Variety (May 1958)

Wednesday, May 21, 1958 USriett TELEVISION REVIEWS 43 PHIL SILVERS SHOW With Gloria Krieger, Walter Dare Wahl, William Redfield, Georg- ann Johnson, Darryl Richard, June Taylor Dancers, Saul Chap¬ lin, Paul Herzog, Herbie Faye, others Producer: Allan Sherman Director: Bill Hobin Writers:-Will Glickman, Joe Stein, Allan Sherman 60 Mins., Tues. (13), 10 p.m. PONTIAC CBS-TV, from New York (McManus, John & Adams ) Phil Silvers became a live issue on a one-hout spfcc for Pontiac on Tuesday (13) and he indicated that with good material, he can make out as well in this ared as well. However,, this displf^r had a dis¬ tressing amount of unsuitable sit¬ uations for Silver, and after a strong start, he found that there was nothing he could do for an encore. The hand-holding bit done with . Walter Dare Wahl seemed to be the height, of his endeavors. Start-' ing out with a string quartet, he became entangled with these acro¬ bats for hilarious results. There was another section which perked up interest. The sequence in which he recalled some of the stalwart bits of business of the Minsky days was in part quite funny, and there were moments with his awkward squad from his Bilko filmed show that paid off. In between, there were some unrewarding moments, such as the strained camp-counsel¬ lor bit, and, along With Saul Chap-, lin, his own material, the ‘‘Show- boat” item, which he used in his own cafe vaude acts for many years. He Indicated that if he had to return to personal appearances, he would need a substantially new act to replace - the one he used to do. j There were some production . items, only fairly funny such as the miniature chorus girl lead, and the glee club item, which seemed so unnecessary. • Gloria Krieger guested. She has a good coloratura voice and. made out fairly well. Jose. IRVING BERLIN TRIBUTE With Gaylord Cavallero, Lily Kann, George Margo, Mark Baker, Joan Rice, Alan Keith, Jack ; Cunning¬ ham, Sonya Cordean, Sydney Keith, Barry Shawzin, Robert Mackenzie, Arnold Diamond, David Lawton, Jimmy Day, War¬ ren Mitchell, James Dyrenforth, Natalie Lynn, Lee Montague, Derinot Palmer, Kaye Sisters, Morton Fraser’s Harmonica Gang, Marion Keene, David Hughes, Ronnie Carro’U, the Ver¬ non Girls, Janet Ball, and danc¬ ers. Eric Robinson’s BBC orch. Producer: Ernest Mazin Writer: David Whitaker 90 Mins., Sun. (11) 8:45 p.m. BBC, from London The BBC’s decision to pay a 70th birthday tribute to Irving Berlin took a late knock when the cele¬ brated song spinner vetoed any impersonation of him in a drama¬ tized program. . In the circum¬ stances producer Ernest Maxin and writer David Whitaker were faced with panic stations. They could either have scrapped the. show or improvised. They decided on the latter course and the program must be marked up as a gallant failure. Instead of a dramatization, Ber¬ lin’s numbers were strung together with a flimsy narration and 4)0 minutes of this format were rough¬ ly 45 too many. At the end of the show viewers had an earful of Berlin melody and his progress as a songwriter had been clearly marked. But nothing very much was learned about the man him¬ self. Gaylord Cavallero, a young actor Who looks astonishingly like a younger Berlin, was to have por¬ trayed the composer^ Instead he became* a reporter reading to his editor a story about Berlin which he had been commissioned to write This feeble gag was not improved by the fact that the. reporter and the editor played it almost like a knockabout vaude act. Other links Were provided by closeups of peo¬ ple who had shared Berlin’s life . . . a bartender, a songwriter, a young feipale theatregoer, a music publisher and so on. Most of their accents were phoney Yank and merely acted as interruptions in the flow of Irving. Berlin hits/ Most of these evergreen numbers came up fresh and pleasant.to the ear, though , not all the artists en¬ gaged were capable Of giving them the topnotch interpretations that they need and deserve!, This be¬ came increasingly obyious with a long film excerpt of Fred Astaire4«i •- doing his “Top Hat” routine and I s , Astaire and Ginger Rogers giving with the “Cheek to Cheek” song. Nobody . in Maxin’s lenghty cast Continued on page 47) t.. Tele Follow-Up Comment Kraft TV Theatre : Again-one can only larrient the passing of a . weekly dramatic se¬ ries, in this instance ‘‘Kraft. TV Theatre,” in its finest hour. Take, for example, last week’s presenta¬ tion of Don . MankieWicz’s adapta¬ tion. of Robert Penn Warren’s "All the King’s Men” (being done in two installments, with tonight (Wed.) as the conclusion)^ The initial por¬ tion was tv drama at its very best, with the three-way collaborative, teamup of scripter Mankiewicz, producer David Susskind and di¬ rector Sidney Lumet; combining for an exciting, and compelling video version of Warren’s saga of demagogy and^ political corruption. On practically all counts it was rich and rewarding tv drama, Un¬ compromising in the wallop it packed and studded with a oast of principals who conveyed that they knew what they were about and Were.alerted to all the meaningful overtones and undertones of this ugly tale of Willie Stark. But what gave it its major dis¬ tinction was the overall concept as embodied in Susskind’s physical production. It had’ a breadth and a scope that seemed to burst out of the limited. tv dimensions; con¬ versely, the more intimate scenes and closeups had the stamp of real¬ ity, contributing mightily toward heightened tensions. The film ver¬ sion of "King’s Men” was one of the mote qualitative theatrical cel¬ luloid, entries of its day. The first of the two installments of the tv version, in its own live way, merits similar praise, if only for the fact that a more difficult assignment was Carried off with such a flourish. Neville Brand as the despicable and despotic policito; Maureen Stapleton as the. femme braintrust, and the others, including William Price, Frank Conroy and Robert Emhardt were all more than equal to their tasks. : Despite that early cancellation rap, Susskind shows considerable courage and inventiveness both in Choice of properties ana mounting them in rounding out Kraft’s 13- week "curtain” cycle. It’s unfortu¬ nate he came on the scene so late. ’. Rose .. Ed Sullivan Show Two fabled veterans of show biz, Sophie Tucker and Maurice Che¬ valier, came up with a click nos- taligc routine on the. Ed Sullivan show Sunday night (19),. Chevalier, who carried the major part of the script, gave a superlative demon¬ stration of Gallic charm as he opened the tete-a-tete with La Soph, reminiscing how he first caught her at a London theatre back in 1922 when she was only : a "little plumb.” That segued onto a duet of “I Remember It Well,” from the pic, “Gigi,” in which: Che¬ valier stars/ Arthur Freed and Vin¬ cente Minnelli,; producer and direc¬ tor of the film, also were on hand for a bow amidst the Sullivan plugs for the pic. Chevalier and Miss Tucker wound up their stint with a medley in which she attempted a carbon of the Frenchman doing "Mimi” and he. did her trade- marked song, “Some of These Days.” It rates waxing. . The studio tumult over the Che¬ valier-Tucker duolog apparently knocked the show’s timing off slightly and the • closing, juggling turn was shown behind the runoff of the credits. It made for an in¬ teresting finale. • Rest of the stanza was marked by some neat bits by the Kirby Stone FOur with their: Sullivan tune takeoff on “It’s A Really Big Show Tpnight,” Ogden Nash recite ing some of the prose and poetry; Georgie Taps in a very slick hoof¬ ing display, to march tempo with his. dancing company;, songstress Sally Blair delivering “Witch¬ craft”; and Jack E, Leonard in a straight, hardhitting one-line gag routine. Also oh hand were the Wake Forrest College drum major¬ ettes, and the West Point Choir; Heim. Eddie Fisher Show From the screams and whinnies, that erupted out Burbank way, the looker and listener to Eddie Fisher last Tuesday night may have rea¬ soned, that the rock ’n’ rollers have deserted their idols for a sweet singer. It could also be surmised that the.: audience was “loaded.” Whatever, it Was Fisher’s night in the rotation with George Gobel, who was spelled in the comedy department by Buddy'Hackett, and the night was filled with music of the superior quality that Fisher spreads with his boyish charm. Across the broad expanse of our land and away from the cultural centers of high literacy and low regard for the normalcies of tv. there niust’ve been quizzical ac-, ceplance of Oscar Levant; making his return to the networks in a role unfamiliar to them. It was riot enough: that he reduced Fisher to the minescule stature of a stooge but such flippant egomania. as “I had delusions of grandeur, I thought I was Oscar Levant,” must have tipped off the looker to what was in store, ©n a local Hollywood, station, where he has a peculiar appeal for the "smart crowd,” he is an idol .of sorts but the by-arid- large citizenry may not have dug him at all. To them his self infla¬ tion of his own importance may have rankled them after a weekly helping of the Combs, Gobels and Tennessee Ernies. You’ve got to understand this guy to enjoy him arid;his educated asides. I Once parked on a’piano bench and his fingers deftly stroking the: keys, he must have caught up in their favor. None* ca.n gainsay his artistry is of high order and of especial appeal was his accomp for Fisher on the songs of George Gershwin: and A1 Jolson. His eriidi- tiori. is- best expressed riiusically. Fisher is gradually moving info the sphere of JOlsonia and there are those who believe that with more maturity he may yet achieve the dist’riction. as the great Jolie’s successor. TWe show’s other elements pro¬ vided . Fisher with a . fine buttress of pleasurable entertainment. Hack- ett, the rubbery-faced m i m i c„ clowned through a monolog and Otherwise deported in his disarm¬ ing, naivette that raised a good cargo of laughs; Marge and Gower Champion swirled arid spun graceful arcs with good production backup to set -off their terp : sicho- rean excellence, and . Dolores Grey banged away at a couple of num¬ bers to keep the melodics booming: Barry Shear’s direction and the. music of Buddy Bregman were commendable. Helm. Person to Person Edward R. Murrow got an un¬ expected measure of depth out of his Friday <16 > session ori CBS-TV. Technical difficulties prevented the interview of Huntington Hart¬ ford from his 100 ft. yacht moored in Manhattan. . In its stead, cam¬ eras were moved into the N.Y: dig¬ gings of Dore Schary, the former studio head at Metro who authored and Co-produced the current Broad¬ way smash "Sunrise at Campo- bello.” Depth has been art ingredi¬ ent that has been too infrequent, in the Murrow sessions, and Schary with a constantly courageous out¬ look, that, has made mates of art arid controversy gave the. forepart of the show a considerable bit of inner-strength. Schary also gave .his views of the potential of tele¬ vision, feeling that video should be used, as befits its responsibilities in [the 20th Century, Mrs. Schary (Miriam Svet) an artist in her own right, gave a further, iridication of the cultural atmosphere of this .household.. Second portion of the show was devoted to Peter Ustinov, who rang up an earlier curtain at the Plymouth to make this 10:45 p.m. deadline from the the¬ atre where his “Romanoff & Juliet” is playing, to his apartment Ustinov is one of the veteran child- prodigies in the theatre. He, upon occasion, has made some brilliant utterances on many facets of - our mid-ceritury civilization and has displayed a sharp wit arid keen ob¬ servations. There were a few lines from the Ustinov that indicated the -show would be rolling. How¬ ever, the interview seemed to lose its punch at too frequent Intervals. The Frerich-Canadian Mrs. Ustinov gave a 'note of chami to the pro- ['ceedings,: but the full potential: of this segment was never realized. Jose. Playhouse 90 What the first H-Bomb blast did to five men Within 20 miles of its center became taut, forceful drama in the hands: of scripter Paul Mon- ash; arid, it would have remained so had it not fallen knee-deep into a maudlin wave of quotations, self- recriminatioris and philosophy. . “Nightmare at Ground Zero,” based , on a Satevepost. article by Dr. John C- Clark as told to Robert Cahri, was a semi-documentary ap¬ proach to the many miscalculations involved in the 1954 detonation at iBikirii of what amounted to 15,000,- 000, tons of TNT. The. five-member firing party seemingly sat safely in a hunker outside the fallout range, but the mushroom cloud moved over them, making their shelter a living, radiation chamber. Though barely mentioned, it did the same 1 for a Japanese fishing boat called the Lucky Dragon. All the excitement, of the days before H-Hour, Franklin Schaff- rier’s remarkable direction of the silent scientific action, plus the in¬ tricate use of film created a moving production. Once the bomb had gone off and the men had become aware of their circumstance,: th* excitement continued at a fervent pace. But then came the inevitable doubts, the physicist who questions the moral implications of his work. He doesn't want his- new daughter to. grow up in a world that has cre¬ ated this bomb, to which the leader replies, in effect, "This is a new kind of energy, and it can be har¬ nessed.” The statement was old- hat, and the reply pat. Heading the firing party was Ba~ry Sullivan who turned in a highly accomplished performance. Jack Ward en, despite what he had to say, made a sharp arguing piece, and top portrayals also came from Edmon Ryan, James Hong, Herbert Anderson, H. M. Wynarit and Carl Benton. Reid; Robert Middleton cre¬ ated a vital feeling with his expert narration. The Martin Manulis production was ai realistic one, with Albert Heschong’s military sets particular¬ ly effective arid Edwin Hill’s ^"ht- ing most notable. Ron. Chet Camera Three Once again "Camera Three” presented a wise and reflective appraisal of 'a significant segment of American history. In this in¬ stance, the highly-intelligent guid¬ ing force behind the Sunday morn¬ ing WCBS-TV Public Affairs Dept: program gave viewers the first of a two-part production entitled "The Antagonists,” , probing Gen¬ erals Lee and Grant’s characters and careers. • . First installment (18) dealt with the admirable qualities of General Lee as seen from the torn battle¬ field of Appomattax shortly before, his surrender to the Union forces. Whitfield Conner portrayed the general with understanding and conviction. Behind him. in effec¬ tive, low-keyed scenes, both Un'on and Confederate soldiers, were able to recount the extraordinary military as well as human achieve¬ ments of the Southern military leader. They spoke With gentleness of his behavior at Gettysburg, the wilderness arid the rugged battles of Spotsylvania and Gold Harbor. A particularly outstanding scene Was-that; of the General displaying | his compassion for the lowly and hungry foot soldiers and similarly one caught the love and respect of both Union and Confederate soldiers for the leader of the South. A great man’s portrait was painted with clarity in the first part of this two-program series. Music was handled with taste under Oscar Brand’s direction. There were* mature acting scenes by Wyatt Cooper, James Dukas, Paul Stevens and Leonard Stone. Lewis Freedman produced, Clay Yurdin directed and both, as in past, displayed honesty of approach to production problems. Warren Wallace Was the. scripter and he too was above par: / “Camera Three” continues to enrich the mind and there is con¬ siderable : satisfaction in watching the series. Runs. ISRAEL—The Next 10 Years With Chet Huntley, others Producer: Reuyeri Frank Director: Jack Sughrue Writers: Piers Anderton, Huntley, Reuven Frank 90 Mins., Sun. (18), 4 p.m. NBC-TV (film) In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Israel, NBC-TV’s Chet.Huntlet on Sunday <187 pre¬ sented a 90-minute complete, in- depth probing of the present con-, dition of the new nation in the realm of industry, technology and immigrant integration, with a glimmer : of their hopes for the future. It was absorbing viewing, the hour and a half documentary offer¬ ing an understanding of the ca¬ pacities of the 10-year-old Israel to organize its forces, to conquer natural obstacles and absorb into economy and life a number of im¬ migrants far exceeding its original population. The various areas ex¬ plored were handled jbjectively with no personal slant or political motiye. Huntley in interviews starting with Arina Weizmann, sister of the late Chaim Weizmann first presir dent of Israel, in h!s laboratory which she now uses; with the heads of Israel’s schools and army train¬ ing, elicited full answers as to conditions and goals of these serious people. The recapitualtion of the industrial progress, the scientific miracle of land reclama¬ tion and the educational progress that permits this tiny nation to have an Atomic Energy Commis¬ sion was fully detailed by qualified and dedicated people. There was no rehashing of the early pioneer days or the clashing with neighboring hostile nations but in their stead interesting film sequences of the Negev with its endless sandy waste now sprouting factories arid giant steam shovels te unearth the cloride salts, the phosphate and the potassium that are the raw materials Israel’s scientists are using for atomic energy.; The iriimediate task of teaching the peoples from 70 countries a common language—Hebrew—and basic rules of hygiene and citizen-. ship; the need for the universal military training for boys and girls of 18 and reserves up to the age of 49, dictated, as a means of sur- v’val, the incorporation of all these facets within the strictures of a 90- minute documentary made for an interesting arid informative Sunday afternoon, program. ' Rose. Steve Allen An uneven outing was served up Sunday (18) night on the Steve Al¬ len Show. Although the vaudeo layout was pleasant enough, de¬ spite the weaknesses of some stints, the major fault was that it failed to build to solid overall entertain¬ ment impact.. Not helping the end impression was the "Ethnical-Neurotic Ballet Co.” final number. It was supposed to be a spoof at modern psychologi¬ cal daricing-done on Broadway. As performed, it was a silly bit with¬ out too much wit or point. The dancers were Allen regulars Louis Nye, Tom Poston arid Don Knotts, aided by statuesque, graceful Julie Newmar of "Li’l Abner.” Al§o not helping was the overlong stint be¬ tween Allen and Abby Van; Buren, advice to. the lovelorn columnist who has just written a book. It may have helped the sales of her book, but it did little for the show, her outing, coming over the air as a piece of unspontaneous business. Allen clicked well with deejay Dick Clark. They did a funny piece on teenage cool talk, using sub¬ titles and singing the hepstets ver¬ sion of “Surinyside of the Street.” Vet LoU Costello registered nicely in . a slapstick bit as an army re¬ cruit, aided by Allen regulars. Sid Gould had his funny moments in a "Man of the Street” characteriza¬ tion. Ditto for Maurice *Dober- (Cohtiriuer ori page 51) - JERRY LEWIS SHOW With George Jessel, Four Step Bros., Connie Stevens, Walter . Scharf orch, others Producer: Ernest D. Glucksman Director: Jack Shea Writers: Arthur Phillips, Lewis 60 Mins., FrL (16), 10 pjn. OLDSMOBILE NBC-TV, from Hollywood . (D. P. Brother) Jerry Lewis was ubiquitous, hut riot particularly amusing, on sea¬ sonal finale Friday. The energetic Lewis was everywhere and every¬ place during the hour, it seemed, but the material didn’t match his energy. All in all, it was an in¬ auspicious hour, with about the only real humor being a lampoon on live tv—a skit in which the star didn’t even appear. Lewis’ humor lacks consistency. At times he tries for the pathos of a Chaplin; other times he’s as broad as Fifth Ave. But at no time is there intelligent cohesion be¬ tween all this. His closing show Friday was an illustration. Lewis opened with his “arrival” from England, welcomed by report¬ ers (reaMife ones hailed by Lewis as though they were royalty). The sequence developed into a “riot” but not of humor. It was chaos, not comedy. Next came a pathos bit, with Lewis the unwanted one at a high school prom, playing it for laughs and tears, but not ac¬ tually receiving either. It was mild at best. Sketch on what can happen when things go wrong in live tv was a good one. at times hilarious. It was brief, yet the high spot of the show. Sketch wherein George Jes¬ sel played straightman to Lewis was marked by some very corny gags. Four Step Bros., whirled on¬ stage with some torrid terping, with the star joining in; was a good bit; Filmed-in-England seg with Lewis and nitwits, a comic band, had some fun but was too repeti¬ tious, pegged as it was ori one long gag. Connie Stevens was okay with redition of “Why Can't He Care For Me?” Lewis closed by singing "Dormi, Dormi, Dormi,” from his newest film, “Rockabye Baby.” Comic was not in good voice. Sam¬ my Cahn arid Harry Warren, who wrote song, were billed as guests, but. didn’t appear. Direction of Jack Shea and Lewis was uneven, and material by Arthur Phillips and Lewis was un¬ inspired. Could be the star was J trying to do too much. Daku.