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

lobby to our TV audience, I joined the Danny Thomases, Brad Dexters, Faye Emerson and Skitch Henderson, the Dennis Jameses, Maria Riva, Joe E. Brown, Robert Taylor, Hazel Scott and dozens more at a special buffet dinner which was given in the private suite of offices of Leonard Goldenson, President of United Paramount Theatres. There were so many notables at the party that we were afraid we'd lose a few en route to the theatre. Our luck held out and when Elsa Maxwell wasn't being stopped by Salvador Dali stepping on her train, the steady parade of arriving personalities made our telecast colorful and tremendously gay. Zsa Zsa Gabor, Dagmar, Anne Jeffreys and Bob Sterling, Jane Pickens (who sang the National Anthem), Earl Blackwell with Lisa Kirk, Johnnie Ray, Betty and Jane Kean, Jackie Gleason and Roxanne were among the many who attended. Earl Wilson, Chairman of the Special Events Division for the March of Dimes, announced that the entire proceeds of the event were for the benefit of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The special performance was made possible by Warner Brothers Pictures and the Paramount Theatre who absorbed all long in the very funny play. Ralph Meeker and Janice Rule also picked a hit in "Picnic." Mark Stevens, another refugee from Sunset Boulevard, was raised to star billing after his Gotham stage debut in "MidSummer," but only because his leading lady, an absolute unknown named Geraldine Page (who played a bit part in the film, "Taxi"), was greeted with opening night raves by the drama critics. Paul Crabtree and Frank Hale, producers of the click play, elevated her to stardom for a two-fold reason. First, because she so richly deserves the honor; secondly, because it meant insuring a longer run for the play. Mark Stevens refused to step aside and allow Miss Page to take solo star billing over the name of the show. Had he done so he would have endeared himself forever more to theatrical managers in New York (to say nothing about his movie fans). He might have won more friends and greater admiration as an actor as well as a person had he permitted the marquee to glitter with the name of Geraldine Page. Ladies First, at least, Mr. Stevens! Producers and agents have been blocking Geraldine's dressing room door but she has to decline all lucrative offers. She's tied to a seven-year contract with Charles K. Feldman and her first major screen role will be in the future production of "The Wayward Bus," which William Saroyan has adapted from the John Steinbeck novel. Miss Page once checked hats in Lindy's Restaurant on Broadway while struggling to gain recognition as an costs of the initial showing of "The Jazz Singer" so that the money collected might help the March of Dimes in its fight against polio. Danny Thomas and Peggy Lee took over on stage and after singing, struck a serious note when they told the audience that "if there's a star, a real star in this picture, it's Michael Curtiz." The applause following that tribute to the director of "The Jazz Singer" wcs deafening. Before leaving the stage, Peggy told the spectators that in all the times (eight exactly) she played engagements at the Paramount Theatre, this night would live long in her memory as the greatest night in her life. She cried when she walked off into the wings. The following day word was received that viewers of the TV premiere program had mailed in, voluntarily, their personal contributions so that they too could share in the good fun for so worthy a cause. It was an exciting, touching event, a great, big wonderful night for all concerned. I'm happy to have been a part of it. END Hear Maggi broadcast her radio version of "Maggi's Private Wire" at 12:15 P.M. E.S.T. Monday through Friday over WABC, New York. actress. She's been eating there regularly ever since her overnight stardom and it is friends such as Irene Dunne, Patricia Neal, Marlene Dietrich, Deborah Kerr and Eleanor Parker who vie with each other to share her nightly supper table at the all-night restaurant. Since this is the year wherein Hollywood has decided to expose itself to the paying public via such fine films as "The Star" and "The Bad And The Beautiful," several film players should be told that their conduct in and around New York is hardly above reproach. What an actor does during the requirements of a screen assignment, is one thing, but what he or she does while visiting Manhattan on vacation, is something else again. Judy Garland should be spanked for the way she dresses and the fact that she's usually overweight doesn't add any to her personal appearance. A slim Judy, the kind most reporters have always respected and loved, is a joy to behold. Mussy hair, tweed suits and sloppy coats are unflattering to her, and friends have been shocked at her lack of interest in herself. The blame is usually given to Sid Luft, her husband, but as most movie fans know, it's up to the individual to be perfectly groomed at all times. David Wayne, who plays Sol Hurok, the impresario, in "Tonight We Sing," the Ezio Pinza-Roberta Peters movie about concert artists and opera stars, likes1 to dabble in paint. When he came to Gotham for the premiere festivities attendant on the opening of "Tonight We Sing," he learned that the only original oil painting ever executed on canvas by Sol Hurok was not available for display at the Radio City Music Hall because its owner had left town. But photos of the painting were obtained and David Wayne set about to duplicate the original. He did such a good job that Ezio Pinza and Roberta Peters both asked if Wayne would sell the portrait to them. Wayne declined and explained he had promised it to Mr. Hurok who insisted it was better than the original! Stars such as Joan Crawford, Dorothy Lamour, Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, Betty Hutton, Bob Wagner and Debbie Reynolds should individually or collectively take Rosemary Clooney aside and explain the facts of life-as-a-movie-star to her. Paramount's white hope for 1953, who is being given every conceivable chance to be this year's brightest new star, has been ducking interview assignments in New York and that's not good. Matter of fact, for someone as new in motion pictures as Rosemary Clooney, this could well be the kiss of death to a promising career. Marilyn Monroe, who is notorious for being late for any appointment (hairdresser, dentist or photographer), may be detained anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour, but she'll show up and when she does, well, it's usually the person who has been kept waiting who apologizes. In the case of Rosemary Clooney, she just doesn't show up for press appointments, nor does she offer any excuse or apology for her absence to the reporter or interviewer who had waited and waited. It's new, this season at least, for any of the up-and-coming stars to treat newspaper and magazine writers that way. Rosemary Clooney had better mend her ways before long or soon there won't be any scribes to disappoint, only her fans, who to date think she can do no wrong. It must be explained that only her fans think along those lines. With Tyrone Power starring on Broadway in "John Brown's Body," the fact that he must surely be the Last of the Hollywood Glamour Boys was brought to mind forcibly when such fellow-stars as Wendell Corey and Paul Douglas were spotted in the audience at the Century Theatre. Douglas, who is admittedly homely, and Corey who is talented yes, but no Apollo, are not great romantic figures. They are hardly dashing, smooth and slickly handsome enough to make them the idols of panting feminine fans. Ty Power, who has reigned as the King of the Passionate Kiss for almost a decade, doesn't have any competition from Marlon Brando, whose uncultured speech is as unglamourous as it is unpleasant, and, we dare say, unnecessary. Montgomery Clift isn't any fashion plate, preferring to be messy rather than dressy, and Kirk Douglas could hardly ever replace Fredric March or Ronald Colman in the memories of movie fans of a bygone era. The days of Ramon Novarro, Rudolph Valentino, Richard Barthelmess, John Gilbert and Francis X. Bushman are gone forever. It will even take more than a "Mogambo" with Ava Gardner to get Clark Gable back up on top of tht. heap. That leaves Tyrone Power, young enough to 73 D ANTON WALKER'S HOLLYWOOD ON BROADWAY [CONTINUED FROM PACE 19]