Screenland Plus TV-Land (Nov 1952 - Oct 1953)

The girl at the counter, obviously used to serving actors in every kind of costume, took the red cape very much in stride and asked blithely, "What's yours, Cock Robin?" Gleeful Gleason was a Jack-of-all-Tirades when he attended the Town Hall recital featuring Florian Zabach and found many of the youngsters in the audience were more interested in watching Jackie Gleason in his seat during the performance, than they were in the multiple talents being displayed by his friend Zabach. Declining to sign autographs for fear it would disrupt matters further, the semi-rotund comedian stormed out of the theatre and seemingly left in a huff. Actually, he raced backstage, took a seat in the wings and watched the rest of the show from that vantage point. When a topflight star does that for another up-and-coming personality, it's news . . . Imogene Coca got together with Mrs. Sid Caesar and planned a surprise party in honor of Imo's husband, ex-actor Bob Burton. All went well until Sid told his wife that Bob and he were planning to arrange a surprise party for Imogene. The Caesars decided to leave matters as they were and proceed with the plans for the parties scheduled for the same night. Most amazed guests at the soiree were Sid and his wife Florence. Imogene and Bob Burton tossed the shindig in honor of the Caesars who fell for the separate "secrets" of the host and hostess . . . NBC-TV (with RCA) has not signed with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a second Coast-toCoast telecast for next year's Oscar awards. The annual prize derby event is available to any other sponsor who may be interested, although NBC-TV and RCA do have first call . . . Nita Talbot wants to portray Topsy in a straight dramatic production of the classic "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It's the one acting challenge she's always wanted to take ever since she made her professional acting debut, at the age of 4, in blackface. Charles Laughton, who once tutored her in dramatics, considers Nita Talbot "another Garbo" . . . June Valli has a mad passion for flowers and her chic New York apartment is never without a variety of blooms in every room. She favors white petals in her bedroom, pinks and blues in her living room and the foyer leading into her dining room is usually banked with assorted flowers of various hues. The ivy in her kitchen isn't artificial either. Tip to male admirers: if you want to make a hit with your favorite singer, you know what to send June Valli . . . Sable is the name of the German Shepherd in the Alan Hale, Jr., household. As "Biff Baker, U.S.A.," Alan delights his followers with his adventurous encounters with criminals and spies, but when it comes to walking the family 70 canine, he's as meek and mild mannered as any of his three children. Alan, a 6'2" 240-lber takes Sable for her morning walk and most times can be found being led everywhere by the animal. Alan hasn't the heart to tug and jerk the dog's leash, so they just wander until Sable is tired and wants to go home. By that time Alan's wife and kiddies are out looking for them both! The last morning "airing" lasted three hours and Alan had to cab it back to the house with Sable to the tune of a taxi tariff totaling fifteen dollars! . . . Lilli Palmer re-visited the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris during her European vacation with husband Rex Harrison and found several nostalgic mementoes in one of the backstage dressing rooms. An ivory-framed hand mirror, a silver encased miniature of herself and a tiny wooden horse which had been given to her as a child. The articles, once used by the glamourous star when she entertained in the celebrated music hall some years ago, had been kept in storage by a waiter on the Moulin Rouge staff. When the large cafe reopened in time for the Summer tourist season, the old employee dusted the items off and presented them to her during a backstage tour . . . Peggy Lee is writing the words and music for a new Broadway musical comedy which she'll preview on TV during the Winter. The former Jamestown, North Dakota, farm girl, may have the music published as Norma Egstrom, her real name. Peggy thinks the hometown folks would like that . . . Nina Foch, whose TV and movie careers have never been better, has had a bit of hard luck on other scores. After spending two days in a Manhattan hospital, she returned to her apartment to find some culprit had broken in and made off with her new mink jacket — a present she had given herself last Spring, with the lining fondly inscribed: "To Nina, with love — Nina." A week after the robbery she locked the doors to her new Austin convertible and forgot to take the car keys with her. She was forced to break one of the car windows and in doing so cut her hand so severely she had to be hospitalized all over again — but not before she went by her apartment and bolted all doors and windows . . . "Next to Dale Evans, I'm tops!" boasts beautiful "Maggie" Hayes, who says her four year-old son, Rusty, never paid her video career much mind until he happened to glimpse her as leading lady — buckskin and all — on a couple of "Hopalong Cassidy" vehicles revived on TV. Now the moppet thinks his talented mom is just great. "Maggie" has just one more hard-to-impress customer to win over and that's Tracy, her 16-month-old daughter who's more interested in dolls than dialing in on TV ... Lu Ann Syms won't switch to blonde tresses despite the fact she had considered making a change. A series of color tests proved her to be more telegenic as a natural brownette than with a honeyblonde wig she used for some scenes. With color TV coming, she will remain a "brownie" for the future Godfrey shows . . . For their first wedding anniversary celebration, John Baer gave his wife, Noureen, a solid gold bracelet featuring a dozen charms, one for each month, with a different "Terry And The Pirates" character saying "Happy Anniversary" in Chinese! . . . Eddie Fisher can't give up his old G.I. habit of consuming ten to fifteen bottles daily of his favorite thirst quencher. He even has a bottle with his breakfast and pauses many times during Bill Holden appearing as a guest on Maggi McNellis' program which comes from the Cafe de la Paix, Hotel St. Moritz in N. Y., Monday thru Friday.