $10,-000 $10,-000 a week" . . . Albee replied: "Your salary will remain $1,000 pel week" . . . Nora opened as sched' uled, but after singing eight bars ol "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" she stopped the music and told the audience: "That's $1,000 worth o: my act" and walked off. Then there's the one about th playwright who was called upon U make a curtain speech ... He ram bled on and on, with words going j round and round looking for an ide. ... When he came to the phrase; "I am speaking for the benefit o: I posterity" a heckler in the audi ence drove him from the stage wit! the squelch: "Yes, and if you aren' quick about it, they'll be along V hear you." No colyum on stage stories woulc be complete without one about Johi Barrymore, whose pungent wordagf packed more of a wallop than mos critics . . . During a rehearsal witl an uppity actress, Barrymore madi some harsh remarks about her worl . . . The actress drew herself up tc her full height and snapped: " want you to remember that I am ' lady!'"' i Barrymore made a long, sweep I ing bow and came up with the rapie reply: "Madam. I shall respect you secret! " |