Evening star., 1947-02-02

The Goodyear Tire G Rubber Co
has Just startled the daylights out
of the radio people. From million
dollar-a-year advertising agency
heads to the last studio Office boy
those who look hurt when the word
"hucksters" falls from Fred Aliens
lips have been made aghast by a
recent move of the firm. The move
simply was the decision to sponsor
a new public service program. THE
Greatest Story Ever Told tWMAL
Sunday, 7:30 pm.), without de-
manding the right to intrude with
a lengthy commercial message.
The firm is paying the bills for
what sounds like fairly expensive
half-hour broadcast over the ABC
network, merely for the privilege Of
noting, at opening and close, that
it is presented by the Goodyear
Tire & Rubber CO."
That this should be regarded with
amazement by radio people is fair
commentary on one of radios major
ills. This is the emphasis, in the
minds Of too many concerned with
broadcasting, on its commercial as
poets. All too often the sponsor
comes frst. He is permitted almost
any bizarre or nauseating manner
Of impressing on your mind the
name of his pills, his lotions or his
cigarettes. He can ring bells, fire
canHDn, make noises like an auc-
tioneer, make noises like foghorn,
sing moronic ditties, shout at the
top of his voice. deliver lengthy
eulogies. When he has quite had
his say the entertainment is all
lowed to start.
That Philco man who said, "Cut
the commercial" when confronted
with an over-long Bing Crosby
show was quite a hero. You may
not realize it, but hero he was. Ra-
dio people, accustomed by now to
the beat-it-into-t their-skulls tech
nique of radio advertising, seemed
genuinely excited about that odd
conduct. You can imagine, then,
how they are reacting to the Good
year project. It will be the discov-
cry of the year If the hucksters
find that man selling tires can
win precious good will merely by
being polite to people and respect
ing the intelligence Of radio lis
teners.
The presentation of "The Greatest
Story Ever Told" is a true public
service. Whether or not 1t finds a
wide. audience is something which
probably Is of more concern to the
sponsor and the network than to
us, but we nave one of those sneak
ing suspicious that the audience will
be a limited one. Limited, that is, to
those who do not need 1t, while those
who might profit will be elsewhere.
There are those, Of course, who
would willingly abstain from the
comedy efforts of Mr.. and Mrs. Phil
Harris in favor of Biblically-in-
spired drama, who might learn a
lesson anew and gain from "Ihe
Greatest Story Ever Told" More
people read the Bible than live by 1t.
If the programs to follow in the
series live up to the opening broad
cast, they will have dramatic merit
as..well as moral merit. The first
script was we'll constructed drama
tizatien of the parable of the Good
Samaritan, well-performed. It's most
noteworthy point, perhaps, IN the
matter of gaining audience approval,
was that it was dramatization-and
not preaching-of the story's lesson
in tolerance. 1.-THE Greatest Story
Ever Told" as, it continues to bring
to life excerpts from the New Testa-
ment, is something well worth your
attention.
The comedy scriptwriters seem to
have forgotten all about that tree
that grows in Brooklyn, President
Truman's piano-playing and pens
that write under water. But don't
think this means any change OF
pace. There has been a change, all