Variety (April 1953)

Vrfamliyy April 22, 195S TELEVISION REVIEWS 27 'l* * . Television Followup Comment I KBC-TV’fi “All Star Revue/' in tbe kissoff show of this season Sat- urday night (18), parlayed four headliners, Tallulah Bankhead, Winy Durante, George Jessel and Ben Blue, into a surefire layout Stanza was definitely an all star revue divvied more or less equally avrong the four major performers. Once again, Jessel handled the emcee assignment with his usual rv'iU as raconteur and gagster. He Juiced his Prof. Gonzamacher German dialect routine for solid results although the blackout snap- py got lost in some over-fast cam- era switching. Jessel’s Yiddishisms a^e probably also lost on the great ira ority of the viewers, Earlier in the session he socked J tlve and at times over a “Possibilities” number (sur- 1 - umes rounded by a flock of urchins* in the accepted Harris idiom, and came off best in a Hope-Maxwell- Harris threesome in a drive-in hamburger scene that may have lacked inspirational gag scripting but sufficed in proving the Harris, flair, bliss Maxwell foiled capably i and a TniHurai* cnntlinli.4 1 3 nrSdnp?iJi t ™f* sawesome *^ I ” atl Sl nate ’ in turn °utraged and fas- * about the basic plot which severely compeulnE video'f are cinated *>* New*®?-. McCormick; lacked imagination and concentrate fir?„ vlde ? an ^, t t e en ‘ was good too in his brief appear- ed instead on ure cast was unusually well chosen, j ances as a friend of Newton’s. \vith the direction dynamic and? Hardwicke’s direction was a S22? j Particularly excellent , on the leisurely side, but from the'' Edith Meiser took the n ? rt of 5»f ae W Bridges and Steven point of view of staging, he’s sue-1 thesuperficial but ©Wosefu^ms Hiil as the two protagonists. i cessfully made the transition from pte^d it to^U^mX a certain amount of characterization with occasional- a hit Jy comic effects. —■ »• va* j.viivu Lnpauiv i m 4. t_ - — — r — — w "-o"* got a midway spotlight for her i JJ eatre have attempted "to explore listics. Less Brown’s orch i • vast ** e ld of material available As yet neither films nor the legit stage to video. Cameras were ex- \ i n g the character neither believ- l "“ •*” 1 tremely mobile, roving from ship's j abfe nor compTetelf ridieu^ cabin to pub to elegant casino with ' Muiray Matheson was very satis- ease and catching the payers In a factory as Philip Lord, the famed variety of good shots and moods. J writer. Miss Meiser, now married Supporting bits were all well to Loring Smith, invites Matheson done, and Bob Bnght’s sets were to lunch prior t<* his lecture. It and vocalistics. Less Brown’s orch i backed the musical numbers and \ °P P° st -war Germany and its psy the A1 Capstaff staging and direct- j ^logical casualties, ing were strictly out of the pnH In “Long Way Home” Philco pro- books. Rose. j ducer Fred Coe opened for the . _ w -a- j writer an untapped problem for ex- J eyecatching. But chief asset of : turns out that he is her first hus- “Toast of the Town” gathered a position. Rose, j the production was its air of irrev- band, long-believed dead, and bright batch of talent Sunday <19*. j } erence and its deflation of pom- father of their daughter, Pat Mc- Ir. the second spot. Blue, who ap- \ Occasionally, the show seemed to I *See It Now” had a neat mixture! P° usness - R’s to be hoped that Mahon. There are the obvious com- pared only once before in this f go out of its way —a— ' ’* ... ... series Mar pan charming'Chaplinesque bit which ] Pers Nanette Fabrav and Bobby \ interviewing* and ^chatting with sgo P ™e a dupwen SUrroUnding U!eDt !^ snmyed up well. leader Sam Rayburn <D., Tex.). The Miss Fabray, given fine produc-] visit to the chamber had the in- H 01 ?» opened with a medley in aiterest of President Tnmian’s tour w„ a «T e Lr D ^ a ]°t of * ee l" of the White House a year ago, —^ emon ' with viewers transported physically effectively staged sketch about j h a blbty ?? 311 ac p om “ to the site of much history, Close- " ~ ' • J PMed and J^nonable songstress ups revealed the tradiUonal mace; ana even though her song session j a iar ?P nnrtrait nf T.afav#>ttP mnv hav« KaHar yjirni... «# a large ponraii oi ljaiayene, required and got expertly timed support from the other cast mem- bers. Blue and Jessel, both garbed as infants in oversized carriages, also socked across a neat comedy commercial for Pet Milk. Miss Bankhead again showcased an _ , the N. Y. subways. In which she played the grand lady not accus- tomed to the straphanger routine. She milked it for maximum laughs although most of the script was on the obvious side. Durante,, with Eddie Jackson and the Wanda Smith Cover Girls, was a natural closer with his trade- marked song-dance-piano turn. He opened his segment with the "Rue De La Paix” production number, segued into “Don’t Talk About Him When You’re Gone” with Jackson, and both belted “My Baby Told Me She Loves Me,” after some byplay uiih a hokey operatic male singer with falsetto pipes. A couple of fine intermediate bits were also turned in by song- stress Connie Russell on “I’m Gonna Live Till I Die” and Betty Bruce, a smooth tap terper. Herm. Jack Benny had another sub-par inning this second in a row) in his monthly turn last Sunday (19) on CBS-TV. Perhaps the fact that he was propping to open his vaude show at the Curran in Frisco on Monday (20) had something to do with the offish 30-minuter. It was strictly an obvious one-joke ses- sion, the joke being that Fred Al- len was , trying to edge in on Benny’s Lucky Strike sponsor. Lat- ter was played effectively by Lester Mathews, with looker Doro- thy Green as his secretary. That Benny & Allen would par- ticipate in such telegraphed, un- imaginative setups, with little that smacked of invention and slickness, is the surprise of the waning season. The Eddie Cantor briefie snapper, in which he fur- thered the joke by making a bid for tlie bankroller himself, almost saved the day; but it was too late. Of course, there were a few good moments—there would have to be whenever JB and FA get together ---but not sufficient unto the night. Benny was his savvy self in the forepart monolog, featuring * Benny’s Meals on Wheels” eatery toted by Rochester. Latter screamed over “Side by Side” that had an air of heartiness. In the afterpiece, Benny, Allen and Can- tor engaged in badinage that shaped up as a gem fjllip before the clock stepped in to black out that and the credits. Tran. may have had'better d£playef-j * ^ fects in a later time slot, she made i a Qne _ way streeti andthe crowded seats, which have no place for note-taking but one for copies of the Congressional Record. Even more intriguing were the doseups her mark. Miss Fabray, Clark and some surrounding players put on a funny skit burlesquing the oldtime stock* companies with * creaking scenery and props that wouldn’t work. Hoop juggler Ray Wilbert showed some excellent tricks in that line. Senor Wences, testing a new set of characters, showed his mastery in the field of ventriloquy. Wences charms his way through any show, being a smooth per- former and an accomplished tech- nician. Pic trailer for this week was “Small Town Girl” (M-G) with Jane PoWeli and Farley Granger. Although the scene had entertain- ment value, a fuller explanatory precede by conferencier Ed Sulli- van might have given this se- quence greater meaning. The Gae Foster line in a west- ern routine performed in a sprightly manner. Sandwiched be- tween that number was a good dance turn by the Dunhills, dou- bling from, the Danny Kaye show at the Palace. Jose. It took a little while to warm up. but when the Bob Hope-sparked ‘ Colgate Comedy Hour” got rolling mto the second half on Sunday (19) the entertainment quotient was stepped up to a mighty pleasurable pace. There’s been a lot of Hope oa TV this semester (call it the year in which the comedian really V? video stride), but the two- Ketch parlay of Hope striking gold, t ten oil, while digging his way out c: prison, and again as “Chatta- Charlie” in a Mississippi i vt r boat gambol with Phil Harris Marilyn Maxwell represented Lope in some of his best TV mate- r todate. The river boat bit, with Lrrris as “Savannah Sam”, and ; • s Maxwell as “Mississippi - .cl” was tailored to a T for the ; v*s-Hope byplay around the ; wheel (“long playing f and the card table. If a - • oi it wasn’t ad-libbed and off- •tff. at least it-generated a taneity that made it play that • J*- was one of the few guest Harris on TV this season, fie pitched in like a video • ‘‘‘Per and came out a winner. - '-r-l Transformation of Milton Berle from a brash and forceful come- dian into a funnyman with warmth and' charm Is gradually nearing completion. His newer personality goes forward several strides when- ever Gertrude Berg, creator of “The Goldbergs” and portrayer of Molly Goldberg, appears on the program. Last week’s was her third time around with Berle (her first marked the highs pot for the season) and her appearance on Tuesday (14) on this NBC-TV TexH acoer approached her Initial try. Of course, bliss Berg was "but- tressed by the appearance of Peg- of Martin and Rayburn, who spoke informally and knowingly of much of the House history. Revelation of the respect and affection the men have for each other was on intimate insight to inside govern- ment, and heartening reassurance —no matter what the viewer's poli- tics—that not all opposing political party members lose sight of the state of the nation because of poli- tical differences. Early part of the program had a report, filmed the Thursday be- fore, on the “Freedom Road” and “Freedom Bridge” that returning prisoners of war were to take to Panmunjom, Korea. It was an astute setting of scene by reporter Bob Pierpoint, who has done much superior Korea coverage for “See It Now.” While films were being shown, Murrow got Pierpoint on the phone to bring the prisoner- exchange situation up to date. - If prisoners had returned then, the show would have -had a terrific scoop. As it was, before the show went off the air, Murrow (with Martin and Rayburn in Washing- ton) read a note reporting the first | arrival of prisoners in Panmunjom., Horn. gy Lee. doubling from La Vie en} wicke. Money may not be able to buy everything, but one thing it can buy is talent. This w’as very much in evidence in the second edition of ABC-TV’s “Album” Sunday night (19*. which starred Robert Newton, featured Melville Cooper and Myron McCormick and was directed by Sir Cedric Hard- “Omnibus” offered one of its more young man who likes to hide be- star-laden presentations last Sun- : hind Miss Meiser's skirts while day (19), but the hour and a half } seeking Miss McMahon’s hand. Lo& on CBS-TV continued to pursue • ing Smith did fine as Harvey Len- the uneven zigzag course it has ; nox. Miss Meiser’s second husband, maintained of late. Two of its parts, i who almost joins the ranks of miss- one designed for middlebrows, one ing persons, bliss McMahon man- for highbrows, by far excelled the, aged to put very little life into* whole. For middlebrows, the most ’ the role of the daughter. Christo- - diverting entertainment was the ■ pher Drake was okay as her fiance- last half-hour of the stanza given J reporter. Bariy Eliiott was asso- over entirely to Gilbert & Sulli- ] ciate director* Hift. van's “Trial By Jury.” That master of the . Savoyard comic spirit, Martyn Green, who preemed on the show T with “Mikado” last No- vember, was in high form as the judge. Even though his movement was restricted to sitting at the bench, he nevertheless managed, by bits of slapstick business, pomp- ous mugging, and humorous ma- “Kraft Television Theatre’* reached a high water mark of dis- tinction last Wednesday (15) when for its 3G8th hour-long play on NBC-TV it presented “Rain No More.” A tremendously moving tragedy, about the conflicting pas- sions wrought up between father nipulation of his J ma2 ^8ly acr^ j naturalistic school with both heart **2*5? ?i? + es ’ i and authenticity. It took courage mto the otherwise vis-.^ p resen t the drama, since it ually static courtroom. .. broke several of the accepted ta- * J or ro w s,most absor^-1 boos, and both Kraft and producer- director Maury Holland warrant Medieval inuminations, depicting pra j se f 0r their Integrity, in unusually fine detail the mima- j .. _ .. , tures painted by monks in the ] The touching realism of the Middle Ages. Accompanying these P la y undoubtedly stemmed from pictures of medieval customs were J ^ seeming autobiographical flavor, equally lovely roundelays and ma- j K 'was; written by James Costigan drigals chanted in French. who also took the starring role— What was to have been the main a young ne er-do-well who returns attraction for viewers, a drama i to his hate-ridden family after called “The Abracadabra Kid” by a seven years, hoping to find love William Saroyan, proved to be j th er ® before his imminent death, rather gooey moralizing about the j He finds, instead, his father, Eddie need for parents to spend morel®urns, a drunk; his motiier dead time with their children. Saroyan i aQ d replaced by a Mexican step- just seems to get sticky when he ] mother. Penny Santom; his grand- attempts lofty sermons in the sen- mother, Una O’Connor, living in ous vein. Despite shining perform-! a mentally ill dreamworld; his Hose, N. Y., and Sid Gary. Miss Lee can be depended upon to pro- vide maximum impact. Her ren- ditions lose no effect because of a subtler selling. Her high spot was “Lover.” Another thing the now-bountiful ABC was able to buy was rights to the “Mr. Glencannon” stories in the Saturday Evening P6st by the late Guy Kilpatrick. And this was a key factor in the success of Gary also delivered well. He did ? the program. If ABC is going to an A1 Jolson tribute penned by J. Fred Coots around melodies asso- ciated with the late and great showman. It w r as a sequence that required a reason for presentation to give it greater force. However, Gary put it over in a forceful fashion. Miss Berg and Berle had some delightful moments built around Molly Goldberg’s “do-good” na- ture. Wanting to give a neighbor’s kid a video shot, she arranged with Berle’s secretary for five minutes of time for $5. In keeping with her role as a sponsor, she put on a fashion show .featuring creations by her husband Jake, It was a charming Idea projected with | W’armth and grace. Jose. “Philco Television Playhouse” project any of the individual plays ances by Maria Riva as the mother, brother. Murray Hamilton, bitterly Walter Matthau as the father, and 1 resentful that he may steal away Ian Tucker as the neglected kid, j his faithless girlfriend, Jean Sulli- the spun sugar of this Saroyan: van. The returned son dies, hut whimsy was too glutinous to be, not until, wdth poetic compassion, acceptable 1 he instills in his family a realiza- Raymond Massey attained his! tion of the meaning of love.- usual professional high standard? There w r ere a few false touches w*hen he gave a reading, in meas-j of melodrama, as when -the son, .ured beat, of Longfellow’s poem, ! instead of revealing action, cries, “Paul Revere’s Ride.” However, j “Feel that tension in the air?” and since director Andrew McCullough ■< “There’s a w T all between us.” But gave it no production value, mere-] these were minor weaknesses in ly focusing the camera on Massey’s ; a script whose dialog captured the face without even a view of his j speech of real persons with un- expressive hands, this almost pure-! canny fidelity and w r hose buildup ly audiai recitation w T ould perhaps ] of emotion ripped at the heart- have fared better on radio. J strings. To relieve the tragedy, the Of the sponsors. Greyhound was : author wisely threw in several hu- accorded more than the usual lav- ■ morous episodes. Script might well ish attention. Not only was its reg- ] be developed into a legit play, ular commercial integrated with; although it's too much on the the “Paul Revere” reading, but it downbeat for film potentialities, demonstrated its buses ful- also aemonsnraiea us ouses Besides scripting a TV drama of , , on \ e ^ f : unus ua l merit, Costigan played his on “Album” into full-fledged series 1devoted to the wonders of auto, ro j e w ith fine restraint. The other in the fall, as is planned, this ; \ This /time,’ ‘ performers, especially Binns, Miss of foisting it off as a straight. non- ; 5.^^ and Miss Santom. were as is w r ould be a natural. jluu uc a uaiuiai* i ^ ; u Lruuuui auu inudd uaiivum, Plav titled “Mr Glencannon * Cooke introduced j toprate. 'Holland caught the mood , 5 * aSV, M m j fP cannon j it honestly as a production of gen-} ; . . - nuaHt * of this Ca H_ \. co ?L ern ^J5L eral interest “made by one of our,J» d L& i^LfnVuv^W bV Takes and-downs of Air. Glencannon’s status as chief engineer of a British tramp steamer. The lusty, unin- hibited seadog, as played by New- ton, had incurred the wrath of a prospective client by throwing him out of his cabin. sponsors. Rask. fornia houseffold imaginatively by directing the camera at symbolic ■ visual detail—a rockingchair tee- A thin little comedy was acted. tering a moment in the livingroom, out with considerable gusto, en- , ^ gran dmo ther's hand fluttering «.r U wi UK mm : thusiasm and skill on ^‘Broadway ■ M she s t ro kes the head of her When Newton 1 TV Theatre” over WOR-TV last; agonized son. Commercials for " cri&by now threatened to cancel his busi-{» c*tpriinp and if there were* „ , , and sue the shinning firm.! f^ t , 1 ‘Talent Patrol” now has Bud on usual ana oiron powerim urama tic; - . uuig suow, Diuauway iv mwuc “Ta+Pnt Patrol” as caueht over offering called “The Long Way firmjiis busrnes so he could get undoxib tedly must conform to cer- Tatent Pateofi as caugnt over Home,” written by Robert Alan a return match with Newton. . restrictive standards, the ^-TV last Monday ^ - . . M d 1 _ J. - - ^ W £ -A* A ness a D a sue the “h*pi^ fSj ^ “, th ^ e h ^| “Talent Patrol" Newton managed to save the day j anrt-.-half shou the Actors could CoUver as emcee replacing Steve by getting the magnate, played by aB . da ofUie credit llt^as i AUe n who is taking a Broadway Cooper, into a crooked game. SSaTin the eariy ride on “The Pink Elephant." The Seems Cooper never lost at gam- S22 e , 0,1 JJroaawa y 111 car ^ change of scenery should cause & a9)T^enJed J a n nTn-1 ™ £ M^ca^d ®ven though, being an early eve-! A^n nUU anguish no matter how *1 nffpti nnxrorfiil Out WM u0 tll3t D0 U10 I rnnf? clinw TV ThPHtr6 ,f tl30 ril6PD3Ilt ^ 3DU OflCD P i /{mm V 110 ViiipinApr ca /vnuiri i mn p -Proaaway iv xneaire ♦‘T'a+pnt ** as caught over Aurthur. It was a story of post- war Germany, of beaten, psycho- logical ihisfits, one an ex-German soldier and one a German-Ameri- can who had not fought in the war. It was an intense, under- standable drama, that presented simply, but with telling force, the personal and, environmental back- ground that produced these two battered, complex individuals. Plot was on the lightweight side.J weakness of its recent plays would j ” but with all the ends tied neatly j indicate either that producer War- Artbur Godfreys Talent Scouts, into a pleasant video comedy via ^ ren Wade is too severe wdth him- i Collyer is far from a Goatrey. Alvin Sapinsley’s video adapta-1 self, or else that a good many * His unbending, formal mask of tion. What made the play was offerings have had deservedly j pleasantness divorces the audience Newton’s salty portrayal of Glen-1 short runs on Broadway. j from the proceedings, which would cannon. He made a fascinating] “Meet the Wife” was blessed, be a fault if the latter were worth new character out of the sailor, j with a fine cast whose members, - serious consideration. But the en- complete from the dirty under-] most of the time, knew how to tertaining itself, taken from shirt and unshaven face to the 1 handle their pedestrian lines with ibe L.. S. Air Force, is a kind of | peculiar dialect j a certain amount of sparkle.,There, homegrown Amateur Hour, more As a TV vehicle, it was a sensi- 1 Cooper scored as the liquor mag -1 w T asn’t very much they could do (Continued on page 38) n J 1/ : V i » ■ ' . 1