Ethel Merman makes her only Suspense appearance as a singer in the twilight of her career. She is asked by a mob-funded agent to train a new crooner for stardom. There’s a problem: he killed his past singing partner, and that murder was covered up by the mob as an accident. His memories of that singer and his desire for her keep swirling in his memory and he has serious discerning reality and his daydreaming. He has trouble remembering where he is and who is with him, and thinks Merman’s character is the woman he murdered. He forces Merman’s character to flirt with him… and then things escalate day by day until she realizes her life is in danger, and her manager doesn’t believe her… until the crooner cracks up on stage.
One of the scenes in this play by James Poe is rather uncomfortable. It is at about 13:30 where he asks her to tousle his hair and kiss his eyes.
What does the title have to do with the storyline? “Never follow a banjo act with a banjo act” is an old vaudeville saw that helped ensure the audience was always seeing something new and that each succession of performers would not blend in with the others. In the case of this story, the first banjo act was the young crooner with a woman vocalist. They may have changed the ages from a young vocalist to one at the end of their career, but it was still the same pattern of a young male and a woman vocalist. The crooner keeps thinking it’s the same act and can’t tell the difference. The title is in opposition to the storyline, and its incongruence is what makes it an intriguing combination of title and story.
Merman sings two Broadway songs. It’s a Big Wide Wonderful World was from the 1940 production of All in Fun and Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart from the 1934 production Thumbs Up! The songs outlived their plays.
Merman was not a radio actor, and it shows. She’s reading her lines as a Broadway singer-performer who was a better singer than actor, the kind who would have leeway in their recitation of dialogue because when they burst into song their presence is so memorable. It just doesn’t work that way here.
The 1954-02-03 Variety was not impressed with the broadcast:
At about 8:22 pm on Monday, Ethel Merman gave the full treatment to Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart on the CBS Suspense which cast her as a nitery singer who got professionally mixed up with a homicidal maniac in the 25G-a-week class who tried to kill her on the cafe floor and was himself taken in tow by six men who put him on a plane headed for the hoosegow, and if it weren’t for Zing the half-hour would have been a total loss, the James Poe script, tagged Never Follow a Banjo Act being quite a study in how not to write for radio and Miss Merman herself sadly miscast in the emoting part of a show which made interesting but overplayed attempts at “smart” dialog that was encased in a show biz atmosphere but came out sappy all the way, so much so that it was about as empty as one of Auto Lite’s batteryless jobs. The only thing the power singer got out of this deal was money.
NOTE: Variety jargon: “nitery” is a night club with “night” spelled as “nite,” “hoosegow” is a prison.
This Poe story is good, and was done twice on Suspense. Obviously Lewis liked it, and so did William N. Robson when he used it in 1958. That broadcast starred Margaret Whiting and used two songs she was often had in her live performances (The Gypsy in My Soul from 1947 and Song of the Wanderer which she recorded in 1958). The Whiting broadcast is better than Merman’s, but does not give the Poe script the superior overall production it deserves.
The pianists in the broadcast are superb even though they are heard only for brief segments. Both were well-known. Walter Gross was also an established composer. It’s likely his best known composition was Tenderly which can be heard at The Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/78_tenderly_walter-gross-dave-gilbert-bob-shevak-gross-lawrence_gbia7008882b Gross had an active performing and recording career.
At the time of this broadcast, Vic Piemonte was a very popular jazz pianist in Los Angeles and other major cities. It appears that he concentrated on performing in orchestras and in jazz trios, and did not do much recording.
The drama portion of the broadcast was recorded on Saturday, January 16, 1954. Rehearsal began at 4:00pm and continued to 6:00pm. The music crew, likely with the pianists and any other essential musicians, came in at 7:00pm. Merman likely joined them to rehearse the in-drama pieces. The rest of the cast came back at 8:00pm, and full rehearsals continued until 10:30pm. Recording commenced at 10:30pm and concluded at 11:00pm.
Pre-broadcast CBS publicity included this Merman comment about the story:
After the first rehearsal, she told Producer Elliott Lewis: “The scary thing about this is that in this business it could happen.”
When Jack Benny and Ethel Merman signed for Suspense, CBS issued a press release about it in early January 1954. The original title for this episode was noted as “Beat Me Daddy.” This indicates that the “Banjo” title, a much better one, was likely selected a two to three weeks before broadcast.
Two recordings of this episode have survived. The Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#473) borders on exceptional, and the network recording is notable, as well. (Most circulating network recordings are in disappointing sound; this is an upgrade for most collectors). It’s a toss-up. If you want the full network treatment and the Auto-Lite charity promotion (with a prominent figure from the FDR years and the March of Dimes), choose the network recording. Neither will disappoint. The best sounding recording is the AFRS one, ignoring its missing network content and judged solely on a sound quality basis.
Ethel Merman started on Broadway in the 1930s and was known for her big voice, developed in an era where production and diction had to overcome theater building acoustic characteristics without relying on amplification. She was in theater, movies, radio, and television. Her life and career are summarized at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Merman
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP540201
THE CAST
ETHEL MERMAN (Rosie Jones), Joseph Kearns (Ray Kramm), Paul Frees (Earl White / Voice), Shep Menken (Terry Dane), Jerry Hausner (Benny), Ben Wright (Johnson), Jess Kirkpatrick (Ray / Drunk), Larry Thor (Narrator)
COMMERCIAL: Harlow Wilcox (Announcer), unknown actor (Bob)
GUEST FOR THE AUTO-LITE CHARITY PROMOTION: Basil O’Connor, Chairman of the March of Dimes, was a confidant of FDR but declined a cabinet position. He led the Red Cross for two decades (declining any salary), and was a major figure in the fight against polio and all childhood infirmities. More information about O’Connor can be found at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_O%27Connor
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