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Show By VIRGINIA VALE j Released by Western Newspaper Union. JACK BENNY'S feeling that he hadn't been given adequate ade-quate publicity, and that Bob Hope and Jimmie Durante had, brought up a reminiscence reminis-cence about Hope. Someone said that Hope works at it that, if he sees four soldiers standing on a street corner he grabs a pianist and does a show for them. "Back in 1938," said somebody else, "Bob was doing a summer fill-in show, and we never could find him when we'd scheduled interviews, because be-cause he'd be off somewhere doing a benefit. He did benefits for churches, for clubs, for everybody who wanted him. He thought we were crazy to expect him to spend time on a newspaper interview when he could be working hard, for nothing, noth-ing, for someone else." "Columbia Presents Corwin" stepped right to the top with the first broadcast; those Tuesday night programs have broken down the resistance re-sistance of people who say haughtily that they never bother to listen to any broadcasts but music. Of course, Norman Corwin long since ' 1 ; s . ; - I ! NORMAN CORWIN made radio history; he has always had new ideas, and is a pioneer in radio technique. He has won practically prac-tically all possible awards. This series of dramatic presentations, done with excellent actors, ought to bring him a special one, and a host of new listeners. Mane MacDonald's going through the Hollywood "streamlining" process proc-ess voice lessons, dramatic coaching, coach-ing, dancing lessons, having her hair done a dozen different ways preparatory pre-paratory to playing a nice part in Hunt Stromberg's "Guest -in the House." Before going to Hollywood two years ago she was soloist with Tommy Dorsey's band and specialty dancer and singer at two smart New York night clubs. Nobody can say that John Carra-dine Carra-dine isn't versatile. 'He has the heavy role in Wallace Beery's new "Gold Town." Movie goers know him by his work in "Stagecoach "Reunion in France," etc. And he's recently been touring in Shakespearean Shake-spearean repertoire! If you had visited a rehearsal of CBS' "Crime Doctor" you would think you'd stumbled onto a bunch of small boys playing cops and robbers. rob-bers. "Take that bang! bang! you're dead!" you hear, but it's a grown man saying it. It's all because be-cause of the shortage of blank bul- 1 lets and the lack of a reasonable facsimile. There are enough cartridges car-tridges for performances, but not for rehearsals. Connee Boswell, the Blue network songbird, has been appointed head of a nation-wide morale boosting organization or-ganization of people who have "arrived" "ar-rived" despite physical handicaps. Connee has been an infantile paralysis paral-ysis victim since childhood. Twentieth Century Fox did the country a service when they bought screev rights to "Winged Victory," the army air forces show now playing play-ing to packed houses in New York. The cast of 350 goes to Hollywood next month, starts the picture in June. It's a swell show, amusing, informative, soul-stirring. The cast includes a number of men who've made pictures and done radio work, as well as Corp. Layne Britton, a former make-up man who made up Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Greta Garbo, Walter Pidgeon, and even did his stuff on Charlie McCarthy! Mc-Carthy! Fannie Brice, who once was a star in the stage "Ziegfeld Follies," has been signed by Metro for its screen version of the Follies. She will appear in a sketch, "Sweepstakes," "Sweep-stakes," and will also do her famous Baby Snooks routine. ODDS AND ENDS Radio statisticians statisti-cians are trying to discover if any other network announcer beats Milton Cross record; the chief heckler on "Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street" is on his 23rd year as announcer . . . Dorothy Shay has arrived originally appearing as guest on CBS "Carnival" she's now a permanent member of the showt co-starring Alex Templcton and Morton Gould . . . "Nctvs Front,"" fifth of "This Is America" scries, is dedicated dedi-cated to 320 war correspondents, 16 of whom have lost their lives . . . 12 years ago George Sanders gave a piano recital re-cital for television; he plays and sings in Action in Arabia." |