Costly Circle

Most revolutionary radio idea since Charlie McCarthy is The Circle, which for the last five weeks, courtesy of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, has been capping the great Sunday night radio vaudeville show. For its contracted year on the air, The Circle will cost more than $2,000,000, or about as much as it would cost (retail) to pave the way from Manhattan to Hollywood with boxes of Corn Flakes. Of this colossal pile, about $15,000 goes for its hour of radio time each week (10-11 EST) and some $25,000 a week for talent. Last week The Circle was having trouble with its expensive segments.

The Circle aims to stand or fall by a novel format of radio entertainment--a round-table type of informal-sounding chatter about anything under the limited radio sun, participated in by the elect of the entertaining world. The informality is achieved by the cast sitting down with the script writers few days before, sometimes tussling all night with the job. The Circle's, original members were Ronald Colman, a ten-year holdout against radio work; Cinemactress Carole Lombard; Leading Man Gary Grant; Baritone Lawrence Tib-bett; Groucho and Chico Marx; Robert Emmett Dolan and his orchestra. Early guests were Pianist Jose Iturbi, with a swing item in his repertory and "okeydokey" in his vocabulary, and Noel Coward, who upstaged everybody, gave Carole stagefright.

In its discursive orbit, touching on poetry, music, drama, death, taxes, fur coats, etc., The Circle has got much of its bounce from bright topical lyrics sung by the Foursome, and from such staged and unstaged effects as: 1) Colman ending a discussion of injustice by reading Socrates' speech to his judges; 2) Gary Grant explaining interruptions for station identification by chanting the Federal radio law with Gregorian solemnity; 3) Madcap Carole warmly arguing that women, by simply being practical, could easily run the world without war.

To this strange new symposium, an encouraging 13 to 14 of every 100 listeners stay tuned in Sunday nights. But the rigors of getting the script in shape and the renewed clamor that radio work takes some of the twinkle out of cinema stars have had an effect on the players themselves. Last week, with Lombard, Grant and Tibbett scheduled to be off, Ronald Colman asked for. and got, release from his contract. This left last Sunday's show in a bad spot. Grant was lured back, Basil Rathbone rounded up. The show went on, distinguished mainly by the singing of Negro Contralto Marian Anderson. Colman's suave management and Carole Lombard's wayward breathlessness were sorely missed. For next week the return of Miss Lombard and Tibbett is promised, but for the future of The Circle its producing agency, J. Walter Thompson Co., is banking heavily on Actor Colman's parting words: "I will be looking forward to appearing on future programs."

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