Variety (Mar 1949)

^^„ ^, March 30, 1949 f^S'^WJ-^wSl, Maurice "'The Striders, The Dun- 5SSf°'Fr.nk Fontaine, emcee MUton Douglas "."ffinl • Fri., 9 P-m. SotT^DBUG STORES MONT."«-oin New York .'Front Bow Center" is easygoing .Jon with a relaxed pace. On SJ^'^show caught (25; it provided '"li nleasant viewing, tlie most '*2S,Sr being the tele debat ffm Mtress Marilyn Maxwell. She chirped "Powder Your Face nmh Sunshine" with zest and put W,"^ "Why Doesn't It Happen to I S' with personality.- She's got i "hit TV takes. Emcee Frank Fontaine, comic and impersonator, had tlie studio .JnSiPhre with him most of the me-mmic was at his best doing he sweepstake winner routine. But he should get some fresh mate- rial-one of his gags was llie aged tele of the three turtles at a bar. In the dance department, the Dunhills. three tapsters pleased with a flashy number. The Strid- or! Negro male quartet, harmon- a fairly on "Sheik of Araby." Wraoping it up neatly was Maurice Hocco, standing at the Steinway and beating out a trio of tunes in boogie Woogie tempo. Keyboard acts can drag, but there was nothing static about Rocco's stint. Commercials and credits were presented palatably via ^drum Siajorets with placards. Batikroller also used two vidpic plugs, for Rayve hair set and Dr.. West tooth- brushes, intro-ing them with four- line verses. Bnl. TBLEVISIO?? REVIEWS 31 GHILDRENS' CREATIVE TIIl^A- TRE With Winifred Ward, Rita Cristc, students Producers: Judith Wallers Duane Bogie, Reinald Wcrrcnrath, Jr.. 30 Mins.; Thurs., 4 p.m, Susfainlne WNVQ, Chicago WNBQ's mobile unit peeps into the Evanston's Haven School stage where moppets aged nine to 14 put on creative playlets under the direction of Northwestern Univ. dramatic prof Winifred Ward. Plot outline is sketched by Rita Criste }o entire group. Volunteers then put on the act, using a minimum of props and no costumes. Show caught had youngsters staging ''The Shoemaker and the THE BILLY BEAN SHOW Wltjhi Arnold Stang, Billy Lou Watt, Harry Bellaver. Mort Stevens, Phil Tead Producer: Jeffrey Haydcn Director: Sean'Dillon Writer: George Loring 30 Mins., Tues., 9 p.m. Sustaining ABC-TV, from New York Arnold Stang, one of the top comedy stooges in radio, current- ly on the Henry Morgan and Milton Berle: shows, is given his video showcase in this new ABC half- hour situation comedy. But it does nothing either for Stang or for television. Stang follows the same pattern as his now standard Gerard radio characterization. But what goes for AM applies as well to this sight-and-sound projection of a comedian who can easily wear af- ter a few minutes.. Long before the half-hour, the program bogged down with an assortment of stock characters and situations, usually found in the milder B films. The fault is not wholly Stang's, for he was handicapped by a help- less cript. He's cast as a soda* jerker at the corner drugstore who is in love with the boss' daughter who, in turn, is nuts about psy- chology and split personalities. The initial installment degenerated into some byplay about wrong size hats. All of which gives Stang a schizophrenia fixation which ties right in with the gal friend's pho- bia.. ■ Maybe this idea could be funny, but it just came across as some- thing silly. Unfortunately, there was a self-consciousness about all the performers, as though every- one was cueing' his lines and ac- tions to keep apace of the cameras instead of letting the cameras pick up their pace. It slowed the whole thing down to a walk." Rose. Leprechaun," which tells the-fairy stoi-y of how the leprechaun takes over the cobbler's shop and dishes out rewards to good people and punishments to bad ones; These fresh-faced tykes really throw themselves into the act with almost complete unawareness of the camera. Show is undoubtedly a tribute to charm and talent of Misses Ward and Criste. Kids show exceptional stage presence, including ability to think out the plot as it proceeds.. Camera work Is effective. SHOW BUSINESS. INC. With Danton Walker, Florence 5ee?..JP«!ggy Wood, Phil Regan. Bert Wheeler, Martha Wright Producer: Martin Jones Director: Ralph Nelson 30 Mins.; Wed., 8 p.w. Sustaining NbC, from N. Y. N. Y, Daily News Broadway col- umnist Danton Walker, who had some ill-fnted video starts with a pair of shows emanating in cafes, has a format worth developing in 'Show Business, Inc." He's at- tempting to recreate some of the theatrical highlights of past sea- sons with those that made the orig- inal scenes memorable. It's a laud- able idea, but one that's exti-emc- ly difficult to cany out. For example, Bert Wheeler^ who told a cute yarn in the "Follies of 1924," found himself telling an old- hat yarn for present day needs. Florence Reed's classic rendition of the sleepwalking, scene from "Macbeth," proved too static for video. Peggy Wood told of her role m "Bitter Sweet" and introed Martha Wright for a rendition of "I'll See You Again," which went askew. Another departure from the format came with Phil Regan's up- to-date warbling. As things stand at the moment, "Show Business, Inc." stacks up as another vaudeo show despite the legit highlights, and pace is loo slow to compete with the estab- lished vaudeo presentations. Naturally, Walker is working un- der a handicap, since he must fit his memorabilia to conform Wifh those performers who are avail- able. Even so, selection and pres- entation of the material wasn't too showmanly. Walker's narration was not too vivid, and although he pre- sents a polished inien, the pacing and routining aren't happily gaited. Show's settings were good. High- light was in Miss Reed's scene, wherein backlighting was used with pinpoint illumination for fa- cial features. There was an eerie effect that enchanced the dramatic values of this scene. , Jose, TWO BIDS PEOM DALLAS Dallas, March 29. Application for two video outlets has been made to the FCC by W. W. Lechner, who is doing business as the Lechner Television Co. One of the outlets would be built here .and the other in Houston. SO YOU WANT TO LEAD A BAND? With Sammy Kaye Orch, Guests Producer-Director: Vic McLcod 30 Mins.; Swiday, 7 p.m. Sustaining NBC-TV, N, Y. Starter in iteeries of "audition" programs for NBC-TV, Sammy Ka.ye's "So You Want to Lead a Band?" revealed a certain funda- mental appeal in its teeoft' over the weekend. (The Sunday 7-7:30 spot is being used for the tryouts.) Kaye's stunt, which he has been performing in theatres, hotels and ballrooms for some years, has memr hers of the: audience volunteering to test their batoning ability in front , of Kaye's orch, and there's no doubt that it can get its share of amusement. The trouble with this type of show; howeveri is that -it can have too fundamental an appeal. It cet.^ tainly is not for the sophisticates—- nor is it intended to be—especially with some of those apparently slanted gags, queries and replies la.st Sunday (27) between the in- terrogator (Kaye) and the con- testants. A Baltimore businessman wort Kaye's Sunday contest with some- thing resembling professional pol- ish in leading the orch. Ills prizes comprised assorted items such as a TV set, luggage, etc. Other con- testants comprised a femme secre- tary from the Bronx, an 11-year old boy, a femme newlywed and a chef in an Englewood, N. J., saloon. The latter seemed to be .some sort of a humorist, but the gagging—^including the jokes^ seemed pre-arranged. An ap- plau.se-raeter, with the audience as the. judge, determines the winner; Kaye handled' the show welt enough, though he got himself into some, verbal; difficulties to- wards the close. And he was flirt- I ing with dangerous talk when deal- ■ ing with the gal, who bad been wed just the day before. That may be okay for the-hotel danceries, but not for TViewers. The show was broken up some- what by vocals from two of Kaye's featured singers, Don Cornell and Laura Leslie, and some singing by the Kaydets, members of the band- Kyle MacDonnell gave the show considerable visual appeal as a judge on the rostrum; Kahn. Omaha—^Doit Keough, freshman law student at Greighton Univer- sity, has been announced winner of the WOW Television Scholar- ship given each semester. ' AIDA With Arturo ToscaninI and NBC Symph; Herva Nelll, Eva Gus- tavson, Teresa Stitch Randall. Richard Tucker, Giuseppe Val<- dengo, Norman Scott, Denia Harbour, Virginio Assandri; Rob- ert Shaw chorus Producer: Don GilHs Director: Douglas Rodgcrs 90 Mins.; Sat. (26), 6:30 p.m. Sustaining NBC-TV, from N.Y. NBC-TV's simulcast pickup of Arturo Toscanini's presentation; of "Aida" Saturday (26) was un- doubtedly the best, videowise, yet done. Entire production evidenced both a thorough knowledge of the music on the part of TV director Douglas Rodgers and concentrated pre-broadcast rehearsal. Question still remains, of course, whetlier the TV pickup added any- thing to the radio broadcast, since in an hourrand-a-half program, the sight of the conductor, orch and soloists might have become wear-" ing. But, even though the singers were not costumed for their oper- I atic roles and sang without action, I the added impact lent to the broad- i cast by the fact viewers were able j to watch them ; compensated for , any lack of movement. And, too, that. TV picture of Toscanini in action, which even the studio audience never gets a-chanCfi_Lo: see, was well worth the added effort. Unlike the four previous TV • pickups of the^ NBC symph, the ■ cameras Saturday concentrated,' more on the singers than they did, on the maestro or orchestra. The ' usual trick camera effects, includ- ■ irtg super-impositions, were kept to ' a minimum, which .was all to tlie^ good. With the soloists grouped in a semi-circle around the niao- stro, Rodgers was forced to cut from one to the other instead of ■ trying to include them all in a single shot. Fact that he was able to cut to eiich one at just the right - moment, and also pick up which- ever section of the orch was. play- r ing at a certain time, pointed up the overall quality of the produc- tion. • ' Those between-acts sliots of Toscanini wiping his brow ott'stage made for good human interest. One of the few mistakes --- and it was ' trivial—was the spotting of Teresa , Stitch Randall as the priestess; She was supposedly singing olt stage, so that most of her face was ■ hidden behind part of the band- stand. ^taL why WO R sells more at less cost to more than any other station of equal power in America today mufuaf JL ■ Because WOR's base rate has not changed since 1939. Vety the number bf people able to hear WGR, Has increased by 1,723,000 during the daytime and 1,833,000 during the nighttime since 1940. ^S^u Because WOR repeatedly provokes results for as low as l/12th of 1-cent per impact. '■^S^m Because WOR can sell an advertiser's product or serv- ice to the majority of 36,000,000 people in 430 counties in 18 states, at the second lowest cost per thousand homes reached of any station of equal power in the United States. Because WOR is heard by more people during the day and during the night, than any other station in America. IS^B Because WOR carries more—and more complete^ news programs than any station in America. And becatise twice as many people prefer to listen to this station's news- ,casts than to those of the next highest-ranking major new* station^in Nevnr York.