Evening star., 1938-05-29
Asst Tuesday night the sec
ond of a series of weekly
broadcasts called "QuizZing

OTQ OF series OF weekly
broadcasts called "Quizzing
- the Experts" took place.
F.. P. A. (Franklin p Adams).
New York's beloved columnist. of
1.-The Coming Tower" and "Mr.
Pepsy's Diary" fame. is making a
double comeback He also started
on Monday writing his same old
column.
In this broadcast the great Amer
ican public can mail in questions
to four experts and stand to win
IS for an unanswered question.
The idea was developed by Don
Golenpaul, who specializes in
thinking up radio schemes and who
has a nose for timeliness. Appar-
entity the 1888 radio rash Is ques-
ton and answer programs. started
possibly by Mr.. Quiz, and i'm
nensely popular with sponsors be-
cause of the cheapness of pro-
duction. If spontaneous wit is any
criterion, this ought to put SIM
ilarly competing programs in the
shade.
The set-up is this: Clifton
Fadiman. literary critic of the New
Yorker and radio natural, is mas
ter of ceremonies. He explains to
the public of the air that the 20
best questions submitted will be
asked to the experts. If question
turns up that not one of them can
answer, the cash register will ring
up and IS will be taken out of the
kitty and be sent to the questioner.
On Tuesday the experts were
F. P. A.; resplendent with a scar
let necktie and a cigar, Paul De
Kruif, author of "Microbe Hunt
ers" and Hunger Fighters" and
one Of the Ernest Hemingway left
ist group of fighting writer's, DR..
Lewis Hacker of Columbia Uni
versity and Marcus Duffield, daily
news editor of the Herald Tribune.
So far, F. P. A. and Duffield have
been the steadies, while the other
two represented guest experts.
Here is a typical question with
repartee:
Which of these is fatal to man:
The black widow, the printers
widow or the grass widow" was
the question. Mr.. De Kruif an
swered that 1t was the spider. the
black widow Then Mr.. Fadiman
asked for a definition of the print
er's widow. No one knew. At this
point F. P. A. broke In.
Il can make a sentence with
the word widow"
GO ahead" replied Mr.. Fadi-
man.
"A little widow is dangerous
thing" said the columnist proudly,
but the master of ceremonies came
right back at him.
"Ah, yes, Mr.. Adams, but when
poverty comes in the door, love
flies out the widow"
At the beginning. the faces OF
the four experts were happy and
self-assured, but as time went on
and the cash register rang up IL
questions they couldn't answer,
gradual decay of confidence set in.
F. P. A. looked like a small moose
who had stood too long in front
of Coney Island lengthening
mirror. The questions Dan Golen-
paul had picked out were, with
few exceptions, very tricky and
difficult. Only once did they get
booed by the audience which had
crowded into the broadcasting
room. The question was to give
the source of those quotes, recently
used as play titles, "Of Thee I
Sing" Rain From Heaven" and
"Of Mice and Men" The experts
couldn't (and the audience could
remember that the last title came
from a poem by Robert Burns. The
experts stopped with John Stein
beck.
After it was over, every one in
the cast was pretty sore. AS wS
were pushed out Of the broadcast
ing room by the crowd, we saw
Prof. Hacker make bee line for
Dan Golenpaul. who was scolding
F. P. A. and Duffeld for not being
able to answer more of the ques-
tions, and heard the former shout.
Just let me give you lesson in
psychology j.. Mr.. Golenpaul!
THIS is the time Of year when
- those New Yorkers who live in
blocks Of remodeled houses, with
all the backyards opened up and
made into adjoining gardens, give
their Block Parties" This week 1t
was the Sullivan-McDougall Street
group. The families here are a
cross-section of moderately sue
cessful brokers, utility executives.
advertising men, quiet, un chi-chi
sort of people who form the con-
servative background of New York.
The Robert Cromwells live here and
the Charles c. Colts and Richard
Wood, architect and fine photog-
rapher. Although Greenwich VIII
lage Is still the mad Bohemian
area to most out-of-towners, it Is
actually one Of the most respect
able and expensive parts Of New
York to live in. Real estate prices
are lower on Park avenue than on
Twelfth street, and Bank street
gets prodigious prices for its quaint
little hooks.
This night the garden trees had
been hung here and there with
very white. bright lights, which
gave a curious stage sort of illu-
mination, turning the trees into
green glass and making the turf
look exactly like paper grass in
plays. Every house was lit from
top to bottom, too. and the geperal
effect was curiously unreal.
Outside each house, at the gate
into the public garden, was a card
board poster, with cellophane to
protect it, advertising the attrac-
ton within. One place was a bar
with a sign. Il only regret I have
only one million drinks to give my
country" Another had q three
piece darky swing band. Another
sold coffee and doughnuts. One
advertised ping pong. Two had
fortune tellers Of various types.