Evening star., 1951-09-04
On the Air
Season Still
Looks Like
Summertime
BY Harry Macarthur

most penlnQ us more tnan IL re-
sembled a harbinger of pleasant
hours to some.
This was a slick production, all
right. but the happieSt man watch
ing it. If he were watching. must
have been Ed Sullivan. The COM
petition will have to be a lot tough
er, than this to cut very deeply into
the audience of Toast of the
Town" (wTOP-TV - Sunday, 8
PM.
Comedy Hour" on its first ap-
pearance of the 1951-52 season.
was a thoroughly routine affair,
despite the presence of Jackie
Gleason, one Of our fresher young
comics. 1t started off with the
usual opening remarks by the mas
ter of ceremonies and continued
with song by Rose Marie, duet
by Rose Marie and Gleason, a
sketch by Gleason, dance number
tracing stage dancing from Good
News" to oklahoma, couple
of songs by Johnny Johnston, an
other sketch by Gleason and
finale. all punctuated. Of course,
with a generous supply of COM
lmercialS.
Gleason, a rotund young man
with the face and figure for COM
Iedy. is somewhat reminiscent of
both Jerry Lester and Danny
Thomas. Like the latter, he has a
fine knack for finding comedy in
Icharacter and he can summon up
laughter that isn't far from sad
mess. He has impressed on tele-
vision as a man who would wear
we'll and outlast a lot of his COM
petition in the comedy field.
For some reason. however. known
only to him andfo Producer-Di-
Irector Jack Hurdle, GIeason chose
for one of his Comedy Hour"
skits to repeat sketch he did only
few nights ago on DuMont's
ICavalcade of Stars" His portrait
Iof a bumbling young man trying
to relax in the park while the
Ifates conspired against him was
funny enough. even the second
time around. but he would have
done himself and the program
more good by taking the time to
prepare something new and
special.
Gleason alSo-and Producer-Di-
rector Hurdle will have to accept
the blame for this-was allowed
or urged to address himself to the
studio audience rather than to
the cameras on more than one
occasion. If the Comedy Hour"
maSterminds insist in conflning
their show to the proscenium arch
and the stage curtains, there is not
much that can be done, but the
degree of a comics appreciation of
his studio audiences attitude Isl
among the least useful and di-
verting information that can be
transmitted by television. This is
as true on Comedy Hour" as on
any other program.
Well. anyhow. welcome back,
Comedy Hour"
History On the Air-The Japan
ese Treaty Conference this week
in San Francisco will have rather
thorough coverage by all the radio
and televiSion networks. starting
with President Truman's opening
address tonight at 10:30. The
appearance. as you
must know already. will serve
to inaugurate coast -to-coast tele-
vision via the new microwave re-
lay linking the East and Middle
West with the West Coast.
Coverage Of subsequent events
by both broadcast mediums will
depend. apparently. on the course
of events in San Francisco. You'll
just have to twist knobs. it seems,
in the hopes Of coming across
something scheduled too late to
be included in the newspaper
program logs.
One definite telecast will be Of
the opening session OF the confer
ence tomorrow at l pm. (WMAL- |
TV, WNBW, WTOP-TV). Subse-
quent telecasts will be sched'lled |
las developments merit" conclud-
ing (this is fairly det1hite) with
the closing session anG signing of
the treaty on Saturday afternoon.
All of the networks have sent
large special stats to San Fran
cisco to insure thorough coverage
of the treaty conference. Among
the better-known Washington
on the scene are Bry-
son Rash (ABC-WMAL), Walter |
Cronkite (CBS-WTOP) and Wal
lace Duell (WCFM).
+ X
Expatriate-Robert Mccormick
has been named European news
representative for NBC-TV, with
headquarters in Paris and on Sep
tember Is will take charge of the
news coverage of Eu-
rope, Africa and the Middle East.
For two and a half years he has
been chief Washington commen-
tator for News Caravan" and
of all NBC-TV news
and special events programs orig
mating in the Nations capital.
Mr.. Mccormick place here will
be taken by Julian Goodman, who
has been NBC radio news chief
in Washington since December,
1850.
Milestone u. G.)-"The First
Hundred Years" television'S first
sponsored daytime serial, will
pause Friday to note that the soap