Radio-TV mirror (July-Dec 1954)

WHAT'S NEW FROM COAST audience-participation program to be called Take My Word; the bands of Ralph Flanagan and Art Mooney will combine for an hour of dance music; and The Stork Club, T-Men In Action, Dollar A Second, a new Stu ErwinJune Collyer program, and Postal Inspector will all be seen on ABC-TV. I'll have details for you on all these shows next month. This 'n' That: Margaret Truman has signed a contract with NBC for her fourth season of guest appearances on radio and TV programs. She signed her first contract in 1951, and has made great strides as a performer since then. Wally Cox, Mr. Peepers of television, took the cue from his camera character, and took the big leap in real life. His bride is twenty-year-old red-headed Marilyn Gennaro, who until recently was a member of the cast of the Broadway hit, "The Pajama Game." The ceremony was held in Maryland, at the Mayport estate of Wally's close friend, New York lawyer Donald Seawell. Also on the receiving end of wedding congratulations are actress Nina Foch and television actor James Lipton (The Guiding Light), who said their "I do's" in Brooklyn. This was Nina's first marriage and Lipton's second. Art Linkletter's seventeen-year-old son, Jack, has joined his father on the House Party show, at least for the summer. And Gary Crosby, of course, is doing very well pinch-hitting for Dad. Incidentally, someone asked Gary if Bing had given him much coaching in breath control, and Gary, in the typical (Continued from page 7) m Ed Sullivan is proud to officiate as Julia Meade and Ray MacGregor cut the cake to mark Toast Of The Town's sixth birthday. T ■ ' ■ v It looks as if Roy Rogers' eight-yearold son Dusty is going to follow right along in his famous dad's footsteps 12 Crosby manner, casually answered, "Not that I know of — I've been breathing ever since I was born." It looks like Eddie Albert will land the role of the peddler in the film version of "Oklahoma," if he can rearrange his television commitments. Gordon MacRae will play the starring part of Curly in this movie. Congratulations to Don McNeill and all his Breakfast Club gang on their twenty-first year in a radio show. It's the oldest continuous morning variety program on the air. Back in 1934, when orchestra leader Harry Owens and his wife were blessed with a baby daughter, born in Honolulu, they named her Leilani, and Harry wrote a Hawaiian melody in her honor, calling it "Sweet Leilani." Bing Crosby sang the song in "Waikiki Wedding," it won an Academy Award, and in the years since it has become very much identified with the islands. And now the little girl who started it all is grown-up and about to get married. Leilani Owens, now nineteen, will soon wed Private Roy M. Dobric, twenty, of Tucson, Arizona. Susan Douglas, featured actress on The Guiding Light, and her husband, Jan Rubes, recently welcomed their first baby, a seven-pound, fourteenounce son, Christopher, born in New York City. And on the stork's future list are Marty Karl and his wife. Marty is one of the Mariners, of the Arthur Godfrey crew, and this will be their fifth child. They now have two boys and two girls. The Greatest Story Ever Told, one of the most popular of all radio programs, has been sold for the movies. Twentieth Century -Fox has purchased the rights and plans to produce it as one of their super spectacles. Robin Morgan, the Dagmar of the Mama TV show, was selected by the General Federation of Women's Clubs to receive their television and radio award for "the child who has contributed most to the advancement of radio and TV in 1954." She was also cited for her "exemplification of an ideal American girl." Another juvenile Thespian, actor Tommy Rettig, has been signed for the lead in the forthcoming Lassie TV show, playing the part of Lassie's master. Mulling The Mail: Mrs. J.W.B., Merrimac, Massachusetts: June Taylor is the well-known choreographer, and a former dancer herself. She creates the routines for the Jackie Gleason Show, among others. . . . Miss M. H, Toronto, Ontario: No, Wendy Warren And The News is still on the air, but unfortunately I don't believe it is presently carried on a station in your area. . . . Miss R. C, Ligonier, Pennsylvania: For some strange reason, the advertising agency handling the Old Gold cigarette account insists on no publicity for the dancing girls who dress in the regular and king-size cigarette packages on television. . . . Mrs. M. N. E., Birmingham, Alabama: Lu Ann Simms is still very much a member of the Arthur Godfrey cast.