Talking Up to Children

One of the more improbable ways to produce a TV program would be to arm 75 children with super-8-mm. movie cameras and a supply of film, give them brief operating instructions and send them out into the world to shoot whatever subjects they choose. Yet that is exactly what NBC's Children's Theater did last April in one of TV's more imaginative experiments. The result was as remarkable as the concept: this week's television production of "As I See It," a stunningly perceptive child's-eye view of life.

Enhanced by Bill Cosby's performance as host, the hour-long Children's Theater special concentrated on segments of the film shot by ten fledgling cameramen, aged 5 1/2 to 12. In the best sequence, Eddie Betancourt, the 12-year-old son of a farm worker, created a haunting atmosphere by juxtaposing scenes of living and dead birds encountered on his photographic tour. Christopher Merry, a disarming six-year-old from Los Angeles, used both his own drawings and shots of lush foliage to make a delightful film about an imaginary island he would some day like to own because "taxes are too high in the country." Twelve-year-old Ellen Mc-Laughlin of Chevy Chase, Md., took her camera to an airport to record people's arrivals, departures, reunions and leave-takings. Her key scene: the exciting homecoming of her mother from a European trip. Beana and Barbara McLoud, 7 and 9, Stillaguamish Indians, realistically portrayed life on their reservation in Yelm, Wash.

Menace and Threat. The success of "As I See It"--and of the previous Children's Theater productions--stems from an approach that is all too rare in children's programming: "Treat children as people," says Executive Producer George Heinemann, "and everything else will fall into line," Too many children's shows, he believes, are based on an adult's idea of what a child wants to see. They use the "age-old format of menace, threat, the chase and lots of action accompanied by noise to hold the youngsters' attention." The problem, he says, is that broadcasters of children's programs have not "grown up" with their audiences. "They still think kids are in the fairy-tale era."

During its six years on the air, Children's Theater has practiced what Heinemann preaches. It has talked up to children with such varied fare as a musical version of James Thurber's fantasy Quillow and the Giant, a dramatic adaptation of E. B. White's classic Stuart Little and an hour of music by the Boston Pops Orchestra. Earlier this year Theater presented a ballet version of Little Women narrated by Geraldine Page.

Lost Message. In addition to its other contributions, Children's Theater is attempting to fill a sub-generation gap. "There are programs for the very young children and programs for the teenagers, but nothing in between," explains June Reig, the Theater's writerdirector. "We are aiming particularly at the seven-to-ten crowd." The message has apparently been lost on older viewers. Recent surveys show that as much as 62% of the Theater's audience is adult.

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