Radio: Boom for Swoon

Frank Sinatra, having just switched from vitamins to cosmetics (TIME, Jan. 1), quit the Lucky Strike Hit Parade (CBS, Sat., 9-9:45 p.m., E.W.T.). Reason : piping himself into the Manhattan program from Hollywood had cost him $2,000 more than his $2,800 weekly stipend.

The new mood for the “L.S./M.F.T.” (Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco) buildup will be more boom-de-ay than swoon-away. For $3,500 (and no piping deductions), Manhattan-based Metropolitan Opera Star Lawrence Tibbett last week began singing his own barrel-chested versions of such popular nifties as Don’t Fence Me In.