"Good Night, Mother."

Everyone who listens to John Charles Thomas when he sings over the radio knows him for the resonant "Good Night, Mother," with which he ends all his programs. On such occasions Baritone Thomas is addressing a homey, kindly-faced old lady who lives in the house he bought for her in Towson, Md., tends her garden, mows her own lawn, harks back constantly to the days when her John was a lad singing in the churches where his Methodist father preached.

Federal law prohibits the exchange of person-to-person radio messages in the course of a public broadcast. A Pittsburgh newshawk confronted Baritone Thomas with this solid legal fact when he sang there last week, asked him what he would do if his filial salutation should be banned from the air by the Federal Communications Commission. John Charles Thomas' reply was unhesitating : "It will be either 'Good Night, Mother,' or 'Goodbye Broadcasting.' ''

Chances are that FCC will not force the issue. No action can be taken before next autumn at least, since Baritone Thomas has completed his year's contract with William R. Warner & Co. (Vince Mouthwash), is about to take a vacation. When he appeared on the Golden Rule Mother's Day program in Baltimore last Sunday there was no excuse for him to clash with FCC. Proud Dora Thomas from Towson was present while he sang. When queried about her son John's threat, she said: "I believe he means it. John is a Thomas and all we Thomases are pretty determined people."

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