New Ventures

P: Out of the upholstered cellars came Funnyman Danny Thomas to make his big pitch at radio. What with his howling nightclub fans and his recent success in MGM's Unfinished Dance, his pink stucco Hollywood house and his red Lincoln, Thomas is already so well equipped that he is not too nervous over the success of his new radio show (Fri. 8:30 p.m., E.S.T., CBS). On the air last week, radio listeners lost some of the Thomas appeal that nightclubbers admire: the calflike face, the eloquent hands, the prehensile nose ("If you're going to have a nose," he challenges, "have one! I don't see how you people go around breathing with those perforated warts").

P: Latest member of the disc jockey club was grizzled Duke Ellington, 48, who settled happily into an armchair at Manhattan's WMCA last week and contemplated his possible winnings (a reported ducal $75,000 a year, maybe more, if a hoped-for 150 stations buy his transcribed show). As a jockey, the Duke promised to be impressive: his jazz know-how gave his between-platter comments a fine mood indigo. One record, he decided, had a "pear ice cream" flavor; Songstress Sarah Vaughn was "serpentine and opalesque"; Crooner Vic Damone "caressed with satin and gave a back porch intimacy."

P: Radio's chillers, under the disapproving glares of U.S. parents & teachers (TIME, March 24), had had a bad year, but things were looking brighter. Last week CBS spread itself handsomely on an old, solidly successful crime show, Suspense. The program was extended to 55 minutes, moved to a good early evening spot (Sat., 8 p.m.) and placed in the capable hands of Robert Montgomery, a past cinemaster at leering and bloodletting. Montgomery handles the show's gory details as narrator. As occasional actor, he may recreate some of his grislier movie roles (Night Must Fall, Rage in Heaven). He thinks it should develop into "a damn good dramatic show. The full hour opens up a vista of new material that is fantastic, just fantastic."

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