Evening star., 1951-04-17
On the Air
Gurrowoy's
Admirers
Can ReIux
By Harry Macarthur

vision Sunday night and on the
radio yesterday, though it was
showing in Chicago and his spon-
lsor's decision on renewal or no
renewal had not yet been made.
What has happened to Caro-
way on television is that "Celeb-
Irity Time" the CHS competition,
has been building steadily for a
year. The last American Research
Bureau figures tfor March, show
celebrity Time" going into 2.690,-
600 of the Nations homes, while
only 1.890.0 900 TV sets are tuned
to "Garroway-at-Large." This,
of course. Is still a sizable rating
for Sunday night at 10.
Garroway is slightly more popu-
lar in the homes where he is re-
Iceived than is Celebrity Time. /"
HE has three viewers per set
against 2.7 for Celebrity Time. !"
/ If the thought of Z of a viewer
bothers you, you can think of 1t
as 81 viewers in 19 homes. And
you also can think Of five viewers
in at least one home watching
Garroway; the wife of one TV
Icolunmist refuses to be counted
among those watching him, even
though he is made available every
Sunday night.
Garroway is much more popu-
lar, comparatively, in Washing
ton than in the rest of the coun-
try, or was at last counting. The
most recent ARB figures for this
area give him a 1853 rating
against 13 for Celebrity Time" !"
At the time the survey was made
IWTTG was sitting there with. a
big. fat elderly movie pulling
down a 22.4 rating.
| Garroway admirers should not
be worried, however, by his spon-
sor's dissatisfaction with the rat
ings. NBC would carry him sus-
tanning for long time. if neces-
sary. He will take a summer va
cation, along with a number of
other TV shows. but he will be
back in the fall. NBC is sure that
some sponsor will come along then
who won't be able to resist 10 p m.
Sundays.
Rumor Factory at Work: Tht
other day there was a story here
about Robert Mccormick, the
NBC-TV news commentator, in
:Iadvertently getting on the net
work with an innocent query fol
his cameraman the night Gen
Macarthur custer was announced
at the White House. One thing that
followed was phone call to NBC
here a couple of nights ago. Mar
identifying himself as Jack An.
Iderson of Drew Pearson's staff
wanted to know if it was true thai
INBC had had Col. BERTHE McCor.
mick on direct from the White
House when the announcement
that rocked the world was made
INBC explained that this Robert
cCormick was the Washington
man for News Caravan who
5doeS not think the center of the
:iuniverse's gravity is Chicago, nj
Mr.. Anderson allowed as how that
did make a difference.
il. y
Televiewing What's My Line?'
tWTOP-Tv)s turned out Sunday
i night to have far more comedy
than The Comedy Hour
i (WNBW). Tony Martin can sing
a song, but Fred Aliens first con-
!: tributions to the gayety of the
! moment were so drab that this
viewer couldn't tell you whether
: or not he did anything for the
last half hour of the program
Whats My Line?" however, hit
heights it seldom achieves. with
the panel trying to guess the oc-
|cupation of nudist camp man.
lager and while blindfolded) the
!: identity of Dagmar. You may
have missed it, but it doesn't have
to be described to you. Jerry
Strong'S new Block Party
tWTTG-Thursday, 7::30 PM
can be described only by the
trade term. strictly a gimmick,
but he has way with studio con.
: testants and the show moves 81
fast it's over before you realize 8
great deal of time has been spent
selling YOU butter and eggs. MIR
Strong. incidentally, claims hi.
French poodle is not a ventrilo.
quist and does not do his mornins
show on WINK. That's what HI
says, but when the dog got a sor.
throat, Steve Douglas had to d.
the show. THE Connie 3
Gay Show" (WMAL-Tv-Tues
day. 10 p.m) did not, on it!
opening performance, advance tn,
television art by any noticeabl
z degree. OF course, If the ad
mirers of hillbilly entertainer
like it done this way, they hav,
every right to it, but that channel
selector knob never looked bette
j than the night Mr.. Gay came t,
/ TV.
y X X X
: Personal, Not Private: Damn,
Thomas just worked week TO
nothing at the Flamingo in La
: Vegas, after the hotel promised t,
turn over to the Los Angelo
Cancer Hospital its entire take TO
: the week. -. Bob Hopes salar
3 for two weeks at the Prince o
z Wales Theater in London will b
turned over to Clubland, Britisl
z equivalent of Boys Town. (. Tw
z specials tomorrow night: mi
3 Mergenthwirker's Lobblies" o.
3 "Television Theater" (WNBW-
: p.mo with Vaughn Taylor an
! Vinton Hayworth in the sam
Z roles they played a couple q
-