Evening star., 1951-09-26
On the Air
Bob's Boss
And That's
Different
By Joy Cormody

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Hollywood still bears the scars of
some Of his more famous wraths
when he was an actor out there.
The thing that made Montgom-
cry angriest in those days was his
assignments to roles he thought
were mediocre. He would let the
bosses have it then. Not like Tom
Neal when Barbara Payton upsets
him, or Enrol Flynn before that
spinal disc tanned him. Montgom-
cry is a mental type. He used
words to scar and shrivel his foes
and the scars these leave are on
the soul where they can't be
reached, like a black eye, with
beefsteak. CAS- if any one could
afford to cure a black eye these
daysD
Well, Montgomery is in tele-
vision now. He's boss there. He
selects the plays and assigns the
actors. With a television column
to write for today-and all the
lays until Harry Macarthur comes
back from that vacation-this old
Montgomery admirer decided to
see how he Is getting along.
x X
A Younger Mr.. Chips-The play,
the Monday night one on WNBW,
was a work called Il Am Still
Alive" 1t seemed to be melo-
dramatic farce, if anything. It's
hero was a young Mr.. Chips, a
sensitive type Suddenl. grown sick
of filling tender minds with ir-
regular French verbs. He cracks
up mentally, gets a conclusion in
an automobile accident, and sud-
denly finds himself worshipped by
two beautiful girls and the author
of a best-selling novel.
This should be enough to in
spire everyone to break up, but
even it does not represent the
full delight of going berSerk. An
other thing that happens is that
the hero begins to substitute for
Barney Baruch on network pro-
grams, earns the affectionate
solicitude of the FBI, and arouses
what appeared to be maternal in
stinct of The New York Times.
This latter, which is far more
dramatic than driving a couple
of beautiful models daffy, is sug-
gested by the fact that The Times
puts a banner on the youngman's
disappearance.
When any writer gets a Page
One banner in The Times. it will
be the reincarnate Shakespeare
turning up at the Lambs club.
The single stunning effect of
the play upon this old Montgomery
admirer is that it is the very
sort that used to infuriate him
with his bosses.
X y
He Used to Be So Tidy-In ad-
dition to being implausible to the
point of absurdity, Il Am Still
Alive" was most un-Montgomerish
in other ways.
There was, for instance. the
utterly hopeless problem of giving
lit a tidy ending. 1t would not be
surprising if. months from now,
characters from Il Am Still Alive
we're to come wandering back
through future Montgomery plays.
There was that blond, Carol, the
one who gave the hero that major
mishap conclusion. She just dis
appeared "a much more exciting
Page One banner if The Times is
that hard up and although this
was merciful in a way, 1t did not
seem right.
The FBI man also was left
hanging in midair, the hero was
two aliases removed from his
right name and with seemingly
no chance of ever getting back.
A few dozen other loose ends con-
tributed to the mess but, there it
was. 1920 pm. and another pro-
gram crowding hard on the heels
of Montgomery's work.
His old bosses, if they were look
ing, must have been surprised at
the creamy charm of his good
might speech. Could this be the
old implacable enemy of medioc-
Irity who used to give them such
lsleepless nights?
Speech Department - Speaking
.of teachers, any official one who
shuddered the other night at Ar
lene Francis reference to "a ami
NAL" should have hung around
for the Don Hollenbeck news show
which followed.
This is as shifty a man as ever
started to ad lib himself into a
verbal impurity. The trap that
yawned for Hillenbeck was the
one in the phrase these sort of
things" 1t did not catch the
cagey Don. He came up with the
IS" on sorts" with the kind of
bang that would make any net
work proud. You see him make
the shift and prettier sight
there never was-except possibly
sixteen million.
At any rate, it atoned for Miss
Francis "a animal"
X 4 *
Coming Attractions-Those Me-
mortal Bridge gift horses which
so many citizens have looked in
the mouth emily Post to the con-
trorv) will he dedjcoted m fala