Evening star., 1955-11-27
BY BERNIE HARRISON

By BERNIE HARRISON
Arthur Godfrey'S story in
the Saturday Evening Post Gas
told to Pete Martin, one of the
best as-told-to writer's around)
has been a rollicking yarn
these last few inStallments and
If you're skipping 1t because
the redhead isn't your man.
do yourself a favor and buy or
borrow a copy.
What is making his story
practically irresistible these
issues are his "reminiscences of
Washington radio in the early
depression '30s when he
and the industry-were Just
beginning to roll.
The magazines present COW
er teaser is tagged-"How I
learned my secret Of success
and. while this is not exactly
news, Arthur unabashedly
spells out his theory Of sales
manship with the meticulous-
ness Of an Einstein. The for
mula might be lettered out
S equals ALHC squared. (Suc-
cess equals one announcer
talking informally to one lis
tener times honesty times con-
fldence squared.)
His Early Successes
But he also relates, in some
detail, the story of his first
successes as an early morning
disc jockey, with particular
emphasis on his relationship
to such eminent worthies as
Frank Scoop Russell. the
NBC Weep here. Kenneth
Berkeley, who was Russell's
second in com m q nd. and
Carleton Smith. whose eleva-
tion to the general managers
post of WMAL, then the Blue
network outlet of NBC, so
irked Godfrey that he almost
resigned.
Carleton's first name is
misspelled. by the way-with-
out the "e."
Godfrey's account Of the
turbulent '30s and the events
in which he was a principal
are not as complete as
they appear to be-par-
ticularly in the current in
stallment.
This is not unnatural or
perhaps even calculated. Time
has a way Of shredding detail
and no mans memory, how
ever fabulous, can reconstruct
events 20 years past without
a blank spot here and there.
He Wasn't Understood
In the story Of the incident
that led to his quitting NBC's
WMAL. for example, the inn
preston given is that Arthur
was much put upon, entirely
reasonable in his reaction, and
an all-around cooperative
fellow.
If Arthur wishes to endow
his early struggles with the
wisdom and sagacity Of his
present 50-odd years, that's
his perogative. but now that
he's resurTecting some old
ghosts. it should be pointed
out that many Of them are
still pretty lively in broadcast
ing circles and can recall the
events from an entirely diff
ferent standpoint - namely,
their own.
There was nothing idyllic
about the redhead's character
in those days. He was good
and he knew it. Somehow.
during that terrific schedule
he recalls in the current issue,
when he seemed to be going
from early morning to late
night. Arthur found plenty Of
time to relax. And he relaxed
reSoundingly.
Another Mans View
A veteran Of those days,
who was closely associated
with Arthur, told me the other
day after checking the fourth
article that it would be inter-
esting to see ''if he mentions
the half dozen times he was
very nearly fired from his
next post" at WJSv (then the
CHS morning outlet.)
"Godfrey had a lot OF OroU-
ing up to do" he said, NTH
out malice.
For purposes Of reliability,
I assume, Godfrey's story is
heavy with verbatim quotes"
of what he said to someone
and what the someone said to
him. That's accepted style
nowadays and all Of us are
guilty OF that, ! guess, yet I
kept wishing that there were
some asides to the effect that
it just possibly could have
been otherwise.
Still, Collaboration Pete
Martins finest contribution
to the series Is that he is
smart enough to let God
frey tell his story the way he
wants to.
Thus, when Godfrey reacts
violently to the news that his
program has been making q
fortune for NBC, and his SAL
airy is still a light" $3.50 per
week, his irnmaturity is re-
vealed in his argument with
the boss, to the effect that:
You're paying me the same
money you pay people tDho
bring you in nothing, and I'm
bringing you 10000 q year"
OF course Godfrey was un-
derpaid.
But it is fairly reasonable to
assume that the boss had