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. ESE LL LE aa 4 meaemeesnim ain, macamaeate ations . ~ + . cd | Politics or Private Eyes, ' puter are portions that are a ter. ; Tible waste prime évening time,” : ‘ said weary-eyed NBC board chairman Robert Sarnoff after watching the Re- __Publican National Convention on three : sets simultaneously last week. Pausing ; for a breather in his suite at Chicago's ‘posh Ambassador East Hotel, he de- ‘ clared: . “There. has been a - certain | amount of streamlining ... But none of . this goes far enough.” - ; _ The big question was whether many i av viewers weren't just as jelly-orbed as Sarnoff. And if so, would TV conven- ; tion coverage in 1964 continue to tie it- ' self to such gavel-to-gavel tedium as. ' 1960's sprawling, staged demonstrations , and stupefying minor speeches? All told, the three major networks diligently ' shoveled out more than 200 hours of ; convention and feature coverage during ; the GOP and Democratic shindigs. : “I would like to see some discussi E= the political parties and broa ae a ——e i sters on the most effective way to ‘fhe medium,” Sarnoff added. “I’m n , Suggesting that broadcasting take over the controls, but I do feel the TV viewer ' should be taken more into account.” | - Satinys Curiously - enough, ABC— ‘which received some 1,000 protests when its “77 Sunset Strip” was cut into ‘by the Democrats—dissented. “I don’t | think the networks should use their , Strength to tell the parties what to do,” ' snapped ABC's vice president John Daly. - “'m more impressed by what the parties ' have done in recent years than by what , they've left undone.” | at : CBS news president Sig Mickelson _ also disagreed with Samoff. “If TV made : Fequirements on the parties,” he said, “it ; would no longer be a news story—then ‘ we would be creating a TV program.” ; Would there, then, be no changes in ‘the offing for "64? Well, suggested Mickelson, there was one real need: “I'd ; lke to have a crossbreed of a reporter | with a camel. Then they could go for A a at ttl aan ata anc A kn . A eae RR The New ‘Untouchables’ | + Cloche-hatted flappers, swaddled in _ furs and pink ostrich feathers, swiveled ; along a 1931 Chicago street, set up with- in the cavernous yellow-stuccoed walls ; of Desilu Studio $ in Culver City, site of | ABC’s whoppingly successful cops-and- mobsters series, “The Untouchables.” Nearby, a dirty-faced newsboy hawked his wares from a magazine stand which displayed vintage copies of Collier’s. “Who's. going to do the fring?” ! shouted someone as the cameras pre- ed to grind. “I'm going to do the ing,” yelled .back pint-size direcfor alter Grauman, as he _ ecstaticallv. abbed a blank-filled submachine. a The scene began and down the street walked a burly actor in a square: shouldered brown suit. “Brrnmrrrp, coughed the chopper from offstage, and pre-planted explosives burst around the | magazine stand. The actor fell and quiv- | ered in the last throes of TV-style death. “Cut,” ordered the satisfied Grauman. ; The dead man picked himself up and | looked at his wrist. It was seared and | bleeding—he had come too close to the | exploding powder. “Just imagine if they were real bullets,” joked a crewman as ; the actor had his wrist bandaged. i So went the first take last week of “The ; ~-Rusty Heller Story,” a fictional “Untouch- ables” episode about the attempts of a ~ petra ee l t lesteenntlanemmeells . GSR nr Stn tn ee eemued mythical hoodlum to muscle in on pean Al Capone. It will be one about 30 new epics ground out for tie | Top Ten show ‘which started life ofe| year ago as a reasonably true depicti | of the breakup of the Capone mob by former FBI man Eliot Ness, but has in- creasingly swung toward period fable. Last season, for example, Ness—played ‘by tousle-haired Robert Stack, former | movie pretty boy—tangled on TV with | such formidable fusiliers as George: .(Bugs) Moran, Vincent (Mad Dog) : . Coll, and. Kate (Ma) Barker, none of | ” whom were among Ness’s victims, Next! ‘1. season will see the TV Ness (the real one disbanded his “Untouchables” in 1932) grapple with such recent antago- the late Benjamin (Bugsy) Stegek* __ _ AUGUST 8, 1960 ‘ N anists_as the Nazis and the social circle of | ¥ NEWSWEEK 82 “soe, MEW YORK, NEW YORK ., we ee 4, r —Kihals Gu Goi’ realize Thea lousy : | strict documentaries are—plus the fact you're libeling someone every 37 sec- fonds,” said the lanky, 41-year-old Stack jof the trend toward dramatic license. “If e limit it to actuality, we might as well go to newsreels.” - - _ While Stack talked, the crew shifted to a new set, the office of a composite gangster named “Pops” Felcher, who was taking a vapor bath inside a steam cabi- net. Pert Elizabeth Montgomery, playing a shakedown artist, sat cross-legged on a | desk. “Pull up your skirt a little more,” ' shouted Grauman. Miss Montgomery ‘ complied. “Now get into the steam cabi- ‘ net with him,” bellowed Stack. There | was laughter. Cos “The show,” said director Graumar ' as he drifted over, “is dramatic fictior with documentary authenticity.” To stamp some imprint of truth -or : each show, twa full-time researchers are | employed to check guns, clothing, furni- | ture. Newspapers of the period are spe jally printed in a local shop. The grous ' futside Studio § itself looks like ' hore than a score of such ancient jin a wine-colored Rolls, Pierce- Arrows a, Ford jalopy, and Graham-Paigf: Despite all the research, “The tquchables” does run into snags. “We pRgued with law suits after cert. _ shows,” reported producer Josef Shafte Roting that the show is heavily insure. ‘against libel. (The show is currently be ling sued for $1.5 million by Al ‘Capone’ | irate widow.) |. Generally, however, the show ha been _well-received by the andes world. From time to time, the producer iget calls from minor-league hoods offer ting story ideas. Cast members of th. show also have been approached by self styled mobsters suggesting themselves a dandy subjects, including one who triec to authenticate his credentials by show ing a snapshot of himself nuzzling up t ;badman Charles (Lucky) Luciano. j One thing ‘is sure: Whatever its au. ithenticity, each show- gets an extra lift o: {reality from the high-calorie narration 0; Walter Winchell. “Winchell is marvel. ous,” beams Shaftel. “All he has to do is Ing ‘On the night of Oct. 5, 1931, Eliot down to the delicatessen’ and sure he did.” .. ti eee pene ainets