EAVESDROPPER AT LARGE

Radio and TV audiences are familiar with the programs Candid Microphone and Candid Camera and this is the author's story of the mechanics and incidents of these shows. How the concealed mike and later cameras improved, how they get their ""actors"", how the situations were rigged, which were the successful takes and which, in spite of bright ideas and build-up, went flat and how official and personal censorship plays a part of the productions -- these are part of the story. There are also many sidelights on human nature -- its apathy, its preoccupation with money, its reaction to the situations and to the ""reveal"", together with lots of anecdotes of the odd encounters on both candid programs. And the questions of taste, of privacy invaded -- of sociological documents, and educational material. Of interest to viewers and listeners and students of both media, this may both attract and repel.