The Gingering Man

As he prepared for a television discussion on civil rights, Negro Comedian Dick Gregory was warned by a friend that his host was a merciless debater; he'd better prepare to give as good as he got. "But how can I?" objected Gregory, "I love that cat." The cat was William F. Buckley Jr., the sharp-tongued conservative Republican gadfly and editor of National Review. Dick Gregory is not the only one who finds Buckley intellectually irritating but personally irresistible. Fans of Buckley's new Firing Line show include a lot of liberals, and so many viewers that his 13-week contract was renewed six weeks after he started. Further proof of his appeal is that within two months his local Manhattan series has gained TV syndication in seven other cities.

Gibes & Rankles. Why not? The dialogue is the liveliest and most literate on the air, and for all Buckley's reputation as a slashing debater, the purpose of the hour-long weekly "colloquy" is to inform rather than to insult. And of course Buckley has an opinion about everything. Sometimes, unlikely as it seems, he is a little uncertain about his subject matter. Introducing a program with Steve Allen on capital punishment, Buckley conceded: "My own thinking on the subject is confused, which, come to think of it, should make Steve Allen feel quite at home."

Buckley indulges in such gibes because he thinks the program openings need "gingering." At least twice so far his visitors have taken offense. David Susskind never recovered from Buckley's introduction of him as "a staunch liberal--if there were a contest for the title Mr. Eleanor Roosevelt, he would unquestionably win it." Norman Thomas got rankled after Buckley began, "If I were asked what has been his specialty in the course of a long career, I guess I would say, 'Being wrong.' " Buckley did feel a little regretful about those programs, and has tried to keep the argument to the point rather than to the person. His favorite shows are those in which he meets his match, and in perhaps the best so far he was actually outpointed by James Farmer on the subject of legislating desegregation.

Patent Sophistry. But competing with Buckley becomes more difficult with each week that he is on-camera. To his peerless rhetoric he is now adding increasingly polished stage business. Just before he delivers a cruncher, his tongue licks from the corner of his mouth, his patrician voice rasps into a lower register. Similarly, the elevation of his eyebrows telegraphs the drop of a guillotine blade. Another Buckley tactic--when the antagonist has the floor--is to close his eyes, as if he is hearing insufferable platitudes, or to raise them heavenward, as if to invoke Aquinas against such patent sophistry.

Understandably, Buckley has trouble finding targets. Kenneth Galbraith and Jackie Robinson declined on the grounds that the honorarium, $320, was insufficient. Senator William Fulbright didn't even reply to his invitation, and both Bobby and Teddy Kennedy begged off (TIME, April 8). A shortage of guests is the only thing that could stop Firing Line from running forever. That wouldn't necessarily put Buckley out of show business. Last week, after taping a program on the U.S. theater, his guest, David Merrick, offered him a Broadway part. Buckley declined. He is his own best producer.

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