Evening star., 1952-03-06
| On the Air
|ABC-TVGets
| 7. MITCHELL;
|NBC,Dogmor
On the Air
By Harry Macarthur

INO0I00SIIIOu
By Harry Macarthur
The signing of two contract.
was among the other business con.
Quoted in network Offices thi.
week. Involved are two disparats
personalities in the entertainment
world - Dagmar and Thoma.
Mitchell-and how they got to-
gether in one paragraph is nc
more . mystery to you than it is
to the writer Of same.
The news that Dagmar is com.
ing to the fore again Is certain
to be greeted with cheers In some
quarters, but there is still more
room for the suspicion that Mr.
Mitchell will contribute more te
teleyiSion in the long run. Mitch.
ell. described In the proud an.
nouncenent as lone of the most
distinguished and versatile figures
of the American tfeater," a state
ment press agent can get away
with here any time. has signed ar
exclusive agreement with the
American BroadcaSting Co.
It Is. actually, q sort Of exclu-
sive agreement rather than an ex-
elusive exclusive agreement. Un-
der its terms, Mitchell's "contri-
buttons as player. consultant, pro-
ducer and director win be first
available" to ABC television. He
still viii have latitude for other
stage. screen, television and radio
activities. =
Mr.. Mitchell has been more
active in televiSion than most
actors of his experience and cal
ibre. which is q pretty limited
group, come to think of it. This
season he has appeared twice in
ABC-TV's top drama hour, where
he had q great deal to do with the
general excellence Of "Ah, Wilder
ness!" on aCelanese Theater" and
"Skin Of Our Teeth" on Pulitzer
Prize Playhouse"
He also has contributed good,
sound acting to a half dozen
other television dramas in recent
months.
The immediate use to be made
Of Mitchell's talents under the
new agreement has not yet been
announced. His only official state
ment to date is:
This is a welcome opportunity
to carry into effect several ideas I
have developed about television
programs. I've appeared in sew
eral ABC television programs and
! believe that I am aware of, and
sympathetic to. the detectives the
network has in mind in its tele-
vision program operations. I feel
sure that our association will
bring about some new and excit-
ing and Solidly satisfactory pro-
grams for the continually increas-
ing television audience"
That's probably press agents
dignif1ed translation Of what Mr..
Mitchell actually said more di-
rectly, but the idea is there.
While ABC-TV was thus notify
ing NBC and CHS that it still is
there, too, the NBC-TV boys were
ksggling with Dagmar about price
She named one figure and they
named another, which apparently
was lower Who won is not dis
closed, but NBC is proud enough
of it's acquisition to paraphrase
that old movie slogan and exclaim:
"Dagmars back and MICS got
her!"
Whether Washington will get
her, too, via WNBW is still another
question. The vacuous Valkyrian
of video at this point is scheduled
to start her "Dagmar's Canteen"
on March % in the Saturday night
(actually Sunday morning> at
1918 time slot. This conflicts on
WNBW with one of those things
called q prior commitment"
Saturday nights "Safeway
Theater," starting at 1890 with a
newscast, is one of the better pro-
grams devoted to full-length
feature films. The pictures are all
first-run Con television) in Wash
ington and the idea Is that they
also shall be truly "full-length. :"
not out to f1t a TV time period.
Some Of those British pictures
can't be cut anyway, without con-
siderable damage, as any viewer
who has ever tried to- make sense
of a condensed version Of one
knows well.
The time period the network
has selected for Dagmar is re-
ported to be inconvenient for sew
eral other stations. too, however,
so the network might make a
change. To keep Dagmar on the
air it will want sponsor and to
get q sponsor it will have to have
her on a good portion Of the net
work, and not merely on those
stations which didn't have any
thing else to do at the time.
Spot Announcements - Robert
Montgomery will do another act
ing chore-or at least narrating
one-for the next play on Robert
Montgomery Presents" tWNBW--
Monday, $50 PM -. This Will
be the comedy-drama, Guardian
of the Clock" an experiment in
blank verse drama on TV. The
Big Question" CWTOP-TV-Sun-
day, 2:30 pm.> win become
"Where Do You Stand?" with its
next telecast. :. Still a fairly big
question. Fibber MCGEE
and Molly will celebrate 20
years of radio with next
tuesdays broadcast (WRC--
$50 p.m.) Hollywood will be
temporarily renamed Wistful Vista
for the occasion, a name it might,
in all justice, retain. The
latest count by NBC estimates 49,
129, 800 TV sets in use in the coun-
try as of February /. ;. Takes a
long time to count 1928, 300 TV
eake Erd of 0frnn1nn mite