Radio and television mirror (July-Dec 1951)

My Boss, Don McNeill (Continued from page 53) happen in this business, let me tell you. One big point of difference between the Breakfast Club operations and that of a lot of other shows is this: in our office there's a frank acknowledgement that we're all individual human beings, not machines. As individuals, we're entitled to our bad days as well as our good ones. As humans, we're entitled to the human weakness of making a mistake" once in a while. Don sets the pace. I've known times when, beset with the idea I was carrying the woes of the world on my shoulders, I've stumbled in to ,duniP some particularly pesky thing on him. It's then that I swear the man is psychic. In the first instant he senses my state of mind, in the second, he grasps the problem, and in the third he's making some wisecrack which dissipates my irritation swiftly as sticking a pin into a balloon. I laugh, go back to my desk, and settle things easily. In return, the rest of us recognize that Don, too, faces times when problems pile up. When that happens, he becomes very quiet and remote. As you might expect, Sam Cowling and Cliff Petersen are particularly adept at breaking up such moods. Cliff will wander into Don's office, take the phone and start some outrageous conversation, usually in Swedish dialect. He'll continue until Don realizes he couldn't possibly be talking to anyone, and starts to grin. Sam acts out gags. Once, when a glance through the door showed him this was one of Don's remote days, Sam went to the prop room, put on a pair of overalls, picked up a broom, returned to Don's office and began to sweep. Within minutes, they were laughing uproariously and swapping puns. Such things set up at Breakfast Club more of a family attitude than a business office situation, and it reaches its peak on birthdays. You've never seen a group of adults who pay so much attention to birthdays. As you might expect, the whole gang loves surprise parties. Some have been staged elaborately as television shows, and others happen on the spur of the moment in Don's office. His office is a good setting for them for it's informally furnished, much like a living room. There are sofas along one wall, a deep rug on the floor, and comfortable rattan chairs standing around. Color scheme is gray, rose-beige and deep green. On Don's own birthday, December 23, we stack his big desk high with presents. None cost more than a quarter, but we've shopped the stores looking for the silliest toys and most intricate gadgets we can find. Coming in from Breakfast Club, he'll pretend to be surprised. We stand around offering advice while he opens them. When the fun and foolishness is at its height, Sam strolls in with his own contribution — a poem, always as long as your arm, built of tortured rhyme to express an impossible idea. Girls who work in offices will be interested in another thing, too. At our office, we never have any wife trouble. Kay McNeill is just exactly the way she sounds on the air — delightful, witty, kind. Forgive me if I put a small, shiny halo around her head, but all of us come close to idolizing Kay. And we FAMOUS NUDES Wb/ch fype /s your baby P THE VAMP . . . very vain and no wonder. Mennen Baby Oil is her beauty secret. It keeps skin softer, smoother, sweeter, cleaner. Saves money, too ! AFTER-DINNER SPEAKER . . . English translation: "Feel how silky Mennen Baby Oil makes me!" Gives petal-soft protection against diaper rash, many other skin irritations. THE ACROBAT ... the head-to-toe happy type. Gets Mennen Baby Oil (with gentle Lanolin) smooth-down after each bath, with each diaper change! TOUGH GUY . . . demands not only comfort, but entertainment! Gets both with Mennen Baby Powder. (1) Finest, softest powder made, with that rosebud scent everyone loves ! (2) Gay Builtin Rattle makes powder time play time. (3) Entertaining Mother Goose pictures on can. Ei/ery 6a6y/s the right fype £ MENNEN ttappy fah'es gefjoth -every cfoy/ 85