Evening star., 1951-11-18
On the Air.:

SylVanla 1eleFlSlOn AWaTQS tOo
seriously. The sponsors have
hopes that these will become to
itelevision what the Motion Pic
Iture Academy Awards are to the
movies, but this is not precisely
AN original notion. Others have
had the same thought about their
own awards.
These recently bestowed honors.
however, seem to take less than
realistic note of the realities OF
IteleviSion. This is not mere diff
ference of opinion. Any one. even
an awards committee, has a right
to an opinion.
There is, in fact. not much quib-
bling to be done with the awards
the Sylvania committee, headed by
Deems Taylor, did make. Ger
Itainly ZOO Parade" deserves any
honor it receives, including selec-
ton as the best children's pro-
gram. Meet the Press" the
lively and informative interview
program, deserves its award, too,
as do Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca
and Producer Max Lehman of
Your Show of Shows"
1t also is fitting that proper
note be taken of WSDU in New
Orleans and WPIx in New York
for initiating the Kefauver COM
mittee telecasts, and of Writer
Arnold Belgard and Producer
Director Frank Wisbar Of Fire
side Theater."
You can't really argue, either,
with the failure to make a chief
award on the grounds that there
is "a dearth of creative excellence
peculiar to television in the field
of entertainment"
These Are Consistently
Most Dependable TV
You begin to wonder what in
the world the awards committee
inspected in its examination of
television fare, though. when you
note the curious absence of any
mention of the hour long drama
tic shows. If television has looked
its best while acting as a reporter
covering the Senate Crime Inves-
tigating Committee and other
special events, it has been most
consistently dependable in the
entertainment field with it's one
hour dramas.
There are eight of these on the
air now-flve coming up with
new show once a week and the
other three turning up once every
two weeks. All have achieved some
fine television.
Three of these are new this sea-
son and were not considered by
the Sylvania committee because
! it was concerned this time only
with programs seen during the
first eight months of 1851. Three
of the other five, however-"Tele-
vision Theater" (WNBW-Wed-
nesday. 9 p.mD, Studio One"
(WTOP-TV-Monday, 10 PM
and "Telsvision Playhouse"
tWNBW-Sunday, 9 PM are
hoary veterans as TV goes and
the first-named is the oldest con-
tinuing program on television.
These, and Robert Montgomery
Presents" and Somerset Vaughan
Theater" (sharing the Monday at
$3.50 spot on WNBW) all had mo-
ments worthy of an awards COM
mittee's attention during the first
eight months of 1851. Studio
One" and "Television Theater"I
are the most consistent, with the
former probably having a slight
edge by retaining a definite style.
It comes a cropper now and
then, but it isn't afraid of expert
ment and often achieves high
theatrical excitement. Any ex-
perienced televiewer could recog-
nize a Studio One" production
at a glance, and its producer,
Worthington Minor. has done at
least as much as any man and
more than many to develop dis
tinctive style of television drama.
Fred Coe of ''Television Playhouse"
does a noteworthy job, too. and
fares better than most in con-
tinuing battle against a shortage
of good TV scripts.
That "dearth of creative excel
lence" is less evident in this field
than in any other branch Of tele-
vision. If the Sylvania Awards
Committee completely overlooks
the one-hour drama on its second
try, we'll have to look elsewhere
for our TV equivalent of the Mo-
ton Picture Academy honors.
* x
Elmer Rice Launched
An OFF Stage Drama
"Celanese Theater' also has be-
come responsible for, or at least
found itself in the middle of, some
off-stage drama in recent days.
Elmer Rice rendered his resigna-
tion as an author member Of the
plavwrirhtS' Television Theater |