Variety (November 1955)

36 TELEVISION REVIEWS Vakiety Wednesday, November 23 . 1955 Television Followup Comment H4~M 4 v Phil Silvers crammed enough dialog into his 15-minute “Person to Person’' visitation last Friday night (18) to normally serve a comic for an hour show. It was all pleasant and entertaining, too, as Silvers yakked away a mile a minute from his Delmonico Hotel, N, Y., bachelor apartment (“some day I gotta see what’s in the kitchen,” the comic reminded Ed Murrow in the course of the in¬ evitable hop-skip-jump tour of the living quarters). Murrow hardly got a word in as Silvers, who was in peak form for the “profile,” reminisced on the time he and Sinatra, while on USO tour, were given an audience by the Pope (“since when does MCA handle the Vatican?”); of his early show biz days dating back to Gus Edwards, and just talk for the sake of good fun. And he also played the clarinet. Not even cuffo plug thrown in by the comic for his Tuesday night CBS series. It was one of the more rewarding show biz interludes on the “Per¬ son” calendar of events thus far, simply because Silvers was warm, human, natural—and funny. Less fortunate was the visit to the New Jersey home of the Har¬ old Minskys (the last in the line of the burlesk impresarios and still operating in "Newark). It was a camera vis-a-vis probably inspired by the fact that Silvers came out of the burly circuits, but save for the occasional moments when ex- showgal Mrs. Minsky monopolized the camera ('and it was a pretty nice way to have a camera monop¬ olized) not much worth remember¬ ing came of it. . Rose. feet his work, then by film and other outlets multiplied his reve¬ nue, perhaps best illustrated the value of the “new agent” at work. “Other Side of the Set” as an off¬ beat tv attraction remains in¬ triguing and informative. Rose, “Caesar’s Hour” raised a bit of the roof on Monday (21) in a socko spoof of sailors hellbent for shore leave a la the cinematic pitches from time immemorial. Sid Caesar and his tight-trousered mates, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris, raced through just about every major cliche situation in the book of nav¬ al maneuvers to front a musicom- edy lampoon of “The Liberty Boys” themer. The romantic inter¬ est?—who else but peacherino Nanette Fabray. as the film queen who takes it on the incognito lam from the H\vood set to see how the other world lives. Love conquers all and Fabray is Caesar’s meat as he. the sweetest sailor of them all, finds his true mate in what may have been the most meller of all musicals ever given on tv; love_&lso touches Reiner and Morrisr -the- happy-go-gobs who succumb to their gals in the clincher for a wholesale marriage aboard ship. In between, ultra-seaworthy song and/or dance at the drop of an anchor, and the anchor seemed to be lowered every couple of min¬ utes. Topping a fast kid-arounder were the terping of the principals, solo and together, and a mammoth mixed group, with the Modo- dromed tapology faked beautifully via sound effects matching the panto tattoo. These were complete even unto the scrapings and shuf¬ flings of these Bill Robinsons of the fleet. Even Mr. Jupiter Pluvius was thrown in to “water up” the NBC-TV ramp for a four-minute kinescoped klatch near the finale. For Caesar. Fabray, Reiner & Morris, it looked like their finest “Hour.” Trau . On the heels of Argentina’s lat¬ est palace revolution—replacement of the Maj. Gen. Eduardo Lonardi regime by that of Provisional President Pedro Eugenio Aram- buru — ABC-TV’s “Dean Pike” series Sun. (20) probed that situ¬ ation via appropriate appearance of guesters Dr. Alberto Gainza Paz, exiled editor - publisher of La Prensa, and N.Y. Times foreign correspondent Herbert Matthews. Their informal conversation, originating from the study of The Very Rev. James A. Pike, Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Di¬ vine, N.Y., admirably meshed with the half-hour stanza’s topic: “What Is America’s Responsibility for Freedom in the Rest of the World?” After Matthews remarked that every U.S. Ambassador to Ar¬ gentina with exception of Spruille Braden was “pro-PerOn,” Dean Pike stressed that God is on the side of freedom and free men. “We don’t have to go out of our way.” he added, “to back up hate¬ ful dictatorships of the world.” Dr. Paz, who expressed gratifi¬ cation over reports that President Aramburu’s government would shortly return the expropriated La Prensa to his management, said I always had complete faith in the Argentine people.” However, he was somewhat perplexed, he declared, by failure of the U.S. to give anti-Peronistas more support. In line with this observation Mat¬ thews cited a specific instance where one U.S. diplomat even compared Peron to George Wash¬ ington. Obviously, the panel (which included Mrs. Pike) intimated, it’s smart to be tactful in difficult situ¬ ations but this was carrying it too far. * While the basic format of the Dean Pike” series is similar to that of sundry other panel discus¬ sions, this half-hour program benefits considerably from .. the Rev. Pikes keen analysis of world events in terms of God and the individual. Physical setting, the Dean’s study in Cathedral House, provides an atmosphere of warmth and relaxation and this is ably caught by the cameras. While not all of the “Dean Pike” airers may be as topical as this one, it’s evi- I'clent that this presentation of ABC-TV’s Public Affairs Dept, is well worth viewer attention. Gilb. _ , edic rather than adventure vein. As I usual. Disney has given “Crockett” ! top production values, with some I beautiful location shots. There is ! a new tune, about Mike Fink, sung ' by York (he displays a good set of pipes) and while it's a good number the best by far is still “Ballad of Davy C.'ockett,” with new lyrics. George Bruns and Blackburn, who cleffed “Crockett,” also turned out j the new number. Camera work by Bert Glennon is excellent, and pro¬ duction credits all down the line ! are good. Dahu. My Shadow” production number. Conlcrencier Sullivan parred his usual course, betwixt handling copious plugs to accent “the move to the Big M” (Mercury, of course).. He also tool? time out to intro Helen Hayes and City Investing’s Robert Dowling from the audience in connection with the renaming of Broadway’s Fulton Theatre to the Helen Hayes. Farley Granger also came in for a bow. Gilb. ! For the second and apparently j final of its post-“Ford Star Jubi¬ lee” shows under the mainmast of “Conquest,” Longines - Wittnauer presented “Great Achievements of the 20th Century” last Saturday (19) in the 11 to midnight spot over CBS-TV. As per the style in the first chapter on Oct. 22 under the label of “Man’s Fight to Fly.” this one was a recap in lofty and rather dedicated tones of military, scien¬ tific, athletic and other achieve¬ ments. It may have been a good lesson in certain limited classifica¬ tions of American history, at least in its “human interest,” headline- reaching aspects, for the younger viewing crowd. Little in “Great Achievements” meant much for the older person, except possibly as a bit of nostalgia covering the era as flashed by the watch com¬ pany via clips that summed up to a long and sometimes noisy news¬ reel. A few of these were of the kind rarely If ever seen, but most of them were out of the well-trod morgue. For a good part of the route, the narration was superior to the sub¬ jects reeled off as the familiar voices of Westbrook Van Voorhis and CBS newsman Larry LeSueur (the latter having been long the permanent on-air editor of the company’s ex-“Chronoscope”) al¬ ternated in dramatizing the action- panorama. Save for the chievement” banner, a definite po nt of view was missing to sus¬ tain the interest. Average viewer could not be expected to fix his eyes on the screen for 60 minutes of such orthodox memorabilia.. And Longines-Wittnauer did not endear itself by squeeze-playing the nar¬ rators into a couple of integrated commercials. Trau. Harriet Van Horne’s “Other Side of the Set” half-hour show¬ case on WABC-TV last Saturday (19) “profiled” a tv agent—in this instance Ted Ashley, one of the more youthful and enterprising peddlers of talent and packages, who has parlayed his Ashley- Steiner operation (since the break¬ away from William Morris a few years back)., into a 10 % gross off the top of some $ 10 , 000,000 overall client billings. Ashley brought sbme of his key staffers (along with two of his major clients., Hume Cronvn and Jessica Tandy) to illustrate the multiple facets of a talent-package agency operating in high gear. Even 1o those with show biz back¬ ground. the octopus-like ranee of an agent’s duties was at once re¬ vealing and interesting. „, To wF “outsider” it must have sU " ma of the “.sharpie” that fiction (and comic.-;) have al- Last season’s major television hero, Davy Crockett, returns as a legendary, not true-life character, and his. new “Disneyland” vehicle is strangely .and heavily Invested in humor spread so broadly it seems to fit him about as awkward¬ ly as a storebought suit. Walt Disney preceded the episode by carefully explaining Davy died at the Alamo and future stories of the king of the wild frontier would be legendary, not factual. Last year the kids (and grown¬ ups) of the country went wild over Davy Crockett fighting for his country in Congress, and dying for his country at the Alamo, and whether there can be -as much in¬ terest in a Davy engaged in juve¬ nile pranks with an outsize river bully, Mike Fink, is open to question. The new Davy lacks the stature and dimension of the real- life Davy, and therein lies the inherent weakness of the telepic. Most times this episode seems to be an outdoors situation comedy. New segment sees Davy and his buddy, George Russeil, meet Mike Fink, self-proclaimed “King of the River.” Russell tries to hold his own with Fink in a roaring drink¬ ing scene (this is for kids?) and gets so drunk he bets Fink he and Davy can beat him in a keelboat race down the old Mississippi. From there on Fink tries every means, foul mainly, to whip the king of the wild frontier in the race. But Davy is no dope, meets Fink at his own game and beats him in the race. He and the bully wind up as buddies. Fcss Parker performs well (with¬ in script limitations) in the role of i Crockett; Buddy Ebsen is good, tached to the name of aeenu fnr i alth . ough Riven some ludic ™us sit these were a^le i^Uelf^c J e^^ 1 uaLion - s - ^ George RusseU; Jeff likable people dedicated to furtluw : ? 0l 'r pl £ ys Mi jF e . Fin * with chest inrr __ - - • hoa 11 n (j hraapa H nnn M mmit At- How the Achin,. u Provide good support, for examnle tnni e V S «? inor P cys * , : ' 0l ' lllari Foster’s direction, likb knoun u- ^ , at ' cl un “ ! ho teleolay written by Tom Black- imo " n lv " lllei *. hclpcd 111111 Per -1 burn and himself, hews to the coin- CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show S”n. (20) was by no means his top effort of the season but on the whole the session added up to palatable entertainment. Example of how producers Sullivan and Mario Lewis plumb the show biz depths for acts on all talent levels was appearance of Met Opera singer Cesare Siepi (who opened the show) and Dr. Jive’s Rhythm & Blues Unit (which closed). Handsome Siepi, who obviously has ample femme appeal, regis¬ tered nicely in an operatic aria and struck a more contemporary rote with “Love Is a Many Solen- dored Thing.” Dr. Jive (Negro disk jock' with WWRL, N.Y.) dished up blues singer Bo Diddley, Five Keys, Laverne Baker and the Willis Jackson band. While their individual contributions were solid oer se it seemed apparent that their efforts were more suited for soecialized . audiences and lacked the broad appeal necessary for canturing attention of the general pub'ic. W.andy Tworeck, comedy.violin¬ ist whom agent Bert Allenberg dug up in Denmark, proved a real find for this bow master demonstrated some fascinating fiddling—he ma¬ nipulated both bow and violin into fantastic positions yet produced a listenable melody. Aging Spanish dancer Escudero provided a fine demonstration of heel - and - toe work. Despite his years it was evident that time hasn’t slowed his precision or technique. Comic Jack Carter, no stranger to tv, tossed in a coupla takeoffs (Jack Leonard, among others) and contribbed his impressions of Las Vegas. His snappy delivery of the “partnership” routine (“look at Johnson & Johnson-—they started from scratch”) clicked as did his “Love and Marriage” discourse. Absent from the bill due to death . of his father was Jack Palance j who was to have done a scene live [from UA’s “The Big Knife.” Se¬ quence. instead, was presented as I a clip from the film. [ Not to overlook nostalgia, lay- i out also served up Ted Lewis re- | p’ota with his familiar battered i ■ (c-vepipe chapeau and cane—the il/v;s hallmarks in 45 years of ff’cmg the footlights. Assisted by ■ songstress Suzanne Brooks, he ' -'"t through such standards a.s You Beautiful Doll” and i bow ed off strongly to a “Me and “Colgate Comedy Hour” pres¬ entation on Sunday (20) over NBC- TV was somewhat in the nature of a mishmash in a nitery setting, yet didn’t take on nitery aspects. It had a lot of performers, but just didn’t get the feel of a variety show, and glaringly became a rival network edition of the competing Ed Sullivan show for a few mo¬ ments. Irv Kupcinet, conductor of Kup’s Column, widely read Chi pil¬ lar, made like a personable Sulli¬ van. He introed a lot of guests from the floor and then the winner of"the jitterbug contest of the Chi Harvest Moon Contest under the sponsorship of the Sun-Times in that city. This kind of program¬ ming isn’t too sound since it calls attention to the opposition. The Chi Palmer. House setting seems like the show is steering for a cafe course. The Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, , will be the next point of origination. Attempts to give the show a feel¬ ing of spontaniety were too trans¬ parent. For example, Jonathan Winters, and Fran Warren, Ray Anthony were seemingly persuaded to come in from the audience to do a turn. It’s doubtful that too many were fooled by this device. The major turn was by-Harry Belafonte, the Negro balladeer, who provided a show of strength. His rendition of four tunes gave the session an anchor of solidity. Three of his cafe pieces, “John Henry,” “Shenandoah,” and “Matilda,” pro¬ vided a rolicking feeling, whlie a song of Thanksgiving gave him a reverent note. Another good item was the Bob Hamilton Trio’s terp turn. Gordon MacRae personalitied his way at the fore and aft ends of the show, while production assists were by the Merriel Abbott Dan¬ cers, the Norman Lubov Choir and the Frank De Vol Orch. Jose. “The Late George Aplcy”— novel to stage to cinema—should be entered on the records, how¬ ever briefly, as John P. Marquand’s clever comedy of Boston manners that as a reprise on tv took itself so seriously that the whole point was very nearly lost. Let the rec¬ ord state that it happened last week on “20th Century-Fox Hour” on CBS-TV; that Raymond Massey as Apley was a simple case of mis¬ casting, and that none of the other extra-competent principals— Joanne Woodward, Arthur Franz, Ann Harding—could do anything to breathe life into a piece that needs to be understood as satire by the production corps before; they go to bat. How is it possible to go wrong when the technique for a "click has long since been es¬ tablished? Trau. “Big Story” may have been tardy in expelling an old tv theory about journalism for a new one, but what counts is that the NBC Friday nighter finally got around to it. Multiply the number of newspapers in the country by infinity and you may have a reasonable picture of how many interesting news yarns have nothing remotely to do with crime or violence. “Big Story” last Friday (19), for co-sponsors Pall Mall and Simoniz, turned to something as inside-pagey as a medical reporter for its story. Show reeled ofl^ the longrun effort of Minneapolis Tribune staffer Victor Cohn to break down the unfair and impractical medical rules against permitting an alien doctor from practicing in the U.S. Needless to say, program was sev¬ eral notches above many of its previous attempts in its aim, but the yarn was sketchily traced, hitting only the highlights of Cohn s dedicated struggle to right a wrong. Writers went out to left field to find a Turkey Day theme, and perhaps because of the gim¬ mick had more bearing on the tim? of the year than on the plirt; it tended to make dramatics a little sloppy. Producer Robert Louis Shayon has an imagination that leads him in fresh directions. Few shows would risk mass integration of live and film. Shayon does in order to get* out of the studio and away from its important character closc- ups for frequent locaUon^^Tn adds something to forward £ ts ;. 11 of the tale. It was easy to ten° t 0 * the -Big Story- crewg ° v ‘ eI ‘. taking attention to the live and film portions. And Sh ^ 118 put Ben Grauer .to wSrkS 011 more than most program 0 w? 0 !? 8 ' Grauer, the show P “S’” hl d V push plot and post-story'interi ?.* 4 (him live; Minneapolis w film) in nice fashioS? d % oa Sheldon, after threatening to do. so via w r es 1 S his behalf to the New York gang imritmg each and everjuS °f ,‘hem to choose the points ., which personal monitors would be located finally went great nut doors. Whether stunt for expl<£ tion or good programming fo viewers, or both, the WRGA tv pixie of “Sheldon at One” (o’clock) who also has an hour’s kidoodler in the morning, took his stand for better or worse (including the weather and its w.k. vagaries) in the rooftop of the NBc'studio 5 67th St. and Columbus Ave. , th - at rarified atmosphere bhe:don is carrying on a show that as far as he is concerned, will be continued to carry on even if it takes all winter. He may be weatherbeaten by that time but anyone who knows his Sheldon knows that his head will be un' bowed. On the day caught. Sheldon’s mammost romp was interviewing some technicians of the phone company on their cable-line and other services for television. It had' only moderate interest until the phone authority launched into the mysteries of sound— including, musical sound—and how she is': wrought; also the even more un* known radar. That WRCA-TV, undoubtedly inspired by one of its foremost' performers, was persuaded to lux* uriate in such offbeat al fresco practice, probably has some con* nection with the general state of daytime tv locally, if not network*! wise. Possibly it is a good idea to ■ work in experimentation now, be*, cause the daytime air everywhere is fraught with imponderables and no high brassman is able to tell at this point where the arrow will lead to, say, a few months from now. This is the time, in short, to be. a pioneer; fool around long enough : and who knows?;—someone may come up with something. Sheldon might be able to say 10 years from now that ‘they laughed when he stood on a Gotham roof to uly his trade. Trau. Gee. Haight ' -■ Continued from page 25 — J be named), each of whom will be; responsible for $25,000,000 in agency billings. Under each asso¬ ciate director will be six account executives. Thus McC-E will in¬ augurate a new pattern in tv agency operation via a delegation of au* thority, with Haight and his asso* ciates vested with powers on strat¬ egy, planning, program showman¬ ship, etc. Along with Haight, the three associates will have veepee stripes. Remaining loose ends in the agency overhaul will be tied to¬ gether when Clyne returns from a European vacation (he left last weekend) in mid-December, when he will announce the new appoint¬ ments. Also to be named is a suc¬ cessor to Haight on the Coast as production manager. Mary Harris continues as agency’s production manager in the east, with Frank Gilday as administrative manager of the tv department. All told, upwards of a dozen, (in* eluding some key men in the tv programming field) had put in bins as nominees for the McCann-Erick* son job, in view of the agency® high-wide-and-handsomc s t a t u with overall billings approximating $200,000,000 for ’56. , . Haight has had a varied back ground in radio-tv, films and i theatre. Prior to his McC-E reg ^ 1 * he produced “Four Star F la -, - house” for Young & Rubicam a ^as associated in production “Robert Montgomery Presents, was formerly a producer at m and RKO -and an associate ducer for Sam Goldwyn. , , Under the Potter & J a duction banner, he brought 1 j number of Broadway lc f r llcl u s ’c a , l eluding “Kind Lady." 1 rt> JJ.J 47 ;} graduate of Professor Workshop at Yale Drama Dept.