TV Guide (December 11, 1953)

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CIRCLE THEATER Nina Foch: top talent for a top show. OMPETITION, the mainstay of A America’s free enterprise sys¬ tem, has certainly benefited Circle Theater (NBC). One of the veteran half-hour dramatic series on TV, the show until this year made it a point to deal only in sweetness and light. Now, with the new U.S. Steel Hour being telecast directly opposite, the producers have injected some—par¬ don the expression — guts into the show. The result is a vast improve¬ ment. The switch in subject matter was certainly abrupt. After the romance and tender-heartedness of previous Circle Theaters, viewers must have received quite a jolt when they tuned in for the first time this season. The story treated marital infidelity and its effect on the sensitive young son of the erring parents. The writers dealt warmly and humanly with a difficult theme. The series since then has main¬ tained that quality level. As with most of TV’s half-hour dramas, Cir¬ cle Theater features different casts in different stories each week. Endowed with an ample budget, producer Hud¬ son Faussett has hired some of the best Broadway and TV actors, such as Nina Foch, Madge Evans, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Ona Munson. The series also boasts some of the best production mountings on TV, as well as consistently good staging and camera direction. With Suspense still enjoying its devotees, that Tuesday- night-at-9:30-period could become as hotly contested as any on TV. FINE TUNING • • By OLLIE CRAWFORD A TOM BOMBS being shown on television. These are TV’s dead¬ liest guest stars, against pretty tough competition. • They . all them the Thin Man and the Fat Man. hut nohody mistakes them for Laurel and Hardy. • Being on the same stage with two atom bombs is about as comfortable as trying to ad lib with Tallulah Bankhead and Milton Berle. It was all right to have the bombs there, as long as they didn’t blow up in their lines. This show had a chance to reach California without the cable. This was the first show where they relayed signals from director to floor manager to bombardier. • It’s sort of like doing Grouchio Marx’ You Bet Your Life show with real lives. They could do this show on Studio One, and everybody would head for Studio 1,000,002. Everybody was waiting for the commercial an¬ nouncer to say: “Run right out to your neighborhood air raid shelter.” • The director had only one order for the A-bombs: “Don’t do some¬ thing, just stand there.’’ 16