This week in TV Guide: February 12, 1966

This week's Teletype brings us some news on upcoming projects hoping to make it to the fall schedule. As usual, these items are hit-and-miss, usually miss. For instance. James Farentino and Fabian are part of a proposed series called Sullivan's Place, "about three brothers who search for their missing father (Sullivan) and in the meantime run his trading post on the Amazon River." We're also told that ABC has a possible winner called Silver Springs, starring Kevin Brodie as a youngster who befriends a mermaid, played by Jeri-Lynne Fraser, and there's a pilot in the works for Li'l Abner, featuring Robert Reed as Henry Cabbage Cod. The show didn't make it, but Reed would be back two years later, in The Brady Bunch.*

*Reed was said to be the second choice for the show, after Gene Hackman turned it down. Imagine it for a moment: Mike Brady hunting down the French Connection. Kinda makes you pause, doesn't it?

On the other hand, ABC also has a pilot in the works for a series called The Time Tunnel, starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. That one absolutely did make it, along with its two stars. Also successful was Truman Capote's upcoming adaptation of his short story A Christmas Memory, which wins an Emmy.

Oh, one more thing. King Features Syndicate is hoping to convert the animated Mandrake the Magician into a live-action series made in England. It never came to pass, but in 1979 a made-for-TV version of Mandrake did appear on NBC. It didn't do very well; the critic for The New York Times said that "viewers can try a magic trick of their own. By turning the dial, they can make Mandrake disappear." The plot involves Mandrake coming to the aid of an amusement park owner being terrorized by a psychopath. The owner of the park? None other than Robert Reed.

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

Sullivan: Scheduled guests: Ethel Merman, who sings selections from "Annie Get Your Gun"; the rockin' Rolling Stones; singer Wayne Newton; actor Hal Holbrook; José Colé, a balancer; comic Eddie Schaffer; and the Rumanian Folk Ballet. (According to the episode guide, comedian Sandy Baron was on in place of José Colé.)

Palace: Song-and-dance man Donald O'Connor introduces actor Edward G. Robinson, who reads an excerpt from Aaron Copland’s "A Lincoln Portrait"; pianist Roger Williams; singers Jane Morgan and Paul Anka; comedian Shecky Greene; and two acrobatic acts: the Three Bragazzis and the See Hee Troupe of Formosa. 

It's dueling tributes to Abraham Lincoln this week; while Eddie G recites "A Lincoln Portrait" on Palace, Sullivan has Hal Holbrook reading Lincoln's second Inaugural Address, the famous "With Malice Toward None" speech. (I wonder if youngsters today even know who Lincoln was?) And while Palace has a fine lineup overall, I'm afraid the Merm and the Stones make it very difficult to go any other way. This week, Sullivan is presidential in the win.

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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.

Nowadays, Cleveland Amory says, "we not only have good guys and bad guys, we also have bat guys." And if that isn't a tip that this week's review is of ABC's new sensation, Batman, I don't know what else I can do. And Cleve seems not quite sure what to do about Batman, either. "It is, after all, trying to be all things to all men. Still, it is the season’s most talked about offering. Children, bless their evil little hearts, are apparently supposed to take it at face value, while us old folks are supposed to like it because it’s so far “out” it’s “in,” and also—sort of the way we go to bat for old movies—for its nostalgic value."

The show's strengths are obvious: it is, says Amory, "technically superior" to any of the Bond imitators currently on television: in color, pace, and direction. The technology is ingenious, "all the way from the batmobile to the batzooka and the batarang (boomerang, of course. Are you OK in the belfry?)." The writing is also superior, guaranteed to appeal to both young and old, and the off-screen announcer ("What foul trickery are the fiendish Riddler and his evil Molehill Mob up to now?" and "Oh, the irony of it! The horror!") adds to the fun.

You'll recall, however, that I mentioned Cleve didn't know quite what to make of it all, which suggests that, after all this praise, there has to be a downside. And that would be the acting. "Adam West may be excused by the fact that it isn’t easy to be convincing as millionaire Bruce Wayne and Batman—and at the same time convince half the viewers you’re for real and the other half you’re for fun." No such excuses exist for Burt Ward as the Boy Wonder, who has a far easier role and "is far less easy to excuse." Neil Hamilton, as Commissioner Gordon, and Madge Blake, as Aunt Harriet, are old pros who help bolster the show. And then there are the guest villains, "possibly the best thing about this show." Amory thinks that Frank Gorshin plays The Riddler "as if he had done one too many impersonations," but Burgess Meredith is "superb" as The Penguin, and the other various villains are in fine form. That leaves but one concern in Amory's eyes: TV executive Hubbell Robinson said that the history of television could be written as, "What's New, Copycat?" "If this is so, can’t you just see those "creators" at CBS and NBC now that the word has gone out? Not just copycat, of course—but copybat."

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Something you don't much see anymore is the telethon. While Jerry Lewis' Labor Day extravaganza was the best-known, there were others, both nationally and locally, throughout the first few decades of television, and we get an example of the latter on Saturday, with the start of the March of Dimes Telethon, live from the California State Fair Grounds in Sacramento (11:00 p.m., KCRA). The show, which runs until 4:00 p.m. Sunday, boasts quite the lineup, including James Drury (The Virginian); Michael Landon (Bonanza); Philip Carey, Peter Brown and William Smith (Laredo); Ed Ames and Patricia Blair (Daniel Boone); Bill Burrud (Traventure Theatre); and Jackie Coogan, state chairman, and Brenda Benet, teen-age chairman, March of Dimes Foundation.

I've never been ashamed of admitting that I enjoy Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, despite the show's descent (no pun intended) into fantasy and monster horror after a first season that was mostly dedicated to Cold War drama. Sunday presents a typical episode that's sure to give you that sinking feeling, as the crew of the Seaview go back in time and find themselves victims of a pirate curse, with Albert Salmi as the chief pirate. Aargh, me buccos (7:30 p.m., ABC). 

Monday gives us plenty of entertainment, beginning with The Andy Williams Show (9:00 p.m., NBC), and the guest lineup is a singular testament to how agents jockey to get billing for their clients. The show "stars" singer Nancy Wilson, with "special guests" Peter, Paul and Mary, and "added attraction" Bob Newhart. I'd like to think this is all tongue-in-cheek, but one can never know. That's followed by Gene Kelly's song-and-dance tribute to New York, New York (10:00 p.m., CBS). The city's legendary landmarks form the backdrop for performances by Woody Allen, Tommy Steele, singer Damita Jo, and dancer Gower Champion. (No word on whether they were all guest stars or if some were special featured added attractions.) Kelly himself is responsible for the choreography.

How times have changed: CBS Reports takes an in-depth look at "The Divorce Dilemma" (Tuesday, 10:00 p.m.), described as "one of the major social problems in the U.S., where one out of every four marriages will end in the courts." The current divorce rate is about 40 percent, which is actually down from the commonly-cited 50 percent rate in the 1980s. Part of the reason for that, of course, is that there are fewer marriages in the first place. The program, hosted by Walter Cronkite, also takes a look at the rising trend toward "no-fault" divorce in some states, as opposed to New York state, where adultery is the only ground. 

Bob Hope is back with one of his comedy specials on Wednesday, with an all-star lineup that includes Martha Raye, just back from entertaining the troops in her own tour of Vietnam; the Righteous Brothers, Jill St. John, and "special guest" Danny Thomas. (9:00 p.m., NBC) You can get a double-dose of the lovely Miss St. John, as she's also on The Big Valley (9:00 p.m., ABC), as "Barbary Red," a waterfront saloonkeeper who plays a role in Nick (Peter Breck) being drugged and kidnapped. George Kennedy and John Hoyt are part of the conspiracy.

A fascinating time-capsule episode of David Susskind's Open End (Thursday, 9:00 p.m., KVIE), where Gore Vidal and Washington columnist Max Freedman discuss "Is There a White House in Robert Kennedy's Future?" The speculation centers on the 1972 presidential election; in February of 1966, the assumption is, of course, that President Johnson will routinely be nominated for a second full term. And that's the power that history has to crush those who become caught it its trap; scarcely two years later, Johnson will have announced that he's not running for reelection, and Robert Kennedy will be dead.

One of the main reasons that Johnson and Kennedy find themselves caught in that trap can be seen on Friday, in an NBC special report on the Vietnam crisis (7:30 p.m.), with David Brinkley, Elie Abel, and Sander Vanocur reporting on the peace conference in Geneva, Switzerland. And on a lighter note, Carol Channing hosts her first television special, appropriately called, An Evening with Carol Channing (8:30 p.m., CBS), with George Burns and David McCallum guesting, and Carol performing songs from some of her Broadway hits, including "Hello, Dolly." 

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Care for a starlet? How about two? Neither are exactly unknown; each is a regular on a current show. First up is Debbie Watson, 16-years-old and the titular star of ABC's sitcom Tammy. It's a role that's been played on the big screen by Debbie Reynolds and Sandra Dee, but, says Jane Wilkie, Debbie Watson hasn't let it all go to her head. 

Not that people haven't been waiting for it to happen. Debbie started out in the Long Beach Community Playhouse, appearing in Bye Bye Birdie and Brigadoon, and from there graduated to Karen, the only segment of NBC's ill-fated 90 Bristol Court to survive the entire season. There was no second season for Karen, but Debbie had another gig waiting for her. It's been bittersweet for her parents; while they're proud of her, mom Kittie has to accompany her on the one-hour drive to the studio (due to her age), where Debbie alternates between acting and attending school on the lot, while her mother literally has nothing to do. And after a long day, and a longer drive home, there's dad Eugene, home from work and waiting for his dinner, joined occasionally by Debbie's dates, "who are also waiting." 

It seems to work, and Debbie takes it all in stride, but, as Wilkie writes, "there has been a change, subtle and unsettling. It is not easy for a parent to tell any 16-year-old what to do; it is an age of emerging independence, and this is compounded when the daughter is working at a full-time job in a world completely alien to her parents and earning more each week than most adults do in a month." It's not easy, and Debbie herself knows what she's missing at Buena Park High School (she continues to hang out with her friends, who look to "mature" Debbie for advice). On the other hand, a couple of months ago she became engaged to 21-year-old Richard Orshoff, a student at USC.

What lies ahead for Debbie Watson? Wilkie cynically speculates on when Debbie eventually moves into her own apartment, closer to the studio, and "the cynics say the apartment will be in posh Bel-Air, that Debbie will soon drip with sables and eventually will even hire a press agent. And Kittie and Eugene Watson, although they will not admit it, must have some second thoughts." In fact, Tammy, like Karen, runs for only one season; Watson continues her acting career until 1971, including taking on the role of Marilyn Munster in the movie Munster, Go Home! in 1966. She married young Richard Orshoff later in 1966. She's still with us, at age 77; according to Wikipedia, so is Richard. And later this year, they will have been married for 60 years.

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I mentioned another starlet this week, and that's Nina Wayne, who can be seen in NBC's sitcom Camp Runamuck, and who is the younger sister of Carol Wayne, the Tea-Time Lady on the Art Fern skits that Johnny Carson does. The Wayne sisters began their career as figure skaters with the Ice Capades. It's interesting that when you watch the footage of Carol's first appearance on The Tonight Show, Johnny mentions that her sister has been on the show several times in the past, so at this point Nina is probably the better-known of the two.

And there's good reason for her to be known here, with this display of the latest in terrycloth fashions. It's a pleasant thought on these cold winter days.

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MST3K alert: The Leech Woman (1959) Bay Area TV Debut. A woman discovers that she is to be the guinea pig for her husband’s weird experiments. Coleen Gray, Grant Williams, Gloria Talbott, Philip Terry. (Wednesday, 5:00 p.m., KGO in San Francisco). As Crow has said many, many times, this really isn't a very good movie, although Grant Williams is fine. And this isn't the only time you'll see him this week; he's also in the much-better movie, The Incredible Shrinking Man, 90 minutes earlier, on KHSL. TV

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