Variety (October 1954)

40 RAHIO-TEIJK VISION Wednesday, October 13, 1954 Things began to look up In the Friday night tv comedy *weep- atakes. last week when two major comics—Red Buttons and Ray Bol- ger-—slotted back-to-back in the 8 to 9 segments (though on different networks) demonstrated anew that the “first time out” reaction can often be misleading. The Buttons NBC-TV show, for example, made swift recovery from the previous week premiere’s indifferent, stere- otyped presentation and gave every indication that the comic, armed with sprightlier material, can bal- ance the scales in the rating rival- ry. In place of the preem’s hack- neyed sketch material, the Buttons show this time up showed more im- agination in ari excursion into whimsy. It came off as a somewhat unpretentious musicomedy called “The Mud Hole Story” in which the comedian, in a “Raspberry But- tons" delineation, came to grips with a couple of leprechauns who suddenly find themselves projected into Mudhole. U.S.A. Sometimes the whimsy was elusive; sometimes the Buttons exercise in drawling got completely out of hand. But, nonetheless it was for the most part a pleasant offbeat venture into, capsule musicomedy format striv- ing for originality while giving Buttons wide range in displaying his comedic gifts. Particularly good were Walter Burke and Jack Wake- field as the leprechauns. The Bolger show followed the more conventional story line pat- tern familiar to viewers of the AEtC-TV stanza, but it came off with high pro standards and put the accent where it belonged—on the Bolger hoofing talents. This one had to do with Bolger playing a rube in exposing a fake dance instructor, culminating in a se- quence in which Bolger challenges the guy to duplicate his hoofing. Pedhaps one of the major surprises of the show was Alan Reed’s deft and agile portrayal of the phony Eileen BARTON Latest Coral Release “AND THEN” and “I HAVE TO TELL YOU” William Morris Agency master of the. “Gillirigwater Acad- emy of Arts and Sciences." It Was pleasant spoofing and tops in hoof- ing. Rose. Iraogene Coca's second-time-out (9) was several notches above her premiere in NBC’s 9 p m. Saturday slot. The protean comedienne’s script was more in her impish groove and less the “reaching” lass trading dialog and near-slapstick at the opener in an artificial setup for which she is hot ideally gaited. There was a punchier story—de- signedly trite, to be sure, in her cynical snubbing of the “love at first sight” pitch as posed in Holly- wood pix and her swift acceptance of it through being “bitten.” But insofar as the love-themed farce, with its dizzy turn of events, served as a handy springboard for the capers which she can handle so deftly, it came near being the old familiar Coca again. Certainly her exaggerated and basso profundo sultriness as a love-got-me-into- this. floozy thrush taking off on “Temptation” at a broken-down ginniill, was geared to Miss Coca's strength. And she had a properly hammy yisra-viS in tall, be-caped and “veddy English” John Emery, who played the joke deadpan straight sans the tongue-un-cheek style which has impaired many a Similar lampoon encompassing the heartbeat theme; Back to reality after the “Temp- tation” dream sequence, Miss Coca was in there again With a rehearsal of her nightclub routine and she socked over the song-and-dance stuff with the support of a male group. Credit James Starbuck with action choreography. A fine assist in precede to this was fur- nished by Joe (ex-Red Buttons) Sil- ver as the “tough” director who swoons for the Coca charms. Lu- ella Gear. Was given too little to figure prominently in the doings. George Bassman’s orch was preci- sion itself in backing the musical innings. This Was far from a tdp-drawer Ishow, but as an indication that Miss. TJoca is finding her way so soon after a Weak beginning, it augurs well for one of television’s prime talents, Trail. A versatile performer lineup dished out a pleasant hour’s enter- tainment over Ed Sullivan’S “Toast of the TOwn” last Sunday (10). Be- sides spotlighting topgrade talent, CBS-TVer had a sock specialty lure in landing sole tele rights to. filmed sequences from the Judy Garland- James Mason starrer, “A Star Is Born.” Xavier Cugat and his orch got the show underway with a snappy Latino beat, paving the Way for a vocal by bandleader’s wife, Abbe Lane. Miss Lane abetted her song- stering via some nifty hipswinging that accentuated her physical charms. Aero savvy of the Mar- cellis Was amply displayed by the male team. Their precision timing and expert. balancing stints were of the head-of-the-class variety. Songstress Patti Page showed mp extremely well, delivering three numbers in the stylo that’s boosted several of her records to the ace position of the bestseller lists. Tunes rendered by chirp were' “Go- ing Back to Oklahoma,” “Mama Doll Song” and “I Cried.” ' Rudy Cardenas' rapidfire juggling was a firm eye-catcher. His Windup bit with a series of hats capped act solidly. Composer Harold Arlen, who penned most of the music for “Star” did an in-person . stint at the piano, accompanying his key- board rippling with an effective vocal on “The Man That Got Away” from the GarlandrMason pic. Four Step Bros, took over the closing slot for some frantic rubberlegging. Quartet displayed sharp footwork, moving at machine gun pace. Bobby Jones, among celebs in the audience, was given some Warm praise by Sullivaii. Sequences from “Star” was ex- cellent trailer material,, showing Miss Garland in peak form. Jess. Television Reviews Continued from page 91 a phone call is made to a member of the home audience, who has put in a bid to be contacted. Person called gives instructions over the phone to an on-stage proxy who does the searching. Fred Robbins does an okay em- ceeing job. although his running around looking for a hiding place isn’t necessary as it’s apparent that a specific spot has been chosen in advance to coincide with the clues he offers. Peggy O’Hara gives Rob- bins an able assist. Plugs for Coke are frequent and lengthy. Jess. SUPER POWER “The Paul Dixon Show” got a more cosmopolitan stamp in its shift from WCPO, Cincy, to origi- nation from DuMont’s N. . Y. stu- dios. The hour-long stanza made the move from the midwest on Monday (11) after Dixon, currently in the hospital, reportedly hassled with WCPO management.' Until his. return, footer - comedian. Bobby Sherwood is subbing, Stanza, by the way, Will remain in New York once Dixon reappears. The urbanities probably grew out of the,N. Y. local. The backdrops had that familiar skyline look, and Sherwood made allusions to same. In New York too, there is opportu- nity for major gueststars to make appearances, something which was minimized during the Cincy tenure. On the preem, for. instance, Sher- wood exchanged pleasantries with Jan Sterling and Charlie Apple- white. Here, as with other facets of the show, the pinchhit emcee Wasn’t yet quite sure of his conver- sational groqnd, probably because he’s unused to the particular stand- and-talk format of Dixon’s. When Dixon reappears his will be the only face from the old show.. It still has pantomimists, but long- time regular Sis Camp was left be- hind as Was the other femme. In- stead. the DuMont production, un- der Roger Geary’s loose command, has its. own- pulchritude, Roberta MacDonald and Lynn Gibbs, who handle panto chores only moder- ately well, but who both grace the screen With much charm and gen- eral stage presence. Musical offer- ings are largely via the lip sync route, with the femmes mainly han- dling such duties, although Sher- wood got into the act via a very funny panto bit based on "No Two People Have Ever Been So In Love.” As for Sherwood, he is truly funny doing sight gags, and while he didn’t have much room to prove it on this telecast, he’s also got a neat and funny line of patter; Gen- erally he’s most natural, but the Sherwood characteristic that came through most consistently was his warmth. If he gets the feel of an- other man’s format he can make viewers forget Dixon’s absence, Besides the two females,. Sher- Wood got an assist from Bob Bean, who dabbles artistically to record background, The show is co-opped to all stations save for the network RybutOi participations. The com- mercial spots might be timed bet- ter. Art. WGALTV LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA 316,000 WATTS Covers a vast, prosperous territory—a rich target for your advertising dollar .Steinman Station Clair McCollough, President “Industry On Parade” goes into its fifth year of tv next Friday (15) in 234 U. S. markets as well as 10 abroad. Bankrolled by the National Assn., of Manufacturers and pro- duced the last year by Arthur Lodge Productions, the 15-minute telepix series is consistently good public, service programming. Np need for a cautious eye, because the cuffo plug was most always ab- sent apd when seen or implied was an integral part of an overall story Any industrial effort, whether about really big biz or a boy earn- ing small change by cutting lawns, is target material for the stanza NAM. calls it a “weekly tv feature newsreel,” and that’s about as good a description as any, since included each week is not one but several glimpses into industry. That such an exposure would be inclined to- ward lensing a noisy blast furnace, a falling redwood or some other grandiose industrial scene or show- ing considerable meaningless might be expected, Instead, the last show as seen via WNBT, N. Y., on Satur- day (9) did briefies on art through correspondence school, a car race to measure how many miles per gallon each of the 20 cars entered could make over a 1,335 mile course, etc. A number of offbeat elements combined With solid photography and musical background make the show interesting. Art. GENERAL MOTORS THEATRE (The Big’Leap) With Lome Greene, Nadyne Tur- ney, Bill Shattner, E.'M. Mar- golese, ; Marilyn Kent, Peggeen Rose, Sammy Sales, Ben Len- nick Producer Silvio Narizzano Writer: Leo Orenstefn 60 Mins., Tries., 9:30 p.m. GENERAL MOTORS CBC-TV, from Toronto (MacLaren) Preeming of second season of General Motors Theatre” on Ca- nadian Broadcasting Corp.’s video web drops a welcome addition into Canadian tv drama lineup. As last season, GM is featuring Canadian writers in either original plays or adaptations, and Canadian players. Wise choice for series opener was Lome Greene as topper in Leo Orenstein’s socko scripting of “The Big Leap,” a tale built on the fran- tic promotion activities surround- ing a projected barrel-leap over Niagara Falls. Greene, w.k. for his work with Katherine Cornell, in Prescott Proposals” as well as ap- pearances in. tv’s “Studio One,” and a longtime Canadian radio hesper and gabber, flew in from Hollywood for this chore. Story had little, solid continuity but held interest and ibuilt well to thrill ending. Greene played a fast-talking promoter with plenty roubles capped toy the efforts of rival toughies to muscle into the deal. Expert production by Silvio Narizzano kept the pace fast and held the suspense buildup on a steady climb to the wham ending. As sometimes happens, principals were outplayed by the supporters. Greene s role probably had no par level but had to be either under- played or overplayed. He- chose to overplay it. He worked energeti- cally but couldn’t keep himself from hamming at times.. As the promoter’s femme pal, Nadyne Turney gave an inadequate per- formance, hampered, too, by the failure of her voice to come over the audio satisfactorily.. Standouts were Peggeen Rose as Jackie, dumb blond girl friend of one of the gun-toters, who fell for the leaper and helped him escape the turmoil arid the actual leap, and Bill Shattner as ’Lucky; a naive kid whose love of the river and Greerie’s promises of fame and for- tune led him into a deal that got far beyorid his depth and set him dangerously between two rival mobsters and the promoter. E. M. Margolese’ handled the chief gang- ster’s part smoothly arid Ben Len- nick worked nicely as the rival mug. Sammy Sales, well cast as a taxi driver, and Marilyn Kent as Jean, a hotel desk girl, were plenty okay. Robert Hall’s recreation of a. room in the General Brock hotel in Niagara Falls was splendidly done. Cameras worked solidly and unobtrusively, reminiscent of the camera work iri Hitchcock’s film, “Rear Window” where the actiori was also mostly confined to one room. Gorm. era music, with a name gueste? for a kicker, holds proinl$e as streamlined natural. Lidlifter of the weekly series, fall through spring, was given a head start with Patti Page as the spotlighted visitor. In two appear- ances the platter princess, a lovely motherly type in plain dark dress, scored with her latest “Mama Doll” Mercury recording number, and a medley which included “Dog in Window” and “Tennessee Waltz.” Conversation between Pee Wee King and Miss Page, on her intros and signoffs, included an exchange of thank yous—she for . guesting and he for writing “Tennessee Waltz.” King’s combo in itself puts out a lot of solid entertainment. Redd SteWart, who collaborated with Pee Wee on a flock of sorigs, is an okay solo chirper, and four of the boys get together arid good on barbershop harmonizing. The boys’ western wardrobe is theatre A-l. An added plum in the preem pudding was Eller Long, guesting from the WLS National Barn Dance. Tall and lanky, in knee- length dress, she scored with a vocal of “Poor Little Me” and a scarecrow dance. Teddy Raymore Quartet, three boys and a gal, also visiting, pepped Up the tempo with a swingy “Let’s Get Happy” sing- ing. Commercials, effectively timed, receive added value from King's personal attention and know how. Creator of this series, Berriie Earth, came through with a swan song that will be lasting in his praise. He leaves WLW-T, originat- ing point for the series, Oct. 15, as general program director to join U. of .Notre Dame!s new tv station, Series spreads to Crosley’s WLW-D, Dayton, and WLW-C, Columbus, O. JFColl. PEE WEE KING’S FLYING W RANCH With Patti Page, Eller Long, Redd Stewart, Teddy Raymore Quar^ tet. Pee Wee King Band (12) Producer-Director: Pete Katz 30 Mins.; Fri. 9;3Q p.m. WIEDEMANN'S BEER Crosley Net, from Cincinnati A hew approach for general audi- ence appreciation, this combina- tion of popular, country and west- at the Piano * Organ * Celeste I REMEMBER MAMA * Radio Registry * TEXACO STAR THEATRE SATURDAY NIGHT—■N.B.C. Mgt.i William Morris Agtncy 467 CENTRAL PARK W. (107 St.) Elegant (5-ttory and penthouse apartment house/ doorman, beautiful 5*/a- mow apartment with 2 paths, overlooking Central Park, *147; Lovely 4 .room apt, With 2 baths, *129.50: Also, beautiful .4 room penthouse, - with 2 baths and Very large private terraces, over- looking Central-Park and City, $ 185 . 33 : aeg SU.p’t. COMEDY MATERIAL JERRY AND MARION BRILL USED BY TOP TV STARS birecflon: TAPS AGENCY, 1619 B'way. New York 19