TV Guide (September 25, 1954)

Ginger Rogers portraying three varied roles in her TV debut. At least one Shower of Stars, all the Best of Broadway dramas, and all three of the NBC series of spectacu¬ lars will be colorcast. But these are just some of the spe¬ cial items in the offing for viewers. New offerings in regular weekly shows indicate that the networks and TV film-makers are more determined than ever to keep viewers viewing. ABC hasn’t yet dreamed up a Hol¬ lywood superlative to label its Dis¬ neyland series (scheduled for every Wednesday night, starting Oct. 27) but advance reports indicate the show rates one. Produced in Hollywood by Walt Disney, the programs will in¬ clude cartoons, nature studies, folk tales and Disney feature films. In the field of drama, Climax isn’t the only new hour-long entry. Lux Video Theater, formerly a half hour, has expanded to 60-minute live plays. Elgin has decided to alternate with U.S. Steel in ABC’s Tuesday night drama spot. These, in addition to such established drama hours as Philco- Goodyear Playhouse, Studio One, Robert Montgomery Presents and the Wednesday and Thursday Kraft Tele¬ vision Theaters bring the hour-long drama total to at least eight, per week. Moreover, Hall of Fame, regu¬ larly scheduled for a half hour, will go to an hour every fourth week. One Hall of Fame entry will be a two-hour “Macbeth,” with Maurice Evans and Judith Anderson, Nov. 28. On Oct. 25 Robert Montgomery will offer the first part of a two-hour special—“The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” The half-hour GE Theater this sea¬ son will offer stars like Fred Astaire, Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney. There will be new variety shows at new times with new and old fa¬ vorites. Sid Caesar heads up an Imogene Coca-less hour on Monday nights. George Gobel, long voted by the critics “young comic most likely to succeed,” finally gets a Saturday network assignment. Jimmy Durante and Donald O’Connor will take turns in another Saturday night half hour. High-powered guest stars will bol¬ ster many of the weekly variety shows, to prevent the “colossal” once- a-monthers from monopolizing all the fanfare. The situation comedy situation is one of all-out competition. Notable newcomers are The Mickey Rooney Show; Celeste Holm in Honestly, Celeste; Robert Young in Father Knows Best; Ronald Colman and Be- nita Hume in Halls of Ivy; Spring Byington in December Bride; Peter Lawford in Dear Phoebe; June Havoc in Willy, and Michael O’Shea, James Dunn and William Bishop in It’s a Great Life. And then there’s Imogene Coca, in her own program this year. On the canine and adventure front we have Rin Tin Tin (well, anyway, his great grandson) and Lassie (plus four sons) in their own filmed series; Sherlock Holmes and other sleuths, plus dramas about postal inspectors and firemen. In sports, the World Series comes up soon as a fitting season-opener for television. There will be more televised professional football games than ever before, including the Cana¬ dian version; as few college football games as ever, and special college sports never before telecast. Daytime TV commemorates the 1954-55 season with more soap operas, and nighttime—late, late nighttime— will offer Tonight, with Steve Allen as a moonlit Garroway. Details on these and other aspects of the coming season are waiting for you on succeeding pages of this Pre¬ view Issue of TV GUIDE. And all programs, new and old, are listed alphabetically by time and station in the local program section. It looks like quite a season. 7