Variety (December 1954)

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84 TELEVISION REVIEWS Wednesday, December 15, 1954 Television Followup Comment elements such a smooth runoff at a fast tempo that never faltered. Naturally the main draw were such high potency personalities as Gordon McRae, whose emceeing national attention. But even lesser script from his atelier compels attention, for this is a craftsman singularly endowed when it comes to translating his thoughts into terms best fitting Paddy Chayefsky makes a habit Maurice Chevalier, and the pres- of writing for television .s U h. ex „ ||ent show invented the medium. Returning for Q enera i Foods, his sponsor, to the video wars on Sunday (12) His opening remarks kidding Bri- After a term on the Coast helping tain, American relations with that and singing is the show’s real core; 7 * „ ronaration of his tv-born country and some topical refer- Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, Jeff art-Lancaster Produc- ences put a bright opening to the chandler, Gloria De Haven, Mara Marty Hec t gave ^ layout, and some good sketches Corday, Gene Nelson and Paul Gil- \RC-Phnco -”Tlevis!on Playhouse" helped put the show across on most bert . Xo ad d diversification to the the bVneftt of what should be counts The aud.ence laughter in- ^ of ulent there was Terry known—if it isn’t already—as the dicated J ba * ** op ^ s kl ^/ ng Brennan, Notre Dame’s youngest "Chavefsky touch.” Not that taken with good ^race. Of course, football coach, who seemed as "Catch My Boy on Sunday” was U° pe no stranger tomuch at ease in his running chat- the playwright's greatest work on having been bom^there a ^ ter^M bis questioner on items of * * But even a For U-I's forthcoming release, he was entertaining Britons, nis •>c n This T« Paris " it was a lighted fllmed efforts were no less effective b f®™» ^ P^iiion, “f hoES! on the viewers. Curtis, Nelson. Miss De Haven and Chevalier really didn t hit his Gilbert appeared in film clips and g..wus..ao - - peak until ]* e don ” ed . the „ s if a ^ on stage live with catchy songs the most intimate of public com- skimmer and sang Louise. That and dance steps from the filmu- munications. v as * he Chevalier that ™,_ any r if“ deal. 11 als0 8 ave the show a stron 8 rhavefskv doesn’t go in for member fondly. Until then, he ope ning to hold its audience waste motion in establishing what seemed to be working against the against the competing "Toast of he is trying to say. In Sunday’s Jj de - The sketch he performed with the Town.” Bobbysoxers must have stanza he took a fairly universal hope had an ancient plot and the g^bed off many ducats for their suWect thepsychotic wife-mother, bit he essayed on languages as * creams were piercing when Cur- 10 war's or so married, and traced s ° un <? ‘® ‘h»se that do not ljs chandler and Hudson hove in- the roirse of how she came to be understand the lingo, was a zero t0 view To give th< sabbath ex- what she is. Fulcrum for her day- enort - travaganza more comedy content, to-day hysteria is her young son, ,Miss Lillie hit her top with a fan Gene Sheldon was used in running the "genius” of her imagination bit, a funny and tasteful segment pantomime with falls and banjo whom she drives relentlessly, that drew a lot of laughs. Her plunking, all greeted heartily, almost destructively, into a televi- contribution along with Hope as For this installment of "Comedy sion acting career in sublimation a queue entertainer was strong. Hour” all hands rate a bow. It was of what she thinks is her own Other major components in the gay> lively and tuneful. Morrow failure, pitying herself because she show were ballerina Liane Dayde and R ay Buffum turned up a believes herself to be unloved by who did a fine bit of toeterping, sp ijgbtly script. Jim Jordan’s di- husband, sisters and friends, and and the Cologne Choir, a group of rec ^ on was signed and the music ever aware that he r late father German businessmen who sing for Carmen Dragon was top grade looked upon her as the black sheep relaxation. Work is too unbending “ <- armen dragon w w of his brood. The situation is, of for inclusion on a comedy show. course, a cliche, but a generally Quality of the film wasn’t too jimmy Durante may very well acceptable and serviceable one in good. Entire session had a grainy be the padrone of the longhairs. the hands of a Chayefsky. (Shake- character that made it look like Tt w „_ bi<» showcasing that made speare and O'Neill, et al.. were one of the early movies still being Helen Traubel a popular artist and full of cliches, but while there is shown on tele. Jose. i aunc hed her on a profitable cafe nothing new under the sun, there career. Lauritz Melchior, who has are a multitude of ways of ex- Sophie Tucker’s highly personal- already hit the pop trade since he Story was built around the youngster’s disappearance from le action taking place flashbacks seen home, with the in the form of through the eyes of people who had seen the boy during the day and who had been called upon or information by the police. There was an element of high humor here via the recollection of the same scene through different eyes. A schoolroom scene, as re- called by Bruce Marshall, who played the boy’s friend with humor and intelligence, had the attractive young teacher as a vulgar and merciless tyrant, while the scene was the teacher herself, played by Virginia Maddock, was of course entirely different. Or a short hospital emergency w'ard sequence, as recalled by the doctor, had the medic as a pleasant and under- standing gent, while the nurse pictured him as somewhat grouchy and tired. Supporting cast, Charles Aidman as comprising the doctor, Connie Lembcke as the nurse, Zamah Cunningham as a neighbor and Joseph Sweeney as the janitor, was excellent. Chan. ♦••• 44 *« scenes, such as the one at a hotel infested with suspicious charac- ters, that just didn’t ring true and could easily have been modified. Supporting cast was good throughout. Melville Cooper, un- expectedly serious—and handed some unlikely lines—in the part of the French inspector, gave the official a curiously impersonal quality that was just right. Norma Varden was fine and so were Rob- ert F. Simon, Ivan Triesault and Nicholas Joy. Climax, with Robinson roping in his spy, could have been handled with a deal more persuasion and imagination, and maybe someone could, if they tried, have thought up a punchier punchline for the fadeout. Last commercial, show- ing host Bill Lundigan at the Chrysler plant, carried a wallop. However, the middle-of-the-show pitch, involving interviews with fashion and other designers about the new Chrysler line, bordered on the inane. Hift. plaining and updating the old and j ze( j sermonettes have proved out departed from the Met where he ever-present problems.) as fillip material in the bigleague W as a leading Wagnerian tenor. To no one’s surprise, Sylvia nitery loops, but one of her "up- showed anew that he can clown as Sidney as the troubled wife and lift” recitations seemed a bit odd we n as chirp on his NBC-TV Satur- mastermind of her little genius, as an entertainment payoff on Ed dav stanza (11). socked over in the overwrought, Sullivan’s CBS “Toast of the Town” Melchior lent himself admirably emotional role, giving it the under- last Sunday (12). She was her old to the comedy. A hairline plot had playing where it was most needed, Sophie self—as she would be—in him trying to crash the Club but sticking so fast to the un- that cheerful opener, "I Don’t Durant with a singing act. He sympathetic rigging as to bring to Wanna Get Thin,” a Jack Yellen w i n ds up by cavorting in the it the very sympathy that Chayef- special, and ditto on the finishing Durante & Jackson tradition with sky intended since it would not "Some of These Days.” But the big a f un ny bit of strutting and kick- be difficult for even the "con- number (MacMaurada material) j ng a j a Eddie Jackson. tented” housewife to find here a in the middle of her turn was over- Durante didn’t neglect his own whelmed by cliche passages and contributions. He did a winning yarn centered around William Red was clearly out of key on a tv on a cu te song, "Pupalina,” field, about to leap from a bridge, variety show. In addition. Miss a i Q ng with his excitable comedies, with suicide attempt frustrated by Tucker is too big a figure in show The Honey Bros. (3) provided a cajolery mated to police action. He business to have to stoop to giving f ajd t urn a t acrobatics. was, of course, incarcerated on the her dressmaker a plug, which inci- h seems that Durante can turn attempt rap with, however, his case dentally came out of the outfield. tj,e Met into a shambles. He can studied psychiatrically for a deter- Eyen so, a Tucker is always an elec- take any artist on that roster, give mination of cause. Tracing the trie personality; if only she would him a showcasing and with Las man’s background, the medico got put some of those "inspirational Vegas salaries being what they are, a hint from Peggy Ann Garner, the recitations on the shelf for a while. h e can ma k e a lot of trouble for inmate’s wife, that suggested an personal identification. In Martin Rudy, as her dentist-husband, quiet, subjective, nearly afraid of his shadow, loving his family but not demonstrative and not deep down a weakling. Miss Sidney had a vis-a-vis who fell right into place, and Luchino Solito de Solis, their thesping offspring in his tv debut, played it like the over- worked automaton he was supposed to be. One supporting role, that of the school principal of Anne Ives, was nearly photographic in its pungent realism; the schoolteacher of Joanna Vischer was another solid portrait, but here Chayefsky un- doubtedly went overboard in giving her lines that are usually reserved for professional consultants and sociologists, perhaps even psychi- atrists, particularly since the boy’s school is set in the Bronx, with an enrollment of some 3,000 and some classes of 50 students. Every New Yorker, at least, will know that this was one scene which did not add up, but apparently the playwright refused to entertain the idea of having Miss Sidney take the MD’s couch route, under the quite justifiable notion that this would really be gilding the cliche. Other skillful work was by Nan Sutherland as the sister. Peg Hillias as Miss Sidney’s long lost friend (whom she encountered in the subway in a cleverly done scene) and Neil McKenzie as the tv director. The final come uppance, wherein Miss Sidney plunged herself upon the bed to sob in the arms of her husband, will be one of the most- talked-about. One school will say that she has come of age; another that she’s still trying to "be some body”; still another that that was a fit of the moment. Chayefsky rarely tries to find solutions, merely pointing the way. No pat hands for him. Gordon Duff produced, Arthur Penn directed. Trau "Justice” has been doing well by NBC and Borden’s—certainly bet- ter than expected, and a sleeper of its type—since being thrust into the fray in one of the most kicked- around slots of the video sweep- stakes. To call a spade a shovel, the Talent Associates-John Rust quasi-documentary package based on material from files of Legal Aid, is in the middle of an 8 to 9:30 Thursday night trinity qf which the bread components mak- ing up the sandwich consist of the powerful Groucho Marx "Bet Your Life” and. the Jack-Webb-led "Dragnet.” On the other hand, it must contend with the high- budgeted CBS-Chrysler’s hourlong "Climax” going three-for-four with "Shower of Stars” in the rivalry starting at 8:30; not to mention ABC’s "T-Men,” which formerly held the "Justice” berth for NBC Couple of months ago, with its score continuing to hold up, "Jus- tice” got a Borden’s nod on upped coin, permitting, for one, the addi- tion of a name host-actor in the alert and clever Gary Merrill, func- tioning as a parttime Legal Aid attorney. Last week’s (9) George Beliak "Life Begins at 80,” the Barry, Enright & Friendly package beamed Sundays via the DuMont net, wouldn’t be a bad show if the almost interminable commercials could be dished out in moderation. There were at least a half-dozen plugs on the Sunday evening <12) edition in behalf of Geritol, an iron tonic ("Feel Stronger ... Fast!”); Geritol Jr. for children, Serutan ("For Daily Regularity”) and a spot announcement fore and aft pro- claiming the merits of RDX, a re- ducing pill. Betwixt the puffs emcee Jack Barry sneaked in guestars Adolphe Menjou and Vaughn Monroe to augment the stanza’s usual panel of oldsters. Menjou, who was a matinee idol in the ’20s, was on hand to answer a query “did the fact that men wore moustaches years ago make them more attrac- tive to women?” Since he wears one himself, the actor obviously took the affirmative. Some mild badinage followed and a relieved Menjou made his exit. - Monroe’s guesting fell within the category of "Footlight Favorite of the Week.” After disposing of some innocuous questions from the panel he crooned three pop tunes to piano accompaniment. It was a so-so stint primarily due to the wrong showcasing for his particu- lar talent. On the warbler’s bowoff Barry conveniently reminded tview- ers that Monroe opens shortly at Miami’s new Fontainebleau Hotel. But for "Life Begins” next week it’s not "East Lynne” but Bill’s Gay 90’s. GUb. Otherwise, it was a smooth | Rudolf Bing "Toast” progression. Sam Levenson was in rare form, this time with | Reginald Jose. name old injury which thus led to brain surgery that returned him to the sane” groove. In the playout, there was per- haps overlong accent on the thrill- suspense aspects of the would-be Bob Hope’s filmed show emanat Ing from England proved that it’s not true what they say about British audiences. They do so laugh, and on time and in the right P laces. At least when Hope’s on [ope during his recent trip on the Continent filmed a show with truly international flavor and one distinguished by the telebow of Sh-Boom” (Mercury) which they belted out to square the citation, and wound up with "Crazy About You, Baby” for a gQod score in the rhythm session. David Whitfield, the British ver- sion of Mario Lanza (but tall and slender), pitched way up thataway in a brace of separated tunes, "Cara Mia” (with a choral back- ground apparently recorded) and at windup with "Merry Christmas to You.” There is no doubt about the Englishman’s vocal reach, rem- iniscent at times of the old Allan Jones in the upper ozone, but more disciplined—maybe on example of the w.k. British restraint in this regard. He appears headed for a buildup here as a belting tenor. Channing Pollock followed in suave magico. Socko in every particular were the Rudells, consisting of straight, clown and femme niftying on the trampoline. The ropeskipping and double spin through a hoop were the highlight capers in a tiptop bouncing session. Virginia Mayo, as pretty as she is on celluloid, was on for what amounted to little more than a bow, fronting for a couple of clips from “The Silver Chalice” (WB) starring her and Jack Palance. Trau. Rose, whose rib-tickling, updated nostalgia on popped up as a television writer gift-giving when he was a lad. The 0 f distinction with his "Studio One” Canuck Crew Cuts (4) opened the season opener, “12 Angry Men,” layout with "Mr. Snowman,” then and who reinforced his growing taping,” with’correspon'dingly less Sullivan handed them a gold disk reputation with "An Almanac of study g i ven t0 the more important for their 1,000,000 mark sale of Liberty” a few weeks back, \0an pS y C ho values. But it was skillfully ..ou »> .. ,»* ...u.L .1 now claim a permanent seat among portrayed and staged, sustained at- television’s consistently outstand- tention as a story, and compelled ing dramatists by virtue of his reflection on the whys and ways of third "Studio One” entry of the su icidees. Trau. season, "12:32 A.M.” A taut but ?"«I5 Un i!? n g .,. S .V ud ^i?°!.2‘AM^ A slightly Involved but on the 1 d coH y whole suspenseful story by Eric possessed the allover qual t es Ambler gave Edward G. Robinson L ensi ° n *£?* d fcfJhTram/ a good vehicle for his talents last h }*™° r iuu T ™pndTnv week (9) when "Climax!” over CBS-TV presented "Epitaph for a that the entire pl ‘ y log c a , Spy." Show, while lacking in some' P No small factor in Rose’s success ’^fts had a good deal of ten- were, as in "12 Angry Men,” the slo J?mfhfn i a performances of the leads and the f 9 a fi/v 0 Hac^v b i n fManc?avJlin Hi/ direction of Franklin Schaffner. In ° f , J ° s *^ Ih* io oo ” if was Van Dvke Parks placed person on a holiday on the who walked away with Th e e [[how French Riviera and suspected of Youngster, speaking no more than f nc f P nppc W nf 20 lines throughout the hour-long Jiff 1 nr a^ai? 8 55^? play, gave one of the most ex- 3 Ki^ r ,/ 0r ^ pressive performances ever deliv- cned, bumbling and yet full of a ered by a juvenile, or for that sor ^ °J desperate courage, Robin- matter an adult. His portrayal of * on w bro i ug ^ t . 0 human a sensitive 10-year-old who sees *° bls performance, his father slap his mother and e ^ er fi*i n determines — in a flight of ado- fJ eat Vl dea » V lt « f J ^fJ\ d lescent fancy—to kill the father, the show benefited from it. Adapt- was a study in facial pantomime ed Donald S. Sanford with a that was near-perfect. Schaffner’s g ° od . ey ^ ,*£ r i V d * bnller Potential, fine hand was evident here. "Epitaph” had Robinson at first ar- As the near-hysterical mother of f® st !L d as a sp y and forced by the boy, Katherine Bard delivered French police to act as bait for a consistently high-powered per- the real villain. .... formance that provided a rude Allen Reisner directed the pro- contrast to the mute single-mind- duction with good pace, wisely edness of the boy. As the hot- taking enough time out to estab- tempered father, Don Gibson was important characteriza- outstanding, first as a sort of heavy, tions. Working jyith fairly elabo- and in the final scene, as a tender rate sets, and using his camera in and understanding parent who expert fashion, he infused goings- with a comradely smile wipes away on with a good deal of excitement the boy’s fantasies. In the other and left viewers in doubt as to the key role, Walter Brooke was im- real identity of the spy till the pressive as a sympathetic detective, very end. There were a few If name power is what it takes to pile up rating points, Sunday night’s “Colgate Comedy Hour” should come close to its season’s high mark. It had not only "in per- son” billing but every one of them performed in some manner or other. To producer Bill Morrow goes main credit for giving the hour show with so many diverse PICK THE STARS With Ernest Rawley, Midge Ar- thur, Herman Geiger - Tore!, Samuel Hersenhoren Orch, Dick McDougall, emcee Director: Drew Crossan Musical director: Sam Hersenhoren 30 Mins.; Tues., 9 p.ra. CANADA PACKERS LTD. CBC-TV, from Toronto ( Cockfield-Broum; Baker ) This is a 39 weeks’ series, run- ning into June, whereby the Ca- nadian Broadcasting Corp. is na- tionally showcasing a weekly seg- ment of professional Canadian tal- ent, following last summer’s coast- to-coast auditioning by Drew Crossan and Geoffrey Waddington in Canada’s principal cities. In this search for new professional talent, series gives the artists a na- tional showing, plus professional production. Chosen artists from across Can- ada have their travelling and hotel expenses paid by the CBC and get the vaude scale existing in Toronto. On every sixth show, the winning artists of the previous five get scale, transportation, living ex- penses, etc.; and an additional $500. In the final elimination judging, the winner will get an ad- ditional grand. Permanent panel of judges on the 39 weekly stanzas includes Herman Geiger-Torel of the Royal Conservatory of Music and direc- tor of the Opera Festival Co. of Toronto; Margaret (Midge) Arthur, line choreographer of the Ca- nadian National Exhibition’s 24- 000-seater grandstand show; and Ernest Rawley, manager of Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto; the latter an unusual switch m that Rawley runs the town’s only legit house or to paraphrase tne axiom—if you can’t lick the new competition, join ’em. Stanza caught opened with a dog act, Ian Gordon’s Society Pets, foi somersaults and hoop work, pra> pushing, and a monkey doing mp- (Continued on page 40)