Variety (Jan 1949)

WeilBfgJay* S»BXUarf S, 1949 Forty, ihird UT^Rtf^T Anmv^mry RADIO 97 Switch Casting By MITCHELL GRAYSON (FreeUme Rodio Director) .. The little red hand on the studio dock seemed to me to be spinning around with the speed of a spit- fire piopellor. I was in a tight Sflueeze. The clock warned me there was little time left to find rtiv actor-for a 70-year old part S blank verse! I needed an actor with the authority of an Kdmund rvupnn one who could character- fze "Sh the sincerity of Walter Huston, a player who could tote a S play on his shoulders with fhe ease of a Barrymore. I had a star vehicle if ever there was one But no Star. Every actor whom I had auditioned up to that moment, a( least every actor available for the show, seemed tota ly unable to perform with the quality I thought so necessary for the part, "it wasn't fair. Here I was with the first broadcast rights to what I considered to be one of the most beautifully written half-hour radio scripts by an extremely talented writer and I couldn't come up "with an actor to do the part the way it certainly had to be done. Every character actor I tested agreed with me that it waS a great script. Aiid each one, with feeling that iie would give his eye teeth to play the part on the air, had to agree Wmi he was absolutely not right for it.- Now I know there are cynics who gay that there isn't a part written that at least one actor can't play. : My point.is: that such ^an actor was not available to me at the time. But what. happened right then and there taught me a lesson that I've been grateful for : ever since. A 17-.vear-old youngster who was a student at City College, and who hung around the studio during his spare time picking up tips on act- ! ing from the more experienced r playersi asked if he couldn't read i for the part. I looked at him des- ! pairinglyand shook my head. But ' he wouldn't take no for an answer. He pleaded with me: "Look. I've got a trick voice. I'm sure I can do this part if you'll only give me a chance. Besides, you've got nothing to lose. Why don't you hear me? You'll kiio* whether I'm right or wrong In a very short time?" Ratings and the Stuffed Banana In Which Is Deplored the Stale Religion of Radio Which Says That Hooperatings Are Infallible, and Where Boldness, Adventure and Imagination Are Systematically Penalized HARRY SALTER MUSICAL DIRECTOR Stop the Music—ABC It:Pays to Be Igndrant-^CBS By NORMAN CORWIN ... Hollywood. I tend to confirm the popularity of Although the loud, splintering ' the. familiar, which by itself is i crash of Gallup and Koper on | happy and wholesome. But this Election Day was one of the most tendency also encourages sponsors fascinating sound effects of irtod- '*od broadcasters to drop the bur- I ern times, it was not followed, as den of innovating and originating. ' I many had hoped, by the even ihOre ' ■^"^ this might not be so thoi> j fascinating effect of a curfew oughly shoddy if it did not work 1 tolling the knell of parting polls,, out to the detrihient of practically iln.stead the professors gravely <iH new, unfamiliar work. i Z.'f nlii^"'; ""''•ysf^' observed p¥FF"et5^tTsnConformni | ineir navels lor a clue to mys- teries of Ule, and returned to the 1 Through the use made of ' Jury Disagrees on 600G business. ■ OiE coOi^e -Hooper and Nielsen; both situated on the fault line of C..:* « < 1.. •! 1 > i ^'"^^^ earthquake, lost no time aUlt vs. Juvenile Jury ; explaining that what they sell is A S600,000 damage suit against I ~-t,iafis1omgTo Z- ,Tack Barry and others for alleged pen, in tlie grand style of Gallup piracy of the idea and title of aid Roper, But at this moment. old hot dog stand ready for new -Hooperatings, ilieir end ■ rosult: is to set rigid standards of conT formity; to .justify and perpetuate sameness and mediocrity in the fields of music and drama; to dis- courage the daring and audacity that vitalize the creative worker and to stifle what Variety m a recent editorial referred to as "ad- venture" in programming, In this day of princely patron- "Juvenile Jury" was stymied '^si, tfed'-on VhVrtos'Wd thrcome- ^ge for the artist, the day of the «eek when a-New York Federal [p^^^^^^^S'^^^^^^^^ brings you drama, the Court jury disagreed after a seven- (jj^g (he pollsters it is nerhans gas-sponsored symphony, the rub- day trial. Suit was instituted by i proper to ask if in the long run ^er tire that preaches religion, William Evan.? against Barry, Dan ! it ,iiakes very 'much difference ' assume that the artist, Ehrenreich; the Bamberger Broad-! whether inxiper—for one—is ac- ^'"'^^ ''^ relatively rich and se-r casting Service, WOB, N. y., pro-{curate at all cure, is also unencumbered; that gram service, and General Foods, I j ^^y^^^^ „g, ' his imagination roars and soars sponsor of the WOK stanza Evans, who may now petition for a new trial, claimed that he origi- nated "Juvenile Jury" and submit- like a jet lighter. Instead he has inality, a sheeplike plodding after success formulas,: and the avoid'^ ance of ideas that either have not. been tried, or which, having been tried, have not scored; high in some rating. Radio dares to do far less than . films, simply because it is com- pletely enslaved to the^ ratings. Programs must have "circulation," and the best way to circulate is to; copy other circulation-setters. Two million listeners, which is vastly more than ever saw a '.smash hit on Broadway, are not enough for a program fronv week.' to week; it can die of that. The artist IS seldom free to go after big game. In the boundless pre- cincts of drama, from Aristoplianes to Oboler; radio is little interested in old cliissics or new literature. Beyond the repeat of a mystery chiller like "Sorry, Wrong Num- her" and the annual presentation ■of Christmas script's, radio will not I even encore its own homc-de* veloped classics, few as they are. It is content to adapt books, I movies, plays, or to rehash detec- ' tive and romance patterns end- 'lessly.': ence rdtings in raclio is bad from tome closer to surrendering his a.; cultural and artistic pomt of ^entity than ever before, view Not . in the research per se, The big fee, which theoretically ted the idea to WGN, Chicago, Sf'^'' Z^n^'fJ!!!'?.,/,,'* fir**" ^•'""I'l ^'^"^ ^^'^ "^'^''^t' constantly which returned it to him. A few ^rf ^nte nrWert ^n^L^^Tn fnr^^^ ^'"^ on a leash, months later, according to Evans, when 1 wL rmnlprt fn \h^. ^^Im which is not Barry and.Ehrenreich launched the , Toil'Vo"t'not ' '''' "^'^ same show on WOR. -^valter Winchell chided me for sligfitirig Mooperatihgs. "Mr. It's the Abuses 1 Another piracy suit against ",Iury" is pending in N. Y. Supreme Court. Plaintiff, Carol Marshall, says "Jury" infringes on her \m- vestor; ■ which is not "commercial" in the sense that it is instantly recognizable to millions who have produced radio show called "Junior I about that. But a rap at the abuses Corwin," he wrote, "they just heaid" or'seen the"7outinrsora& measure what Americans listen to I where before most." That is right. No quarrel Judges Only Slightly Sensational of the rating system,' is not the same thing as' rapping the top- Nobody, lea.st of all the artist, wants an investor or sponsor or employer to • lose mpnoy- That ,. . , would be stupid business. Yet rating shows. ' .^^,hat the operators and enlre- I Not even if Hooper were 20% I preneurs tend to forget is that e be-grounds for { hundreds of "commercial" ideas, complaint against the leaders in i based on the safest and soundest Farnsworth Marion Plant Acquired by RCA-Victor 1 oft, -would ther Marion, Ind RCA-Viotor has purcha.sed the i lho hit parade. It's not their fault | cliches of the business, turn out Marion plant of Farnsworth Tele- that people love 'em; I do myself; jto be uncommercial flops—mostly for want of invention; and artistry. When "research'' was addfid to vision and Radio Corp., Fort Wayne. Latter has moved all its activities to its expanded main plant. RCA officials said the newly ae that people love 'em; I do myself; and such popularity must be de- served. But at the .same time there are such things as minority the union of sponsor and artist. rights in radio as well as outside I as a sort of in-law, or back-seat of it; and sometimes a low^rating ] driver, artistic freedom in radio What occurred in the next few minutes could only be used for grade-G story plots. In the movies. The kid was sensational. The broadcast was terrific. The author was happy. I grinned. For weeks afterward, as a matter of fact for 10 years afterward—vou see all ihis happened in 1939—1 have made it a rule to give actors a chance at switch casting. Encour- ihL^hn"' I? ^7 Pa'-'s that they honestly feel they can do Nowadays I read through a script wp^imlv, " -T^ some ?6m^^?h'J Then h?fn thi '^^^''ching ' penetration mlL u ^ai'away corners of my c stlp « Sood switch- allv fini^^ S**'"^ exception- actor L/"' ^.''^'nPle. I know an heavv ""'"^ type-casts him a pens ln\J^"'*=*'' ^ '^'»«'-- He hap- thre Iritl I'J the most sensi- th?f i^"*^" business. Use n a Sf °^ "is talent- role character part and the « or S«if* dimension. The "lan parts „° ^^""^ ^un- inner Pvli? ^ creates an •"ore exSri^'jd stimulates a him -rS Performance from - reS'^enToyT""^ ''''' '""^ ^Mnsidpr?'^,: "Stress whom Perfom " ^° ^ ^"'y ^i»^tuoso of souT.« ^"L"*»t interpreter 'ers °s a fin?*' ''P?*"^ «=harac- *«ws bv rifro"!^"'^^ 2" ™a"y lier onlv ^^'^ t^ink of As a m»tf»l \^i""-'=hewing moll. th6 rS^tlt? of fSct, one director •"how of "T ^^'^ a'^fess in t«rs u^,p^ S""^ couldn't believe his «t the announced ♦he dlrpo^^ "U^^ program. Said '■didn't ^"^y see whiz, "ike that' r/''%^°"l'* Pl«y Pa^s Wk for L ^**' known her -this a^v«"' ""^ year^and gee! 'hout Xf " '^'"''e new Idea "•^ What she can do!" quired Marion plant would be show of acknowledged good qual-! began to feel elbows in its ribs, made the midwest center of RCA's j ity gets pushed around simply be-j The researchman is paid to tell television tube production after | cause it's little. And even oftener j the creator what is popular; to completion of a modernization andithan it gets pushed around, it gets ifind out what people are likely to expansion ; program. Plant property excluded. like on the basis of what they consists of six buildings and 54 j Nobody can deny that ratings, in {have liked in the past. This nat- acres of land. - the field . Of general programming, urally invites a distrust of orig- LUCY MONROE ,1948-1949 TOURING VETERANS' HdSPItALS CAMP SHOWS This is not to say that conimer- icial radio is a monster. It has, in i spite of itself, accomplished more ,in this country than government I radio has done anywhere in the world, save possibly in England. It : is not commercial radio itself that . stands indicted by the artist, but , the abuses and excesses of com- mercial radio—and among these { abuses can be ranked as chief ac-- cessory, the ratings. Or rather, ! again, tho u-te made of ratings: 1 the policies framed by them, the ■ programs killed and kept alive, I choked off or coddled because of I them. ■ ■ ■ ' Radio does excellent things in i music, comedy, and special events, j But where is the high vision, the I adventure, that programmed Mac- I Leish's "Fall of the City and Millay's "Lidice?" What has hap- pened to the Columbia Workship and "Great Palys?" And why has "Candid Microphone" gone off the air and why does "You Are: There" lack a sponsor? Why was I Orson Welles' old "Mercury. Thea^.i i tre of the Air" uncommercial until : the morning after it scared hell I out of the country with a Martian ' invasion? Answer: not enough circulation. And who measures circulation? The gods of the ratings: Hooper and Nielsen, Oallup and ROper. Could they possibly be wrOHg? Could they, ever? Shakespeare, the writer forgot- ten by radio, had a phrase for ev- erything and everybody, and he might have been a addressing the National Assn. of Broadcasters when he wrote. "Traffic's thy god; and thy god confound thee!'^ In one blinding, apocalyptic flaish on the evening of; Nov. 2, last, the gods who traffick in polls were themselves confounded, and it was a great moment boys, a great mo- ment. What a hell of a life it would be if, at the only hours that adults can go to movies; they could only ; see Hed Skelton or Jean Autry or Jane Russell; if books, of poetry were taken oft'; the shelves because ratings show they are perennial worst-sellers; if Barber's Symphony No. 1 were never to be performed in concert : because it is colossally less popular than the Strauss waltzes; it the ah- ■ stractions of Kley were never to be exhibited because people pre- fer. 75,622 to 1, to look at the can- vases of Norman Rockwell. , Radio is the only major field of expression today where a high IQ, where boldness, adventure, imag- ination and audacity in program- ming are systematicallyi faithfully, and deliberately penalized. Radio has not progressed, but retro- gressed. It is not growing up, but down. It once had a toehold on : the threshold of the arts, but its great, bulky body slipped on a stuffed banana, the skin of. which concealed a hard, compact roll of fast bucks.