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by William Lynch Vallee
IVIAIM OR NOTE
NBC network's television quiz show, "Name That Tune," had as a guest Roy Campanella, the Brooklyn Dodgers' ace catcher.
The first pitch to him was a curve in the shape of the melody and all Roy had to do was name it — a snap for anyone old enough to hum.
"Roy recognized the tune," said Red Benson, the show's emcee, "and you could see that he was straining to say its name. Then I realized that he had a mental block — it was the word Yankee! Being a loyal Dodger, Roy simply couldn't say 'Yankee Doodle Dandy!' " Contretemps such as this are a weekly event with quizmaster Benson, who takes them in his (fast) stride. Fast is the word for his show. "I wish I had time to laugh at that!" he said when a guest pulled a whopper on a recent show — and kept the show moving on its merry way with no time out, in sharp contrast to a certain panel show, whose panelists spend more time congratulating each other than they do on the contestants.
Merely one reason why Red Benson is interesting. Another would be the fact that he's one of the new crop of performers. The new crop first harvested by radio, with newer strains developed by TV. Red and the others like him are miles away from the sideshow-barkers-turned-emcees of vaudeville days.
Mister Benson, for example, was a psychology major at Ohio State University. He's intelligent, literate, has varied interests, can even enter and leave a drawing room as smoothly as Basil Rathbone can.
On the other hand, Mister B. isn't one of these college campus heroes who thinks he knows more about show biz than the Shuberts. Red, as you'll hear, has labored long and hard in radio, the theatre, and TV — not to mention sojourns in a dozen assorted fields — with practically the sole exception of undertaking.
"As the best people know," said Red (born Norman, if you'll pardon the expression), "on our show, the contestants win by identifying the tunes which Harry Salter plays, Vicki Mills and I sing. The song titles are disguised in Chinese, Icelandic, and worse. Naturally, on an ad-lib snow, accidents happen.
"Such as the time a contestant, puzzling over an apache-dance song, was told it (continued on page 72)
Red, clowning with vocalist Vicki Mills, says, "An em w cee should be able to do anything anyone else can do." ^
Margaret Truman appearing on TVs "Name That Tune." Red proudly boasts he never had a contestant freeze up.