Variety (Jan 1948)

WtdmuaMT, Jmuaj 14, 1949 SUSPENSE. : (•'The BI»ok Curtain") with Bobert wmtmsBitxy, Jfoscfh K«»riis. l4iuwtt» TtttUr. Cathy Lewi*, Sld*ey .Miller, CohmA Bfu- yon, Jscic IbmvebeB, Bill Conrwi, jerry lUuiner, Paul Frees, Ira (}rossel, Junius Mattbews, Jean^ nette Nolan; Bob Stevenson, an- nouncer; Lucian Moraweek, eom- ttoser; Lud Gluskin, conductor : prodwier-director: William Spier Writer: Cornell Woolrich . . 65 Mind.; Sat., 8 p.m. (EST) SustainiBff CBS, from Hollywood With .the end of , the spon.sorship of its "Suspense" series, CBS has expanded the show from a hall-hour to 56 minutes and put it, into the 8-8:55 spot (EST) Saturday nights. It has also made the thriller a star vehicle, with jpiobert Montgomery slated to play most of the lecCds, but occasionauy a supporting role. The ifiove may be a profitable one, but naturally the result will depend pri- mttrily on scripts, production, per- formances, etc. Also, there may be the little matter of finding a bank- roller for the higher talent and time costs, particularly for Saturday night. For the premiere edition of the new seiries Jan. 3, the script was "The Black Curtain," a more or less standard yarn of its type, and one preiSjented twice previously on the ^Suspense" show, as a half-hour. The Cornell Woolrich yarn, which Paramount filmed in 1942 under the title of "Street of Chance," with Burgess Meredith, Claire Trevor and Louise Piatt, uses the familiar de- vice of an amnesia victim whose mind suddenly clears and who.then £ia$' to - resolve his mysterious and jtinistec pasti ' It's a good story- (it almost always Is, provided the author knows his melodrama). But in this instance the' expanded version, instead of strengthening characterizations and allowmg greater dimension, seemed merely to pad out the 30-minute action, without clarifying all the plot angles. It had tension and fair^at- ' mosphere/ but not in the degree it might have. . Some phases of the adaptationv possibly necessary for half-hour length, seemed pointless in the long- er form.. For instance, the char- acter of the old paralytic, changed from a woman to a man for the 30'- minute show, might preferably have .been revised again- as originally written. Similarly, the character of the hero's wife^ eliminated in .he half-boui' script, might have been restored. Alsov the use of narration and spoken-thought, doubtless nec- essary in the short version, .seemed artificial and illusion-shattering in this instance. . All of which suggests that, instead of making a new adaptation of the • original yarn, the network simply wrote extra lines into the old 30- minute script. It also suggests that the scripter of the radio version was not Woolrich (the original au- thor) himself, but possibly some freelancer who may have sold the 30-minute adaptation outright and therefore received no air credit (or publicity mentipn)- for this broad- cast. The production was generally sldllful, though a trifle-uneven, but producerrdirector William i Spier's breathless (his frank admission of tl!.e fact made it no less so) thaok- you curtain spiel seemed a trifl? affected for a cue-tosser of hi.s stand- . i»g; Montgomery's performance was nioely varied and had dramatic punch for the big scenes. Lurene Tuttle was notable as. his girl and the numerous others (including vari- ous doubles) seemed competent. The music was distinctly helpful. Hobc. mVOBCE With Dr. and Mrs; Eui^ene Link, Bar- bara Peters, Bill Jones. Jim Uer- rick, Richard Woelhaaf, Bob f etre Producer: Charles Boberts Director: Clayton Bi-ace Writer: John Connors Music: Arthur Gow lii Mins.; Wed., 7:30 p.m. Sustaining KliZ, Denver .Swinging with both fists, local CBS affiliate has opened up peak commercial time for a dramatic diagno.sis ol the causes of Denver's most critical social problem. City-s divorce count is one of the highest ™""^''y. being 51% of ttie annual marriage rate. Pornnat is a lO-minitte truc-to-life dramatization of an ordinary mar- riage hitting the rocks followed bv a dialpg between Marriage Coun- sellor.<! Dr and Mrs. Eugene Link of Denver University. Session caught was radio history of some sort, fv?'"^ ^he tale of a wife who went through repeated abortions at hus- band s behest finally being driven lay guilt psychosis to an alcoholic sanatorium, thence to the divorce court. No words were minced, and t"e act was chillingly real. Other chapters in the 13-week session take up less dramatic but nonethcles.s critical problems of rc- ngipus and racial differences, in-law trouble, economic worries, etc. Production getting specialist at- tention from station gang, with no effort being .spared to squeeze big- tiine handling out of Denver'.^ run Of the mine performers and scripters. Show has won plaudits from civic organizations of all sorts, with local Catholics loud in praise of adult handling of touchy matter. Will. hahio iiBvicw$i ADVENTURES OF THE FALCON Witb Xes Tremayn*, Elspeth Erie, Bob Readick, Roger DeKoven, Walter VauKhn, Don MeLaigblin, Maiiilel Kramer; BnjNi Dunbar, an- .Bounoer; Emerson Bnekley, uusle Producer: Bernard L. Schubert Director: Richard Lewis Writer: Gene Wan£ « 30 Mins.; Mon„ 8 p.m, SustalniuK MBS,. from New York You can't keep a good private-eye down, Mike Waring, the character the cops and crooks all know as "the Falcon" (which is spoken with certain awe), is back on Mutual. He's done a relatively good job for past bankroUers and the web hopes, to snare another one. The voice of the Falcon hasn!t changed, either. Again it's Les Tremayne, who does "a stock job as the private eye who isn't cowled for a second, mind you, by those tough monkeys; who is ever cleverer than the flatfoots, and' who knows better than to get tangled up with wimmin. In his first "gay, exciting adventure" (as the stanza is chronicled!) ol the new serie.s, last week (5), the Falcon was called upon to unravel a meager four ' homicides—well, really, three, since Waring and .a police looey mowed down the fourth one in self defense. One death was by shoot- ing, another by beating, and the third by strangling. Nice variety. In the windup, Waring plants a pleasant thought in the minds of unhappily married listeners. Asked if he's ever thought of settling down, the Fal- con cracks: "Not for me. That mar» riage stuff is strictly murder!" The characters throughout are stock, the villainess in the sequence caught sounding at moments ^ust like Mae West, one of the males being a Charles Boyer type. Dialog is sprinkled with the usual mystery story similes, i.e., "hot as a $2 pistol," etc. General production is par, sound effects and bridges a Ifttle better iibisn. Overall, as crime airers go, "Fal- con" is perhaps closer to the best in the field than to the worst. The listeners it had before—and they were among the most numerous on Mutual's roster, by Hooper's coimt— should come dialing back. Doan. THE CRIPPLEB With Raymond Massey, Butch Carell, Joan Lazer, Ethel Everett, Joe De : Santis, Charlotte Holland, . Joe Conway, Judith Lockser, Dickie Leone, Raymond Edward Johnson, Rosemary Bice, Hester Sonder- gaard, Alan Shay; Don Baker an- nouncer; Harry Salter, conductor Producer>director: Jolin Becker Writer: Allan; Sloane 30 Ming.; Sat. (3), 10:30 p.m. .Snstalnins' CBS, from New York This single-time public service .show was broadcast Jan. 3 by CBS for the National Foundation 'for In- fantile Paralysis. It was notable for two primary rea.sons. One was an excellent script by Allan Sloane. The other was a brilliant perform- ance by Raymond Massey. Sloane's script used the ingenious device of personifying poliomyelitis as a friendly, cheery old codger who delights in traveling about "touch- ilg" little children (and occasionally adults) and leaving them crippled and deformed. With obvious pride, he explained the extent of " his "work," how medical science, still knows onlV what he does to his victims but nothing of how he does it, and how the disease is steadily growing. It gave the facts a sinister listenability, particularly as played by Massey. At the climax, jpf course, after sneering at the efforts of medical research to track him down, the old geezer, finally confessed his growing panic at the magnitude of the re- sources being organized against him. Massey also came out of character at the clo.se (which was a'DSoluteJy necessary, lest any late tunets-in might have misunderstood the idea of the dramatization) to deliver a stirring spiel for contributions to the National Foundation's annual March of Dim'is. As entertainment and regardless of its value as public education, it was an exQeptional program. Hobe. TEXACO STAB THEATRE With Gordon MacBae, Evelyn Knight; Victor Young, eondnetor; Jamss .Wallington, announcer . Producer: Ed Cashman 30 Mins.; Sun,, 9:30'p.m. TEXAS CO. CBS, out of Hollywood (Kttdner) The events surrounding this quick- ly composed program may have a sequel to which the old wheeze'about an ill wind could aptly be applied. Texaco found, after it had decided, to move its Tony Martin show to the ABC spot following Bing Cros- by's, that there was no alternative but to fill in the remaining span of the current 13-week cycle on CBS with another program.: Gordon Mac- Rae, who happened to be in Holly- wood on a Warner Bros, pact, was hurriedly recruited and arrange- ments were made for Evelyn Knight to double from the Martin stanza. On the,.Jsasis of the reaction to Mac- Rae's in'iti^i broadcast ,(4) it got from within: its own organization Texaco is iVo'w talking of installing tlie baritone in the ABC niche when Martin's contract expires. The substitute show turned out to be as polisihed and professional a job as could be expected of a radio bill of this stripe. Without taking anything away, from MacBae's per> formance, the Concomitant factors were laid pretty much his way. Al- ternating and dovetailing with him on the vocals was, a handy and re- freshing mike personality, the same Miss Knight. In command of the orchestra was Victor Knight, tops in his field, while the over-all di- rection reposed in the exceptionally, capable hands of Ed Cashman. ■: MacRae has been rapidly on the rise since he elected to bow out of his CBS contract in the fall of '46. Since, then he's had several com- mercials, the Teentimers show (NBC) and as summer replacement for Fannie Brice among them, and latched himself to the Capitrfl Record and a film contract. In that time MacRae has: taken on considerable in dividuality in his style of singing, keeping his tones down in the lower register more than he used to, and ■striving for warmth of expression instead of brittle vocal trick.s. MacRae's latterly swing to low- down sentimental refrains was re- flected in his choice of solos on this occasion. The only time that he didn't seem to have his best foot forward was when the program posed him in a Rodgers-Hammer- stein duet with Miss Knight. She sang "em low and MacRae, low, and the output was not in his favnr. Miss Knight glittered with her customary versatility on • her own solos, whether current pop or an old folk ballad. They don't come more relaxed around the mike than this mistress of heart output and style. Odec. SIR CHARLES THE STUDIO CAT With Myron Barg. Director: James Glass. Writers: Myron Barg, Bob Edell 15 Mins., Mon.-thrn-Frl., 4:45 p.m. LIVINGSTON'S DEPT. STORE WJBC, Bloomington, III. \For the last eight years this pro- gram has been the answer to the parents and school groups that rant and rave about gut-and-thundcr serials. While the pitch is to the age bracket of four to twelve, Barg makes no attempt to talk down to his audience and keeps away from the saccharine, "let's all be bud- dies" appeal. While disk jockeys to the juvenile trade are of a more recent vintage, this stanza has been paying off for eight years under the .same sponsor^ a kiddie wear section of a department store. Myron Barg and his alter-voices, Charley the cat, Squeaky the mouse, and "Mr. Know It AU-Goofus." pitcli fairy tale.s in the modern idiom along with stories about safety, cleanliness and educational themes. Barg as Uncle Mike uses his fictitious members as targets for his questionings and also to read the commercials, whteh- add zest to the sales spiel. Zabe. GALEN DRAKE Director: Doug McNamee 60 Mins.; Mon. thru Fri., 11:30 p.m. Partic'pating WCBS, N. Y. As far as New York dial-twisters are concerned, Galen Drake, local mouthpiece for the now CBS-owned Housewives Protective League, rates as Mr. Ubiquity himself. Until last Monday (5^ he had already been there to greet 'em twice a day; once, out of WJZ. as bellringer for Kel- logg's (ABC > and then, again over WCBS, carrying the sales torch for sundry participants. Judging from the way Drake's two initial broadcasts of this series .seemed to settle in with the mood of the late hour,., this bedtime idea could emerge as one of CBS' more solid experiments. It could be the precursor of a new paydirt trend in metropolitan radio. The pattern of this hour's session differs from' his daytime chatterfests in but one departure; he bridges liis aphorisms, anecdotes and philo- sophical persiflage with phonograph records. The opening night Drake confined these interludes to Andre Ko.stelanetz. On the following oc> casion Burl Ives and Jo Stafford platters were among the musical repertoire. Drake would do his program, and perhaps many of his listeners, a favor if he laid off. his repeated avowals about not being a disk jock- ey. To begin with, his harping on this point has an air of snobbery about it. Secondly, he could credit his listeners with enough intelligence when ij, comes to distinguishing be- tween the types of personalities who make record playing part of their act, It is also possible that the disavowal drives away mXSte listeners than it attracts. Drake and his WCBS ad- vi.sers may recall that WQXR. of the same town, has built itself quite a cla.ss audience sheerly through the record route. For his first week of the series Drake was half sold out with four product.s. If the rates are kept at the same exprimental level for a while, the station should have no difficulty in loading up the hour, and keeping it loaded. WCBS built : up its early morning audience with a ! friendly, informal personality, namel 1 ly Arthur Godfrey, and it figures : that the same result might be I achieved on the other end of the 1 day's schedule with a similar type I of presentation. The Station will undoubtedly find it was all worth I the try, : ; OdeCi METROPOLITAN OPEBA AUDI- TIONS OF THE AIR With Anne McKnight, Robert Bern- auer, Wilfred Pelletier and orch; Milton Cross announcer Producer: Tevis Huhn Wrlter-d'rector: Brent Guuts 30 Mins.; Sun,, 4:S9 p.m. FARNSWObTH CORP. ABC, from New York (.Wavlinck & Legler) The Met auditions, beginning their 11th year on the air, are still a highly commercial package. Every- body's interested' in music, in the Met, in success stories of struggling- student-makes-goodj and in a prize- winning contest. The Met airer should be a good program, and it still is. By the same token, is it also still the same program, and by now, needs just a'little fresh showman- ship or hypo to keep it from being a'little okl-hat. Season's opener (4) had the usual two aspirants, both good singer.s and excellent Met pros- pects. It had announcer Milton Cross ferreting out a few signal points in their biographies, in a smug manner, .so that the trite dia- log between the two parties sounded pretty stuffy. Even the commercial sounded corny. On the credit side, which was con- siderable, was some fine music, Anne McKnight, who cang as Musetta in Arturo Toscanini's concert perform- ance of "La Boheme" with the NBC Symphony two seasons ago, did an: aria from "Ernani" and Hageman's "Mirand.a" in an attractive, if some- what shrill soprano. Robert Bern- auer, now in the chorus of the Broadway musical,- '^Allegro," and aspiring to be a "heldentenor," sang the Forging Scene from "Siegfried" most resonantly, adding "Cycle of Life" a.s encore. Two concluded with duet from "Andre Chenier," while Wilfred Pelletier and his orchestra furnished fine a ce o m p a n i m e n t throughout the program, Program had a couple of interest- ing sidelights, such as the sugges- tion of the increasing tie between Broadway and longhair in Bernauer's case, and the interesting fact that sponsor Farnsworth (which makes tele equipment as well as radio) 'strewed tele so much in-its com- mercials. Radio was plugging tele. Bron. ALAN COURTNEY SHOW With Roy Ross orch, Marilyn Towqe 30 Mins.; Mon.-thru-Sat., 13 (noon) WNEW, N. Y. , . In what may be termed a "come- back" on "an alma mater. Alan Courtney is back with a. half-hour show in the noon slot of WNEW, N. Y. The whilom disk jockey ^and former emcee is doing a "manybites- dog"' by fronting a live show. It's currently a sustainer. Courtney's noontime formula is'an innocuous combination of Roy Ross' band, his own flip emceeing plus the warbling contribs of a femme guest vocalist, Marilyn Towne, While pro- claimed as a "new idea" in program- ming, the ingredients still adhere to the old basic prescription of music, a little patter and an occasional song. Show, according to Courtney, is designed to "cheer up peojile who need cheering." As such his tonic embraced Miss Towne's fair piping of "All olMe" and "So Far," a corny community sing arrangement of "Four Leaf Clover'' as well as a Latino number by Ross' crew. Absent from the local airlanes for more than a year, hLs hiatus pro- voked beaucoup nostalgia on the opener with Courtney recalling the days circa 1934-'37 when he piloted a platter show on virtually the same hour on the same station. Courtney undoubtedly has a ready- made audience built up in the past 15 years while appearing in varied stints on most of Gotham's better indies. On the basis of his latest show, he should enjoy a modicum of success with his former listeners as well as snaring a fair amount of the mid-day haus fraus. .Gilb. |FoIIow-up Comment| Fred Allen added another standout item Sunday (ll)-^his second show under the Ford Dealers' banner—rto his album of parodies. With'"Fin- ian's Rainbow." serving as the source and inspiration, it was topical spoofing that crackled with belly- laughs. The level of the wit and imagery was comparable to Allen's Gilbert & Sullivan takeoffs. Allen's lyrics, dressed in Irish dialect, clothed more than one clever barb, with the funniest of these making a target of James C. Petrillo and his ban on recordings.. Much of the credit for the highpowcrcd results of the bit is due the solidly talttited Shirley Booth. She caught the spirit of the thing from the teeoff ancl car- ried it through with shrewd troup- ing. Half-pint Bobby White chimed in effectively on the dialog and did well by himself with a tenoired re- frain of "I'll Take You Back Kath- leen." All in all a musical comedy passage well worth repealing. Allen!s> new checksigner can claim one 4»stet which was not the privi- lege of Standard Brands. The comic himself dishes the commercial Copy. It's adroitly comiiounded and 'woven into the half houTi DANNY THOMAS SHOW With Elliott Danielfi and All-Gill Orch; Hans Coweid; Ben Gag% announcer Writers: Al, Sherwood Schtvartc Producer: Sam Fuller 25 Mins.; Fri., 8:30 p-m, GENERAL FOODS CBS, from Hollywood {.Young & Rubicam) In the reshuffle of CBS' Friday night, programming schedule, Danny Thomas now occupies the 8:30-8:55 period for Sanka Coffee (General Foods) as replacement for the "Thin Man," And the newest attempt to project Thomas as a radio personality (a couple of years back he did a season's stretch on the Fanny Brice show), points up anew the problem of bow' best to utilize pne of the genuln? nitery comic talents of our day for the non-visual medium. If the present Danny Thomas Show is not the answer,"and certainly the fault can't be laid to the Al and Sherwood Schwartz scripting con- tribution, it raises the que.stion of whether the typo of comedy ox^ emplified by Thomas can ever be integrated into the radio pattern. Pretty much the same situation applies to Thomas as it did a few seasons back to Danny Kaye, one of the major radio comedy flops of the past decade. Their particular, type of buffoonery grows Out of a sus- tained mood. Let Thomas feel his way on a nitcry floor for 20 minutes, or a half-hour and eventually he's got the audience where he wants it. Like Kaye, it's a combination, too, of visual antics plus material that creates the Thomas personality. But the necessity of starting from scratch weekly, with interruptions every few minutes from other component parts of a radio show that tend to completely destroy the mood, throws the peculiar type of. Thomas zany-, ism out of focus. Little wonder, then, that his usually sock *(on a. nitery floor) Toledo alma mater song, with its hilarious Uncle John and the rhubarb patch bit, didn't come off on the air. And this iss one of the high points among Thomas standards! It was obvious, too, on the second broadcast heard (9>:, that Thomas was trying too hard. Whereas the listener feels that a Benny, an Allen or a Hope are having an equally good time with the audience and are at ease before the mike, there was never the suggestion that Thomas was completely relaxed. • The comedian works with ajh, all-: girl orch and, in the words of Bobby Clark, "if Ihey aren't .good; they're loud." There's some byplay- with some of the gals and with Ben Gage, the announcer, suffered somewhat- from writer's cramp on show caught; Sanka commercials ate sold via the jingle technique, with Thomas giving a comedy assist. Rose. OF MEN AND BOOKS With Russell Maloney; Dan Mae* 'Donnell, announcer Writer: Russell Maloney Producer: Leon Levine 15 Mins.; Thurs,r6:15 p.m'. Sustaining CBS, from New York Here's reconteur - author- former New Yorker staffer Russell Maloney carrying on in his inimitable way (which is wholly delightful-) about a new book on the stalls. On his initialer last week (8) it was Boss' Lockridge, . Jr.'s new "Baintree? County." This week Maloney tackles another tome. If the two tries tick with CBS programmers, Maloney will be asked to stay around awhile, Let these cpmments be regarded as a vote to Keep Maloney On^ Radio could use quite a bit more adult fare of this type, and' there aren't many who can dish it, out more entertainingly than the wag- gish Maloney. He was halfway through his getaway critique befoi* you found out even what the plot and format of "Raintree County" were. But you didn't mind, con- sidering Maloney's New Yorkerish discourse on the impressive weight' of Lockridge's manuscript' (20 lbs,)' and finished book (2 lbs.). When he got to it, Maloney's description of the book's story Was lH>ib sufficient and amusing. Maloney seemed to tire in the stretch, as though be ,felt he'd said all that was pertinent and necessary, :; but had to pad out the; period. It's possible he might improve the pe- riod's pace and interest throughout by taking on a pair of books per program,, insert a gimmick or two, or tail off with a capsule review, or two. ■,Doon. FAREWELL TO USO With Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Jack Benny, Bob Hope, JBddie Cantor, Marlene Dietrich, 'Frances Lang- - ford, Danny Thomas, Tony Ro- mano, Dinah Shore, Andle Mur- phy Producer: Vick Knight (assistant, John Morris) 3« Mins.; Sun. (11), 4t3« p.m. EST Sustaining NBC, from Hollywood Ostensibly as fond adios to the USO, but more practically to launch the successor organiiation Veterans Haspital Camp Shows, Inc.', the NBC network broadcast this half-hour variety-tribute stanza Sunday after- noon (11). (WNBC, N. Y., wiU ait the show tonight (Wed.) at 6:StO,-l9 (Continued on page 38)