Variety (December 1960)

S3 TELEVISION REVIEWS U&R1ETY Wednesday, December 7, 1960 1 AM AN ALCOHOLIC’ | With Judge Archie L. Gingold,; John Jackson, Mrs. Lois Hoff-! man. Father Philip Blackburn I Producer: Ed Palmer | Director: Jerry Wasley j 30 Mins.: Sat. (26). 9 p.m. j KSTP-TV, St. Paul (tape) i “1 Am an Alcoholic" was a preachy, telescoped case history of I; problem drinker presented by the committee on alcoholism of the St. Paul Community Chest in con¬ junction with the current National Alcoholism Information Week. Title ' of the program was actually a bit misleading since the telecast dealt in only two brief sequences with a first-person account of - an alco¬ holic’s troubles. Divided into three segs, the half- hour documentary first showed dis¬ trict court Judge Archie L. Gin- goid in a pre-sentence hearing with a convicted drunk, identified as “Mr. Ray” and shown only from the back. Camera then moved with s the judge to a panel discussion in which he conferred with three com¬ munity representatives, after which it dollied back to the courtroom scene for the juage’s decision. In¬ asmuch as the show’ was video¬ taped. realism would have been heightened if fade-ins had been •employed for the transition be¬ tween scenes instead of the dolly technique which created a staged effect. Gist of the program was the panel discussion which showed how jurists cooperate with various com¬ munity resources to try to heip solve an habitual drinker’s prob¬ lems. John Jackson, state director of civil service, told what a sympa¬ thetic employer could do to get an imbibing employe back on the track. Representing welfare agen¬ cies, Mrs. Lois Hoffman of the St. Paul Family Service agency de¬ scribed how her organization might assist in the case. Father Philip Blackburn, Episcopal minister-at- large, elaborated on the roles of the church and Alcoholics Anony¬ mous in aiding problem drinkers. While each of these amateur per¬ formers was obviously anxious to be of help, their lengthy mono¬ logues didn’t make for a very stim¬ ulating discussion and many of their remarks were on the preachy side. “Alcoholic’s" saving grace, per¬ haps. was that it may have reas¬ sured some viewer in'similar straits that there are many sympathetic, understanding sources of help for an alcoholic in many areas. As Judge Gingold noted, the commu¬ nity has made considerable prog¬ ress in its efforts to rehabilitate habitual inebriates, but he also pointed out, however, that the al¬ coholic’s choice between rehabili¬ tation or continued degeneration still must be made primarily by the alcoholic himself. Rees. GOLD DUST With Albert Riley, Gene Britton, Herman Hancock, Barbara Milz and Eugene Patterson Producer: Patricia Noot LaHatte Director: Gy Waldron Writer: Doris Lockerman Music: Richard W’illiams 30 Mins.; Saturday (26). 10 p.m. ATLANTA CONSTITUTION WSB-TV (film & tape) This was the fifth half-hour doc¬ umentary produced by Atlanta New spapeis. Inc., 'fh a series of penetrating studies of civic prob¬ lems oi our times. Sponsored by The Atlanta Constitution ‘pub- 1'shed by ANJ, which also prints p.m. Journal and o&o’s WSB-TV, Ail&FM', show detailed facts, problems and prospects for a tre¬ mendous program of urban renew¬ al that will aker the outlook and economy of the entire downtown portion of Atlanta in a few years. Theme ran about thus: "A ring of miserable shelters was a noose around the neck of Atlanta. Pov- e;t\. indifference, greed and dust lumed up in a cnoking protest against change. And yet, out of the very dust rose one of Atlanta's greatest opportunities for growth and prospei ItyJ’ Editor Eugene Patterson was the principal narrator of "Gold Dust." Riley, now Constitution’s Washing¬ ton Bureau Chief, took a hand at spieling and three other report¬ ers. Barbara Milz. Gene Britton and City Hall reporter Herman Hancock also got in their licks as narrators. Show was prepared by Bill Young, staff photographer, and Constitution columnist Doris Lock¬ er-man. Special kudos must go to them for their fine teamwork and presentation, which put across the message of urban redevelopment with understanding and impact. Luce. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦»♦♦»♦»♦+++»♦»»»♦♦+ Foreign Television Reviews ► + ♦ + + + + +4 4 H « H ( MEET THE QUARE FELLA With Brendan Behan, Eammon Andrews. Producer: Louis Elliman 25 Mins., Tues., 9.15 p.m. BBC-TV, from London This unscripted chat with the rowdy scribe of “The Hostage," erty bosses are trying to nudge each other out of business and companies are being swallowed overnight. Drake tried to muscle into the school by acquiring three shares in a factory. Two rival financiers and a stockbroker, each trying to lacked the expected . amount of j win con trol of the firm, thought he spirit. Brendan Behan was calm; ^eld more shares than he did and and collected, and so, more or less, ? came to ply him with liquor and were the opinions elicited from • wrest his shares from him. This him. Eammon Andrews, fellow- i e( j to some medium custard-pie Irishman and local tv celeb, -*nd: ta p ers> w jth Drake squirting soda- him in his Dubln lair, and posed j wa t er 0V er all and sundry finishing amiable questions. A sharper ap- j vv ith a spectacular crash through proach might have ruffled Behan’s a WP oden door. Trouble was that composure a bit more, and pro- t he subject cried out for the odd duced more sparks. - dash or ironv in the scripting, and However, given said calm and t his was sadly lacking, lack of rudery, the program was The Drake image of the tiny man interesting in rather subtler ways, j w ith the huge temper was still en- Behan, in remarks about "immor-; dearing, but he tended to repeat talizing” the Irish and throwaway • b j s jokes, forgetting that there comparisons of himself with Shake- ; comes a time when a running gag speare, showed that he had no; gets out of breat h, But the yocks mean view of his own stature. He j came without too many pauses, divided people into “invalids and j. p ar ticularly when Drake had a fan- nurses”—and put himself in the t as tic dance with a six-foot girl second category. On his drinking, wbo came to seduce him. This he acted cagey, but opined that the was t be highspot of an otherwise ; poetry turned out by the artist was j rou tine display, produced by Ron- more important than the boozing, ; a jjj ]\i ar sh with some lethargv. although the public tended to be j Otta. more absorbed by the latter be- j _ cause it was easier to understand. ! England, he considered, was fine for t WIH MACHEN MUSIK invalids, the aged, and young chil- ' <We Make Music) dren—largely because of its With Edmundo Ros orch, Catenna Valente, Vico Torriani, Helmut Zacharias, Vivi Bach, Christa Williams, . The Lindys, Silvio Francesco, Richard Hearne, Fritz Sckulz-Reichel, others Director: Dieter Finnern Health Service. J On success, he waxed somewhat j more eloquent, being enamored of I ' it for one month only, but then weary of the constant attention. ! ; But, on the whole, it was a sul> ; dued Behan, who could occasion-! Mins.; Sat., 3:25 P.m. ! ally be caught saying things for West German Tv, from Berlin j effect. He endeared himself most | T1 }is was probably the biggest tv ! in his proclaimed affection for; musical show ever produced in [ordinary folk, and least in his bouts ■ Berlin. Since there was no tv • of unconscious pomposity. As in- studio- large enough for a monster dicated. Andrews made an over-; program like this, they moved tne v ary interviewer, and Louis Elli- : whole show to the UFA music man’s production lacked su r nrise. studio at' Berlin-Tempelhof. The Otta. i unusual local effort was justified __ ] inasmuch as it gave viewers an op- ! portunity to see more than two WHACK-O. dozen of this country’s top record- With Jimmy Edwards, Arthur i n g artists; In addition, there were Howard, Edwin Apps, Keith se veral foreign artists and. as had performed a number of Inhu¬ man medical experiments on the inmates, most of whom died a gruesome death. The story was set in a small town in the U. S. where the doctor had managed to flee (illegally) in 1945 and where he had become a respected citizen complete with family. One day, a former inmate of the concentration camp recog¬ nized him, but refrained from tell¬ ing the authorities because of the effect disclosure would have on the doctor’s family who did not know of his war crimes. In due course, the son found out about his father’s past and urged him to confess and face the consequences. The doctor finally agreed - and went to the police with a full confession. Wolfgang Lukschy as the physi¬ cian, and young Michael Hinz as the son gave excellent perform¬ ances in their respective roles. Hinz, incidentally, is the son of Werner Hinz, prominent German legit actor, and is proving to be one of this country’s best young thesps. Good support was also pro¬ vided by Dietmar Schoenherr and the rest of the cast. Direction by Hans Lietzau was outstanding and the other technical credits were above average. Hans. Edwards, Arthur Edwin Apps, Keith __ ^ _ _ Smith, Gordon Philpott, Frank ; spec i a i attraction, England’s Trini- r » r\„ i* dad-born Edmundo Ros and his orch who made their German tv debut with this one. Standouts included: Caterina Valente, probably this country’s most successful recording chirp, Raymond, Brian Oulton Writers: Frank Muir. Denis Norden Producer: Eric Fawcett 30 Mins., Tues., 7:30 p.m. BBC-TV, from London Bouncing back into the schedules with no change in its familiar for- who did a couple of songs, one, J ^ 1 “Itsie Bitsie,” together with her Inr *nm f p ^nfiTc^ *£,1! brother, Silvio Francesco, who also ■nf x? Arthur 1 showed his talents as a clarinetist I of Jimmy Edwards & Arthur How- . c ! ard as r-hispllin? lipadmastpr and ' an “ guitarist. Swiss-born \lCO Tor- occicffnt Sfil in ' riani, the “German Chevalier,” did ahnut ; ! some catchy ditties including his «mWina n u^ b ® current hit. “Calcutta.” Pretty fnHhmp 1g and in?pndPd d i^Jvp it ’ Christa Williams, one of Teldec’s away to his favorite charity.' Ed- ‘ laSSfarvIS sJ’JTSLisM? sir,; ssr"S!w p » vjjssk ithp d hSnitv X ?ft n opV^thP^fpli nf Ms ^ cute Vivi Bach ’ who ’ s Sot some 1 v? 0t t^ ^ S German pix to .her credit did a .money so that he wouldn t throw, promisin / number . Fritz Schulz- it away. FAMILIE (Family) With Robert Mueller, Ernst Sla¬ de ck, Heidemarie Hatheyer, Fritz Schmiedel, Reinhard Koll- dehoff, Christl Erher, others Director: Peter Beauvais Writer: Edmund Morris Adaptation: Gert Weymann 100 Mins.; Thurs., 8:25 p.m. West German TV, from Baden- Baden This show was an adaptation by Gert Weymann of a play, “The Wooden Dish,” by Edmund Morris. The central character was an 80 year-old grandfather who was physically fit, despite his age, opinionated and always at odds with his granddaughter. Latter, finally tired of caring for the old man, wanted to send him off to a : rest home. Her husband agreed, i and the old man, -with great re- ! luctance, finally agreed to leave ! the children alone to spend the rest of his life in a sanitarium, j Although the play contained quite a bit of humor, it was also : extremely touching. Robert Muel- ! Ier, as the grandfather, turned in ! a really outstanding acting job, .and made a major contribution to the show’s overall impact. His I final, departure scene was magnifi- : cent. Heidemarie Hatheyer, as the !• daughter, and Reinhard Kolldehoff as her husband were also first I rate. f Peter Beauvais' direction was i tight and he avoided cheap senti- ; mentality skillfully. Technical cred¬ its were above average, but it was : Mueller’s outstanding performance ‘ that will be long-remembered. Hans. DISCRIMINATION IN THE , CAPITAL DISTRICT With Sunnie Jennings, Georg* Reading, others Director: Grant Van Patten 30 Mins.; Sat. 10 p.m. WRGB-TV, Schenectady General Electric showed. a lot of courage and a sense of broad-, casting responsibility in choosing prime time to present this largely- filmed report on the delicate and explosive subject of discriifiination. Show was spotted immediately fol¬ lowing NBC’s “The Nation’s Fix¬ ture” which had featured Rev. Mar¬ tin Luther King and James K. Kil¬ patrick, editor of the Richmond News Leader, debating the sub¬ ject of sit-ins. It’s entirely possible that tome of .WRGB’s advertisers would nave been happier had the subject of discrimination in housing been left alone, but the point was not only mentioned by Virginia-born staffer, Sunnie Jennings, but discussed in detail with Prof. James Moss, a Negro faculty member of Union College, and a Negro female staf¬ fer of the State Education Dept. Both related candidly their experi¬ ences in attempting to buy or rent good-location property. Discrimination against Negroes was further detailed in interviews with an Albany doctor and a re¬ tired secretary who spoke feelingly of the “uncertainty” of Negroes traveling, even in “friendly” states like New York, especially when it came to eating or staying over¬ night. All-in-all, the picture of discrim¬ ination against Negroes was gener¬ ally upbeat, although the results might-well have been more nega¬ tive had low ? income, rather than professional people, been consid¬ ered. J. Edward Conway, a member of the State Commission Against Dis¬ crimination, spoke with great frankness about studies that had been made in the Adirondack and Catskill regions in regard to dis¬ crimination against Jews, Italians and other groups, particularly ..where it concerned hotels. The Commission’s success was backed up by the presentation of statistics and referral of complaints to it was strongly suggested. Miss Jennings, who closed with a moving plea for the elimination of discrimination, also reported that 18 states have followed the New York example in establishing similar anti-discrimination commis¬ sions. One flaw in the proceedings was the use of “you” rather than “we” or “our viewers” when referring to discrimination on either a group or individual basis. Miss Jennings ihandled her chores well; ditto [ George Reading, who opened and i closed the show, 1 WRGB used the show to an- ! nounce that it had given away j $640,000 in time- for publie serv- j ice programs and spot announce¬ ments during the past year. Jaco. Reichel alias “Crazy Otto" with his ’ ; good. England’s Lindys, two sing- ; ing (“Train of Love"> and dancing I girls were okay. Berlin’s gifted r dancer, Juergen Feindt. provided s .'the show’s best terping number, 1 1 America’s Richard Hearne 'Mr. .Pastryi did a very witty one-man honky-tonk piano and Helmut fihu h. S W ^i e a l » 3nd '! ° Zacharias with his violin were both that he was converted to wealth, but Edwards, in a drunken stupor, wrote out a check for the amount ; to a clergyman, who happened to be passing by. In fact, a foolish piece, given certain verve and spirit by the vigorous playing of Edwards & | sp00 f' of an old polonaise which. Houaid. Smpteis huur an d.^oj - incidentally, marked his German den are old and experienced hands ; tv b(nv at this sort of thing, and showed it. i ^ * , ... In fact, the show, brisklv produced ! Program proved a click with by Eric Fawcett, would have passed . local viewers A nice touch was the with its fans, without swelling spojtmg, between numbers of their number. Oita. '• cartoons, each giving an idea of _ ; what was to come next. Dieter Fin- 1 nern directed this expensive show and did quite a job. Settings were, remarkably lavish, at least for local standards. Hans. THE CHARLIE DRAKE SHOW With Charlie Drake, William Ken¬ dall, Austin Trevor, Michael Ward, Hugh Lloyd _ Producer: Ronald Marsh Writers: Charlie Drake, Richard NACII ALL DER ZEIT Waring (After All That Time) 30 Mins., Fri., 7:55 p.m. I With Wolfgang Lukschy, Blandine BBC-TV, from London j Ebinger, Michael Hinz, Karin Back for a set of six half-hours Remsing, Dietmar Schoenherr, before making his tv debut in the [ Willy Maertens, Josef Pahmen States, cherubic comic. Charlie Writer: Jack Pulraan Drake, 'like Harry Langdon with Director: Hans Lietzau kiss-curls) deployed the usual 65 Mins.; Wed.: 8:25 p.m. knockabout personality, but with | West German TV, from Hamburg rather more pratfalls than wit in ! This play, by British author Jack this opener. The skein varies the’Pulman, probed the question of to format somewhat, in that Drake j what extent an individual could be claims to be taking satiric side-1 held responsible for crimes corn- swipes at such aspects of modern j mitted during the w'ar? In this living as time payments and insur- i case, the question was put to a anee. He bowed in with “The I German physician who served at a Take-Over Bid,” a topical headline- 1 concentration camp during World 1 maker in these parts, where prop- : War II. On orders from above, he BELOVED AUGUSTIN With Heinz Conrads, Maria Emo, Leopold Esterle, Carl Bosse, Franz Boeheim, Marianne Gerz- ner, Lottie Lang, Florl Leithner, Guido Wieland, Kurt Sowinetz, Karl Eidlitz, Wolfgang Gasser, Herbert Kersten, Sepp Loew- inger, Walter Regelsberger, Al¬ fred Rossmann Producer: Erich Neuberg Director: Hermann Lanske : Music: Robert Stolz Austrian TV from Vitnna i One of the high points of the 1 rapidly growing and improving [ Austrian tv. was this production of j “Lieber Augustin" with Robert Stolz’ music. Heinz Conrads, popu- \ lar comedian, played the part of “Beloved Augustin,” an historical figure of the 17th century 'real name Augustin Sackpfeiffer), when the Turks beleagured Vienna. The ever existing optimism of its in¬ habitants was immortalized in the theme song “O Du lieber Aug¬ ustin.” Conrads was at his best, and the rest of the cast was excel¬ lent. Robert Stolz contributed a fit¬ ting score, mixing beautiful melo¬ dies with folksongs. Outstanding number was his own composition “In Wien weht ein besonderer Wind” (A special wind blow’s in Vienna), it was catchy and looks headed for popular acceptence. Direction by Hermann Lanske was flawless; ditto the staging by Gerhard Hruby. Bruno Uher con¬ ducted. Maas. THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE With Cleveland Amory, Malcolm Anderson, Judge John L. Miller. ProduceF-Direc.tor: Philip Beigel SUSTAINING 30 Mins.; Mon., 10:30 p,m, KDKA TV Pitti burgh (tape) While the iith’ Had a good ring to it, the eci les astical connection was clouded and only served to dis¬ guise an excellent idea and debate that could very well have stood on its own. This was a powerful entry and is certainly worth seri¬ ous study by the networks. Time spot was the “Face the Nation” period returned to the affiliates by CBS for a once a month public service show’. Using the title theme, Cleveland Amory was “the postulator of the cause” that claimed the moral climate of the U. S. had reached a new low. Serving as the advocate was former U. S. Attorney, Mal¬ colm Anderson. It was Amory’s theories that were up for accept¬ ance and Anderson was disputing any virtues the author’s thinking might have. Judge John L. Miller of the U.S. District Court remained in the background and the dignity of. his position should not have been damaged by his doing the show’s opening and closing state¬ ments and also read the lead-in to the two public service announce¬ ments. Amory, playing his usual role of the very angry middle-aged man. spoke out against everything but motherhood. He said the U. S. did not have the “guts” to defend Poland, and that the new 11th commandment is “Thou Shalt Not Get This was an excellent 30 minute pub service show Lit.