The Ex-Friends

The word spread quickly through CBS's Manhattan headquarters: "Godfrey's done it again." Without warning, TV's Arthur Godfrey had called in three writers and six members of his cast, bluntly told them that they were fired "in the interests of good showmanship." Said Godfrey to the press: "These people have all achieved stardom, and I am proud of them." For all Godfrey's abruptness, some reorganization was overdue. Arthur Godfrey and his Friends (Wed. 8 p.m., CBS), showing the same faces week after week, has been losing listeners to ABC's Disneyland. Explained Godfrey: "We're top-heavy with stars." Even his brighter Monday night Talent Scouts, with its constant turnover of fresh talent, has tumbled off the lists of top 20 shows. Godfrey's remedy: "a new show," possibly a bigger Talent Scouts, with the accent on eager new faces. "What's all the excitement about?" Godfrey grumped. "Both NBC and CBS once fired me the same way." Like their predecessor-in-exile. Singer Julius La Rosa (TIME, Nov. 2, 1953), Godfrey's ex-friends soon discovered that they had been hit with a golden ax. Flame-haired Songstress Marion Marlowe drew a fast $36,000 bid from Ed (Toast of the Town) Sullivan, also of CBS, who is always eager to snap up his rival's discarded aces; The Mariners, a Negro-white quartet (their last song for Godfrey: I Didn't Come to Say Hello, I Came to Say Good-Bye), also got a Sullivan offer plus a flood of nightclub bookings. But Hawaiian Singer-Hula Dancer Haleloke, a longtime Godfrey fixture, was so upset that she took to her bed. As for the writers, Godfrey said: "They just write those little cards I read from. I don't need writers unless I can find some with new ideas." After his hard day's work, Godfrey left his office on crutches (a hangover from his 1953 hip operation), accompanied by a pert young secretary. "Who's the lady with you?" asked a reporter. Godfrey showed all his teeth. "She's my mother." So saying, he hopped into his black Cadillac, threw the crutches in the back seat and drove off for a quiet weekend.

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