Variety (February 1958)

Wednesday, - February 19, 1958 PStRiEfr TELEVISION REVIEWS 51 H-H-* +*H Follow-Up Comment 4+4 ♦ 4 Shower of Stars Mebtje the gang, should .have stayed nome and sent, a singing telegram instead. It would have been cheaper and besides, the tax on the wire might have upped the Dow-Jones industrial average. The idea of a “40th” birthday for Jack- Benny, to coincide with- his genu¬ ine. natal day- (14) when, he turned 64, was a good-enough hook for 30 minutes, but 60 minutes was an awful lot of quick-mix birthdav cake Ip swallow. I BINGO-AT-HOME With Monty Hall, Paula Dean Producer; MoPty'Hall Directors: Artie Forrest, A1 Kassel } 60 Mins., (17) 3:30-4:30 pm. t»MM ♦ ♦ » M ■» ♦ 4 » » 4 ♦ » | 4 1 PARTICIPATION trated how it was in the days of ] bm S°* Tt took the game out of radio to stage a show. Hackett, in ., church social halls, fraternal lodges the bleakness” of a radio studio, and one-time cinema palaces,- and did a choice takeoff of an dnnoun- . ... .. .. , cer setting the stage for a srfah readlly ava l lable to all lov- opera episode;, it was a genuinely ers- •-•of. games ofchange. It-, may funny b’t ■ - • / even take the bookie off the street tv/tjL ! , Tril corner-i-from Monday throughFri- Y ^i-W ddy,-certamly: ' ; ' Thro^fiw . “Bingo-At-Hoine” is played with i hree Little Fishes .and while telephone. numbers but unlike id Heart-‘ ™ gburmandizin; TiSn of d tP 8 u^ f Q r hfr?rlS? a —^ n ‘ t dunking machine. First one to call ilp-f nf fr«nr S npffic lde< H faLSlI ? T ’ in with a, winning bingo line gets a :f r ji g S a t n . d rt „ tlie t SG . e ^ . merchandise .prize. Those with MrTVT d irnsip^i n v>nmaHv h iof ty rr^i W1 in g numbers unable'to reach ■ the station first, get a , chance at steps^ f a n cHu^l subsequent jackpot prizes^ View- ps> leaaing irom. a .iancilul ore..nlauAH almriet thrpp Mmps nn S*„ ■ and a watch. First program also valentine pay number, My: had sma U studio audience ifrOin Funny Valentine,” dedicated to a toothsome bulldog sfim^’wiilv ! 1116 Lighthouse) playing along and f&nsFPiSS sSifA» «■ SoaudlSce “toue-adnming planations but thus will obviously 1 14 . .j. improve as game becomes more ^ tbe^apri^-paced 30- familiar to viewers. The caller is f ^ el and Monty Hall, amiable and clear- to**^*™*} cl b°rds on voiced, and his assistant is Paula F ° r ®y er y _ Man Tllere ? A Worn- Dean. “Bingo-At-Home” is with-, an.' Miss Mnnsel’s version of ihe out question—tough on the sta- aria from Menotti s The Tele- tion’s telephone operators. They’re .JSt^Wfhe uhbilfed stare of the show— Miss Munsel, let it be said pronto,; troupers forced to supplement the wears clothes remarkably well,explanations, walks an enticing lane, and reads - "Bingo-At-Home ” if properly lings with considerable class. ' exploited? can't help but^depress The trio of Munsel, Hackett and the pressure cooker market: Vaillee did much to jazz up the I ' Rans. Friday night tv bill of fare. Clark I _;___, Jones, producer-director; Hugh ’ Martin, vocal director, and Larry /COMM^DEK 5 ^ /, ■ . Gelbart and Shelly. Keller, script- i With Bob Borlek, Bobby Gibbons* ere, continue to serve up a delec¬ table platter of entertainment. -Rans; Bell System Science Series. A kiddie approach to the mys¬ teries of the weather turned out to be wholly inappropriate on the third stanza of the “Bell System Science Series” last Wednesday night (12). On the. face of it, it would sfeem that the weather, an untiring ' staple of conversation, would prove interesting enough for a straightforward approach. This show, however, adopted a patron¬ izing attitude which assumed that ihe average viewer is incapable of concentrating on 4 scientific sub¬ ject unless it is sugarcoated with, gimmicks. But the gimmicks ir¬ ritated instead of entertained and spoiled what had the obvious ele¬ ments of a fascinating hour. „ di Sk § ? eatt ‘.‘orthodox bingo,.no free numbers • , series, Miss Munsel grabbed -some ova t?ivpn away on tbe hlavcr\ A - flock o. .Benny's venerable; coffee and what appeared to. be . card g The emcee uses a ^gadget troupers . dating from, announcers ! something-on-rye. With tv flashed : , emce ®*-H ses a George H:eks and Paul Douglas to j Upon the' ‘ ‘ ' ‘ former; 3enny bandleaders Phil Harris, Donald Bestor' and johnny Green, to singers Dennis Day, Frank Parker, and The Sportsmen; tc Andy Devine imitating the ail¬ ing, absent Rochester, to Mary" Liv¬ ingstone.- sat around, twiddling their, gems and wished, no doubt, that the script writers had come up with, something a trifle more ASpirited on producer Cecil Barker’s CBS-TV “Shower of Stars” tele- ca<-' Surely, there were , enough names at the party to make the Benny cake look extra pretty, names such as Jo Stafford, Van Johnson, Bob Crosby; etc., but the production had a hollow papier mache appear¬ ance,, save for dance numbers cho¬ reographed by Jack Boyle. Naturally, the dialog specialized in allusions to. Benny's frugality (yes, the guy who minds Benny's vault .made a brief appearance but couldn't stand the light and was removed instantly —: some guys have all the luck in the world); Benny’s heroic attempts at fiddle playing; Benny's pathological aver¬ sion to turning 40, and you name 'em. Of course, there were: several diverting moments, such as Benny’s appearance in a robe with; “The Fonyard Look” sign on his hack andhfins on the. side and Mary said something about where were the license plates; the “Benny Sere¬ nade” routine, Miss. Stafford’s warbling of “Life Begins at 40’ and the simple “Happy Birthday’ bit by the Studio audience. Mayor Robert Sabonjian of Wau¬ kegan* I1L, birthplace of Benny, gave the birthday boy a plaque, read, lines like a midwestern Solon, and then sat down at ringside with the aplomb ofa man having walked! across the Red .Sea. Benny’s “40th” birthday party drew 40 winks. Chrysler Corp. paid for the cake. ' Ransi Sally- “Sally” has adopted a new story¬ line shifting from a- travelog to a landbased yarn with Joan Caulfield and Marion Lorne continuing to head up the cast. Additional com¬ edy hands. Gale Gordon and Arte Johnson have been added; as has rbmantic and possible musical in¬ terest Johnny. Desmond. The ini¬ tial episode under the new format was spent primarily in establishing the new characterizations and set¬ ting the scene of the revamped yarn. Miss Lome will now be en¬ gaged in running : a department store in conjunction with Gordon and his son, with Miss Caulfield continuing as Miss Lome’s bosom buddy. The change in story line, was apparently made to Speed up the series and 46 give it more , terra firma base. It now seems to have a., virtually -complete cast of comics and there will be a lot of pulling for laughs, maybe from each other. A situation like this sort of puts the cast in competition with each Other; and it will take firm direc¬ tion and Scripting to keep the com-1 pany bn keel. . Initial stanza had Gordon trying to get Miss Lome to relinquish her interest in the department store in. Which they are important sharer holders. Gordon is a situation com¬ edy vet and is expert in making with the hauteur. Johnson lmows his way around a script and Dw- mond is a likeable guy- With the story line steering afray from the name character. Miss Caulfiqld, there will naturally be , a lot of tugging - in -v a r i o u s directions. Looks like it wjU be difficult to steer. Jose. Patrice Munsel Show With a tart tongue in left cheek, the Patrice Munsel Show on ABC- : TV (7) did a melodic romp on the transition of radio to tv. It was a droll burlesque that came off with considerable suavity and certainly rates a repeat performance,, or the, program htrilders might perhaps- fashion another lampoon along similar lines. , .* Much of the success of the num- be ‘ was due to the blending of tljr^- talent?, Prior. IRudpV! oihy Coulter, Joshua Hecht, Gloria Lane, Mark Elyn. Eugene Green, Fred Cushman, Arthur Newman, Cecffia Ward, Regina Sarfaty,. Virginia Bitar Producer: Samuel Chotzhioff . others Producer: Harry Trigg Director: Phil Bodwell Writer: Bob Savage 30 Mfars., Mon.-Fri., 12 noon WNBQ; Chicago (color) ~ . WNBQ, which hasnT had a week¬ day children's show in nearly a year, has moved quickly, to: get in on a good thing—the current mop¬ pet craze for outer space. Jaqk, Bates, has rigged an interesting set that stimulates the message center of an earth satellite, and on it producer ; Harry Trigg assembles the. standard: ingredients of the gar¬ den, variety kidshow. Principals are Commander 5, a masked heroic-tyjpe figure whq.'e real identity the station hopes to make an intriguing secret of; his sidekick and foil* Spaceman Stubby (Bobby Gibbons); and a puppet fig¬ ure who represents a. captive Mar- The. opening sequences set the tian. There’s some Comedy: inter- show’s intellectual tone. Richard Carlson and Dr. Frank Baxter, as narrators, : had to contend with a flock , of cartoon characters: depict¬ ing the various deities of ancient mythology. It was the occasion of some sticky dialog bn which even six-year-olds must have balked. These cartoon characters kept pop¬ ping up throughout the rest of the show, signalizing -the start Of ex¬ planations that were simplified to a simpleton leVeL _ Segments of the show applied strictly to the business of' weather were excellent There was explana¬ tion of weather maps, of the origins of. the wind and-snow, etc. The focus on a tropical hurricane; with shots Of jthe raging winds and seas, was the show’s’high spot and in¬ dicated the levei which the ^show could have attained with the mate¬ rials so readily at hand. Herm. .Wide Wide World “Wide Wide World” took a look at Americans in their middle years over NBC-TV Sunday (16) in a quiet, studious way that Was at all times meaningful and effective. The study, was honestly conceived and developed its. point without getting maudlin or sehtimentaL . Occasionally the script, prepared for Dave Garroway by Harold Azine and Gene. Wyckorf' became a little gooey but for the most part it stuek to the matter at hand iff fine fashion. Program kicked off at a bighschool in Los Angeles where the. aspirations and energies of youth were shown. Then' a *‘Per- son-to-Pereon” type visit with a middle class family hr the suburbs of St. Louis. The family opened up its books to Garroway and al¬ though-it was quite , revealing, it ran a bit too long. ’ From "St. Louis the “WWW” cam¬ eras moved to Madison, Wis., for a talk with Dr*' Carl Rogers, a psy¬ chiatrist, and then to Westport, Gwut; for a chat with Walter Pit¬ kin Jr;, who- runs a book-store play between Stubby and the capri¬ cious Martian early in the show,: but the main business centres on the studio audience; of smallfry who are asked to take the space pledge,, to pass in review as “space members,”: ahd to take hart in com¬ petitive games of the sort used on adult giveaway shows. • The “satellite” is the device used to work a carioon or three-minute film on animal life Into the format Gibbons and Bob Rorlek handle their parts well enough, although the former at: times plays the comedy more loud¬ ly than necessary. Les. HEUTE VOR 25 JAHREN (Today—25 Years Ago) With Ernst F. Fuerbringer, nar¬ rator 45 Mins.: Thiirs., 10:15 pan, German TV, front Bavarian Badio Munich -r This was a highly interesting ty documentary , report. The occasion Was the 25th anniversary of the unholy day which sjw Hitler tak¬ ing over the power in Germany; a date which led to so much misery all over the world. . Report, was sup¬ posed to be a joim reminder of what can happen to a nation if it gives itself into the hands of a dictator. It also intended to apply to those who are apt to forget who reaUy were the- creators of all that evil that came over the world , dur¬ ing the Hitler: era and from whose consequences many millions of people are still suffering today. This program deserved a wide re¬ ception, primarily among the yOUiig generation which perhaps is not toa well informed aboiit the Hitler years. ' Rebort began with historical, Jaii. 30. 1933. when the then Presi- ^.(Cbntinued.on page .42>. v- • i dent Hindenburg madn 'the-vNaril THE DICK CLARK SHOW • | NBC OPERA CO. With Pat Bbone, Johnnie Ray ; (Rjgoletto) Jerry Lee Lewis, Connie Francis, Wito Igor G o rin , Kirk Oreste, Dor- . The R6yal Teens, Chuck Willis. - - - - — guests Producer: Deke Hayward Director: Garth Dietrick 30 Mins., Sat, 7:30 p.m. ABC-TV, from New York __ __ ABC-TV has a winner in the Director: Kirk Browning Satifrday night version of its. day- : Music and- Artistic Director: Peter time “American Bandstand” any . Herman Adler way the .pie is sliced. Going under Conductor: Jean Morel the name of “The Dick Clark English version: Joseph Machlis' Show” (he emcees “Bandstand”), ! 12D Mins.; Sun., t pan¬ tile 7:30 to 8 slot should make Sat-, NBC-TV, from N. V. (color) urday wide open for the network, j The NBC Opera Co. Sunday (16) and qjmost any half-way decent! proved again how effectively opera ABC programmmg between R and ; can he staged on television. Its 9 should benefit from_ the Clark- presentation of “Rigoletto” not only Lawrence Welk sandwichihg. [had musical brilliance, but man- Clafk’s preem ran a not-too-close aged to take the hackneyed plot third On the Trendexes to NBC aijd and give it depth and human un- CBS, but all it needs is. time to' deretanding. The story, the char- build. And even if it never gets acter of Rigoletto with his frustra- much beyond its 16-and-something:tions and fears, came alive and. Trendex of last week, it makes provided a'.strong frame for the bankroUer sense, it seems, since musical content of the Verdi 'W ork. tKir Usica i package costs it can now bfe assumed from the only $15,000 a week- ; outset that the NBC Opera offer- By employing the same kind of; jhg S have top vocal values. Not disk and tolent plpgjpng vtechmqne • only that, but the singers somehow . on . Bandstand, Clark was f jo 0 j. their parts and are able to act °i the h0t ;' them out. “Rigoletto” was no ex- test osmes for teens in the record ppntion- Whof |c imnrAviti^ all industry at AFTRA scale ° while ; thi cam?ra“ffing g and the same tolent hits video s big . staging, which must be credited to inus ica l.variety shows^for premium: dir |ctlr Kirk.Browning. “Rigolet- to ” had dramatic depth, largely because of bis intelligent and im- Tp^n«’ £ i nf aginative movements and angles A?'rMclSihiJ Which infused visual excitement to them of high or reasonably high ma t c h the emotional jquality of the stature on the music lists. ml ,X 4 ^ t The afternoon strip on ABC-TV ?n “ aic : ^ J ^ . has the talent visit Clark who gabs ^ a ®* b 7 Jg° r Cr? n , n as with ’em a little and has them the hunchback jester Rigoletto, mime their : hottest platters for the ! was well chosen and the various consumption of the highschoolers.. well-known arias were S ung beauti- Essentially;: the sgme procedure is tolly and often brilliantly.. Gorinas followed on the new nighttimer, | v .°i ce was at its best and his rendi- only the dressing is fancier. j tions were a joy to the ear. Oppo- ABC used its Little Theatre, ad- ’ « ite him. Dorothy Coulter looked jacent to Sardi’s on.44th, and after > pretty, but her voice seemed curi- a fanciful on-the-strCet opener as ously without emotion. It improved though with a gala preem, the.as she went along, and Was great cameras moved inside to catch the . i n the scene when she confessed Royal Teens singing their “Short ; her affair- with the duke to her Shorts.” The producers made iise of. father, Rigoletto. every inch of space on; and off the ’ As the Duke of Mantua, Kirk stage-to lense the talent, all but Oreste not only looked the role, one of whom' mouthed : their own but brought it to a fine, mellow records. Chuck Willis knocked out tenor that soared. Joshua Hecht a terrif rock’n’roller, Johnny Ray appealed as the assassin-for-hire introduced Connie .Francis and she mid Mark Elyn impressed in his sang “Who’s Sorry Now.” Pat brief but powerful bit when he Boone did a couple, also-pre-re- cursed the duke and the mocking Corded and Jerry Lee Lewis.-the Rigoletto. Gloria Lane, Eugene frantic piano playing . singer. Green and the rest all contributed banged a couple (without the aid strongly _ teSeBintfiettears 1116 * 66 " 366 “Higoletto" had unusually Mrho makes with hip Chatter.. han- reeled bv Jean Wore! at ind the fee. et at%&5raid”S ‘™ e h formatively. The major P rice wh^n r^nHn^nH Clark pays for the talent is a plug i^- o^este and mS Lane* ’ for the star and/or his label. : ■ .%. f if and Mlss Lane - . More should be said about the Rigoletto was sung in. English, fine direction of . the show since it which may have been a help to counted heavily in making a. top- some and a source of annoyance flight production out of what easily to others, particularly since the could have been lowercase; tv under pronouhciatiobs weren’t too clear. any other Circumstances. The fre*‘ Color values were good and Otis quent shots, of the audience in the Riggs’ settings well Conceived, al- theatre were made to play an in- towing for both scope and intimacy, tegral hand in the undertaking. Opera on tv must be theatre as What with well-planned longshots, much as music, and in that sense. Overhead shots/ side shots, etc.. Browning emerged as the hero of catching both the performers and the hour. It was odd to see the the actively engaged audience. The archaic yarn emerge as a story that kids heat time, danced in the aisles could induce excitement and pity, and generally indicated"* interest with each' character established without becoming unruly. - properly as a dramatic figure. If ABC can continue pulling in . Opera rarely emerges in this way the big musical names, there is an in the opera house and the NBC excellent chance it will gam a opera this way offered more than hefty adult quotient for “The Dick- just a front-row seat. Clark Show.” Art. -- BROADWAY AT MIDDAY With Jim Walton, Tiny Tomale, Johnny Shrader, Bernie Smith. • Judy Marshall 15 Mins.; Mon.-thru-Fri.12 (noon) ♦ ‘ PARTICIPATING . WHAS-TV, Louisville leader Adolf Hitler the Reich’s' This 15-minute sesh is a show- Chanceilor. In a very informative ± case, although brief, for Some of way, it then depicted the followingthe WHAS-TV musical talent. Staf- —__ it. \T- < fpre turn in * years, the highlights of the Na¬ tional Socialist era in this country, the “glorious” rise of Gross- Deutschland, the!'start of the war, the first big victories and the be¬ ginning of the defeats on all fronts which finally led to a total collapse in 1945: Program made excellent use of old newsreels and tape-re- corded speeches of the Nazi greats, including Goering and Goebbels in addition to those-of “the greatest of all Germans” (as he called him-: self). Hitler. A large part of the! program also dedicated itself to the fere turn in a fast moving, tuneful effort, which should be well re¬ ceived by housewives, and other noontime watchers. With Johnny Shrader at the electric organ. Tiny Tomale at the piano, a real slick guitar player, Bernie Smith, and vocals by Judy Marshall, group has a good time and seemingly enjoy their few moments before the cam¬ eras. Jim Walton is a relaxed* home-folks type m.c. and seated on a stool, impresses with his sincerity and general good fellowship. “Lady Is a Tranjp.^qOckoff tune. Jewish tragedy; Pictures once, had a cute ending, with Judy Mar- again revealed the nearly unbeliev-! shall walking on the set in a tramp able brutality of the Nari regime,] getup. Walton read mail request^ the deportation of Jewish families a la routine, so it was obvious that into the concentration camps, the; most of the tunes had been asked destruction of all that was of Jew-} for by lookere-in. “Things We Did ish origin, etc. The question could {Last Summer” and “Get Out and be put oyer and over again: Howl Get Under” standard faves were could this all happen? How could; done in response to mail requests such a man (Hitler) hold the power = “I Hear Music,” vocalled by Judy over so many million people? Tech-’ Marshall, in okay style, might have nicallyt it was also a first-rate pro- * registered better if gal didn't resort gram. It Originated from the Ba- to reading lyrics from atop the ■((^ntinued'Oif page‘42)i^pianot “* ” -