Evening star., 1951-03-01
On the Air
| Mack Gains
|WNBW Loss
-AProducer
By Harry Macarthur

By Harry Macarthur
The network television show
most likely to undergo some i'm
proyement in the near futur t
is Ted Mack's Family Hour"
tWMAL-TV-Sunday, 6 p.m0. 1t
has. to be sure. proved a pleasant
| if not necessarily pulse-tingling
session on those Sundays when
the Hopalong Cassidy set has been
too busy to outvote this viewer in
his own living room.
It has, in one way, achieved
what Mr.. Mack originally said he
was aiming for. the easy. friendly
and informal spirit of Maj.
Bowes' old Sunday noon radio
Family Hour" From produc-
ton standpoint, however, it has
indicated lack of either attention
or Imagination or both.
The remedy for this should be
Forthcoming soon after the mid
die of March, when Bob Blum is
scheduled to take over the pro-
duction reins. The contract re-
mains to be signed, but verbal
agreement has been reached by
telephone. covering salary. length
of the original pact and def
mite statement of his duties.
1t was largely the latter which
won him away from his WNBW
job and Washington. He is to have
complete charge of the shows
production, possibly functioning as
both producer and director, which
means that his imagination will
be shackled only by his budget.
| X X X y
"I'll probably turn it into real
stinker," was Mr.. Blum's first con-
fident reaction when he realized
what he had done. but there is
a great deal of evidence to the
contrary. In the several years he
has been at WNBW as a producer
and director it has become clear
that he puts a distinctive mark
on a television show.
You could see the Blum touch
on the Johnny Bradford program
when he was guiding that. You
could see it on various Jeanne
Warner shows. You could see it
on a diverting but Inflated show
called Tempo" A number of the
lighting, scenic and camera ef-
fects the networks have boasted
of as innovations have been old
hat to Washington televiewers.
who already have seen them on
a Bob Blum show.
Only a man with no civic pride
would be happy to see Mr.. Blum
depart for New York, since local
TV programming is not so bur-
dened with Imagination that it
has much to spare. 1t will be
good thing, generally, to have
him where he can bore from with
in, however. He is a man who be-
lieves television program should
be designed for and aimed at peo-
pie who sit and look at television
sets. That apparently is heresy
in New York, SO any man who can
get on the inside up there ana
spread the true word will be do
ing all of us favor.
X \
Hearts Desire: When Peggy
Ann Garner, star of 1.-TWO Girls
Named Smith" (WMAL-TV-Sat-
urday noon), married Singer Rich
ard Hayes recently, 1t was sud-
den decision. When she told her
producer. Charlie Dublin. few
days beforehand, he gave her a
wedding present to be cherished
by any actress-two extra lines in
the script of that weeks show.
For Servicemen: Phil Regan, a
durable tenor and one of the nicer
guys in show business. will launch
a new radio program next week.
''The Phil Regan Show" to be
heard on NBC CWRC) Sundays at
S pm, will be broadcast each
week from an Army, Navy or Ma.
rine base or a defense plant. In
addition to Regan songs, there
will be participation by service
men. An equally useful work, this,
as being Ambassador to Fire,
| Job some one was trying to con-
meet with Regan awhile back.
| X X X y
Programs and People: The fun
niest television program since
Jimmy Durante's debut turned up
the other night on "Kukla, Fran
and Ollie" (WNBW-nightly, y.
Dave Garroway was filling in for
Fran Allison and the Kuklapoli-
tan people honored him with their
version of "Garroway at Large"
with Ollie playing Garroway. A
true masterwork. -. Joe E. Brown,
whose mobile face was made for
television comedy, will come tc
TV Sunday at 1880 on Show
time U. S. A." (WMAL-TV) :.
Another feature of the program
will be a scene from Angel IL
the Pawnshop," performed by
Joan McCracken and Eddie Dowi-
ing. Dutch Bergman will
launch a new quiz-program, Pa
nous Men in Sports" Saturday
| at A.2n m WNRW. Garry