"My Trouble Is . . ."

Year in & year out radio's Mr. Anthony (now displaying his wares on Manhattan's WPIX-TV and WMGM) has been glibly solving the problems of his mumbling, star-crossed clients. Last May, This Is Broadway (Sun. 9 p.m., E.D.T., CBS-TV) opened a rival sideshow for somewhat higher I.Q.s. As an adviser for professional entertainers, Broadway promised to solve the "family worries, romantic entanglements and business troubles of the people who make the world laugh and cry."

To dispense this capsule advice, Producer Irving Mansfield (Talent Scouts') engaged Critic Clifton Fadiman as moderator, and Comic Abe Burrows and Playwright-Director George S. Kaufman (The Man Who Came to Dinner, You Can't Take It With You) for permanent panel members. Right from the start it became embarrassingly clear that the problems of most entertainers could be solved more readily with a grain of aspirin than with a pound of prosy counsel. On the opening show, Bandleader Artie Shaw departed from his script to remark: "My problem is that I haven't any problem."

Bad reviews and audience apathy caused This Is Broadway to switch from being a Lonely Hearts clinic to a variety show, spiced with Fadiman's pontifical urbanity, Burrows' gags, and the astringent flavoring of Kaufman's strong dislikes (nightclubs, classical music, opera). The panel still listened to problems, but with more than half an ear for contrived comedy. (A soprano complains that her father won't let her go to Dallas without a chaperone. Fadiman: "Doesn't your father trust you?" Soprano:. "Yes, but he doesn't trust anyone else.")

With well-paced acts, some high-level ad-lib talk and a genial approach, This Is Broadway last week was one of the first of the summer TV sustaining shows to nab a fall sponsor--AVCO's Crosley Division (radios & TV sets). Though gratified by the windfall, Fadiman (who had been against the serious approach from the beginning) had urged all along that Broadway be changed from an hour-long show to its present 30 minutes. "One thing about this show," he once mused, "it's delightfully improvable."

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