Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-14

| the first three programs of the n
the Colgate Hour on January 8.
I I caught Leo twice within Il
to Ethel Norman on the Chevy
show and acting in a Rod Serling
baseball comedy Monday on
MICS Matinee Theater called
"O'Toole From Moscow"
I Well, he wasn't really acting
He happened to be standing in
| front of the cameras in a base
ball uniform when somebody
from CHS turned them on.
1t might have been an anus
ing play at that and should be
replayed under more favorable
circumstances. Like with actors.
The NBC reasoning in assign
ing Leo to the series. however,
is not difficult to follow. It goes
like this:
A. He's under contract, why
not pitch him?
B. So his delivery isn't smooth.
Is Maurice Evans emceeing the
Toast of the Town?
C. Leo is big-league.
d. II he gets laryngitis, LARAMIE
Day can pinch-hit.
E. The program win always be
on the Tv set at Toots' Shor's.
F. II the script ever calls for
a man to hit fungos to the home
viewers.
G. The series will feature new
comedy talent. Leo has q way
with rockies.
This assignment Of Leo's, Of
course, carries the perishable
thought that perhaps NBC has
decided. after its disastrous ex-
perience with Colgate and a bat
terry Of pro emcees Charlton
Heston, Robert Paige. Gordon
MacRae, etc. that the best way
to fight no talent is with no
talent. 1t almost sounds fiend-
ishly clever.
You will also note that he is
getting three chances at the TV
plate to score hit. No ball
player ever asked for more.
| + 4
Ten Best List: DR.. William
Perkins, an assistant professor
of speech at the University Of
California. comes up with a list
of the most efficient voices in
the United States. "An efficient
voice." he says. has life and Vi
brancy. Some voices. particu-
larly the heavier ones. almost
seem to pulsate with vitality. &.
These people are cited not as
models to be initiated, but as
models to be carefully observed
| for the features of deficiency
common to them all-the vi
brancy and authority of the tone.
the feeling Of openness. of f1exi-
bility, of firm fullness. of deep
origin"
His list: Ed Murrow, John
DAILY, Orson Welles, Raymond
MASSEY, Ezio PIMA, Laurence
Oliver (sic), Judith Anderson.
Ingrid Bergman, Katherine (sic)
Cornell and Loretta Young.
| And now to the 10 most eff
cient spoilers.
y %AA
4 On the run:
\ Should be a rating battle-royal
Saturday when the CHS Spectac-
ular runs into the George Gobel
show at 10. George has Ed
Wynn, the Perfect Fool, as his
guest.
How would you handle a tape
| interview with l00-year-old
man who is hard of hearing
| =. WARL's George Geesey had
to talk extra loud with Airing
ton County's oldest native, John
H. Marcy, so he went back to
the station, edited out all of his
questions, and reworded them
back onto the tape for normal
broadcasting quality.
WRC's prexy. Carleton Smith
has given the go-ahead signal to
an ambitious TV series on "effec-
tive reading" beginning Saturday
1 $3.50 to 6 PM. Smith. in
trigued by the problem Of poor
reading as discussed in a recent
Star series, told program director
Jim Kovach to investigate.
He discovered the Air Force had
long been conducting a course
on the subject at the Pentagon
and the series will be the outcome
Of a collaboration between the
airmen and WRC. If re-
spouse to first four programs
warrants 1t, WRC will provide
16 more half-hours next year fol-
the public service feature.
Art Brown, Of WWDC, will hold
his annual coffee doughnut party
at the station tomorrow morning