Swing (Feb-Dec 1951)

^94 tvtn 9 "In the field of print, people have a lot better chance of escaping the worst than they have in radio. There are printed publications specializing in almost every field of human interest, inquiry, thought, activity. Even those newspapers and maga' zines which typically take the low road to popularity often do more to serve minority interests than radio does. "The infinite variety permitted by printed publication has helped bring men a long way in civilization. We, neverthe' less, face an age in which a higher and higher percentage of what our minds take in will be taken in through radio and telcTision. Their danger is that if misconducted they will make for a population standardized on a narrow base and a low level of preoccupation. In the end they arc certain to overpower the printed word as an influence on people and we are fools if we do not set them up to serve as much of our lives and to throw light on at many of our problems as we can. "Television broadcasting might eventU' ally cover a range of subject matter almost as wide as the printed word now does. In entertainment, instead of radio's relatively invariable menu of crooning, crime and gag'making, we might have not only current plays and movies but everything else from the classics to wood-working-as-aweekend-hobby. Subscription broadcasting of television programs would create a new field for the free enterprise system and would further the healthy competition we know we must have in business to keep it free and to keep it from not serving us well. How can this proposal be seen in any other light? Except for military defense, what question is there before this country which is half as important as the question of the uses that will be made of television? "In asking for the creation of a National Citizens Advisory Commission to aid the public, the Congress and the FCC in thinking through the problems of this new force, you are certainly on as sane and reasonable ground as any man could be. You do not pretend to know all the answers, nor do you ask that the government dictate the answers. What you ask (in the Benton bill) is that the problems and possibilities be given the respect and December, 1951 study they deserve by a group of qualified citizens so that the best answers can be found. How can we afford to do less?" In other words, one enormously successful ex-advertising man is telling another enormously successful ex-advertising man (Sen. Benton was once partner in Benton and Bowles which controlled most of the soap operas on the air), that the power of the advertisers should be curbed in the public interest. Both ex-ad men are in favor of subscription television which would compete directly with the sponsored broadcasting they both did so much to promote. It's a remarkable document and I'm sorry I had to condense it so drastically. The full text was printed in the November 3 issue of "The Saturday Review of Literature," in case you're interested. That Way Lies Cannibalism . . . THE confounded experts are sitting — panel after panel of them — all over television, and somewhere a line has got to be drawn and drawn soon. First thing you know we'll have one panel sitting in judgment on another panel, the "What's My Line" crowd evaluating the "It Pays To Be Ignorant" mob. That way lies cannibalism, fellows. Let's cut it out. Mr. Murray Salutes the Esquire Girls KEN MURRAY is a square-faced, larger-mouthed, crew-cutted, squarerigged comedian who flourishes an enormous cigar and frequently wears a smile that stretches clear across a fourteen-inch screen. Everything about this refugee from California is generously proportioned and, consequently, it comes only as a mild surprise to hear he is to be extended to two and a half hours. This makes him the most extensive entertainer anywhere on evening television, over-reaching even Arthur Godfrey by a full hour. There seems to be no question that he has the stamina to spread himself over this time allotment, having presided over a sort of continuous vaudeville show on the West Coast known as "Blackouts" for seven long years without visible wear