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Is This The End For Godfrey?/ continued from page 3 others forgot their home base is still the most important. They weren’t inter¬ ested in the show, but only in themselves.” And certainly he should have no trouble replacing these “Friends.” He him¬ self admitted that Marion Marlowe was the only one on the show with real talent and there were some critics who wouldn’t go along with even that. There are literally hundreds of singers, quartets and even Hawaiian dancers who would have been “stars” with constant exposure on Godfrey shows. The Redhead probably realizes there is no dearth of talent of the kind he requires, and is confident that he can make more “stars” if necessary. But there was no mistaking the anger in Godfrey’s statement. There was also no question about the logic of his original position when he said at the time of the dismissals, that the “Friends” were ousted because “This principle of injecting new ideas and personalities into a program is the only means of maintaining the continuing interest of the public.” In the days that followed, however, Godfrey hedged a bit on this. He now contends: “What we want to do is to return to our original concept — we want to keep people moving through here.” Among those who will be on the program and won’t be kept moving are the “loyal team members” — Janette Davis, the McGuire Sisters, Frank Parker, Carmel Quinn and Lu Ann Sims (who has been off the show while awaiting the stork). “Yes,” Godfrey said, “so far as I know, Lu Ann will be back with us after she has her baby. “Those remaining in my cast,” he explained, “are all team members. They work hard for the good of the show and they are pleasant to be with.” * * * Godfrey insists that he is still shocked by the furor that arose after the latest firing of “Friends.” They had been called into his office and read a pre¬ pared statement already released to the press. He explained: “After all, what happens when your boss fires you? He doesn’t call you in and give you ad¬ vance notice. We had contracts with all these people with the usual options. All I did was release them from their contracts during an option period, and I’m not going to lose any sleep at night worrying about people who rub the tears out of their eyes with one fist while they clutch a couple of thousand bucks in the other. It cost me $75,000 to pay off these people.” “These people” had other ideas. The Mariners were bitter. “After eight- and-a-half years he just turned his back on us. There was no goodbye and not even a handshake.” Miss Marlowe said she had no warning. “I still don’t know what happened. He’s been ‘Mister Godfrey’ to me for a long time. What else can I say?” Godfrey, certainly one of television’s most able showmen, is fully aware of the challenge before him. He explained: “While it’s nice to be in the Top 10, I’m not worried about our ratings. The latest Nielsen ratings now show we play to 2,600,000 more radio and TV homes than we did last year.” He said that to get in the Top 10 now “you have to compete with many new and stronger shows. Obviously, we couldn’t do that with the show we had, so we had to get a new show.” And that he did. 23