Evening star., 1951-11-14
| On the Air
lin the Theuter
| |TheyLough
|At tTVJibes
BY Harry Macarthur

Well, any television proprietor
who finds himself in the presence
of The Moon Is Blue" is in for
rude shock. He is, at any rate. if
the audience reacts the way Mon
day nights audience at the Gayety
reacted, and it seems fairly rea-
Sonable to assume that it would.
There is a point in the F. Hugh
Herbert comedy when young
girl is casting about for something
other than herself to keep mid
dle-aged roue occupied.
Shall I turn on the television?"
she asks eagerly. He sips his drink
and gazes suspiciously at the huge
blank eye of the TV screen.
"Is it in color?" he asks.
'No. Of course not" she says.
well. let's wait them he says.
making for the bar.
The biggest laugh of the plays
whole evening was drowned in a
wave of applause.
X X
In analyzing this to extract its
true meaning for the broadcast
ers. it becomes clear that this re-
action was less an Endorsement of
color television than it was an
expression of derision.
Television. of course, is handy
tool in the hands of a man writ
ing a play. giving him the
switch" with which to resusci-
tate an elderly jest. An old joke
turned into a joke about televi-
sion has chance of striking audi
enceS as joke they never heard
before and they may laugh their
heads off.
Mr.. Herbert has taken advan-
tage of this several places in THE
Moon Is Blue" but nowhere with
more success than in that "let's
wait" line. Continuing this analy-
sis for the TV broadcasters, a
bigger laugh was clocRed when a
young man suggested that this
same girl was an inept actress
and probably even too inept for
television than was recorded for
the immediate suggestion that
she could learn to roller skate.
The theater audience. to sum
this up. is not giving up the the
ater in favor of any upstart me-
dium such as television. 1t has
a warm greeting for any insults
cast in TVS direction. but 1t is
not familiar enough with televi-
sion to understand such special
items as jokes about the Roller
Derby.
Above all-and this Is the part
which must shock any broadcast
er beloved by the peepul-there
still are some humans ready to
rally warm support for a man
who will go to any lengths to
keep a television set turned OFF.
Better get to work on them.
fellows.
Inducement - While others on
the radio are Turing audiences by
giving away money, Jerry Strong
lis proving himself no such cheap
skate. He is giving away meat,
which money almost can't buy.
One of his sponsors on his daily
3: :3O-to-5: 80 stint on WMAL is a
meat packer and there will be no
remarks, please. about ham and
the fitness of it all. The sponsor
is compiling a booklet of recipes
for meat dishes and is calling
upon Mr.. Strong's constituency
to provide them. Every Monday
the weeks best recipe wins it's
author seven pounds of the spon-
sors meat products. If that
doesn't lure the customers. the
sponsor will keep the meat and
give away Mr.. Strong.
~
TV Impact-The selection of the
International Amphitheater on
Chicago's South Side as the site
of both political conventions next
July was dictated" by the needs
of television. according to Sig
Nicholson, director of news and
public affairs for CBS-TV. The
amphitheater operated by the
Union Stocks Yards Co. has $685.
210 square feet of floor space.
10000 of which will be used by
the television networks. 1t is ex-
Ipected that possible viewing au-
dience of Sc million will be avail
able when the Republicans meet
on July 7 and the Democrats on
July q. The TV broadcasters are
looking forward to "the greatest
television show in history"
That's fine place for political
convention, come to think of it.
Any suggestion that something
smells around there will be met
with an unaSSallable If not pre-
cisely air-tight alibi.
| X
MilestOne-Television is passing
another of those historic markers,
chalking up another first tonight.
The fight between Jimmy Carter
and Art Aragon (WTOP-TV-10
p.mD will take place in the Olym-
pic Auditorium in Los Angeles
and will be the first major sport
ing event carried from West to
East by the microWaves. This
means, in further evidences OF
televisions impact. that Los An
geles ringsiders will have to be or
hand at 7 o'clock, an unseemly
hour for watching a prizefight
Unless, of course, Carter ano
Aragon plan repeat title bout
three hours later for the West
| CnoSt