Week of November 1, 1959

Orson Welles says he was offered as much as $170,000 to star as a genius on a

fixed TV quiz show three years ago. He said when he declined the proposition

and that a “notable egghead” took his place. He did not mention the producer.

Wells said he protested he was no genius and probably “could not answer all the

questions. “Don’t worry about it,” said the producer to Welles. “You’ll be able to

answer anything we ask you. I can guarantee it.”

quiz show appearances on “21” were rigged. The

confession sends shock waves throughout the

country. For three years, Van Doren had

concealed in fear and folly, he said, that the

$129,000 he won on “21” were dishonest dollars.

He told reporters after the hearing before the

Legislative Oversight Subcommittee, he has very

little of the money left. “I owe more than I have.”

Doren now faces charges of perjury.

corrosion of luxury is turning the United States

into a nation of softies at a time when Spartan traits are

called for. “We are in danger of losing or will to fight, to

sacrifice and endure. We are in danger of forgetting our

traditions. We are, I’m afraid, in danger of losing

something solid at the core. We are losing that Pilgrim

and pioneer spirit of initiative and independence - that

old fashioned Spartan devotion to duty, honor and

country.”

“We don’t need that spirit now, we think. Now we have

cars to drive and buttons to push and TV to watch and

precooked meals and prefab houses. We stick to the

orthodox -the easy way, and the organization man. We take for granted our

security our liberty and our future - when we cannot take any one of them for

granted at all.”

Testifies - Mert Koplin of New York says that the original big-money quiz show

on TV, the “$64,000 Question,” was rigged and that the sponsor Revlon Co.

knew it.

Week of November 1, 1959

President Eisenhower shares the public’s dismay over

the quiz show scandals and wants them cleaned. Up. He

said that the FTC has moved into the investigation to

see if fraudulent advertising rules have been violated as

well as the department of Justice whose report is due in

January. “Nobody will be satisfied until this whole mess

is cleaned up” said the President. The Chief Executive

said every industry involved in distributing mass

entertainment or news has a terrific responsibility to the

public, and so does any other kind of economic unit. He

denied American has forgotten its moral standards. The

events reminded him of the baseball scandal headlines of 1919, specifically of

the story of the newsboy who approached his hero, Chicago (White Sox)

begging: “Say it isn’t so, Joe.”

President Eisenhower announces he will visit India, the Middle East, Greece and

Italy next month before attending the western summit talk sin Paris December

19.

Demonstrators stone the offices of the American-owned light and power

company in Panama City, the second day of anti-US violence.

Military tribunals which have ordered the firing squad

execution of more than 500 Cubans since January 1

will be reinstated next week, the Cuban government

discloses. The tribunals will be authorized to try

civilian as well as military personnel accused of crimes

against Castro’s revolutionary regime. Guilty verdicts

will mean the resumption of firing squads.

Rep. Oren Harris (D-Ark.) says Congress should pass new laws to assure

program honesty and take a hard look at other channels of television activity.

“Millions of Americans have been tricked, deceived and duped by what nothing

more than a sordid commercial scheme,” said Harris before a Subcommittee

hearing on quizzes.

Dr. Alan Waterman, one of President Eisenhower’s top science advisers, says

the Soviet Union has achieved something of a miracle in catching up with the

United States and he partly blames television, radio and other mass media for

the .S. complacency. What Americans are losing he said, is the will to excel.

Week of November 1, 1959

Philip Noel Baker, British Quaker statesman and author, wins the 1959 Nobel

Peace Prize. He announced in London he would spend the $42,650 prize money

to promote the cause of international disarmament.

The Federal Trade Commission accuses

General Motors and Libby-Owens-Ford

Glass Co. of using camera trickery in

television commercials boosting the

glass used in GM cars. In one case, the

FTC charged a picture purportedly taken

through the glass of a GM auto actually

was taken through an open window. In

another sequence, different camera lenses were used in comparing optical

distortion of the safety plate glass used by GM in side windows and the safety

sheet glass used by other automakers. The glassmaker denies the charges.

More television news -

Admitting his own NBC had been victimized by quiz shows, NBC President

Robert E. Kintner suggests that Congress pass a law to jail TV program

cheaters.

NBC President Robert Kintner invites the special House subcommittee to tell the

nation of its findings in the TV quiz scandal on television itself.

Officials of ABC confer with high justice department officials on the department’s

study of fixed television shows. The department is trying to determine whether

new legislation is needed to cope with the problem or whether existing laws

provide adequate controls.

Music news - On Dick Clark’s Saturday night

ABC-TV show - Bobby Rydell, Ernie Fields,

Squirrels.

Radio - KABC (Los Angeles) DJ Line-up -

Roger Carroll, Jim Ameche, Don McKinnon

and John Trotter. KABC plays popular music,

but tries to stay away from rock ‘n’ roll. Dial

790 on your AM radio.

Week of November 1, 1959

Week of November 1, 1959

CBS - Douglas Edwards with the news,

Rawhide, Hotel De Paree, Desilu

Playhouse, Twilight Zone, Person to Person

Boxing, Jack Paar

Walt Disney Presents - Disney cameras scramble over the Swiss Alps in a

mountain climbing tour.

Hotel De Paree - Sundance defies an outlaw gang. Stars Earl Holliman.

Week of November 1, 1959

M Squad - Our star hunts the slayer of a

dope peddler’s wife in “Shred of Doubt.”

Stars Lee Marvin.

Twilight Zone - David Wayne portrays a

man who has a pact with the devil in

“Escape Clause.”

Week of November 1, 1959

Week of November 1, 1959

At the movies -

Brink of Life

The Last Angry Man - Paul Muni, David Wayne

The Miracle - Carroll Baker, Roger Moore,

Walter Slezak, Vittorio Cassman

The Wonderful Country - Robert Mitchum, Julie

London

That Kind of Women - Sophia Loren, Tab

Hunter

It Started With A Kiss - Glenn Ford, Debbie

Reynolds

Tamango - Dorothy Dandridge, Curt Jurgens

But Not For Me - Clark gable, Carroll Baker,

Lilli Palmer

Walt Disney’s Darby O’Gill

Week of November 1, 1959