Evening star., 1951-08-23
On the Air
|VideoGets
|CIiff-Honger
Of ItsOw
By Harry Macarthur

which the hero or heroine was
left every Saturday afternoon in
prospect Of inevitable disaster. so
you had to go back next week to
make sure the disaster was
avoided.
The term probably was inspired
originally by Pearl Whites "Perils
Of Pauline" Pauline always was
hanging from cliffs, not to men,
ton q number of other things,
from one week end to the next.
Later it came to be applied to all
serials.
The locomotive, with the hero
at the throttle, rounds the bend,
leaps the rails and plunges into a
gorge, carrying all aboard the
train to certain death. Continued
next week. Next week you dis
cover that your eyes-or could 1t
| possibly have been the camera
man?-deceived you. Just before
the train left the rails. the hero
leaped from the speeding locomo-
tive, rolled through the cinders,
and got to his feet unharmed,
ready to tackle the villain again.
II y \ y II
\ This sort Of thing is not new
to television, to be sure. In its
search for celluloid fairy tales to
while away the time, TV has
turned up q number of old films.
cliff hangers aplenty among them.
The cliff-hanger is new, though,
to television's own produce, una
less you want to count that two
part opera which Arturo ToSca-
mini, the NBC Orchestra and q
group Of singers performed on two
Saturdays a couple OF seasons
back
At any rate, the cliff-hanger
has now come to suspense" !"
which, after all, is probably as
fitting q place as any for It,. "Sus-
pense" (WTOP-TV-Tuesday, $3.50
p.m.) is right now between the
parts of q two-part drama entitled
This Is Your Confession" with
Sidney Blackmer playing the lead
ing role, the first half Of this was
a fairly powerful drama about an
American falsely arrested in one
of the Iron Curtain countries.
Mr.. Blackmer, the man hanging
from the cliff, is presumably
spending the time between now
and next Tuesday lying in pain
on the cold stone floor Of Mid
die European prison, his doom in
evitable.
The curious thing is that the
producers Of Suspense" while
employing the cliff -hanger tech
nique to get you back next week.
have lessened its effect by re-
counting their dramatic tale in
flaShback. It opened with MFR.
Blackmer safe at home, If the
worse for wear. You don't have to
tune in next week to find out II
he escaped. only how he did it.
If television is going to adopt
the liff-hanger, it had better be
prepared to go all the way.
\ \ \ n
Dog GOne-One Of television's s
early bright stars will be back this
season with q program Of his own.
after taking over and dominating
the show on which he was sup
posed to be a supporting character.
The star will be Foodini, the mon
strously villainous and inept ma
gician of the now abandoned
Lucky Pup" who win headline a
half-hour weekly show titled
"Foodini. the Great" over ABC-
TV (WMAL-Tv) on Saturdays
at II am, starting this week.
The new show, according to re-
port. will revolve around the
household of Foodini and Pinhead.
his assistant who is probably the
only imbecilic genius extant, at
least the only one with charm.
Lucky Pup apparently has been
put out to pasture, or wherever
II puppeL pups are put.
/ Another change in the program
involves the one live member Of
the cast, with Ellen Parker re-
placing Doris Brown. Miss Brown,
who had one Of the incest smiles
in all TV. has got herself married
and gone to. Michigan, which is
clearly Michigan's gain and tele-
Visions loss.
j Moving Day-As it comes to
many New York families in the
fall. moving day will come to the
Bronx home of "The Goldbergs"
this autumn. After two seasons on
lCBS-TV, where it made its debut,
the program will .-ppear this sea-
son on NBC-TV, day and time to
be announced.
j Gertrude Berg will continue to
play Molly and write the scripts
for "The Goldbergs." She may
have a new supporting cast, or
some new cast members. Word
from New York Is that this isn't
any more definite right now than
the time period to be assigned the
popular weekly show.
\ X 4 X
Programs and Pc0ple-Three
new daily serials will be launched
on CBS-TV (WTOP-TV) next
month. "The Egg and l." with
Patricia Kirkland playing the
leading role, will be seen from IL
to 1915 pm. and Search for
Tomorrow" is scheduled for 1880
to 12:45. starting September 8
Love Of Life" in the 1915 to
1880 spot, will start September
ia, q CBS-Tv news program
filling the niche until then. All
three Of the new programs will
be on Monday through Friday
Dick Mansfield will do q new
Safety Circus" series on WNBW
starting September 8, on Satur.
day nights at 6 between the I.au.
rel and Hardy film and "Ciscc
Kid" =. With ''Kukla, Fran anc
IOIlin'S fII1a fn 1.af,,V,. HRoyIo~, ~