Evening star., 1951-11-11
On the Air


for reading. If you will just turn
off that television set for a minute.
It is by reading that you learn
things you never knew before,
why. for instance, Ed Sullivan
never smiles.
It isn't really true, of course.
that Mr.. Sullivan never smiles
He has even been known to laugh
out loud and right out in public
too. But he did not smile for SO
long on his Toast of the Town
television show that his stony
visage became a trademark. like
Jack Benny'S violin or Ol1ie's
tooth.
In show business you never
tamper with a success, so Mr.
Sullivan has continued to intro
duce his Toast of the Town" acts
as If in slight pain.
The reason this look of appre-
hension came upon him originally
is explained in his preface to "The
TV Jeehies" John C. Winston
Co; $4,000. 1t is Paul Ritts' story
of some of the things that hap
pened to him as a director and
producer in the brand-new tele-
vision industry. 1t will make
every other producer director sor-
ry he didn't think of it first. be-
cause he knows funnier things
happened to him, but you might
find it moderately amusing.
Mr.. Sullivan finds it vastly
amusing. In his foreword, he
explains:
ut is not surprising that the
TV Jeebies is an occupational dis
ease that plaques every one in the
business. There are over a hun
dred people working behind and
in front Of the cameras every Sun
day when Toast of the Town is
on the air. Every one of them
must do his job perfectly and at
split-second timing or the whole
show might become hopelessly
fouled up. There are literally
thousands Of tubes, resistors, con-
densers and other strange devices
in the maze of technical equip
ment that must not fail. "a tiny
10-cent resistor can go bad and
throw a camera off the air fol
the entire show0 Even the per-
formers can bring on a bad attack
of the TV Jeebies with their
straplesss gowns slipping then
moorings. ad-libbed jokes that are
a bit too salty for television. acts
that run over their allotted time
and a hundred other things that
just couldn't happen but some
times do.
People often ask me why
don't smile more when I face the
cameras on Toast of the Town.
From now on I will simply hano
them a copy Of this book.
Maybe they'll understand"
Mr.. SeIdes Identifies
The NobIest Work of N
Reading is profitable. too, in
the collection of evidence to boil
ster the views you may already
have expressed about television
Some of this evidence is to be
found in Gilbert Seldes' Pre-
views Of Entertainment" (Bantam
Books; Is cents).
MIR. Seldes is the critic who put
into words long before television
the theory that the movies are
basically television-proof. The
movies basic audience. he pointed
out a long time ago. owes its
existence to mans desire to be
entertained in a group, to enjoy
something along with other people.
Mr.. Seldes has some equally
discerning observations to make
about the newest entertainment
medium in his small, informatipn-
packed volume.
Zone of the things television
does better than any other kind of
entertainment" he writes at one
point, "is to deliver to you, in
your home. the complete character
or personality of human being.
People have been interested in one
from the beginning of
time (Which is proved by the fact
that the human race has per-
sisted)-and a full human being,
round and firm and fully packed,
is just about the noblest work of
TV."
You couldn't say it much more
clearly.
The Seldes book, incidentally,
is frankly an experiment and an
interesting one. Trying to present
advance facts on more than 700
movies, TV and radio shows, books
and many more amusements" due
between now and June /, it nat
urally is betrayed by changes of
plans. It's handy guide, though.
and anything costing only q quar-
ter these days is virtually free.
There's a Difference i
Between Radio and TV
A considerably more searching
examination of television is made
IN "The Television Program
"a. A. Wyn, Inc: $4.95), by Ed