Swing (Jan-Dec 1953)

24 by television programs. He may see his own fears and insecurities magnified on the television screen. A child who feels unwanted and threatened by his own parents may react very fearfully to violence and brutality on the video screen. Because the maladjusted and insecure child is markedly confused about the realities in his own home, it is not unusual for him to confuse reality with fantasy as they are portrayed on the various programs." This seems to me to be a remarkably sensible approach to a matter about which an awful lot of wild statements have been made not only by parents but also by doctors. Recently "The American Medical Association Journal" ran an editorial deploring "the mental, physical and social consequences" of radio and television on children. At the same time, "The Journal" admitted there has been "astonishingly little research on the medical and psychological impact of television on children." In spite of this "The Journal" closed by advising the industry to clean house before Congress did it first. Frankly, I consider Dr. Geiger's solutions more apt. "By becoming furious at the television stations and at the programs they represent, parents are literally barking up the wrong tree. Actually all effort should be mobilized and directed at the basic problem; how can the community Erovide facilities for the tremendous numer of maladjusted adults and children. If we can provide this help we would have no need to fear the spectre of the video set." A Long Winter But a Merry One LET'S FACE it, kids, the whodunit is going to be very much with us from here on in. We'll just have to get used to a lot of the old situations, the old dialogues. I seem to have a little list on me here somewhere of plots and lines which, I bet, you'd have trouble avoiding in any one night with the TV set. There is — to pick one at random — the young comedy couple, just married, who through a series of wild coincidence find themselves trying, between kisses, to figure out who killed old Mrs. Throckmorton. Just after they have the murderer safely stowed away, the bride whispers to the Inspector tremulously: "My husband always told me to keep my nose out of other people's business. After this, I will." You'll see quite a lot of these people. You'll also see quite a lot of Cafe Royale (or Cafe Zanzibar or Cafe Madagascar) which is right square in the middle of Berlin within easy reach of the Russians. "We know Cafe Royale is the center of the Soviet espionage ring," says old Colonel Higgins of Intelligence, "but how do they get the information out of the cafe? How?" My hunch, one supported by years of experience at this sort of thing, is that it's the zither player who is tapping out his dreamy melodies in Morse code to the shifty-eyed character at table three. You'll meet dozens of zither players this winter in dozens of Cafe Royales. Don't take your eyes off any of them. Just as a guess I'd say Ralph Bellamy this winter will slip through the Iron Curtain at least fourteen times in search of an Allied spy known simply as I. Fodor. Every blessed time, I. Fodor will turn out to be a girl, a very pretty one. Romance and suspicion will bloom in about equal quantities. Is she really a Soviet spy or isn't she? You can easily tell. The Soviet spies will be heavylidded temptresses; the others will be dewy-eyed maidens. In the end, when the good ones lead him back to the frontier and he tries to persuade her to flee with him to safety, she'll shake her head: "My people need me." So much for Ralph Bellamy's winter. Now, as for Geraldine Fitzgerald, who had a rough time last year, I predict that at least a score or so times, she'll find herself alone in the old mansion way out in the country. Her husband calls: "Sorry, dear. Got to work late tonight. Be home about midnight." She just hangs up and the sirens wail. Seven convicts (or lunatics) have escaped from Dartstone. The rest of the half hour, she creeps around the house, being scared successively by the creaky shutter, the rising wind, the shadows on the lawn. When her husband finally get home, she (a) shoots him (b) goes mad. Then there's the acting couple, the older man and the young wife; who by the most