Evening star., 1952-01-15
On the Air
Error, Cop
Add Hunor
To Today
By Harry Macarthur

y d.1As 4O00y yVotCAAuy OA 4NoS'
lTV (WNBW. Garroway's frs
sponsor on the show is the Kip.
Ilinger Washington Agency, which
publishes Changing Times. a mag.
azine designed to keep you VI
with the changing times. CAIRO.
way admittedly has been busy
getting together a top-notch pro-
gram in a new television field, but
lit did appear on the opener o.
To-day" that he hasn't been read
ing Changing Times, or even tht
newspapers, very closely.
The people who publish thi'
magazine. he told his audience
want you to sample it. "All yol
have to do" he said. ''is to senc
la penny postcard to Changing
Times Dave Garroway
NBC, New York" It didn't taxi
long for viewers to start to remine
him that the penny postcard be-
came, a week before, a victim o1
the changing times.
X 4 + +
Perhaps the most satisfying
comedy line on the To-day" pre-
miere was one which came bulb
bling happily along the coax from
Chicago. The Windy City, as jim
Hurlbut pointed out. wasn't at all
windy at the time, but was real
|foggy and he was interviewing a
couple of prowl car policemen on
the subject.
How about driving?" he asked
the driver. ''How's that this morn
|ing?"
"Oh, driving's all right" said
the laws man. Except for the
fog and the traffic"
If that wasn't an ad lib written
by Charlie Andrews. there's cop
out in Chicago who knows how to
get right into the spirit Of a Dave
Garroway TV show.
Il ~
Nose for News - One of the
things television people keep seek
ing is a better technique for re-
porting the news. Often, when
they are sitting around at night
reviling program directors and
sponsors. after having gone bliss
fully black at the end of the day,
the TV people can be heard to say,
And another thing. there must
be a better way to do whatever it
is we do"
It becomes obvious every now
and then that some knowledge Of
what is and is not news is more
important at this point than a
formula for reporting it. There is
an old newspaper story about the
cub reporter who returned to his
office and told the boss there
wouldn't be any story about the
Elks' picnic because they hadn't
had it after the excursion boat ex-
ploded and sank in midriver. The
feeling you get now and then is
that this boy went into radio and
graduated to television.
The thing to remember, you
people in TV. is that a news story
which happens in front of your
cameras is no less a news story
because it wasn't announced in
advance. When. on a Friday night
for instance, the manager of a
defeated fighter leaps into the ring
to take a poke at the referee, you
don't cut ina commercial, just
because the manager-referee bout
was unannounced. You might,
just as "Cavalcade Of Sports" did,
miss the best fight in weeks.
There is one man here in Wash
ington. though, who must have
witnessed this "Cavalcade" lapse
with glee. He (his name, out OF
human charity, never is mention
ed in the story o fthis episode) is
the one who thought what Harry
Wismer calls time out on the
field Of play" was the ideal time
to toss in a commercial during O
Redskins game a few years back
He was Mortified when time was
called right back in and a touch
down Sas scored before the coulc
switch from commercial film bach
to field of play. He never lived il
down until last Friday night.
Slightly Lost Week End-What
happened to "Cavalcade of Sports
was only a prelude to what wa!
going to happen in other areas o1
Itelevision over the week end
Wasn't a very good week end
really.
On "The Comedy Hour" tech.
|nical difficulties popped up tt
prove that the machine age Car
triumph over even the sturdiest o1
the old tried-and-true slapstici
bits. Some of these things have
been used for years in burlesque
vaudeville and the movies ane
have been a match for any au.
dience. They are no match fol
frivolous electrons, though.
Abbott and Costello built w
elaborately to the point whert
they tied a monkey wrench or
the tail of a cow being MIXED
The COW flicked her tail-and thu
Imicrowaves lost the picture. Their,
was a loud klunk! across the Ma.
ltion, but the screens were black
Ed Murrow had his troubles
too, on "See It Now" Sunday aft.
lernoon. A Aim broke on Mr.. Muir.
row and he was forced into som,
ad libbing, explaining how tn,
program is put Oh the air.
"On this Squawk box here" h,
said, I'VE even can talk to then
down in the room where that film
lis being repaired. Like this" HI
snapped a switch. "How are 70,
coming, boys?" he asked.
"Blank-blank IL, Ed" said on,
lof the boys, obviously unawarl
that he was on the air, cant 70,
istay OF our backs. Wen get thu
|