Mr. Allen Regrets

For the 15th time in as many years, Fred Allen announced last week that he was quitting radio. The satchel-eyed comic told New York Post Columnist Earl Wilson: "I'm going to sit around and think, and see what's going to happen with television." And he "may write. I have four chances to do books."

The reasons for retirement this time seemed to add up to equal parts health, pique and finances: "I'll work on until June and then, because of my blood pressure, I'll quit for a year at least." He added bitterly: "When Stop the Music can give three iceboxes away instead of two and get listeners, it's a silly business to be in anyway." And what about death & taxes? "You wind up being a sieve for the Treasury Department . . . All you're working toward is a coffin, and I never saw one with a built-in safe."

Did Allen really mean it?* "Uncle Jim" Harkins, his business agent and friend, said: "Honest to God, I don't know. He talks it very convincingly each year."

*In 1943, after suffering a series of dizzy spells, Allen quit radio for a year. During his vacation he went to Hollywood to make Love Thy Neighbor, and returned with a few Alienisms on the West Coast. Sample: "California is a wonderful place to live--if you're an orange."

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