Juvenile Jury

Should an eleven-year-old girl wear lipstick? Ten-year-old Buddy Robinson gave his considered answer: "No . . . because they look ridiculous." Art Stone, 11, thought little girls who wore children's clothes and grownups' lipstick were "stupid." "It's just as silly for little boys to wear long pants," countered Francey Aransohn with biting, ten-year-old derision. Two other girls added their comments, and Juvenile Jury was off to a provocative start.

The first half-hour program made it evident that Manhattan's WOR had a kid-show formula that would give the precocious Quiz Kids a run for their money. This week, after five trial broadcasts, the Mutual show goes coast-to-coast (Saturday, June 15, 8:30 p.m. E.D.S.T.).

To 28-year-old bachelor announcer Jack Barry went much of the credit for a new success in moppetry. He originated and conducts the Jury, made up of average youngsters whose responses to questions are unpredictable, forthright. Barry neither hogs the mike nor acts like a benevolent uncle. By putting his charges at ease before each broadcast, he gets some delightful reactions: quick indignation for obviously stupid questions, squealing giggles to unexpected answers, busy babbling when two or more youngsters try to talk at the same time, as they frequently do. Hoping to catch an even wider audience than the encyclopedia Quiz Kids, Juvenile Jury strictly limits its questions to fields interesting to almost all children.

One question was who should spank the child, mother or father? Said seven-year-old Maryann Maskey: "The mother should do it. She's home most of the time and knows the child really tried to do good--an', an', besides, she can spank more lighter than the father."

A mother wrote that her eight-year-old son was copying his father in criticizing her new hats. "Why doesn't the father stop it?" asked Marilyn Kandler, 7. "Then the son will stop, too." Added Maryann: "Why don't they teach him manners?"

Another mother was bothered because her nine-year-old son did not fight back when a schoolmate kicked him. Art Stone had a ready response: "I don't know whether he should fight back or not. How tall was the other guy?"

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