Director's Guild

A Radio Directors Guild was born last week in Manhattan with a charter membership of 37, including four of the biggest: Norman Corwin, Arch Oboler, Irving Reis, Orson Welles. Its avowed purposes: 1) to improve radio entertainment; 2) to lend more effective radio assistance to the Government's war effort; 3) to establish the professional prestige of those who call the tune and set the pace for the mass entertainment of Americans.

A good radio director must be able to handle actors, sound and music for the creation of a single well-knit performance. His work is done fast, without benefit of retakes or tryouts on the road. He possesses talents easily comparable to those of much more greatly publicized stage and screen directors.

The new Guild decided for the present to remain unaffiliated with any union. There were no "harsh working conditions" to be alleviated, no wage-hour disputes. Before initiating a drive for new membership, the charter members brooded a bit as to whom they should admit to their group. Radio directors vary widely in ability and authority, including quite a few whose view of their calling is not ambitious. The Guild resolved to award annual "radio Oscars"--citations for outstanding work in all phases of radio, not merely in directing. Unofficially, members gave their approval to an interesting but as yet barely perceptible trend: greater program control by the networks, less control by advertising agencies.

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