Humperdink Plugs Fitness in TV Run Along the Charles

Singer Engelbert Humperdink took a quick jog along the Charles River yesterday afternoon pursued closely by an NBC-TV crew on hand to film him for today's edition of the network's new variety show, "America Alive!".

Humperdink, known for his Tom Jones-like sexuality, will appear in one sequence talking from Weeks Memorial Bridge near Leverett House. In another segment he will be seen jogging along the river with Pat Mitchell, hostess of the show.

"He's into all that physical fitness stuff," Robert Raser, producer of the show, said yesterday.

Raser said he chose the banks of the Charles for Humperdink's run because "I know all the pretty areas in Boston, and this is the prettiest."

Shells in the Distance

To flavor the background, Raser positioned two Radcliffe crew boats so they would appear in the distance, behind the celebrity and his interviewer.

NBC technicians planted themselves and their equipment along the bridge yesterday morning. They needed six phone lines plus mocrowave relays to send the picture directly to New York, Raser said.

Despite the "live" format of "America Alive!", the Humperdink segment of the show will appear "live on tape"--that is, taped unrehearsed for later broadcast--at Humperdink's insistence, Raser said.

NBC's Boston affiliate--WBZ. Channel Four--does not show "America Alive!", Raser said. Bay area viewers can see the show today at noon on channel 56.