What's on TV? Thursday, January 2, 1964

Something we didn't cover Saturday that you might not have noticed: on Password, announcer Jack Clark takes over hosting duties for the week so the regular emcee, Allen Ludden, can join his wife Betty White as one of the players. If you've ever wondered how well Allen would actually have done playing the game, now's your chance. Meanwhile, the evening edition proceeds apace, with Betsy Palmer and Frank Gifford as the players. You can also see Betsy on I've Got a Secret Monday nights on the same network. Neat how that works, isn't it? The listings for the new year are from the Minneapolis-St. Paul edition.

This week in TV Guide: December 28, 1963

There's something about the cover of this issue I really like. It's colorful and cheerful and fun (the picture at left really doesn't do it justice), and perhaps after the grim last month, it was meant to suggest a bright and hopeful future.

But as we all know, looks can be deceiving. Take the young woman on the cover, 17-year-old Patty Duke, Academy Award winner and star of The Patty Duke Show, in which she plays twin cousins Patty and Cathy Lane. This show was a modest success, running for three seasons and producing a well-remembered theme song. The article itself (written by an unbylined author) wasn't particularly flattering, commenting on Duke's lack of personality; one might say, as Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, that there was no there there. The most common explanation comes from her "rags to riches" story, and some "unhappy" experiences "which have since been amply covered with sugar." In the words of "sophisticated" observers (who prefer to remain anonymous), she seems "just too surgary," the kind of girl "who just isn't there." Says one, "God knows, she's nice enough, but I always have trouble remembering what her face looks like." I wonder if, today, we'd recognize the face of the person who said that?

Duke's horrific childhood is vaguely alluded to in the story, which refers to her having been "abandoned by her father and partially relinquished by her mother," leaving her to a set of " 'make-believe' parents [John and Ethel Ross, her managers and guardians] who, despite their devotion ("They've built my whole life," Patty says, "in and out of acting." have "stressed her career." That "devotion," we now know, included sexual abuse, financial manipulation, changing her name, and plying her with alcohol and drugs while keeping her a virtual prisoner. Nor does it take into consideration her 1965 marriage to director Harry Falk (likely done to escape the Rosses), a marriage during which she "had repeated mood swings, drank heavily, became anorexic, and overdosed on pills a number of times." Given all this, plus a later diagnosis of bipolar disorder, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that she came across as little more than a programmed robot with no independent thoughts of her own. This really is one of those articles that becomes so much more interesting when you know the rest of the story.

Victimization has become something trendy over the years, but there seems to be little doubt that Patty Duke was a victim: of her parents, of her managers, of the industry, of many of the men in her life. I wonder how much of this information would have been available to an enterprising reporter back in 1963? I know we didn't like to talk about things like that back then, and perhaps there wasn't any particular source that could have shed light on all the goings-on in her personal life. And yet, it seems as if it would have been more productive to do a little more digging than to be free with the snide insinuations and comments that make up so much of this story.

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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. 

To round out Cleveland Amory's first year as TV Guide's critic, we take a look at a program that's been on—well, it seems as if it's been on forever, even though its star is younger than Cleve. Only 39, if you're to believe him, but then he was 39 as well when the show started, so believe what you want. But, to quote Fred Allen (as Cleve does), there are two kids of jokes: "funny jokes and Jack Benny jokes." And to criticize the Jack Benny jokes is almost as unkind as "criticizing old friends." Not just unkind, but wrong.

The best way to enjoy The Jack Benny Program, according to Amory, is to "guess the joke and, when you've got it, go along with it—the way you go along with a gag." And if you don't get it the first time around, you'll have another chance, because "nothing is ever thrown away." And why not? There's an old saying that an old joke is old because it's also a good joke. Whether we're talking about Jack's age, his stinginess, his vanity, it's all been built on a solid foundation of Benny's character development that has been honed over some 30 years. And, in fact, we don't even need jokes to make the point; his pause, his hurt stare at the audience, invariably accompanied by "Well!" would be meaningless without the viewer's familiarity with Jack's stage persona. And Benny himself says it couldn't have happened deliberately; "My show-business character developed into a person who is a sort of composite of all the faults of everybody. If my writers had set out to make me into that all at once, 30 years ago, I don't think I'd have lasted two months."

Besides the writers, with whom Jack was always generous in sharing credit, that "character" includes a team that's been with him almost as long as he's been on the air: announcer Don Wilson for 30 years, musical director Mahlon Merrick for 29 years, Rochester 26, and Dennis Day 24. And two of those writers, Sam Perrin and George Balzer, have served over 20 years. You don't have that kind of longetivity, that kind of success on both radio and television, without doing something right. And Jack Benny has more than just something going for him. He's been at it now for 180 times two months, and, as Amory concludes, "it seems fitting to say, if he will pardon the expression, Happy New Year, Jack."

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For college football fans, this is the week of weeks.  The appetizer is served on Saturday, with the Air Force Academy taking on North Carolina in the Gator Bowl (12:30 p.m. CT, CBS); we've also got one of the premier all-star games in football, the East-West Shrine Game from San Francisco (3:30 p.m., NBC), for those players whose schools didn't find their way into one of the year's nine bowl games—meaning there are a lot of good players in it.

The real deal comes Wednesday, with the New Year's Day quad-fecta (is that a word?), featuring the de facto de facto showdown for the national championship between Texas and Navy at the Cotton Bowl (12:45 p.m., CBS). Now, let me explain that peculiar description: in 1963, the final Associated Press and United Press International polls, which determined the unofficial national champion (there being no tournament back then to crown an official champion), were taken at the end of the regular season. The bowl games were seen as exhibitions, rewards to the players for a good season. They were put on by chambers of commerce, held in warm-weather locales where people could go to have fun, and watch a football game as part of a festival that often included a parade, a college basketball tournament, and other events. So entering New Year's Day, the season was over and the title race had already been decided. The de facto national champion was Texas, having finished the season undefeated at 10-0.

But there's a twist: their opponent, the Naval Academy, is the nation's #2 ranked team, with a record of 9-1, as well as the Heisman Trophy winner and most exciting player in the country, quarterback ◀ Roger Staubach.* Exhibition game or not, if Navy defeats Texas, there are going to be a lot of people looking at the Midshipmen as the true de facto national champions. So there you have it.  The game doesn't really count, but it does. The championship has already been decided, but it hasn't. Had Navy won, there would have been no little bit of controversy.

*Staubach was to be on Life's November 29, 1963 cover.  AfterFK's death, the magazine scrapped 300,000 already-printed copies.

And there were a lot of people rooting for Navy. Remember, the Naval Academy, alma mater of the late President Kennedy, is travelling to the city in which he was assassinated less than six weeks ago. Emotions are running high (as part of the trip, the Middies were taken to the sixth floor of the School Book Depository to see where the assassination happened), and Big D, suddenly the most hated city in the most hated state in America, is desperate to regain its self-esteem, which can only be helped by having its state university win the national title.

In any event, the whole thing is an anti-climax; Texas wins the game handily, 28-6.

In these times before prime-time football, the Cotton Bowl has to share the spotlight with the Orange Bowl in Miami, pitting #5 Auburn vs. #6 Nebraska (12:30 p.m., ABC) and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, between #9 Alabama and #7 Mississippi (12:45 p.m., NBC), all of which were joint opening acts for the Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl, from Pasadena, with #3 Illinois and unranked Washington (3:45 p.m., NBC) which ended the college football season. As an added bonus, both of NBC's games are broadcast in color! Good games, good times.

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But to get to New Year's Day, you have to go through New Year's Eve, which culminates with Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. (Tuesday, 11:15 p.m., CBS, shown on a one-hour tape delay in Minneapolis to coincide with midnight in the Central time zone.) He's joined by Allen Ludden, Dorothy Collins, and the Willis Sisters. They're not in their traditional stomping grounds at the Waldorf Astoria, though—for the first time, they're broadcasting from Grand Central Station in New York City, as part of the Bell Ringer Ball for Mental Health. 

Plenty of New Year's cheer earlier in the night as well, with all the action coming at 9:00 p.m.: Garry Moore celebrates the Eve with a party featuring Chita Rivera, Roy Castle, and singer Melodye Condos. (CBS) Over on NBC, Andy Williams, for his last special of the year, welcomes Fred MacMurray and the Williams family. And on ABC, it's coverage of the King Orange Jamboree parade, taped earlier in the evening, with Jim McKay and Olympic champion figure skater Carol Heiss reporting; according to the Miami News, a half-million spectators lined the parade route for the festivities. 

Speaking of parades, if you want 'em on New Year's Day, you've got 'em. CBS kicks things off at 10:00 a.m. with the Cotton Bowl Parade from the State Fair grounds in Dallas (which is where the Cotton Bowl stadium is located), hosted by Chris Schenkel and Pat Summerall; Schenkel will be back later in the day to broadcast the game. At 10:45 a.m., the network switches to coverage of the 75th Rose Parade from Pasadena, where the Grand Marshal is former president Dwight Eisenhower; future president Ronald Reagan and Bess Myerson return as hosts. NBC's broadcast begins 15 minutes earlier, with Arthur Godfrey and Betty White doing the honors. ABC joins in the fun with coverage of the Mummers Parade from Philadelphia (11:00 a.m.), the first time ever on national TV for the legendary parade. Although ABC's broadcast runs for 90 minutes, that's only a small segment of the all-day parade, which lasts for most of the day before it's done. Parade coverage is in color on all three networks, and their coverage continues until the football starts.

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Saturday night, filling one-half of the time slot of the recently departed Jerry Lewis Show, it's the Hollywood Deb Star Ball 1964 (8:30 p.m., ABC), in which we meet "the lovely Deb [for debutante] Stars, slated for future stardom by major Hollywood studios." There are ten altogether; let's take a look at how well they did. There's Meredith MacRae, daughter of Gordon and Sheila MacRae, who just happened to be the hosts of the show; she did pretty well for herself. There's Katherine Crawford, daughter of Roy Huggins, creator of The Fugitive, The Invaders, and other TV hits, who is profiled elsewhere in this week's issue. There's Chris Noel (who had been profiled in the previous week's issue), whose remarkable life led her from a modest Hollywood career to her vocation as a radio host and entertainer stationed in Vietnam for the Armed Forces Network, travelling to locations considered too dangerous for Bob Hope and other celebrities. There's also Susan Seaforth, who as Susan Seaforth Hayes remains one of the queens of daytime dramas on Days of Our Lives. One of her Days co-stars, Brenda Benet, perhaps as well known for being Bill Bixby's ex-wife, is there as well. There's Linda Evans, future star of The Big Valley and Dynasty. And there's Claudia Martin, Deano's daughter, Shelly Ames (daughter of actor Leon Ames), Anna Capri, and Amadee Chabot, who all scored minor successes. See if you can match them with their pictures on the right!

On Sunday, it's the television premiere of the documentary The Making of the President 1960, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winner by Theodore H. White, with narration by Martin Gabel (7:30 p.m., ABC). The documentary was completed prior to Kennedy's death, and is being presented unchanged except for a brief prologue by White. Documentary versions of his 1964 and 1968 books were made as well, but not the 1972 edition, which itself ended the series.

We often see changes to the daytime television lineup around the start of the new year, and Monday sees one such debut: the venerable Let's Make a Deal (1:00 p.m., NBC), with Monty Hall hosting this series where "[c]ontestants can win prizes by answering questions or trading—with the chance that any prize may disguise something much more valuable." You'll notice that there's no mention of outrageous costumes, signs, or other flamboyant behavior from potential contestants; that evolved organically, as a way to increase one's chances of being chosen. As you can see from the original pilot, things started out quite differently. 
On Tuesday morning, author Richard Condon is the guest on Today (7:00 a.m., NBC). Condon is most famous, of course, for his novel The Manchurian Candidate, written in 1959. The movie version, which came out in 1962, was rumored to have been withdrawn from circulation following JFK's assassination, though that was an urban legend. Condon is likely promoting one of the two books he'll have published in 1964: either An Infinity of Mirrors or Any God Will Do.

With the football done for the day, CBS has a live news roundtable Wednesday evening called Years of Crisis (6:30 p.m.), in which CBS correspondents gather to discuss the events of the past year and their probable effect on the future. In case you were wondering, those events included the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the death of Pope John XXIII and election of Pope Paul VI, the overthrow of the Diem regime in South Vietnam and the escalation of American involvement in the war, the continuing Ecumenical Council in Rome (Vatican II), Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in the March on Washington, and more. Yes, 1963 was quite a year, and yes—it will have far-reaching effects on 1964 and beyond. Even to this day.

Victor Borge's annual "Comedy of Music" special (Thursday, 8:00 p.m., ABC) preempts Jimmy Dean this week; the Great Dane's guests are tenor Sergio Franchi and frequent Borge foil Leonid Hambro. It ought to be a fun show, and here's a clip from it. After that, Kraft Suspense Theatre (9:00 p.m, NBC) presents "The Deep End," the story of a woman who suspects the death of her twin sister was not an accident; Ellen McRae, Aldo Ray, Clu Gulager, and Tina Louise head a fine cast, and if you're wondering who Ellen McRae is that she'd get top billing (besides playing the dual role of the sisters), you might recognize her from the name she adopted later: Ellen Burstyn. 

Friday, you'll be drawn, as I was, to The Jack Paar Program (9:00 p.m., NBC), where Jack's guests include "the Beatles, Britain's top rock 'n' roll group" (clip here) along with Paul Lynde, Peggy Cass, and Jack Douglas and his wife Reiko. We're still a month away from the Fab Four's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and it was just the past November that they started to get significant airplay on United States radio. They're coming, though; we just haven't felt the blast yet.

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A couple of weeks ago, Richard Gehman had Jerry Lewis on the analyst's couch to look at why his series was a failure. This week, he's got an appointment with Joey Bishop, who has quickly earned a reputation as one of the most difficult people in Hollywood. His sitcom, The Joey Bishop Show, has started its third season, and the question being asked by most people is "Why is it on?"

Bishop has insisted from the start on doing things his own way; "I didn't come here to Hollywood to learn comedy. I came to expose mine," he says. His attitude has caused writers, actors, directors, and others to flee his show, and by insisting on running things, he has made more mistakes than people had expected. "His first season was a disaster, the second not much better. Thne fact that there is a third season mystifies many people in the industry." And yet—ratings are up, and after witnessing first-hand how a scene was changed at Bishop's insistence, Gehman admits that the retooled scene—done Bishop's way—was much funnier than it was before.

Problems persist. One actor told Gehman that "[t]he Bishop program was the most unpleasant experience of my life." During the first season alone, a director and four actors left, and in the second season a comedian and a writer-director departed the scene. Danny Thomas, the executive producer, reportedly threw up his hands in exasperation, unable to find anyone who would work with Bishop. What is it about him that rubs people the wrong way?

Gehman looks at the influence of Bishop's show-business idols, specifically Frank Sinatra, who discovered him, and Jack Paar, who gave him television exposure. "Some of their arrogance—the necessary cockiness of deep insecurity—has rubbed off on him," Gehman notes, using them as Freud might treat a patient's parents. He also looks at those who've worked successfully with Bishop; he stops short of calling them sycophants, but does not that they tend to be "those upon whom he can depend, meaning those who will do exactly as he says." Moody and sometimes misanthropic, he can sit for hours at a time, concentrating; "no one in television tries harder for perfection." People on the show seem to understand this a little better now.

Bishop comes across as a man who, for years, has learned to depend on himself more than anyone else. He has confidence in his own talent, and his ability to know the best way to utilize it. He is, by his own admission, a worrier by nature, and he's spent plenty of time worrying about the success of his show, and his career. He rightly points out that it's his neck on the line, after all. Is it the best way, how he handles people and conflicts and situations? Maybe not. But, as Bishop points out, "Is there anybody in this industry who does it any different?"

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MST3K alert: The Rebel Set (1959) The operator of a Hollywood coffee house hires three beatniks to assist him in a robbery. Gregg Palmer, Kathleen Crowley. (Thursday, midnight, WCCO) Missing from that sparse list of credits is the coffee house operator, played by none other than Edward Platt! Chief as a bad guy! You can't depend on anyone, I guess. It also features Don Sullivan, whom we last saw in The Giant Gila Monster. Anyway, it's also a bad movie, with some very funny riffs involving assassins, train robberies, Scott Baio, and Hercule Poirot. TV  

Around the dial

Merry Christmas, everyone; remember, the 12 Days of Christmas don't end on Christmas Day, they start then. So keep celebrating!

At Comet Over Hollywood, Jessica reviews the three different versions of Peter Pan that aired during television's golden era, in 1955, 1956, and 1960. It wasn't uncommon in these days of live television to do multiple renditions of the same story, with minimal cast changes. All three of these versions starred Mary Martin, and—most unusual for television of this time—all three of them still exist, and are available on DVD. 

At bare•bones e-zine, Jack's Hitchcock Project takes us to the eighth-season episode "Don't Look Behind You," by Barré Lyndon (no, not that Barry Lyndon), with a superior cast including Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, and Dick Sargent; but does the episode match up to the talent?

The "Ann Way Season" continues at Cult TV Blog, as John looks at the 1978 children's series The Clifton House Mystery, and while Ann Way doesn't play a large role in the episode, it's certainly a fun one.

You might have seen Basil Rathbone as Scrooge in The Stingiest Man in Town during your Christmas viewing, which is a seasonal lead-in to Classic Film and TV Corner and Maddie's review of Rathbone's career, from classic villains to Sherlock Holmes.

At The Hits Just Keep On Comin', JB engages in something that I've always enjoyed: perusing the TV listings to see what was showing on Christmas Eves past. The 1950s and '60s were, I think, the peak era of Christmas specials on Christmas Eve, but even in the 1970s, you could find them.

Christmas Day was the 100th anniversary of Rod Serling's birth, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence takes the opportunity to look back briefly on Serling's career, and how he continues to influence those involved in television.

Going My Way is perhaps one of the more obscure television series to be adapted from movies to television, perhaps surprising since Gene Kelly starred in the Bing Crosby role. But it ran a single season in 1962-63, and Television's New Frontier: The 1960s reviews the first 13 episodes.

At Travalanche, Trav looks at one of the pioneers of both radio and television, Don McNeill, and his Breakfast Club program which began on radio in 1933 and ran until 1968, with several stops on television along the way. One of my TV Guide reviews from a few years ago has a bit on it. TV  

Merry Christmas!

The Mystical Nativity (Detail), by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1500-1501

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word 

   was God. 

He was in the beginning with God. 

All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that 

   has been made. 

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 

And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness grasped it not.

There was a man, one sent from God, whose name was John. 

This man came as a witness, to bear witness concerning the light, that all might believe 

   through him. 

He was not the light, but was to bear witness to the light. 

It was the true light that enlightens every man who comes into the world. 

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not. 

He came to his own, and his own received him not. 

But to as many as received him he gave the power of becoming sons of God; to those who

   believe in his name:

Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. 

And we saw his glory—glory as of the only-begotten of the Father—full of grace and truth.  

Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas, everyone! TV  

What's on TV? Thursday, December 25, 1969

Here we are on Christmas Day, 1969, the last Christmas of the decade. Sometimes Christmas can feel like an anticlimax, with everything building up to the big day—and then, just like that, it's all over. Of course, we all know that Christmas doesn't end on December 25; that's when it begins, and it lasts for twelve days. But modern society doesn't see things that way anymore, so even if you want to keep celebrating, society doesn't make it easy. Things are still hopping today in this Northern California edition, though: .

As usual, we're looking at the listings for Christmas Day, but I thought I'd do something a little different this year: instead of going through all the Christmas shows in detail, I've just highlighted them in red. There are some, however, that merit a little more information than what shows up in the listings. For instance The Today Show visits wounded Vietnam servicemen recuperating in Japan, sending their greetings to loved ones back home.

That episode of The Lucy Show that's highlighted is "Lucy, the Choirmaster," in which Lucy conducts a Christmas choir. The Christmas episode of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is a dream episode called "The Ghost and Christmas Past," with some wishful thinking involved. Dragnet airs its traditional Christmas episode, "The Christmas Story," a remake of "The Big Little Jesus" that aired first in 1953 and was updated in 1967, with many of the same cast members. 

At 6:30 p.m., KTXL has the 1955 made-for-TV version of "The Miracle on 34th Street" that first appeared on The 20th Century Fox Hour, with Thomas Mitchell as Kris, Macdonald Carey and Teresa Wright as Fred and Doris, and Sandy Descher as Susan. Although I don't agree, some critics thought it was better than the theatrical version.

A detail on the North-South Shrine college football all-star game, which used to be a Christmas tradition in the 1960s and early '70s: this year's game includes a name you might recognize from the South All-Stars, one Terry Bradshaw, quarterback from Louisiana Tech.

Finally, there's one more show that's worth mentioning, even though the cast is listed below: The Dean Martin Christsmas Show, a repeat from 1967, with Frank Sinatra and his family joining the Martins, including Dean's wife Jeanne. As Richard K. Doan notes, it comes from what is euphamistically referred to has "happier times," since Jeanne has announced she and Deano will be getting divorced because, she says, he has "met someone new." (They eventually divorced in 1973.) But, hey, you've got to stay together for the sake of the viewers, even if it is on tape!

This week in TV Guide: December 20, 1969

Xor those of a certain age, this week's cover might remind us of the harvest gold refrigerator or stove we had in the early 1970s. It's a lovely illustration, drawing on images of both angels and the dove of peace, but it's also very much a color of its time. And so, as we approach the final Christmas of a tumultuous decade, our festival of holiday programming hits its stride. As usual, we'll cover Christmas Day itself as part of Monday's listings, which still leaves plenty to look at—how did people find the time to watch it all?

It begins on Saturday, with a three-hour Musical Christmas (12:30 p.m. PT, KOVR in Sacramento), including local musical groups along with the United States Air Force Christmas Show. At 7:30 p.m., we're treated to the annual Christmas shows of both Andy Williams (NBC) and Jackie Gleason (CBS); Andy's joined by the Williams Brothers and the Osmond Brothers, while Jackie presents the fourth airing of "The Poor Soul in Christmas-Land." ABC joines in with a doubleheader starting at 8:30 p.m. with Lawrence Welk's annual Christmas treat, followed by Perry Como hosting The Hollywood Palace (which you'll read about below).  

Sunday morning, Margaret Truman Daniel hosts an hour of Christmas carols from Europe, originally telecast in 1961 (8:00 p.m., CBS). At 10:30 a.m. KCRA in Sacramento begins a block of Yuletide cheer with the Sandler & Young Christmas special; they're joined by the U.S. Air Force Symphony and the Airmen of Note. That's followed by holiday music from the Yuba City High School at 11:00 a.m., the half-hour drama Unto Us a Child is Born at 11:30 a.m., and The Sounds of Christmas at noon, featuring Carmen Dragon and the Glendale Symphony Orchestra. At 12:30 p.m., Jonathan Winters hosts a Christmas part for children from Navy families. The festive programs continue following AFL football, with Christmas Our Way (4:05 p.m.), featuring Skitch Henderson and Marilyn Maye, and the Saga of Western Man documentary "Christ is Born" at 4:35 p.m.

The prime-time highlight is a rerun of the all-time great How the Grinch Stole Christmas (7:30 p.m., CBS), narrated by Boris Karloff. That's preceded by a Christmas episode of Lassie (7:00 p.m.), and followed later by The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (9:00 p.m.), which includes a generous portion of Christmas music. In the meantime, the Wonderful World of Disney presents part one of "Babes in Toyland" (7:30 p.m., NBC), with Ray Bolger, Tommy Sands, and Annette Funicello. The NET debate program The Advocates (7:00 p.m.) asks whether or not Christmas has become too commercial. I'll give you a hint: the answer is "yes." Less cynically, The Ray Coniff Christmas Show gives us a pleasant hour of Christmas music; he's joined by Mr. Ed's Alan Young (6:30 p.m., KRCR in Redding).

On Tuesday, CBS offers an abridged version of The Nutcracker (7:30 p.m.), hosted by Eddie Albert and starring dancers Edward Villella, Patricia McBride, and Melissa Hayden. At 8:30 p.m., NBC's Tuesday Night at the Movies presents the classic White Christmas, with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, while The Red Skelton Hour repeats 1967's "A Christmas Urchin," a charming, hour-long Freddie the Freeloader story with guests Howard Keel (in a rare, mostly non-singing role), Joan Freeman, Linda Sue Risk, and Jullana. And at 10:30, the Oral Roberts Christmas Special (KXTV in Sacramento) includes singer Anita Bryant and U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield. 

Christmas Eve, Wayne Newton hosts the Kraft Music Hall in a holiday musicale (9:00 p.m., NBC), with the Cowsills, Jack Wild, Julie Budd, the Singing Angels, and Christopher Hewett (later remembered as TV's Mr. Belvedere) playing Charles Dickens. At the same time, ABC presents a repeat of "The Legend of Silent Night," one of the great "lost" Christmas specials, narrated by Kirk Douglas and starring James Mason as Franz Gruber, composer of the much-loved hymn. Many people have been looking for this movie for a long time. And over on KTXL, Bing Crosby reprises his Oscar-winning role as Fr. Chuck O'Malley in The Bells of St. Mary's, co-starring Ingrid Bergman. (You can see Going My Way tomorrow on KXTV.) 

And with Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin both having the night off, both NBC and CBS have Christmas programs leading up to midnight: Skitch Henderson conducts the NBC Orchestra in a program of holiday music, joined by the Robert Shaw Chorale (11:30 p.m., NBC), while CBS has the Tucson Boys Choir performing at a 17th century Spanish mission near Tucson. (In case you're wondering, Regis Philbin hosts the Bishop show tonight, in the dying days before Dick Cavett takes over.) At midnight, NBC broadcasts the Midnight Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City; CBS carries a rerun of Berlioz's magnificent oratorio "L'Enfance du Christ," with Metropolitan Opera stars Giorgio Tozzi, Helen Vanni, and Sherill Milnes, first shown in 1964. Quite a way to usher in Christmas.

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During the 60s, the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace were the premiere variety shows on television. Whenever they appear in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best lineup..

Sullivan: Ed reviews the decade in entertainment. At press time, the taped segments (many from Ed’s shows) were to include The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, Tony Bennett, Tiny Tim, David Frost (looking at the decade in film), Petula Clark (the British Invasion), Robert Goulet (highlights from Broadway), Peter Gennaro (a look at dances), Herb Alpert, and Louis Armstrong.

Palace: Perry Como celebrates yuletide with Diahann Carroll, Edward Villella of the New York City Ballet, comic Shecky Greene, and puppeteer Burr Tilistrom’s lovable Kukia and Ollie. Perry sings "Home for the Holidays," "Love in a Home," "Christmas Eve," "The First Noel," "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing," "Christ Is Born," "Carol of the Bells," and "Holy Night," and duets with Diahann on "Silver Bells".  

Special episodes this week! We've gotten used to Bing Crosby doing his annual Christmas clambake on Palace, but after four years, he's taken the show to NBC; Perry Como more than adequately fills in on Palace's final Christmas edition (which you can see here), with a fine supporting cast, although Shecky Greene does seem to be a little out of place. Ed, meanwhile, offers a retrospective of the "Swinging, Soulful Sixties" through a barage of clips that pretty much summarizes the entire decade, and how the Sullivan show was responsible for bringing it to us. These episodes weren't made to compete, and this week they don't. We'll just sum it up with a Merry Christmas!

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From 1963 to 1976, TV Guide's weekly reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever they appear, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the shows of the era. 

To Rome with Love, Cleveland Amory assures us at the outset, is no Forsythe Saga. But let's get past that groaner and on to the show itself. Like John Forsythe's previous success, Bachelor Father, it involves Forsythe playing a single dad (a widower, this time, bringing up not one, but three precocious daughters), a college professor who left his home in Iowa for a new position in Rome after his wife's death. (Many people have left Iowa for far less.) He and his family are followed by his sister, Harriet (Kay Medford), who tries to convince them to come back to Iowa.

By far, says Clevel the best thing about Rome is Forsythe. who "has an almost unbelievable ability to be both believably funny and believably touching at the same time, even when the script is beyond belief." And Susan Neher, as middle daughter Penny, is "really extraordinary." The supporting cast also includes Vito Scotti, who's good in almost everything he's in, and Peggy Mondo. Kay Medford and her comedic talents, however, are totally misused here—or is it nonused? 

The series is nearly done in, however, by the writing. Oh, many of the ideas are fine, but the endings, though often clever, don't ring true. And the fact is, oftentimes, there doesn't seem to be anything going on. As Penny remarks, "Isn't there something better than going through the same old routine day after day?" In the world of sitcoms, that's certainly the case, and when nothing happens on-screen, you can be assured something will happen off-screen soon enough; Kay Medford will be replaced by Walter Brennan in the second season, but to no avail, and To Rome with Love doesn't receive enough love from viewers to make it past two seasons.

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This weekend, the American Football League playoffs get started, with the winners meeting in two weeks' time in the final AFL championship game. On Saturday, the defending Super Bowl champion New York Jets host the Kansas City Chiefs (10:30 a.m., NBC), while Sunday sees the Houston Oilers taking on the Oakland Raiders in Oakland (1:00 p.m., NBC; blacked out in the Bay Area). The Chiefs defeat the Jets in a 13-6 slugfest, the Raiders rout the Oilers 56-7; on January 4 the Chiefs win the championship and a trip to the Super Bowl, upending the Raiders 17-7.

Chuck Berry and Gordon Lightfoot are among the headliners in ABC's short-lived 45-minute music show The Music Scene (Monday, 7:30 p.m.). Meanwhile, Tiny Tim is the guest on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (8:00 p.m., NBC), doing "a vocal tribute to the past." And since we're looking at interesting casting tonight, the syndicated game show He Said! She Said!, a forerunner to Tattletales, has an interesting lineup: in addition to New York Mets star Ron Swoboda and his wife Cecilia, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, we have NBC reporter Nancy Dickerson and her husband, industrialist C. Wyatt Dickerson. I can see her on What's My Line, but somehow I wouldn't have expected her on this.

On a night dominated by Christmas programming, the late Earl Holliman appears as a tormented priest in Marcus Welby, M.D. (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m., ABC), suffering from asthma attacks that Dr. Welby suspects are psychosomatic, due to his agitation over dealing with the problems of disaffected youth in his parish. For a change of pace, you might be interested in the movie version of Gian-Carlo Menotti's opera The Medium (11:30 p.m., KXTV), starring Marie Powers (who originated the role) and Anna Maria Alberghetti.

Those who think that politicians are marketed like products (with advertising to match) can look back to Joe McGinniss's classic The Selling of the President 1968 (reviewed here) to chronicle just how this came about; McGinniss is the guest tonight on Bob Cromie's Book Beat (Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., NET), which unfortunately comes too late for anyone to purchase the book as a Christmas present, but it's worthwhile nonetheless. If politics isn't your thing, you might want to catch The Beverly Hillbillies (8:30 p.m., CBS), with Soupy Sales as Air Force ace Jetstream Bradford, Mr. Drysdale's nephew. 

It's of some interest, I think, that with one week to go to 1970, we are still seeing black-and-white movies shown on prime-time network television—and not "classic" movies such as It's a Wonderful Life or Casablanca, but regular, albeit high-quality, movies. We have not one but two examples of this, starting on Thursday with Me and the Colonel (9:00 p.m., CBS), starring Danny Kaye and Curt Jurgens, which Judith Crist calls "a warm, poignant and very human comedy" of a Jew and an anti-Semite thrown together in an attempt to escape Paris before the Nazi occupation. And on Friday, Irene Dunne and Rex Harrison star in Anna and the King of Siam (9:00 p.m., CBS), which, Crist says, "will come as a revelation for a generation brought up on "The King and I" as the ultimate version of the Margaret Landon book." Dunne is lovely as Anna, while Harrison's king displays a "character and temperament as fascinating as the Yul Brynner model."

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Robert de Roos profiles Lloyd Nolan, also known as "the unforgettable man from many forgettable movies." It's not a knock on Nolan, an actor's actor with the reputation for making anything he's in a little better; rather, it stems from a charming anecdote with which de Roos leads his story, of the time when Nolan and his wife were watching television "and a picture came on—starring me. It was the strangest thing. I couldn't remember ever having heard of the film before. I don't really believe I was in it—but there I was on the tube."

Lloyd and Mell Nolan   

I've often wondered about that, whether movies or television shows make as much of an impact on those acting in them as they often do with those viewing them. But, in Nolan's case at least, it's hardly surprising; at this point, he'd appeared in 114 movies, many of them B-pictures at Paramount, "which operated on the theory that any tired story could be made fresh and new if the acting was artful enough." "We had some of the damnedest scripts I ever saw,," Nolan recalls. "Most of the time we couldn't figure out who was the star." 

But, as de Roos correctly points out, even bad movies—or, at least, mediocre ones—couldn't stop Nolan from becoming a star. His most famous role came on Broadway in 1953, as Captain Philip Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial," a role he reprised on a live broadcast of Ford Star Jubilee in 1955, for which he'd win an Emmy. His co-star, Barry Sullivan, remembers that "We both were nominated for the Emmy, and I voted for him. I'll bet Lloyd was a unanimous choice." Sullivan, who also appeared in the play on Broadway, is one of many actors who pay tribute to Nolan's talent; "I thought I knew a lot about acting, but Lloyd's so enormously good you can't help absorbing something from his work. He turned in one of the two or three greatest performances of the American theater."

Today, Nolan plies his trade on the sitcom Julia, which he took on the understanding that "the job was challenging and not too much work, and the pay enough." Says star Diahann Carroll, "Aside from teh fact that Lloyd is a nice human being to spend time with on a film set, I love the sense of professionalism he contributes to the atmosphere here. All of us consider ourselves lucky to have him around." His agent, Bill Robinson, says that "He never tries to impress you but he can always get what he wants without fanfare." In fact, there are times when he'll actually suggest eliminating some of his lines; "I can say the same thing with a gesture or a look." 

Nolan is gearing up for an expanded role in this season's episodes; in addition to playing Dr. Morton Chegley, Julia's boss, he's also taking on oocasional appearances as his 92-year-old uncle, Norton. "For the first time since he's been on the show, he asked to see all the dailies and he sat there chuckling all the way through," says producer Hal Kanter. "He told me, 'This is the first time I can remember laughing at myself on the screen.' " 

His success on television hasn't changed him much, except that he's recognized by more fans than ever. "It makes me feel good," he says. "When someone says, 'Thank you for all the pleasure you've given me over the years'—that's an extra dividend."

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In the Teletype, a note that "Armchair athletes should be in their glory on Jan. 11," as CBS plans six-and-a-half hours of sports coverage, starting with an NHL game between Montreal and New York, followed by Super Bowl IV. Of course, the Super Bowl isn't played in the daytime anymore, and six-and-a-half hours of sports is nothing, considering we have entire channels devoted to sports today. Not to mention that as 1969 turns to 1970, New Year's Day will feature a solid ten hours straight of football. Now that's a feast for sports fanatics.

Richard K. Doan says that Merv Griffin's late-night show may or may not be in trouble. The brass at CBS aren't pleased with the ratings, which may be one reason why Merv's out on the West Coast right now, the thinking being that Hollywood stars mean higher ratings. (He'll eventually move the show out there permanently.) On the other hand, commercial time is sold out, and the show's reported to be "highly profitable." One person who's not happy with the show is Merv himself; tired of the network's meddling in guest selection and the like, he'll negotiate his way out of his contract by the end of 1971, and go back to his highly-successful syndicated program.

And I've mentioned before that Richard Nixon, though he may not have been the most comfortable politician on television, was certainly one of the savviest. If you need more proof, his advisers scheduled his December 8 news conference in a time slot immediately following Laugh-In and Here's Lucy. The resulting audience, which NBC estimated at 65 million, was probably larger than that afforded in any other time slot. And it's not just that; the president ended the conference precisely a half-hour later, limiting any post-conference analysis by networks eager to return to scheduled programming. 

Finally, one of those head-to-head confrontations between big-time specials that used to drive viewers crazy in the pre-VCR days. It happened on Sunday, November 30, with Olympic champion Peggy Fleming and the Ice Follies on NBC, up against Simon and Garfunkel on CBS, in the network's old Smothers Brothers spot. The results: Fleming and company finished #2 in the ratings for the week, behind only the "virtually untopable Bob Hope," while S&G were met with the sound of silence, finishing #64.

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MST3K alert: The Crawling Eye (English; 1958) In a radioactive cloud lies a tentacled monster, awaiting its victims. Forrest Tucker, Laurence Payne, Jennifer Jayne. (Saturday, 8:30 p.m., KTXL) One of Forrest Tucker's finest roles (and I'm not being sarcastic) sees him as a UN consultant investigating mysterious goings-on at a village in the Alps. Two of the most notable members of the supporting casts aren't listed here: Janet Munro, who enjoyed a very successful film and television career, including three Disney movies; and Andrew Faulds, who goes on to star in the UK series The Protectors before serving more than 20 years as a Labour member of Parliament. TV  

Around the dial

This little guy's got his priorities right: his television set and his cat. It doesn't get much better than that. But if it did, you can bet one of these shows would be on the tube.

On the home front, in my latest apperance on Dan Schneider's Video Interview, Dan and I discuss the history of Westerns on television. On Tommy Kovac's Splat from the Past, Tommy and I talk about Christmas memories on television. And at Eventually Supertrain, Dan and I are all about Garrison's Gorillas (plus more great stuff).

At The Horn Section, Hal returns with another episode of Love That Bob!, "Bob's Economy Wave," with Bob trying to juggle a strict household budget, a photography assignment, and a hot date. Note the operative word: trying. 

I don't know how many of you have snow on the ground right now, but if you'd like to get rid of it, Gill has just the movie for you at RealWeegieMidget: Hollywood Wives, the steamy 1985 miniseries based on the novel by Jackie Collins, with a who's who of big-haired seductive sirens.

The Broadcasting Archives shares the background of how Karl Freund helped develop the three-camera system for filming TV shows, along with a couple of pictures from the I Love Lucy set showing the system at work.

At Comfort TV, David notes something that I've commented on many times: how so many of the issues raised in shows of the 1960s and '70s are still issues today, and (perhaps more important) why television doesn't seem to try to offer answers to those issues anymore.

John takes a break from his series on character actress Ann Wray at Cult TV Blog in order to look at a pair of mysteries: "Death in Ecstasy" from the 1964 anthology series Detective, and Don't Open 'Till Christmas, a 1984 slasher movie that's short on quality but rich in atmosphere.

Jodie has an interesting guest post at Garroway at Large from voiceover artist Ross Bagley, who recalls his encounter with Dave, and the influence he had on Ross's career. A charming story, and it helps emphasize what an interesting, curious man Dave Garroway was.

At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence writes on the 70th anniversary of the movie White Christmas. Now, White Christmas is far from being my favorite Christmas movie; you may remember it was the target of my annual Christmas post last year. Still, I can't imagine a Christmas without watching it!

Did someone say Christmas? Martin Grams has the lowdown on the Yuletide episode of Steve Canyon, the series based on Milton Caniff's comic strip, with a script written by Ray Bradbury. How was it? Read, and find out.

And at The Hits Just Keep On Comin', JB takes a look at Christmas music that doesn't work for him. A bit unusual, I know, but we cover everything here, and there are certainly enough Christmas albums I could add to the list. 

Shadow & Substance reminds us that, with the New Year less than two weeks away, Syfy is doing it's annual Twilight Zone marathon again, and Paul has the complete schedule for December 31, January 1, and January 2. What a great way to start the year. TV  

The Christmas movies that never were

Thoughout the history of television, there have been many specials dedicated to the theme of Christmas. Some of them have become annual traditions, while others ran for a year or two, then disappeared into the ether of syndication, public domain, or YouTube. 

Lately, the Christmas movie field has been dominated by such producers as Hallmark, Lifetime, and Netflix. But I happen to have it on good authority that over the years, several projects, many involving big-name Hollywood directors and stars, have been pitched to these companies. For reasons that I can't explain, they were ultimately rejected, never to see the light of day—but not before some preliminary promotional material had been prepared. 

We've been fortunate here at It's About TV to have run across some of these promos. Whether or not they would have become beloved classics is for you to decide, but with our traditional Yuletide spirit in mind, we present them to you today for your consideration. Hopefully, thinking about them will help to make your holidays just a little brighter.

True, the didn't happen. But they could have. Couldn't they? TV