Evening star., 1953-12-02

Awards went, too. to Leland Hay
ward, Clark Jones and Jerome
Robbins, for their outstanding
work on the Ford 50th anniver-
Sary show AS the citation says,
for sheer entertainment value
this two-hour extravaganza was
beyond compare.
Still another award went to
Mary Martin, for the years out
standing individual performance
on this same program.
The 16-member Sylvania
Awards panel is headed by Chair
man Deems Taylor. It includes
one president of the Motion Pic
ture Academy (Charles Brack-
ett), one publisher advertising
Ages G. D. Grain, jr.), one dec
orator dorothy Draper, one
commissioner of baseball (Ford
Frick). 1t also includes, among
others, one university president
(Temple's Dr. Robert l.. John
SOM, one football coach (Notre
Danes Frank Leahy), one judge
Samuel S. LeiboWitz) and one
Broadway producer oscar Ser
linz
These and the others make an
imposing panel for a critic to
find lending him support. In re-
turn. the only thing we can do
is agree fully with the Sylvania
Awards committee on it's other
choices.
The outstanding achievement
in the field of juvenile educa-
ton is DR.. Frances Horwich's S
Ding Dong School," The most
versatile variety performer of
the year is Donald O'Connor.
The most outstanding local ed
ucation program is Shake
speare on TV." a Los Angeles
collaboration of the University
of Southern California and Sta
ton KNIT.
The most outstanding tele-
vision actor is Rod Steiger. The
best script written directly for
television was Paddy Chayef-
sky's Marty" which Mr.. Steiger
performed on "Television Play
house." The best discussion pro-
gram is Ted Granik's American
Forum of the Air" The out
standing law enforcement docu-
mentary series is ''Dragnet."
The outstanding contribution
to the advancement of creative
television technique is made by
the TV-Radio Workshop of the
Ford Foundation, with "Excur-
sion" and Omnibus"
You can't start many argu-
ments with a set of awards like
this one.
GUINEA PIGS Telemeter,
another of the fee-TV systems,
is being given a trial run right
now, as you know if you read
the newspapers thoroughly. 1t
is being given this test in Palm
Springs, Calf. which rouses the
suspicion that this trial should
be a shade less conclusive than
Zenith'S test of it's PhoneviSion
system in Chicago.
The population Of Palm
Springs. Calf, represents some
thing further from cross sec
ton than the population of Chi
cago. 1t swells to $4,000 during
the winter resort season, accord
ing to Bob Thomas of the Asso-
ciated Press. Residents range, he
says, from mansion owners like
Bob Hope and Eddie Cantor to
some $500 trailer dwellers.
There are millionaires and pen
sioners, movie stars and bus
boys"
There are 500 TV sets in town
and about 80 per cent of the set
owners have requested the privi-
lege of paying $21.75 to have the
Telemeter coin box installed.
They also promise to pay mini
mum Of So a month for pro-
grams.
The appetite for fee-TV in
Falm Springs may be whetted by
the fact that television is not
precisely free entertainment
there anyhow Because of the
mountains between the resort
and Los Angeles. TV programs
come in by special cable. The
set owner pays $3.50 to have
cable installed to his home, plus
fee of SIS a month.
They like TV fine in Palm
Springs. according to reports.
But this is a cross section2