Radio: Hit

2 minute read
TIME

Radiomen, who vie viciously with one another to decorate their Christmas programs with boughs of Hollywood, admit that they have all been outvied this season by a boyish Roman Catholic priest. The Rev. Patrick Peyton had under his Christmas tree two of radio’s choicest sugarplums: his popular, weekly Family Theater (Thurs. 10 p.m., Mutual), with a performance of Anatole France’s Our Lady’s Juggler, and a special, Peyton-inspired, star-studded dramatization of the Nativity, The Joyful Hour, aired last week.

Father Peyton attributes his sudden success in radio to a simple faith. Some think his Irish stubbornness helped, too. A big, bulky, bashful man of 38, Father Peyton came to the U.S. 20 years ago from a poverty-ridden County Mayo home, already smitten with “the passion of my life”: the power of prayer. “I remember what it did for our Catholic family in Ireland,” he recalls, “and how it united the eleven of us completely. I knew it would make happy families the world over.”

For four years, in his crusade for family prayer, Father Peyton nagged the networks without letup—and without success. When he suggested reading the rosary coast-to-coast, vice presidents by the score yawned in his face. Last February, Mutual promised to let him do a weekly dramatic show, with nonsectarian opening and closing plugs for prayer. There was one catch: Father Peyton would have to rope in at least one film star a week.

Family Theater has rarely had less than three big stars. Last week’s Joyful Hour had 18. Actors, musicians, writers and technicians—Catholics, Protestants and Jews—have rushed to offer their services. And Father Peyton has somehow managed to scrounge the $2,000 a week for production costs (radio peanuts for a big star hit show).

One astonished cinemagnate asked how in the world he had managed to assemble such a glamor show, when the Government had often tried it and sometimes failed. “Our Lady,” the priest replied, “can do a lot better than the Government.”

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