`MASTERPIECE THEATRE' GETS AMERICAN HOST RUSSELL BAKER

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 24, 1993                   TAG: 9302240210
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium
`MASTERPIECE THEATRE' GETS AMERICAN HOST RUSSELL BAKER
The Queen's English of Alistair Cooke gave way Tuesday to the American wit of Russell Baker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer named as the second permanent host of "Masterpiece Theatre."
"If you're not on television, you're not an American," Baker said in explaining his decision. "All Americans want to be on television. . . . That was my dreadful secret. I wanted to be on television."
The choice, coming seven months after Cooke, 84, announced his retirement, won't mean a change in the Public Broadcasting Service show's programming or theme music.
Baker, who said he was a big "Masterpiece Theatre" fan, was chosen after an international search whose candidates included hundreds of actors, actresses, journalists and aristocrats, said executive producer Rebecca Eaton.
"Masterpiece Theatre" made its debut in 1971 with Cooke as host. The longest-running weekly prime-time dramatic series has brought to the United States such British productions as "I, Claudius," "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "The Jewel in the Crown."
Baker will keep his column at The New York Times while handling his new job, which begins in October. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes - for his column and for his autobiography "Growing Up."
Baker humbly challenged one description of him as the quintessential American. "The quintessential WASP, perhaps," he said.
Baker admitted to two worries about his new job: filling Cooke's chair and looking good on camera.
When approached about the job a year ago, Baker said, he was flattered but unconvinced.
WGBH-TV in Boston, where the introductions are taped, pressed the issue. A pep talk from his daughter, Kasia, persuaded Baker to take the position; Cooke accepted the job 22 years ago only after a similar session, Eaton said.
Baker said he is worried not only about his "shabby clothes," but about his hair, which he has been cutting himself since the price of a haircut hit $2.25.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB