Radio and television mirror (July-Dec 1950)

took the air for the declaration of war following "a date that will live in infamy." On December 19, all weather broadcasts were banned. Otherwise there was no move to take over radio as had been done by the government in 1918. On December 22, Prime Minister Churchill spoke before a joint session of Congress, noting that if his father had been American instead of his mother, he might have been speaking there, "on my own." No doubt because there was so much tragedy in the news, the big shows that started this year placed heavy emphasis on comedy. Bob Burns began his own Arkansas Traveller. Harold Peary graduated from the Fibber McGee and Molly show to star as The Great Gildersleeve, perennial bachelor and selfstyled Don Juan. Red Skelton emerged as a star. Satirist Henry Morgan went on the Mutual network after building a fanatically devoted following on a New York station. Tom Breneman began Breakfast at Sardi's, an audience show with a difference. It featured the elderly, and everybody connected with it turned out at the crack of dawn. It was nothing unusual to see four hundred women waiting to get into his restaurant at six a.m. Breneman put on funny hats, kidded his elderly guests, gave them orchids, asked highly personal questions about their love lives — and they adored it. In 1945 the show was retitled Tom Breneman's Breakfast in Hollywood and increased in popularity until his death in 1948. In 1939 a young writer by the name of Abe Burrows had dreamed up a character who offered advice in garbled English ("Leave us not forget that some of us is mixed company"). This, of course, was the inimitable Archie who developed into the star of Duffy's Tavern by 1940. In 1941, Ed Gardner began to play the part and the show settled down to steady success. Gardner was born Eddie Poggenburg in Astoria, Long Island, of Irish and German ancestry. His mother believed in culture and insisted on piano lessons. Eddie took to them so readily that, at fourteen, he arranged to play at a local saloon in return for all the free lunch he could eat. This blissful engagement ended abruptly when his mother found out why he toyed with his dinner, and led him home by the ear. He was briefly a prizefighter's manager, a file clerk, dispatcher on the Long Island Railroad, salesman of ink, pianos and paint before he found a job directing for the WPA theater. That took him into radio. He produced half a dozen top air shows, including This Is New York, before he turned to acting. In searching for just the right man to play Archie, Gardner kept showing others how the part should be played — and ended up by doing it himself on the air. There have been ten Miss Duffys on the show which was produced first in New York, moved to Hollywood and now comes transcribed from Puerto Rico to its vast audience. Behind the scenes of radio there were big things astir. One was the final quarrel with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), to which virtually all important song writers belonged. The public was baffled, and never did really understand what was happening when all current tunes left the air and ancient favorites like "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" replaced them. ASCAP, you (.Continued on page 80) W ttl*NAW*4 OFFERS THESE WASHING ADVANTAGES Mild, golden soap. Gentle, active naptha. Finer 'Sunshine' Ingredients that give white things extra, brilliant whiteness — make washable colors brighter than new. m Yes, littlje girl, your Mother's a very smart lady . . . she is a regular user of Fels-Naptha Soap Chips — now improved for finer washing results. You and Mother will have your wash done in a jiffy, with Fels-Naptha and your wonderful automatic washer working together. Your play-soiled dresses will come sparkling clean and fresh and fragrant, because Fels-'Naptha combines the extra washing energy of golden soap and gentle naptha, plus the special 'Sunshine' ingredient that makes washes 'sparkle-white and color-bright.' IMPROVED Fels-Naptha Soap WITH NEW 'SUNSHINE' INGREDIENTS 77