Variety (March 1956)

22 TELEVISION 'REVIEWS PfiRIETY Wednesday, March 21,, 1956 If ATAS Wants Emmy’ Recognition, NBC Telecast Ain’t the Way to Get It By BOB CHANDLER ♦—-- Was inis telecast necessary*? Ifs. TAMING OF THE SHREW irnmr thaf iI p i (Hallmark Hall of Fame) something of an o 3 * ^y ith ]yj aU rlcc Evans, Lilli Palmer, Diane" Cilento, Philip Bonrneuf, John Colicos, Douglas Watson, Jerome Kilty, Robinson Stone, Ronald Long, Will B. Able, Jack Fletcher, Chrisse Hayward, Un¬ dine Forest, Nadeen Day, Mar¬ sha Reynolds, Charles Bolcnder, Bob T r e v i s, Mario Lamm, Charles Fatone, Billy Herman, Bob Casper, John Dutra, John Perkins, Richard Buck, Ron Cecill, Steve Wiland, Richard Tone, Eleanor Boleyn, Gloria Hamilton, Helene Ellis, Paul Godkin, Mara Lynn television industry, wishing to re¬ ward its members for their eon- j tributions, should do so in a man -1 ner that reflects so poorly on itself. | In oilier words, the industry un- j dertook to reward the “best” to’en¬ vision of the year in one of the worst programs of the year. 'Why an “Emmy” telecast? At best, like any other awards cere¬ mony, it can only be dull as a video vehicle. The industry can line up the best wits, the best : Producer: Evans speakers, the best comics in the ! Rector: George Schaefer 7 ' , ... . . . , ,, i Writer: William Shakespeare business and put them behind the ; (adapted by Michael Hogan, Wil- rostrum, and it will still be dull j \i?,m Nichols) if only from the sheer time con- i Staged By: Nichols sumed in announcing and handing out the awards and in the reitera¬ tive acceptance speeches involved. Nobody can relieve that monotony, and if the networks or anyone else thinks that the “glamor” can carry the occasion, they’re mistaken. Like the line about women’s dresses, it’s what can’t be seen that’s the more fascinating. If the “Emmy” dinner is the high spot of the awards year for the industry and for the public— and that’s stretching an “if” to eternity at this juncture—then why. ruin the pubrelations splurge by giving John Q. a bad show? And if under any pattern of awards- giving the public can’t be given a good show', better no show at all. So much for the general view. EMMY AWARDS With Art Linkletter, John Daly, emcees; Bob Cummings, Jimmy Durante, George Gobel, Phil Silvers, Sam Levcnson, Hal March, “presenters”; Gordon Jenkins Orch; Frank Barton, commentator; Bob Lemond, an¬ nouncer Producers: William Kayden, Herb Braverman Directors: William Bennington, Richard Schneider Writers: Hal Goodman, Larry Klein, Glen Wheaton 90 Mins.; Sat. (17), 9 p.m, OLDSMOBILE NBC.-TV, from Hollywood and N.Y. (D. P. Brother ) As to specifics, the matter of nom¬ inations and categories that caused so much consternation throughout the industry brought things to a near-fiasco stage when the final tallies were in. “Disneyland,” which last year won the award for the best variety show, this year took laurels for the best “action or adventure series,” beating out such unlikely adversaries as “The Lineup” and others in the police genre. Phil Silvers walked off with three awards, best comedian, best comedy series and best actor in a continuing series, a matter of overlapping if there ever was one. Nanette Fabray, only a couple of days out of “Caesar’s Hour” took two as best comedienne and best supporting actress (a contradic¬ tion?) while bossman Caesar (“my best friend”) left empty-handcc^ Some of the awards there was no quarrel with, but the entire setup of categories and nominations made the event rather puzzling for the trade and public. As to the evening’s performers themselves, Art Linkletter and John Daly made only passable emcees, Daly being a little too for¬ mal and Linkletter too casual (with his reference to Mrs. Weav¬ er's zipper being in the worst pos¬ sible taste). Among the presenters (what a word!). Silvers, Jimmy Durante (at the top of his form) and Sam Levinson lightened the long road; George Gobel was pass¬ able; Bob Cummings n.s.g. and Hal March wisely stuck strictlv to business. Technical aspect of' the affair was well handled on both Coasts. Frank Barton’s voice-ov..r commentary was fine, making like 1 everything was the affair of the' year, while Bob Lemond’s com¬ mercials for Oldsmobile were wel¬ come reliefs. One other point, the “protest- eth too much” bit: everybody spent so much time sermonizing about a "united industry” and about “we’ve had our little sauab- blcs, but—” that one wondered whether they were trying to con¬ vince themselves or the public. Choreographer: Tony Charmoll Costumes and Production Design: Rouben Ter-Aruttmian Music: Composed, conducted by Lehman Engel 90 Mins.; Sun (18), 4 p.m. HALLMARK CARDS NBC-TV, from N.Y. (color) (Foote, Cone & Belding) Shakespeare played it for laughs, but Sunday’s show tried on the guf¬ faw garb for size. After a while, it became too much of a good thing, suggestive . of the theme song from a rival spectacular, the Mary Martin-Noel Coward foray into “90 minutes is a long, long time.” The johnny-one-joke note was overlong, though the Sabbath “Shrew” had its virtues. Aside from the Evans-Palmer superiority in carrying the load of fun, and with an especially effective clown¬ ing mark hung up by Jerome Kilty as Grumio, these virtues were many. They included some grand and glorious costumes and “car¬ pentry” settings out of the atelier of Rouben Ter-Arutunian which gave an airiness to the rapid ac¬ tion spread over a dozen and a half scenes; cheerio music smithied and batoned by Lehman Engel; a bagful of circusy props and a live parrot to boot, and a cleverly fashioned commedia dell’arte approach created by Nichols. In addition,! there were some fine dance and panto sequences arranged by Tony Charmoli and fronting lively ter- pers Paul Godkin and Mara Lynn. Big cast showed off well, with Philip Bourneuf acquitting him¬ self amusingly as the harried Baptista and Diane Cilento as Bi- r.nca endowed with looks and curves if not especially noteworthy in the thesping department. It was a rich, resplendent show, with a fine example of compatible color, and a great big tomfoolery showcase for Evans and Miss Pal¬ mer. Too bad it failed to sustain interest throughout as it got bogged down in an overload of farce-with- in-a-farce. There is such a thing as padding out Padua. Trau. SPRINGTIME, U.S.A. (Voice of Firestone) With Helen Hayes, Patrice Munsel, Rise Stevens, Brian Sullivan, Ray Middleton, Earl Wild, others; Paul Whiteman, Howard Bar- low, conductors; Bobby Hackett combo; Firestone Orch & Chorus; Gene Bayliss, choreographer; Harry Simeone, choral director Producer: Fred Ileider Director: Cort Steen Writer: Jean Meegan 60 Mins.: Mon. (19), 8:30 p.m. FIRESTONE TIRE & RUBBER ABC-TV, from N.Y. (Foote, Cone & Belding) Apart from a ridiculously ill- timed title and some in-script re¬ marks about the beauties of spring during the northeast’s worst snow¬ storm in eight years, an overen- thusiastic and at times simpering script and a poor acting cast that suffered the etxremes of fluffs, “Springtime U.S.A.’ was a pleas¬ ant hour of music. Which is to say that it was a standard “Voice of Firestone” outing, with the added elements of an extra half-hour of time, a thematic script with Helen Hayes narrating and extra space, costumes and cast. As a “spectacu¬ lar,” it was spectacularly unspec¬ tacular. Most of the trouble stemmed from Jean Meegan’s script, which waxed overly ecstatic in the narra¬ tive portions and overly simple in the dramatic vignettes. Miss Hayes got carried away in her narrative, which is as it should be, but it’s doubtful whether she, carried any¬ one with her. As for the dramatic portions, the Washington-at-York- town bit was a fine example of how not to write a script, and also how not to act one. But after all, the music’s the main thing, and the panorama of American music made good listen¬ ing, and for the most part, good choreographic , and costuming step- off points. Cast comprising Patrice Munsel, Rise* Stevens, Brian Sulli¬ van and Ray Middleton did full justice to the music, with Gene Bayliss’ dancers turning in some excellent work and the Firestone orch providing fine backing. Best number of the lot was “Rhapsody in Blue,” with Paul Whiteman con¬ ducting, Earl Wild at the pi&no, and the work choreographed bril¬ liantly by Bayliss. Number was set on a huge stage designed by James McNaughton, and was the high spot of the show. As an added fillip, show featured jazz for the first time in 27 years, with a combo led by Bobby Hackett in an all too short dixieland number. Technically, the show provided a field day for producer Fred Heider and director Cort Steen. Occasion marked tffe first use of ABC-TV’s huge block-long studio, comprising its TV-1 and TV-2, with the wall broken through between them and the combined setup run¬ ning the entire block between W. 66 th and 67th Sts. Heider and Steen made good use of the space, giving the “Rhapsody” and other sets a sense of vastness that was nonetheless compatible with the small screen. Technical credits were tops—McNaughton, the net¬ work’s art director, did himself proud on the sets; Alfred Leh¬ man’s costumes were excellent and Danny Franks’ lighting topflight. If the creative side had matched the technical, it would have been quite a show. ,Chan. ►♦+♦♦♦♦♦< Tele Follow-Up Comment Super Circus ABC-TV turned a liability into an asset by taking “Super Circus,” which the Monday (19) “Voice of Firestone” spectacular virtually forced out of town due to a shortage; of studio space, to Miami-where web flackers captured lots of hoopla for native daughter and co-star of the kidvid series, Sandy Wirth. As a result of remoting the hour tele¬ cast on Sunday from the 76,000-seat Orange Bowl (a substantial part of which was filled by junior sun wor¬ shippers) web will in all likeli¬ hood be able to boast to any pros¬ pective advertiser that it has the Miami juve contingent pretty well locked up. The special didn’t hurt around the rest of the nation either; green football turf isn’t saw¬ dust, but it is more circusy than the confines of a N.Y. studio. Using the cameras of WITV for its first out-of-town playdate, ‘/SC” focused on some substantial" big- top turns. Additionally, there was the traditional exchange of greet¬ ings between local government and Miss Wirth and Jerry Colonna, ;SC” ringmaster. (The Sabbath snow was preceded by a whole week of festivities for Miss. Wirth, beau¬ teous blond baton twirler who once pranced for the U. of Miami band.) Darrell Hornbeck mounted +u—, , v ijcuicu nurnuecK mounted a the 0< ? ks * of things, they 150-pole in the center of the field tUdnt succeed in either depart- to set the kids to squeaking as he zneni * I swayed precipitously 50 feet to either side. Even when the zoo mar wasn’t used and he appearei as a speck on the homeserpen Hornbeck’s act was exciting, but i had to happen: just as he wa: about to go into his big final< handstand up there, the networl cut out for a commercial. Chris tain’s performing pachyderms wer< a big-sized treat and so was Sau Solomon’s 126-foot plunge into ; six-foot water tank. Most of th< rest "was the usual “SC” fluff clowns, an unfathomable tributi to Florida’s redmen (Sandy on ai elephant), and such. Miss Wirtl leading 150 aficianadas from th< North Miami Baton Club wa: mostly a confusion of little girl: criss-crossing the field. Art . ‘Alcoa Hour* A sock script, matched by exper performances, gave “Alcoa Hour’ on NBC Sunday (18) one of its bes shows in months with the presenta tion of Jerome Ross’ “Doll Face.’ It was a slice from life, done ii good taste and yet completely— and at times embarassingly—real istic. This was one of those occasion: when everything seemed to jibe when all the many different frag ments that go into the making of a show perfectly matched. I was moving, it touched on a prob lem common to .millions —1 he re (Continued on page 40) THE TWISTED CROSS (Project 20) With Alexander Scourby, narrator Producer: Henry Salomon Writers: Salomon, Richard Hanscr Editor: Isaac Kleinerman Music: Robert Russell Bennett 60 Mins., Wed. (14) 9 p.m. NORTH AMERICAN PHILIPS CO. NRC-TV (film) (C. J. La Roche & Co.) The era of Hitler and his brown and blackshirted hordes now has receded sufficiently to allow a broad historical perspective of the events that saw an Austrian paper- hanger rise from the gutters of Munich to become the Fuehrer of ithe Third Reich. The story, fasci- 1 nating in its horror and an object lesson in how dictators are made, was retold on NBC’s “Project 20” last week (14) in “The Twisted Cross.” 1 Patterned along the lines of the earlier “Nightmare in Red,” the show, for the most part consisted of German films, some of them captured by the U.S. Army in Ger¬ many and seen here for the first time. Under the direction of Henry Salomon, the footage was intelli¬ gently assembled to serve the dual purpose of tracing the career of j Hitler and Nazism, and to attempt I to explain what made the Germans ! bend to the will of a madman and [his cohorts. “Twisted Cross” was notably more successful in part one of that endeavor. There is much to be. said for periodic reminders of Hitler and the misery he and his people visited on the rest of the world before he—if not they—could be brought to justice. As documenta¬ ries go, “Twisted Cross” was effec¬ tive and made its point. Possibly, it might have been more analytical in its evaluation of the Nazi period. As it was, it presented the histori¬ cal record without coming to grips with the peculiarities of the Ger¬ man mind or the impact Nazism had — and continues to have — on men all over the world. Show was pictorially out-stand¬ ing and gained from the narration, written by Salomon and Richard Hanser and delivered in properly unemotional voice by Alexander Scourby. Possibly there were too many marching scenes, and the script tended toward oversimplifi¬ cation. . Example might be the ref¬ erence to Austria which, Scourby declared, was conquered by Hitler through “sheer intimidation.” No reference there to the jubilant masses that welcomed Hitler to Vienna in 1938. The star of this show was Hitler, the arrogant little rabblerouser who whipped the Germans into organized frenzy, threw them the Jews as welcome fodder for their inferiority complex and, in the end, caused his country to go down in ignonimous defeat. There were shots of Himmler, Goering, Goeb- bels, Hess and the rest of the Nazi leaders, and narration carried an ample dose of Hitler quotes which, from our current vantage point, made it seem even more ludiorous that the Germans should have allowed their decency and commoni sense to be swept away by a wave of regimented emotionalism. Salomon chose, in many in¬ stances, to supplant the original German soundtrack with original music by Robert Russell Bennett. Considering the inferior quality of Bennett’s score (he had violins weeping at the sight of bombed I out houses and his marches sounded American, not German) this was regrettable. Hift. TELEOPERA—56 With Robert David Nagy, Thomas Tipton, Hildred O. Kronlokken, Cleveland Orchestra; Paul Bed¬ ford, announcer Producer: Cal Jones Director: Ray Shane 30 Mins: Sunday 6 p.m. KYW, Cleveland This half-hour ( 11 ) one-shot was a prestige tribute to the winners of the Metropolitan Opera Asso¬ ciation contest here. Carrying, out the prestige presentation of the' occasion, the stanza moved with grace and captured the high tones of the hour. The three singers, Robert D. Nagy, dramatic tenor who sang a selection from Aida; Thomas Tip- ton, baritone, “Eri TiC’; and Hil¬ dred O. Kronlokken, lyric soprano, “Musetta’s Waltz,” all showed techniques and quality deserving of area Met winners. For the stanza, KYW brought in Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor Louis Lane with 40 members of the group, whose accompanying music, plus three other selections made for most acceptable, listen¬ ing. Production staff of Cal Jones, Joe Tanski and Ray Shane real¬ ized 30 minutes of quality enter¬ tainment and presentation with a special mention going to 'Bill Bern- saw for hi$ identification slides. . Mark, EGYPT AND ISRAEL (See It Now) With Ed Murrow, Howard K. Smith, Gamel Abdel Nasser David Ben-Gurion, others ’ Producers: Murrow, Fred W. Friendly 90 Mins., Tues. (13) 8:30 p.m. CBS-TV (film) “See It Now,” tv’s sole remaining news-in-depth program, distin¬ guished itself anew last Tuesday (13) with its 00-minute presentation of “Egypt and Israel.” The Eel Murrow-Fred Friendly “introspec- tacular” probing into the core of the Middle East tinder-box was not only Page 1 copy hot off the Gamal Abdel Nasser-David Ben Gurion griddle, but once more testified to tv’s ever-expanding sphere of im¬ portance and influence as perhaps the most vital of today’s communi¬ cations media. Last Tuesday’s hour-and-a-half, on-the-spot report on the Arab- Israel tensions was “electronic journalism” at its best, at once frightening and fascinating. CBS- TV, which knows a «“hot story” when it sees one, merits the respect of the American public in placing at “See It Now’s” disposal unques¬ tionably the choicest time segment on the Columbia schedule—the 90 minutes sandwiched between the Phil Silvers Show and “$64,000 Question,” to allow for maximum viewership. That it meant preemp¬ ting two commercial half-hours in order to sustain the Murrow show¬ case is a tribute to the public serv¬ ice-consciousness of a network and an industry so easily subjected to an “overcommercialism” rap. ' Murrow and CBS were all too cognizant of the fact that no 1 mat¬ ter how objective or down-the- middle “Egypt and Israel” tried to be, nonetheless this was going way out on a limb. And, no matter how much caution exercised, CBS was leading with its antenna exposed in this laudable move for a visual updating of history for the, millions. It wasn't necessary for Murrow (who did the Israel portions) or Howard K. Smith (as the on-the- spot man in Egypt and interviewer of Nasser) to editorialize at any time. Nasser, Ben Gurion and the camera did it far more effectively than they could have done it. From the very start, when Mur¬ row and Smith gave the salient facts as to the size, historical and political setup of the lands of Israel and Egypt and into the editorial re$umes > of their leaders, the issues were real and the people alive. The Egyptians were slightly handi¬ capped by the need of translators and in the case of Nasser by a difficult accent which necessitated concentration by the listener, but Smith compensated by his tight control of the interviews and some telling questions. Yet no amount of fairness or objectivity could eliminate the potent fact that Egypt bore hatred, vituperation and re¬ venge against Israel, the Israelis, the UN and mostly the United States, while Israel was immersed in the problems of the land and its people, in living and working, although by n*> means devoid of its statesmen, as witnessed in the kncwledgable answers of Foreign Minister Moishe Sharett. On a small and easily understandable scale, one of the foremost problems involving all of the nations of the world today was posed—can one ! arm for defense alone? Pictorially the program was ex¬ tremely rewarding. The contrasts- of the big city of Cairo, with its tall buildings and modern apart¬ ment houses and ancient crowding, poverty and squalor, the proposed new dam and its obvious potential, the plans of the new regime, and again the great arid wastes of the desert and their possible reclama¬ tion on one side, and the youth, intensity and tremendous refugee problems of the newer nation, Israel, right on its border, were clearly and effectively delineated. It was all there, and Murrow, Smith & Co. had the background, the understanding and the know¬ how to transfer these statistical facts and very real people in an exciting yet sympathetic manner into the living room. Rose. OUT OF DARKNESS With Orson Welles, Dr. William Menninger, Dr. Louis Cholden, others Producer-writer: Albert Wasser- man Exec producer: Irving Gitlin Associate producer: Lewis Jacobs 90 Mins., Sun. (18)/ 5 p.m. CBS-TV, N.Y. CBS-TV’s unusual as well as rare move,- pre-emptying a spon¬ sored “Omnibus” hour-and-half for a pubservice sustainer Sunday (18), can’t be too highly com¬ mended, on several counts, in ad¬ dition to the coin loss involved. I Web used the time for an absorbing looksee at a very touchy subject- mental illness. It treated the sub¬ ject, via an actuality drama, { with I (Continued on Pflge 40)