Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1956)

otion Picture Daily Monday, July 2, 1956 jdeumori Jodau assing in Review T SINCE THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN has there been as ch anticipatory excitement concerning a life-or-death contest as there > about last Sunday night's first head-on collision between CBS-TV's Sullivan and NBC-TV's Steve Allen. The latter's strategists must e been surprised to learn a couple of weeks ago that the date they'd ted for Mr. Allen's premiere turned out to be the date of Mr. Sulli's eighth TV anniversary, an occasion which clearly called for — to l a phrase — a host of stars, 90 per cent of whom just walked across the ;re or smiled from a film clip. Carrying the burden of Mr. Sullivan's tw were Kate Smith, in an all-too-infrequent TV appearance; Harry pafonte, and a group of bicycle-riding bears (who will have to do the s|:ony scene from Noel Coward's "Private Lives" before our amazement »mes any more profound and meaningful). Ir. Allen (see below) did fight fire with fire to the extent that he ertised Bob Hope's in-person appearance, just to have Mr. Hope a w up for another unfunny three-minute plug for "my latest picThe best of the week's live drama was Lorenzo Semple, Jr.'s e changel Harrigan," presented by NBC-TV's Alcoa Hour Sunday lit, starring Darren McGavin and Janice Rule and directed by Herb schman, who now doubles as associate producer. "Harrigan," with t rtones that suggested Mr. McGavin's late Broadway hit, "The Raincer," told the delightful story of how love eventually legitimizes an robable fraud who claims he can fly. nportant among the week's special events was the early morning Macular which Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis provided Tuesday for C-TV's Today, on location from Atlantic City. The boys were notice7 cool toward one another but provided some wonderfully relaxed sense when dealing with J. Fred Muggs and Dave Garroway's cool mer replacement, Faye Emerson. Elsewhere in the week and in iter detail: B STEVE ALLEN SHOW (predere), NBC-TV, 1 Hour, 8 P.M., DT, Sunday, June 24, 1956. ive, from New York. For Brown \nd Williamson Tobacco, Avco mid Andrew Jergens. Fhether or not Steve Allen turns ■ to be the man to knock off Ed livan remains to be seen over ■long haul. It can be said, howIr, on the short haul (i.e., one Iv) that the Mr. Allen and the » around him at NBC came up la a top-notch comedy-variety Ijram last Sunday night. To liters who have in the past two Irs been happily swindled out «heir sleep by Mr. Allen's Tojit, the premiere show was litely and figuratively the best of light. In addition it had a couple Ihialities on which Tonight has pr pretended to be strong: pace comparative brevity. The Tolt influence was direct (in that material had been used presly on Tonight) in the matter several hilarious sketches, one lp burlesquing those TV comcials which start off with the auncer saying "Oh, hello there. ' when suddenly caught by the era, and another group being ries of wonderfully nonsensical itomimes accompanying Mr. Alii on the piano. In addition, the w made use of the mobility of TV cameras which Mr. Allen f has been doing on Tonight. In case, the rooftops adjoining EVERY DAY ON EVERY CHANNEL BROOKS 2COSTUMES 3 W.il till SI., N.Y.C. *T«I. PL. 7-5(00 the theatre were used as the locale for an energetic modern ballet by Rod Alexander and Bambi Linn. The ballet itself was uncertain but the physical production was fascinating. Contributing to the opening night gaieties were Kim Novak, Sammy Davis, Jr., Vincent Price, Wally Cox, Dane Clark, as well as Tonight regulars, Skitch Henderson and Gene Rayburn. Jules Green is executive producer, Bill Harbach producer, and Dwight Hemion director. Over all, of course, is the many-fingered Mr. Allen who, when the gags are forgotten, remains a personality of taste, intelligence and style, commodities which have never been in long supply on Sunday nights. PRODUCERS' SHOWCASE : ''Happy Birthday," NBC-TV, 1V2 Hour, 8 P.M., EDT, Monday, June 25, 1956. Live, from New York. For Ford Motor Company and RCA Victor. That 90 minutes of prime television time could be devoted to one woman's drunk and still be fairly entertaining may be credited to the skill and variety of star Betty Field. As the mousy librarian who pursues her secret love into ramshackle Newark cocktail bar, Miss Field was always appealing, often funny and usually several steps ahead of the script which might have been a lot happier as a onehour presentation. It was a lightweight effort by the people who earlier in the season provided such provocative and stimulating material as "Cyrano," "Caesar and Cleopatra" and the Sadlers' Wells ballet company. "Happy Birthday," like its heroine, can be regarded as forgivable toot by people who should know better. Judged within WHEN IS A NETWORK NOT— TV Today photo THE network without a coaxial cable. That's Ely Landau's National Telefilm Association. As he described it in the words of the scribe Menasha Skulniclc, "it's not a NETWORK; it's a 'network.' And as he described it to the newspaper and trade writers at the Waldorf press conference last week, by tying up time (one and one half hours weekly) on affiliated stations in 45 per cent of the major markets, will reach into 60 million homes now, 70 million later. Not bad as he drew an analogy with theatre attendance. Regardless of dictionary definitions, he explained to a recalcitrant "Wall Street Journal" man, a network does not mean simultaneous film showings. Whoever wrote the dictionary knew only fish or fowl, and NTA "has just created something else." With him, left, his network sales manager, Raymond Nelson. its own marked limitations, the Anita Loos play contained quite a few funny lines and a lot of very funny performances. STUDIO ONE SUMMER THEATRE: "Mr. Arcularis," CBS-TV, 1 Hour, 10 P.M., EDT, Monday, June 25, 1956. Live, from New York. For W estinghouse. Producer Robert Herridge's noble summer experiment over-reached itself last week in a technically proficient but verbose and cloudy adaptation of Conrad Aiken's "Mr. Arcularis," the strange personal revelations of a man dying in the course of a heart operation. Stripped of its primitive symbolism and its rather formidable physical production, involving some very fancy camera work, "Mr. Arcularis" emerged as an unnecessarily complicated tale about a man suffering from a huge guilt complex because his mother bestowed her favors on his father's brother. The tale was a long-time in its telling in Mr. Herridge's somewhat over-literate adaptation which, as is his custom, emphasized the spoken word more than the picture, which practice, no matter how lovely the words, does not broaden the scope of television drama. John Drainie, unfortunately made up to look like Captain Kangaroo, did as well as could be expected with the difficult title role, while Nancy Wickware, as the several women in his life, was fine. Karl Genus directed. TELEVISION TODAY— Editorial Director: Charles S. Aaronson; Eastern Editors: Pinky Herman, Vincent Canby; Hollywood: William R. Weaver, Samuel D. Berns; Washington: J. A. Often; London: Peter Burnup; Photo Editor: Floyd E. Stone. JOE AND MABEL: "The Bank Book" (premiere), CBS-TV, Vz Hour, 9 P.M., EDT, Tuesday, June 26, 1956. Film. For Geritol. It is unfortunate, perhaps, that Geritol, sponsor of this new series, puts such stress on the revitalizing of "tired blood." Such advertising copy almost demands a tie-in with the content of the show itself and several lay reviewers were not slow in making the connection. In its first installment, Joe and Mabel simply were not very funny, trying their darnest to make a comic mountain out of a molehill of a situation built around Joe's turning down of a reward for finding a purse. As played by Larry Blyden and Nita Talbot, Joe the cab driver, and Mabel, his girl friend, come across with built-in charm and appeal which, in the right situations, could conceivably be parlayed into a first-rate series. Time will tell. Among the first-rate people involved are, in the supporting cast, Luella Gear, Norman Feld, Dick Van Dyke and Shirl Conway, and producer-writer Alex Gottlieb and director Ezra Stone.