Variety (April 1961)

| 34 RIDGEWOOD LANES OPENING Trees With Dennis James, Marie Torre, others Producer: Mitchell Grayson Director: Don Carney 30 Mins., Thurs., (30) 8:30' p.m. WPIX-TY, N. Y. The opening of the chain-oper ated Ridgewood Lanes bowling alWith Carl Bernard, Michael Ward, brought out all the subtleties of “another Lance Lanes Family : : Center") in the Borough of Queens } the edifivation of : Greater New York's viewing mil-. ley: was aired for ions by WPIX-TYV, and in prime time too. Guest-star stuaded or no, this kind of haif-hour blurb should be restricted to a -closed-cirtuit. Host Dennis James opened with the exclamation that the 90-alley leyout was the most magnificent place he'd ever been in his life. Ard hostess Marie .Torre, video columnist for the N. Y¥. Herald Tr:bune, appeared a bit worried ' Jest viewers “wonder what I'm dojing here tonignt avay from my t} pewriter.”’ Besides James and Miss Torre, guest talent included heavyweight boxing champ Floyd Patterson, comics Paul Winchell and Phyllis Dilier. Gretchen Wyler, Hershfield, Gene Rayburn and Mr. Double-Talk, Al Kelly. who seemee to really fit in was the witty comedienne Miss Diller, who. told a nervously acquisitive Miss Torre that she had come figuring it would be a good place to lose a couple of children. While it was primarily a giant. galaam to the benevolent Lance interests, there was plenty of room for the sidewise plugola. Miss Diller got in a word for the Bon Soir where she’s appearing; Miss Wyler and Rayburn laid it on for “Bye. Bye Birdie,” which they go into’ April 9; and ventriloquist Paul Winchell made an extensive pitch for a new bumpless girdle snap which he dreamed up between tv turns and is putting on the market. . Denise Darcel, who's booked at the Empire Room, was billed but didn't show. There was a vidtape insert with heady endorsement from commu-:’ nity leaders for upstairs club yooms, and Al Kelly double-talked a bowling exhibition featuring . Floyd Patterson, Phyllis Diller and . champ bowlers Buzz Fazio and: Marion” Ladewig. It was a fiasco: with the inscrutable Kelly easier te follow than the action, what with ! foiks mugging. waving and even dancing on the lanes. Bill. THAT ITALIAN LOOK With Lee Phillip, others Exec Froducer: Hal Fisher ‘Producer: Harold Wallace Director: Phil Bondelli . 30 Mins.: Tues. (28), 6:30 p.m. PERMA-LIFT WBBM-TY, Chicago (film & tape) 'Cluttenden> Those twice a year fashion unveitings in Rome that are so momentous to followers of the haut clothing trade aren't as grand and plamorous as they're cracked up to be. That's the unintended revelation in Lee Phillip’s first-timeever film on the recent spring couturier openings in Italy. The “hig, exciting night’ Miss Phillip kept promising turned out to be a rather businesslike. and yvisually drah, affair—except perhaps for the costumes, It was disturbing, if not ludicrous, ta see the U.S. fashjon reporters ‘or whoever attends on the sidelines! looking so blase and uncomfortable in their chairs Vis-a-vis Miss Philip's zeal and fiow of hyperbole. . In the end, the value of this Prime time specia! ta any viewer. wis left ta depend on the intensity of her tor his’ interest in the latest Jnzh fashion designs. Show was best when it stuck to a straight presentution of the fashion display and poorest when it tiied to be a documentary, ds at the beginning. in tracing a day in the lite of a Ronie model. This was patently an artificial and pointless gambit. When commentating on the fashjon show itself. Miss Phillip, who is undoubtedly Chi tv’s top femme personality, did a job. But she had to strain to destrjpe the one thing black and wire tefevision couldn't illustrate for her. And, complicating things. the hallmark of the whole new Italian trend, as she found herself reiterating, was color. Tint might have made ail the diiterence. Les. Harry. Only one. ‘name—Ribua means fourti, -no sons. If nothing else. ‘ing. ; plague. she sct out on the desert. commendable’ TELEVISION REVIEWS Foreign THE CHARLIE DRAKE SHOW: Victor Platt, Hugh Lloyd, Robert : Perceval, Charlotte Mitchell,‘ Stuart Saunders, Michael Peake, Tutte ‘Lemkow, Jay Denyer, ; Michael Greenwood Producer: Ronald Marsh Writers: Drake, Richard Waring 30 Mins.; Thurs., 7:30 p.m. BBC-TV. from London . For this new half-hour skein, miniature gagster.: Charlie Drake, ' sets out to guy a string of action heroes. This one took as .its. target the local tv Series, “The World of, Tim Frazers which dubious characters who. might, or: might not. be spies. Drake was a: security officer at a top-secret factory, Everyone, to him, was a spy, and he even inspected colleagues" for identification marks, in unlikely places. His wife: was beHav ‘ing in a highiv nervous fashion. and ‘ her of trafficking | but he’ he suspected secrets with the enemy, could never catch her at it. The situation lent iisxelf to some: simple japes. bringing torth the odd yoek. But there was a glaring ‘absence of wit. and Drake had to ‘get through with plentiful use of. his comie gimmicks—sudden rage, , pseudo-refined. diction, and his catch-phrase, “Hello. my darlings.” This wasn't really enough to. dis: ‘guise the feeble invention of. the! ‘script. Real trouble was that a.takeout of this nature needs a dab of : satire to make it stick. Horse-play didn't satisfy. . In fact, it's time. for Drake to stand back and take-a long, cool . ‘look at his personality and its po tentiality. Embedded somewhere. there's an individual clowning abil. itv, but scripts like this one ‘don't. allow it to bloom. The error seetits . to be that he should be involved in everyday situations, where _ his ‘improbable ‘size, pathos, and ‘belli gerence would shine by contract: In fantastie tales like this one, he. just doesn't stand out. Ronald Marsh's production squeezed the fun until the pipe ‘squeaked. Minor thesps were okay, despite an overplus of grimaces: tta "RABAA ADAW AYAH. : Cast: Fatma Zein, Nihad Daliii, : Yakoub Abou Gazale, Adnan Ajlouni, Theraa Doubsy, Bashshar Kadi, Naina Sourki ' Preducer-Director: Nizar Sharabi ! Writer: Tahar Abou Fasha ; Music: Ryed Sounbati, -Wohamed El-Moji,; Kamal Tawil 'Time: Monday, 9 ‘ FELEVISION DAMASCUS 30 p.m., 2 hours 1 The story of Rabaa Adawayah. now a Moslem saint, its presentation during the Ranadan Feast ranks as a major tv event in Araby. Rabaa’s is a story of fai th and: the love of God. She iived in the 10th ceatury during the last ddvsof the Areb Empire. the Abbasieena Dynasty, when Bagdad was the capital. The Empire was dying. of corruption and iicentious living; and waunen were chattels. Her fam-ily was poverty stricken end’ shewas the fourth daughter -hence the with she received a thorough religious. trainLosing her family in the was picked up and claimed by a. tavernowner who moneyed geutry, Possessing a beautiful face and voice, Rabaa was put. to work immediately in the tavern -and thus hegan the series of tests of her faith. She refused to cater.to the whims of the customers. a serv ice that was customarily supplied: along with foed and drink. When told to obey. Rabaa answered: that: her only master was God. This was | her answer to all subsequent masters, despite beatings and torture. Her faith changed the life of every man, who owned her, for the better, The final master, the Prince, alter she declined to marry him, freed her under his protection and she | Hved out her like manner, good. Tahar Abou food script and the east) trom the Damascus Theatre) did fairly well by it. though at Uines seme seenied awed by the event. The ‘sets and lighting matched the script.. The: direction kept the show from: being davs inca Spartaristill intluencing: tor .SMilted and maudiin. wade préserving satire of Italy's fascist days,” Fairshow, lit up by the comedy of ' going, and getting there fast. jing the classical Arabieé stile. The centered on. »heur turned out a frustrating. bore, is one of the. creat sagas of the Arab World and. Catered to the’ Fasha provided a. Television Reviews handling of the’ big | tavern. scene political aspects of that era, ‘Major production effort was thus smothered by a lack.of substance. A sleepy commentary didn't help matters much, while some of the} humor directed mainly at blackshirts foibles often backfired via a-tastéless approach: the targets, | as Viewed here appeared strangely | harmless and even pathetic. the wanton wastefulness of a decaying feudal system and was highlighted with humor and pathos. The anly film bit, part of the desert scene, didn’t quite come off and | could’ have been eliminated. The cast, while not great, was more than adequate. Fatma Zein, las Rabaa, had a tendency to. overplay some of her emotional scenes, but: otherwise delineated the strength, that came from Rabaa’'s faith, simply and effectively. Nihad Kalii’s characterization ‘of the tavernowner started out as a sort of 10th century Arabic Toots Shor, but he settled down finally, giving thepart a gruff tenderness. Yakoub .Abou Gazale played the Prince and made a deft transition from an arrogant Feudal lord to a human. being. ‘Rabaa’s songs were synchronized by Miss Zein to a recording by the greatest living singer of the classtcal Arabic style and Janguage, Om : Kalsoum. Bowr. gone by, and -there was a good} takeoff of a German. -“musicomedy star -by Franca Valeri, but it was ! only when Maurice Chevalier. ap-! ‘we were supposed to. be in the 30's) potpourri. of songs. mainly from “Gigi” and “Can Can,” the show got a decided lift. forts, must be. blamed, at least in ‘part, for the show's spotty impact, credits were good. Haw -k, The second show in’ a series, following a fracas (see separate news story) which te sulted in’ censorship of subsequent episodes to tender them “inoffensive” to national and/or political sentiments, their stanza showed. the hasty last-minute preparations and short rehearsal time. Sketches which made up the bulk of the first show,.were shart, continieity jerky, production numbers totally absent—as were several stars — and the | accent, conSequently, was'on a few old songs including ihe inevitable. “Lili Marlene. ” Ed. APPOINTMENT. KING . » With Malcolm Muggeridge Director: Eric Harrison 30 Mins.:: Fri., 10:30 p.m. .Granada TV, from Manchester ; This was'a near-perfect sample of how not to conduct an interview. ‘Cecil King, boss of the Daily Miryor. newspaper. outfit. has just acquired control of .the .Odhams magazine-publishing empire, and this makes him the biggest. think in print: this side of the water. Amongst other things. he has a near-nionopoly ‘of woman's fodder,. plus two daily and two Sunday sheets. A retiring charaeter, he con|: fessed to shirking the limelight. Consequently, Granada: TV can be eongratulated:an capturing him at a time when his policies and plans have vital public interest. But there's many a slip between the coup and the Jip. And the half WITH CECIL] Fareig V F alowups | Sunday Night At The. London Palladium . Alan King, smoking,. appropriately, a King-sized cigar, returned : to head the bill of. .this Sunday night show pretty confident. from past. experience of.a welcome. He ' | got it, and earned it. The sardonic : t raconteur with his mordant wit largely due to the intrusive personality. of interviewer Malcolm Muggeridge. wha asked Jong, and: “fairly relevant.. questions, but: wouldn't let King answer them sat-: istaetorily. Mugseridge. .who disclosed his interest as colusnnist for! ‘the Sunday Picturial. one of King’s | sheets, made -the. tatal mistake of | _ posing long-winded. questions. to “most of whieh Kine could say little but yes: or, no. When the ‘subject i seemed ine lined to expand, Mugge-i ridge bull-dozed. his way -into the response. Consrquently, King re mained” practicaliv. as anonymous , at the-end as he was at the begin| ning. There were tantalizing side-' lights. King tirmly stamped on all! the monopoly talk. affirming that if he tried: to project any outland-! ish ideas of his: ewnthrough his’ publications. his business would ; go phut. He wasn't too forthcoming ! v on the. Daily Her ald. the Socialist? sheet. he’s just. boug' ut, as its fu-: ture direction: is still being assessed.‘He claimed his uncle, Lord : ‘Northcliffe, as his inspiration. and | ‘came: out against restrictions on « ‘press . interviews. King. in fact. made an amiable. impression, as. far as he was per-mitted.to register at all. His sin-. cerity and mild humor were fetch-: ing. and his appearance must have allayed a lot of fears. ‘But. Muggeridge didn’t cut deep.: and he allowcd:King to do a lot of | ‘side-stepping. The restilt, as indieated,. was a tine chance. missed, ! and inturiating to those gag and never ost if. King, of course. is. more than ‘just a gagster. “He's a verv expressive actor and. director Albert . Locke’ wisely used a number of closeups to give viewers full .bene throwaway smiles, roving eye and full blast snarls. with “which. he ‘punctuated his patter.. In this show King took the in iJiant. explosive. fashion and then. ‘directed his shrewd. observant. jshafts at the maddening ways of twomen in general, wives in partic-. ‘ular. He wound up with his. now band arriving home to be. faced ith the problem of -spanking ‘Junior. But the rest of Kine’s ma; terial was: new and, apart from ‘ being consistently funny, :washorjribly near the truth. The rest of the acts made a nice‘ly balaneed though not outstanding bill. Songstress,. Petula .Clark, -elosed ‘the first half with tire songs, “I Want To Be.Happy.” new. pleasant ballad. “Something Missing” and her own: familiar hit .disk, “Sailor.” This was rather | “clumsily overtured by a shot of a_ ‘row full of matelots in’ the audienee. Don Arrol, the: emcee, then presented Miss Clark with a Silver who :*Sailor.” This was covly received, wanted to gct to grips with the’ with. every evidence of surprise. : iB f the .surprise, though in actual fact it: erostein, has had Jim Jensen nar snioke-screen ef Muggeridge’s halt-* had been announced in the mor ‘shadowy. tycoon. without: ing and inter minable verbiage. jning paper that it was going-to. be Otta. done. Who was kidding who? Miss Clark is a lightweight but pleasant chanteuse, rather lost. on the big j Palladium stage.. With Lea Massari, Gianni Agus, | Kenny Ball’s Jazz Men. contributJohnny Dorelli,Gisella Sofio,,ed° some hip numbers,’ including Giustino Durand, Maurice’ Che| Hoagy Carmichael’s “Lazy: River.” valier, Macario, Franca Yaleri, ‘and, inevitably their latest disk hit, ; Rascel, others. “Samantha.” A wry, slick juggler. Producer: Lucio Ardenzi | Director: Daniele :D’Anza _ ‘Writers: Luciano Salce, Patti’ _ 90 Mins.; Wed:. $:15 p.m. RAI-TY, fram Rome . Lack of clear ideas on what this , show. should be has resulted in a TEMPO DI MUSICA (Music Time) © -den's girls and boys contributed a: couple of neat stints, Emcce Don fit. of the slight snecrs, nonchalant surance companies .apart in bril-. t familiar description of a tired hus-. * 'Disk to mark the 250.000 ‘sale of “production techniques. Wednesday, April 5, 1961 | BREAK OF DAY ab Wirections:’6]). .| With: Roald. Reitan, Mildred Allen, Loren Driscoll, Elaine Bonazzi, Joseph. Sopher, John” Macurdy, Ray. DeVoll,. .AHen Gildersleeve, ‘Chuck .Greén, Norman Riggins ‘Producer: Wiley Hance. :-Director: William. R; Ayers Composer: George Thaddeus Jones ‘Musical Director: Glenn Osser © 60 Mins.;. Sun, (2), 1 p,m, ! ABC-TV, ‘from. N. ¥.. -ABC News -& Public’ ‘Affairs. in association with the National Council of Catholic Men made a. | Stab at presenting. something. new | péared-to sing. an ‘anachronistic Director Daniele D°Anza, who! pody. has turned out some topnotch ef-] tomb. ‘though one suspects that the major | Christ's -body trouble was more’ basic.. Technical | in the Resurrection. Several major Italo names were :.for the Easter celebration with an: ‘rung into symbolize the times | original hour-long opera composed by George Thaddeus Jones with lyrics:by Leo Brady. Unfortunately the presentation didn't. -measure up to. the intention.. “ ‘The. opera, titled: “By éak. of Day,” was set. in Jerusalem on. the day of and: after: the crucifixion .and -that ; ; fictionalized ‘a story. of-a Roman. | soldier who attempted. ta steal the’ only to find .it gone from the He was captured in the. tomb by other soldiers and was. sentenced to die .. for stealing since. none believed. It was a tale told in basic religioso: fashion and Jones’. score or Brady’s lyrics did little to. enhance. thetelling. The cast, however, was made up of solid vocal talent | recruited from the Metropolitan: and N. Y..C. Gpera Companies, Roald Reitan, Mildred: Allen;.. ‘Loren Driscoll and John Macurdy: -were among the standout performs .| ers, The numerous: scene. ‘cats gave | the presentation a ‘choppy. effect. | which the. director couldn't ‘seem | to overcome. Gros. = NOW HERE. FAST iW ith Jim Jensen, narrator i Producer-Director: . Executive Producer: Win Baker... Mel Bernstein Writer: . Harry Durning 30. Mins., Sun. (19) 10:30 p.m. SPERRY, & HUTCHINSON © ._ WBZ-TY, { a s 'captured his audience with his first ~s Boston ‘With metropolitan Boston's ‘high: way .and. rapid * transit problems making as much page one copy as President’ Kennedy's peace corps and .Jack” Paar’s -py rotechnics, . WBZ-FV ‘presented a. sharp analySis.of the hardening rail and road -arteries in the Bay ‘State. and its capital city. : “Nowhere Fast.” ‘the: third: doctt “mentary in Westinghouse liub ottflet's ‘year-long, one-amonth. “Come. plex Community”: series of. prime ‘time pubaffairs. specials, couragzes’ ously grappled with the transportation. ditemma—multi-niillion dole. Jar. expenditures’ for. -expiessway “and transit svstems, Yet with half.a. : milion people going. nowhere fast. CC omnonw ealth’s is in “utter chaos.” reported: State Sem. .Viario Umana, .chairman ‘of the Mass, Transportation: Commite tee; who also predicted. bankruptey or: “the ‘New Haven,. Boston: & -Maine © REs° ‘unless-.Tegislatures. ‘face up-to the problems.” ' Gov. : John Volpe said Metropolitan Transit ‘Authority's: deficit “has gone front $9,000.000 to $22. 500,000. in. the last several: years.” ‘Hub redev elopnrent planning. ad ministrater Donald: Graham called: . for an extension of the rapid transit system. American: Automobile Association official, Robert Kretchemar, said: the sugeestion ‘to ban _cars and. try to: force people to use. Mass. ‘transportation “comes, from men Who make a’ profit in masg : wansportation .+ and ff is une realistic. democratic. -and: . it. won't’. wor kK", . These. statements were. skillfully tied tagether by some. first-rate ‘Producing. “Win Baker and Mel ‘transportation. ‘braintrust, ‘rate segments of the program while . Strap-hanging Ona Moving subway, . -sitling in a starkly empty New Ha ven RR car, and driving. an open convertible on the Mass. turnpike. . All the time, the jastled ‘Jensen not ‘only maintained. his equilibrium, , but didn't. miss a syllabie-in his: : professionally. named Gil Dova nonchalantly did |. remarkable things: with three halls. CUraCy. .and pungent’ phrasing was. Ercole and three: clubs. and George CarS!Ven: visual’ impact. through. the Arrol’s patter was naive and singu! larly unfunny. but. he handled the ,W BZ-TV's Sé&H-sponsored.. series “Beat The Clock” segment with . continues to‘build an enviable rep vigorous. narr ativ e,. As in previous “Complex. Come. munity” programs,. scripter Harry Durning's concern for. detail, ac -lens.‘work of Phil Galligan and Bob. Cirace. — ‘Unlike the title of this opus, curious and unsatistactory melange.| more certainty than his introduc‘ utation in the documentary | field of its two main elements: oft-bit-|tions of the artists. Altogether, a by knowing’ precisely. where it: is und @ ‘nostalgia lor certain non: King. ‘Rich. i Guy.