Dramatists -- Juvenile fiction; Radio acting -- Juvenile fiction; Radio broadcasting -- Juvenile fiction
And now, for the first time since entering the FKIP Building, the
insistent blast of radio was gone. He stood in a soundless, glass-walled
visitors’ gallery that had broadcasting studios on either side. He knew
this gallery as he knew the hallway of his own home. Studio A, first on
the right, high-ceilinged and vast, for symphony concerts; Studio B, on
the left, for the song-birds of the air. Studio C.... Blue lights in a
square frame said: STUDIO C—REHEARSAL.
He could look into Studio C, through the glass wall, upon a producer and
a cast. Not a sound came out to him. The producer, slouched in a chair
with his chin on his chest, leaped to his feet. His red hair was wild;
his eyes were wilder. He seemed to be playing out a whole scene, and the
cast, pencils out, furiously marked script. The rehearsal began again,
and the producer, back in his chair, held his head and rocked to and
fro. Then the cast must have hit what was wanted. There were smiles,
good humor, and a producer who no longer looked wild.
“I wonder,” Joe asked himself hungrily, “if I’ll ever be doing that?”
Without warning another blue light burned in another frame. STUDIO G—ON
THE AIR.
Curtains had been drawn and Studio G was blacked out. Joe’s heart
hammered. People were dropping their tasks and tuning in. North, south,
west—Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh. Perhaps lonely ships at sea to the
east on the lonely Atlantic. Six feet beyond the drawn curtains lay
mystery, the alluring secrecy of the unknown. Radio!
The blue light burned steadily: STUDIO G—ON THE AIR.
“I’d give my right arm,” Joe said hoarsely. There might not be so many
people in the reception-room now....
The corridor speaker gave out a woman’s voice, hard, clipped, metallic.
Joe, recognizing the voice, knew that the _Years of Danger_ show was
coming out of Studio G, with Lucille Borden in the lead. Lucille Borden
always played tough-girl parts. He’d heard her in lots of shows. She
must be another big money-maker, like Sonny.
The reception-room was almost empty, and excitement stirred him. He
leaned across the reception desk. “I’d like to know—I mean, can you tell
me—”
“You write a letter to the Director of Auditions,” said the blonde girl.
Heat crawled up the boy’s neck.
“I’ve seen so many. I always know. Tell them how old you are, where you
live, what experience you’ve had, what parts you’ve played, your
telephone—”
Joe managed to say: “Only high-school plays. Northend High.”
“Tell them that.” The blonde girl took a sheet of paper from a drawer.
“Write it now. I’ll send it upstairs.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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