Show parrot mice make circus out of radlif give violent headache to broadcasters but its all good fun by HOWARD NELSON released by western newspaper union hw YORK ordinarily 1 Ns speaking peaking the european war is more important than a singing iii mouse ouse that was why without reflection on the hermins ver mins qualifications the national broadcasting company recently answered no to the following radiogram still interested in singing mice A sensational one in nieu wen holland sin sins sings s like a canary A white mouse to boot its only a few years since radio held its first singing mouse contest more recent gable f y star performers from every avail able genera and species have been invited to appear lest mice gain a monopolistic grip on the microphone list of animal performers reads like the index of book chos who at the zoo everything from a boa constrictor st to a cucka burra bird public interest is responsible which is the same reason municipalities pali ties maintain zoos A headache to radio men alen but while the animal kingdom fascinates fasci ci radio rad io fans behind the scenes arrangements have been a sion of violent headaches to broadcasters the wire and letter correspondence relating to these arrangements range ments look like the legal briefs in a supreme court suit worry no 1 is animal temperament it if a comes into the studio minus microphone manners there ensues petting coaxing cajoling and perhaps a merry catch as catch can production men assigned to such programs have evolved their own technique learning the language of birds elephants and lions they well remember when horace the hippo made her radio debut with a snort from jinja africa john F royal vice president in charge of programs was crossing the atlantic when he heard from a fellow passenger how horace enjoyed the short wave music from new york every time a familiar melody was heard horace would move his four tons about the golf course at jinja making appreciative grunts royal decided to serenade horace with a special broadcast from radio city they chose jerome kerns the hippopotamus for this occasion she has an understudy canary birds are among radios most seasoned performers six years ago one sponsor signed up blue boy a virtuoso with a repertoire of songs it was the first bird according to amateur to sing tunes other than its natural ones blue boy was con so valuable that her sponsor engaged another canary as an understudy der study first heats in in a new olympic canary tournament were broadcast in december from san francisco where birds participated national and international contests are scheduled to follow A A director of NBC special events once thought a talking parrot contest would be fun for radio fans when parrot fanciers got wind of the plan their suggestions warnings comments and parrot ped idrees poured in en masse wrote one californian our parrot is basking in the sunshine ready willing and able sans bronchial and pneumonia germs to chatter guzzle whistle and snap at a cracker kindly prize at once biagel up and died final auditions of the talking parrots were presided over by a group of speech authorities secretly was passing the buck he want to hear any more parrot talk he had received letters from rom local no 9 of the new england association of Parrot casters and from guys who signed themselves bob white R U Perro quee etc the new englanders maintained that oscar is the best of the lot but admitted that he is most discouraging cou raging at times from columbus came praises of mabel who was coming along in fine shape until she died unexpectedly from all points of the compass came ive got a parrot ive got a macaw ive got a talking crow ive got a warbling pigeon then at the height of this parrot I 1 M 2 pl I 1 Y at va GET BACK THERE AND SING in canine language the warning peggy mouse singing coach gives the roaring rodents auditioned for the international contest of vermin virtuosi fever wrote to his special events men throughout the network dr W reed blair director of the bronx zoo has advised us there is decided danger in holding the contest at this time tropical parrots are susceptible to bronchial pneumonia etc etc we will therefore postpone the contest to the warmer month of may the broadcast actually came off in may de dared a holiday for all hands there is considerable speculation about what future radio badio holds forthe for the animal kingdom going down the list of past events historians al ready espy programs featuring clyde beatty and a cast of african lions jungle snakes and crocodiles encountered in south america by the holden expedition a zoo ship arriving in boston with specimens of the animal kingdom from africa a frog jumping contest a trout fishing tournament a words eye view of a busy beehive a debate between turkey gobblers no holds barred a whaling expedition in san francisco harbor and a convention of crickets an on the hearth radio these days is a menagerie an aquarium a zoo in other words its a circus |