spin his chances of becoming Fuller's successor negatively so that Moore agrees to release him from the contract, adding that if Harris cannot secure a release, the network will turn elsewhere. Amassing the research into a script, Harris has to choose between praising the beloved, amusing and warm-hearted Fuller the public saw or unmasking the phony beneath the image. Harris makes up his mind as the broadcast starts, throwing away his prepared script to tell the truth about Herb Fuller. As Carleton and Moore listen in, Moore realizes what Harris is about to do. He rips up Harris's contract and demands that Carleton stop the broadcast. Seeing that Moore has done precisely what he had hoped for, Carleton refuses to stop the broadcast, explaining that he can market Harris as a man of principle and honesty to the public just as easily as his network marketed Fuller's phony image. Background While the movie was based on the controversy surrounding Arthur Godfrey, whose tabloid real-life persona contrasted with his warm-hearted public demeanor, the fictional Fuller's failings differed greatly. Godfrey's controversies were mostly public, not private. His early years in broadcasting in Baltimore, Washington DC and New York City were largely noncontroversial, marked mainly by favorable public reaction to his informality on the air and his extemporized, irreverent commercials. The term "the Fuller Family" used in the film was based on the umbrella term "Little Godfreys" applied to his cast. Godfrey's womanizing was long-rumored but never confirmed, and he was not a heavy drinker like Fuller. While Fuller was depicted as carrying blood to wounded soldiers overseas, a manufactured episode when he was too drunk to do his job, Godfrey remained stateside during World War II, doing his shows and carrying out his duties as a Naval Reserve officer around Washington. He subsequently earned the rank of Commander, in part because of his vocal support for the Navy, particularly Naval aviation, on his programs. Godfrey's reputation for bullying members of his cast offstage was one exception. That situation, originally private, only became public with the October 19, 1953 on air firing of singer, and popular Godfrey show discovery, Julius LaRosa. After a minor backstage dispute with Godfrey, LaRosa violated an unwritten rule against Godfrey show regulars hiring personal management, despite the fact their contracts contained no such prohibition.. Given Godfrey's popularity, the incident became a national scandal at the time, made worse