AMERICA'S "FIRST LADY"

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 110, 12 May 1938, Page 30

AMERICA'S "FIRST LADY"

BROADCASTS BY MRS.

ROOSEVELT

£600 for fifteen minutes is the fee paid to Mrs; Franklin D. Roosevelt, wife of the President of the United States. It would attract notice, for a single address, even in America, whereUarge fees are an everyday occurrence. That sum is, however, paid fqr a series of speeches of a quarter of an hour each in a "sponsored programme." Mrs. Roosevelt's popularity and, therefore, her advertising value are attested by the fact that her "fan mail" amounts to approximately 100,000; letters a year. This number includes letters relating to her broadcasts and other matters.

Well known "as a writer and public speaker, the early directors in charge of her appearances' were, apparently, so afraid of offending her or seeming to interfere with her that they never asked her to rehearse before the microphone so that they might time her speech to makQ sure that it filled exactly her allotted time. They were content to take a chance that she neither exceeded nor fell short of the minutes arranged for.

Later, the direction, of her broadcasts was placed in the hands of Mr. H. Calvert Haws, who has had a wide experience of broadcasting. At Mrs. Roosevelt's first broadcast he followed what his predecessors had done and did not time the address beforehand. On that occasion he was amazed to find that, instead of speaking for the nine minutes allotted to her, she finished in eight' minutes.

A pause of a minute is a very long time in the American broadcasting world, and sets most of the people in the studio dithering. That would, no doubt, have been the case then but for the presence of mind of the conductor of the band which was to follow-Mrs. Roosevelt. Sensing what everyone was feeling, and with Barely a moment's hesitation, he gave the sharp beat for attention with his baton, and the next instant "the air" was eloquent with music, which filled out the odd minute preceding his own programme time.

Such a contretemps could not be alIpwed to occur again. Mr. Haws, therefore, counted the number of words in Mrs. Roosevelt's manuscript, and found that she had spoken at the r«te of 135 words per minute, so that during the eight minutes she' had spokeh 1080 words.

Her next 'script, he found, contained 1700 instead of the 1200 or so required. In other words, the manuscript needed twelve minutes to be put over' "on the air." There was, obviously, only one thing to do in the circumstances—cuf the manuscript to its proper length. Mr. Haws did it.

When Mrs. Roosevelt arrived at the studio, the cut 'script was' handed to her and she was told what had been done. Instead of being annoyed or put out, as so many women-holding a distinguished position would have been, she smiled • approval, read through the address in its abbreviated form, and broadcast it like a professional.

In spite of the large fees she receives, Mrs. Roosevelt makes no money by her broadcast addresses. All her fees are sent direct to a philanthropic society, which distributes the amounts to the various institutions to be benefited.

Like every other broadcast speaker, Mrs. Roosevelt is not immune from public criticism. On one occasion, it has been related, a man, amazed at hearing the large fee she received, wrote that, in his opinion, no broadcaster was worth so much money. "I think that you are perfectly right that no one is worth two hundred dollars a minute," Mrs. Roosevelt replied. "I never dreamed for a minute that I was. -I do not feel that this money is paid to me as an individual, but that it is paid to the President's wife. It puts-money into circulation.

The money is spent for a good purpose, and these people would not otherwise be" helped. Therefore, I think I am perfectly justified in doing The result of doing exactly what the director desires is that Mrs. Roosevelt has become an exceedingly efficient speaker "on the air," with a technique so enormously improved that the people who engage her feel that they get full value for their money, even though it costs them over six hundred pounds every time she broadcasts for a quarter of an hour.