Evening star., 1951-08-31
On the Air
This Drunu
Owed Effect
To Necessity
BY Horry Macarthur

BY HorFy Macarthur
Things. as anyone knows, are
often not what they seem. A
tornado which takes the roof OF
every house in town might seem
to most to be q disaster, but
hardly to the village slate sales
man. An effective dramatic tech
nique displayed on television
might seem the fruit Of an in
lventive directors brain, but it
might be something else again.
Take, for instance. the court
room scene in the "The Pacing
Goose" seen the other night on
'Video Theater" (WTOP-TV-
Monday, 8 p.m.3. Done in a series
Iof close-ups, it was q well-paced
and dramatic sequence and it
seemed that "Video Theater"
might be borrowing a bit from
Albert McCleery.
Mr.. McCleery has had q great
deal of success in television drama
with what he terms a TV version
of arena staging. It involves use
of numerous close-upS, with only
a few props and with scenery
only suggested and it seemed the
other night that 'Video Theater'
might be using the same tech
nique to good advantage.
Well, what really happened was
this. The scene called for was a
Quaker courtroom in Indiana in
the 1860's and the research ex-
Iperts couldn't find a single pic
lture showing how such a room
should look. Set designer William
Craig Smith was, for once,
tstumped. And with no scenery, the
scene had to be done in those
lclose-ups of Celeste Holm and
Iothers.
PROGRESS NOte-WilliS Conover,
now seen nightly from 1878 to
12:45 on WNBW. seems to have
carried the TV version Of the disc
Jockey program a step beyond the
show you don't have to look at.
He has achieved, at moments, the
show you don't want to look at.
Mr.. Conover's program is de-
voted principally to Snader Tele-
scriptions, those filmed musical
numbers designed to serve tele-
vision as records serve radio.
There is no particular complaint
about this, but Mr.. Conover also
has taken to playing phonograph
records on his program. While
one Of these is on the home
viewers are treated to picture
of Mr.. Conover. listening to the
music through a headset while
wearing a solemn expression and
smoking a cigarette earnestly, as
lii determined to acquire the habit
by 2 o'clock the next afternoon.
The image orthicon camera and
the kinescope viewing tube are
Ntriumphs of scientific research.
You can sit there from now until
the second Tuesday in October
and you won't think of a more
|nonsensical use Of these marvels
of electronics than the transmits
sion of a picture of Willis Conover,
or any one else for that matter,
listening to a phonograph record.
Week End Guests:
Saturday: Jane Morgan. on
1.-THE Patricia Bowman Show"
(WTOP-TV-6:45 PM Mel
Torme. on I'm Record Time"
(WNBW-7::30 p.m) Sally
Benson, w. C. Handy. Thelma
Carpenter and Dizzy Dean, salut-
ing st. Louis on Faye Emerson's
Wonderful Town" (WTOP-TV-
g p.m.) -. Peggy Lee and Johnny
Desmond. on Songs for Sale"
tWTOP-TV-10 p.m).
Sunday: Anthony Eden, on
Meet the Press" (WNBW-4
p.m.) :. Senator Everett M. Dirk
sen, on Man of the Week"
(WTOP-TV-5:30 PM Rob-
ert Aida, on "Star of the Family"
(WTOP-TV-6:30 p.m.) Mary
Mayo. on Summertime Revue"
CWNIAL-TV-7 PM Peter
Donald and Mary Orr, on "Go
Lucky" (WTOP-TV-7:30 p.m.)
Jackie Gleason, Johnnie john
ston and Rose Marie, on the re-
turning Comedy Hour" (WNBW
3 PM =. Dolores Gray, Bus
ter Keaton and Buddy Lester, on
Toast Of the Town" (WTOP-TV
-8p.m.) -. Brig. Gen. Robert j.
Smith, on "Pentagon-Washing-
ton" (WTTG-8!30 p.m) +. Con-
nee Boswell, Valerie Belts and Ed
die Mayehoff, on Guest House"
(WTOP-TV-9 p.m.) Barbara
Bolton and Edgar Stehli, in "This
Time Next Year." on "Television
Playhouse" (WNBW-9 p.m.) e..
Binnie Barnes and Roddie Nc
Dowell, on Celebrity Time"
CWTOP-TV-10 p.m.) Jinx
Falkenburg, on Whats MY
= - a a. 4 a - a