Evening star., 1951-03-15
On the Air
TeIevision
Finds Drama
In Evasion
By Harry Macarthur

FL d11h SOSbCIlU IdWy yer, Glle
Senate Crime Investigating Com.
mittee and the television industry
have worked out a dramatic com
promise. Telecasts of the hear
ingS in New York are. or yester-
day were, showing Costello up to
his neck, at least on television.
The agreement not to turn the
cameras on the face of this par
ticular witness is Intentionally
side stepping the recently raised
issue of invasion of privacy. II
has turned out in addition to be
highly effective television. The
TV camera view of a single glass
Of water, nervously tapping
hand and the headless Costello is
packed with drama.
The privacy question is likely tc
be aired in court anyhow, since
the committee has recommended
that James J. Carroll be cited fol-
contempt. He is the alleged book
maker who refused to testify at
the st. Louis hearings as long as
televlsion cameras were present.
This is an interesting contro-
VerSy and it makes a man wish
Oliver Wendell Holmes were
around to illuminate it. A mans
right to privacy is not to be tam
pered with lightly. But neither are
the right to report what goes on
at an open hearing and your right
to know what goes on at an open
hearing.
Television already has demon
strated that it can report some
things more accurately than any
other medium of communication
You know this is. happening be-
cause you see it happen. Barring
television from something as public
as the crime committees hear
ings might easily be seen as
Arrangement of teleVisions free
dom to report the news.
If the TV cameras change the
complexion of a hearing and make
the truth harder to find, they are
not welcome, of course, but this
hardly seems likely. There is an
answer, too, to the suggestion that
television's presence might make
some politicians turn hearings into
clrcuSes for their own political
gloriflcation. The absence of teIe-
vision never stopped any one from
doing that.
The telecasts of the present
hearings in New York have proved
one of the most popular public
services the industry has per-
formed. NBC reports nightly
flood Of calls asking about the next
days schedule and a WNBW
spokesman says the station will
try desperately to carry the hear
ings every day"
They also will be carried BY
WTOP-TV whenever CHS puts
them on the cable" Schedules
for both local stations are not
definite, however. The telecasts
are an .NBC-CBS-WPIx pool and
their time depends, naturally, on
what the committee decides to dc
on a given day. This week they
have been starting around 10 and
continuing through to about
pm.
Story for Today: Groucho Marx
was interviewing a man on You
Bet Your Life" (WNBW-Thurs-
day, 8 p.mD the other night who
told him about the key-punch
machine which puts holes in
cards and computes the income
tax due in one second" It's tubes
are going to be old and gray" said
Groucho, before it figures out
how to collect it"
x X
Strictly Personal: Jerry Strong.
WINK morning man, WRC Satur-
day afternoon man and WMAL-
Nv every other Sunday man
tBouquets and Bonuses'D, is do
ing a special show for the town S
young Saturday. March "a. He'll
do the 9:05-9:30 portion of his
daily broadcast from the Schmid
Pet Shop, with refreshments for
all and prizes for the lucky. The
unlucky wins Mr.. Strong (and
cage Robert Montgomery
has been named national chair
man OF the Drama Advisory and
Sponsoring Committee of the
National Recrea ton Association
John Cameron Swayze, of
News Caravan" CWNBW-Mon-
day-through-Friday, 7:45 p.mD,
has been given the Alfred I. du-
Pont Award for excellence in
news reporting" Lucille Balls
projected TV program is in re-
hearsal A bedtime disc jockey
show is being considered for Dag
mar, of broadway Open House"
Spike Jones is reported to
have decided against any more
TV this year. Went over every-
where but in New York Fair
warning: George Raft is said to
be slated for summer replacement
shows on NBC radio and television!
X X X X
Unlikely Statement Department: ::
A press release from WTTG an
nounces that Captain Video's
severeSt critics are his own chill
dren." You wanna bet, WTTG?