Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-05-23

tossing any further accolades in the
direction of Bing Crosby. There
are those who say his voice is not
what 1t used to be, but he still can
do more for popular song than
most singers and the graciousness
of his performance as master of
ceremonies increases rather than
diminishes. 1.-THE pleasure to be de-
rived from any encounter with the
Crosby personality on screen or
radio is generally recognized.
Still, to listen to the Bing Crosby
Show (WMAL-Wednesday. 10 PM
last week was to be struck once
again with his general superiority
as an entertainer. His easy in
formality is ideally suited to the
radio medium and his affable man.
ner makes him a welcome guest in
the living room.
To listen to Mr.. Crosby last week
also was to be struck with the
thought that radio does not have
to operate at the lowest-common-
denomination level to gain its
"lOSSI 4Il1O ploDdDlJ Sol1
be credited-as much as to Crosby
to Bill Morrow, one of the ADLER
radio comedy writer's. The script,
at any rate, bore every mark of Mr..
Morrow's good taste and ready wit.
1t seems only yesterday that
Henry Morgan was being hailed as
the man with the freshest approach
in radio, all because he chose to eX-
plore the field of satire. But here
was Bing Crosby, with Ethel Mer-
man as his guest and co-star, in
dulging in satire OF a sort of which
Mr.. Morgan or Abe Burrows would
have been proud. The Crosby-Mer-
man Your Flop Parade was an
uproarious takeoff of an obvious
radio show, poking fun at both over
ripe radio commercials and simple
minded popular songs.
The ridiculous quality of some of
those overblown commercials was
epitomized perfectly when Ken
Carpenter intoned solemnly of his
Imaginary sponsors product (water,
Water is better-because it's mois-
tu-rized!" And Crosby and Miss
Norman, pair of rarely matched
talents, must have set song-writing
either back or ahead Is years with
a wild ditty that sounded like "Ro-
do-de-o, ro-do-de-o, you'll never
know, how much we long for, Boise,
Idaho" There was another beauty,
stabbing to death all those love-sick
ditties. 1t was something to the
effect that You're with somebody
else in our old apple orchard; I'm
not only blue, I'm tortured"
Maybe radio is willing to present
comedy that is tasteful, witty and
above the level of wisecracks about
Griffith Park, the La Brea tar pits
and Cucamonga. Maybe there just
aren't enough Bing Crosbys and Bill
MorroWs.
A hint as to the reasons behind
the apparently sudden decision of
the Columbia Broadcasting System
to sell majority interest in WTOP
to the Washington Post is contained
In another announcement just re-
ceived from the network This is a
report that CHS, which owns As per
cent of KQW in San Francisco, has
arranged to purchase the remaining
SIS per cent interest, subject to the
usual FEC approval, of course.
San Francisco seems to be con-
sidered a valuable market in the
radio trade. CHS, according to re-
port, wanted to buy KQW once be-
fore. but supposedly was refused
permission by the FEC. 1t appar-
entity would rather own KQW than
WTOP.
Television licenses in the San
Francisco area also are plums being
sought by the broadcasters, FEC
hearings on TV applications start
ing tomorrow out there. While net
work ownership Of AM stations
seems to be limited by a gentle
mans agreement" FEC has, or had
when we last looked, limit of five
on the number of television stations
a network is permitted to own. CHS
wants a TV license in San Fran
cisco and wouldn't want Washing
ton application to stand in the way
of getting 1t.
CHS could be an unhappy net
work If the FEC refused the San
Francisco transaction and allowed
the local one That wouldn't win
the FEC any prizes for consistency,
though.
r 4 +
Now, about that mystery melody"
of Stop the Music" (WMAL-Sun-