Variety (December 1957)

TELEVISION REVIEWS PSjilfEff Wednesday, December 11, X957 DIALOGUES OF FAB CARMELITES (NBC Open Cfc.) With Elaine Malbin. Patflcla Ne- way, Leontyne Price, Robert Rounseville, Rosemary Kuhl- mann, Judith Raskin, David Lloyd, Carole O'Hara, Irene An¬ tal, Howard Fried; conducted by Peter Herman Adler Producer: Samuel Chotzinoff Director: Kirk Browning Music and artistic director: Adler Sets: Trew Hocker Opera by Francis. Poulenc with: text by George Bernanos 120 Mins.; Sun. (8), 2 pm. NBC-TV, from N. Y. (Color) Credit NBC with a certain cour¬ age in putting on Francis Pou¬ lenc’s opera, “Dialogues of the Carmelites,” for two hours-Sunday afternoon (8). It was not, it is safe to assume, a “popular” work, one that would have attracted or held a lot of viewers. And even from the point-of-view of. the opera lover, this dramatic story of a group of nuns at the start of the French revolution presented rough going in spots. But as a television show, tech¬ nically and performance-wis£, it was a crackerjack job all the way. and a proud feather in the cap of j Peter Herman Adler, the NBC Opera Co.’s musical director, and Tele Follow-Up Comment | The. Seven Lively Arts Jazz—the liveliest of the lively arts—turned;this weekly .cultural excursion into a jumping session last Sunday afternoon (8) on CBS- TV. Featuring a Couple of dozen top sidemen and vocalists from the current scene, this stanza clicked both musically and atmospheri¬ cally. It ran Off for the most part like a dream jam session that comes when jazzmen play just for kicks.- The show: moved from combo to combo with an easy.rhythm under¬ scored, by the cameras’ penetrating focus on the musicians while play¬ ing themselves or listening to oth¬ ers. When Count Basie wa$ seed closing his eyes while digging one of- Ms fellow jazzmen, or when Billie Holiday broke into a smile during a Lester Young solo, view¬ ers were getting the heppest kind of running critical comment on the music available. The stanza opened with a pow¬ erfully swinging number by an all- star band under Count Basie and. then mbved through demonstra¬ tions of . various jazz styles from traditional dixieland through way- out modernity. In the latter cate¬ gory, Thelonius Monk on. piano Kirk Browning who directed the'■ demonstrated his offbeat style in ' , " number titled “Blue Monk, ‘ video end. In Introducing this work, they and producer Samuel Chotzinoff contributed importantly to tv’s stature. The Poulenc opera, seldom per¬ formed in the'States, is a modern work, ‘both musically and dra¬ matically. In some ways, the mu¬ sical line resembles that of Menotti, though it is far less melodic. In fact, to the ear of the uninitiated, the Poulenc music has a monotone quality that expresses emotion in a vertical vocal sense rather, than musical depth- in the conventional form, " In the case .of “Dialogues of the Carmelites,” this is balanced by a: highly dramatic story with a poig¬ nant ending. It is about an aristo¬ cratic girl, tom by uncertainties and fear, who joins the Carmelite order. Comes the revolution, and the convent is pilfered by the mob and closed. The nuns, in civilian clothes, and having taken a vow of martyrdom, continue to hold services. They are arrested and ordered to the guillotine. Only the girl, known as Sister Blanche, has refused to join her sisters. In the last minute, as they mount the scaffold, she comes running to the place of execution and joins them in death. The opera /was sung in English and was acted forcefully and with great skill by all concerned. Vo¬ cally, it was a rare event. Under Adler’s expert direction, the cast- in nun’s habits performed mag¬ nificently, bringing forth all the tension and anguish of the play. It’s this combination of vocal and dramatic values that always makes the NBC Opera showings Worth¬ while and exciting events. Elaine Malbih as Blanche was nothing short of superb.. She sang and acted: beautifully and moving¬ ly. Patricia Neway as the mother superior excelled in a chilling and realistic deathbed scene. Leon¬ tyne Price had great dignity, arid also was in top form vocally as the second mother superior who sent her charges off to death. Rose¬ mary Kuhlmanri also sang beauti¬ fully and registered strongly. Judith Raskin exhibited fine voice as Sister Constance and David Lloyd came across strongly as the priest. Robert Rouhseville was good as the Chevalier de la Force. On the technical side, director Browning kept the proceedings moving smoothly and produced some striking, visual effects with¬ out interfering^ with continuity. while Jimmy Giuffre, oh baritone sax and clarinet, in his stint regis¬ tered as one of the most inventive of the newer jazzmen. The best, moments on the show, however, turned up during Billie Holiday’s. workover, of “Fine and Mellow,” backed by such jazzmen as Lester Young. Coleman Haw¬ kins, -Roy Eldridge. Gerry Mulli¬ gan, Jo Jones and others. Here the camera play on the performers, particularly on Miss Holiday-who. was: in excellent, form. for. this show, was standout. The weakest Spot on the show came early when Henry (Red) Allen’s big dixieland combo failed to ignite during their 10-minute routine. That, however, was more than compensated for by the Count Basie numbers with: Jimmy Rushing singing the blues; John Crosby, as host, kept his Chatter down to a bare.minimum- The only pretentious note on the Show was the Use of prerecorded voice tracks by the performers in which they attempted to explain how they felt about the music they were about to play, ft was, how¬ ever,. a minor flaw id a show that otherwise succeeded in projecting the sound, the flavor and the at¬ mosphere of real jazz. Herm. Lucille BaU-Desi Arnaz Show Second of the five one-hour, out¬ ings this year for Ford by Lucy & Desi' will no doubt head up the rating lists for December. They are beyond a doubt the surest-fire old-hats on the television market; one would think that after these many years of essentially the same thing,, the great majority of view¬ ers would tire of them, but no such thing.' Having found the formula for success years ago, Desi & Lucy, even in the switch to an hour for¬ mat, make no 'effort to change it, arid apparently the adage about riding a winner applies here. The formula is simple; -exploit every opportunity for slapstick, no mat¬ ter. how preposterous or left-field- ish. The Opportunities presented themselves beautifully in this lat¬ est outing, what with Tallulah Bankhead as the guest star and key foil. .With Miss Bankhead cast as the new next-door neighbor, quartet of writers (Madelyn Martin, Bob Car- roll Jr., Bob Schiller, and Bob Weiskopf) bounced the ArnazeS, William Frawley & Vivian Vance and Tallu through a series of sit¬ uations, starting with a dinner in which Frawley & Vance served as uui wmiuuu,. ■ the hired helpand winding with His staging waff valid in everv; a chaotic PTA play with every scene. Trew Hocker’s sets fitted . whacky trick in .the book was used, the mood perfectly; and the end-1 If this type of business, proves ing had a throat-catching quality i wearing for a more sophisticated that somehow topped the sombre’brand of viewer, it can’t miss with feeling of the whole show*. Mu¬ sically, Adler’s direction'was flaw¬ less, with an unusually fine , bal¬ ance between orchestra and voices. Color effects were strong throughhout. “Dialogues of the Carmelites” was probably an odd choice for the mass audience. Some may argue that, if full- length bpera is put on the air, it might—at this stage of the game— as well be a more easily under¬ standable work that will do the job of expanding the basic audi¬ ence. The better, argument, , how¬ ever, is that usually hidebound tv must occasionally strike out and pioneer in different fields. That’s what the NBC opera did Sundav, and as such it rates the b'Vhest marks. Hi ft. the mass,, particularly with such pros as the aforementioned quintet doing the performing. Lucy arid Tallu are an irresistible., combina¬ tion, arid they had a ball, what with custard pies, paint sprayers/ aller¬ gies,* etc., keeping the action at maximum. “Lucy,” let’s face it, ain’t cere¬ bral, but it sure is physical, and it ain’t what they do hut the way that they do it that seeriis to count. Chan. The Big Record The big number, “Birth of the Blues,” made “The Big Record” stanza on CBS-TV last Wednesday (4). It was a lavish production se¬ quence that whipped up plenty of musical and visual, excitement. It was a well-oiled sequence carried off mainly by Sammy Davis Jr. but with good assists from hostess Patti Page, ghester Benny Good¬ man and a swinging chorus. Davis, in fact was the show’s big gun. In addition to . singing and dancing in the “Blues” bit* he also was a standout in a previous , spot¬ ting that spotlighted his mimicry. In song he did Laiine, Bennett* Cole arid Sinatra and in. patter he car¬ boned Jack Benny, Perry Lewis and Ed Sullivan, It was clicko stuff all the way. BG filled the show’s “Hall of Fame”: slot with an okay display of liis clarinet mastery on such like “Somebody Loves Me,” “Body and Soul”: arid “Savoy.” The duet with Miss Page on “Gotta Be This Or That,” however, didn’t work out so well. Rest of the show was the musical mixture as before. Jimmie Rod¬ gers with his current plug, “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine”; jaye P. Mor¬ gan in a push for her RCA Victor slice, “Take A Chance” and in a swinging sequence with- her four freres; arid Dick Contino kicking the. accordion around “Around The World.” Miss Paige helped prettify the atiriosphere with. “Just In Time,” “All My Love” and “Learnin’ My Latin.” In all the show came off with smooth production values. Gros. Wide Wide World The egghead at least he who use his yoke for science, will become the hero of America yet. First, dramatically goading the U.S. conscience and sense of com¬ petition, was Russia’s Sputnik; fol¬ lowed shortly by Muttnik.. More recently, there was America’s em¬ barrassment with Goofnik, the Vanguard, that sputtering, Satellite that exploded. . In the midst of. these trying times for the U.S. in the field of science, “Wide Wide World” in a 90-minute scientific excursion, titled “The Endless Frontier,”^at¬ tempted to examine the status of scientific endeavors here. In a leisurly pace it took up such ques¬ tions as to why we’re lagging behind - the Russians in some re¬ spects; the attitude of people about scientists, the. nation’s heritage in the field, and what ..could be done to. help the U.S,. along on its pro¬ gram. . * Despite, a tendency to ramble, the show offered many electrifying moments. It also accomplished what it set out to :db, that is, create a favorable climate for the work of scientists, some of whom came through as true heroes: of our day. It was moving to. see a vacant hospital,, einpty. beds arid unused crutches, a hospital in. Pittsburgh that formerly was occupied by polio victims: Dr. Jonas. E. Salk, the anti-polio . vaccine, developer; was on hand with a moving address to the natiqn. He called for an overall scientific program similar to that, utilized in the polio fight, emphasizing the need to build up The Twentieth Century Illuminating and informative was “Middle East Smoke Screen,” spe¬ cial half-hour CBS News program aired Sunday (8) on the net’s “The Twentieth Century” series. Howard K. Smith, flanked by large-scale maps of Asia Minor, did a “live” reprise, of the turbulent situation in that area. His lucid commentary served as a springboard to bring in several up-to-the-minute film clips depicting events in Syria and neighboring Turkey. Highlight of* Frank Kearns’ filmed report from Syria was an interview with that country’s chief of staff, Gen. Bizri. Somewhat of an evasive subject, he asserted that “politics are forbidden” in the Syrian army and denied that he himself was a Communist. Richard Kallsen, who reported on Turkey, noted that the Turks appear “more interested in building roads than making war on anyone." Program, incidentally, marked the first in a “stand-by” sponsor¬ ship arrangement between CBS- TV and. Prudential Insurance; which underwrites “Twentieth Cen¬ tury.” This arrangement, it’s said permits insertion , of special news programs in . the regular series “as world developments warrant.” Gtlb. On a Sunday Aft. Television’s regular pro¬ gramming .this; season may be as dull as dishwater, but the t medium becomes, exciting as ail-get-out when, it puts - Its Sunday clothes on. This past weekend, (8),-one viewer had a sampling of the following dur¬ ing Sunday afternoon and early, evening: Pro football on CBS, with a switch to NBC bringing on the television premiere of “Dia¬ logues of the Carmelites,” Poulenc’s new opera,: which received a beautiful produc¬ tion, on “NBC Opera Theatre” at. 2 to 4. At 4, the indie WPIX in N. Y. aired Shirley Temple’s “Heidi” (with other NT A Film NetWork affiliates, showing, the pic at. various times during the week). At 5, CBS! “Seven Live¬ ly Arts” came, through with the best jazz seen on tv, in its hQurlong “The Sound of Jazz.” (During this period NBC’s “Wide Wide World”, featured a live pickup from the atomic sub Nautilus.) At 6, CBS came up with “The Day Called X,” a one- shot documentary^-/.on- how a city (Portland, Ore:) evacuates in an H-bomb attack. And at 6:30, same network presented another special, out of the news dept., “Middle East Smoke, Screen,” with, exclusive footage out. or both Turkey and Syria on the bord~ v ^ "sis there. Chan. our crippled schools, the folly of not sending our gifted children to college, no matter what their eco¬ nomic status may be. There were other scientists on the program from the atom-pro¬ pelled submarine, from the U. of California, including Luis Alvarez, Glenn T. Seahorg and Ernest Law¬ rence. There were brief interviews with high school kids, most of whom expressed their stereotyped dislike of scientists. Their stereo¬ type portrayals were so at Odds with the image of the scientists on the. program. Additionally, “Wide Wide World ’ cameras visited the Bronx Hign School of Science In New York, where the kids seemed as bright as any in the world, regardless of Sputnik or Muttnik. Dave Garroway’s narration was relaxed. Sharper editing would have helped the show. Neverthe¬ less the 90 minutes shaped up as an interesting and informative excursion through a complex situa¬ tion. Horo; Playhouse 90 Padded like a Hollywood Starlet, RuSsell S. Hughes’ teleplay, “Gal¬ vanized Yankee,” off the Screen Gems beltlirie, ran out of guts along about the third commercial, and from then on was more remi¬ niscent of a “Wagon Train” epi¬ sode than a “Playhouse 90.” Civil War story opens with fire and con¬ flict,^ only to sink into a morass of mediocrity which is no creait to this series. Yam begins in a Northern Pris- orier-of-War camp. With Lloyd No¬ lan an embittered Yank command¬ er, crippled as a result of a bad medico job when held prisoner by the Confederates. There’s a rebel¬ lious rebel in his camp who won’t take discipline; so he has him. ex¬ ecuted. Rebel’s brother (James Whitmore) vows vengeance. Nolan needs men to hike to Laramie ori a mission, and Whitmore and his southern buddies sign an amnesty paper and accompany him, idea be¬ ing once on the trail they’ll kill the commander. But Nolan’s no dope, doesn’t give them guns. Along about here lethargy sets in, via a long, long plodding inarch in which In juris attack white, men; White men rescue a white femme and her kids whose hubby-pop was scalped, etc. Whitmore, mean¬ while, is very helpful to Nolan, who script-wise turns out to be a com¬ mander who doesn’t-know how to get Where he’s going, arid relies on his “fenemy” for help. Once the lbngie trip is over, Whitmore and his men race away, but not before Whitmore threatens; to shoot No¬ lan,, then says “no. you’re already dead.” Now Compassionate, Nolan covers up for the deserters and faces a court-martial in the hoked- up ending. Nolan, Whitmore, Victor Jory J*and Neville Brand contribute fine performances despite the story’s shortcoiriings. Given star hilling, Martha Vickers has just a hit rble. Direction by Paul Wendkos is okay. Daku. Perry Como Show Perr^’ Como ran in form on his Saturday (7) stanza over NBC-TV Which means, as usual, a lively melange of song an dcomedy. He was even able to extract laughs in a sequence with Look mag’s All- (Continued on page 44) SHOWTIME With Bob Goulet, Gloria Lambert. Jack Duffy, Alan Land, Van Et- era Bros., Howard Cable Orch Producer-Director: Norman Jewi¬ son ^ Writers: Allan Wanlncs, Paul IIsoS. Pat Petterson / 39 Mins., Sun;, 9 pjn. CANADIAN GENERAL ELEC¬ TRIC CBC-TV, from Toronto (MacLaren) A continued weekly variety for¬ mat, ‘‘Showtime” enters its fifth season and is the highest-budgeted musical on the (Canadian Broadcast¬ ing Corp. tv network. Stanza goes to 33 CBC stations and, this sea¬ son, shapes up swell, with Norman Jewison in as producer-director; Bob Goulet and Gloria Lambert in as singing stars. Further Whammo is given by Howard Cable’s Orch; Jack Duffy, comedian; and the Van EveraNBros. Alan Lund was in as guest dance-star arid .very de¬ bonair in top hat and tails for taps and leaps on stairs, platforms etc. With arrangements by Phil Nim- mons and Howard Cable, latter’s orch of 22 men sounds like one of the best in the biz and lends splen¬ did support to all acts. Opened With a bouncy Bob Goulet number, “Luck, Be a Lady,” With ballet choreography by Maggie St; Clair, and followed with Gloria Lambert warbling ‘‘When I. Fall in Love’’ and the Van Evera .Bros. next with a hot “Balling the Jack.” Sounds like a lot of initial singing but: tempo-styles differ, With all in good voice; .. Van Evera Bros, were back later for a sotto-voce harmonizing .'of ? ‘Dream,” and Bob Goulet (com¬ plete with trench-coat and street- lamp) for his balladeering of “Night arid Day.” - Jack Duffy got a . chance at some comedy-patter with Gloria Lariibert, and a novelty finale number, “We Want a Happy Ending,” by the top trio. Whole 30-min. frame was sprightly arid well-paced, thanks to directorial ^ know-how of Jewison and band leadership of Cable, plus the work of the principals, of course. On a late-start schedule because of a spectacular etc,, “Showtime” will be in for 36 weeks instead of previous 39 on CBC’s trans-Canada tv network. It is hep on speed and talent ..and fills a hefty CBC gap. McStay. THE DAY CALLED X With Glenn Ford,, narrator Producer-director: Harry Rasky Writers: Lester Cooper, Rasky 30 Mins., Sun; (8), 6 p.m. CBS-TV (film) Credit CBS public affairs with a topflight public service' effort in “The Day Called X,” a vividly filmed documentary-on the civil de-, fense evacuation program worked out by Portland, Ore. Title refers to the day an enemy attacks with an atom or H-bomb, and the half- hour film, shot by the network’s Harry Rasky, shows that evacua¬ tion plan in action. If there were faults With the film, they lay in two areas—the en¬ tire question of whether with the advent of missiles such an evacua¬ tion plan now has meaning, and the somewhat self-conscious staginess with , which the demonstration was performed. One questions whether the calm that accompanied the denionstration would exist in the ca^e. of the real thing; But the latter objection is be¬ sides the point as far as the pro-, gram is concerned, for. it gave a clearcut picture of a city with. a plan. Which Is more than most cities including'New York have. If the show sets municipal govern¬ ments to thinking about tljeir lack of preparedness, or even sets resi¬ dents to making a noise about their helplessness, theri it will have served a major purpose. Film took the entire city through the evacuation. proceeding, arid staged it in so candidly documen¬ tary a style that the network, just to be on the safe side, flashed “an attack is not taking place” slides over these portions of the film Where mention was made of the raid or the progress of the bomb¬ ers/'It depicted the emptying of a city in something like three hours, the; setting up of city government in^a Well-stocked underground shelter, the coordination of various vital city departments. It showed how a city. With a little bit of fore¬ sight and energy, stands a chance in an (otherwise devastating attack. Glenn Ford, in hfs first , tv stint, was an excellent narrator, low- keyed and calm; yet relaying the vital ..sense of urgency to the story. Script collaboration between Les¬ ter Cooper and producer-director Rasky was a fine. documentation, and Rasky’s filming was sharp and- effective. Here’s the kind of public service that television can do bet¬ ter than any other medium, ?.rd it a to CBS’ credit that .it sity°d the opportunity, Chan.