Telethon Flop

When the Hope-Crosby telethon to raise money for the U.S. Olympic team announced pledges of $1,000,020 (TIME, June 30), even skeptical TVmen cheered.* Since the telethon's.goal was only $500,000, everyone felt sure the show had done the trick. But by last week the money to back the pledges was still coming in at only a trickle. The bank in charge of collections put its top estimate of the final take at no more than $250,000. Said Bing Crosby: "I didn't think we had that many welchers in this country."

The welchers were only partly to blame. Practical jokers had telephoned in large pledges on behalf of friends, neighbors and well-known businessmen. Days later came hot and embarrassed explanations from many supposed donors, denying that any pledges had been made. Telethon workers had also included amounts pledged in return for special messages, e.g., "Tell Bing to tell Lennie and Janie to go to bed"; "Tell Bob to mention Joe's Bar." Because of the rush, many of the messages did not get to the microphone, and those who were disappointed never sent their money.

At week's end the Olympic Fund Committee picked itself up, went back to the job of raising money on its own. Far from paying for the Olympic trip, the telethon seemed to have actually slowed down the final drive; many potential contributors, figuring the fund was already well over the top, had put their wallets away again.

*The experts figure a money-raising telethon is rousingly successful if it realizes 50% of its pledges. Martin & Lewis, appearing for the New York Cardiac Hospital, took in $1,000,000 in pledges, finally got $420,000; Milton Berle's fourth Damon Runyon Memorial Fund telethon last month has so far collected $210,000 from a promised $570,000.

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