Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1956)

BOOKS ALL OUT OF STEP, by Gerard B. Lambert. Doubleday & Co., 575 Madison Ave., New York 22, N. Y. 316 p. $4.50. THIS is the story of the likable youth who, having run an inheritance of $300,000 into an indebtedness of more than twice that amount in a very few years, decides to enter a business he knows nothing about and, in a very few years more, has revolutionized that business to the great profit of the stockholders and himself. All Out of Step, however, is no novel of the Clarence B. Kelland school. It is the autobiography of Gerard B. Lambert, the man who put the word halitosis into the American language and a bottle of Listerine into virtually every American medicine cabinet, the man who, while running Lambert Pharmacal Co., set up and headed an agency to handle its advertising and persuaded the ANPA authorities that it was not a house agency but entitled to recognition and the 15% commission. How Jerry Lambert applied his ability, charm and willingness to tackle anything once to yachting, politics and the Gillette Safety Razor Co. (where he gave Blue Blades to the waiting world) is told engagingly, without a trace of braggadocio or modesty. Mr. Lambert's "personal chronicle" is highly recommended as an unusual piece of Americana and a colorful addition to advertising history. WRY ON THE ROCKS by Steve Allen; Henry Holt & Co., N. Y.; 177 pp. $3.00 IS THERE anything tv's Steve Allen cannot do? Apparently not. Already a man of more talents than you can shake a Trendex report at — m.c.-musician (Tonight and Steve Allen Show), biographer (The Funny Men), short story writer (14 for Tonight), parttime preacher (New York's Universalist Church of the Divine Paternity), humorist (Bop Fables), lyricist ("The Bachelor"), composer ("Allen Plays Allen"), songwriter ("Let's Go To Church Next Sunday Morning"), actor ("The Benny Goodman Story") and columnist (Cosmopolitan magazine) — Mr. Allen herewith has produced a collection of poetry. It's called Wry On The Rocks in deference to A Pocketful of Wry by poetess Phyllis McGinley. There the similarity ends. Although he's come up with a few good rhymes — some sophisticated, tart, and at times, frankly autobiographical — these poems will never become required reading for American Poetry 142b along the ivyclad circuit. THE AGE OF TELEVISION, by Leo Bogart. Frederick Ungar Pub. Co., 105 E, 24th St., New York 10, N. Y. 348 p. $6.50. IN THE LAST 10 years television has become a part of the American way of life. The process has affected, for better or worse, advertising, politics, sports, the movies, education and the way in which the typical American family spends it leisure time. These effects have been measured by an army of researchers and in this book a prominent member of the research fraternity, director of account research at McCannErickson and president of the Radio & Tele Broadcasting • Telecasting vision Research Council, reports and analyzes these findings. Toward the end of his crisp, concise summary of the tv age Mr. Bogart notes that: "Essentially, the debate between defenders and critics of present-day television arises out of a basic disagreement over the social function of mass communication. Are the media to be seen primarily as source of influence on the ideas and values which people hold, or are they rather a means by which people can pleasantly pass their ever-growing leisure time?" Whichever way you answer that question, you'll find your view well supported and ably opposed in The Age of Television, which is required reading for all serious students of tv. PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR SOCIAL AGENCIES, by Harold P. Levy. Harper & Bros., 49 E. 33d St., New York 16, N. Y. 208 p. $3.50. THE PROPER place of public relations in the overall program of a health, charitable or civic organization is explicitly described in this handbook, which illustrates the theory with scores of examples of the successful use of public relations on a national or local level to assist in fund raising, the enrollment of volunteer workers or the winning of public support for an agency program. Broadcasters will be grateful for Mr. Levy's chapter, "Communicating by Air," which tells social agency people how to work with radio and television stations in their communities, how to prepare announcements, when to ask for special programs, and in general how to provide information and material that can be used and not to waste the time of station executives with impractical requests. HOW TO ANNOUNCE FOR RADIO AND TELEVISON, edited by William I. Kaufman. Hastings House, 41 E. 50th St., New York 22, N. Y. 95 p. $2.50. TWELVE top announcers give their personal recipes for achieving success as an announcer in this latest of Mr. Kaufman's "how to" books, and the editor has thrown in a piece from Grey Advertising Agency's Grey Matter to give the buyer a baker's dozen. Required reading for youthful aspirants to an announcing career, this slim volume will also provide an hour of fun for anyone who has either been an announcer or listened to one. SAY IT SAFELY, by Paul P. Ashley, U. of Washington Press, Seattle 5, Wash. 117 p. $2.25. THE SUBTITLE of this little book, "Legal Limits in Journalism and Broadcasting," pretty much tells what it's all about. Designed as a working tool for day-to-day use, rather than a library reference work, its purpose in the words of the author, "is not to frighten publishers and broadcasters into saying less. It is to help them to be more secure in saying what should be said." As legal counsel for several newspapers and a broadcasting company, Mr. Ashley is in a position to know what he's writing about. TOP RATING IN CINCINNATI! ELLERY QUEElti starring series HUGH MARLOWE 488 Madison Ave. New York 22 PLaza 5-2100 November 12, 1956 • Page 17 r