Golden Age of Radio

Hedda Hopper __ wearing the creation by Hattie Carnegie which was inspired by the March of Dimes . But it really all began when a little Quaker girl (Hedda) saw a great Barrymore (Ethel) play in Captain Jinks. For Hedda decided then and there to become an actress. She ran away from hom, went from acting to reporting for CBS. The Quaker bonnet evolved into a series of the gayest, maddest hats in Hollywood.

Say Hello To – BURL IVES —who is heard with his “gittar” frequently over CBS, and regularly Saturday mornings on his own Coffee Club program. He comes to radio after years of touring the United States on foot or by any other handy means of transportation, collecting American folk-songs. He’s been a rover ever since, two months before finishing college, he decided he didn’t want to graduate and be a football coach. Although he loved football he loved singing and wandering around more. So he left, taking all the money he had—fifteen dollars—his guitar, and an extra pair of slacks. Singing in hotels or taverns, he made enough to live on, and that was all he wanted. He has settled down in New York now, but maybe not for long.

Ginger Jones __trained in dramatics at the Goodman Theater, Chicago, and was very active in radio until, in 1944, she gave it up to work for the Stage Door Canteen and to supervise and m.c. variety shows for the American Theater Wing. Now, returned to the air, she is Jane Browning on NBC’s Right to Happiness, 3:45 P.M., weekdays. She’s married to radio actor Les Damon and they have bought a New Jersey Farm.

Peggy Lee __who has been singing lately on The Electric Hour and Rhapsody in Rhythm, is a “musician’s singer.” Johnny Johnston discovered her in Fargo, N.D.; Will Osborne heard her and offered her a job; Buddy Clark persuaded Benny Goodman to audition her. Benny  signed her and she married his guitarist. Dave Barbour. Together they wrote “It’s a Good Day” and “I Don’t Know Enough About You.”

Laura Leslie -born nineteen years ago in Finks-burgh. Mary land, pop. 300, she grew up singing; had a weekly sponsored spot on WBAL while attending high school in Baltimore and got another sponsor on WFBR for a graduation present. She went to Los Angeles for some club bookings; tired of West Coast night life; came home and auditioned for Sammy Kaye when he was appearing at a Baltimore theater. So he signed her.

SAY HELLO TO. . . VINCENT LOPEZ—leader of the orchestra on the Show of the Week, on MBS this evening. Vince has been supplying smart society with dance music since 1919. He has never worked in any other band and has always led his own. Definitely opposed to swing music, he stuck to the sweet variety through thick and thin. He himself is a sophisticated as his music, has made and lost several fortunes. VINCENT LOPEZ . . . was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. His father was a bandmaster in the U. S. Navy and his mother a musician, but the parents wanted Vincent to become a priest. He consented to attend a seminary at Dunkirk, N. Y. The director of the school realized that the boy’s future was not to be that of priest, explained matters at home and once again Vincent was free. Then he was sent to business school. Later worked in a dairy office. Finally he organized his own band. You know the rest.