Variety (March 1950)

44 RADIO-TELEVISION Wednesday, "March 29, 1950 f Continued from pafce 37 Sitting by the Window” by O'Neil. Paula Raye also registered nicely With “Candy and Cake/’ These were the more conventional aspects to a* session that came more alive with the hillbilly add folk performers. Square danCe calK er John Dolce and his troupe bounced folksily through one prOf essionally-executed number while a group of amateurs from the auqi* ence participated in another, equally infectious, “Wbo-Woo” Stephens, a. mountaineer comedy singer who manipulates a standout guitar, was okay in a frankly corny vein, A hot jazz bit featured the. vet trumpeter Jimmy McPartlarid in a jam session, with a hillbilly band, McPartland also played a fine -horn" to O’Neil’s rendition of St. Louis Blues” Another highlight was a ballet set to “Frankie and Johnny’’ with dancers Jane Brockman and Bud Tygett doing a comic interpretation. Dick Edwards, a pantomimist, had a good turn in mimicking a cafeteria patron but it was dragged out slightly too long. Hefm. ; OFF THE CUFF With Russ Davis Producer: Barney Samet Director: Scott Young 15 Mins.; Mon-thru-Fri./ 6:15 p.m. GREAT CHICAGO SURPLUS STORES WBKB, Chicago : (Samet) This show, using man-on-thqstreet technique, contributes very little t<5 early evening viewing menu. Aside from jaded format, stint caught (22) seemed to take its “Off the Cuff” tag literally and was marred by too Casual preparation. Emcee Russ Davis, who has built up a large following locally with his w r e s tli n g telecasts, doesn’t seem cut out for this sort of thing aS his patter with visiting pedestrians was, to put it kindly, unexciting. Passersby are brought before cameras and asked to identify occupation of a “Mister X,” using clues , supplied by emcee. On this particular show none of the interviewees were able to^so Davis had to keep repeating same clues to each contestant. Each person was given the same prize/ from sponsor’s stock, for taking part. This was awkward in case of femme guest as prizes were men’s shoes. Also awkward was emcee’s diffi culty in getting shoes untangled from lower buttons of his coat on which; for some rOason, he’d looped them by their strings. At one point he had to call for help in getting them untangled. Identical plug for client's* shoe sale was given with each award |o sidewalk stooges. Some element of interest might be added to segment by highlighting prize offered for correct identification. On this show it was never established what would have been the prize for the winner. And if gifts were arrayed On a box or something* fronted by sponsor’s name and address and occasionally caught by camera it would have, been a more adept commercial presentation. Dane. — ; • ^ — — . ~ ‘ ‘ THAT YOUNG COUPLE Brattle Players, with Jan Farr and, Robert Fletcher; Thayer David Producer: A1 Hartigan Writer: Ruppert Pray 30 Mins., Sun. 4:30 p.m. Associated Gas Cos. WBZ-TV, Boston A new entry in WBZ-TV's expanding video shows is this domestic roundelay, arid judging from initialer it should build into a nifty series Once it gets squared away. .. Teeoff production concerned itself largely with setting the characters and charting the trend for following sequences, although in itself it was a mildly amusing half hour. s With cast enlisted from local Brattle Players, a competent repertory. group, plot is interwoven about a young, riot overly bright couple; and their tribulations with his crotchety stuffed-shirt boss, and the unwelcome longerange visit of a rube uncle, With this type Of situation to Work On, scripter Ruppert Pray should have no difficulty preparing plenty of light followups to grab a sizeable segment Of late Sunday afternoon viewers. At any rate, it is a step in the right direction as far as local shows go. Sponsored by local. Gas Cos., commercials were introduced neatly, barely interrupting the continuity of the script, as for instance, a plug for a gas range was squeezed into normal conversation by players With viewers hardly aware <©f its commercial aspect uritil staff announcer took over for a short pitch. Subtleness of approach added to impact of plug. Sets showing interior of couple's suburban, home, boss’ antiquated office^, and modern gas appliance store were solid, entire stint showing hlghly-Creditable. direction and camera work, ; E lie. JOAN BARTON SINGS Director: Barry McKinley 5 Mins.; Mon.-thru-Fri., 6:30 p. m. MUNTZ TV WGN-TV, Chicago ,:-V (Michael Shore) Thrush Joan Barton fits neatly into this five-minute frame. Poised and with an animated face, she’s well adapted to video. On this stint (22) she registered nicely with "It’s Later Than You Think” and closed segment with sincerely delivered commercial. , As telecast is sponsoredby a TV set producer, commercial might have hit harder by making a pitch, such as advantages of larger screen, aimed at second buyers rather than new buyers. .■.* Camera action did well by Miss Barton and Bill OttO backed nicely at the piano. Dave , FASHIONS ON PARADE With Betty Campbell, Others 15 Mins.; 3:45 p.m., Sun. M. SOLOMON WRGB-TV, Schenectady ( Goldman, Walter k Kdnria) New program is a “must” for femme viewers arid may . hold a limited appeal for some of their better-halves. It’s timely arid it’s well spotted— before Mrs. Roosevelt’s network show. Format of opener was simple: three models paraded spring clothes (for a bride’s trousseau), While Betty Campbell read an off-screen commentary. Cameras spotlighted the gals as they walked toward and up a pair of stairs to a platform (not easy, with grace) as well as back down, again, s One was identifiable as Annette Demgen, Who Under name of Louella . Hurd won fame in the John Robert Powers New York contingent. Tall, slender, graceful, brunet and arresting/ she models with an unmistakable poise and flair. A second young lady— they belong to a group that recently formed an Albany agency — is a medium, oval-faced blprid who photographs beautifully. She demonstrates Hollywood arid New York have no monopoly on looks. Third gal is also a blond; her best opportunity came in the final shot. : Too many clothes Were pictured in a short period of time, effect of last minutes being too hurried. Once or twice, the models changed facial . expressions before they were out of camera range. Cameras and lights maintained a fine level;. Miss Campbell, of WOKO, Albany, handled the commentary Well, although it could have been shaded less Wordy. . Voice Came through • clearly and pleasantly ; there might have been finer modulation. She photographed well in several shots. Directors rates praise. Jaco. LADIES DAY _ ' With Tom Brooks, Bud Abbott, Jack Crutcher Combo (5) Producers: Bud Johnson, Sandy Sandefs Director: Johnson 30 Mins., Mon.-thru-Fri., 3:30 p.m. STOKELY FOODS WHAS, Louisville Audience participationer is going over big with the ladies. It gives them an oppOrturiity to gander the new building housing WHAS and WHAS-TV, and to win Thanks to the Industry: Best Arts and Sciences Award as Nation's Outstanding Sportscaster. ‘•■tO for themselves a mess of loot in the form of canned vegetables and other sponsor’s products. Format of the show is the usual q. and a. stuff, With a few switches on the standard pat formula which ? lives 4he session interest to the listener. One of the first, and a regular daily stunt, is the playing backwards of a recorded saying or proverb. Gals are given rather handsome prizes for guessing this one, as well as canned corn, and other stuff such as a kitchen clock and a fruit jiiicer. It’s obvious that most of them make the trek downtown to sit in on the show primarily to win the giveaway stuff, but they do enjoy the show, evidenced by their . squeals and screams at the comic stuff. ; Toni Brooks, with: *' natural cOmedic flair, keeps the action going. ‘ Brobks doesn’t let himself go in the comedy line as much as he does on shows where he is not inhibited with contestants, etc. His partner,. Bud Abbott; and quite a funny riian in his own right, plays it more or less straight in this stanza, arid Okay too. Wied. TELEPHONE GAME With Rusty Arden, Franklin Pulaski Producers: Ted Wright, ■ Dave Davidow Participating 30 Mins. Mon-Fri., 4 p.m. WFIL-TV, Phila. “Telephone Game” is a new merchandising gimmick which combines the appeal of quizzer With a legally acceptable form, of Bingo. Boyle-Midway, Inc., makers of Wizard Wick home deodorizer, and Personal Products Corp., manufacturer of Yes Tissues/ are picking up the tab for half-hour, cross the.r board slate afternoon show. Main purpose of program is to place sponsors’ products in hands of winning players, by means of a selective sampling technique aimed to get customers into stores— thus benefittirig both irianufacturer and dealer,. Viewers can play game using either telephone number or social security card numbers. They are asked to write letters WFIL-TV on sheet of paper, leaving space under each letter to place four numerals either from phone number or social security card. To win, a contestant must circle all four figures under the call letters, and to do so correctly he must know the right ■ answers to the emcee’s questions. When a player has circled all four figures he phones the studio, where a special corps of operators are on duty to accept calls and confirm winning cards. Players wishing to save price of toll call may mail in cards. ■ •/' Winners get certificates to pick up two bottles of Wizard Wick arid two packages of Yes Tissues, in addition to other prizes; The certificates are redeemable at the stores of local dealers. Rusty Arden and Franklin Pulaski, who share the quizmaster roles, are somewhat on the coy side. Stills relating to queries are flashed , on screen helping to break up constant shots of the pair of interrogators. Inquiries are middle-weight, but [intelligent. Gagh. Hi-V’s Godfrey Continued from page 33 Baby ’Overflow’ in Peona. Town Due t© WWSW’* Tip’ Flood of Pittsburgh, March 28. From now on, Ray Schneider, chief announcer at WWSW, is going to look more closely at the symbols in the station’s official gazetteer. Recently Schneider, Who runs a daily “Blessed Events” program, got letters on the same day announcing two arrivals in-town of Sabraton, IVi Va. He didn't know: how to pronounce Sabraton, so he looked it up in the gazetteer and discovered under the population the figure 2. Schneider immediately jumped to the conclusion that was the dumber of. families there and that the entire town had babies all at once. He passed the information along to the WWSW publicity department and it was subsequently passed along to a local columnist. Latter didn't double-check and ran the item. Then4he very devil broke loose. Practically the entire community of Sabraton wrote in to protest’. That figure 2 after population didn’t stand fori: two families but 2,000. people. :e Continued from puge 37 great gusto arid , without a single fluff. Classical drama served as good display piece for Berwyn stage facilities and Brad McCall sets and props were knockouts. Harvey Marlowe' is TV producer and Sherwood Keith is stage director, With resident stock company handling principal roles; Barrington's initial plan to telecast/ ser i 0 s of classical dramas terminated abruptly Monday (27), however, in a hassle with Equity Over TV pay charges. Sardou’s “A Scrap of Paper,” which played at Berwyn over weekend was not telecast by WFIL-TV Monday night (8-9 p.m.), and station lias withdrawn promotional activities on series. Berwyn group, however, is to continue functioning as stock company and give full-length productions instead of condensed telecast versions of plays. Modern plays are to be given as company veers into regular summer stock program. the Stork Club, N. Y, eatery. CBS is now building a studio on the third floor of the Stork for a reported $50,000 and plans to present Faye Emerson .in chit-chat interviews with guest celebs. Since it considers that 7 :45 to 8 period the best possible time for the program; it has written into its contract with hi-V the right to regain the time on two weeks’ notice" when; as and if it lines up a sponsor for the Stork Club series. When that happens, Godfrey will probably be moved back into the 6:45 to 7 slbt. New Godfrey show will give CBS four days a week of solid programming iii that time period. Pop-: sicle launehes its “Parade of Stars” series next month in the Monday night 7:45 slot, and Earl Wright/ son has the “Masland at Home” show bt that time On Wednesdays. Fridiy night period is still open. Two new 15-minute segments, incidentally, raise the total of Godfrey's radio and TV airers to tight hours and 45 minutes weekly, putting him on every day of the week except Sunday. Godfrey has long used the like in his radio and video programs, which prompted the new series. Cleveland -r Arthur Smith of Boston has joined the WJW sales department. Thomas J. Carson, WKZO, with the same station’s announcement staff. Clem Skerback, Kent, O.. now with the WTAM news staff. “Ride the Fink Horse/], staged on Robert Montgomery’s “Lucky Strike Theatre” Monday night *(27) via NBC-TV, boasted probably the most ambitious Sets and widest scope of any live video dramatic presentation to date. For that very reason, however, the show failed to click. Requisite pacing for the mood metier was slowed to a walk through the necessity of holding a closeup on one scene or character, wilie the actors raced to get to another scene. Montgomery and his production staff are to be commended for their efforts, but TV apparently— -and unfortunately — is not yet ready for such a top-scale production. Sets designed by Syrjala for the show occupied the entire spaced the large WOR-TV studio whiclfNBC leases fOr this series, so that the orchestra and commercial spot productions were moved back tO the Radio City studios. Depth Of the stage was easily apparent and the sets were striking, parti c-' ulary the full-sized carousel, the bus station, hotel lobby, dining room, etc. But TV also requires them to be functional. This might have been achieved through a different adaptation of the Dorothy B. Hughes story, but that might have* marred the dramatic impact of the show. Robert : Cenedella scripted the , adaptation. Montgomery did his first acting job in the series with “Horse,” repeating y the role he originated in the Universal film. He scored impressively as the taciturn, embittered ex-GI; out . to avenge the death of his buddy. Also standout in Jthe cast was Thomas Gomez, ragged Mexican operator of: the carousel who befriended Montgomery, ; He, too, did the same role in the picture. Susan Douglas was* slightly too wide-eyed as the young Mexican girl and Stiano Braggiotti evidenced oyer-thesping as the villain *of the piece. But Eileen Heckert, as his girl-friend, and Vaughn Taylor, as the Government agent, were good. Montgomery used a cast of some 35 extras to capture the necessary fiesta mood in the story. Irony of the melodramatics occurring against the fiesta backdrop was often caught. Withal, however, the show lacked the punch it should have contained.