Variety (May 1949)

80 TELKVISIOIV REVIEWS ITgJjnetdayy May 4» 1049 MOKTON DOWNEY WWh Bob Stanton, Carmen Maa- .'tren'orcb ■ Producer: Roger Miiir Director: Clark Jones 15 Mitts , Mon.-Wed.-Fri., 7:30 p.m, MOHAWK CARPETS-,;, NBC> from )New York (James ij.JVcison), ^ The; durable tenor of Morton Downey is equally effective in video as it is in radio and niteries. The long! stretches of sbhg build- ing up to effective cliniaxes for easy listening in any ittediinn. However, DOvvney’s.lS-ininute tele stint is designed: primarily for- aural entertalnnient. . There’s no Imaginative presehtation, visual as- pects are ;fairly static and camera Work is standard. Oh the: opener, Downey, although on The Mohawk Carpet payroll on thi.S session, provided a plug or so to his longtime bankroller, Coca- Cola. During a: break :in Phe song ; session he took a swig of that beveiage In another iristahce, he mentioned the drink to cover up a ■,flufl: He's backed by a small ittstru- mental combo comprising the gui- tar handled by Carmen Mastren, his longtime accompanist; pianp, organ and bass, His own piano acr comps give his efforts a substantial musical background. : /i Commercials are by Bob Stahton who giVes a plausible ekposltipn Television stations are leav- ing themselvek wicle open to hostile public reaction and : Government regulation by their; loose attitude towards the length : of commercials on sponsored shows. Spnie bank- rollers aie taking advantage of : the absence of a governing formula, such, the IgAB code in AM radio, by spreading their, plugs over the full length of a program: ^;, Case in point: is “Petticoat Parade,” a five-miinute filmed show ;which preemed on WJZ- TV Monday night (2) with the ; Ironrite Ironer Co. picking up the tab. Ostensibly designed to display the latest: in elec-;' ; trical applianees for hausfrau ' viewers, the; initial reel was a solid and frank pitch for the sponsor's product. While the , : film ivas moderately , interest- ing 'for the home-gadget ad- dicts, it’s a step towards under- mining video’s commercial : broadcast; standards. Hem. FASHIONS ON PARaDe W ith Adelaide Hawley, June For- rest, Robert Douglas;. Producers: Leon Roth, Charles: : ,.,'Caplin Director:: Raymond Nelson Writer: Elinor Lenz on Mobawk’sprpducts.The camera If® picks up the textures fairly well! ir on some of the samples shown. The i in. r, . re.st must depend on Stanton’s ver- bia,ge and he gives a feeling of ele- gance in his spiels. Doviney is on three ; nights Weekly,' and Tuesday/ Thursday and Sa;turday sessions will be handled by Roberta Quinlan. Jose. ,-MacbE,th with Walter Hampden, Joyce Red- man. Walter Abel, Paul Me- Grath, 'Leo' G. Carroll, Sidney Blackmer, Alexander Clark, Philip Truex,; John Drew Dev- ereux, Ben Eackland, Ralph Bel- laniy.. .|ohn Carradine, Charles Rrokaw, Frank Wilcox; Ernest Rowan; Maurice/ Wens, Don;?las A. Ciark-Smith, Bobby Clark, David Wayne, Edgar Stehli, .Tolin Craven Adaptation: Henry Fisk Carlton Directo,rs; Anthony Brown, Garry Simpson Producers: Harold McGee, Owen ■DaVis.'Ji'.: 60 Mitts.: Sun. (1), 9 p.m. ^ Sustaining (16 statiotts) NP.C. from N. Y. “Macbeth” was ppwerfuliy ren' dered on NBC Sunday. (11 when The Players assembled an impos'- ing roster of legit fhespers to do its annual homage to William Shake.speare. Ihgeriiously adapted to video'.s requirements and su-; peiAlv framed; within a rich arid surprisingly large canvas, the play raft its violent course at a plunging pace and with almost perfect clar- ity of language. Unburdefted of the artificial di- vision into scenes and acts, Shake- speare’s script was used as the basis for a fluidly Integrated scenario for a video metodrama-, much along the lines of Sir LiiUrence Olivier’s film treatment of “Hamlet.” Although it could not completely surmount the episodic structure Of the original play, this presentation smoothed the traftsi-1 tions with suitable montages and I ACTION autographs fi'm insertions. The dose editing j With Eddie Albert; Jack Brand, ( Willioin Warren.). Although direction, lensing and staging were expert, this ^fashion-) east, which has; moVed over from DuMbnt and picked up a neW bankroller. Was' dull on Opener. (271. The tailoring ftiay have bPCft slick; but the basic fabric was un- interesting. It billboarded fashions and variety entertaiftment, but the stylists Seemed to hog the show arid there was little variety in the entertainrivent, which, consisted solely of doing romantic tunes. The chirping was lair, but nut catchy enough to Sustaift interest for the lull stretch. The program’s conceptiori seemed tied to the tech- nique of the fashion mag stiil photo, rather than developing the live quality of video. : * The apparel displays were held together hy the flimsiest'of story linesT—a church wedding providing excuse for showing feminine suits, a party presenting the bridesmaids in cocktail dresses, a love scene exhibiting the newlywed gal’s hostess govvns and the final seg- nienf showing dressy outfits. Ade- laide Hawley's down-to-earth com- n^entary polftted out atyle trends, accOssorieS. prices and fashion details. However, because the cameras didn’t come' iri close . enough, not all the details she referred to could be spotted by the viewer. "Fashions” presents Something of a dilemma, vrom;the inasculirie point of view it offered the allure of a bevy of chic martnikins, but stronger entertaiftment values than the vocal duo should be added. From the distaff point of viewr the songs interrupted the fashion parade. But Lord & Taylor will probably find the series an effective way of merchandiziftg its wares. . Bril. BENNY RUBIN SHOW With Jgdith Fellows, Jackie Conran, Vlnnle Monte, Andrews Twins, Lou & Lillian Bernard Producer; Jerry Rosen Director: Larry Schmah, Jr. ' , . 39 Mins.; Frk, 9 p.m. BONAPiDE MILLS (16 Stations) .NBC-TV,.from N.Y,:, ;.;-1 '''fLconl-- '.-I New Benny Rubin show, run in by NBC as a replacement for "Stop Me If You'Ve Heard This One,” is a low-budgeted vaudep Presenta- tion with okay talent, for the most part, but with a deplorable script. What gags there were Oh the preem stanza last Friday night (29) relied on CuteneSs, rather than hunior, and etnerged only cornfed. In ad- dition,, not enough advantage was taken of the .format, which had Rubin aS; a taleht agent, to tie the gets tqgether.''V, - . Program would run much more smbothly: with less emphasis bh nineAear-old 'Vinnie. Monte, cast as Rubin's office boy. The kid tried hard but couldn’t quite make it and his iftipressibns of A1 Jblson were irritating, rather than eritertaining. Rubin handled his emcee chftres okay but couldn’t hurdle those gag lines he was forced to utter. An- drevvs Twins terped an acceptable Spanish number arid Lou arid Lil- lian; Bernard provided one of the bright spots with their haimoftica, virtuosity.; Film actress Edith; Feb lows sbpraiibed her sirtgle number well but was lost, along with Jackie Coogan, in a sad skit at the windup. Rubin, during the shOw, got 1ft plugs for, severai outsiders, includ- ing a iJewRKO 'film and the Copa- cabana. nitery. His emphasis on; details'put them far out of ; line. Bonafide Milis coinmercials, staged by Basch Radio & Teleyision ; Pro- ductions, carrlgd over froth ‘'Stop Me.” Those twb“Wear” and “Tear’’ characters used for the plugs can get; wearing and tearing; ■ / Stal.; of the poetry, moreover, did not damaee the play’s essential charac- ter. The stripping away Of whole section.s seeftied to heighten the di-amatic force. The few flaws in this production , stemnied from an over-anibitibus J effort to ifttain a cinematic quality : without regard for the smallftess of emcee Producers: Brand, Marge Bishop, Director: Tony Rizzo 15; Mins., Sun., 9 p.m. BELL & HOWELL (4 Stations) ABC-TV. from Chicago (Henri, Hurst & McDonald) “Action Autographs” is preem the TV screen. Hepeatedlv. indis- “f a series using film shot by guest tinct long Shots Were used on the stars of emcee Jack Brand Idea is players at the xtart bf Iftipoftant: to iftteresf camera fans in spbn- pasRages ivith the caniera slOwly ' sor’s products by showing what dollying up to. closeuP'range. In, can be done with films. Preem the mtermi, lines were lost. In takes teieviewci'.s on a four-ftionth some cases it; was; due to . the igold hunt With Eddie Albert,; and camera movement; and in,; others ' sh'oWs . some", inttnaisting sea shot's, poorly .nioduiatecl m.ft.sic drowned Future sho,\vk of thus series will out the ' voieeS., ,A minor .mistake ', film, atom : bomb explo.sions .at; was comiftitted , ift the witches’ Bikini, pic development of pJant ffiokettp as obviou.sly—masked growth and travelog features. HaUoween hags, robbing them:of/; Film caught showed Albert and ,t.hou' eyil aura,' ; i .singer Burl Ives, at .sea'toiff. the As Macbeth.^ . Walter .Hiunpden^^^.t^ and then whisked teleview etched a lucid portrait Of the miir-, ers back to Albert’s dressing room deroius lord. nro:|e.ct.mg the driving for windup amhitiori and tortured conscience - Show amounts to a solid Com- With equal, eireCJveftess; As Lady mercial for sponsor’s Cameras, but Macbeth. Joyce: Redman gave a plug.s mostly amount to a deftion- compelling interpretation which stration of what kind of pix can reached its Peak ih the sleep-walk-, be Liken With the equipment, and Ing scene..Walter Abel was slightly therefore work right into the for- too flamboyant as Macduff, but his mat: lines : were, delivered with the Kids will like the program, and necessary clarity and emotion. j so will shutter bugs; Danger is that Other star players in the cast. han- the format may digi-ess into a dling the minor roles, contributed i standardized travelog, with more polished touches to this fii'strate : Camera “autographs” than’ “ae- -vldeo flChievemeiit--»- V-Hesni. i-tiorii’t * •> «• • / -. ■■Matt • GiNCY REDS’ BASEBALL . With Waite Hoyt burger beer / WLW'T, Cincinnati (Midland) - Cincy, birthplace of professional baseball and the first major league city to go: in for night games, is inaugurating a full-time video schedule this season after last year’s sampling Of weekday sun- light games, In.giving the green- light to TV; the Red's management reckons that it will keep step with radio as a-gate-builder for the sport. All anrtounclng is done by Waite Hoyk ex-big league who has become solid with baseball fans in these parts. In radio for a decade,, starting in New York, Hoyt has been on stations, here since 1942. He stacks up high. Television also is in able hands and the first night pickup was sur- prisingly good, the' ball being fol- lowed In daytime clarity. Opera- tors of the lield-play camera at Crosley Field, under the present exclusive ai.e rights bankrolling by Burger Beer, are instructed to pull tlieir ranges only oft homers over the leftfield wall; From' a roof beyond that barrier rises the huge sign of a competitive: brew. Hoyt’s piay-by-piay of games is picked up an AM station; the Scripps-Howard WCPQ, via the mere placement of aft extra mike. His TV cornmercials are mainly mentions of “this is the Burger network” on breaks. The “Burger ftetwork” is something unto Itself and probably the biggest of its kind. Linked with WCPO are rftore than 30 AM stations in Ohio, In- diana, Kentucky and West Virginia for airings of Reds’ games, both home and away. For tlie WLWT audience, Jack KoonS, head man of the Midland Advertising agenCy, has cooked iip , a series of varied arid Impressive commercials during half-lnniftg : breaks,■. ■ * :j Many of Hoyt’s listeners relish ' his, efnergeney interruptions of regular .play; that are headaches to a lot of huseball narrfttors. 'The saft.'ie When mound conferences take place duriftg.tight spots. 'On such occasions Hoyt ad li bs hu- morou.s and in.side tales of his ex- periences, naming players that ; every fan has heard of, and froni expedience telling what angles istrategy chiefs and the players are discussing. Roons appreciated all ; these things to the extent that he , signed hini away frofti WCPO to ; an exclusiye three-year contract - with Burger Beer for service on ! Stations lie deals with. In ft month or SO; w.lien \yCpO adds TV, it will divide videft . hasebail time for Burger with Crosley's WLWT. Koll. f*****************f *** ♦ • * * • ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦hi :: Tele FoUow-up Cominenl “Admiral Broadway Revue” missed acutely the services of Mary McCarty, out because of illness, on Friday Right’s (20) session.; Forced to rely on -his other two stars for most of the work; proddcer-direc- tor Max Liebmaft ran tw0 Sid Caesar skits with only .one other act between themr-and they were too siinilar not to look repetitious. Imogene Coca got better spacing between her nuftibers - and thiis fared better with her spoofing bf the; flapper era ftnd the haunted house routine/ ;; Soine other parts; of the hour-: long: show indicated the writers may be feeling the pressure of turning but a full-length revue week after Week;; Caesar's' bpenihg skit, a I’estaurftnt scene, ■ echbed one he did several months ago and his first impressionistic routine Was a carbon, With slight Varifttibns, of the United Natiofts satire he iii- troed on Broadway in “Make: Mine Manhatiati” and later repeated on this show. “Jesse James Ballet;” featuring Margft and Gbwer Cham- pibn ’With the’ full cbftipany, had alsb been staged previbusly but Was reprised, according, to the; an- nouncement, by “popUlar /request.” Aside from its normal function of providiftg' superior vaudeo, the Texaco :Star; Theatre has, been im- portant as one of the better show- cases for tele talent. Cftse ift point. Was provided by Tuesday’s (26) show which indicated that not all the great talents are in the super-salary brackets. There were three performers making their initial, pitch on this show, the Amazing Mr. Balleritine, a cbriiedy- ftiagiep; Lew Hearn, the wnter-ac- tor, and Jack Norworth, aft ASCAPer loftg , in retirement who came in from tfte Coast to reprise some ’of the tunes he’s written. Ballentine, who recently started making the rounds after a lengthy Illness, contributed an Outstanding bit. His, routine comprising ft series of snafued tricks. His; de- livery is genuinely funny and his demeanor indicates that he’s lost none of his potency after his lay- off Of several years.; Hearn Worked the familiar “Belt ip the Back” skit which he Wrote some years ago, with Milton Berle and Lou Sorin doing the salesmen spots. ' Aside from Berle’s assortment of zaneyisms, a high spot of the show was Ethel Merman who de- livered her usual top/drawer' stint on this return date. ' Jack Gilford had his first tele- vision dramatic pah On “Actor’s Studio” Thursday night (28) via ABG-TV and did well with it. Cast as a mechanic' who: was ever hopeful of becoming « baseball blglUaguer in an original ohe-acter by Mel Goldberg, titled ‘'Here Cofnes Spring,” Gilford romped through the role and, with spftrkling support from others in the cah, lUftde the stanza one of the Winners in the series, 'World Video, which produces the pack- age, lensed special film With Gil- ford for the ball park scenes and director Alex Segal Integrated them into the Script without a hitch, thereby giving needed scope ' to the story. Ed Sunivan’s“Toast Of the , Town” show presented a sharper overall impression Sunday (1) night though It had a feW lagging spots and: could have been better proi duced to provide a heayier littpact, It goes Without saying that the- reasoft fOr the overall success was a stronger lineup Of guest turns, spotted judiciously, froift Roily and Boftny Pincfcert, dance act; through Billy Eckstine, Negro vocalist, ' who’s ofte of the hottest new names . aroUnd at the moment;“ Sullivan and his producers could have cut the Pinckert’s ppening dance ’ turn. ’Theirs: is . a novel act in that they Work two closing rou- ' tines on stilts, but the; two preced- ing tap bits could have bften axed. Al SChacht, basebail's paritomlmer^ ; Was 'not as eft'ective, for the inti- macy of a yideO lens as he is in the ball park. Juanitft Hall; who per- forms “Bali :Ha'i” in , South 'Pa- cific,” whammed over solidly With - her ;.handling: of the tune and she Was followed by two rather Slow, turns—-Ian Hunter and Adrianfte AUen doing a rather talky, for tele* Vision, scene from; their show, “Edward, My. Son.” *Sullivan made a mistake With the next act, a sup- posedly 12-year Old tapstress from New Jersey. He failed to explain the reason for the use of the young- ster; she danced well enough,, but not that wen. Norman Evans, English comic, a great mugger using a dentist’s tooth-pulling routine Which might not have sat well with many audi- tors, proved; a funny man, but also overlong. Then there was Eck- stlne, now at .the Broadway Para- mount, who looked exceptionally good on the, screen and made two clean hits With“Cftravan” and “Bewildered,” two. strong M-G-M records for him. : Chicago -- Exchange National Bank Of; Ghi took to television last Week with a series of one minute film spots ViaAVENR-TV, depicting fPepiitL services;,offercd : to . clients- .Lawrence Advertising a g eft c y (handles. 19 YEARS AGO , With Ben Grafter,' Kyle MacDon* nell, Earl Wrightson, Martha Wright. 3 Flames, Norman Pails trio, others Producer: Roger Muir Director: Craig Allen Writer: Ethel Frank 39 Mins.; Sat/ (39), 8 p.m. Sustaining (13 stations) NBC-TV, frofti N, Y. NBC-TV made a hodge-podge ^ roundup of its stars, some, film i clips and a group of kinescope I prints to celebrate the 10th annl ( of WNBT, Its key N. Y. fiagshlp I station. Idea didn’t jell at all. I Some of the talent for .whom the ; web had pitched cpuldft’t make the ' show for vai'ious reasons; the kine I recordings in no instance: did jus- j tice to the programs from which i they wel’e transefihed, and the j whole thing failed to measure up to the pompous atmosphere at- tempted by scripter Ethel Frank and erncee Ben Grauer. ■ Best part Of the show, and pure- ly from ftoslatgic reasons, was the film of the late Franklin D. Roose- velt a.s he initiated the station’s prograronving atAhe N.:Y. World’s Fair in 1939. Kyle MacDonnell and Ear] Wrightson, who have become NBG-TV staples Oft these anni cele- brations, did Okay with a; couple Of songs, as did Martha Wright and Jhft Throe FlameSi Kinescoping of Kowd.v Doody,” last summer’s political conventions, the election night coyerage and the show staged from the; aircraft carrier Leyte failefi. to :provide the scope they carried in their original versions. . 'Where the web really inissed the boat, though, was In its failure to underhne the tremendous growth and current import of TV itself. Granted that the orlgiftal WNBT was a pioneer outlet and that NBC ofts helped pace the industry, too ntue emphasis was given to these factors. Ocea.sion could have fur- nished a springboard for ft; rousing documentary oft TV/ Instead, NBC wade of it, anotlrer vaudeo layout. with slight, birthday - candle .trlm- 'Onlngs,-: - - An hour of musical programming can be deadly stuff, and the situa- tion Sunday night (1) on the Fred Waring show for General Electric wasn’t eased appreciably by sev- eral dead spots. Waring, firstly; was too unwieldy in his announcements and attempts to be casual. There was a strong need for comedy re- lief, and In the couple of spots where “comedy” was inserted, it didn’t come Off., Namely that too- long “bit” towards the close by a bandsman Wherein he described a Hawaiian, scene to the 'accompani- ment of cartoon stills. Ami that busifaess- of the new “musicians union meeting,” to decide which should/b'e the opener; is kind; of tired by this time,’ being an the idiom of the overdone business of kidding the power of . Petrillo. it was a program replete with orchestral music, group instru- mentals, vocal groups, etc., all in the usual Waring idiom of e.xpert musical craftsinansh ip and stagirig. But it’s prgtty tough to take for an hour, especially when the pace- changers, such as, coniedy bits, do a nosedive; The “Video Ballroom” contest helped' some, but not enough. The conciuding '‘Rou- manian Rhapsody” of Enesco, with lyrics added, ernplftyed the entire ensemble and was a strong clpsef, Production of the A- P, Herbert comic operetta, “Big Beft;” proyed to be one of the brightest enter- tainment bets yet put on from the BBC video studios; .TV 'versioft by Desmond Davis made this light mu- sical an. ideal teleca.sting subject and a flrstrate cast; including film Stftr Jean: Kent, Dennis Bowen. Gordon Little and Linda Gray, put over the lyrics with yivacity. In- telligently staged, with effective dance routines and carefully plan-, ned settings, it was a sparkling evening’s entertainmeftt. Detroit--- Detroiters yearning t® see themselves on ; television will get their wish ’Wednesday, Satur- day and Sunda.v of this week. ; WWJ-TV will set up a Special tele- vision booth at the eightli aftnUftl Detroit(Kews Travel, Show in Con- vention Mall.: Anyone .Wanting’to he telecast just makes .his wish known to one of the eftgineers m 1 charge of the booth ftnd-^zqo®'"” ; the camera is on him. He Will sef i hlinself On: one of the big screen' above/the hftoth’s Atage. . * ■