Evening star., 1951-11-29
On the Air
Than Dinuh
There Isn't

By Harry Macarthur

Ucttel-lLl llS early evening SCneQ'
ule. That man with all the shin.
ing teeth and the passion fol
baked beans has departed the
1880 niche on Tuesdays anc
Thursdays and the most person
able automobile salesgirl you evel
saw has taken his place.
/ Instead of the eager smile o1
John Conte it was the radiant
one of Miss Dinah Shore which
I lit up the screen on Tuesday
night. Well" said Miss Shore
with hte bright air of a. girl who
is eager to please and equipped te
do so. first show-first song
With that she was off into q
Sprightly singing of Its Delove-
Il ly," on into Il Didn't Know What
Time 1t Was" a special arrange
Iment of Shrimp Boats" designed
to show the difference between
radio and TV singing. and finally
Getting to Know You" All too
soon it was 7:45.
The problem of televising a
singer has been met on this show
by the simple and straightfor-
ward method of aiming camera
at Miss Shore while she sings.
There are production embellish-
'mentS. of course. but nothing is
allowed to overpower or get in the
way of the shining Shore person.
ality.
She may or may not be our top
practitioner in the popular song
field right now. but while she's
singing it's mighty hard to think
of any one you'd rather be lis
lening to. If Mindy Carson and
Connie Russell are others who
come to mind as possessors of this
same quality, we'll, it only shows
what a well-trained mind will do
for you.
Miss Shore is another who can
be thankful for that television
fact noted by Gilbert Seldes-that
"a full-human being. round and
firm and fully packed, is Just
about the noblest work of TV.55
The discerning electronic camera
sees her as an abundantly tai
ented. vastly likable. nice girl and
this informal unpretentious visit
with her is a TV tonic.
Complaint Department-NBC-
TV Is to be thanked for finally
giving us Dinah Shore. all right,
but even she is not enough to
aSSuage the pain Of the blow
struck at "Kukla. Fran and Ollie. /"
Todays complainant in the mat
ter of the vivesection of "Kukla,
Fran and Ollie" is John r. Cas-
sidy of Alexandria, who notes
that he is deadly serious" about
this and intends Ito continue to
do my small part" His third
letter to NBC was prompted by
what happened to the IS min
utes taken away from the Kula-
politans.
do you mean to tell me that
you have replaced Is minutes of
Kukla. Fran and Ollie With this?"
he wrote. obviously more as an
expression of amazement than as
a request for corroboration.
These gentlemen are nothing
but a very poor imitation of Ran
some Sherman, another bright
star in MICS diadem who was
preserved right off the air.
Il have read MICS official
concerning the
change Believe me, sir, you
insult my intelligence by expect
.ng me to be taken in by this
piece of niggling nonsense. BY
this reasoning, 3o-year Milton
Berle. all 800 decibels of him.
should arrive at unparalleled
peaks of popularity if you cut
him to half an hour, and no tell
ing what the response would be
if he was cut to Is minutes.
ut seems to me that NBC might
have exercised a bit more respect
for the opinions of many of its
listeners than for the television
stations. individually. in its chain.
Let them fight their own battles
for the fans, and if their areas
do not wish to receive the net
work show, let them run Hopa-
long Cassidy. BY your present
methods of arranging things, huge
Segments of the population who
like noise and little else are able
to command every minute of the
day for their own particular
tastes. do not ask for the abol-
ishment of programs which I do
not like. But it seems that one
half hour is not too much to
ask for a little adult, decent and
unfrenzied entertainment"
There is more. but this should
give you the idea. incidentally.
planting in NBC minds that
thought about cutting Berle to
Is minutes was stroke of genius,
Mr.. Cassidy
Programs and PeOple-The tele-
vision debut of The Greatest
Story Ever Told" which ABC de-
scribes as the most honored pro-
gram in RADIO" now has been set
for Sunday. December %. The
film, mo Room at the Inn," tell
ing the story of the Nativity. will
on that night be a one time re-
placement for THE Paul White
man Revue" on ABC-TV at 7
O'Clock for the same sponsor. The
originally announced December 2
telecast of THE Story of Lazarus
has been cancelled. A 13-week
program of sports events, prin-
cipally Army and Navy basketball