Evening star., 1948-10-17

tclcfISlOl TeCelVtTS anu SLOp WOIIy-
ing over the possible improvements
OF next years model. ,s
Video in the living room will free
you of lot of old listening habits,
1t will give you new set of listen
ing and looking habits, of course,
but at least you will find yourself
happily unconcerned over the title
of the mystery melody" You may
even desert Louella Parsons, perish
the thought. For all you know as
you give in to the lure of video,
Aliens Alley may be slum clear
ance project in Snake Bite, Colo.
y II
1t was the 6-year- -old around our
household, as might be expected,
who first faced the fact of radios
future directions. She became en-
crossed one night in "a. fading f1lm
on erosion, at an hour when she
used to infiict "Beulah" or Gene
Autry or some one else to her taste
on the family.
Have you forgotten We have
radio, too?" she was asked by
father who was not at all interested
in erosion at the moment. '
mo, I haven't forgotten it," she
said, keeping her gaze glued to the
picture tube, but, I don't think it's
very interesting"
X Il Il
Among television's other achieve
ments of the year 1948 must be list
ed the final definition of the most
blatantly self-contradictory term in
the patois of show business. The
term is strip tease dancer" which
is what those girls featured in bur-
lesque are called. The fact that
most members of this sorority not
only are not dancers. but also fail
to live up to either of the descrip-
tive verbs, is beside the point.
There just isn't any such thing as
a strip tease dancer" The more
A dancer does of one. the less, OBJ
viously, she does of the other.
Television gave the term some
meaning not so long back, though.
Defined it perfectly. The occasion
was the mammoth show in Madi-
son Square Garden few weeks ago
for Air Force veterans. Late in the
evening Miss Gypsy Rose Lee.
former strip tease dancer" turned
musical comedy star, author and wit,
stepped before the audience and the
video cameras. Miss Lee started to
sing song. then reached tentatively
toward her left shoulder. In bar
and living room up and down the
Eastern television network her
image dissolved into a pattern
familiar to video fans. the one re-
sembling drunken venetian blinds in
wild revelry.
The local announcer came on hur-
riedly to say, maybe even believing
it himself, that this wasn't censor
ship, that there was trouble in the
line somewhere. Then the New
York announcer stepped in with
some trumped-up tale of camera
trouble, forgetting that it was OBJ
vious that there were two cameras
in the Garden that night and the
other could have been turned on
The Gyp."
Vloeo cameras can be fixed in a
lot less time than Gypsy Rose Lee
needs to finish speciality number.
anyhow. In proof we have a report
from a man who visited busy tele-
vision station one day. This is a
complicated thing" he said to the
man showing him around How do
you keep it operating smoothly"
Its simple" said the guide. I'VE
have guy named Joe who is al
ways on the phone circuit when a
show is on. I don't know what his
technical background is. but he sure
Is handy IN crisis. Once when
camera went bad, he spoke calmly
to the cameraman. Take your left
hand he said. and feel down the
side Of the camera to an opening
near the front. Got it? Okay, put
your hand in and feel your way
back to the third tube. Got that?'
Yeah said the cameraman, and
it's hot 'Okay,' Joe said, pull it
out. He did and the camera worked
perfectly. Another time a camera
went suddenly out of focus and the
cameraman yelled for help. Don't
worry, said Joe. Feel along the
side Of the camera with your right
hand until you come to the manu-
facturer's name plate. Got it?'
Yeah said the cameraman. Give
it good sound whack,' said Joe
Fixed things right up"
But, with those fragments of Gyp-
sy's song and shouts of audience
glee, accompanied by a blank
screen, video did define the strip
tease dance"
Miscellany Department: The 1949
yearbook of local members of the
American Federation of Radio Ar
fists will take the form of direc-
tory Of Washington and Baltimore
radio and television. 1t is being
edited by Stewart Finely, WRC staff
announcer The American
Forum of the Air" (WOL-Tuesday,
10 PM returns this week after its
summer hiatus. Senator j. Howard
McGrath and Representative Hugh
D. Scott will debate Truman VS..
! Dewey" Washington Corre-
spondent Charles Palmer starts
series of discussions with Latin
American diplomats today on his
regular WEAM program at las pm
D.. The next CHS documentary will
be an examipation of the motion
picture INDUSTRY titled The Holly
wood Story" 1t will be aired the
night of November 8, locally on