Evening star., 1951-02-26
| On the Air
| |Mr. Burton
| Should Find
| TV Different
By Harry Macarthur

AnOtner HOLLYWOOD VETERAN ildo
made the switch to teleyision. He
is Charles Barton. who signed to
direct the CBS-TV Amos n
Andy" series and. if all went as
planned. put the first film before
the cameras on Saturday.
This undoubtedly is a coveted
TV directing job, since a great
deal of care apparently has gone
into the preparation of the series
and the chances for its success
look good. Sympathy, rather than
jealousy, is being reserved for Mr..
Barton around this department.
however.
AS one-day extra in a picture
called "Free for ALL" who spent
a large part of June IS. 1949.
standing around at Mt. Vernon
waiting for something to happen.
I know how Mfr. Barton works. He
works like other movie directors.
One reason Hollywood has been
confused by television is that
movie-makers refuse to believe it
possible to produce an hour of en-
tertainment in an hour of time.
X n X
That day at Mt. Vernon started
early, as is the custom with
movie company, but it was 1890
before the stars were called out
of hiding. They went into con-
ference with Director Barton and
Producer Robert Buckner. At IL
the cameras rolled and in the next
half hour several takes of a short
scene were made A new camera
set-up, lunch and more confer
ences between producer and di-
rector and producer. director and
stars occupied the time until 2
pm, M
Several takes of this scene we're
made and everybody knocked of
for more waiting and more con-
ferences. After awhile. Mr.. Buck
ner and Mr.. Barton decided. be-
cause of the change in the light,
to reshoot the scene they had
made in the morning. In the end
they were lucky if they got three
minutes of finished motion pic
ture out of the days work and it
wasn't a bad day at all.
Things will be different in tele-
vision, Mr.. Barton will find.
though he has. been given what
any TV director would consider
a fairly relaxed schedule. Produc-
ton plans call for one half-hour
television film every 10 days.
X 4 \
Mr.. Barton, incidentally, is a
man well grounded in story tell
ing with pictures and he shouldn't
have any trouble adapting to the
new medium. He started as an actor
ip stock companies. vaudeville and
" o-reel comedie He then be-
came a prop boy Movie Pioneer
James Cruze an iater for William
Wellman, wol kA"g on Wings"
among other snings. Wellman
made him "a assistant director
and he -. .ser became director at
Paramount. where he made a long
list of pictures, largely comedies.
For several years, Mr.. Barton
has been at Universal Interna-
tional, where he directed 10 of the.
Abbott and Costello pictures,
which automatically made him the
director of 10 surefire box Office
successes s9s ~: .s. -
essfa5.sz3 s% ~ 4 So
High Life from Top Man: Jim
Gibbons. WMAL sports director,
who does nightly sports shows on
both radio and television. will
launch an additional half hour
weekly on WMAL-TV next Satur-
day night at Z. High Life ip
Sports" will feature world wide
coverage Of sports events by ms
newsreels and motion pictures
taken in the baseball training
camps. Mr.. Gibbons was voted
Washington's top sportscaster in
the recent Teleguide poll.
X + X X
Strictly Rersonal: Ben Blue,
though he apparently didn't salts
fy the Broadway Open House"
sponsor, impressed NBC-TV as a
man of talent. The network has
signed him to a long term, exclu-
sive contract for television. :.
Lonesome GAL" whose uninten-
tionally hilarious pratt1ing is
heard week nights at 1I:15 on
WTOP, reports letter from a CT
in Korea who writes that he is
playing the grooves off a couple
of recordings of her shows he
made off the air. You said it, Cen
eral Sherman. Investigation
of the rumor that Jerry Strong's
French poodle, Froodle, writes his
material discloses the truth about
him. There isn't really a Jerry
Strong; Froodle'S ventriloquist.
X 4
No Larceny, Please: Polly Ber-
gen, recent TV guest of Dean
Martin and Jerry Lewis. asked
them what she was expected to do
on 'The Comedy Hour" Cant tell
you," said Lewis. Martin doesn't
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