Evening star., 1947-09-07
By Harry Macarthur

~ ttetif ftSSF"t"Si
For several days now disturbing
thought has been following us
around. Whenever we turn to face
it, it is there grinning like a little
Brooklyn boy. The thought is
really more of a fear-is that there
are hordes of radio listeners who
actually like overdone commercials.
How else explain the fact that the
audience of the Radio Theater is
so much larger than that of the
!Theater Guild on the Air? Both are
good dramatic shows, though If we
ever were faced with a choice be-
tween them, the decision would be
easy. The Theater Guild on the Air,
SO far, has maintained a higher
average Of dramatic excellence than
anything else radio has presented.
The greatest differences between
the two dramatic offerings. however,
is in the treatment Of the COM
merctal. messages. They are ornate
and fiowery on the Radio Theater,
attaining little dramatic heights OF
their own. Any script writer who
resented hearing his second act
clinaaxes drowned under a wave OF
soap suds would go mad around
here. OF course, any commercial
inserted between the acts of a play
has something of the same effect
on it as commercials between the
movements would have upon
symphony. The institutional mes
sages on the Theater Guild on the
Air seem to be managed much bet
ter, though. They are quiet and
dignifed, at least, and do not shout
you out of your living room.
Radio Theater attracted an au-
dience last season that kept 1t
among the top IS on the rating
lists, with Hooper of % to Is. The
Theater Guild audience was less
than half this, though still sizable,
its Hooper hovering around 10, If
we remember correctly. The con-
clusion is inescapable. People like
those commercials.
X X X X
There are some who try to explain
this disparity in audience size by
pointing out that the Radio Theater
(WTOP-Monday, 9 p.m.) uses movie
star names as magnets. Well, the
Theater Guild on the Air, which
returns to WMAL's air at $3.50 to-
night, is returning with Jimmy
Stewart in the leading role in "One
Sunday Afternoon" Mr.. Stewart's
name is not exactly unknown to the
moviegoers.
Last season the Theater Guild on
the Air had as magnets the names
of Ingrid Bergman, James Mason
Rex Harrison, Dana Andrews, Ger
aldine Fitzgerald, Burgess Meredith,
Robert Walker, Paul Henreid, Fred
Astaire, Gene Tierney, Dane Clark,
Walter Huston, Dorothy Mcclure,
Fredric March, Ronald Colman,
Basil Rathbone, Marsha Hunt and
William Holden, among others.
These people are known and re-
spected by those who read the movie
fan magazines and listen to the
radios. The Theater Guild on the
Air also featured some others-Ger-
trude Lawrence, Fred Allen, Alfred
Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Helen
Hayes, John Gielgud and Maurice
Evans among them-whose names
are not banded about in the ian
magazines. They never drove any
body out of theaters, though.
There is another somewhat mar
rowing thought that develops out OF
this. The Theater Guild on the Air
transposes for radio past Broadway
plays and has all the literature OF
the stage to draw upon. The Radio
Theater presents radio dramatlza-
tions Of current or recently current
motion pictures.
If 1t takes a 13-week. summer va
cation it still needs 80 scripts
year. If there are 80 top-notch
movie scripts a year, lot OF people
must wonder where they show those
movies.
1t must be the commercials.
X X X X
1t may very we'll be that Harry
Wismer and Jim Gibbons are the
two bravest men in radio. 1t has
long been a contention of armchair
uuarterbacks, you know, that there
are two football games played in
each stadium every autumn Satur-
day-"the one the fans saw and the
one that was broadcast" Mr.. Wis
mer and Mr.. Gibbons are walking
right into the teeth of this bromide
come October S, when the first Red
skin play-by- play is scheduled. The
Wismer- Gibbons account will be
heard not only by WMAL listeners,
but also by those watching the game
on WMAL-TV.
They've been tested unoficially by
n man who watched televised game
while listening to a Wisner-Gibbons
account. They didn't know they
were being put to the test, but the
tester reports they came through
remarkably well.
Mr.. Wismer and Mr.. Gibbons may
turn out to be nervous wrecks at
the conclusion of every game this
year, though, what with the reali-
zation that so many people listening
also are seeing and can check up
on them.
Circling the Dial: The Baltimore