Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-05-09
On the Air
This Actor
Is Programs
Lucky
BY Harry Macarthur

Death Do Us Part" on "TeleviSior
Theater" tonight CWNBW - 81
and it will be something more
than a routine acting assignment
Mr.. Stephen tonight will be i'm
personating a good luck omen a.
well as a lawyer in the Tolstoy
drama.
He had a role in the first "Tele.
Vision Theater" play and has ap'
peared in every birthday presen'
tation since then, which adds III
to five. The show started IN May
1947, and tonight is launching it.
fifth year. All told, Mr.. Stepher
has appeared in 80 plays on thu
program.
"Television Theater" itself ha.
been performed 208 times and i!
the oldest continuous weekly spon.
sored program in television. It.
audience has grown from a COM
paratively limited set Of New York
viewers in the pre-coaxial cable
days to nearly four million today
X X 4 4
A man looking for something
in the history of "Tele-
vision Theater" might find it ir
the sources of the tele-
dramas presented. All but Is have
been adaptations of well-knowr
stories and plays, but Is Of the
Is originals have been done with
in the past year.
This is trend if you ever saw
one. With the rate that tele-
vision uses up material being as
rapid as it is. better days for those
who would write directly for the
medium surely lie head.
Joe Bates Smith, Eric Hatch
Aimee and Philip Stewart anc
Nelson Bond are among the writers
aiming their typewriters directly
at the television cameras. Mrs
Smith has written six shows es-
pecially for "Television Theater.'
One Of Mr.. Bonds credits is for
co-authorship, with David Kent
Of the play which is probably the
beSt-known-the fan
tasy, "Mr. Mergenthwirker's Lob
blies." This, however, was not ar
but a dramatization OF
a short story by Mr.. Bond.
"Television Theater" has out
grown four homes in the long
tfor TV years of it's life. 1t
started in a small studio built
especially for the then novel no.
ton of presenting a full-hour
TV drama. It now is telecast from
MICS famed Studio 8-H, which
was converted from a symphony
hall to a televiSion studio. This
is a quarter-acre room, three
stories high, which provides tech
nical facilities for almost any
effect desired.
The pioneering program has
produced a number of innova-
tons. 1t was. for one thing, the
first dramatic program to be set
up in two units, so that two direc-
tors could alternate and give more
time to each production.
The "Television Theater" trend
whether you realize it or not, has
been toward the lighter side. More
than half Of the plays-108 to be
exact-have been comedies. OF
the rest. there have been SO
dramas, 20 mysteries and II
fantasies.
Authors adapted have ranged
from Shakespeare to Groucho
Marx. The former contributed
Macbeth" and Comedy of
Errors" and the latter Time for
Elizabeth" which he wrote with
Norman Krasna.
x y y X
Just In Case: Today's SOLDERING
press release comes from CBS-TV
1t is an advance description of g
13-week series of programs titled
It's Up to You," which will start
on the network (WTOP-TV) Nav
IS and be seen every Saturday al
$50 pm.
Its Up to You" is being pro.
duced by the CHS public affairs
department in cooperation with
the Red Cross, with a twofold
aim: ITO visualize first aid
in an emergency and to
get at least one person in every
family to take the Red Cross
course fitting them for instant
action in the event of an emer-
1t is a frightening set of posi-
oilitieS conjured up by the list
Of IL programs designed to teach
you how to act Gin the midst of
excitement or panic that might
result from bombing, atom at
tack, sabotage. biological warfare,
chemical warfare or any other
emergency defense situation"
There is brighter side, though,
reached in Program No. II. This
will discuss: Rural problems
farm aid where city people are
evacuated to the country-poison
ivy and other dangers" It is
reassuring, somehow, to know
that you can go through bomb
ing. atom attack, sabotage, bio
logical warfare, chemical warfare
etc. whole and unframed to be-
come a victim of poison ivy.
Programs and People: Lloyd
Dennis, veteran director and pro-
Queer at WTOP. has been named
director of program service fol-
the station, in charge of both Am
and TV programming -. Al
Bernie will replace Jan Murray
on James Melton's Ford Festival
tomorrow night (WNBW-9 p.m.)
Mr.. Murray's problem right now
is a case of acute laryngitiS
Robert Montgomery will be the
chief narrator for the NBC tele-
vision series outlining the history