Variety (December 1954)

y-JniHMUv. December 15, 1954 TELEVISION REVIEWS S3 tom CORBETT. SPACE CADET 25J! Frankie Thomas, A1 Markim, jack Grime*. Ed Bryce. C.rter P Xer-wr,tcr: AJbert A.ey Director: Ralph Wartf 30 Mins.; Sat., H M * jn - Jjnp TV r from New York NBC ',j’ Walter Thompson) Kraft Foods Is waiting until T n i for “Tom Corbett, Space to clear its rocket tubes for flar that even though Its better than half-vear anchorage (after fin- ishing at DuMont) was spent in Imti-oxidation balls ^ entirely! ^ 00 ° .Sponsordidn’t want to join the cadets at the Space Academy until the start of a new (commercial) semester that being after the New Year. As far as the former is concerned the bank- ritiiiT needn’t have feared.. The veteran video vehicle (which. Inci- dentally. is making Its tour.1 > tv'a fourth solar system, NBC-TV, after having soared through the other three in its lifetime) was in i^ea- sonably good condition at its launching (11). The kid stanza, anchoring the new NBC-TV Saturday morning two-hcur juve block, made perhaps a counle too many trial turns on the preem before opening its rockets full and heading for ad- venture in outer space. After a long scene in which roles were es- tablished and dissension was cre- ated. Tom Corbett and his fellow cadets were sent on a cruise to learn teamwork. New crewman- supposed to be a brain but played like a lesser Hell’s Kitchen thug by Jack Grimes —made one of his practical jokes, causing real trou- ble. but after showing he meant no harm, was saved by Frankie Thomas’ bright ’n’ brave Tom Cor- bett. Following what seems to be Rockhill’s code, producer-scribbler Albert Aley (vice Allen Ducovny, presently of D’Arcy agency) as- serted dramatic elements without once getting gory. In the NBC preem. “Space Cadet” had no darklv evil antagonist to the forces of good, but instead exaggerated (some times too much) failings of “our side” to motivate action. The other three 10-to-noon half- hour shows blasted off on Nov. 20, with Happy Felton leading, fol- lowed by Paul Winchell’s stanza and then by Jimmy Weldon’s “Funny Boners.” As with grown- ups, kids aren’t going to appreci ate all elements of such a varied tv block. But since all the shows are on the plus side, viewership should be okay for each, although the same audience won’t follow NBC throughout the morning. Art. LIGHTS, CAMERA, QUESTIONS With Max Mink, Jack Sllverthorne, Frank Murphy, Dick Wright, John Fitzgerald, Gloria Gale, Louise Baker, Howie Mather Director: Charles Ranallo 30 Mins. Saturday, 7 p.m. FIRST RUN THEATRE GROUP W’XEL, Cleveland Three years ago downtown first- run theatre managers wisely decided that if you couldn't beat tv, then you joined the enemy by using its avenue to hypo “Movies Are Better Than Ever.” The wis- dom of that move is reflected in “Lights, Camera, Question,” the half-hour Saturday night stanza now in its third year of showcas- ing firstrun movies as tops in en- tertainment. Format of the pro- gram has changed but slightly; there's the usual questions solicited from the audience anck theatre- goers, answered by the panel, with prizes either in ducats or electrical appliances to best queries re- ceived. Use of musical inquiries permits eye-appealer Gloria Gale to war- ble with Howie Mather at the piano. Duo makes nice music. Louise Baker is other eyeful who participates in giving queries ad- ditional lustre. Panel of show managers including Max Mink, RKO Palace; Jack Silverthorne, Telem’nt’s Hipp; Frank Murphy, Loew’s, and Dick Wright, Warner, compose quartet of erudite mana gcrs who also—because of long years with the flickers—demon strate a know-how of camera ease and personality in spouting an- swers to questions. Stanza caught included opening P , 1 on one question dealing with oackground of downtown houses. Mink kicked off first of series with rise of Palace Theatre and HORIZONS With Dr. Louis H. Bauer, Dr. H. McLeod Rigginl, Don Gardiner, Audra* Lindley, Herb Nelson, Judy Parrish Producer: Charles Dubin Director: Matt Harlib Writer: George Beliak 15 Mins., Sun., 9:15 p.m. CIBA PHARMACEUTICAL ABC-TV, from New York (Kiesewetter, Baker, Hagedorn A Smith) Ciba Pharmaceutical Products, the American subsid of a Swiss chemical concern, deserves a word of praise for an attempt at intel- ligently-channeled institutional ad- vertising via “Horizons,” a docu- mentary on advances in medicine through drugs. But while the at- tempt is laudable, the execution on the premiere segment was nothing short of horrendous. All parties to the mess must take the rap, from Ciba on down to the agency, to packagers Harshall Hester, pro- ducer Charles Dubin and the ABC program department for letting the show go on in the first place. When an “entertainment” show is bad, it’s just one of those things. But when a documentary, backed by a sponsor’s knowhow in a spe- cialized field and endowed with so imposing a moderator as Dr. Louis H. Bauer, is childish and disorgan- ized, there’s something fundamen- tally wrong in the program-pro- duction setup. Where “Horizons” needs a complete revamp is in ap- proach and format, which is tanta- mount to saying that the packagers and network are going to have to start from scratch on this one. Format is simple enough. Each week. Dr. Bauer, who is a past- president of the American Medical Assn., takes up a different medical topic. A short dramatic vignette shows progress through the years in combatting the disease. Dr. Bauer then interviews an expert who explains the‘progress in de- tail. And for a final wrapup, Dr. Bauer shows a few newsreel clips on medicine in the week’s news. Topic for the preem was Juber- culosis, and the treatment was pitiful. Dramatic segment, with Herb Nelson, Audra Lindley and Judy Parrish, quickly told the story of a man who gets TB, goes to a sanitorium, and by rest and treat- ment, recovers. As far as provid- ing any knowledge on the topic, the vignette was completely un- necessary — every schoolchild in the U.S. has at one time or another 'seen a film on TB that covers that ground more than adequately. Oversimplified to the extreme, the vignette served no useful purpose. Nor did Dr. Bauer do much better with his interview with Dr. H. McLeod Riggins, TB specialist on the faculty of Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons. But here the trouble was the reverse—it was too complex for the layman. Ques- tions on progress in drug treat- ment were okay, but when Dr. Rig- gins began to explain new tech- niques in surgery with the aid of some mystifying diagrams, the dis- cussion got way over the head of the average viewer. What might be done here is to eliminate the vignette, use the interview as a starting point and then illustrate the new surgical techniques via film. Closing newsreels were far too short and sketchy to have any impact. Dr. Bauer, who presently is Sec- retary General of the World Medi- cal Assn., and chairman of the United Medical Service, showed poise and authority, although his interviewing was somewhat un- even. Don Gardiner’s off-camera narration was good, as were the acting efforts in the sketch. Film quality was also good, and Ciba’s commercial was excellent from the information-visual viewpoint. Show is in on a 13-week deal in the post- Walter Winchell slot as a replace- ment for Martha Wright, but it’s going to have to undergo a thor- ough revamp to stay another cycle. Chan. the 1x uvuit c aiiu in rough use of old pictures got across an interesting spiel of growth of Palace along with city expansion. It made for attentive community-historical pitch. As commercials, managers neatly tie Mailers, and showcards. John gera ^ usual pleasant ncee and entire production is ap- w. lng , early Sat - t0 get the tamily to the movie. * Mark. FUN WITH FRENCH With Mrs. Raymond Slack, others Producer: Angela McDermott 30 Mins.; Mon., 9:30 a.m, WRGB-TV, Schenectady Program, now in its fifth 13-week cycle, has been hailed in educa- tion circles as an outstanding ex- ample of language instruction via television. Its chief asset is Mrs. Raymond Slack, a French woman of striking appearance, married to a former serviceman. She is not only one of the most photogenic professional teachers in video, but she has a background in her native tongue and an accent that bear the unmistakable mark of authenticity. Mrs. Slack is also skilled in in- structional technique and in guid- ing small children. Program this year is divided into two parts: 15 minutes for a class with four third-graders (two girls aod two boys) from a Schenectady public school, a quarter-hour solo, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (Best of Broadway) With Dorothy McGuire, John Payne, Richard Carlson, Herbert Marshall, Mary Astor, Charles Winninrer, Dlek Foran, Neva Patterson, Jane Sutherland Producer: Martin Manulis Director: Sidney Lumet Writer: Philip Barry Jr. 60 Mins., Wed., 10 p.m. WESTINGHOUSE CBS-TV, from N, Y. (color) . (McCann-Ericksoti ) Television’s attempts to recreate some of Broadway’s great comedy hits via “Best of Broadway” and other hour-long segments thus far have never really come off. Is it because of the vehicles themselves —are they too crochety, too splen- didly conceived to be harnessed to' the intimacy of the tv screen, or is it because standards of comedy values have changed and what once was funny is so no longer? To judge by “The Philadelphia Story,” the “Best of Broadway’” presentation last week, the answer to all these points is in the nega- tives and Since “Philadelphia” is fairly representative of all the vid- efforts thus far, its tv weaknesses provide a key to past failures. Since the faults didn’t lie ip the work themselves — it’s still a sprightly play, its lines still spar- kle, its drawing-room setting is a tv natural—the television treat- ment must be at fault. And in this case, the blame rests in three quarters, the overall conception of the treatment by producer Martin Manulis and adaptor Philip Barry Jr., the direction of Sidney Lumet and most telling, the performances of the principals, in this case Doro- thy McGuire. John Payne and Her- bert Marshall. Fact is that the teleplay never got moving until the last 10 min- utes; the actors wandered through their characterizations and stepped all over their key lines until those last 10 minutes, and the direction lagged and meandered again until those last 10 minutes. It was only then that the actors began to feel their parts, that the direction In- folded the denouement at a fast and merry pace, that the play took on the sparkle and delight that it had on Broadway and in its picture version. Until that point, it was a sorry mess. Whose fault? Mainly, it lay in the acting. What television com- edy seems to lack most is the all- important sense of timing, and in the case of the Philip Barry origi- nal, sprinkled throughout with bon mots, the neglect of timing alone is enough to throw the entire tone of a scene off. A muffed line, while excusable in a straight drama, is murder in a fast-paced comedy, and there were muffs aplenty. It boils down to getting the lines down pat, not only for the sake of preserving pace but for establishing character, and with a month between shows, there seems to be no excuse. In the adaptation and overall treatment, that perennial boiling- down-to-an-hour treatment came along, and Barry, the playwright’s son, faced the problem by simply eliminating chunks of action and developing the character of Tracy Lord through the speeches of the characters in the play. Device didn’t prove entirely effective, es- pecially since the delivery of those segments weren’t very well pre- sented. And finally, Lumet’s direc- tion allowed the entire play to ramble aimlessly until the finale, which almost, but not quite, over- came the lapses of the first 50 minutes. Miss McGuire showed she could have been a fine replacement for Kathrine Hepburn in that last act. but until then she was unsure of the part as well as the lines. Payne, though fairly consistent, lacked the casualness and flipness that gave the character of the ex- husband life. Dick Foran delivered the best overall performance, with the stuffed-shirt quality showing immediately and continuing throughout the play. Mary Astor and Neva Patterson had little to do; Charles Winninger was good in his brief appearances; Richard Carlson’s performance was neutral; Marshall stumbled several times; and Jane Sutherland got across her lines effectively. A mixed per- formance if there ever was one. Difficult to see the purpose of tinting up this play, what with the drawing-room sets and little else. On the black-and-white screen, everything took on dullish gray look which was a little depressing at times. Chan. NBC Plays Benefit in 90-Minute Tribute to Overseas Press Club By GEORGE ROSEN NBC played a benefit Monday night (13) when, through the good auspices of RCA and Ford sponsor- ship coin, the television network turned over its choice 90-minute “Producers Showcase” spectacular to aid the Overseas Press Club in the official launching of its new Memorial Press Center in N.Y. NBC “covered” the official open- ing in the best way it knetf how— by corralling a large portion of tv’s most gifted performers, but when all was said and done, it still added up to a benefit that could hardly be described as scintillating. The sentiment was there; but the show biz exposition was lacking. Considering the entertainment \ components assembled, which in- cluded Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, Mar- tha Raye, Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, Marian Anderson, Richard Rodgers, Carl Sandburg, Carl Reiner, John Daly, among others, and considering, too, the produc- tion auspices, this OPC salute, tabbed “Dateline,” should have translated itself into a memorable occasion. But unfortunately, as the 90 minutes progressed, it became at times a trying experience for the viewer. NBC-RCA dressed it up in its best prismatic tones (with the exception of a cut-in for Eddie Fisher from Hollywood and a filmed tribute by President Eisenhower), •but this was one occasion when black-and-white would have suf- DATELINE With Marian Anderson, Sid Caesar, Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Bob Hope, Martha Raye, Carl Reiner, Richard Rodgers, Carl Sandburg, Bob Considlne, John Daly, Elsa Maxwell, Lawrence Spivak, Hal Boyle, H. V. Kaltenborn, Fleur Cowles, Ray Walston, Milton Canlff, others; Harry Sosnlk orch Producer: Fred Coe Executive Producer: Jack Rayel Director: Alan Handley Writers: Robert E. Sherwood, Carl Sandburg, Mel Tolkin, others 90 Mins., Mon., 8 p.m. FORD- RCA NBC-TV, from New York (color) (Kenyon & Eckhardt) for advanced pupils, teachers, par- ents and other adult viewers. First segment is perhaps better, sounder television. The intelligent, alert eager youngsters make an appeal- ing, convincing picture as they re- peat, with teacher, French words, articulafe greetings, form sen- tences and carry on brief two-way conversations. Jaco. ficed. Tint neither added nor de- tracted from what essentially was a noble but not too rewarding effort. For one thing it was too talky, with most of the last half-hour (and that, mind you, opposite "Lucy”), devoted to speechifying, with even the sequencing of the talks occasioning some mild sur- prise. Particularly at a benefit, the finale is generally reserved for the piece de resistance; the assumption being that the President would oc- cupy the niche. But the nod went to Henry Ford 2d for his paean to peace and plenty in ’55. Carl Sand- burg, reciting his own dedicatory message, occupied the next-to-clos- ng spot. Thus President Eisenhower, in a message extolling the bravery and virtues of the overseas correspond- ents in wartime, and spotted even ahead of Sandburg, enjoyed the status of an “also ran” participant. But it was the bracketing of all three into the closing portion that weighed heavily on the show and marred the pacing. The 90 minutes was short on comedy, with the principal burden falling on Sid Caesar. A travesty on “Meet the Press” (“Beat the Press”), with Carl Reiner in the moderator seat and Lawrence Spivak, H. V. Kaltenborn and the N.Y. Times’ Emanuel Freedman as the “press,” slotted Caesar as the guest dignitary, in the role of an archeologist. It was Caesar at his funniest; a throwback to one of his best char- acterizations on the ex-“Show of Shows.” Too, the show had a hilar ious opening, cued to the “Date- line” motif of the format; a suc- cession of “interview vignettes” showing Kaltenborn getting statement from Napolean (Caesar); Ben Grauer dittoing with Delilah (Martha Raye); Elsa Maxwell inter- viewing Leif Erickson and Bob Considine probing for Bob Hope’s reaction to Churchill on the lat- ter’s 80th birthday. It set a tempo that unfortunately wasn’t sustained. Hope went into his standup com- edies, which were par for the course. Thanks to Eddie Fisher (“salut- ing” his still-in-uniform brother Alvin, just out of the Army, with a medley); Perry Como, Martha Raye and Marian Anderson (latter giving a magnificent rendition of ”He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands”), the show had its strong- est moments in the vocal depart- ment. One major production num- ber, "Steve Canyon Ballet,” was based on the Milt Caniff comic strip. As a ballet insert it was okay, but if it was intended as a parody it was neither broad nor subtle enough to achieve real hu- mor. Richard Rodgers' participation in the war-tempoed dedication inevi- tably resulted in his musical recap of “Victory At Sea” (backgrounded by some, of the film sequences). A Robert E. Sherwoodscripted dramatiaztion of an Ernie Pyle epi- sode (with Ray Walston giving a fine portrayal) was at best a sen- timental tribute to the late war correspondent killed in the Pacific. John Daly emceed the program and was dignified! terse and complete- ly at ease. Harry Sosnik orch back- grounded the musical portions and the maestro did his usual effective job. DOWN YOU GO With Dr. Bergen Evans, Eliza- beth Montgomery, Prof. Norbert Wiener, Walt Kelly, Phil Rizzuto Exec Producer: Steve Carlin Producer: Roger Gerry Director: Dick Sandwick 30 Mins.; Wed., 10 p.m. WESTERN UNION (alternate weeks) DuMont, from New York (Albert Frank-Guenther Law) After several high riding sea- sons in Chicago, “Down You Go” has packed its bags for a fling at a New York origination. In -its preem last week (8) it looked as though it would make good in the Big Town, too. It’s got some hefty opposition on the rival webs, which may hold its rating down, but it’s bound to build a steady following. It’s a bright quiz show with a clever gimmick, an erudite emcee and a variegated panel that’s selected with care. That’s more than half the battle for any quiz- zer. Format is pegged on the panel’s attempt to guess a catch phrase by filling in letters of the blank words shown on a blackboard. The view- ers, of course, know the word in advance but watching the panel at work, in thought or guesswork, makes it a delightful half-hour. Much of the credit for the stanza’s smooth pace belongs to host Dr. Bergen Evans. He’s being imported from Chi for the chore and the way he shows up as head- master makes the trip seem worth- while. On the preem stanza, panelists were Walt Kelly, Phil Rizzuto, Dr. Norbert Wiener and Elizabeth Montgomery. Rizzuto had the best RBI .replies batted in) average and displayed the kind of charm that’ll nail him as a perennial panelist. Series will have a staff of rotat- ing panelists to keep the board alert at all times. Among those slated to sit in on upcoming shows are Boris Karloff, Laura Hobson and Leonora Corbett. The Western Union spiel is ably delivered by Dick Stark. Gros. SANTA CLAUS With John Saunders, Pat Oliver Producer: John Saunders Director: Harry Black 15 Mins: Mon.-thru-Fri. 5 p.m. KRESGE WXEL, Cleveland l McManus, John & Adams) If you ever wondered how com- mercial you can make Santa, take a squint at the 13-minute cross-the- board Kresge stanza. Here’s toy- land with a huge Kresge sign in the background, and right behind Santa. Kiddies are invited to write in with the best writers picked to appear. Winners are given gifts —and nice ones at that—but as the gift is handed to the moppet, a dol- lar-and-cent super virtually blots out the gift but no doubt impress- es the youngster at home that shopping values are best at Kresge. Oh yes, if he wants to write a let- ajter, he has to get his entry blank at any one of the Kresge stores. It’s too bad that John Saunders, playing Santa for the seventh year must ride kiddie lanes with such a vehicle. His Santa playing is otherwise good. He is assisted by Jingles, played by Pat Oliver. Too bad the role was written on a con* descending level in that she plays down to a lower case juvenile role. On stanza caught poor production made it impossible to catch off- voice remarks of "Twinkletoes, Santa’s helper who, in effect. '* Saunders’ voice on speed-up ais*. Mark.