Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 69

9 i v. Gus Edvards, Discoverer of Top Flight Stars, Brings His Methods of Developing Talent To Airlanes After Having Demonstrated Its Efficiency For Many Years During His Career asVaudeville Celebrity Here are several promising pupils in Gus Edwards' "School Days on the Air," posed with the "schoolmaster" himself. Front' row, left to right; CARLYN MINTON, DOROTHEA GUS EDWARDS, JERRY McKAY and SHERRY ARDELL. Rear row, left to right: SIDNEY MILLER, DICK BRODUS and JAY MORLEY. 0)'" F-7HE i i A 0 Marshall guitarist, a team of 16-year-old performers, are also featured, this program.

Some of Ed jllli 1' vi-. ill t. tion to the rule that all are legitimately in the youngster class. She is a native of Kansas City and is the first one in her family to take up professional work in this field. Her father was the law partner of the late Senator James Reed of Missouri.

Her early training was as a dancer. Her teacher was Mme. Rhea, former dancer with Pavlova, who started her own school. Miss Mansfield's first radio work was with WDAP in Kansas City. she later was featured as a vocalist with Guy Lombardo's orchestra.

She was also with Paramount or a time, appearing in two Bing Crosby pictures. She is a featured member of the staff of KFWB. In addition to her role of schoolma'am with the Gus Edwards' slated for a "School Days on the Air" ubroadcast. took the youngster into one of the studios to show me how well he could play. The demonstration over, the reminiscences continued.

lie took me over the back trail to the days when he was a boy soprano in a velveteen suit. He recalled the Coal I. Quintet, Hyde's -Comedians and other old-time groups' of entertainers wltbViwhich'he was associated. 1 1 He telived those far off nights of. "gallery, singing" at Tony Pastor's and told me how one night Tony himself heard him and gave him a chance to show what he could do.

Some of the words in the chorus of famous Edwards song "Tammany" "had been eluding me 'for years and I 4 4 I i -'i-A iV ft By JACK BURROUGHS School tchool dayi, Modern airlaht ruh Singing and dancing and crooner's moan, Taught to the tune of a microphone. 7 SO MIGHT the Gus Edwards song hit of many, jjearst go be paraphrased to fit the current activities of the celebrated discoverer and trainer of stars. For Gus Edwards has kept abreast of the times. The set-up has changed considerably since that day about 30 years ago when Edwards recognized a potential star in MARIAN MANSFIELD, who is hear.d as the MILTON DeLUGG, accordionist, and MARSHALL FISHER, guitarist, featured in "School Days' on the Air" wards' other pupils who show exceptional promise are Carlyn Minton, Dorothea Ferns, Jerry McKay, Sherry Ardell, Sidney Miller, Dick Brodus and Jay Morley. The Gus Edwards "School Days of the Air" programs are a source of instruction as' well as entertainment for the dialers.

When Edwards assembles his juveniles for their broadcast from the KFWB stage he gives them hints as to how they can improve their performance. Suggestions are also' made by guest stars. Among the stars who have guests on this program Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Groucho Marx and Bert Wheeler, all of whom were developed by Edwards. The youngsters on this program rangq' in age from six to fifteen years. The idea has" proved so popular" that at this writing the indications are that the program will be heard as a Coast-to- Coast network presentation beforolong.

il ARMIDA, one. of Gus -Edwards' younger proteges, is from La-, Corado, which is situated in 'the State of Sonora, Mexico. Stage and screen activities preceded her entry into radio. It was. while Armida was appearing in Los Angeles with her father, Ven.

her two older sisters that Edwards discovered He, put her into motion pictures 'immediately. Mervyn Le Roy, another celebrity in the entertainment world destiny Gus Edwards. helped to shape, is from. the Bay region. His first ven-x ture into the realm of the theater was at the age of 14 years in a vaudeville act billed as "Le Roy and Cooper' two kids and a piano." After six years 1 with this act he went into motion pic- tures, getting a job with Lasky that paid, him but one-tenth of the salary ne had been getting in vaudeville.

After a- few months he left Hollywood to go back to vaudeville, returning to Hollywood about a year later as a juvenile actor. His first work as a director was in a Colleen Moore picture." Bert Wheeler, also numbered among the stars whose early talents were developed by Edwards, is a native of Paterson, N. He gravitated to the theater at an early age, and wassoon a vaudeville singer, dancer ani pan-tomimist. He wentto London, where his "eating act" tickled the risibilities of his audiences. Inhis performance Wheeler pulled a sandwich and an apple out of his pocket and sandwiched his talk between bites.

"Rio RjtCfirst as top billing in a Ziegfeld production and later as a picture lifted Wheeler "and his partner Woolsey to the heights of fame and success. Eddie Cantor, one of the brightest stars on the Edwards list, was born in New York on January 31, ISM. His career started in popular vaudeville, after which he turned for a time to burlesque. This was followed by Keith's vaudeville, and later by engagements with Morosco, the Shuberts and Florenz Ziegfeld. He went on tour with "Canary Cottage" in 1916.

He PrrcnreJ in "Broadway Brevities" in lDO nv.I was starred in 1923 in "Ki the person of the then unknown Elsie Janis. Through his efforts she was given an opportunity on Broadway and the result was stardom for her. From then on Edwards became definitely committed to the idea of developing talented aspirants into full-fledged stars. The decline of vaudeville temporarily cramped his style as this once highly important outlet for the talents of top-flicht entertainers crew morn and mnrp program, she is heard as vocalist on restricted. But the Gus Edwards idea did not suffer a decline with vaudeville.

Being one of those basic ideas that are workable in all times and adaptable to changing conditions, the Edwards, method of developing star material turned out to be practical in the field of radio. The credit for adapting the Gus Ed- wards idea to radio belongs to Harry Maizlish, station manager of KFWB, Hollywood. Maizlish reasoned that since Edwards had been so successful with his old-time vaudeville act in which he developed such outstanding stars as Eddie Cantor, George Jessel and Groiichq Marx, he should be equally successful in developing talent in a program over the air. Maizlish wired Edwards in New York and obtained his approval of the idea. Edwards came out to Hollywood under a long term contract.

It was in this manner that Gus Edwards' "School -Dsv nf tVio Aii" nciw hoar A rerv nineties. He wore a quiet, neatly tailored business suit which stood put in marked contrast to the riotous sports outfits affectedly prac tiqally the entire male population. Therewas about him an air of infinite patience and gentle forbearance. On the day I visited him there was a search on for an important set of clippings the only copy of a Gus Edwards biography that had been published in a national magazine some time before. A careful checkup of the files failed to reveal a trace of the missing clippings.

But instead of "blowing up" as the average person would have done, Edwards 'remarked philosophically, though somewhat disappointedly, that they were very evidently gone and he'd probably never see them again. The missing clippings eventually did turn up, I understand. They were in the possession of a writer who was preparing a Gus Edwards article. The half-hour stretched into an entire afternoon of reminiscence punctu- ated by interruptions which did not ruffle Gus Edwards in the least. A couple of script writers came in.

Their entrance brought to mind the two authors in "Boy Meets Girl." After a brief conference the script writers made their exit and Edwards continued his reminiscences for my benefit. The mother of a six-year-old pianist was next ushered in, with her child prodigy in tow. The young pianist was asked him to supply the deficiency, which he did, as follows: "Swamp 'em, swamp 'em, Get that wampum!" He, recalled his association with Will D. Cobb, the writer of song lyrics, and told how the two of them came to write "Goodbye Little Girl Goodbye," which became one of the big song hits during the days of the Spanish-American War. Edwards and Cobb coined the term which they applied to their music publishing firm in Tin Pan Alley.

Among the. many Gus Edwards song successes of other days are "Only Me," "Her Eyes Don't Shine Like Diamonds," "There's Only One Girl in the; World For Me," and, of course, "School Days." To list but a few of the many stars Gus Edwards has developed in the past, there are; Lilyan Tashman, Groucho Marx, Georgie Price, Helen Mencken, the Holman Sisters, Virginia and Betty Jane, piano duo; Mervyn Leroy, Ann Dvorak, Ray Bolger and Armida. AS TO Gus Edwards' 'present activities, his "School Days of the Air" program uses only professional talent and "has never held auditions for amateur performers. Edwards feels that training and exploitation will make stars of them. Marian Mansfield, who plays the part of the "schoolm'am" on these broadcasts, is the only exeep- several other programs.

She is the Wife of Arthur Rankin, 20th player, who is the grandson of McKee Rankin and is related to the Barrymores and the Drews. Should their two sons turn to acting, they will the ninth generation of their family in the theatrical profession. WITH the exception of Marian Mansfield, all of the members of the Gus Edwards cast attend professional school, which enables them to be on hand for rehearsals regardless of the hour of day when be held. Dorothy Wade, a 12-year-old violinist, is considered by professionals as one of the most promising of the youngsters in this group. She showed talent on the violin at an early age.

When she was 10 years old she was presented as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Tommy Bond, another of the pupils, has appeared in "Our Gang" and other comedies in which children were featured. Several motion picture companies are reported interested in getting this promising youngster under contract. Milton Dclugg, accordion player, and Monday night over KFWB, came into being. DURING a recent trip to Hollywood I arranged to- spend a half-hour visiting Gus Edwards in his office at KFWB.

He proved to be exceptionally young looking individual for tsne whosa fame dates back to the OAKLAND TRIBUNE, SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 1937.