Variety (May 1946)

Wednesday, M avy 29, 1946 REVIEWS 31 Television Reviews GIANTS VS. BRAVES BASEBALL Announcer: B*k Stanton IVoHacer: Gary Simpson tit Mini.; Sunday (M), 1:18 p.m. Sustaining •VNRT-NBC, N. T. Baseball magnates have been- of- fering increased opposition during the last season t6 the idea of per- mitting their ball games to be tele- vised: apparently fearing thai the telecasts will take a big slice out of . their Kale receipts. WNBT's telecasts of the N. Y. home teams' games prove their fears to be groundless. While viewers are given a picture of the game that's probably belter than most of the fans in .the stands receive, it's virtually impossible at the present developmental stage of video for a . person watching -the game from his home to get even a small share of the feeling and- color that's made baseball the national pastime. Telecasting the ball games, if it does anything, will probably hypo attendance at the ball parks by creating more interest in the game aiming those people who. never . knew much about It, much the same •s radio has done. NBC uses two cameras, one to cover the pitcher's box and blanket '.the infield and the second to cover the batter.. If a ball is hit to the outfield, the fliSt camera is switched over immediately to cover, the: play. System thus, follows the game much, as a fan would watch it from the stands. Producer Gary Simpson has his camera work down to a T. hold- ' iiig the pitcher in the lens until the instant the ball leaves his hands and then switching over to the batter to watch his swing. Baseball itself is too small to be picked up by the camera but the viewer nonetheless is'able to follow the game with ease: Simpson is apparently still experi- menting on how best to spotlight the game's high points but his experi- mentation in several instances went awry. In'one case, for example, with men on second and third and two out. when the batter blopped a slow one to the pitcher. Simpson kept his cameras glued to the man coming in f loin third, when it was abvious that the play would be at first. With the video audience limited as it is at present, however, this is the right time to experiment. Announcer Bob Stanton again proved that he's mastered the tech- nique of sportscastlng for video: He never clutters up the airlanes willi too wordy a description, letting the visual aspects of television take care of that and merely Ailing in the high points. During the several instances when the screen went blank because of technical difficulties, however, he was righl there to dish out the radio form of a play-by-plav account. -■* Stnl. "TIE THIS" With Bill Slater, liny Clark Producer-director: Bos Loewl • ** mini., Wednesday (SSI, B p.m. HFN PULITZER TIES WARD-DnMont Radio formats which have visual possibilities have a natural fascina- tion for television producers, and the result has been a rash of and parlici- pat\on shows for video. Some, as in this case, have brought a new twist: others have been lifted direct- ly from radio-title, cast, and all. There is a big difficulty as vet unsolved with video participation shows, one which rises out of the medium itself, and it was evident in this program. Because listeners cant see the radio studio, there is no distraction in having contestants ready to go on the air in quick order. It, television, on the other "and, none but the immediate -par-, ticipanls can be close to the mike without detracting attention. Result is too much "dead time" in the latter medium between contest gimmicks. Pulitzer show- opens with flickers of sporting events, all races of one .i" ,o r an °ther. then segues into me Wanamaker studio and to Bill ?iater. who begins the contests. First is between three who are.designated as motorcycle hill-climbers. Picture then changes to actual shots of such ■ contest, with each studio partici- pant having a counterpart in the motion pix. : Others are bow-lie lieing contest, lore-in-hand tie race, which will uecome a regular program feature with records kept on time (57 sees, thw shot); blind fold pie-eating con- test, with participants feeding each other; chariot race with a repeat on the flicker gimmick: and a Holly- wood horse race. Concerning soirte or the twists, Slater said. "This'll set television back 50 years." tiny Clark, emcee at the Village Marn,< directed a Virginia Reel as well as the horse race. As wild anv Potpourri, some of the show was good video, some very bad.'and most Jusi so-so. Why adult radio and video aud-participationers insist noon reverting to "pin-the-lriil nn- llu'-donkey" type of children';, ■con- tests- is a puzzle and probably will be lor some time'to 'come. J'omm. 'ANGELS DONT MARRY* With Grace Carney, David Durglen. Jane Hoffman From play by Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements Producer: Bob Loewl Director: Tony Farrar Set: Bab Bright 30 Mlns.; Friday (24), 9 p.m. Sustaining WABD-DuMont, N. T. .Teeoff in this show of the first television stock company was an- other example of a good idea gone wrong through spotty production and direction. Bob Locwi and Tony Farrai dyerve credit for 'having been farsigh.ted enough to realize that their Television Repertory Play- ers, and other such groups will be of definite value to video, but they'll have to stage better shows than this ir they don't want to see their idea go out the window. Conceived with the intention of slicing production costs through the use of a group of actors accustomed to working in the same studio and with the same crew of technicians week after week, the repertory players company is open to new- comers; as well as established writ- ers, directors and actors from other branches of show biz. Group is slated to head for Massachusetts within the next couple of weeks for- a season of summer stock, in which they'll brush up for their studio work in the fall and also offer in- struction in television to Other straw- hat thespcrs. Idea, admittedly, is a very good one and should pay off. With the static quality embodied in "Angels Don't Marry," however, it looks as though this group needs plenty of brushing. • Basic fault, probably, was that the script, wasn't Miited lo video. Comprising a bunch of cliches that reached the saturation point long before the final fadeoul. the show could have been done iusf as easily on radio, without the sieht qualities embodied in tclevis'on Camera work. too. followed the same sialic pattern. Loewi tried several times to inject some variation into the shot.-! willi such obvious chican- ery as closeups taken through a mir- ror, etc.. but none had any function. Cast did . an acceptable job. but was never outstanding. Grace Car- ney, with- several Broadway shows behind her, was too whining as the divorcee to have much appeal. David Durslon. also a Broadway veteran was a little, better as her estranged husband: Jane Hoffman tried hard as the hotel keeper, but. in her case, the scriut was loo much for her. Bob Blight's single set was good. ; S'<il. "LET'S PLAT REPORTER" Wllh France* Scott Producer: HarveV Marlowe 30 Mins.: Than. (23) Sustaining WABD-ABC; N. T. With polishing up and more at- tention paid to visual factors, this jhow. spotted by ABC for a three- week slay, could emerge witli an and participation formula suitable for television. A variation on parlor game memory tests, show has clear possibilities for spontaneity and; humor in the studio together with listener-involvement in the proceed- ings. As is. however, it rates as a loosely knit and over-gabby session with less than mediocre video en- tertainment value. Technically, the program offers no unique lensiug problems to be overcome. Program setup has Frances Scott playing city editor to a group of cub reporters selected from studio visi- tors. Each reporter is drawn into some queer situation which he must i-plale back with, nccuracyof percep- tion and memory. Participants on the Initial stanza were shotgunned inlo mock weddings, portrayed vari- ous emotions preliminary lo a screen test: piiich-hilted for a sound effects machine, and similar zany situations. Like all shows of Ihis type, pro- gram' depends heavily upon the finesse of the emcee and the calibre of the and participants. . Latter on the first show were.not a very hep group and many chances for laughs turned into awkward duds. As emcee. Scott is overstocked with cliches, corny gags and puns which seriously detract from an otherwise pleasant personality. Tele FoUowop mat. Consequently, he decided to forego his video preein until some- time in the future. Even without Trenet, however. Thursday's show was undoubtedly the best since the new series be- gan. J. Walter Thompson produc- tion staff seems to be learning the video techniques very rapidly. Nu- merous acts were tied together in fine fashion by filmstar Helen Par- rish; the Chase Si Sanborn commer- cials were shorter and much easier to take, and the entire program progressed in.rapid tempo to a satis- factory conclusion. Ben Lahr. doing his w.k. "Wood- chopper" routine to the -accompani- ment of three off-stage harmonicas' (who aren't AFM musicians and thus aren't included in the ban i easilv stole the show. Merry Macs. too. were good, providing the right video touches to the songs they've popu- larized via records. Seems as though all a guy has to do to become an actor, these days is to mix with the show biz crowd at Tools Shor's emporium. Toots him- selr proved this point last Thursday 123) night when he appeared as guestar on "See What You Knok." quiz feature on WCBW (CBS. N. Y.l. Competing for top honors along with other guestars—Margie Hart. Fran- cis Lederer and Bennett Ccrf,- em- cee— the affable restaurateur did a solid job of grand larceny by walking away with all acting laurels. Of course. Miss Hart copped the Victory Bond, given as. first prize. Shor. however, has always claimed that he won fame through his beauty and not his brains. Show itself was one of the best televised by the CBS station to dale. With a format similar to that of •"Information. Please." the program featured the same sort of ad lib cracks that make the radio show one of the better quiz programs, on the air. CBS production staff lined up some gags and gimmicks especially suited to television and Cerf kept the. participants going through their paces in fine style. •. Frannv Bus.-; handled the directorial reins. ' Transcription Review Radio Reviews "MURDER AT MIDNIGHT" ("The Dead Hand") . Wllh Berry Kroeger, Betty Cain*. Barry Hopkins, Frank Readick; Raymond Morgan, announcer Writer: Robert Newman Producer: Loots G. Cowan. Inc. Director: Anton . M. Leader Music: Charles Paul (World Broadcasting) For anyone interested hi slotting a half hour of. cold chills and creeps, this series is it; Produced by Louis G. Cowan's office as the first of this outfit's platter shows, it's been given high-budget treatment in every de- partment. Starling from the script. Cowan has enrolled a stable of top writers and gives them a percentage cut on the sales as added incentive. And judging by the teeoff show. "The Dead Hand," the writers have let themselves go plenty. Add to a hep scripting job. the keen casting and tight direction of.Tony Leader, and Haver with the pianistics and organ work of Charles Paul—and you've got a show of network quality. Only, according to World Broadcast- ing System, which acts, as sales dis- trib. the tariff is somewhat less than web rate. Newman's story for "Hand" con- cerns itself with a great piaiiist gone mad. When the musician loses his left hand in an auto accident, he kills a retired pickpocket and tries to force a surgeon to graft the dead man's hand onto his owj» wrist. What follows is exciting enough to satisfy the most ardent member of radio's crime club. There's other good creeper stuff on the air, but little that beats this waxed series. Cnrs. ■ BEATRICE KAY. SHOW With Beatrice Kay, Peter Lind Hayes, Lon Clark, Elm City Four; Jay Jackson, announcer Writers: Howard Merrill and Hayes Producer-Director: Herb Polesie Mnslc: Sylvan Levin aud Or eh 30 Mlns.; Thurs., !• p.m. WOR-Mutual. N Y. . WOR. N. Y., last Thursday (23) presented Beatrice Kay. the "Gay Nineties" satirist, in a show built around her that was quite a con- glomeration, to say the least. Show was -a hodge-podge of song, sketch, comedy, impersonation and mimicry, and as a package, definitely didn't come off. The lady's quite consid- erable talents shone through here and there, to su\'nest that when writers-producer had her person- ality and versatility channeled right, they'd have something. As it was, the premiere program, except in iso- lated spots, lacked class and sparkle. It was rowdy without being funny. Format of the show centered about a theatrical school, with Miss Kay and Peter Lind Hayes as teachers, breaking into their routine every so often to show their pupils how it's done. It was neither original nor clever. , Scripting at times wasn't much better. Miss Kay. as emcee, opened the show with some feeble gags. Then she went into her act. as. singer, as mimic, as dialect mon- ologist. In latter bit she wasn't bad. and in a character song she was good. And at tag end of-show, when she sang "Shoo Fly Pie." the lady was very good indeed, showing what she 'realty can do. Miss Kay's stage mannerisms, her. facial and body gestures, the general air about her. were missing in large measure over the ether. The studio audience, by the way. seemed to be having a whale of a time., running quite counter to WOR's policy of playing down visual shows and giv- ing them back to the home audi- ences. Undoubtedly Miss Kay was turning, it on for the guests, but it must have left the aural audience a bit puzzled and envious. Hayes, also presenting an assort- ment as impersonator, actor, singer, didn't rise above the level of rou- tine. The gags he pulled were pale, and the impersonations by now a little dated, and dished up with no particular showmanship. The Elm City Four handled its. brief. chores capably, and orchestral accompani- ment under Sylvan Levin had au- thority and finish. But show, as a whole, flubbed.' Broii. "TnAT'S LIFE" i'With .lay C. Flippen, emcee; William I Bendix, guest; Jay ..Stewart, : an- nouncer Producer: Howard Blake Director: Harry Koplan .".» Mlns.; Thnrs., 10:30 p.m. SlLSUiDlllg WAKC-CBS, N. Y. CUS apparently is out lo corner the. market on audience pariiciDa- tion shows, as witness the iNilcs T. Giiinlund show from Hollywood Gardens, the "Cinderella" opus, and now this Jay C. Flippen-cmceed show from the Coast, which bowed in last Thursday t2.'li in the 10 :10 p.m. slot. They're all part of the revamped CBS programming aoer-. ation being major-domoett ,bv kiss Man William Paley and .program veepee Davidson Taylor. To cin> the triumvirate, this oi:c goes all out in its invitation to audience partici- pants. There were probably 30 peo- ple called up to the mil;.- on the initial program, with a rapidity cal- culated to leave the listener breath- less. The trouble is the listener was left with the impression that the bovs who wnipped the show 'together couldn't quite make up their minds what to get breathless about—with the result that they threw the book ut the audience. The multiple cate- gories which span the gamut from moppcts-with-a-peeve to newlvweds' mistakes, instead of achieving diver- sity, only tended to create an atmo- sphere of desperation. In efTect, what CBS has done is to turn the m.kc over to anyone who wants to gel on the air, with Flippen on fund as ringmaster with a sfop'-vvalch to koco the belt line moving. ,«Ti? is one goes way back to the 19.10s. Cloaking it in an aud pav- ticipalicn format is an easv way t>i\t, for it saves the trouble of creating ideas or vesting it with' writing-oro-' duction prowess. Capitalizing' on ;>asic psychology. CBS provides both (he show and its aucVcnce bv play- ing on people's normal ego. and the temptation to laugh al another* weakness. To resort to such pro- gramming is to acknowledge that this is all that radio has to offer. _ Certainly, somewhere aloin- the line CBS vt-ill have to show m..re courage and daring. Rose. James C. Petrlllo'a ban on the use of live musicians in television en- tered the scene' again last Thurs- day (23V night, when Chaiies Ti e- net, recent French importation now singing at the Embassy! N. Y.. de- cided to postpone his scheduled video bow oil the "Hour Glass" show, sponsored by Standard Brands over WNBT (NBC. N. Y. i. Without live musicians, singers on the show are forced to use their recordings. . while they move their lips in synchronization. Trenet hasn't made aiiy recording. 1 ) since lie'ar- rived in the U. S. and decided that the pressings he'd made in Fr;i:uv weren't suited lo .the variety Jor- "STAR SHOWS" ("Music by Martin") Freddie Martin's arch (20). with King's Men (41. Gene Conklln. Jack Flna Writer: Adeline Hanson Producer-Director: Jack Richardson IS Mini. Co-Op 75 Stations (Standard Radio) This new package is a commer- cialization of the outstanding Fred- die Martin features in Standard Radio's library service.-. Outnt has tied the songs together with speci- ally written, commercially slanted scripts .for individual bankrollers. together with publicity and mer- chandising tie-ins. latter including newspaper ad mats, counter card material. publicity stories and photos. It's all a suner-smarl e.t. deal. ■Standard is plugging the shows on the basis of three-a-weck.. There are 1S8 in'all—and all Martin, with occasional "guestar" shots by the King's Men. They're yclept ''Star Shows." and the Martin fornial. ap- parently successful in view of the number of .stations already on the dotted line, is also being applied, to other orchs rnd perfonnevs in. the Standard stable. Shnv heard was typical Muli'- — complete willi Jack F : i"i'> ii• •«- 88ing (Continued on page "PACKHAM INN" with Bill Paekham, lleno Woodi, Fred Caliper, Four Vagabonds, others Writer-Director: Bill Paekham Producer: Lon Perkins ' Music: Rex Maupln'j orieh 30 Mins.: Tan., 8:30 p.m. Sustaining WLS-ABC, Chicago One of the few pleasant things that can be said for this new show is that llene Woods chirps a couple of songs and does it very nicely. Designed as a variety show the format calls for a combination of situation comedy and gag lines with Fred Casper, the announcer, and star Bill Paekham doing the latter, with the entire cast joining in two skits. "Men in Grey" and "Scene in a Secretary's Office." . Pace of the show was.slow and timing was way off. Mest of the gags fell flat and with the excep- tion of one person in the studio and who evidently wasn't' too hard to please, the response from those watching the show was poor, adding a further deadening effect on the air aud. Paekham. who had a good deal of success writing for Garry Moore and "Club Matinee" doesn't have the voice or the delivery for an airways comic. Very possible that the same script, in the hands of an experienced comedian would take. Besides Miss Wood, who sings "Laughing on . the Outside." the Four Vagabonds add life to the show with "Tumblin" Tu'mbleweed." Rex Maupin's orch backs the show with a steady hand. Foos. CBS TALENT GROUP With Wayne Mono, Carolvn Bonh- nlck, Lynn Thyras, Marion Ellinrer. Claude Rust, Pat Sldari. Marlon Lexandrovltcb. Seymour Korn, David Menkes, Albert Lester, Olga McKnlght Director: Charles Polacheck Writer: Richard Jennings 30 Mins. Thurs, 9:30 p.m. Sustaining . WNYC, N. T. This group of amateurs oiiginallv banded together when all were CBS while collar employees, and have stuck together despite the fact that most of them have shifted to other jobs. They have the idea that since they're not dependent upon radio acting, writing or directing ror a livelihood, they can afford .to go into untrodden, experimental paths, and thus may.hit upon something over- looked by the pros. Such experimen- tation is quite desirable in I he field and one hit will compensate Tor many misses. As tyros they do re- markably well in the acting field. Direction and writing, as in most ventures of this type, is below the par of the performances. Venture heard was a Richard Jen- nings writing effort "George Can't Do It" containing the laudable mes- sage of having every citizen do his own work instead of thrusting it upon I he mythical character named George. Unfortunately, script was wordy .and actionless. and satire of the situation failed to come off. However, performers seemed to have an awareness of the medium. ' They performed with good interpre- tations, and' read with excellent phrasing. Perrormers might have done belter ir they worked on a normal evening. The railroad strike threw Die station inlo an alert Thursday f2:{» night. Group went on 10 minutes earlier . than originally scheduled., a sikia- I ion which is rough even on pro .pel-formers. Jose. "CONNECTICUT FORUM OF THE AIR" With Ralph Delia Selva 30 Mlns.. Fri., g p.m. Sustaining WICC, Bridgeport: WONS, Hartford This series of . weekly round table discussions on current and. contem- porary problems rates high ac- colades for its timely presentations of pro.; and cons of controversial issues. Ralph Delhi Selva not only as moderator but also as producers weaves together a highly educational format. Personalities, presented, as a rule, are deep thinking and submit authentic evidence of the reasons for. their convictions. Subject mat- ter and presentation of same is on high intellectual plane. Usually lour participants, two oh each Bide of fence, plus Delia Selva make up forum. Elhering heard was round table patter on railroad strike. Eck. "THE WISHING WELL" Wllh Nancy Mays. Jack Foster IS Mlnj.; Mod., Wed., and Frldav, 10:13 a.m. wOlff * Marx co. WOAI. San Antonio t ''Wishing will make it so." but. it' far from makes this program which adds nothing to radio fare: This is- the first regular program by . the sponsor, a local department store which has a good basis hut lacks showmanship and production, i Listeners are invited to write a ' description in 40 words or less, of some item that'is found in.lhe store i up to $35 in value. Each week ona j letter will be selected and that per- son's wish will come true.. Possibly the item that they have described in the letter. Idea is there but program features transcribed music and: fashion notes, ■lashes on hard to get items by i Nancy Mays, personal shooper of the store. It only tells shout the . (Continued on page 42)