Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-17

schedule and to offer more pot
Wide World" and the Maurice
Evans Hall of Fame produc-
tons, which have been running
away with the audience all
season.
Yet. while CHS has not spared
the marquee names - James
Daily. Sidney Blackmer and Ann
Harding were involved in
Strange Suspicion plays
themselves have q hohum quality
that Is unacceptable. particularly
when followed by an imagina-
tive Omnibus dramatization.
This happened sunday-to the
detriment Of Front Row, Gen.
ter"
Strange Suspicion" q drama
overloaded with characters and
plot and woefully short Of au-
thentic New England flavor and
the suspense it so lamely at
tempted to create, puttered about
erratically for three "acts" be-
fore coming up with a trick
ending. There was no need for
the villagers to perjure them
selves for their beloved leader
because. you see, he hadn't
poisoned his mean wife after all.
Ole Granny. a-sitting there in
her rockin' chair and babbling
to herself, had switched the
dinner plates to give her son the
biggest portion and the wife had
eaten the arsenic she intended
for her husband.
Ann Harding's makeup as
granny. by the way. was afro
Icious.
Omnibus" on the other hand.
offered a re-enactment Of q for
gotten swindle-"The Great
Forgery" perpetrated on the
Bank Of England in the ls70s by
three clever Americans and q
willing stooge( or fall guy.
The swindlers discovered a
flaw in the way bills OF exchange
were handled-there being a 90
day delay before accounting
and proceeded to exploit 1t to
the tune Of half-a-million dol
lars. Only greed-and over
confidence that produced q
sloppy error-led to their down.
fail and eventual imprison-
ment.
1t was not the story itself that
was so unusual-but the Omni-
bus staging Of 1t that sparkled.
The use Of a narrator to con-
meet the drama without needless
explanatory scenes and the
elimination Of all action I'M
necessary to the development Of
the swindle itself enabled Om-
Inibus to cover an extraordinary
amount OF ground and yet to
provide amazing insight into the
principal protagonists. It was
an absorbing drama that uti-
lized the conventional setting
only when needed.
Hal March, of $4,000 Cues
ton fame. was the master archi-
Itect Of the plan and II / were q
bank guard on his quiz series,
I'd keep an eye on that smoothie.
too! tWhatever happened to
articulate. intelligent. kindly
crooks?)
Turnabout: Face the Nation, /"
with moderator Stuart Novins
acting as q fourth panelist, pre-
sented an interesting and pro-
ductive half-hour interrogation
Sunday Of the State Depart
ment's George v. Allen. a career
diplomat. I've always felt that
the purpose of shows such as
Face the Nation" and Meet the
Press" should be to provide
viewers with a closeup look at
the men and women who are the
Nations news-makers. And that
attempting to get these people
of balance-for the sake of
dramatic excitement alone-was
risky business.
In Sundays Star. ! noted this
seeming trend toward the over
employment Of the vocal needle"
and the first response from
readers indicates that they, too,
were becoming increasingly dis
enchanted with the leading for
UNI shows.
The handling of news, as vet
eran H. v. Kaltenborn pointed
out in his Person to Person"