Newspapers / The New Bern Mirror … / Oct. 30, 1959, edition 1 / Page 1
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The NEW BERN PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE HEART OF EASTERN NORtH CAROLINA 5t Per Copy VOLUME 2 NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1959 NUMBER 3T Television’s present low esteem, on the national level, stems from the fact that this great medium of entertainment and enlighten ment went to great lengths to out smart itself. Apparently, in their eagerness to thoroughly dupe a ridiculously gullible public, the program mani pulators didn’t have time to recall the words of Abe Lincoln—“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.’’ Far too many New Bernians were fooled for fa^- too long a time. In a way, their complete acceptance of the quiz trickery is a credit to their deep and abiding faith in mankind. Alas and alack, it is no tribute to their intelligence. One of the quirks of human na ture is the trust we place in strang ers, while keeping a watchful eye on our neighbors. Any flim flam artist can attest to the fact that the easiest sucker to shake down is the guy he doesn’t know from Adam. And, as a butcher named Adolf Hitler claimed and proved, the big ger the lie the easier it is to sell. This is doubly true, if your dress the falsehood up with a lot of glit ter and fanfare. Mortals will be lieve most anything when it’s wrap ped up in splendor, and the quiz shows went all out to be awe in spiring. To prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that honesty prevailed, your favorite program provided armed guards to carefully protect the questions. No one was going to get a look ahead of time. That would be cheating, and this quiz business had to be strictly on the up' and up. Gosh, wasn’t it exciting and dra matic when a contestant was ush ered into the isolation booth to sweat it out. Not only was the con testant dreadfully alone, but in the event it fitted the occasion, he or she was alsq in an ideal position to read answers placed inside the booth ahead of time. You’ve got to hand it to some of those characters, they were pret ty good actors and actresses for rank amateurs. When they rolled their eyes in uncertain anguish, and grimaced like a nature lover who had just backed into a porcu pine, it was downright touching. And the, master of ceremonies, who was photogenic enough to set feminine hearts to fluttering, evi denced an abundance of misery too. He was so sweety and consid erate, and the sigh of relief he heaved when the contestant finally came up with the answer made your heart feel as warm as an ex tra quilt on a cold winter’s night. How generous it was, the tele vision audience thought, for that wonderful sponsor to give away so much money. How in the World could they afford it? Well, they could afford it because it w'as much cheaper than hiring talent. Nobody connected with the show, except maybe the second rate actor who emceed it, had one iota of talent. It wasn’t necessary. Second guessing the whole dis mal business, we’re convinced that the quiz shows, operated on the level, could have been good enter tainment. If prolonging the stay of the various contestants on the pro gram was all important, this could be accomplished easily enough by selecting the type of questions that the average person might be able to answer. As a matter of fact, with all the interesting people available for ap pearances on the show, two or three times as many contestants might have improved the program. A steady stream of clever personal ities—some winning and some los ing—would have attracted plenty of viewers. In short, there really wasn’t SOON TAKING OVER—As of December 1, Roy Barnhardt wilLbe field-executive for Neuse3asin district of tlie^aBt Carolina Council of Boy Scouts of America. His area in cludes Craven, Jones, and Pamlico counties. Seen here, left to right, are W. C. Chadwick, district member-at-large; Mrs. Barnhardt and Mr. Barnhardt; Dr. William I. Cause, district chairman; 0. B. Roberts, Council executive; and D. M. Parker, Sr., district member-at-large.—Photo by Billy Benners. Local Youth's Camera Work Landed Him on Missile Job Few New Bernians know that a hometown boy, Wilton Block, is up to his ears in this space rocket business. Although still in his twenties, hping graduated from the local high school in 1949, he is a valued employee of Radio Corporation of America. Since July he has been base photographer and a data col lector with the Government Serv ice Division, Missile Test Project on Grand Bahama Island. Prior to that, RCA utilized him in waters around Brazil from April until July. He saw duty on ocean range vessesis—known as seagoing stations—and was aboard the Rose Knot when it recovered the second long-range nose cone from a rock et. He joined the Radio Corporation of America for its missile work in March 1958, and was assigned to Patrick Air Force Base. His camera has clicked many a time, but nat urally some of his photographs won’t be exposed to public scruti ny. Wilton chose photography for his career at an early age, and former classmates at New Bern High re member him emphatically as a youngster who devoted all of his spare moments to learning all he could about the profession. After graduation here, he at tended North Carolina State and studied further at State’s Morehead Technical School. However, a great deal of his knowledge has been ac quired on his own. Coupled with natural talent, it was destined to bring him distinction. His ability was put to a severe test during 10 months of military service in Korea. There he was a combat photographer with the 101st Signal Bn., and spent virtual ly ail of his tour a short distance north of the famed 38th parallel. After the shooting was over, he was used extensively as a patho- much point in pulling a crooked deal on a public that not only watched in good faith but spent millions of dollars buying a spon sor’s product. WILTON BLOCK logical photographer at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. The, work was interesting, and added to the know-how he has gained by leaps and bounds during the past decade. While in Korea, he had occasion to photograph quite a few celebri ties. Among the famous persons who ended up in front of his cam era were Henry Cabot Lodge, Sen ator William Knowland, General Mark Clark, General Ridgeway and all other military leaders in the area. And, in the course of events, he photographed Marilyn Monroe when she came over to entertain troops during a siege of-snow. “I regarded her visit as something of a publicity stunt on her part,” says Wilton, “but you had to admire hep spunk. While the service men were wrapped up in parkas to protect them from the bitter cold, she ap peared in a thin dress.” Block had plenty of company when it came to recording the Monroe charm on film. Every other photographer who had the chance called a halt to his routine assign ments, got in on the shutter click ing. “She app^ed to be neither dumb nor brilliant,” the local pho tographer recalls, “her intelligence was about on a par with the aver age showgirl we saw over there.” Getting back to something more explosive than Monroe — guided missiles — Wilton says it’s true that everyone connected with the projects becomes tense when the time for a count down approaches. “There are 300,000 things that can fail,” he reasons, “so it’s bound to be a dramatic moment.” (Continued on back page)
The New Bern Mirror (New Bern, N.C.)
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Oct. 30, 1959, edition 1
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