Variety (April 1959)

Wednesday, April 15, 1959 TELEVISION REVIEWS 121 Lucy & Desi While this hourlong special by the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz team wasn’t one of their top efforts, this tandem seemingly has reached a plateau in which anything they do seems to have a lot of enter¬ tainment. In Monday’s (13) epic, Miss Ball decided that housework was just for housewives, and she wanted a career outside the home. The situations created in this opus called for. a lot of inven¬ tiveness and there were a lot of rewarding moments, primarily through Miss Ball’s skill in every field from slapstick to subtlety. She gets a job as girl Friday to Paul Douglas making his bow on a teevee show, and since her serioso efforts pay off in laughs, she gets an ironbound contract which ultimately has to be broken because she can never get together with her family. There was a good, scene in which she convinces other applicants to flee before the interviews. Others included two episodes on the tele¬ cast, and the scene in which MisS Ball, full of sleeping pills, must be awakened for the show. In the major guest spot, Paul Douglas did an excellent job just by being Paul Qouglas. Miss Ball, of course,, maintained her usual excellence, while William Frawley and Vivian Vance performed up to their usual high standards. Jose . Dinah Shore Chevy Show With the aid of a large group of native performers, Dinah Shore gave a nifty salute to Hawaii on her NBC-TV Chevy show Sunday night (12). Telecast via color tape, the show succeeded in suggesting the flavor and atmosphere of the; . . ...... . 50th state within the confines of j navigation their own steam, the NBC studios in Burbank. . * ex Thompson; as the 17-year- . Standout bits in the .show-in-: ^P 1 ^, . the P? rt ' Vlth a eluded fire and slap dances; several, scrubbed look, in an attractne man- hoofing turns by Hawaiian moppets ! ner ’ an 5* crew members m top roles and grandmothers; and a series ! ^ ere P^yed by Frednc Tozere, Pat Iturbi’s hands provided a fas¬ cinating closeup on virtuoso tech¬ nique. An incidental plus to this show' is the relaxing quiet for the home viewer at the end of each number. The absence of a studio audience may have some disadvantages, but this show indicated that hokey ap¬ plause can be omitted with profit. Herm. Omnibus An incident at the end of World War I gave “Omnibus” an unusual program on Sunday^ (12) edition over NBC-TV. “The Strange Voy¬ age of the Normandier” told or the British tramp steamer on. the -way from Dakar to Canada which was struck by a plague and drifted helplessly until help came. The yarn was based on a recent book, “The Strange Ordeal of the Normandier,” the account of the voyage by a survivor, H. L. Tradee, then a 17-year-old radio operator. For this taped show, “Omnibus” converted a steamer Oregon Star I temporarily into a tramp. " The yarn started out with al¬ most a’ pastoral auality in which life at sea aboard this strange ship with an even stranger crew, is re¬ counted by the wireless operator,- When the epidemic strikes in the African port, the tempo picks up as does dramatic interest. Burials at sea, by men with insufficient strength to lift the body, the burly crew members walking about in a trance, and finally, the lad in the radio room himself is picked up fer dead. Fortunately, it’s in error, and he finally is able to attract the attention pf three vessels. At the time of the rescue, only two crew members out of 49 were able to of superb vocal numbers by school choir and a legit Hawaiian tenor, Charles K. L. Davis, who did both pops and an operatic aria for solid impact. Martin Denny, head of a small combo-which has broken through disks, provided an Instrumental highlight with ' Malone and Mark Dawson. Jose. Look Up and Live There’s no denying that Theo¬ dore Bikel is a gifted performer in many fields and his show “The Diaspora” (meaning “dispersion”). .* his j presented under the auspices of the medley of native and jazz motifs i New York Board of Rabbis on CBS- combined with a drummer who I TV. G2) was an informative and supplied a colorful array of bird ' warm-hearted musical salute to sounds. | the Jewish people wh6 have been Miss Shore, while mostly in the 1 wandering over the face of the background, delivered a couple of j troubled earth since Biblical times, numbers pleasantly and used Tony I Bikel's recounting of the travels Randall as an escort on this must-} and travails of the wandering Jews cal junket to the islands. This' was on the occasion of the upcom- show made it that the 50th state ! mg Passover season and conse- has it all over the 49th state as a i.quently made for an appropriate potential reservoir of video ma- j video presentation. Bikel, with his terial. Herm. j guitar, sang and played a medley -- > of songs in various languages, cou- Bell Telephone Hour [ cerned with Jewish life and cus- For its fourth and final show of ; toms.. He was especially effective the season, “Bell Telephone Hour” presented another excellent musi¬ cal session on NBC-TV Thursday night (9). Ranging from pops to grarid opera with a garnishing of ballet, the stanza maintained a consistently high quality without any superfluous . or pretentious trappings, either in script or pro¬ duction. The hour opened on a swinging note with Gisele MacKenzie and four youngsters in a breezy song- alog of standards and folktunes framed around a schoolroom motif. Like the other performers. Miss MacKenzie was given an adequate showcase to display her talents. in putting over such melodies as the well-worn but still lovable “Ofen Pripitchik” which he did in rich Yiddish 'and “O Freedom,” in English, a honey of a folk song in tribute to the shelter this coun¬ try affords immigrants. He also performed -numbers in Spanish and Hebrew that without question struck.-responsive chords in the' homes of both Jew* and Gentile for¬ tunate enough to have caught the program. Producer Jack Kuney and director Tim Kiley also rate bless¬ ings and full tumblers of Passover mead for their parts in this ex¬ hilarating presentation on “Look Up and Live.” Raphael Boguslas She did “When You Wish Upon A ; blended in nicely as a guitar ac- Star. » Inchword: “Far Awav j?/.„<■ Places,” “I’ve Got The Sun In The Morning,” “Shine On Your Shoes” and “Alouette,” for a nicely round¬ ed turn. Playhouse 90 John Gay undertook a noble and a uni. • , . j provocative theme in his “Play- * j — ,. — ,—- i nuuse »u urigiuai, me uay de- Andre Eglevsky fol- {ore At i anta * B ut the dramatic £ ™ t lLV» SS ’,1 t . f ? 0m s S? e : framework in which he expounded S22, SJ e J ! “ seemed contrived' and uncon- Sn ^rdel«„hn ? f '<t„,eh vincing. It added up to one of the oho™™rwSL less exciting "Playhouse 90” shows Rosemary Clooney® and her hus^ I some^gnd'ard^of^eMa’ndwoM band, Jose Ferrer, joined in a run-! V.tiif down of tunes from the Academy I 1 Award-winning “Gigi” score. Fer¬ rer’s voice may not be polished, but he delivered the title song with a pleasing understatement and engagingly duetted with his wife “I Remember Well.” Metopera stars Giorgio Tozzi, bass, and Nicolai Gedda, tenor,, joined in a high-SDirited duet from Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride.” singing in English. Wrapping up the hour. Jose Iturbi delivered a P ; "no recital in miniature. Open- switched to an old Victorian piano for a Chopin waltz and then con¬ cluded at the grand piano for a snorkling rendition of Liszt’s “Hungarian Fantasy” backed by orchestra under Donald Voorhees. Once again, the camera'focus on search as it developed. Timmy Everett, a youth who’s seen action in most of the Civil War, is a good soldier with a conscience troubled by the wanton killing and destruc¬ tion of the war. His problem is personified in Jack Warden, a tough sergeant with a sadistic streak who’s been kind to the boy. Everett did some fine acting as the youth, and though he didn’t bring the characterization off con¬ vincingly, the fault lay in Gay’s in- with a harpsichord piece. he4-script rather than in his perform¬ ance. Warden was properly ruthless as the sergeant, Miss Keim good as the girl, Clu Gulager excellent as a cowardly soldier and Dabbs Greer standout as a filthy, des¬ picable henchman pf the sergeant. Chan. SWING INTO SPRINGTIME 1 With Benny Goodman Orch, Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Peggy Lee, Shelley Manne, Andre Previn, Hi-Lo’s, Donna Musgrove with Matt Mattox & Wilma Curley Producer: Lawrence White Director: David Geisel Writer: Maurice Zolotow 60 Mins.; Fri. GO), 9 p.m. . TEXACO CBS-TV, from New York (Cunningham Sc Walsh) Benny Goodman is becoming the harbinger of spring via Texaco’s musical specials. Sponsor could not have found a more appropriate personality to herald the gay and sunny season. His music, his stage demeanor and his overall taste is the perfect setup for the “Swing! Into Spring.” In addition to BG, producer Law¬ rence White wisely supported the show with a' standout cast topped by Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee and the Hi-Lo ? s on the vocal end, and Lionel Hampton, Shelly Manne and Andre Previn .on the instrumental licks, Tipoff on the care and study that went into the show’s prepara¬ tion was Hampton’s slick musical restraint on the vibes as compared with his previous tv outings when he was allowed to let loose with a lot of musical mayhem. It was BG’s clarinet and musical styling, however, that set the tone and the pace. Clear, precise and highly listenable, it was easy to understand why the “swing” of the 1930s holds up so strongly more than a quarter of a century later. Creating almost the same effect with the vocalizing were Miss Fitz¬ gerald and Miss Lee, Both are top pop purveyors with enough differ¬ ence, in styling to keep the show musically vibrant. The Hi-Lo’s. too, although their song treatment is in a more progressive jazz groove, came through attractively. The production moved at an easy musical gait and Maurice Zolotow’s patter lines fit easily into the pro¬ ceedings. The show had a. neat, well-scrubbed look that helped create an aura of spring in New York even though it was wet and uncomfortable on the day of the telecast and the N.Y. Yankees’ opening day game had to be called because of rain. Gros. GYPSY ROSE LEE With Earl Wrightson, Stan Free- man, Paulette Goddard, Jule Styne, Virginia Martin, Ellen Hobbins, Sandra Church, others Producer: Gene Wood Director: Don Luftig 90 Mins., Tues., 11 p.m. Participating . WNTA-TV, Newark, N. J. (tape) Gypsy Rose Lee in her show biz career has proven to be a femme of many facets. Having once been the most famous lure on the Min¬ sky wheel, she developed many graces generally unknown to a lady of burlesque. She’s literate, charm¬ ing and articulate, besides having all the necessary attributes tl.at made her the sinecure of all eyes, masculine at least. Her latest excursion into the arts is a gab and interview show on the Tuesday night slot on WNTA, New’- ark. Miss Lee seems to have a glimmer of what she wants to do. She’S trying for members of the ! family old enough to stay up late. ■She’s aiming for the more sophis¬ ticate and racier members of the clan with enough tolerance so that discussions can be witty and frank and perhaps be conversation pieces for the next day. The Gypsy just didn’t make it on her preem night. Miss Lee’s big chance came with the conversation with Paul¬ ette Goddard. Both of them are girls who have been around, and are seemingly hot easily shocked and both have ability to express themselves stylishly. If Gypsy were a more expert interviewer it might have come off. There was also one episode’in which she re¬ created the famed burlesque skit, “Goodbye. Sam.” Seemingly, she got two citizens out of the audi¬ ence to do the bit with her. It wasn’t too expert, nor did it indi¬ cate the store of fun that used to be prevalent on the burley wheels. There was one sequence in which she discussed her forthcom¬ ing musical biog, “Gypsy” now in rehearsal. Sandra Church, from that cast came over, and impressed as a very pretty ingenue, but hard¬ ly with sufficient fire to be the Gyp. Jule Styne, the songwriter, came over to intro some of the tunes in that show. Stan Freeman, at the piano, Earl Wrightson bari- toning endowed the session with an air of variety.. Miss Lee et al. did create a party atmosphere, but it was too obvi¬ ously gay. She’s the one to carry i off a program of this kind, but she’s gotta find her own metier. A viewer can be saddened by her fre¬ quent changes of gowns. They used to come off permanently. Jose. THE DAVID NIVEN SHOW (Fortune’s Folly) With Cameron Mitchell, Gail Kobey, Herb EHis, Marion Col¬ lier, Robert Fuller, others Producer: Vincent Fennelly Director: Lewis Allen Writer: Christopher Knopf 30 Mins., Tues.; 10 p.m. SINGER SEWING MACHINE NBC-TV, from N.Y. (film) ( Young & Rubicam ) The gods appear to be looking with favor on one David Niven. His hew anthology series couldn’t have preemed at a better-time. Monday night (6* was Oscar night for Niven. Next night (7) the Four- Star production, which Niven hosts, bowed on the same network. The opener, though, was hardly of Oscar caliber. Penned by Christopher Knopf, the outing concerned a compul¬ sive gambler—far too noble for credibility. The noble soul twist came at the end as a resolution to the outing. It may have been slick, but hardly convincing. Cameron Mitchell had the tele¬ play mainly on his shculders. He had an. opening scene in a Reno hotel, and in quick broad strokes, it was established that he had come to beg his wife not to divorce him, that he would give up gam¬ bling and somehow pay back the $10,000 owed by the family, Gail Kobey did okay as the wife in that bit. Mitchell, in need of cigarettes, went out of the hotel room fight¬ ing against being lured to a gam¬ bling den. But inevitably he wound up in one, parlaying 5 cents into $10,000. Up to this point, the psychological study had its inter¬ esting moments.. . (Viewer hardly knew 1 more about the characters than he did in the beginning, but he had been offered a slick pictorial display of a weak man’s obsession.) But then the twist. Instead of being elated in being able to pay off the “family mortgage,” Mitchell realized that he truly can’t give up the gam¬ bling urge as he promised. So what did . he do? He rather gave, up his wife and child, leaving the $10,000 under his wife’s pillow and silently stepping into the night. There may be such men, and if there aren’t, the writer hes a right to dream ’em up. The onlv test is whether, once imagined, the twists in the characterization stands up. In this case, it didn’t. Niven was okay as host. Niven incidentally, is one of the three actor partners in the highly profit¬ able Four-Star telefilmery. Lewis Allen’s direction was well paced. Supporting cast was able. • Horo . THE GEORGE HAMILTON IV SHOW With Mary Klick, Roy Clark, others Producer: Don Tucker Director: Tommy Winkler Musical Director: Jack French 30 Mins.; Mon.-thru-Fri., noon PARTICIPATING ABC-TV, from Washington, D.C. Perplexing about this new entry on ABC-TV is why the network’s brass should have wanted to re¬ place Peter Lind Hayes, who had a good show and didn’t make it, with George Hamilton IV, who hasn’t got a good show. At least, the half-hour program wasn’t good during its premiere Monday (13), and what there was didn’t bode good. True. Hayes would have been allowed to keep this half-hour if he wanted to, but, once they’d eliminated his 60-minute format, he decided he’d had enough. But this doesn’t change the basic objec¬ tion to Hamilton, a plain, pleasant boy with a nasal singing voice whose mentors have a predilection for other plain, not-so-pleasant boys and girls with nasal singing voices. If ABC figures mama is going to take helpless youth to her bosom, the network may be right, i but to also expect her to accept l sartorial songs such as “Tan Shoes ! With Pink Shoe Laces” and “White j Coat and Blue Carnation” is asking i too much—even for countryfied j mothers—so long as sis and brother ’ are not around to control the dial.: Art. i __ | ‘Conquerors on Horseback’: As Kennedy-Adams Series Hollywood, April 14. Arthur Kennedy and N i c k '■ Adams, actors, have partnered to produce a teleseries tagged “Con¬ querors on Horseback,” and cur¬ rently are negotiating with net¬ works on proposed property. Neither will appear in series. Initialer will be a yarn on Ghen-. gis Khan. Series, based on an idea | and scripts by pair, will be an anthology on stories about horse¬ men around the world. ANTOINETTE PEERY AWARDS With Clayton (Bud) Collyer, emceej Meyer Davis Orch, others Producer: Ned Cramer Director: Bud Collyer 45 Mins., Sun. (12), 11:45 p.m. PEPSI COLA WCBS-TV, N.Y. (Kenyon & Eckhardt) WCBS-TV, which had to cancel its scheduled pickup of the Ameri¬ can Theatre Wing's “Tony” awards the last two years because of union hassles, made it Sunday night (12). In fact, some of the time lost in the prior cancellations was made up with the show running over nearly 10 minutes. The presenta¬ tion of the awards, scheduled to cover 45 minutes, including com¬ mercial spots for Pepsi-Cola, was not designed as an ’ entertainment. But, the parade of performers and other legit personalities par¬ ticipating in the event on the giv¬ ing and receiving t-nas, \.as a lure in itself. No attempt was made to put on a show and the gab was confined mostly to introductory comments and brief thank-you speeches. The aimosphere was pleasant, the participants gracious and the women lovelv. For the celeb-oglers it was a field day. There’s no doubt that the impact of the show would have been enhanced by cashing in on the abundance of talent on hand for the award presentations in the Grand Ballroom of Waldorf Astoria Hotel, N.Y. But, as it happened, the 45 minutes allotted to the event fell short of the time it took to hand out the “Tonys” and plug the sponsors product. There’s also no q; estion that time w’as lost in having the various winners run a longihy obstacle course when called trorn thefr dinner tables to t’’e stage, with the cameras traili g their move¬ ment. However, this w asn’t too bad in some install" s. uarticularly when eyeful Julia X-v'mar was circling the table.'. fl..e may have done nothing more, b? ides giving out with a breathy llvnk you, but, in her case, that was e lough. * The cameras, however, could have at least followed her back to her table. Oscar Hammerstein 2d gave the show a lift v.’ith his humorous in¬ troduction of the award-winning team of Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse. His comment that every¬ thing he voted for lost might have bpen a little too jnsidey for non¬ show biz viewers, but to tradesters it was kidding-on-the-square since “Flower Drum Song” was virtually out of the running. Charlie Ruggles was responsible for one of the e/ening’s nicest moments when accepting the award for a supporting dramatic role and June Havoc’s handling of the pre¬ sentation was charming. Actually, the place was loaded with charming femmes. The array or actresses included Ingrid Berg¬ man, who was welcomed back with helfty applause, Claudette Colbert, Celeste Holm, Nancy Kelly, Ger¬ trude Berg, Gwen Verdon, Pat Stanley, Susan Strasberg, ’Polly Bergen, Colette Erosset and Ina Ballin. The male segment from the per¬ forming ranks included Ralph Bel¬ lamy, Anthony Perkins, Dana Andrews, Russell Nype, Leonard Stone, members of the cast of “La Plume de Ma Tante.” Cyril Ritch- ard and Jason. Robards Jr. John Gielgud, given a special aw r ard for his one-man show “Shakespeare’s “Age of Man,” received the top ovation of the evening. The overtime angle could also have been eliminated by cutting dow’n on some of the less popular award categories such as stage technician, scenic designer. cos-« tume designer and musical direc¬ tor. These could have been handled before or after the telecast since the general television audience isn’t likely to be interested in selec¬ tions of this nature. As a sidelight to the event, CBS- TV jumped the gun on itself when several of the award winners were named during the 11 p.m. newscast, immediately preceding the net¬ work’s live pickup of the award presentations. It’s no secret in the trade that the names of the winners are released in advance, but it seems unnecessary for the network to have taken even the slightest edge off its on-the-spot coverage of the event. The telecast demonstrated to the public that the theatre hands out awards in about the same manner as any other industry. Winners are selected, they walk to the stage to musical accompaniment, they make brief acceptance speeches and then depart. The only differ¬ ence is they’re in the entertain¬ ment field and as such are an at¬ traction in themselves. But, other than that, the Waldorf proceedings afforded viewers with little that wasn’t covered in the early edi¬ tions of Monday’s New York dailies. Jess.