Evening star., 1950-07-02

When Sam Goldwyn. the movie
producer. was In town recently he
was viewing television with any
thing but alarm. Not for Mr..
Goldwyn is either Of the two pre-
vailing Hollywood views-(a) that
teleyision Gust like the talkies) is
q toy, q passing fad and never will
amount to anything. or (b) that
television viii be the ruination OF
the movie business.
MIR. Goldwyn, q 37-year veteran
In motion picture production. takes
the middle. Of optimistic, view.
Television is q fine thing and the
movies are fine thing and they
will get along well together. His
thoughts on the possibilities OF the
two arts getting together in the
future were clearly expressed in
his answer to q question recently
put to him on "Who Said That?"
"They (meaning the TV broad
casters) need u.s." said Mr.. Gold
wyn. 1--WE know how"
The Aim producer maintains
his equanimity toward television
in an article titled "You Can AL
ways Do Better" In the July issue
of American magazine.
"I remember that pessimists
once predicted that movies would
kill the stage, !" he writes. Then.
q few years later, they announced
that radio would hurt motion pic
lures.
To-day they speak Of television
as though it were a, threat TO all
other forms of entertainment, Yet
I'm certain that in the future, as
in the past, all these new develop
ments will only bring more enjoy
ment to the public and more jobs
for youngsters growing up today"
Mr.. Goldwyn's benevolence to-
ward television Is conditioned, OF
course, by the fact that he is a
movie producer, not an exhibitor
He admitted in effect when he was
here that the film producer is
concerned with the making of a
movie rather than with its distri-
button. He doesn't care whether
1t reaches the customers in thea
tiers or In their living rooms. just
so long as 1t reaches as many OF
them as possible and so long as
he gets certain fee per customer.
4 4 4 +
The major news of the week in
The NBC-CBS Tv talent war. in
case you missed it, came from
NBC. It was the announcement
that Fred Allen and Eddie Cantor
have given up all radio activity to
concentrate on television. AS
each has limited In the past that
he would prefer to do. each viii
appear only once every four weeks.
on a one-hour variety show to be
scheduled for Sunday nights at 8
on an NBC network Of some go
television stations. There will be
two other leading entertainers on
the show on this rotational basis,
but they have not yet been de-
cided on, or, at least. NBC has
not announced their names.
This leaves the swing to tele-
vision virtually complete, though
Bob Hope. Jack Benny and some
Others are still clinging firmly to
their radio audiences. The next
top star whose switch to video
you hear about probably will be
Bing Crosby. If he isn't already
committed, the boys will meet
him at the dock when he returns
from Europe, contracts and foun-
tain pens at the ready.
4 y - 4
One Of radios major projects
Of this summer season is the NBC
documentary series titled '"The
Quick and the Dead" which will
be heard the four Thursdays in
July at 8 pm, starting this week.
The title is taken from Bernard
Baruch's United Nations speech
on control of the atom, when he
said. I'VE are here to make a
choice between the quick and the
dead. That is our business"