Word: panels
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Harvey ducked into the adjoining control room and peeked at the mirrored image of his patient through a hole three inches wide, bored through the 50-inch lead-shielded wall. Physicist Dr. John S. Laughlin grasped a knob on a black panel and set it at 25 million volts. He set another knob at 100. Then, on a signal from Harvey, Laughlin pushed a big green button...
...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...
...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...
...secretaries were not at all pleased by a list of "ten commandments" drawn up by a panel of businessmen. Samples: "Keep the tired businessman's pills straight. Dress with decorum, not decollete; the boss wants to keep his mind on his work. Correct the boss's grammar and spelling, but do it tactfully. Take messages that won't need the decoding of a top secret. When the boss's wife calls, be diplomatic. Be compatible, but not too compatible...
Most of the talk is handled by a young scientist (Ronald Reagan) who is suffering from epilepsy, and a handsome widow (Viveca Lindfors) who is addicted to depressing chats with the spirit of her dead husband. Also involved in the impromptu panel discussions are a garrulous painter (Broderick Crawford) and the widow's younger sister (Osa Massen), who is a heavy tippler with leanings toward nymphomania...