Evening star., 1953-06-04
Straight Singing Went Out
With the Mustoche Cup
BY Hal Humphrey

after the SpOrtSmen had been
organized. BY 1912 they were
working on Is different radio
shows as straight singing group.
but doubling on the commercial
jingles occasionally.
Most of this activity was
cloaked in anonymity, however.
They seldom got billing. Benny
changed all this In 1945 when
he signed them for his radio
commercials. He was one of
the pioneers in what Is known
today as the "integrated" COM
mercial.
Benny had his writer's build
a situation and gags around the
Sportsmen doing the. sales
pitches. Unmarked the first time.
too, that the Sportsmen had
been much more than just the
-four, voices you heard singing
the4 e4osannas Of some product.
They've been with Benny ever
since. Besides the Benny chore,
Of course. the Sportsmen have
continued vocalizing the COM
mercials on many other shows.
They're also in their seventh
year with Phil Harris, but out
of Difference to Benny they ask
for no billing from Phil.
With the exception of Jay
Meyer who replaced Bob Stevens
three year sago. the quartet has
remained intact with charter
members Marty Sperzel, Bill
Days, and Gurney Bell.
/ Next fall the boys will have
their own TV show. To be called
"Nickelodeon Theater." it's a
collection of old silent Aim shorts
which the Sportsmen will back
up with songs and gags in a
vein similar to those Pete Smith
film shorts.
If there is a moral to learn
from the Sportsmen's career, it
would be Don't raise your boy
to sing in a quartet unless he
knows the first six bars Of
LS/MFT."
X + y
QUESTION-"What's so wrong
with putting a little sex and
romance into your home?"
The above rhetorical question
comes from Joan Shawlee and
it's her chief beef on what's
wrong with TV today.
Joan is a tall, Shapely gal who
got her first IV break from Bob
Hope on one of his Comedy
Hour" shows early this past sea-
son. Since then she has ap-
peared on the Martin and Lewis
show, "Meet Millie" and Life
With Luigi"
Most of these situation COM
edies are all about married
couples" she says. "Since the
bulk Of home audiences are made
up of the same thing, 1t makes
life in the living room pretty
dull"
It's her contention that TV
never will develop its own
CRADLES, Hayworths and
Grahames as long as producers
treat romance as something that
should be bootlegged.
Joan believes the fault for this
attitude toward sex lies with the
males who run the TV industry.
"They seem to think that a gal
can't be sexy unless she's un-
dressed. Why can't they realize
that her voice can be sexier than
what she's got on?"
She cites Robert Cummings
''My Hero" video series as an
example Of what a little sex can
do for a show. Sure. the pro-
ducers always see to it that
Beanblossom is safely returned
to his steady girl friend. But
before he is, there's usually an
other gal injected into the plot
Just to prove he's human"
What sex Joan has managed
to exude on the TV screens has
boosted her stock with the movie
studios. In two new Columbia
pictures, "All Ashore" and Prom
Here to Eternity" she plays a
B-girl and q lady Of questionable
occupation. respectively.
Didn't somebody say that sex
Is what makes the world 60
around?" Joan asks. with her
blue eyes rolling. We'll. it's
about time these TV guys dis
covered it then"
| tCopyriRht 1883
| Mirror Enterprises Syndicate.)