Little Flower to ABC

One of New York's liveliest and most unpredictable radio shows has been Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's Talk to the People. Every Sunday afternoon since 1941, over city-owned WNYC, the Little Flower has rasped and ricocheted his way through 30 minutes of the most unorthodox chatter on the air. He left sentences dangling, blithely mispronounced words, skipped syllables when he tantrum-well felt like it. He growled at chiselers, sang sarcastically at enemies, squeaked angrily at hecklers. He read the comics, with expression, and told housewives how to prepare oxtail ragout. All this made lively listening.

To a suggestion that he might do commercial broadcasting after retiring, the Little Flower said: "It just wouldn't work out. For one thing, I wouldn't let them censor any of my copy, and I know they wouldn't hold still for that."

Last week, the ABC network apparently agreed to hold still. New York's mayor, who is retiring in only one sense, signed up for $1,000 a week (more than twice his salary as mayor) to do a coast-to-coast sustaining Sunday night commentary. Starting date: Jan. 6. Asked whether a new star was born, the Little Flower replied: "You may say that it is starting to twinkle."

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