Is This Any Way to Film a Biography? The Way It Was, 23 May

FEATURED BROADCAST
TEXACO STAR THEATER STARRING FRED ALLEN:
FRED'S BIOGRAPHY
(CBS, 1943)

That's what George Jessel would like to try filming, assuming they can avoid complications, which is never guaranteed whenever this pair knocks heads. But first they'll have to wait for the Alley demimonde (John Brown [John Doe], Minerva Pious [Mrs. Nussbaum], Charles Cantor [Socrates Mulligan], Alan Reed [Falstaff Openshaw]) to mull National Poetry Week.

Additional cast: Portland Hoffa, Jimmy Wallington (announcer). Music: Al Goodman and His Orchestra, Hi-Lo Jack and the Dame. Writers: Fred Allen, possibly Roland Kibbee, possibly Nat Hiken.

CHANNEL SURFING . . .

DUFFY'S TAVERN: ARCHIE USES PAUL LUKAS FOR PUBLICITY (BLUE NETWORK, 1944)---It's Archie's (Ed Gardner) idea for getting the dive a lot more attention, considering the actor has just bagged an Academy Award . . . but Archie's idea of giving Lukas the dive's own acting award runs into objections from Miss Duffy (Florence Halop), who'd rather see it go to Bette Davis. Eddie: Eddie Green. Clancy: Alan Reed. Finnegan: Charles Cantor. Music: Peter van Steeden Orchestra, Ann Hogan. Writers: Ed Gardner, Abe Burrows, possibly Larry Marks or Larry Gelbart.

BOB & RAY PRESENT THE CBS RADIO NETWORK: THE FIGURE PROBLEM (YOU HAVE TO ASK? WE'RE DOING IT WRONG)---That would be "One Fella's Family, Book Ex, Chapter Ex Ex, Page Two," among other typical quiet mayhem. Writers (we'll take their words for it): Bob Elliott, Ray Goulding.

PREMIERING TODAY . . .

1882---James Gleason (actor: Jimmy Gleason's Diner), New York City.
1883---Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (actor/commentator: KHJ Los Angeles 1921), Denver.
1890---Herbert Marshall (actor: The Man Called X; Lux Radio Theater; Old Gold Comedy Theater), London.
1898---Frank McHugh (actor: Phone Again Finnegan), Homestead, Pennsylvania.
1910---Scatman Crothers (as Benjamin Crothers; jazz singer/comedian, early radio), Terre Haute, Indiana; Artie Shaw (as Arthur Arshawsky; clarinetist/bandleader: Melody and Madness; The Burns & Allen Show), New York City.
1912---Marius Goring (actor: The Scarlet Pimpernel), Newport, Isle of Wight; John Payne (actor: Hollywood Star Preview; Lux Radio Theater), Roanoke, Virginia.
1919---Betty Garrett (actress/singer: Savings Bond Show; Guest Star; Showtime), St. Joseph, Missouri.
1921---Helen O'Connell (singer, with Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra: Kraft Music Hall; The Fitch Bandwagon), Lima, Ohio.
1928---Rosemary Clooney (singer: The Rosemary Clooney Show), Maysville, Kentucky.