Evening star., 1951-12-27
On the Air:
Mr.. Loughton
| Brings New
Art to TV
By Harry Macarthur

Selves up do cIltcI bdlIlLIlCuI du"
thoritieS and the radio people who
have suddenly found their audi
ences looking at them is that a
television show must have move
ment. Somebody pointed this out
In good faith once and it sounded
so impressive that the boys have
been telling it to each other ever
since.
"Ya gotta have more move
ment," said an executive to
Arthur Godfrey and Arthur, in
what no doubt was subtle rebuke
not noted in the high places, hired
a troupe of hula dancers. Fred
Allen recently fled again from
television to lick his wounds and
snarled disdainfully that a man
couldn't do a monologue on tele-
vision to the satisfaction of the
ad agency theatrical geniuses un-
less he hired a couple of actors
to rush back and forth behind
him.
The man who made this origi-
nal statement about movement
was right, all right, but he should
have explained himself for the
benefit of those who have accepted
the words with no meaning ever
coming through. Sure, television
show has to have movement. So
does a radio show, or a short
story, or novel. or an anecdote
told over the after-dinner coffee.
The point television's new show
business mentors must some day
discover. however, is that there is
a vast difference between physical
motion and dramatic movement
and the former never In the world
Is a satisfactory substitute for the
latter.
This lecture. possibly unseemly
at the holiday season, is the re-
suit of some reflection on a rich
and rewarding hour spent with
Charles Laughton on Christmas
eve by way of NBC-TV. MIR.
Laughton was doing that thing
which television threatens to make
lost art reading - selections
from the Bible. from Dickens
"Pickwick Papers" and from sew
eral other sources.
He just walked up to the front
OF the room at the start of the
show, set small table atop an
other table, opened a book on 1t
and started to read There were
times when the only movement
was that of Mr.. Laughton's vocal
chords, larynx, tongue and jaw as
he made words. But he wove dra-
matte movement and much of the
time his reading was decidedly
moving.
A man standing in front of q
camera reading a book may not
be considered good television by
the makers, that is the sponsors,
Of TV shows but this must have
been welcomed by millions of tele-
viewers.
Somebody ought to hire Mr..
Laughton to go on television once
a week and read Dickens for half
an hour. Dickens, or anything else
which caught his fancy. 1t would
be the greatest boon to literature
since--well, maybe not since the
invention of movable type, but at
least since advent of the moder-
ately priced reprints of the classics.
Victory-One of the vast dif-
ferences between the television
and radio audiences is that the
former does not display the same
passive acceptance of what the
broadcasters do to it as the latter
always has shown. In the case of
the recent curtailment OF "Kukla,
Fran and Ollie" for example, the
disgruntled and alarmed viewers
poured thousands of letters across
columnists' desks and into the
Office of the network. 1t was made
clear to NBC and to outside OBJ
servers that the people know now
that the air television uses is
their very own and that sponsors
are allowed to use it only by suf-
ferance.
The audience won no victory
on the "K-F-O" case, to be sure,
but it seems to have done so in
the instance of "Mr. I. Magma
tion." There was a loud noise of
protest when this sterling chill
dren's program was dropped by
CBS-TV. 1t was imaginative, orig
inal, intelligent and had a large
audience of children who had
their parents blessing when they
were watching it. It was the kind
Of television the broadcasters owe
their audience in return for the
right to use the air, kind with
which the schedules aren't over
loaded, and it didn't make sense
to discontinue it.
The CBS-TV executives seem to
have agreed that it didn't make
sense, for mfr. I. Imagination"
now seems set to return in a few
weeks to Sundays at $50 pm.
The vigorous protest of the "Mr.
I. Imagination" audience had a
great deal to do with the decision
to schedule it again. There were
economic reasons, of course. Only
the move of "Star of the Family"
to another day and time, due to
take place in a few weeks, made
time available for "Mr. I. Magma
tion." but The audiences feat in
winning it back is a hopeful sign.
X X X
MilcStOne-Gian-Ca Carlo Menotti's
"Amahl and the Night Visitors"
the first opera ever composed ex-
pressly for television, was an
other Christmas Eve present for