Variety (February 1950)

2a BAlllO RBVraWfl Wcflnetsdayy Febrniuy" 1, 195^ ARTHim GODFREY'S DIGEST (Transcribed) Rill liawrence* Janette Daris* Chordettes^ Mariners, Archie Bie^cr'e erch; Toby Idarrin* an* noiuiccr SO Mins., Sat., 9:30 i).ni.. chesterfield A- CBS, from New . York ' ( Cunningham & Walsh I • Arthur Godfrey, CBS’ fabulous $7,000,000 sale s m a n, has now iraised the billings ante by another cool $500,000 thx: 0 ugh the simple expedient of ■elUng his l^o. I boss, Chesterfield, an addifiohal half- hour of network time. This time however, the Only -‘prOductioh’ accoutrements involved are a work;^ able fumtable, engineer and a Scissors { Tor Chesterfield has. taken over the 9:30-10 o’clock Saturday night { )eri6d for a playback of the high- ights Of Godfrey’s morning cross- Ihe-board stanza on CBSj a cross- p^attern of the Monday-througli- Friday Godfrey gab and the as- sorted vocal contribs Of Bill Law- rence, Janette Davis, the Chord- ettes and the Mariners. Godfrey's transcribed weekend ride on behalf of Chesterfield, it’s said,; Stems from a deluge of mis- sives from the missus. They would have CBS believe that there’s far toe much rich Godfrey lore being thrown away to the ■ housewives who chiefly comprise his morning audience, and that dad and the rest of the family deserve ai night- time crack at it. Too, if^must-be-extremely com- forting 'to CBS to knOw that, as half-hour time periods opCh up, their man Godfrey Is standing by’ to step into the breach. . Godfrey fans will unquestion- ably go for the Saturday night transcribed job; including those who were in for the original morn- JmL-rMe. Jo r there’s probably no air personality who enjoys inOre loyal camp foilowefs. And last Saturday night’s initial playback represented a judicious job of editing. But ;in the overall scheme of nighttime programming, the un- hurried, tbo-leisurely pace that seenis to have such a quieting ef-. feet oh the housewife at work, has a jarring, offbeat hote. It’s as Completely. out of tempo in the nighttime atmosphere as the “inti- mate laughter” from a Godfrey studio when compared with the full throated yok-yok of, say, a Benny or . a Bergen audience. Rose. HERE’S MORGAN With Henry Morgan 16 Mins.; Mon. thru PH., 6:30 p.m. Sustaining WNBC, N. y, In addition to his regular Sunday night network show, Henry Mor- gan is taking on a crosS-the-board chatter stint for WNBCJ locally. This is the type of show which ini- tially catapulted Morgan into the spotlight and it’s Still the kind of assignment he can handle best. Unrestricted by any production fol- de-rol and untrammelled by com- mercial considerations, Morgan is ^ once again cutting his way through B commonplaces of radio with the f sharp knife of Jiis irony. Morgan isn’t likely to set his Hooper on fire With this hirer but his oldtime partisans can be expected to flock to the standard once again. The new series is being conducted along the same lines as the orig- inal “Here’s Morgan” program on WOR more than 10 years ago. Mor- gan best describes it as a “Mr. and Mrs! show run by a batchelor.” It’s full of the typical Morganesque dry comments arid oblique thrUsts at stuffy pretentiousness. As usual, Morgan hashed up a house plug for RCA-Victor 45 rpm disks with his sUre talerit for exposing the com- edy in the super-serious commer- cial. . interspersed among sundry comments on current affairs,: trade items arid his own biog, Morgan jockeys a couple of disks for musi* cal. relief. ’Ihe ripcords have: be- come less zariy than the oneh fea- tured on the origirial Morgan show, but the coririic himSelf has retairied his old; flavor, seasoned by age arid experience; Herm. WE TAKE YOUR WORD With Abe Burrows, Lymaii Brytea; Faye Emersoh, guest; Don 'HoL leabeck, emcee; Bill Shipley* aii- nouiicer Producer: Weiruer Mlehel 30 Mins.; Sun., 10:30 'p.m; Sustaining CBS, from New York Columbia haS generally stiruck pay dirt in getting listenable for- mats for educational programs (of which its “You Are There” is a prime example) I hrid once agaiii it has come up with an; adult show that Is erudite* but with, an in- formal air far renipyed from the stuffiness of a classroom. ; In fact, it; had as many laughs :as some comedy starizas; Credit goes to a well balanced panel that included coniic Abe Burrows* scholarly; Lyman Bryson and, as guest,; the exuberant Faye Emerson, and the relaxed quizmasteririg of newsmmi Don HoUenheck,^ r Airer consists of HbUenbeck’S pitching a word to the panel, which has to give its meaning, origin, his- tbry and usage. The semantic an- tics started with “garderiia” (Mis.s Emerson: was wearing one) and went on to ”glaniour” (another bow to the distaff member of the board). /Gardehias, it turned out, are nariied for a Dr, Garden and glamour is a corruption of an ob- solete word for wise man, not “Gee, L’amour!’ as M i s s E m e i s o h guessed. The gab had plenty of Vj^ ripty, words like ^’d rimnorafiy’' and “republic” provoking pplitical and historical talk, hurricane” arid “typhoon” bringing up some travel riotes; the theatrical phrase “green room” introducing soriie bsickstage ariecdota arid the pronuuciatiori of “tbmayto” Or “tomahto” cUeing in some probing of regional speech. —F ormat, wisely, doesn’t score the panel right or wrongi But a “Voice of Authority” on filter gives the straight dope after the experts are through. However, when a panelite makes a grievous error he's thrown a “penalty question,,” Burrows had to differentiate be- tween paronomasia (pun) and paranomla (mental disorder). Lis- teners Whose words are used rc ceive dictionaries, atlases and simi lar reference books. One feature which could be dispensed with, however, was. the rating of the iriost interesting word according tO audience applause registered ori a “krotoscope.” It adds little to the show but the appearance of copy- ing the jackpot gimmick of other quizzers. Closing was neat, with Hollenbeck saying goodbye and the Voice of Au^iority.. interpolating, “short for ‘God be with you.’” Bril. HIGH adventure W ith JohA Larklri, Inge Adami* Mort Lawrence, . Jim Bolca; mnsioal director, Lew Davtea Wrlter-Producer-Direcior: Robef t Munroe 30 Mins.; Sun., 4:30 p.m. SHULTON’S OLD SPICE NBC, from New York {Wesley Associotes) “High Adventure,” t h e ex- Mutual airer which preemed Sun- day (29) on NBC, makes a strorig bid for the male audience^ Its format calls for dramas concern- ing the experiences of personsv projected “froiri routirie lives into unusual circUriistances.” Dealing with a shoestring aviation enter- prise in the wilds of South Amer- ica, the initial installriient fitted nicely into the show’s: anriouriced concept.-' . . Written, produced arid directed by Robert Murirce, the: first chap- ter Was a suspenseful story whose mood was further heightened by ari eerie musical score.. . Show was principally built around the adven- tures of a transport pilot who brings a C-47 into the South American jungle: Munroe has the pilot fall for a gal employee of the frontier airport. ; But the major cliriiax is gen- erated by a mercy flight throogh a poorly charted pass to save the life of. the. airfield’s oyirner. John Larkin was good as the aviatbr, Irige Adams intoned her part with romantic languor while other roles were adequately handled; by Mort Lawrence arid Jirii Boles. Sound effects also r$te a nod, ;Plugs for Old Spice shaving Ibtipn blerided well with this type story. ;‘Gilb. SUCCESS stGry (M arch of Dimes) With Biid Abbott, narrator; Howard .Hiatt, otheim s Producer-writer: Dorcas Rutheii- liris;; Pi*i.“^7)7 9:30 ii,m.^ MARKTRAIL With Matt Crowley* nthers; iriiiilc* John Garth Writer; Max Ehrlicli Prodiicer-DIreotor: Drex Hinee 30 Mins.; Mon>Wed.-Fri.* 5 i».mt KELLOGG CO. ' MBS, from New York . (Kenyon & Tekhordt) Kids of today missed the oldtiriie silent screen cliff hanger serials,; but “Mark Trail” does a good job of filling the void. . For this new thrice-weekly strip which preemed Monday (30) on Mutual uncorked a hero who “combines the char* acter of J. Edgar Hoover arid Robin Hbod”^ On the initial show he trimiried a villainous woodsman in a chopping contest, saved hlm'^ self frorii sure death when a tree disiritegrated ;urider him and even survived a plunge irito a river when a logging train jumped a track* • V-■- ■■/'.: Adapted for radio by Max Ehrlich and other. writers,“Trail” is based upon the riationally syndicated newspaper cbriiic strip authored by Ed Dodd. Latter haS attempted to teach his readers the necessity of conserving bur forests and pro- tecting wild life. Same objective will be aimed at in the air version, f Opening, episode also had Secre- tary of the Interior Oscar C)hap- man expressirig his pleasure in the good that “Trail” .will likely ac- complish among yourig people in the fields of sportsmanship arid conservation. Although coriSeryatibn and the need for; protecting the -flora and fauna doubtlessly will be reached iri due time, the initialer for. the most part was content to thresh about in a weltOr of blood 'and thurider. Cast, however, compe- tently • coped With the action and Matt (jrowley impressed iri the title role. Copious blurbs stressed the “strength arid energy” that Sustaining WHAS, Louisville Always in there pitching, where human rieed is concerned, WHAS spotted this show in line with the March of Dimes campaign, at a good Friday night time, where its impact would be effective. Show traced the case histories of three polio victims, one a 12ryear-pld colored girl, and the other two adults. Through gently conducted tape-recorded interviews, the in- faritlle paraylsis victims' told their stories, from the beginning when the disease first struck, dowri to the present. Intimate personal touches from the human ride were most effective, arid the statements of the sufferers, while quite mat- ter-of-fact and cheerful, couldn’t help blit have a strong appeal to the listeners’ sympathy. Wied. Something new in the way of Kansas City broadcasts has KCMO I hooked up with the Kansas City (Mo.) City Council for a weekly broad- cast direct from the council chambers, E. K; Hartenbower, KCMO general mariager, proposed the brbadcasts as a public service iri a letter to Mayor William E; Kemp some time ago. - Following a favorable ear from the city fathers, Sid Tremble, pro- gram director, made several test recordingsV working out several tech- nical details. These, were played fbr the couricil and purpose of the program laid out by Tremble in a personal appearance before the city legislative group. The program was approved by a vote pf the council last week. KCMO moves right into the. council chamber and picks up a half; hour of proceedings beginnirig at 9 p.m. every Moriday, regular council meeting day. Ken Heady, KCMO director of production, handles the broadcasts. Rosemary O’Reilly, young Pittsburgh singer, who was featured last spring in Pittsburgh Playhouse revue, “Welcome Aboard,” won big Song contest staged by “Welcome Aboard,” weekly half-hour musical sponsored on KDKA by Duquesne Brewing. Co , arid a 13-week con- tract on the show. Stunt drew more. than 100,000 mail votes in the three-month stretch. Two contestants opposed each other every Sat- urday, with that winner being pitted against another the following week. Miss O’ReUly wPh two of the Weekly ones before copping the fihaI.;-> . In addition to KDKA, “Welcome Aboard” is also carried by WTAM in Cleveland arid wWvA iri Wheeling, W. ya, 11 Wff’s -Gmc Adwsor^ Philadelphia, Jain. ^1*. To enlarge i^ schedule of educa- tional and informative programs, relating to civic problems, WIP has named Edgar B. Gale as “civic ad- " Yisor.”. Dr. Cale is an associate profes- ■of iri the dept, of political scierice at the Univ, of Pennsyivariia and is at present on leave from the uni- versity to serve as executive secre- tary of the Philadelphia Charier Cpriiriiission. Dr. Cale’s Initial airer finds him •cting as and co-ordina- tor of a riew radio series of ‘■no- punches-pulled” programs called “City, Hall Spotlight.” WOV, N. V. Italian-EngUsh outlet, has launched a promotiorial cam- paign to hypo the Italian food iridustry’s sales. In additioii to intensified plugging in the Italo-rAniericari market, it is attempting to educate non-Italian listeners to use Italian products. Firri stage is the use of anriouncements, featuring “Chef Armando,” on the indie’s non-Italian, morning arid evening showri Armando invites dialers to send in for Italiari-style recipes, .to try Italian table wines and sample italian spaghetti, madaroni and olive oils. Recipes recommend leading brands and support local Independerit Italian grocers^ ! Series of career clinics iri Which students who warit to. enter radio arid television wiii discuss job problems with professionals will be held ! by the City College of N. Y.’s Business School as a cuffo service from i today (Weid.) through Feb, 7. 1 Advisers iriclude Jack^W. Grogaii, WNEW production chief; Jeff Selden, former script head of WNEW; Jeff Sparks, radio officer of the i U. N ; Jo Ranson, \VMGM publicity chief, and Bud Gamble, TV pro- vducer.^ '■ •' ' '■ Unusual situation of a union offering the management of a company I which it is strikirig against free air time to discuss theMssuOs devel- : oped in Detroit this week. I WdET, station Which is operated by the United Automobile Workers j, (CIO), has sent identical letters to presidents of the UAW arid Chiysler, I which was struck by the union Tbursday (26), inviting them to use the »outlet to air their views. ihgly, the fanfare , that accom- panied the hero’s intro resembled that of “Superman’s” (once spori- sored by Kellogg) buildup. At any rate, ”Mark Trail” is leavened of those time-honored ingredients that make fpr a guaranteed mop- pet diailer audience. The kids will be oblivious of its shortcomings. Gilb. AMERICA SALUTES FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT’S BIRTHDAY Witri Eleanor Roosevelt, Basil O’Connor, Red Skelton, Evelyn Knight, Connie Haines, Dick Haymes, Helen Hayes, 'fony Pe- luso orch; Ralph Edwards, emcee Producer: John Swallow Director^ Robert Hirlar 30 Mins.; Mori. (30), 10- p.m. Sustaining ... ABC/ from N. Y., Hollywood Tying in vvith the birthday of Franklin t). Roosevelt Monday (30), ABC3 offered a special half-hour show plugging the current March of Dimes.campaign. Except for one instance program’s pitches for the Infantite Paralysis fund were sober and adult, leaving rio question as to the importance of the fund-rais- ing campaign inaugurated* by the late President. Only time the airer failed to come through with an ef- fective plug was when an appeal was thrown into a comedy skit With Red Skelton.. Though sketch pro- vided ja number of yocks, the pitch was out of place. Besides, the Skelton bit, pro- gram’s entertainmerit consisted of sortg conlributions by Connie Ha'ines, Dick Haymes arid Evelyn Knight, who rendered in the same order “How Come You Do Me Like You Do,” “The Old Master Painter” and “f Remember the Cornfields.” Others who appeared on broadcast, but strictly in an appeal capacity, were Eleanor v Roosevelt, Basil O'Corinpr, the National Foundation for Irifaritile Paralysis prexy, and Helen Hayes. Latter made no men- tion of the recent death of her daughter, Mary MacArthur, from polio, but nevertheless her speech on behalf of the March of Dimes had warmth and sincerity. A spe- cial note of effectiveness was added with a recording of one of the late Presiderit’s fireside chats dealing with the March of Dimes project; Ralph Edwards emceed capably. THISISEURGEE Witli Allen Ofik* rinnoiince#; Paul Beron orcli ' - Prodacor; Ed Gmikln DIreotori Oak . .i Wrltfi'; Paul Monaik,,. 30 Mina,; Sun.* 10 p.iri. Suslalilnr MBS* from New York “This Is Europe” represents a unique effort in Intematiorial broadoaatirig. Conceived by Euro- pean Cooperation Administration radio officer Ed Gruskiri/ th« stanza is transcribed in Europe to tell the nations receiving . EGA aid the story of the Marshail plan. Musical brickgrourid is taped sep- arately, with the commentary then dubbed ill. 16 different languages. Mutual is airing the Eriglish ver- siori to tell American listeners what their funds are doing to fielp the Continent back on its eedriomic feet. Show caught Sunday (29) was on Austria arid included zither solos’ by Ariton. Karas, leading exponent of the Austrian national instru- merit. Karas played,: in addition to some folksorigs, the theme from Korda’s film, ‘.‘The Third Mari”— first network airing of the turie. Also featured; were two of vierina’s most celebrated, singers, soprario. Elfie Meyerhoffer and bass-barir tone Paul Schoeffler. Musicaily* of course, the stanza showed the wealth of material it had to draw upon^the lilting waltzes, bril 1 iant operatic arias, colorful folksongs, Mozart and Schubert classiGs' and contemporary compoHtions. ;Sam- ples of these . were played dra- matically by Paul Barori’s orch,. With excellent solos by the Aus- trian singers and instrumentalists. Copywise, the broadcast pointed up the history of Austria, its tour- ist attractions, its economic vul- nerability following World War H, its gemuetlichkeit strained by the bitter Wiriter of 1948 arid then the help nf— raised its in.- dustrial output. Its impact, as en- tertainment on European ears >- With rapid-fire pacing arid slick production — will undoubtedly prove great. And eyen to Ameri- can ears, for which top-flight pro- duction is a coriimoriplace, “This is Europe’Mistens well. Bril, > 4 eee ♦ ■» ♦ ^ < For the Living (‘^The Why pf Cancer”) With Edward G. Robinson, Gene . Lockhart, others; music, Victor Bay; Lyn Murray, conductor Producer-writer: Hu Chain . :15. Mins*: American cancer society i “For the Living” is a series of | 13- di amas on ■ the danger ■ of ■ can- i cer, being distributed cuffo by the American Cancer Society. All the platters are narrated by Edward 1 G.^ Robinson and feature pic and radm names, .such as Michael; O Shea, Anne Revere, Edward Atr (Coritinued on page 34) i Liggett & Myers wound up its celebration of the opening of a new factory in Durham, N. C., with a hangup array of talent on the “Chesterfield Supper Club” Thurs- day night (26) over NBC. Stretched to twice the usual half-hour i-un- ning tinve, the show was carried at ai fast and spontaneous clip by a guestar^’roster of Bob Hppe, Ar- thur Godfrey, Mindy Carson and hillbilly singer Eddy .Arnold to- jgether with the stanza’s regulars headed by Perry Como, the Fon- tarie Sisters aind Mitchell Ayres’ slick orch. Aired from Durham before an audience of nearly 10,000 local citizens, the show’s lineup cut across network barriers in the same way as does the barikroller’s coin. Godfrey, who plugs the Chesterfield brand ori CBS, tan- gled verbally with Hope, who pushes a npn-competitive Lever Bros, product on NBC. It? was a sock joust of gags in Which the two comics’ radically different styles played neat couriterpoint to each other. Godfrey was casual, relaxed arid funny while Hope machine-gunned his snappers with his keyed-up delivery. Flock of standout vocals was dished up by Miss Carson, who fully projected her unusual rhy- thms; Como; with a brace of i o- mantic hallads; the Fontane Sis- ters and Arnold, Latter touched Off a clever round of solos by each of the show’s guests who related their biogs in song. The vocaliz- irig:of Hope, Godfrey, et al;, wonnd the, sessiorf ori an infectious note of hilarity and goodwill that should pay off for the sponsor far more than the straight plugs. “Theatre Guild of the Air” revived the George S, Kaufman- Marc Connolly legit hit of 1921, “Dulcy;” . for Sunday’s (29) NBC presentation.; Gaily acted by a group of expert farceurs, headed by Celeste HoImV Franchot Tone and Lee Bowmari* the play, in a refurbished radio adaptatibri, was a light, pleasant comedy about a giddy, well-interitiojhed wife who almost wrecks her husband’s career while trying to further. it. Play itself Was a little too giddy soine- tiiries, to make one worider whelher the .policy of reviving these old- time stage farces .and cpmedies is so wise. Times have changed < 1^0 tastes with theni. Mildly eritei’tajrj“ irig in its situations,“Dulcy” l‘^dkeU smart gags or witty dialog to make it a Sock show. Despite good per" fojmances by an all-round bm’ east, Guild didn’t score with this one.