Evening star., 1950-07-09

| radio TRY Cne1f OeSC TO develop new
talent and new programs to hold
old audiences and attract new
ones.
Radio is not the only field
television is invading in its search
for entertainers and entertain
ments. An omen, not necessarily
evil. of things to come was seen
during the week when the Ma
tional Broadcasting Co. announced
its participation in a new de-
parture in show business. NBC
will finance the production this
fall of the new Broadway show.
Call Me Madam" which will
have songs by Irving Berlin, book
by Howard Lindsay and Russell
Grouse. will be staged by George
Abbott and will have a cast headed
by Ethel Norman and Paul Lukas.
NBC not only is making a
sound investment with those
names this is as sound as invest
ments come in the theater). but
it also is acquiring some valuable
rights. BY bringing "Call Me
Madam" to the stage, NBC OBJ
tains the rights to use it on tele-
vision, radio and on records sung
by the original cast.
;Teleyision's effect on the movies
is. iif not less tangible, less easy
to pin down. The movie .ex-
hibitors will only say "It hurts
F. 1t Is known that movies on tele-
vision-middle or even old
though they may be-attract large
audiences. It is considered quite
possible that WMAL-TV's Tuesday
night Hollywood Movie Hits" will
lead the list (Berle being of for
the summer) when the next sur
vey of the Washington viewers is
made. And the man or woman
watching a movie on television is
the customer the fieighborhood
f1m' theater did not get. ~
There are more than 6 million
TV receivers in use today, which
must mean that some 20 million
people are giving television time
they might otherwise have de-
voted to reading, movies, the
theater, radio, playing golf, ar
guing with their wives or other
forms Of entertainment. And this,
as Charles Winninger used to say,
Is only the beginning. Some day
the FEC freeze on new television
stations will be lifted and some
day, not too far in the future,
you are likely to find television
dominating the entertainment
| world. ***
Note to Parents of TV-Minded
Young: You may as well face it.
Hopalong Cassidy will be in town
this week and there is only one
thing for you to do. You won't
get out Of it. Hoppy will appear
with the Cole. Bros. Circus Thurs
day. Friday and Saturday at 2:30
and $3.50. and Sunday at 2:30 only.
Place is Oklahoma avenue and
Benning road. See you there.
X X X y
One man who hopes nothing
comes soon of that proposed FEC
ban of giveaway radio shows is
Jimmy Stewart, the screen star.
Mr.. Stewart does not sit around
listening to the radio hoping to
win some such utilitarian item as
a gold-plated lawnmower, but he's
working on new movie. It is to
be titled "The Jackpot" and it is
another jesting Hollywood view of
giveaways. The hero is a man
who wins a $4,000 jackpot and
then discovers he has to pay 81, 900
in taxes on it. which is somewhat
of problem for a man making
$4,000 a year. Mr.. Stewart hopes
there is still a target around for
this blow when it is launched.
There probably will be. Mr..
Stewart should know, however.
that battling the giveaway shows
on radio will make him feel the
the way the late Robert Benchley
felt when "Abie's Irish Rose" was
running. Week after week, for
several years, Mr.. Benchley felt
called on to announce that he'd
drive this thing out Of town yet.
On guard, stop the Music" ;"
We're still watching.
y n 4
Telenotes: Today is an ami
versary for Ireene Wicker and.
while it is only the second for her
ABC Singing Lady" series
(WMAL-TV-Sunday, 6p.m.), the
story-teller herself is a true vet
eran. Her first television pro-
gram was performed in Chicago
in 1892 on an experimental series
of telecasts by DR.. Lee De Forest.
A long-standing complaint of
movie actors is that they have to
buy their own clothes while ac-
tresses are clothed at studio ex-
pense. Television actors at NBC
are going to be happier. The net
work. in collaboration with the
Mems Fashion Guild of America,
is establishing q CLOTHES bank"
SO that actors in modern dramas
and other shows can be as fash
ionably attired as actresses. :.
When Ballet Theater presents a.
one-hotlr version of "Giselle" on
NBC-TV next Sunday at 8 pm,
1t will be the groups third video