Variety (December 1954)

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WVdneftday, December 8, 1954 SI Early 'Inventory’ on Cancer By ROBERT J. LANDRY Ever made a tour of a cancer factory? Specifically the Sloan- Kettering cancek factory in Manhattan? It is grimly fascinating, with the quiet, unsmiling staff dealing in cautiously worded state- ment only. The camera plays on mice with tumors that have been transplanted in the lab. Eggs are punctured for the injection of cancerous virus. Patients drink water which is radioactive. A child is enjoying a “remission” but the attendants regard her temporary gain with the eye of disenchantment. A doctor has invented a machine which smokes a thousand cigarets, chain style. The burn- ing vapors and tars are collected in tubes and, when injected into rabbits, the cigaret smoke induces cancer. All of the foregoing is a partial report of NBC-TVs “American Inventory” presented Sunday (5) at 12:30 p.m. EST. The time is of interest, for this is within the period of family relaxation in the parlor to read the funnies and tune in “Hopalong Cassidy.” Space salesmen for Sunday newspaper magazine supplements call these “the golden hours” (for the advertiser to impact the whole family group at one time.) How many stayed tuned in? A nice question. Cancer is the ob- sessive dread of this generation. The very word is frequently avoided, even in the obituary notice. Of course, really small tots might have been amused at the “cute” little animations, the little game of good little cells, and their benevolent appetites, and the bad little cells, and their gluttony. Animation (via the John Suther- land studio, and well done) was perhaps the only way that the anatomy of tumorous tissue could be visualized for the general public, but there is necessarily some feeling in the adult viewer of frivolous technique used to illustrate a pitiless scourge. The telecast on Sunday was composed partly of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation-financed film. “Horizons of Hope,” prints of which will be offered, free, to all tv stations and, at cost, to any interested organization. The remainder of the material consisted of comments by or interviews with a variety of doctors on the staff of the Sloan-Kettering Hospital. What emerged was an inventory of the main lines of scientific research—experiments with virus, with antibiotics, with hormones, with various chemical compounds, with radium. (Nothing was said about surgery, the most common and most dreadful side of a cancer hospital. How much can the family circle absorb of a Sunday noontime?) The viewer is impressed with the complexity of. the effort to “understand” the disease which kills one of every four people who die. "We’re penetrating the darkness,” said one doctor. He implies that an enormous lore of knowledge has been accumulated. Only trouble -is, it has no payoff yet. On the point of bringing the-grim truth (but not all of it) to the general public via a homefolksy medium like video, there well may be a division of opinion. The psychologists are not entirely enchanted with the “publicity” for cancer. No* effect of sharing the ghastly bafflement of science with laymen is an enormous in- crease in neurotic hypochrondria—thousands of people with a secret conviction that they have cancer, when they don’t. Interest- ingly NBC’s "Medic” series on Monday (6) dealt with a girl on the eve of her marriage discovering she has cancer of the breast. Let nobody charge that nothing “realistic” gets on the air! MEDICALLY SPEAKING With I)rs. John F. Filipinine, Garth Johnson, Ralph D. Alley, Janies II. Flynn, Harold C. Wiggers, others 30 Mins.; Wed. 10:30 a m. Sustaining WRGB-TV, Schenectady Program, presented by Albany Medical College to acquaint view- ers with the broad aspects of diagnosis. training, techniques, therapeutics and progress in the many fields of medicine, mad# a rather rough start on its opener hut hit a surer,' smoother pace as it unfolded. Considering the diffi- culties of preparation, time factor and newness of the venture for an old but not large school, the series is a creditable one. The potentials of television for public health are great, but they will be more completely realized when developed regionally as well as nationally, and when a very substantial number of doctors are included. The latter phase is one to which the sponsoring college lias obviously given attention. In fact, several originations suffered video-wise, because of too many participants and. consequently, too much unevenness. Tighter coordi- nation is indicated. % Among the most interesting seg- ments viewed were those dealing with heart surgery (the heart area was explored on several pickups); gynecology and obstetrics; the stu- dent doctor in the home, with a followup panel on the use of com- munity resources, plus emphasis on the preventive and art sides of medical practice. The heart sur- gery block, featuring a sharply photographed film, taken in Albany Hospital, was climaxed by a post- operative checkup in which Dr. Ralph D. Alley registered flaw- lessly as he talked with the patient. Young Women from Union U. School of Nursing have played “patients” in a number of se- quences. Clearer identification of participants should be made. Jnco. Seattle’s Educ’l TV Seattle. Dec. 7. New' educational television sta- tion here. KCTS. on Channel 0, Is set for its first broadcast tonight (Tues.) at 7 p. m. Loren Stone, station manager, said it will televise two programs a week until Jan. 5, when it will begin carrying three 30 minute pe- riods dally.’ ’ * ’ * - NATIONAL FARM & HOME HOUR With Everett Mitchell. Mai Hansen, Milt Bliss, others Producer: Don Meier Directors: Meier. Paul Robinson 60 Mins.: Tues.. 2:30 p.m. ALLIS CHALMERS NBC-TV, from Chicago (Gittins) For the seventh year, Allis Chalmers has showcased a special tele version of its "National Farm And Home Hour” built around the annual International Live Stock Exposition. This year’s tv visit, Nov. 30, was strictly a blue-ribbon affair that rates as a fine prototype in the institutional pub-service idiom. This was no slapdash one-shot, but a well-conceived look at the farm * trade’s yearly Windy City spectacular. The hour even had a terrific human-interest kicker in the climax of the Exposition itself, as a 16-vear-old lass got the Grand Championship nod for her Black Angus steer. General excitement surrounding the animal sweep- stakes and the gal’s reactions were one of those little slices of history that make for “ain’t tv wonderful” word-of-mouth. This year more of the full scope Df the week-long Exposition was captured with a nice live and film parley, using celluloid footage shot by Marshall Head. The live portions were a two-way spread with Everett Mitchell, as the over- all host, handling the studio inter- views, and Milt Bites and Mai Hansen, farm director of Omaha’s WOW. working the pickups from the International Amphitheatre. The gabbers’ hep patter helped catch the flavor of the big show. An effective point of reference for the city folks was a studio sequence on how to carve and prepare cuts of meal that tied in naturally with the livestock dis- play. Producer-director Don Meier, assisted by Paul Robinson, and the Chi NBC-TV crews can rack up another job well done for the Allis Chalmers firm, who dressed the hour further with some slick film blurbs for their farm eouip- ment. Dave. Hartford—Frank Atwood, WTIC farm director, lias been elected prev.v of the National Assn, o! Television & Farm Directors. Ik* has served as secretary-treasurer and veepee or the group. He's been WTIC farm director sihcd‘1916. JUVENILE JURY With Jack Barry, •then; Leo Du- rocher, guest Producers; Barry, Enright & Friendly Director: Craig Allen 30 Mins., Sun., 4 p.m. PHARMACEUTICALS. INC. NBC-TV. from New York (Edward Klctter) “Juvenile Jury” was a mixture of its old naive charm and “re- hearsed precocity” in its return to video last Sunday (5>, this time on NBC. Best “out 6f the mouths of babes” comedies occurred when the kids were being natural, but some- times the overeager hand of par- ents could be felt in the lines and actions of the tots, and such times were embarrassingly offkey. Perhaps the fault lay partly in miscasting. Emcee and coproducer Jack Barry missed by continued use of a 10-vear-old boy, Ronnie fast approaching the Joe Miller jokebook stage after losing the un- witting laugh line. He and a sLx- year-old Ruth, who was stagey in mannerism, seemed always to be playing for the audience. Pro- fessionally cute juves weren’t any fun, but other three “panelists” fared much better generally and through them the show picked up the pace it sought. In addition to the usual posers on the “kidull” stanza, there were several minutes with guest Leo Duroeher. Some of them were hilarious. The Giant manager, whose speech (like some of the kids) was addicted to over profes- sionalism, was cut down sharply and most humorously by a seven- year-old. When asked how much he earns in his baseball job. he hedged instead of flatly answering that he was in no position to say. After several minutes of double- talk, he asked the kid quizzer, "Does that answer your question?” —to which the simple reply was: “No.” Biggest yock of the after- noon came when the youngest pan- elist explained that “Pop sits in his underwear” to watch baseball on tv. The program shaped as though it will sell many more bottles of Geritol. once it found enough kids who weren't of the opinion that you gotta he smartaleck. Art. NBC OPERA THEATRE (Sister Angelica) With Elaine Malbin, Shannon Bo- lin, Mary Kreste, Ruth Kobart, Joan Moynagh. Irene Antal, Rose Gerringer. Also Jean Maretta, Joyce Gill, Alice Fraser, Carole O’Hara, Frances Paige, Dorothy Gandee, Tamara Ber- ing, Jean Ray, Libora Geraci, Margaret Tynes, Sarah Dubin, Helen Rice. Ethel Greene, Rose Virga, Joan Carroll Producer: Samuel Chotzinoff Conductor and Artistic Director: Peter Herman Adler Director: Kirk Browning 60 Mins.; Sun. (5), 3 p.m. NBC-TV, from New York For its second presentation this season, the NBC Opera Theatre last Sunday (5) did a repeat of Puc- cini’s “Sister Angelica.” one of the composer’s three one-acters. Pre- sented on the same show two years ago. the opera is hardly one to de- light the Puccini traditionalists for it lacks both the exuberance and the extrovert quality of other of the composer’s works. However, there were compensations, and the Opera Theatre bestowed on this sombre offering its usual mark of skill, good taste and great artistry. “Sister Angelica” is unusual in at least one respect—it doesn’t contain a single male part. It is an emotional opera, even though— for Puccini—a mighty restrained one. Highly unorthodox theme on nuns, brooding and sad, is re- flected in the quality of the music which, during the second half, rises to great dramatic heights. On Sunday’s show, thanks to top- notch performances and intelligent musical conception, “Angelica” was calculated to please the opera lovers. It was hardly the type work to excite the lay listener. It’s probably fair to say that this isn’t an ideal opera for airing in the first place. With the excep- tion of the moving climax—in this instance beautifully acted and sung by Elaine Malbin in the name part—the music isn’t of the kind that stays with the ear and there are passages that are outright mono- tone in quality. There are. how- ever, solo arias that rise suddenly and excitingly above the general musical level. Fact that it’s a one- act or makes it. of course, an ideal vehicle for a one-hour slot on tv. Evry voice was excellent. Miss Malbin. who had the same role two years ago. is a singer of great ap- peal and combines vocal and his- trionic talent. Her Angelica, at tlie end, was deeply moving and her dying .scene had dramatic impact. Slfaiihofi Bolin as the- told and RADIO-TEIJZ VISION MR. SHOWBUSINESS With Jack Arthur, Paul Klinnan, Joyce Sullivan, Alan & Blanche Lund, Johnny Moreland. Libby Morris, A1 McNamara, Don Gil- lies, A1 Pearce, Howard Cable Orch (18), Chorus (8), Dancers (8); Elwood Glover, announcer Producer: Peter Macfarlane Writers: Len McCaul. Ray de Boer Musical Director: Howard Cable 30 Mins., Mon., 9:30 p.m. BORDENS (CANADA) LTD. C$C-TV. from Toronto (Young Rubicam) In historical and dramatic form, the story of Sime Silverman and his founding of Variety, with all its earlier publishing vicissitudes, was presented in Jack Arthur’s "Mr. Showbusiness,” his current 36-week TV series. Program went to 19 coast-to-coast stations over the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. tv chain for a wham reminiscent chronicle of the founder, editor and publisher of Variety. Paul Kligman was a convincing Simp, comolete with ancient rolltop desk, oldstyle typewriter and tele- phone. plus chats about the paper’s history and show business person- alities. Atmospheric musical opening had Howard Cable’s orch, with mixed chorus off camera, on for a rousing “Broadway Rhythm” be- fore an abstract Times Sq. with dancers on in white dinner jackets or cocktail-length dresses. The lead into Arthur’s, first meet'”g with Simp in the ’20s, with dis- solve to the otherwise deserted editorial room, with Simp's desk on the second level, and At Scarce as Freddy Shraeder, a Variety mugp. doing Ihe introducing. Over Simp’s last-minute typing came Arthur’s tribute to Simp's out- spoken editorials in Variety when he took the part of performers against anyone who might try to exploit them unfairly: and “no performer, no matter how hi" ever got a good review' if Simp felt Ik* didn’t deserve it.” Followed the history of tiic founding of Variety in 1905 and then the turning hack of the pages ♦‘or the impressions of personali- ties. these successively stepping out of a picture frame after tableau. Though most of the kids never saw such stars in the kil- ters’ heyday, Arthur’s memory and directorial acurne* produced satis- factory performances, with Joyce Sulliran. in picture hat and semiin gown, on for a Lillian Russell in her singing of “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland”; Tom Hamilton doing a TIarrv Lauder in “I Love a Las- sie”: Don Gillies in “Smiles” for a Charlie Chaplin: Johnny More- land for a hand-clapping, dancing session as Eddie Cantor in “Susie.” and Len Gibson, colored tapster in top hat, tails and cane, for a Bill Robinson (but no stair dance.) Arthur, in narration, pointed out that Sime, besides covering estab- lished performers, spent a lot of time encouraging kids coming up. and also instituted a department given to New Acts. This intro- duced such young hopefuls as Alan and Blanche Lund, and it W'as in Variety that the Canadian young- sters saw a review of their New' York debut at The Plaza. (For the record, this notice was reallv writ- ten by Editor Abel Green.) Scenes showed a tryout In an agent’s of- fice, and then into appearance at The Plaza for a hallet-tap with lifts to “From This Moment On.” Later, Sime and Arthur did the town with some of the Variety staffers at “The Stage Door.” This brought on Joyce Sullivan as Helen Morgan atop piano for “My Bill’’; and then accompany round- up with Libby Morris singing “Lose That Long Face.” this in a Paris street scene sotting, with dancers on as American tourists, and mixed choir again off camera. Stanza ended with tribute 1o Sime’s complete honesty and the cardinal credo: “If you tell the truth, even the people who don’t like it must respect you.” McStay. cruel Princess gave a first-rate ac- count of herself, as did Mary Kreste in role of abbess. In the smaller parts, Ruth Kobart, Joan Moynagh, Irene Antal and Rose Gerringer all contributed greatly. Much of the credit for the suc- cess of “Angelica” goes to Peter Herman Adler, the musical" and artistic director who also conducted members of Symphony of the Air. Kirk Browning’s direction, parti- cularly in the final scene, was flu- ent. Much of the opera was Jensed in low key, taking advantage of the severely simple nuns’ habits and the convent courtyard scene designed by William Molyneux. “Sister Angelica” may not he Puc- cini’s best work, hid producer Samuel, GhoV.inoff. Adler & Co. gave it all they had. Hilt. SPOTLIGHT With Jimmy Durante, Sonja Henie, Jack Buchanan. Jeannie Carson, Pat Carroll, Paul Andre, Rudy Richards, Charles Sanford Orch Producer-director: Max Liebman Writers: William Friedbcrg, Fred Saldy, Neal Simon. Will Glick- man, William Jacobson 90 Mins.; Sun., 7:30 p.m. REYNOLDS ALUMINUM NBC-TV, from New York (Color) (Clinton Frank > Sunday night’s (5) edition of the NBC specs indicated an attempt to be “terrific” on a smaller scale than that which has prevailed dur- ing the series. Producer Max Liebman is trying to get an inti- mate tone into the proceedings, and seems to be relying more on individual talents than on outsized production numbers. Liebman assigned a compara- tively small cast to carry out this task. The principals were Jimmy Durante, Jack Buchanan, Jeannie Carson and Pat Carroll, with a special insert by Sonja Henie. The net result was mi»d and pleasant with a few explosions by the Schnozzola. The numbers were .selected with taste although the routining at times needed more imagination. For example, Buchanan did an old- time English nuisichall number which was followed by a sequence in which Miss Carson essayed a Harry Lauder medley. Both were in the 'same mood, and a long stretch of this style variety bor- dered dangerously on the monot- onous. Durante picked up the proceed- ings with his occasional appear- ances. llis rambunctious quality thrown against the rather quiet Britons (Buchanan and Miss Car- son) provided excellent contrast, llis work with Miss Carson in a takeoff “Brief Encounter” lifted the level of this inherently tedious sequence. Probably the best of the session was a burlesque of the Apache dances with the bulk of the company beating each other in the manner of the Paris under- world denizens. Rita Dimitri pro- vided a vocal prelude to this num- ber. Both Miss Carson and Buchanan are pleasant and authoritative per- formers. They are fine comedy aides and can handle song and dance work. Bui all that restraint on one show is rather a lot for a 90-minute layout. Miss Carroll through her work on this series so far. seems to he a lost soul. Slotted in secondary situations, she hasn’t been given much, material with which to assert herself. Sonja Henie gawe a good ac- count of herself. Her skating, as always, is strong and commercial. Working from the Brooklyn NBC studios. Miss Henie glided grace- fully around the frappe for fine re- sults. One of the strongest parts of this seouence was the comedy work of Paul Andre. He hit a maximum response with his trick footwork. Another assist was by Rudy Richards who worked with Miss Henie in the finale. Both boys were bicycled in from Toledo three times during the week in or- der to partake in this sequence. They’re appearing in “Holiday on Icc ” At any rate, Liebman seems to be shifting reliance on personali- ties rather than tremendous pro- duction. Whether it will pay off in the long run is difficult to assess at this point. II could be tremendously more exoensivc, as witness 1 he fact that Miss Henie pot $25,000 for her work on this .show*. lose. CIVIC. ELECTION CXMPAIGN With Robin McNeil, others Producer: John Howe 30 Mins., Fri. (3), 7 p.m. Sustaining CBOT. from Ottawa This year, for tin* first time, can- didates for a municipal office got their campaigns on -television, lo- cal Canadian Broadcasting Corp. outlet CBOT turning over a half- hour to candidates for mayor <3) and Board of Control «7•. Session was dull and static, only interest being in Ihe first video appearance of w.k. local politicians. Camera work was unimaginative and gab- bers’ preparations were evidently ail hut nil. Except for the present mayoralty incumbent. Dr. Char- lotte Whitlon. who left her script and got off in a fiery ad lib session during her stint, the speakers were dull, and read every word from script, a couple losing their places and stumbling embarrassingly.' The show was « strong argument against non-professionals occupy- ing gab stanzas on video, except in panels a n d press conferences. Stronger rehearsal preparation and a dry run or two might have upped the pace somewhat, plus more cam- era action. On the other hand, a different format could have bright- ened the Session. Conn.