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ClifF Arquette invented Charley Weaver. Dennis Day’s Handiest Man T here i$ a basic law of casting which states unequivocally that a comedy star is no better than his chief supporting player. Under this rigid rule, Jackie Gleason has his Art Car¬ ney, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz have Vivian Vance and Bill Frawley.Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca have Carl Reiner and Howie Morris—and Dennis Day has Cliff Arquette. Better known to most people as Charley Weaver, Arquette is the whimsical, slightly befuddled and highly comic janitor who holds shaky sway over the basement of Dennis’ apartment house bn NBC. There is little resemblance, however, between the character and the man. Charley Weaver was born back in 1948 when television was still pretty much of a dream. A radio actor of no little stature, Arquette dreamed up the character as a doorman to intro¬ duce amateur acts. “The show im¬ proved so steadily,” Cliff recalls, “that it was finally dropped.” A year later he was called by his old and good friend, Movie Actor Dave Willock. Willock had a TV show and his partner had just quit. Would Cliff fill in? “We discussed what we’d do on the way to the studio,” Cliff says. “I remember Dave saying it was just a half-hour thing and we could ad lib it. Say that today and 27 agency men would keel over dead.” A Good Show Dies The show that day marked the birth of the Dave ‘n’ Charley Show, Wil¬ lock playing himself and Cliff playing Charley Weaver. It lasted three years, the critics and the trade calling it “the finest comedy show on the air” and the agencies and the public ignoring it completely. It was approximately five years ahead of its time. And it never did have a script. It also marked Cary Grant’s lone TV appearance to date, the actor guesting on it one night, for free, simply because he liked it so much. Arquette is an easygoing 49 years of age with close-cropped gray hair. He lives alone in a Hollywood apart¬ ment, bemoaning the lack of space for any power tools. Too Much Entertainment? Some day he hopes to put the Dave ‘n’ Charley Show back on the air. “Entertainment’s too rich for people’s blood these days. Before ’TV, whoever thought of going to a full-fledged va¬ riety show two or three times a week? So why do we have to hit ’em over the head with all this punch and sock brand of joke comedy all the time? I like that old Charley Weaver. He takes it easy. No one-line gags. You wouldn’t know he was 80, would you? Well, he isn’t. He’s 79.” 23