New Shows

Stage-Struck (Fri. 8:30 p.m., CBS Radio) is "dedicated to the proposition that the theater, the people in it, the magic world of the stage, are glamorous and exciting to everyone, because, deep down, we're all stage-struck too." Deep down, CBS was also struck by the notion that a lavish, hour-long program crammed with famed Broadway names and excerpts from hit shows could do wonders for radio. Stage-Struck (which is shopping for a sponsor) is an exciting guided tour of backstage Broadway, from casting office to dressing room. On his first assignment, Emcee Mike Wallace, smoothly exuding an out-of-towner's wonderment at the workings of the theater, used his tape recorder to get French Singer Lilo's story of her sudden stardom in Can-Can, veteran Hoofer Pat (Guys and Dolls) Rooney's advice to youngsters (first rule: "Don't whistle in the dressing room"), Shirley Booth and Basil Rathbone in a wake for the late Empire Theater, and Rosalind Russell with songs from Wonderful Town. This week's guest list: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Elliott Nugent, Yul Brynner, Ezio Pinza, Alfred Drake and Cab Galloway.

Person to Person (Fri. 10:30 p.m., CBS-TV) has News Commentator Edward R. Murrow carrying out his belief that television "ought to take you places" by taking televiewers into the homes of famous (or just interesting) people for an informal interview and a glance at their private lives. "This will be a relaxed show, based on curiosity," says Murrow. "It's not supposed to be the greatest thing on television." It isn't. While interesting enough, it is substandard Murrow, who sets high TV standards with his See It Now and special documentaries. From his studio armchair Murrow gazes at a large "window," which seems to lead into an adjoining living room (a remote picture is superimposed on the studio scene). On his first show, he gabbed with Brooklyn Dodgers Catcher Roy Campanella (just home from busting up the third World Series game) about his six kids, his baseball trophies and the good life in Queens, N.Y. That done, Murrow switched to Conductor Leopold Stokowski and his wife, Gloria Vanderbilt, who strolled about their Manhattan apartment explaining Gloria's paintings, flipping through a family photograph album, and showing off Stokowski's music room, which was cluttered with a collection of gongs (Gloria obligingly banged one). Although Murrow's intention to show "extraordinary people doing ordinary things" gives the program possibilities, the first show suggested that aimlessness and a degree of silliness, e.g., Murrow's asking Stokowski whether his piano was in tune, might be the cost of its unrehearsed spontaneity. Biggest danger: sacrificing thoughtful conversation to idle chatter about furnishings and other things in sight. Sponsors: Amoco and Hamm Brewing Co.

Excursion (Sun. 3:30 p.m., NBCTV) is the Ford Foundation TV-Radio Workshop's half-hour for children (between 8 and 16), but since it does not talk down to children, grownups will probably like it too. Its ambition is "to wake children up, open some windows, let in some fresh air, and establish values for them." Actor Burgess Meredith, in a friendly, easygoing manner, takes the kids on a variety of jaunts which have already included a sail down the Mississippi with Huckleberry Finn (with Boxer Sugar Ray Robinson playing Jim, the slave), a visit to Harry Truman's Kansas City office (for a chat about the Constitution), a tour of Associated Press headquarters and practice sessions with sports heroes. Excursion (no sponsor so far) succeeds in being what it sets out to be: entertainingly educational.

Pride of the Family (Fri. 9 p.m., ABC-TV) offers Old Vaudevillian Paul Hartman as a bumbling average man whose well-meaning efforts to do right by his wife (onetime Cinemactress Fay Wray) and two children create no end of confusion and misunderstandings. Hartman's memorable hangdog face and ability to make the most of his harassed-father role raises the show above the common level of television's glut of family comedies. Sponsors: Armour & Co. and Bristol-Myers Co.

Make Room for Daddy (Tues. 9 p.m., ABC-TV) stars Nightclub Singer-Comedian Danny Thomas, father of three, as a nightclub singer-comedian, father of two. In a role he knows by heart, Thomas is so busy on the road making money to keep his little family in plush surroundings that he is a stranger in his own house. At a rare homecoming, his dog nips at his heels, his wife sings Remember Me, and he finds that his son has ground up his favorite slippers in the Disposall, whereupon he decides to stay home more often and become reacquainted with his family. This homey theme is developed with lighthearted good humor and is ably performed by Thomas and his TV wife, Jean Hagen. Sponsors: Speidel Co. and the American Tobacco Co.

Comeback Story (Fri. 9:30 p.m., ABC-TV) is a tearjerker that shakes the mothballs from the once famous and tells why and how they slipped into obscurity. It is remarkably similar to Ralph Edwards' NBC weeper, This Is Your Life. Comedian George Jessel, ABC's new man-of-all-work, tells the story in his best toastmaster style as the subject under scrutiny squirms alongside. For the premiere, Jessel took former Child Star Bobby Breen in hand, told how he climbed from cold-water flats to Hollywood fame, then became a has-been at 13, when his voice changed ("There was panic in the studio"). At show's end Bobby, now 26, sets foot on the comeback trail by singing a song (his voice has not changed much) and lowering his head to hide the tears as Jessel, with a philanthropic touch, reads off the list of nightclubs and TV shows that are suddenly clamoring for the new Bobby Breen. Sponsors: Sealy, Inc. and Ekco Products.

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