Evening star., 1951-01-30
On the Air
On the Air
Jack Benny
Does Show,
But Not TV
By Harry Macarthur

By Harry Macarthur
Jack Benny did a stage show
in New York Sunday night. The
proceedings were televised and it
was apparent to any distant on
locker that Mr.. Benny, Faye En-
erSon, Frank Sinatra, Rochester
and Frank Fontaine were amusing
the people they strove to enter
tain.
Mr.. Benny appeared of his own
free will in the spot normally
occupied on CHS CWTOP-TV) by
a program called This Is Show
Business" and he has only him
self to blame if someone asks:
This is show buSiness?"
He can, of course, answer that
it is, by New York TV producers
definition. but he also can be &C
cused of loading the deck or tilt
ing the slot machine or something
of that sort. 1t is all right to
say, as he did last week, that radio
is here to stay, but it is not fair
to try to prove his point by trying
to drive the television audience
back to radio.
That was fine stage show. It
might even have sounded good
on the radio. In fact, Mr. Benny
is a great bet for television if he
ever decides to get into that.
X X ~
The best advice to give Mr..
Benny is that he watch Eddie
Cantor on "The Comedy Hour"
(WNBW-Sunday. 8 p.mD except
that there is a suspicion that he,
as an old radio huckster, would
fall easy prey to a deplorable
habit Mr.. Cantor seems to be de-
veloping. That is this business
of building a comedy skit up to a
commercial. A can of cleansing
powder is just not a very funny
blackout, no matter how much
the sponsors enjoy the sight of
it. Still, Cantor knows the diff
ference between a stage-radio
show which home viewers are al
lowed to look at and a television
show performed for the home
viewers. which is a difference
Benny has yet to learn.
Jerry Strong's admirers, who
have been wanting him back on
television, ought to be getting
him soon. The formal announce
ment is due this week. 1t won't
be Fame Forecasts" at least
this particular venture won't be
but it will be a regular weekly
show.
1t was Mr.. Strong, incidentally.
who came up last week with the
most succinct success story of
some time. A friend asked the
WINK morning man what he
knew about Mario LAMA, whose
recording Of BE My Love" is
known to every radio listener. |
HE was a piano mover in Phila-
delphia," said Mr.. Strong. HE
moved a piano in for a voice
teacher one day and the teacher.
to try it out, played an aria and
LAMA sang it and now he and
his kids are in Hollywood"
Producer Fred Coe brought off
another corking show on "Tele-
vision Playhouse" Sunday night
CWNBW-9 p.m) in THE Great
Escape" The story of a group
of British and American prison.
ers of war who dug their way out
of a German prison camp was a
spine tingler from start to finish.
1t was played eXcellently and the
technical staff of the program
did a superb job of making the
escape tunnel authentic. Mo-
ments like this make those people
who say "the programs aren't
any good yet" sound sillier than
ever.
Programs and People: A weekly
television program by Sheilah
Graham, The Stars Hollywood
diarist, becomes available to
Washington viewers tomorrow as
a regular Wednesday at 3:15
feature on WNBW, she reports.
Miss Graham's show includes be-
hind-the-scenes stories of Holly
wood personalities and an inter-
view with a top-ranking movie
star Milton Berle's Star
Theater" tonight (WNBW II
8 pmD) will be giving its Tooth
performance. Anniversary guests
will include Oracle Fields, Jack
Norworth and Romo Vincent ;.
Paul Hume. Washington Post music
critic whose mail gets wider circu-
lation than any critic ever got,
will be guest tomorrow on Faye
Emerson's ABC show (WTOP-
TV-7:15 PM. He will discuss,
along with Bosley Crowther, film
critic of the Times, and Harriet
Van Horne, radio-TV critic of the
World Telegram and Sun, criti-
cism THE Somerset Maugham
Theater" (WTOP-TV-Wednes-
day, 9 p.m) turns this week to a !
writer other than the one the
program is named for, presenting
Jack London'S Partners. This.