You Don't Know the Relief

When Walter Winchell began wearing his hat into U.S. living rooms last month as the M.C. of a new half-hour variety show (Fri. 8:30 p.m., E.S.T.. NBC), he got off in a burst of puffs and plugs, especially in his own syndicated column. Crowed Columnist Winchell: "The show got the highest rating of all programs at that time. Over 3,000 telegrams came in from the 48 states, mainly from the 'little people' and the biggest movie stars." But after two weeks the show's Trendex ratings fell behind CBS's Zane Grey Theater, a filmed horse opera. "Our competition," Winchell explained, "had their ratings taken in 15 cities while WW had his taken in 14. (See cut)"

The show was in fact a zingy half-hour, thickly populated with stage and cafe society folk, and run by Director Alan Handley at a pace so breathless that even Winchell's self-importance often had little time to come through. Many less entertaining variety shows have managed to survive. But last week, when Winchell's latest Trendex slumped from his original 21.1 to 15.9, his sponsors, Toni and Old Gold, decided that the "little people" were thinning out. They notified him that they would drop his show when his option comes up in five weeks. Cost of tuning out: $75,000 in severance pay.

Winchell, who sometimes has trouble adjusting to reality, called a press conference to announce the news. Later he said: "The sponsors loved the show. I've never had a flop. I've never lost a sponsor in my life. I've been on the air 29 years. I said to Bobby Sarnoff, the president of NBC, I says 'Bobby, you knew from the beginning I didn't want to go back to small time. I never asked to do this show.''' In the true show-must-go-on spirit, ex-Hoofer Winchell went on as scheduled --if a touch subdued--next night, contributed to the merriment by goofing across the scene in an oversized fedora presented to him by a pair of guest stars (see cut).

As for being dropped: "You don't know the relief of knowing I don't have to do the show. They have me knocking myself out every day for half the salary I received for doing a 12 1/2-minute newscast." Winchell says that he really longs for the peace and quiet of his newscasts, "where I can sit down and not have to remember any cues or lines--jiggle the wireless key and get all that money for just telling a few lies." Is he planning another TV show? "Yes, a one-hour spectacular. The stars will beg to go on it."

But first. Winchell pledged, will come a crusade to "expose" the ratings that he used to quote endlessly when they were in his favor during his successful years as a radio tattler. Said he: "I have written to Senators and Representatives to call attention to the rating system, which devastates and puts performers out of work."

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