Evening star., 1951-01-15
On the Air
| TeIeyision's S
Fire Shots
|WereHot
By Hony Macarthur

It was demonstrated effectively
last Friday afternoon that tele-
vision might do well to exercise q
little restraint when a big spot
news story falls in it's lap. Cover
it all right. boys, but don't be-
come SO overwhelmed with its
immediacy and its nearness that
you lose perspective.
All good newspapers and good
newSpapermen remain constantly
aware of their responsibilities to
inform their readers with great
care so that a news story can
not be misinterpreted. This sense
of responsibility is less evident in
radio-completely lacking in some
of the well-know, high-voltage
sensation peddlers-but it does
exist in some quarters and it
must exist, too. in television.
What happened last Friday
afternoon was that a big fire
broke out in a warehouse on the
edge of Chicago'S Loop district.
Some of Chicago's television STU
dios-those of NBC-TV, at any
|rate-are located in the Merchan-
disc Mart, the roof of which was
an ideal vantage point for cam
eras pointed at the blaze a block
away. It was rare opportunity
to cover a spot news story and
television was quick to take ad-
vantage of it.
Chicago's fire became the most
watched fire in history, seen by
an estimated five million tele-
viewers.
According to all reports, TVS
visual reporting was excellent and
the blaze was a fearsome sight.
The comment along with the pic
lures got a little out of hand,
though, in the excitement of those
on the scene. Matters were not
helped any when one man invited
a large network television audi
ence to pause for 80 seconds and
pray for the inhabitants out there.
There is nothing wrong with
prayer, of course, but there is
nothing right with giving several
million people the impression that
the Second Chicago Fire is well
under way. Newspaper telephone
switchboards were flooded with
calls from televiewers who had
just been fed the delusion that
half of Chicago was about to be
swept off the map.
If ally more like this fall tele-
Visions way. good general as
signment reporter had better be
sent around to the scene to find
out what's really going on.
Televiewer- at-Large: If you were
watching Ford Theater" Friday
night you know now why Dave
Garroway (WNBW-Sunday, 10
p.m) prefers the intimacy of his
Chicago studio to a large theater-
with audience. One of his casual,
off-hand opening sallies c'Berle
would love our studio; it's SO small
it's impossible to get off camera'D
was very funny in the living room,
but it rolled right by the in-person
audience Or maybe there is a
Studio Audience Union, with by
laws permitting laughter only at
jokes the members have heard
before The program inciden-
tally. was perhaps the lowest point
in the history of the Ford
Theater," which has had many
high points-and few low ones
The passing out of the Look TV
Awards had a stellar cast, all
right, but the ceremony's dramatic
impact was about on level with
that of the awarding of diplomas
to the graduating class of the
East Cowpoke (Tex) Junior High
School. There were lot of enter
tainers but precious little enter
tainment, apart from a song by
Connie Russell. Even Sid Caesar
contributed his most hackneyed
impersonation. This should have
been on "Toast of the Town" +"
where the customers are ac-
customed to Ed Sullivan as a
master of ceremonies, not on our
Ford Theater."
X X X y
Elsewhere in today's Star you
will see Sheilah Graham's report
that Marge and Cover Champion
are to play the Ginger Rogers and
Fred Astaire roles in Lovely to
Look At" a movie remake of
Roberta" This can't make them
much happier than it makes the
man who suggested, when they
last appeared at the Statler
Embassy Room, that Hollywood
probably had new Astaire- Rogers
due in the Champions. They're
a highly talented team. Much
of the good ballet work you see
on television variety shows can
trace its ancestry back to their
contributions as original members
of the cast of NBC-TV's "Your
Show of Shows" on Saturday