The Press: Contract Canceled

When Hearst Columnist Walter Winchell had a relapse last month, after doctors had ordered “a complete rest” (TIME, Feb. 4), his column dropped out of some 600 papers, and he discontinued his Sunday night broadcast. Last week Winchell’s $500,000-a-year radio contract with Warner-Hudnut, Inc. was canceled. The

American Broadcasting Co. announced that Winchell “will take an extended vacation because of ill health,” and his Sunday spot will be taken by Columnist Drew Pearson. Winchell still collects on a separate lifetime contract for an undisclosed amount with ABC. No one could say when he would return to either his broadcast or his newspaper column. Said Executive Editor Glenn Neville of the New York Mirror, Winchell’s home paper: “All we know is there’s nothing organically wrong with him. He’s fatigued and exhausted. We’re just waiting for him to come back, although we’ve no idea when that will be.”