Variety (November 1953)

214 TELEVISION HE VIEWS Wcdnrmlay, >Wml»er 11, I953 Jimmy Durante and guestar throwing or catching lines niftilv.' dow pane looked out on clear OPERA CAMEOS With Frank Guarrera, Jeanne c u bon*. Walter Frederick* b ‘ Narrator: Giovanni Martinelli Producer: Carlo Vlnti Director: Lee Polk Writer: Joseph Vintl 30 Mins.; Sun.. 7:30 pm JUNIOR SPORTS SESSION With Tommy llenrich. cuests Producer: Martin Weldon Director: Ned Cramer 30 Mins.. Sat.. 8:30 a.m. Sustaining WCBS-TV, New York Tommy llenrich, former N. Y Yankee star who over the past Hiintiu r has done a noteworthy job with sufficient cheerfulness and contrived as a filmed panto se in promoting the baseball Little good fellowship to more than re- quence, with Berle and Miss Bank- is well known and that it frequent-1 Going I..agues via a highly instructive pay the homescreen freeloaders head expressing themselves off- ly bothers the drama is obvious, fourth consecutive season “n, ’ local TYer on WCBS-TV. now looking in on the Colgate "Comedy ' M retm during the two terp play- In this instance it meant that Cameos" now has added "omiti a nuns his attention to the older Hour” last Sunday <81 on NBC-TV. outs. At the finish the femme phony snow was "upstaging” Miss; new— subtitles. The tHenri " juve Sport lias likely to reduce the audience for theme song of "From Here to Eter- 5 j Ed Sullivan put on one of nis ers might enjoy reading the t, !V ! tin* show. nity." Danny Thomas Show on ABC- most effective shows with Sunday's j lation of what's being said However. "Junior Sports Ses- That frustration became a part- TV last week < 3 > came up with one «8i edition of "Toast of the Town" j For more reasons than one r, Mon" shapes as interesting fare time running gag until the chan- those rare, completely delight- on CBS-TV. This Lincoln-Mercury j- subtitle idea doesn't v oik < • lor juves and sports-minded adults, ter - turned - thespian finally did 1111 programs that once in a w hile dealers show constituted complete First of all. it’s detracting for Frank Sinatra clowned around "Thoughts while dancing" was well weather. That television directors ' PROGRESSO QUALITY FOODs »e- dote on this sort of "production" J DuMont, from New York on the air for r g os and to football with "Junior Opening gambit tipped off the for- guestar gave a recitative pep talk Hayes, competing with the high- that, since the operatic ex e.r.u s oris Session." Time the station mat in the Schnozzola’s mixing of to the students in a sharp Switch priced star for attention! Laud. the show are sung in the Ian s chosen' for the program is Sinatra’s bid to bleat away at the to the scrioso. Trau. j j in which they were written v-i*-* ok 111 rofllioo thl* audience for theme «»n O of “From lO Ft or- I - I FA Cnllivan nnl nn r.n r> r.( 'lit ors mitrlil **n invr .1’ cite High 'Brooklyn) eleven as the standard with guests. •' Halo" b 1 It was Jean Hagen’s turn to big sequences. It was probably one 1 It’s difficult to uhv ,, students. Strong, one of the great last becoming a national attention- carry the ball and she proved of the to P niusital shows ever put Carlo Vinti doesn't .suc-cuii!b°' ,J ''' kickers of the game, gave the fine getter which should benefit the 1 again what a great match she is on - general trend and present to !it ■ft H 11)1 III* V'lSlMV It‘II niHSl fit v> 1111 iiiiai u 1 anuuviun vv/meuv ot *1^ ^ F'vnuv *»V, V i „ ^ 1 , ... e football details to Strong! act- were Durante sessions with the , best The characters all spoke and strong opener, butla high standard , ^ opportunities for TV^ac? m? g strictly as a moderator. But ho Wanda Smith (’over Girls and in- acted as normal people. Ihomas. of performance that was matched { J* ?VaPk Guairora nf the \ ‘,T. ok charge of an all-sports quiz dependent workouts by the Gay ! particularly, managed to convey a j m the succeeding sequences. _ I an o n„ r f„ ra * 1 , m . . '* points of place-kicking and punt- sponsor in the addenda facets lor Thomas, Story, scripted by Four star voices of the Met par- operas in English He would «.■< mg in clear, understandable terms, much like the "Dragnet” takeoffs Boh Fisher and Allan Lipscott, had Ucipated in an interesting, well- himself a fot of trouble •',?! Next week. Giants back Eddie have done to Chesterfield.) Miss Hagen "discovered" by an -selected repertoire. Kise Stevens chances are his audience wou’ii I‘rice ns guest, presumably 1o dis- Best of the skits was a musical agent and soon believing herself and Richard Tucker opened in a ' grateful. As is the meem >1 ' < iiss elements of running with the quiz lampoon with a good 5 — 00 —* —* *“ l ~' - ’ ■ : ’ * " • hall. hit plus an underdressed llenrich has developed into an keeping 1 he panel c affable, relaxed tele performer plied with sponsor and he's perfectly at ease in the 1 kuise o! orange ji medium. He wisely left most of '"'do issues—with the ing in which U the team participated Tryoliers. a large yodeling, cow- mixture of fun and pathos that 1 Another big number was the T S°i t and i l, i <|l,1 1 U ‘ 1. wmen team panic.pan<1 |w)| glap . hap J y f . a ii s ( hon ic made him very likeable and per- Quartet from "Rigoletto," with i '}• Walter Fredericks troupe from Austria in their tele- ; mitted immediate identification. If lucker. Miss Stevens. Robert Mer- ; st»amcct for effects both vocally dehut. They were weakly show- j the show can maintain last week’s HR «'»nd Roberta Peters as partici- f nu in . ® CUr »g. At no P°*nt did cased, particularly since thev I level, it should end up tops in its P«mts. Staging of this number was 1 i,£ onvt ‘ y Jme torment of the clown crowded the screen and didn’t j Hass. as effective as the singing, for a "Rn any depth of feeling. Jeanne show any Individual sock stint. The I Format, with Thomas a night- superb sequence. Gibbons sang Nedda and displaced Sclinoz headed up a cute workout Hub performer and Miss Hagen Another line ensemble number a Phasing voice, with the Smith beauts in which I his wife, has a lot of merit. Miss was the finale of "Boris Godunov," | Giovanni Martinelli, ex-Mct • they functioned as steeds. Hagen last week was excellent.! with Cesare Siepi in the title role. I veteran, tied the various excerpts Ducting with the Cyra nose Hal March as the agent turned in Basso has one of the more resonant together with a brief commentate, on singers-wanna-he-oomics-and- a topnoteh bit that registered sol- 1 st ‘f °1 pipes on the Met’s roster, vice-versa, Sinatra displayed hith- i( lly; Sherry Jackson and Rusty | and he too was as effective drama- erto hidden ability at mimicry by Hamer appealed as the Thomas’ tically as vocally. The thud with kids, and Ben Lessy got the laughs which he took a fall from the »op as Danny's accompanist. Their ?f a small flight of stairs must and otherwise registered his per- sonality easily. Series is produced in coopera- tion with the Public School Athlet- ic League and Board of Education. Martin Weldon, who produced ttie baseball show during the summer didn't miss anything on the pro- duction end. and Ned Cramer's camera direction followed Strong'.- demonstrations smoothly. Chau. MR. BLARE FROM WAY OCT THERE With George Lemont, guests Producer: Sam Ewing Director: Dorothy Hooker N.ve tiO Mins.. Mon.,-thru-Fri„ 12:15 p.m. Participating KGO-TV, San Francisco Cameos obviously has merit. It gets away from formally dressed men and women standing on a routines were funny throughout have hurt many in the audience as ! stage and instead puts them into 1 taking oft' with quickies on Jackie 1 (Reason. Red Buttons, et al.. while Sir James himself went crooner, . ... . via "C'est Magnifique" that was j but never turned into allout farce. ' w^R as the singer. Chief assist^ in [ the costumes of the parts they arc (Igliherately designed not to put Kart ha Kitt or any of the Gallic chantoosies in the unemployed class. Durante's gab with his con- Lessy is a big asset to the show. , this sequence came from Ca.*l j supposed to sing. From the TV But it’s Thomas and Miss Hagen Franke. Sole non-operatie tune was 1 point ot' view, that’s an important who carry the comedy load. Their Merrill’s "Some Enchanted Ev*?- improvement. timing is perfect and each bears i bing, Ini excellent results. | However, a half-hour is very the matk of a genuine person. I locession of singing was broken 1 little time even for just highlights “‘"V l>H »>ct iv«*lv hv 111’#* pnm tr*c C n, ! . , ■ it nr . .. • I j, , mu, .1 ,. 1 ,,1 ill.* uni — o —- - f- - » ' IllllVrlllllYT, VVv || |,tll JU91 inis is noon hour dialing fun for science-puppet is always been good Routine of Thomas singing to her ; l, P effectively by two comics. Sam ! an( i (j ie overall effect suffers as a talgic medley that Sinatra got i l(,t laughs. Show originates on K a K which leads to a punchline and on t j le stage of an opera I himself mixed up with to punch ! !* u ‘ ( oast and quality of the film "Inch has no bearing on the eh ir- singers should he picked for over a session which also eneom- 1 is Hi/f. j aeters lie speaks of. Victor Borgo’s ■ their voice and their acting al groups "Mr. Blare." his puppet, is a sort of double-trouble shooter. Lemont '"ices devir dialog for "Mr. B.” passed the Tryoliers as stiltwalkers ami a robot. Dynamo Dudley, also and the whole cast. Producing and , a puppet. Animated cartoons and directing corps of Sam Fuller, Jo- ;V, U< ' film . - ....... S( house, both .. . . . , •— 1 their voice and their acting ability. .. . „ , „ . . . , V« s, al >V j t " as higlHy effective. Xhat is a | esson -Opera Cameos’ Helen Haves first video appear- pianistic comedy and impres- ] ias ve t to learn. ILJt. this semester Was cm the sions of an opera were punctuated J opera were punctuated Im shorts arc integrated around s *-ph Santley and Sid Smith gave | v hrvsler-DeSoto “Medallion The- ",v solid laughs throughout. Most cues with "Mr. Blare" and his pace to the proceedings and Hoy ‘die Saturday < 7 » wherein she Rbs material Is used in his cu’v- •""hot friend. Last section of show Bargv’s orch delivered sharp hack- "hi.'cd Harriet Beecher Stowe, a j one-man show at the Golden | v utilized lor interviews and draw- n'g. per usual. Trail. ! L'tniiliar role for her. but in a new j Theatre. N.Y. During the hour, there were briefies by assistant Met managers John Gutman and Francis Robin- son. who spoke on various phases of tlie Met’s operation, an intro of ing chores. Last timi bloc viewed. "I’n- j script Milton Berle had the makings of H v,,,n version called "Battle The occasion served to re- clc" George and children poked a potent show last Tuesday »3i w ith I ,n * n ^ '‘ewers that a Helen Hayes gentle fun at show's new femme ,l,e bookings of Tallul ih [•'‘PP(’ a, "*nce is an occasion. The director. Dorothv Nve 1 cMnimi Rankhead and Wally Cox There < ramatu; payoff came with the au- It’s the Smog Continued from page Z~ c arncra. Lemont has sincere manner with < hildren. giv es impression of hav- ing as much fun as they. His brush- < hpped hair and comical facial g\rations are slightly reminiscent W ith n \ nVvl’l a ! S °.if ndW u C< } ""«• “••'"W over a oo-mmu,e disarms hi lir l^'lc hook-show format. <It was not so tree 1 cm for 8 °' V,n ^ ‘RHicult. however, in the Berle their kiddie carers. premiere when La Bankhead and Tour. on the spindle. Norr is the public relations counsel who many years ago, when then serving the choco- late industry, forced the late George Washington Hill of Amer- ican Tobacco to stop using his ra- Coast Producer Settles Bad Check Claim for $450 Hollywood. Nov 10 ' “bo producer John H. White- 1 -ad coughi d up $450 in an out- < f-<mirt settlement to I.enure Wal- b' n l" 1 ' chores Rio performed on 1 on.tinio 1 Timmy O’Toole' * w on MU-TV. so a had check * barge agasnR him was dismiss.d However. VFTKA is keeping him cm ;ts unfair list. U : TR \ contended proilm cr co. The recent California confer- ence .of the Seventh Day Adventists gave feature attention to smoking as a social evil." Worst blow dealt the weed rc- 1 cently was unquestionably the lead 1 piece in the 11.000.000-circulation Reader's Digest. "Cancer By The „ -- , ... - T , • . , „„ — Carton." by Roy Norr. Another ai- tillmcnt without doing so steadily j ;in " destroys Raymond Massey’s Place Monday « 1 G) with Gounod’s tide of his "King-Size Cancer.'' is over the hour’s route. j monopoly of the impersonation. It : “Faust." Maybe this is related to the fact * s a phenomenon of American 1 Another sidelight of Sunday’s that Belle’s exceptional string this - sentiment, which need not be dis- "Toast” is that the Met session season on NBC lias made viewers i ted in this brief critique, that followed two successful weeks with expect too much; or mavhe li’s ; dialogs with Lincoln are pretty another singer. Julius LaRosa. becoming increasingly difficult to sure I" he moving even with a Perhaps some of the audiences that extend one theme over a 60 -minu.e ; modicum of ptaywrighting. tuned in lor the former Godfrey Scenes in the Andover home vocalist hung around for a higher (,io antl newspaper copy theme, with F!ric Dressier playing the un- level of singing. Jose. "Reach for a Lucky instead d a developed 'by the author) charac- j sweet!" ter of Harriet’s husband were in-' Edward R. Murrow trained the' Spinach Comparison t crest ing chiefly because of the ‘‘‘mote interview cameras on a ,, 1.. t( ,i v ,cco unilateral theme in this case was s, <u s commanding presence. In P a ‘I* of global and show biz vv.k.’s Lntil quite nceniiv, < hav ing the continuity revolve I'*' 1 * maturity, as in her ingenue v ' a "Person to Person" last Friday ; bouses shrugged ofl the ,4 “ '‘ l “'' largely around schoolmaster "Mr. j years. Miss Hayes has the strength 1 —on_ CBS-TV. Since Ric hard campaign against cigarets. ii Peepers" *as set against the w k that makes—well, stars. She was! Rodgers and Elsa Maxwell are seemed like "crank stuff." 11 “’/)’* sophistioncy ot Miss Bankhead and perhaps "playing against” the rela- articulate >n any kind of medium worth League and YMC'A ot the whining wanna-get-marriad lively routine materials id hand.] and have something to say tha.’s years ago had fought what they antics of regular Ruth Gilbert. | Paradoxically, her performance ' always icwcty from the cliche, it was then called "coffin nails' mJ 'The scenes shifted from science both added values and exposed "be of his best stanzas to da'e. which they then argued would b<* classroom to hotel and finally to their absence with respect to the First came composer Rodgers f ar more serious than cigars <r the "first annual fall festival" of script. Granting that a half-hour micler “at home" surveillance in ,>i nC s This ‘propaganda was gradu* Cox's Jefferson High in a mad pr 1- is not much of a frame for a full- ,11s N Y. domicile, with his lovolv .,1 v l itiehed out of coirt Tia- cession during which some tall bodied story, this script seemed "iff Homing in to fillip the ses- mien is more venous ( racks and repartee shone through, overboard on dangling character- s|on. ' k ^ r-,te i -“i Main trouble was that too many i/ations. The non-conclusive sar- For the trade, the Pulitzer Prize- 111 10 ‘bht ot me oeau ' ' a sagging spots developed along the (asms of the husband, the faint "inning son-smith's statement lu ng cancer. One doctor way. and with Merle bending over bint of pious complacency in Hnr- “bout a sleeper song hud the most sarcastically, "If there "**s a bit backwards these days to d •>- rids brother., the Rev. Henry .interest. He said that hi.s -Re- same apparent link between M ■ the ’ .el giun the femme $270 in had brash himself, the whole seemed Ward < erkv nothing in cash I tron ’"" low key. too ie whole seemed Ward Beecher, and the stereo- "itched. Bothered & Bewildered." nch and stomach cancer a* 1 ' • much geared tike typed boozing l>it hv Harriet's dis- fi'Otn "Pal Joey." was a dud until 1 is between excessive smoking i't"‘ n.Nid he attempt to settle for ( 0N himself, with only Miss Bank- illusioned back-from-the-vvar son disked into the hit lists 'it's still lung cancer the cry would » •’ * 27 ". and the producer paid the ,u ’ at * pushing through with her were all chapter headings rather and probably will continue through the land 'spinach mud n c.rRi tree-wheeling shafts of humor than chapters. indefinitely as a standard'. Mrs. but then spinach is not a S -5 —-—- tipped with arsenic. Even a Bank- ' Production and script were Rodgers 'inventor of the JohniPe 000 00O industry" V1 1 . 0 # • • Ja k t. c J., Shefrin to KRNY Kanvas City, Nov in \ Shefrin stepped out ot mi Kaye agency here to he < * .c - 'Mi.; a I manager of KRNY Ffoz hesti r- N. Y. Hr- -ft lure recently to take ©• ' r chori s ;jj Rochester where lie v h*> .n i hargf of AM, F.M and IV oper*.• mns. . . script bead however, can reach a satur.v “playable” in the sense of worka- M °P- R was brought out* broke I AttUaht , n , t tion point on sticking to her ^-x- day competence but lucked artistic down and confessed to her favori'c * Xo ‘ . <,xncT1J a 01116,111 s rigged guns, though it must he sail di>tinction. which was made more Pff'ce from her spouse's big «;on"- advert using account exc*( uuy m all fairness that the highjitiks evident by the star’s distinction Hog—"You'll Never Walk Alone," ,hc P lan of the American ( at. were present when she was. and Courileigh's intelligent read- from “Carousel." ’ Society to have 50.000 men '" Berle had himself a solo party inc. ('m* clumsy detail should be The head of the house Hruairng keep 10 -year "diaries ’ in w ■ J in a couple of spots; tirst at the mentioned—the ‘electric fan snow- the cleffer* declared that his proud- they will correlate the stncK L openmg in a special school mecll.-y storm “raging * out-of-doors. This l ’st possession is a distinguished habits of friends, * acquaint..! -j liacked by the song and dance on- was m<»t djstractive of attention service medal from the Navy for and neighbors known to have 0 -d '(•m ile, and about midway in a from tlie dialog, owing to the puz- Ids "Victory at Sea" score, admit- in tlu-t time from lunc (“ : i.Hx k voe.R with line interpohiVd /ling tact that it seemed to snow H'd Hi ; d tunes come easy to him. This lugubrious chart v. ill ’ • 1 nan alive. And lie was in there on’} in streaks. Every other win- (Continued on page 33 ) j edify the public for some M*--