Evening star., 1951-10-15
By Joy Cormody

| @OS>SAS@eAA3S
games. In this capacity, which
he filled yesterday when the
Washington team played what
sounded like practice game with
the Cleveland Browns, Wismer
ran the gamut Of Wismer emo
tionS.
He was not merely a televisionI
and radio reporter. calling the
plays as the Redskins mufed
them or as the Browns executed
them with such easy flnesse. Wis
mer was ever so much more an
alyst. critic, coach, and q most
melancholy man. He was also a
society reporter. ripping through
a list Of the sports writers and
other famous figures present, but
this is largely an incidental chore.
Whatever the role. Wismer
wrote his own dialogue for 1t with
never q chance that his feeling
would not show through his
words. Ultimately, to at least one
spectator. how Harry was taking
lit became far more dramatic than
the game. How he was taking it
was badly, a despair never more
woefully expressed than in his
fourth quarter report, Only IA
more minutes to CO."
| A man thinking out loud this
was, but no more so than the one
who reported in the third quarter
that Harry Gilmer was tackled
while two defending Redskins
backs stood looking on as If they
were taking lessons from the
Browns. Or the one who was try
ing to understand what Joe
Tereshenski was thinking about
while Brown backs flashed around
his end. Wismer was not ad-
miring Tereshenski. whatever the
latter was thinking.
The Browns forced him to ad-
mire them. Not merely the way
they played. but their physical
condition. What shape THEY
were in. he kept saying as If they
were the only ones on the field
who were in shape to play foot
ball.
| This. of course. may be a mis-
reading of the whole telecaSt, but
it was as If Wismer were playing
| the Browns. And breaking his
heart trying to beat them. It was
a dramatic sort of three quarters
this spectator watched before
Harry's suffering, and the Red
skins performance. became un-
bearable.
And Betty Betty Furness is
another television personality that
will linger in a mans mind long
after he has turned of his set
and gone back to reading Har-
| per's, and some books he missed
while reporting for Harry Mac
Arthur.
Miss Furness is a funny one
in a dattering way, we mean-to
| find selling kitchen devices. For
years. she was one Of our girls
so to speak, over in the drama
| department. She was not the last
girl exactly that one would asso-
ciate with a washing machine full
of dirty overalls, but she was
close to it. Or a dish washing
device, an electric refrigerator. a
/ television clarifier or a jet en-
gine. which she explained on one
sensational program just to sur
prise her old friends.
H This must have been 1t, to sur
| prise her old friends. It is incon-
/ ceivable that viewers rushed out
afterward and bought hundreds
Of jet engines to assure Betty's
hold on that job.
II Miss FurneSS leaves no doubi
about any part of her sales.
woman's job, however. unless it i.
in the jet engine department
She is a pleasant sight and sounc
on television. Actresses who fre.
quently get sick and tired of lonl
periods Of being "at liberty" be-
tween plays could take a lessor
from her.
She has opened up splendie
field, with a whopping audience
and a gigantic wardrobe, and Sc
curity. There Is always a Pionee
Woman. Few so ornamental
sleek. and vocally alluring a
Betty.
H Also Elinor Lee-An old ad
miration found itself refueled a
this correspondent surveyed a
many hooks and corners Of tele
vision as he could. This was Mis-
Elinor Lee, WTOP-TV, who's
This Is Washington" was S
nicely timed for looking.
Long ago Miss Lee mastered tn
difficult trick of being business
like without seeming to be bust
ness-like. There is a specis
grace in this, of being onesel
with no self-consciousness. Mis-
Lee shows it best when she ha
guests, as television always ha
guests. Her attitude toward thi
is that they invariably are ther
because they are interesting an
that it is her duty as hostess t
give them a chance to show it.
This is most agreeable.
4 II y
And, Oh, Yes, The Mob-A
usual, however, it is the mob ths
leaves the heaviest mark upo
the television set owner. This
the one composed Of those VIII
attend mass audience events an
who apparently spend their enti1
time waiting for the camera
turn toward them. At the ver
suspicion that such a time hs
arrived, they wave maniacall
into space as If they were Ev