Evening star., 1951-11-07
On the Air
|PuuIHurtmun
|Cun Believe
He's an Actor
By Horry Macarthur


to face with suspicion and alarm
the prospect Of starting of in a
new. or non-dancing, direction. 1t
is difficult, he was saying on a
recent visit to- Washington, to
launch a new career.
Today. thanks to Worthington
Minor. Mr.. Hartman ought to be
able to put aside any qualms he
might have had about his poten-
tials for success as a non-dancing
comic actor. 1t was Mr.. Minor,
producer of Studio One" (WTOP-
TV-Monday. 10 p.m). who had
the good sense to cast Mr.. Hart
man in the title role in this weeks
play, THE Hero"
The Irwin Lewis comedy is about
an old codger named Joshua Hol-
comb, who has been the hero of
the town of Amity for 80 years.
after having been found inad-
vertently holding a gun IN the
presence Of four deceased bank
bandits. Man comes along and
says there is oil under the land
on which Joshua is living, land
which will revert to the town on
his death. Joshua doesn't want to
move and since he is the hero used
as a trademark on all the towns
manufactured goods, some tempers
gets mighty hot in Amity.
Mr.. Hartman, Mr.. Minors in
spired choice for the Joshua role.
played it most winningly with the
help of Patricia Collinge and some
others. With a mad fringe OF
whiskers on that mobile comedi-
ans face and that voice ever
threatening to break into a mass
of high-pitched splinters. he made
one of Studio Ones" lighter
hours one of its more satisfying
ones.
If somebody finds a regular
niche in television for Mr.. Hart
man, he should win the undying
gratitude of lot of viewers.
Confusion-In spite Of all the
attempts to explain it. the Ma
tional Collegiate Athletic Associa-
tons football TV experiment still
strikes many viewers as unreal. if
not unrealistic. Great numbers of
them either can't understand it
or can't believe it.
The Notre Dame games got to
be on television," these people are
saying this week. ITS a big game. !"
The Notre Dame game IS to be
on television this week. all right.
but Washington viewers won't see
it. This is one of the weeks when
the confusion is understandable
and when almost any one might
wonder just what this portion Of
the NCAA experiment is expected
to prove.
What's happening is this: The
Maryland-Navy game at Balti-
more on Saturday. in which there
is more local interest than in a
lot of other games, will be tele-I
viewers in the Middle
West and West. The Notre
Dame Michigan State game. at
Lansing (Mich). will be televised.
too-for viewers in the East and
WNBW. however, will
be sitting this one out with a serv-
ice contest, under the rule that no
station can televise more than
seven college games during the
nine-week experiment.
1t is conceivable that some
Washingtonians might not make
the trip to Baltimore If they could
see the Maryland-Navy game at
home. The NCAA experiment will
only be a success this Saturday.
however. if it proves that great
hordes of Washington fans rush
to Baltimore because they couldn't
stay home and watch Notre Dame.
The NCAA may discover what
George Marshall. the Redskin
boss, knew more than a year ago
and saw demonstrated again this
season. I'm not afraid of tele-
vision" he said during a late sum-
mer discussion Of the then up
coming 1850 season. "A lost game
the week before hurts the box Of
flee a lot more than television
ever could"
Competition - Television not
only competes with other forms
of amusement for audiences, but
for talent. too. The Mayflower
Lounge. for instance. has gone
along happily for some time play
ing acts for four Of five weeks.
changing at or near the first of
each month. Dancers Danny Hoe
tor and Betty Byrd, the current
headliners there. could be had for
only two weeks, however. At the
end of this week they depart the
Lounge for a series of appearances
during the next four weeks on
"The Kate Smith Show" (WNBW
4 p.mD.
The arrangement now is for ap-
pearances on the afternoon pro-
gram. with the probability that
the dances which work out best
will be incorporated into Miss
Smiths Wednesday evening show
on NBC-TV. There is a possibility.
too, that this could lead to an
as regular members
of Miss Smiths cast, which will
be fine with Miss Byrd and Mr..
Hoctor if the strain of devising
all those new dances doesn't be-