... A question for Miss McMahon I AM sure that all wouki-be writers for TV would be grateful to your correspondent. Grace J. McMahon (June 9 issue) if she wouJd clarify some thing in her letter. The lady complains that it is impossible to break into TV as a writer, unless you know some one. She has not, apparently, so far broken into the market yet she knows someone to quote her own words a well- ...

... MISSED THE POINT! SIR,--For once, your usual admirable editorial would seem to miss the point, in regard to children's TV viewing, and view the Joint Committee's report as an attack on the artistic value of the medium, which is something quite different. You list the everyday contri butory factor* to a childs emotional growth. Home. School, Friends, Neighbours, yet fail to realise that it ...

... WANTED CIR, Any television channel that is paid for by adver tisements must seek the largest possible and also the most docile and receptive audience. Viewers stimulated to ques tion by provocative programmes are not in the right frame of mind to accept the claims of advertisers. Any public Corporation, on the other hand, is always liable to become the Voice of the Establishment, since too ...

... SECOND TIME DEAR SIR,--Are plays wanted a second time? Certainly not by authors attempting to get their plays put on. The theatre is beset by many extraneous enemies today, not the least of which are live modern forms of entertainment (just to take show jumping, professional tennis, Har lem Globe Trotters, etc.), and people are unwilling lo see a repeat of something they nave seen before nd ...

... Don't be beastly to TV SIR,--Television is blamed for a great many things in this changing world, much of it aimed at producers who condone the play dealing with the seamier side of life. Life, we must remember, is portrayed in plays, films and books. The author must, of necessity, provide a theme and a plot when he writes his masterpiece. The ensuing story, however, must conform to cer tain ...

... SIR,--Understudying can be one of the most interesting yet most exasperating of an actor's curriculum. Weeks of rehearsals--watching the performances--carefully noting all moves and business, and, when word perfect, the some times long, frustrating period ing for that opportunity to dash on and show 'em how the part should be played! That being so. your correspon dent. Maxwell Foster, ...

... PANTOMIME SIR. I was glad to see a letter on pantomimes. I heartily endorse all that your correspondent has written and I suggest that the Harlequinade should be restored as this essentially puts real panto magic into the shows. Certainly the old traditions should be preserved and pop singers and radio comedians should not be starred in pantos. They dart from microphone to microphone and do ...

... CIR. I fully endorse most of Mr. Michael Codron's views contained in his article in the stage. A Success or a Flop? It is very unfortunate that today, in an age when so many people arc only loo willing to be led. that certain critics use the forum of the national popular Press as a chcap means of displaying their somewhat warped journalistic talents, by treating their review first4y as a ...

... SIR,-- Those who criticise the critics should remember their duty is exclusively to the playgoer. As a playgoer my interest in the theatre has been doubled and trebled by the critics notices. My files are in frequent use when there is an argument to settle. What exactly did Hobson say about The Birthday Party? Or Tynan about Look Back in Anger? Or simply for the pleasure of retrospect, ...

... Ulster were first The Editor, Television Today Dear Sir: A STORY in your edition of July 20 concerning Anglia /A Television's local magazine programme, About Anglia. says this is the only time that a regional current affairs pro gramme series has twice entered the Top Ten list. In fact in January and February seven transmissions of Ulster Television's Roundabout were listed in the area's ...

... The Critics OIR, In your last issue Mr. Wax chastises the critics for their reviews of certain plays which they failed to appreciate. He mentions amongst others The Birthday Party and also quotes the Sunday Times critic of 1904. In fairness to the present critic of the Sunday Times' Harold Hob- son, he might also have noted that Mr. Hobson wrote about The Birthday Party that he would ...

... Understudy C'R, In reply to your leading article on understudies, as an ex-actress and once ardent playgoer, I would say, Choose the best material and pay accordingly. You may be casting bread upon the waters, which will return to you as a greai actor or actress By under rating an understudy, a great artist may be lost to the world! Somewhere in the early part of the century I went to see ...