ddie Albert loves to work. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised by that; acting is, after all, a job just like any other, albeit one that pays more than most of us are accustomed to. And Eddie Albert, who has been in the business long enough that he appeared in the first teleplay ever written for television (back in 1936, on W2XBS in New York) and who most assuredly does not need the money, is now enjoying the fruits of that labor, most recently four years as co-star of CBS's hit sitcom
. Still, in his sixties, one might have expected him to slow down, even just a little.
He's a man of many means, or perhaps, as Leslie Raddatz points out, there are many Eddie Alberts out there: besides Albert the actor, there is Albert the family man—his most important role, he says; Albert the philosopher, who while he declaims the title, can quote Chardin, Sir Arthur Eddington, Einstein and Gandhi, and was talking about Zen Buddhism "before it became fashionable"; and Albert the compulsive worker, a man in constant motion. "I enjoy doing other shows," he says, "where I can sing or recite serious poetry. The commercials are like that—a chance to do something I’ve never done before. Happiness to me means constant growth. If I see a chance to do something, even if it stinks, I do it. I’m always on the side of action—I just can’t sit on my butt and do Green Acres."
His film career was far from a failure—he was nominated for two Academy Awards for Supporting Actor, and twice more for Golden Globes—but he enjoys television, "the idea of TV's hitting so many people, diverting them for a half-hour from the rather violent world we live in." He enjoys meeting the people who watch him on TV, during the many personal appearances and fairs that he plays during the summer; working on the stage gives him a chance to "try new things, and if they work, you use them when you get back to Hollywood, even if it's just a slight change of expression or the way you smile when you say a line."
When he's not working in front of the camera, he's often working out, running two or three miles a day in the sand near the modest home he's lived in for the last twelve years, with his wife Margo, to whom he's been married since 1945, and his two children, Maria and Edward, the latter of which will follow his footsteps in acting. Why does he work out? He enjoys it, for one thing; in addition, he's preparing for a summer mountain-climbing expedition in Alaska, and "I didn't want to have to say, 'Wait for me, fellows.' That would have been humiliating, and I don’t like that." He says that he wants to "be able to ru with my kids when I'm 75 years old. I intend to."
He's not the most popular man in Hollywood, which I suspect bothers him not one bit; "We who live and work in Hollywood discuss almost nothing but our work and each other and our fairly cramped lives," he has said, and a friend adds that "He resents having to become involved in things he really isn’t interested in." He is an interesting man; I'll admit that he was never quite my cup of tea, although he's terrific in Green Acres, in which, he says, he plays "one aspect of myself." And maybe that's all we really need to ask of him, a man who loves his work, that he transmits some of that love to us through his performances. As Oliver Wendell Douglas, we can have no complaints.
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With the new television season kicking off next week (including the fabulous T.V. Guide Fall Preview Issue!) the networks frequently offer a special or two to whet our appetites, and this year is no exception. And you can see several of them!
Traditionally, the Miss America Pageant has served as the first major special of the season, and on
Saturday we'll make the trip to Atlantic City for the 49th annual presentation (7:00 p.m. PT, NBC,
watch here), with the grandmother of them all putting on a "mod face" to honor this year's theme, "The Sound of Young." (Yeah, that's what it says.) Bert Parks and 1966 Miss America Debbie Bryant are our hosts, and if you can make it through all the modness to the end, you'll see last year's winner, Judith Anne Ford, crown Miss Michigan, Pamela Eldred, as Miss America, 1970. Incidentally, one of the runners-up is Susan Anton, and Eldred will, next year, pass her crown off to Phyllis George.
There's no college football on TV this weekend; the start of the season hasn't yet been bumped up to the middle of August. The pros aren't around either, although you can catch some practice football, which goes under the name of "pre-season" action. That doesn't mean there's no sports to be seen, though: the U.S. Open Tennis Championships wrap up this week in Forest Hills, New York, with the women's final on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., while the men face off
Sunday at 11:30 a.m. (CBS) Two great champions walk off with the prizes: Margaret Court wins the women's final over championship over American Nancy Richey, while on the men's side, Rod Laver completes his second Grand Slam, defeating Tony Roche (which
you can see here). Laver remains, to this day, the last man to win the Grand Slam, and the only player, male or female, to win it twice.
On Monday, it's The Singers (10:00 p.m., CBS), a "way-out melange of music and comedy" including "wild visual interpretations of perfectly normal tunes," produced by Mel Torme and Bill Foster, and featuring performances by Jack Jones, Michele Lee, Frankie Laine, Cliff Robertson, Bobby Van, Harve Presnell and Gerri Granger, and the Sapphire Thinkers. Like, groovy, man.
Tuesday, CBS takes us back to last year's tumultuous presidential campaign with
The Making of the President: 1968 (9:30 p.m.), based on the best-seller by Theodore H. White and written by White, produced by Mel Stuart, and narrated by Joseph Campanella. Looking back on it now, I'm still amazed that the country made it through all that. Conveniently, the book is also a selection of the Literary Guild of America, for which an advertisement appears on the following page.
On Wednesday, Lena Horne takes the spotlight in her first network television special (10:00 p.m., NBC) with guests David Janssen and O.C. Smith; the orchestra is conducted by her husband, Lennie Hayton. It's an all-singing, all-dancing hour, and I have to admit that David Janssen is not the first name that comes to mind when looking at potential special guests for such a special. On the other hand, he did host The Hollywood Palace once, and after spending four years on the run from the law, he probably knows a thing or two about moving quickly on his feet. By the way, next week in this time slot, it's the premiere of Then Came Bronson.
Thursday's highlights can be found mostly in the past, with reruns of "Fall-Out," the dramatic and controversial final episode of
The Prisoner (8:00 p.m., CBS,
video here), and "Male of the Species" (8:30 p.m., NBC), a
Prudential: On Stage presentation of a trio of plays by Alun Owen that tell stories of the battle of the sexes, starring Paul Scofield, Michael Caine, and Sean Connery as the three men, and Anna Calder-Marshall as the woman each of them pursues. Scofield and Calder-Marshall each won Emmys, and in case the cast doesn't have enough star power for you, the production is hosted and narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier.
Here's play one, with links included for the other two.
I mentioned college football earlier; it's the 100th anniversary of college football, and in honor of next week's season opener, sportscaster Chris Schenkel hosts an hour-long documentary on the history of the sport (Friday, 8:00 p.m., ABC), with footage of some of the game's all-time greats, including Red Grange, Don Hutson, Jim Thorpe, and the Four Horsemen.
Oh, and one more thing about football: the award for the most incomplete story of the year goes to Thursday night's O.J. (8:00 p.m., KTUV), highlighting the career of Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson, and talking about his plans for the future. When asked about those plans, Simpson reportedly replied, "I plan on breaking a few records, and then going into television and commercials, where I expect to make a killing. Or two."
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The new season may be just around the corner, but NBC and ABC are rolling out their new Saturday morning lineups, a mixture of old friends and new faces—or something like that. I was never able to get into some of these new cartoons; I was always a Bugs Bunny/Road Runner fan myself. I'm sure, though, that some of these titles will bring back fond memories for you. Forthwith, a look at the new lineups, along with my observations:
ABC, by virtue of the alphabet, comes first, and their new shows include:
- Smokey Bear (7:30 a.m. PT): Cartoon adventures of the fire-preventing bear. (Adding new stories to the canon, because how many fire-prevention stories are there?)
- Cattanooga Cats (8:00): Animated rock-music cats host this cartoon series. (And who can possibly resist a rock group comprised of cats?)
- Hot Wheels (9:00): Cartoon adventures of young, responsible auto enthusiasts. (Driving cars that look remarkably like those you can find in the store.)
- The Hardy Boys (9:30): Animated series based on the Hardy boys mystery books. (Because Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson aren't quite ready for prime-time yet.)
- Sky Hawks (10:00): Animated aerial adventures of the Wilson family. (See also: Sky King, with his niece Penny.)
Not to be outdone, here's what the Peacock Network has in store, a lineup that includes one certifiable classic:
- Heckle and Jeckle (7:00): Cartoons with the know-it-all magpies. (A blast from the past, and as I recall these are reruns from the show that ran Saturday mornings on CBS from 1956 to 1966.)
- Here Comes the Grump (8:00): Animated adventures of a boy and his dog in a fantasy land. (I don't know why I remember the theme to this cartoon, but since I do, I must have watched it.)
- The Pink Panther (8:30): Cartoons with the internationally known pussycat. (An instant classic that has held up remarkably well, along with "The Inspector" and "The Ant and the Aardvark" features.)
- H.R. Pufnstuf (9:00): Jack Wild, the Artful Dodger of Oliver!, stars as Mimmy in this fanciful series about a boy's escapades on a magic island. (It says here that Pufnstuf is a dragon. I was never sure of that. A show that lives on, nonetheless.)
- Jambo (10:30): Marshall Thompson (Daktari), aided by Judy the Chimp, narrates this series of live-action animal stories produced by Ivan Tors. (Yes, but without Cheryl Miller? Not to mention Clarence.)
CBS kicks off its Saturday schedule next week, but no fear: on Sunday, Sebastian Cabot, Anissa Jones, and Johnnie Whitaker host The Funtastic Show (7:30 p.m.), an advance look at the network's new offerings, including Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Looking at some of these titles, maybe it was a Golden Age of Saturday morning cartoons after all.
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Some odds and ends from the Teletype this week:
- Frank Sinatra returns for his annual television special on CBS November 12. (It eventually airs on November 5. This one is just Frank, with no guests, and isn't that about all you need?
- Bing Crosby's annual Christmas special airs on NBC this year, after four years of Christmas shows on ABC's Hollywood Palace. Although it isn't mentioned, Bing's special guest is Carol Burnett; Roy Clark and Juliet Prowse also appear.
- Six episodes of Tom Jones's series will be taped in Hollywood this season rather than London. "Tickets to a Jones taping session—or even a dress rehearsal—are as hard to get as Lawrence Welk ducats. And that's where the comparison stops."
- Ed Sullivan's season opener falls on his 67th birthday, September 28. Helping Ed celebrate are Barbra Streisand, Red Skelton, and the Temptations. Unknown at the time: it's Ed's next-to-last season opener.
In other insider news, Richard K. Doan reports that the Smothers Brothers have been reduced to making guest appearances and local-station syndication after being sacked by CBS. The episode that the network refused to air last spring is being sold to individual stations for broadcast (Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., KTXL), while the brothers hope to produce a series of specials for first-run syndication. Tom appeared with Merv Griffin last month, and the duo join Glen Campbell for his season premiere.
And FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson, the closest thing the government has to a loose cannon (this side of Spiro Agnew, anyway), had plenty to say on a recent Dick Cavett show. Referring to a bill that would eliminate the three-year renewal cycle of TV and radio station licenses, Johnson called it "the final takeover by the broadcasters," and added that while it might be too late to stop, the public ought to know "what it is that’s about to happen to them in Washington as they sell off their democratic rights to the broadcasting industry." A visibly nervous Cavett asked Johnson, "if he had anything else he'd like to get off his chest," to which Johnson replied, "My thesis is that television can’t stand truth. It can’t stand reality."
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Speaking of talk shows, this really is something of a Golden Age for the genre. As opposed to the vapidity of late-night talkers and the celebrity-obsessed daytimers, we see a succession of shows that frequently combine entertainment with some quality conversation.
We're in the era when all three networks have their late-night shows. Johnny Carson still rules the roost, of course, and among the king's guests this week are Alan King, Jacqueline Susann, Charlie Callas, Robert Merrill, and Bob and Ray. Johnny's opposition on ABC is Joey Bishop, who welcomes Barbara McNair, Ross Martin, Anthony Newley, and Louis Prima. Not to be outdone, over on CBS, Merv Griffin has Dr. Sam Sheppard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sen. Edmund Muskie, Steve Lawrence, Erroll Garner, and Jimmy Dean. Gotta give Merv the edge for the week.
But that's not all! Dick Cavett hasn't yet taken over Bishop's late-night slot, but his thrice-weekly show (Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, 10:00 p.m., ABC) has its share of stars, with Johnny Mathis, Robert Young, Ralph Nader, and California's Democratic party leader Jesse Unruh.
During the daytime, Steve Allen's talk-comedy series (9:30 a.m., KOVR) has Diana Trask, Bill Dana, O.C. Smith, Anna Maria Alberghetti, and the Ike and Tina Turner Review. There's old standby Mike Douglas (airing at 3:00 p.m. on KPIX and 4:00 p.m. on KXTV); his co-host for the week is Doug McClure, and his guests include Monte Markham, Diana Trask (again!), Lily Tomlin, and Pearl Buck. Meanwhile, David Frost's guests for the week (4:30 p.m., KPIX) include Chet Huntley, Burt Reynolds, Arthur Ashe, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Sugar Ray Robinson, Averell Harriman, and Stiller and Meara.
Finally, in the late-late-night spots, Joan Rivers has Sam Levenson, Brenda Vaccaro, Soupy Sales, and Kay Thompson. Finally, Hugh Hefner's weekly show (Friday, 1:00 a.m., KCRA) features Gore Vidal, Mort Sahl, Morgana King, John Hartford and hypnotist Pat Collins.
Now, you may not recognize all the names I've listed; I could look them up for you, but it won't hurt if you check them out yourself. The point is that most of the names are familiar, and those that aren't are still important people in the worlds of entertainment, news, or politics. And I'd say that the weekly lineup for any of them beats what we have today.
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However, there's one legendary talk show host you won't find on weekly television anymore but who makes an appearance this week nonetheless: Jack Paar, who continued to appear in a series of occasional specials after leaving the regular grind on NBC. On Monday night (8:00 p.m.),
Jack Paar and His Lions presents Jack and, well, some lions, including his pet lion Amani, who lives with Paar and his family in Paar's 13-room house (and once accompanied Paar's daughter Randy to college). He also looks at the journey of the three offspring from the lions featured in
Born Free, en route from Kenya to their new home at Lion Country Safari in Florida. Paar, who wrote, narrated, and partially photographed the special, is well-known for his love of lions and other wild animals, having gone on safari in Africa, and is thoroughly in his element here.
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MST3K alert: The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) After being burned in a plutonium explosion, an Army colonel starts growing at the rate of 10 feet per day. Glenn Langan, Cathy Downs, William Hudson, James Seay, Larry Thor, Frank Jenks, Russ Dender, Lyn Osborn, Diana Darrin, William Hughes. (Saturday, 1:00 p.m., KGO in San Francisco) Admit it; you'd be plenty teed off too if you'd been transformed, through no fault of your own, into a 70-foot giant. Unfortunately, since the rights to use the movie expired, you can no longer see the
MST3K version except on YouTube. However, you can catch the unwanted, unasked-for sequel, War of the Colossal Beast, with a completely different cast. Take it from me: if you've seen one colossal man, you've seen them all.
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