This week in TV Guide: July 20, 1968

You've probably seen the famous New Yorker illustration "View of the World from 9th Avenue," which depicts pretty much everything other than New York as a vast wasteland. Well, as Edith Efron points out, that's how network news tends to look at this country as well. And NBC's Bob Rogers wanted to correct that, so he conceived, produced, and wrote a documentary called "American Profile: Home Country USA," which presented a very different image of America than the one most people had been seeing. Aired on April 5, the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and just weeks before the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the purpose of the program was to affirm that there was sanity in the midst of the insanity. "For the space of this program, let’s declare a cease-fire in the painful but necessary process of searching, scolding and scaring ourselves," began Chet Huntley's narration. "For a change, we will consider some of our virtues, instead of our faults."

The documentary took viewers on a tour of America, "from a ship-building seaport in Maine, to a Kansas dairy farm, to the tobacco country of south Virginia, to a South Carolina steel plant, to a Texas ranch, to the game-filled Montana mountains, to a Mexican-American town in Southern California." The stars were "the black and white citizens who inhabit the vast geographical expanse of this Nation—those we call the 'grass-roots' Americans." And the result was a program that reminded Americans that this is a big country with a lot that's good about it, a portrayal of "what is enduringly beautiful about the American character." 

"The outstanding thing that unites them all is self-reliance," says Rogers. "Each is his own man. They all have strong convictions about what they want, and a willingness to do a fantastic amount of work to enable them to have the career they want and to live the way they want to live. They all have guts." Rogers calls them "The Forgotten Americans." 

Why aren't these Forgotten Americans seen on TV? For too long, Efron feels, there's been a perception that "the self-reliant, productive American is 'extinct'—that this country is peopled largely by the dependent, the helpless, the hostile and the violent." TV has played its role in this perception. Rogers acidly notes that it's "Because everybody's covering urban problems," to which Huntly adds his agreement. "It’s true. Our attention has certainly been turned to the cities. That’s where the problems are." He adds, however, "But it is distorted. It doesn’t reflect the total country. We’re ignoring the rest of America."  

The degree to which America is being ignored, Efron says, is "enormous."  There are more than 200 million people in this country, but "With network news cameras focused on localized, if explosive, urban problems, often photographed in New York City, the mass of this Nation is invisible. TV’s domestic 'window on reality' is mainly showing us social 'evils.'""TV news isn't telling people the way life is," ABCs Howard K. Smith said recently. "Were giving the public a wholly negative picture on a medium so vivid that it damages morale with a bombardment of despair."

It also creates dissention, Efron finds, a view that America is "evil." Rogers says that "The imbalance in coverage is causing Americans to mistrust each other." President Johnson accused the news media of "bad-mouthing this country all day long," and said they have "a vested interest in catastrophe."

Rogers and cameramen Ken Resnick and Richard Norling film cattle in the Big Bend Country

"Home Country USA" was a needed antidote, a reminder that while America does have real problems, it is also a good country. "It was like soothing balm," in the words of AP reporter Cynthia Lowry, while critic Percy Shain found it a reminder that "There's still a strong backbone running down our Nation's anatomy."  People at NBC were moved as well; documentarian Lou Hazam said "It was so thrilling to see these people. They were so real. This show gave us the essence of the American character. The terrific integrity and self-reliance! I can’t tell you what it meant to me." And a viewer from Memphis, where King had been assassinated the day before, wrote to NBC that "With this sorrowful event in our city, most of us became depressed and almost defeated over today’s problems. Your program helped me to remember the rest of America."

Does this America, the real America, still exist? We could use our own "Home Country USA" today, to remind us that there is still goodness and decency in America. We need that reminder that what we see on television and what we read on social media is not the real world. There have been indications that the issues social media emphasizes, the conflicts that it inflames, are not those that consume the majority of Americans, that neither the far-left nor the far-right interest them that much. Now, it's true that this could be whistling in the dark, burying one's head in the sand, and that this equanimity simply allows evil to thrive and accelerates the disintegration of America and the world. When it comes to the future of this country, I'm among the most pessimistic. 

But there's no doubt that this real America still exists as a home for most people, and we need to be reminded of that. As Efron says in conclusion, "The soothing 'balm' was the sight of American goodness. It is a vital necessity, in this troubled period of our history, to show it on the screen." It may be heartbreaking, but it may also be inspiring. It may suggest that it's not too late yet.

l  l  l

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’s guests are singers Eddie Fisher, the McGuire Sisters, and Lulu; comedians Jackie Vernon, Norm Crosby, Stiller and Meara, and Tommy Cooper; the Ballet America; and Baby Opal, performing elephant. 

Palace: Jimmy Durante is the ringmaster for the Palace circus show. Jimmy sings "Be a Clown," "Buffoons" and "When the Circus Leaves Town." Honorary ringmistress: young Anissa Jones of Family Affair. Acts include Roselle Troupe, ariel acrobats; Kay's Pets, animal act; Linon, slack-wire clown; Sensational Parker, swaypole performer; Great Rudos, performing elephants; Candy Cavaretta, trapeze artist; Hanneford Family, clowns on horseback.

Circus shows can be very dull or very entertaining, depending on the quality of the acts and how you feel about circuses (and clowns). Without seeing Palace, we really don't have any way of knowing which one this is, even though Jimmy Durante is always entertaining. However, Ed has a full lineup of acts, most of them well-known, and with both the McGuire Sisters and Lulu, he's appealing to all the age groups tonight. So let's go with Sullivan this week.

l  l  l

    As seen in Singer stores

A preview of coming attractions in this week's Hollywood Teletype starts with the note that "Elvis Preseley won't have guest stars sharing the NBC spotlight with him December 3. It'll be just Elvis and a singing-dancing chorus for an hour." This is, of course, the legendary '68 Comeback Special, and we're getting the first glimpse of what the show, which was taped on June 29, will look like, presumably from someone who was present at the taping or privy to what went on. It's a low-key notice; no talk of the comeback, no mention of it being his first television special. Perhaps the noise was made when the deal was sealed, perhaps the buzz is yet to come.

Continuing on this theme, Rod Serling is returning to televisison, "for at least one show. He's writing a script for NBC's Prudential's On Stage drama series. It'll be a political story tentatively entitled "Certain Honorable Men." That is, indeed, how it comes out when it's broadcast on September 12, with Van Heflin starring as a powerful but corrupt congressman, and Peter Fonda and Alexandra Isles as the staffers who discover the truth of his activities and turn on him. Although the soundtrack for this drama still exists, this is thought to be one of those "lost" broadcasts that so irritates historians like me. Having perhaps learned from his previous frustrations at with contemporary television writing, Serling here chooses not to focus on a specific issue, but on the values of the people who represent us in office. And of course we all know this won't be Serling's last go with television; he'll be back next year with Night Gallery.

There's also mention of Academy Award-winning actress Miyoshi Umeki joining the cast of The Courtship of Eddie's Father, a pilot for a proposed series on ABC starring Bill Bixby. That's one pilot that does indeed make the schedule, and it has a three-season run. One show that doesn't, apparently, come to fruition: the Singer Company is talking with the Beatles about an American TV apperance. As far as I know that never happens, but Singer does have a very successful series of music specials that they sponsor—including the Elvis Comeback Special.

l  l  l

Along with our regular fare, we've got some excellent movies airing on network and local television this week, led by a repeat of The Best Man (Friday, 9:00 p.m., CBS), Gore Vidal's savage 1964 story of presidential candidates vying for the nomination at their party's national convention. Judith Crist says that the movie "achieves near-thriller status with the almost unbearable tension building from a man’s reconsideration of his own moral values and the suspense dependent on how far a demagogue’s passions can carry him." Henry Fonda stars as the moral man who may not have the inner strength to be a leader; Cliff Robertson is his opponent, unscrupulous but with the qualities to be a decisive president; and Lee Tracy as the former president whose endoresement everyone values, but who has his doubts. It's well-made, well-acted, and well-written, and no wonder it shows up on by quadrennial list of favorite political movies. 

Champagne for Caesar (Saturday, 9:00 p.m., KBHK in San Francisco) is a witty 1950 satire on television and quiz shows, featuring Ronald Colman as a polymath determined to break the bank on a quiz show; Vincent Price as the show's sponsor, whose refusal to give Colman a job spurs the revenge plot; and Art Linkletter as the show's smarmy host. Critics weren't all that high on it, but I've found it as a very funny take on an industry that deserves spoofing.

Sunday's movie classic is one of the most influential of horror films, 1941's The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr. as the title creature (a character he'd reprise in four sequels), with Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy, Warren William, and Bela Lugosi rounding out a top-notch cast. If you've already seen enough werewolves, you might prefer heading down to the Pecan Valley Country Club in San Antonio for the final round of golf's last major of the season, the 50th PGA Championship (2:00 p.m., ABC). At age 48, Julius Boros masters the sweltering heat for a one-shot victory over Arnold Palmer (who misses an eight-foot putt on 18 to tie) and Bob Charles; third-round leaders George Archer and Marty Fleckman finish another stroke back.

Also on Sunday: The 21st Century (4:30 p.m., CBS) looks at the medical and lifestyle advances that may make it possible to extend average life expectancy to age 100. It's a wistful hope, looking at it in retrospect; the latest statistics show that life expectancy in the United States has dropped for the second consecutive year. In 2019 it was nearly 79, but by last year it had fallen to just over 76; I wonder how much those supposed medical advances have had to do with it? And speaking of failed medical experiments, Jack Palance (right) stars in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (9:00 p.m., ABC), a Dan Curtis production that originally starred Jason Robards, but was interrupted by a strike (fancy that); when filming resumed, Robards was unavailable and Palance stepped in.  

Monday gives viewers some tough choices, including the classics Damn Yankees (8:00 p.m., KRON, San Francisco), with Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, and Ray Walston; and The Quiet Man (8:30 p.m., KCRA, Sacramento), starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, and Barry Fitzgerald. And if those don't provide enough star power, The Lucy Show (8:30 p.m., CBS) finds Lucy at a Hollywood premiere, with cameos from Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Jimmy Durante, and Vince Edwards. 

Remember how, when a network movie ran short, the network filled the remainng time with a short film? We've got some examples of that this week; on Tuesday, CBS follows the movie Mister Moses ("tastless idiocy," according to Crist) with "a preview of fall shows" that was probably an abbreviated version of this. (9:00 p.m.) Wednesday, ABC does something similar, following the 9:00 p.m. movie Ski Party (starring Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, and Yvonne Craig) with "highlights of 1967 college football games," including this showdown for #1 between USC and UCLA. What would they do nowadays to fill the time until the local news? Probably add more commercials—but I forgot; they don't show movies on network TV anymore.

On Thursday, Julie London and her husband, Bobby Troup, headline the monthly Something Special (9:00 p.m., KTVU in Oakland), with the Hi-Los and bandleader Jerry Fielding. That's up against the CBS Thursday movie Tickle Me (9:00 p.m.), with Elvis as an unemployed rodeo star. By the way, that doesn't fill up the entire hour and 55 minutes, so it's followed by "a behind-the-scenes look a the filming of Funny Girl, with Barbra Streisand.*" (Something like this.) And in case you're wondering why the movie slot was only 1:55, the final five minutes was filled by a political talk from presidential candidate Nelson Rockefeller.

*Spelled "Barbara" in the listings, but I've taken the liberty of making the correction.

l  l  l

Richard Long is the subject of Dwight Whitney's cover story, and he comes across not only as a successful actor, but a very nice man. He's known for his stints in the WB detective shows Bourbon Street Beat and 77 Sunset Strip, and he's now one of the stars of ABC's Western The Big Valley. Not only that, he's also honing his chops as a director, helming the first episode of the fourth season. He's described as "Cool, intelligent, bright!" by co-producer Arthur Gardner, who adds, "If we didn't need him so much as an actior, e'd make a fine director."

Long is known on-set for being calm, cool, and collected. Steady and dependable are words used to describe him, and nothing, but nothing, seems to get to him. He concedes it's an "insane" business, but says, "I have a great deal of respect for it. I see it as a job, a craft. That part turns me on," and Whitney notes that his directing success is a good thing for a man who's always been uncomfortable with the idea of stardom, which he sees as "frightening." 

Throughout a life that's had its ups and downs, he's maintained that steadiness. His first marriage, to actress Suzan Ball, ended when she died of cancer after 14 months. She was diagnosed shortly after they started going together, but they married anyway. "We all lose, and you have to be prepared for that," he says. "You learn from it. You have to allow it to happen. There is a suffering period and life goes on again. His second, to acress Mara Corday*, has been stormy, but despite threats and divorce filings on both sides, they remain together and the marriage maintains a kind of rocky stability that lasts for the remainder of his life. 

*Who appeared in the MST3K classic The Black Scorpion.

The Big Valley runs for four seasons; after that, Long co-stars with Juliet Mills in the much-loved Nanny and the Professor for a couple of years, followed by the short-lived Thicker Than Water with Julie Harris. Having a history of heart trouble, he dies of a heart attack in 1974, at only 47. But the closing quote from a friend seems to sum up his career and his life very well: "It is the nobility of being content to be exactly what you are."

l  l  l

MST3K alert: Eegah! (1962) A prehistorictype giant living in the desert falls in love with the teen-age girl who discovers him. Arch Hall Jr., Marilyn Manning, Richard Kiel. (Friday, 9:00 p.m., KMEO in San Francisco) Looking at the cast, you have three guesses as to who plays the prehistoric giant, and the first two guesses don't count. This movie was made the same year as Kiel's famous appearance in "To Serve Man" on The Twilight Zone; it's one of three appearances he makes on MST3K. Believe me, by the end of this one, you'll be rooting for him against the people he's supposed to be terrorizing. TV  

Around the dial

One of the shows that always fascinated me—not because of the content, necessarily, but that it could get on television in the first place—was the Johns Hopkins Science Review, which aired on DuMont in the early 1950s. The Broadcast Archives links to this 1952 episode, "Television in Great Britain," that looks like a winner.

John's current series at Cult TV Blog is "Television for a Time of Strife," and no matter your feelings on the issues of the day, I think we can all agree that we're in such a time, and television can be a source of relief as well as strife. This week's example: At Last the 1948 Show, with an all-star cast that includes Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Marty Feldman, and Aimi MacDonald.

Talking of televison's ability to provide comfort should, and does, lead us to Comfort TV, where David shares TV memories of the late Olivia Newton-John, and she had several of them, in which she shines even when the material doesn't.

Herbie Pilato looks back at a moment in television history that was decidedly not comfort TV: the Quiz Show Scandal, and its genesis on the show Twenty-One. Assuming that this would still be a scandal today, it's interesting to speculate on how the media might cover it now.

For the 45th anniversary of Elvis Presley's passing, Paul linked to this 2019 article at Drunk TV in which he reviewed the 2005 miniseries Elvis, which promised much and delivered, well, a little less than that. It's always the way, isn't it?

At The Ringer, Keith Phipps looks at Candid Camera as perhaps the first example of what has come to be called "cringe comedy," or what Phipps refers to as "reality TV and the comedy of humiliation." As one early TV critic put it, "For my money, Candid Camera is sadistic, poisonous, anti-human, and sneaky." Find out where it inevitably led.

And in case you missed it, I'm giving away my inventory of The Electronic Mirror. Find out how you can get your free copy (only paying for shipping and handling) here. TV  

This week in TV Guide: June 30, 1956

I think it's appropriate, for reasons which will quickly become apparent, that we start right in with our look at Sullivan vs. Allen, the Sunday night showdown between Ed Sullivan and his NBC rival, Steve Allen.

Sullivan: Ed salutes producer-director John Huston tonight. Heading the list of Hollywood stars who have worked with Huston is Gregory Peck, star of the new film Moby Dick. Huston's career is shown through film clips of this and other motion pictures, and personal appearances by Peck, Jose Ferrer, Orson Welles, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Burl Ives, Peter Lorre and Mary Astor. A special sketch will be done by $64,000 Challenge winners Vincent Price and Billy Pearson. Price has acted in several of Huston's films and Pearson has worked as a jockey for the director and will soon appear in one of his films.

Allen: Steve's guests include singing star Elvis Presley, comedienne Imogene Coca, comedian Andy "No Time for Sergeants" Griffith, vocalists Eydie Gorme and Steve Lawrence and, in a special remote from the Berkshire Music Festival in Lenox, Mass., Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong and his band.

Do you have it figured out? Elvis Presley first appeared with Ed Sullivan on September 9, 1956, so this might be thought of as "Elvis before Elvis." And yet Presley was no newcomer to television, having appeared several times on the Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show, as well as the Milton Berle Show. In fact, it was the Berle appearance on June 6, with his controversial "bump and grind" version of "Hound Dog," that set the stage for the Allen show. Allen knew that Elvis meant ratings, which he needed for his battle with Sullivan (a friendly one, unlike many of the feuds that Ed found himself in), but he also wanted to make sure that he wouldn't wind up with a brouhaha similar to what had happened with Berle. 

The result, as documented here, was—different. Allen's "comedic concept of presenting low culture in a high-culture setting," as Presley biographer Peter Guralnick put it, was having Presley sing the song to a basset hound, an emasculation that will surely live in television infamy. It was a brilliant masterstroke for Allen, who with one stroke not only defused the Presley controversy, but trounced Sullivan, 20.2 to 14.8 in the Trendex ratings. Presley was humiliated by the spectacle; Priscilla said that after the experience, "he didn't like Steve Allen at all." The show lives in its entirety; you can see it here.

Presley's fans were aghast; record producer John Landau, 14 when the show aired, said that "As a child, I was deeply offended. There was something wrong there. "Elvis, why you letting them do that to you?" Newsweek columnist John Lardner, defending Presley, said that "Allen’s ethics were questionable from the start. He fouled Presley, a fair-minded judge would say, by dressing him like a corpse, in white tie and tails. This is a costume often seen on star performers at funerals, but only when the deceased has specifically requested it in his will. Elvis made no such request—or for that matter, no will. He was framed."

Ed Sullivan would have the last laugh, though. While Allen was hoping for more appearances, Sullivan was on the phone to Colonel Tom Parker the next morning. As Allen recounted, Sullivan "offered him $50,000 to make, I don’t know, three or four appearances on Ed’s show. Our top then was what the top price throughout television was, $7,500 a week, and I wasn’t interested in paying anyone any more than that. So by this bold stroke, Ed simply took Elvis away from us."

I suppose you'd say that with all this, Steverino should be a runaway winner for the week, but not so fast: with his all-star cast paying tribute to John Hustson (Sullivan did several such shows over the years commemorating various stars or events), Ed takes second place to nobody. Therefore, the only verdict this week is Push.

l  l  l

It would make the perfect American Express card commercial: Do you know me? I was a star on Police Woman, and before that I was a "dangling participle" with Frank and the Rat Pack. I've acted with the Duke and Dino, Lee Marvin and Gregory Peck and Ronald Reagan, and nobody will forget my performance in Dressed to Kill. I was married to Burt Bacharach, and I've been called one of the world's sexiest women. But all that was after I became a honey blonde. Do you recognize me as a natural brunette? 

Such is the life and times of Angie Dickinson, who in 1956 is a 23-year-old up-and-comer, a "girl who had not yet become a 'name,' but who, at the same time, was not a bright-eyed novice." Starting last October, she agreed to keep a diary for TV Guide "of the shows she worked, the shows she had to turn down, the shows she missed, the money she made and the money she had to spend."

Between October and mid-May, Angie did "five live shows, eight film shows, three movies, and three filmed commercials." She grossed just over $6,000 for the eight-month period, while her business expenses totaled $3,000, and her agent's fee amounted to another $600 (10 percent). Due to her success, her established fee for a live hour television show rose from $191 (union scale) to $600, and her film fee went from $500 a week to $750. Her agent can now demand "nothing but 'important featured roles'," and Angie calls it "an exceptional year." Her income in 1953 was under $4,000; by 1955 she grossed $13,000; and this year, with more roles to come, it should be close to $17,000.

For Angie Dickinson, it all starts in North Dakota where she was born. Then follows a move to Los Angeles with her family, and victory in a local TV show, Beauty Parade. She's chosen as one of six TVenus girls (remember this?), and it is on the Colgate Comedy Hour that she meets Jimmy Durante, the man who changes her life. "His love of show business just seemed to pour out of him and some of it rubbed off on me. All of a sudden I was a greenhorn just dying to get into it." 

Today she takes dramatic and singing lessons, trying to improve herself. "Whether or not Angie Dickinson will make the grade as a name player or even a star depends on a number of things, chiefly the breaks she gets—being at the right place at the right time under the right circumstances." "In a way," she says, "you make your own break just by being ready for it. I'm going to be ready." As we know, those breaks come, she's ready for them—perhaps becoming a honey blonde is part of being ready—and Angie Dickinson, unquestionably, becomes a star. Could there have been any doubt?

l  l  l

If there's a theme so far this week, it might be that of the up-and-coming star: Elvis, Angie, and now Paul Newman. On Tuesday, July 3, 1956, Somebody Up There Likes Me, the movie based on the life story of middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano, is released in theaters, with Newman starring as Graziano in the breakthrough role that starts Newman's road to stardom. Perhaps coincidentally, Newman is also starring in Tuesday's debut of The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (7:30 p.m. Ct, NBC). In "The Army Game," Newman plays Danny, a college jock who tries to avoid Army service by pretending to be a psychiatric case. In fact, he's so good at it that it makes one wonder if he's acting at all. 

Elizabeth Montgomery also makes an appearance in this issue, although she's not on anything this week. She's part of the repertory company put together by her dad, Robert Montgomery, for the summer session of his show, Robert Montgomery Presents. (Monday, 7:30 p.m., NBC). This week, three of her summer stock colleagues—Charles Drake, Jan Miner, and Tom Middleton—star in "Dream No More," a mystery about a con man with his eyes on someone else's money.

I suppose we could include Jim Davis; he features in this week's issue in the review of the Western series Stories of the Century, which runs in syndication, and while he's a familiar enough face in small, low-key roles in mostly Western series, it won't be until he assumes the role of Jock Ewing in Dallas that he reached fame, so much so that even though he died during season four of the series, he'll be an ongoing presence for the remainder of the show's run. 

Perry Mason, anyone?

Television series themselves shouldn't be left out; according to the Hollywood teletype, Dan Jenkins tells us that the "choice for the title role in the still unscheduled, unfilmed, hour-long Perry Mason series now lies between Raymond Burr and Robert Sterling." I know that William Hopper had tested for the role of Perry before being cast as Paul Drake, but I just can't see Sterling projecting the kind of gravitas that Burr has in the role. At any rate, Mason won't remain unaired for long, and I suspect it's been aired somewhere every day since.

And while the Summer Olympics aren't for another five months—they're being held in late November and early December in Melbourne—there are sure to be some future stars on display at the United States Olympic Track and Field Trials (Saturday, 3:00 p.m., NBC). A couple of names that jump out: Bob Richards, who wins his second consecutive gold medal in the pole vault and, two years later, will become the first athlete on the cover of the Wheaties box; meanwhile, sprinter Bobby Morrow takes gold in the 100- and 200-meter sprints and the 4x100 meter relay. As an aside, the basketball gold medal goes once again to the United States, and although the team was selected at another date, it is led by the young center from San Francisco, Bill Russell. He'd join the Celtics as a rookie following the Games.

l  l  l

"A priest, a minister and a rabbi walk into a television studio. . .  " Well, maybe this isn't exactly how the ABC religious series Crossroads works, but it makes for a good start. 

The last time I wrote about a religious television program, other than Life is Worth Living, it was, I believe, Fr. Elwood Kieser's Insight, a staple of Sunday morning television for more than twenty years. Perhaps Crossroads isn't quite as well remembered—it's hard for me to tell, since I dwell in the world of old TV Guides—but it's no less powerful. The show has just completed its first season on ABC, and after summer reruns, will be embarking on its second. Like so many successful programs, it almost didn't make it to TV; when it was brought to the attention of producer Bernard L. Schubert, he tried for weeks to come up with the right format and had all but given up on the idea, when his son came back from a boys' club meeting raving about a talk given by a Catholic priest (Bishop Sheen?) and Schubert decided to give it another try. 

The show's stories center around the situations that clergymen encounter in daily life—thus the three-man committee of a priest, a minister and a rabbi, who review story ideas to approve of their religious content. At first, they were concerned the show might be too melodramatic, but they were won over by the first story, in which a Catholic priest (Don Taylor) who'd gone to a prison to give last rites to a death-row inmate is held hostage by three prisoners, until the priest talks them into surrendering. "Since that first show was televised," Schubert said, "we've had no story problems."

Schubert also says that he's had no trouble getting name actors—Brian Aherne, J. Carrol Naish, Luther Adler, Gene Lockhart, Pat O'Brien, Arthur Franz and Ann Harding are among those who've appeared on the show—because, in contrast to the average clergyman in the Barry Fitzgerald age group, "it gives them a chance to portray a cleric while they're still young." And he and his researchers scan newspapers around the country looking for stories that fit the show's concept, that which was articulated by Rabbi William F. Rosenblum when he originally came up with the idea for the show about six years ago: "I wanted to show that we clergymen are not just people with folded hands, who deliver sermons once a week from our pulpits," he said. "I thought we could show. . . that the day-to-day crises that arise in their lives can be solved through prayer and through faith."

That picture on the left is of Brian Aherne, playing Fr. Anthony Kohlmann in episode two. Fr. Kohlmann, convinced a thief to return stolen goods when the man told him about it in Confession. He refused to disclose the thief's identity, and the proceedings resulted in the New York government recognizing the sanctity of the Seal of Confession. It's a right that's once again come under threat in recent years by governments both in the United States and around the world. I wonder who might portray the next Fr. Kohlmann? 

l  l  l

Finally, the answers you've been demanding to your burning questions: Why is it dangerous to handle a picture tube? Does it pay to repair my old television set or would it be better to purchase a new set? Can I use a wax to clean the glass on my television?

Back in the day, if something went wrong with your television, you didn't just run out and buy a new one. They were expensive, something you made payments on, and if it went out before you'd even finished paying it off, then you called the neighborhood repairman and had him come out and fix it. He might be able to do it there, if the repairs weren't too drastic, or he might have to take it in to the office, where he'd work on it there. Joseph F. Valenti, of Brooklyn is one of those repairmen, an expert in his field, and this week he's here to provide the answers to the questions you ask most often.

As it turns out, there's actually a formula you can use to determine whether you should get your set fixed or buy a new one. After adding up the amount you spend on repairs over the course of a full year, do you spend an average of at least 25 cents a day on repairs? If so, then your set is in "very poor condition" and should be replaced. On the other hand, if the amount is between 1 and 15 cents, both you and your set are in good shape.

Which reminds me of a story. . .

To answer your other questions, it's dangerous ►to lift your picture tube; a 24-inch tube has a vacuum of about 15 pounds per square inch, or about 8,700 pounds over the entire face. Not good if you drop it. And no, you shouldn't wax the glass on your tube; it will leave an oily film on the glass (no matter what the commercials say about waxy buildup on your kitchen floor), thus distorting your picture.

If this seems like too much fuss over an appliance, remember that television is a guest in your home, the most intimate form of entertainment media there is. You take good care of your family; wouldn't you want to take at least as good care of your TV?

l  l  l

Question: What do they call Independence Day in England? Answer: The Fourth of July, of course.

If you're reading this over the weekend, have a safe and restful holiday, and don't be afraid to celebrate a day that represents, or should represent, the fundamentals that make this nation great. Our city's fireworks display was last night, but depending on where you live, go out and see the red glare of a few rockets, and listen to some bombs bursting in air, and enjoy this Glorious Fourth. TV  

This week in TV Guide: July 21, 1956

On the cover this week are Bill Lundigan and Mary Costa, the commercial spokespersons for the Chrysler Corporation, currently sponsors of the shows Climax! and Shower of Stars. Remember, this is a time when the sponsor, not the network, wields the most clout; many times, the sponsor buys the airtime and then puts a show in that spot. This would change following the Quiz Show Scandal, but for now sponsors loom large, and there are few gigs better-paying or offering more visibility than serving as the face of the product on its commercials.

In less than two years, Bill Lundigan—ex-Marine, ex-radio announcer, ex-movie star—has logged over 100,000 miles traveling on behalf of Chrysler, and has met more than a half-million people. He and Costa, who often travel as a team, have appeared at "auto shows, dealer conventions, company dances, board meetings and other institutions designed to move the merchandise." All this has made him so well-known, so familiar to viewers, that when he goes on vacation, Chrysler has to explain to the public that he'd be back soon.

Before you start thinking this is a step down for Lundigan and Costa, keep in mind this is essentially the same job that Ronald Reagan performed for General Electric, touring the country for the company, speaking to employees and appearing at civic events. That wound up working out pretty well for him, didn't it? Interestingly, this article notes that although Lundigan's price for a starring role has tripled since he started working for Chrysler, he's only done one movie, a training film for auto salesmen, in the last two years. "So far," he says, "I haven't been in Hollywood long enough to make a picture."

Later, Bill Lundigan will star in the single-season series Men into Space, one of the first shows to take a realistic look at space travel. Mary Costa will move on to the Metropolitan Opera, as well as appear on countless variety shows over the years, but might be best known as the voice of Princess Aurora in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. And we know what happened to Ronald Reagan.

t  t  t

On this week's aforementioned Climax, a story of danger in the Orient - "The Man Who Lost His Head," with a very strong cast: Debra Paget, John Ericson, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Peter Lorre.

t  t  t
On Sunday afternoon, CBS's You Are There presents "The Fight at the O.K. Corral," reported by Walter Cronkite and staff. You Are There was a great way of introducing people, especially young viewers, into historical events by covering them as if they were occurring today, with analysis, interviews, and the like.

The cast includes Robert Bray, John Larch, and John Anderson as the Earps, DeForest Kelley as Ike Clanton, and Arthur Rease and Ernest Baldwin as the McLowrys. When I read this to my wife, she immediately commented, "So 'Spectre of the Gun' wasn't DeForest Kelley's first trip to the OK Corral!" No, it wasn't—but talk about missed opportunities! In that classic Star Trek episode, Bones plays not Ike Clanton, but Tom McLowry. I suppose Kirk, as the captian, has to play Ike, leader of the Clantons—but still, wouldn't it have been great for Kelley to revisit the same role in a different show twelve years later? Quick quiz: how many actors have played the same historical character in multiple series?

That's followed, on NBC, by Ford Theatre, with Edward G. Robinson in "A Set of Values." And on CBS, it's Four Star Playhouse, this week featuring Dick Powell in "Success Story." A very big lineup of stars, indeed.

t  t  t

Starting in 1956, Steve Allen helmed his own NBC variety show which, at the beginning, aired opposite that of Ed Sullivan. It didn't run as long as Ed's, of course, but then Allen said his goal was never to conquer Ed, but to coexist with him, which he did for several seasons. Let's see who gets the best of the contest this week.

Sullivan: Ed's guests include: the Ames Brothers, singing quartet; veteran song-and-dance man Ted Lewis; T.C. Jones, impersonator now performing in the Broadway musical "New Faces"; operatic soprano Elaine Malbin; comedian Larry Daniels; and the Fredonis, acrobatic team.

Allen: Comedienne Judy Holliday, comic Buddy Hackett and the singing Four Lads are Steve's guests tonight. In a special remote from Birdland, a jazz spot in New York City, we see Count Basie and his band perform.

Well. Ted Lewis was very well-known in his day; after all, you don't get the moniker "Mr. Entertainment" for nothing. And of course the best-known of the Ames brothers was Ed, who went on to great fame as a solo singing act and as an actor in Daniel Boone, and even greater fame as a tomahawk thrower on The Tonight Show. But let's get real: Judy Holliday was an Academy Award winner, Buddy Hackett had a great stand-up career, and Count Basie! I think that's more than enough to give Allen the edge this week.

Incidentally, according to the TV Teletype, CBS and NBC are "at loggerheads" about Steverino's recent ratings victory over Ed, 20.2 to 14.8. CBS claims it was because people were excited to see Elvis Presley's "new look" on the Allen show, while NBC counters that viewers are tired of watching "tired old film clips" on Sullivan, and want something "more concrete." That appearance by Elvis, on the July 1 show, is something of a story in itself, often referred to as Elvis's most embarrassing moment on television, with the centerpiece being Presley, dressed in tuxedo (the "new look"), singing "Hound Dog" to a live basset hound.

Allen had seen Presley in his TV debut on the Dorsey Brothers show, and had been impressed by "the way he conducted himself, the way he put a song over." He booked Elvis for his new weekly series (in fact, July 1 was only Allen's second show), but always denied that he, or the network, had ordered Presley to tone down his gyrations. (Ed Sullivan, who would profit from Elvis as much as anyone, had described that first TV appearance as "unfit for family viewing.") He also denied that the skit was intended to make fun of Presley and his music. Nonetheless, many who saw it would view the skit as just that, an attempt to neuter and belittle the future King. Said Elvis, "It was the most ridiculous appearance I ever did and I regret ever doing it." (You can read more about it here.)

I think that in this case, CBS is right; the audience did tune in to see Elvis. But was it really all that bad? Here's the video; you decide for yourself.

t  t  t

In sports, this week's programming consists mostly of baseball and boxing (nothing earth-shattering), so the real action is off the field. ABC will be covering the College All-Star football game, pitting the NFL champion Cleveland Browns against a team of the year's best college all-stars, on August 10. Meanwhile, NBC has locked up the television rights to both the World Series and the baseball All-Star Game for another five years, with Gillette paying $3.25 million per year for radio and TV rights.* Next year, NBC adds its Saturday Game of the Week to its TV coverage. Finally, CBS will introduce the National Hockey League to American network television for the first time, televising ten Saturday afternoon games from January through March of next season.

*With most proceeds going to the Baseball Players Pension Fund. Times have changed, as we say so often.

We also learn from the Teletype that "TV has arrived." Proof is that Budd Schulberg is doing a "TV exposé story" for the big screen, starring Andy Griffith. The name of that movie? A Face in the Crowd, of course.

t  t  t

And now to the classy part of the programming week. On Monday night, Producers' Showcase presents a color broadcast of Rosalinda (7:00 p.m., NBC), an adaptation of Johann Strauss's operetta Die Fledermaus, starring the great Cyril Ritchard, Jean Fenn, and Lois Hunt. Now, I admit that Fledermaus isn't particularly my cup of tea, but I think it makes for a great evening of light entertainment on television. And, of course, anything with Ritchard (Captain Hook in Peter Pan) is worth watching.

Later on Monday, a special episode of ABC's Voice of Firestone (7:30 p.m.) presents three top winners of the "Metropolitan [Opera] Auditions of the Air." As it happens, this is one of the last years for the Auditions of the Air; the Met has since replaced them with the National Council Auditions. But there were some pretty distinguished winners in the past, including Robert Merrill and Regina Resnik. Of the three winners, none had a more distinguished career than Carlotta Ordassy, who sang nearly 800 performances over a twenty-year career at the Met.

Another worthy show is Fred Waring's 40th anniversary show, at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday on NBC. Unless you're into the Time-Life type of Christmas albums, you might not remember Fred Waring*, but in the years before and after World War II, Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians was one of the most popular singing groups in America, in the fashion (though not the style) of Mitch Miller and Ray Coniff. Here's a sample:


*Fun fact: Fred Warning was also the George Foreman of his time, investing in and promoting a very popular kitchen gadget: the Waring Blender.

Again, I'm not sure I'd say this was my style, and I don't know that anyone would go for this kind of music today, but that's not the point—the point is that television today is poorer for not having musical programs such as this. Unless you count the screaming divas on shows like The Voice. Which I don't.

t  t  t

Finally, every once in a while we'll run across an issue that gives us more information about movie programs that have an overall title—you know, like NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies. Some of these may have been local programs, while others were syndicated packages, but whatever the reason, many of these programs have wonderful titles - as we see this week.

For example, there's Family Playhouse, which airs on both WLW-T (Cincinnati) and WLW-D (Dayton). I'll admit this one is kind of confusing, seeing as how they air at 11:15 and 11:30 p.m. respectively, a time when most of the family tends to be in bed. A more neutral title, not to mention one that just makes you feel happy, is Bluebird Theater, on WLW-C in Columbus at 11:15 p.m. Armchair Theater, at 10:45 p.m. on WBNS in Columbus, is pretty descriptive: unless you're already in bed, that's probably where you're watching the movie. But then you should be watching Home Theater, at 11:20 p.m.

Some titles are more descriptive: on weekdays at 4:30 pm, WKRC in Cincinnati has Ladies' Home Theater - try getting a title like that on the air today. WTVN in Columbus has Midday Movie at 12:30 p.m.—very descriptive, even if midday is technically noon—which is when WCPO in Cincinnati has Movie Matinee. Seems things would have worked better if they'd just switched titles. WTVN has Early Home Theater at 9:30 p.m., which really isn't all that early, unless you compare it to Evening Theater on WHIO in Dayton at 11:50 p.m.; more like night than evening.

Then there are the programs that have a number in them, such as Theater Five, but you never know if the number in the title refers to the channel number or the time of day. Thus, we're understandably thrown for a brief loop when WLW-C, Channel 4, has Theater Five on at five. At least WBNS, also known as Channel 10, covers its bases with Channel Ten Theater, Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. If only they could have moved the start time up by a half hour, there wouldn't be any confusion at all.

Finally, there's truth in advertising. Hollywood Theater, on WCPO, isn't from Hollywood at all, or at least not on Tuesday night: the 11:00 p.m. feature is Genghis Khan, made in the Philippines. And Million Dollar Theater, which appears in one form or another in many markets but here happens to be on WKRC, begs the question as to whether these movies are really worth a million.

Great titles, huh? Do you remember any from your area? TV  

This week in TV Guide: May 7, 1960

This week's issue comes to us once again from loyal reader and friend of the blog Jon Hobden, who provided this issue via loan.

Those two images on the cover, though, say a lot, don't they? It's the past, present and future all rolled into one; Frank Sinatra, the once and future king, with Elvis Presley, The King himself, in the middle.

That's not to say that Sinatra wasn't popular during the heyday of Elvis, nor that Presley hasn't remained big; both statements are true. But the renaissance of the Rat Pack in the '90s demonstrated that Sinatra's appeal was timeless, that fads may come and fads may go but Frank goes on forever. He's not called The Chairman for nothing, after all.

Anyway, the hook for this week's cover is Presley's appearance on Sinatra's ABC special (the singer had a series of four specials for the network, all sponsored by Timex). It's a publicist's dream, Sinatra welcoming Elvis back for his first television appearance since being discharged by the Army, and it informally becomes known as the "Welcome Home Elvis" show. Elvis sings both sides of his first single since leaving the Army, and does a duet with Frank where he sings Sinatra's "Witchcraft" while Frank sings "Love Me Tender."

So special is this week's special (Thursday at 9:30 ET), there are two articles devoted to it. One, by Alan Levy (who wrote the recent book Operation Elvis), tries to explain the Presley phenomenon, reciting the by-now familiar litany of what makes The King's fans tick ("A simple and familiar combination of escapism and substitution, to be expected in times of high emotional stress."), and recaps the many different groups who were threatened by Presley ("Freudians,...sociologists, churchmen, criminologists, politicians, anthropologists and businessmen.") On-site at the taping of the special in Miami Beach, Herb Zucker reports on the massive crowd, replete with 400 screaming youngsters, that filled every inch of the Grand Ballroom of Miami's Fontainebleau Hotel.

What I find interesting about this show is that Frank's other guests are Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, and Frank's daughter Nancy. It's almost as if Frank was reminding everyone that while Elvis might be a special guest star, it's still Frank's show. And I think that Frank Sinatra's enduring popularity, even while Elvis continues to be a legend, proves one thing: it's Frank's world, and we're just living in it.

◊ ◊ ◊
Let's see what's moving on the TV Teletype this week:

This goes a long way to explaining the state of big screen movies airing on television: the movie studios have announced plans to package a dozen or so of their movies to sell to the networks as specials, rather than simply flooding the market. The reason they have the inventory? "Recent settlement of the actors' strike gave the studios the right to release to TV movies made between 1948 and 1960 without residual payments to actors." Nowadays movies are sometimes available to home viewers the same day they hit the theater; we forget how big a deal it was to watch a movie on TV.

Speaking of movies, CBS will once again be airing The Wizard of Oz, this year on December 11. Curiously, however, the movie will air in black-and-white; the last two times, it was shown on color. I can think of a couple of series that actually moved from color to black-and-white during the course of their run, but it's strange that on a property as big as this, CBS would go this way.

Here's the kind of note we like to pick up on: "After publicizing Pat Buttram's Down Home series as its Thursday night replacement for Pat Boone next fall, ABC has quietly let the project die. Tentatively set for the Boone spot is Fred MacMurray's new series, My Three Sons." Good move, I'd say.

◊ ◊ ◊
There's a nice little note on Tuesday night that Jack Paar's Tonight will be delayed by 15 minutes so NBC can provide coverage of the West Virginia Primary. It's a lot of drama to be described in such an offhand way. For John F. Kennedy, West Virginia was a state that could make or break his candidacy; heavily Protestant, it would be a true test as to whether or not his Catholic faith would prove to be fatal to his chances.

The showdown in West Virginia revolved around two candidates: Kennedy, and Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey. The reporter David Broder recounts the colorful details of the campaign, which saw Humphrey spring ahead of Kennedy as voters learned of Kennedy's religion, which had remained largely in the background prior to Kennedy's victory in the Wisconsin primary.* Kennedy's secret weapon was Franklin Roosevelt Jr., son of FDR, who had been wildly popular in West Virginia.

*Famous JFK quote: "I refuse to believe that I was denied the right to be president on the day I was baptized."

In the end, Kennedy won the primary easily, defeating Humphrey 61%-39% and knocking the latter out of the race. Kennedy would only have to fend off the late challenge from Lyndon Johnson at the convention, and the nomination was his. In Houston, he would famously address a group of Protestant ministers and alleviate their concerns, essentially throwing Catholicism under the bus in the process. (Don't blame me for saying this; a number of historians, both religious and political, have said the same thing.) In November, he would defeat Richard Nixon to win the presidency. And nobody doubted that West Virginia played a pivotal role in the entire process.

◊ ◊ ◊
Some notable programs on this week; let's look at them.

First, there's a showdown between two of the great dancers of all time. On Monday, NBC presents a rerun of 1959's acclaimed Another Evening with Fred Astaire, in which the dancer appears with his latest partner, Barrie Chase, the Jonah Jones Quartet, Ken Nordine, and the Bill Thompson Singers. The color special is produced and directed by Bud Yorkin, who did a lot of television before teaming up with Norman Lear for several groundbreaking comedies of the 1970s.

Then, on Friday night, NBC repeats a 1959 special starring Gene Kelly, who dances to a poem recited by Carl Sandburg, who also plays the guitar. Gene also sings "For Me and My Gal" with 13-year-old Liza Minelli, whose mother, Judy Garland, sang the song with Kelly in the 1942 movie. Wonder if they knew how big a star Liza would wind up being. Maybe; her award-winning 1972 special Liza With a Z was shown on NBC, too.

Meanwhile, it's the first Saturday in May, and you know what that means: the Kentucky Derby. Chris Schenkel and Bud Palmer are on hand at Churchill Downs to present CBS's half-hour telecast of the race, which will be won by Venetian Way.

To celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday, Ethel Barrymore narrates "The World's Greatest Mother" (7 a.m., WRCV), a story of the life of Mary. Ruth Hussey appears as the Virgin, with Ann Blythe singing Marion hymns, and Loretta Young introducing Fr. Franklin Peyton, the famed "Rosary Priest," who coined the famous phrase, "The family that prays together stays together." Fr. Peyton is no stranger to the media; for many years on radio and television he hosts Family Theatre.

Also on Sunday, Ed Sullivan has a terrific lineup for his show; singers Gordon and Sheila MacRae; the comedy teams of Wayne and Shuster, Ford and Hines, and Noonan and Marshall;*, former Miss America Bess Myerson, playing the piano (her pageant talent); singer-pianist Nina Simone; the Browns, vocal group; and ventriloquist Arthur Worsley. Too bad there isn't another show to compare it to. And on G.E. Theater, current Academy Award winner Simone Signoret appears with future Academy Award winner Lee Marvin in the two-person play "Don't You Remember?"

*Peter Marshall, of The Hollywood Squares, in case you were wondering.

If your interests lay other than in politics, Tuesday's highlight may be NBC's Ford Startime presentation "Tennessee Ernie Meets King Arthur," starring Tennessee Ernie Ford and Vincent Price. What's it about? "A clause in his TV contract forces Ernie to become the guinea pig of research scientists demonstrating a time machine on television. They send him back to the England of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and Ernie is in trouble the moment he arrives." Price plays Sir Bors, Ernie's nemesis.

For more conventional viewing, there's One Step Beyond  (ABC, 10 p.m.) with another two-person play entitled "The Visitor," starring past Academy Award winner Joan Fontaine and future winner Warren Beatty. Too intense? Try The Garry More Show (CBS, 10 p.m.), where Garry's guests are singer Patti Page and comedian Ed Wynn.

On Wednesday's Perry Como Show, one of Perry's guests is comedian Johnny Carson, along with singers Genevieve and Toni Arden, and pianist Roger Williams. It's always nice to have a Carson sighting, two years before he takes over The Tonight Show on his way to television immortality.

I'd think Frank and Elvis would be enough for anyone on Thursday (67% of viewers thought it was), but there's also The Ford Show with Tennessee Ernie back for another night, a live broadcast starring Johnny Cash and Homer and Jethro.* Ernie Kovacs' panel show is also on - demonstrating mostly that he's much better served with his surrealistic comedy shows.

*Although the always-reliable Wikipedia says Groucho Marx was on with Ernie as well.

Finally, suppose you've already seen that Gene Kelly special on Friday, and you're in the mood for something else. One possibility is Person to Person, on at the same time on CBS, where the guest for the entire program is 85-year-old former president Herbert Hoover.

◊ ◊ ◊

Steve Allen, the renaissance man. I didn't always agree with him, especially when it came to politics and religion, but I always respected his opinion. In this unsigned article, Allen acknowledges it's sometimes controversial for a celebrity to express opinions on the issues of the day ("Well, I think all human beings should [be interested in controversial activities], and I presume it's safe to say that actors are human beings." He's for a sane nuclear policy, and doesn't apologize for it. ("If I'm a pinko for having supported the United States policy of a moratorium on nuclear tests, then so are the President, the Vice President and a lot of others.")

Having moved from What's My Line? to the nightly host of Tonight to the weekly Steve Allen Show, as well as having authored more than 2,000 songs, he would seem to be a man with his hands full, and yet to him it seems he's just doing what he's always done: "playing the piano, chatting with guests and making wry and often philosophic comments on the state of the Nation and the world." "When you're living in a time when a couple of bombs can pretty well wipe out the world, I feel I should do what little I can to help keep it from happening."

It's really no surprise that Allen will go on to transcend comedy, writing dozens of books and hosting the delightfully wide-ranging program Meeting of Minds. It's no surprise that a man of generally liberal political beliefs would also be against obscenity on television. And it's no surprise that he'll be a fixture on television until his death in 2000, because Steve Allen really is an interesting man. Maybe not the most interesting man in the world, but certainly on television.

◊ ◊ ◊
There's something else about this issue that makes it special - but you'll have to wait until Monday to find that out. Ain't I a stinker? TV  

This week in TV Guide: November 30, 1968

According to the cover, this is "A Week of Big Specials," but as far as posterity is concerned, there's only one special this week, and it's spelled E-L-V-I-S.

The " '68 Comeback Special," as it's since come to be known, airs Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. PT on NBC, and as one of the full-page ads proclaims, it's "his first TV special. . . his first personal performance on TV in nearly 10 years!" It's not that The King had been idle all those years, of course; he made a lot of movies during that time, and then there was that stint in the Army. But the idea of Elvis the performer, rather than Elvis the actor or Elvis the personality, has been in remission; and with the music scene having changed so dramatically over those ten years - with the once-radical Presley now being seen as somewhat square - you can imagine the pressure that's riding on the outcome of this special. In anticipation, RCA has already released an album of music from the show (proclaimed in yet another full-page ad), so you get the point: this better be good.

In his feature article on the program, Dwight Whitney goes behind the scenes, writing of the promotional efforts made by Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker: holding a mass press conference involving 50 TV editors from around the country, asking Presley the same old questions (at one point, he's overheard muttering "Not that one again," under his breath in response to a query about whether small towns were still the backbone of his popularity); pressuring Whitney for "a signed statement guaranteeing Elvis the cover" (it was not, Whitney notes, forthcoming); working frantically to ensure that the audience for the "live" segment of the concert didn't include "too many oldish people," and all the time playing the role of the carnival huckster to perfection. And no wonder - this would be Presley's first live performance since 1961 - would he be up to it?

Was there ever a doubt? If so, Presley smashes it with a performance that shows that The King, indeed, is back. It's while Elvis, just feet away from where Whitney sits, is singing a song whose lyrics include I"m king of the jungle,/they call me Tiger Man./You cross my path/You take your own life in your ha-aaa-nds!!/You better believe it! that, he writes, "suddenly it dawns on me."

This is the real Elvis story. This is the language - the only language- he speaks, and he speaks it loud and clear. Old hat? Upstaged by the Beatles? Movie grosses slipping? Well, sure, but this man is a performer, one of half a dozen in America today who can step out on a stage and make it his. Nothing eclectic about him. He transcends any era. And he instinctively knows what's right for him.

And that, ultimately, is what it's all about, this '68 Comeback Special. Take away all the baubles and fancy suits and expensive cars, even take away Tom Parker, and what you're left with is - Elvis, "an American original." As one of his concert movies is entitled, "That's the way it is."

◊ ◊ ◊
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: Tentatively scheduled: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass; comedians Jack Carter and Scoey Mitchell; and dancer Peter Gennaro.

Palace: Host Milton Berle presents comics Martha Raye, Joey Forman and Joe Besser; singer-dancer Barrie Chase; former gridiron star Roosevelt Grier; and the Third Wave, a teen-age quintet from the Phillippines.

That Sullivan lineup just doesn't sound complete, does it? And in fact, there is more to it than that. A quick internet search reveals that in addition to the listed guests, Ed also had Engelbert Humperdinck, Tiny Tim (singing "Great Balls of Fire" and "I'm Glad I'm a Boy"!), Gloria Loring, and actor David Hemmings, reciting Dylan Thomas poems. We have to give points to Herb and the gang doing seasonal music - "The Christmas Song" and "My Favorite Things." On the other hand, the Palace strikes me as exceedingly tired; Berle had bombed in his comeback effort last year, and aside from Barrie Chase and, probably, Third Wave (who are, after all, teens), there just isn't much energy here. Sullivan may not have his best lineup, but this week it's good enough.

◊ ◊ ◊
Throughout the 60s and early 70s, TV Guide's reviews were written by the witty and acerbic Cleveland Amory. Whenever we get the chance, we'll look at Cleve's latest take on the series of the era. 

Every once in a while, one runs across a series of which there simply is no memory. This week, Cleveland Amory reviews one of those series: The Outcasts, what we would probably refer to today as a revisionist Western. It stars Don Murray and Otis Young as, respectively, a former slaveowner and a former slave, each of whom in the post-Civil War finds himself as an outcast. Thrown together by chance, the two wind up forming a team as bounty hunters. As I say, no memory of this whatsoever, and this is from someone who remembers It's About Time.

Obscure and short-lived (26 episodes) doesn't necessarily indicate a lack of quality though, and Amory was mightily impressed with the pilot, of which he said "There was good writing, both Young and Murray proved themselves star-quality series actors and there was  not only a fine performance by Slim Pickens but also a host of lovely little touches" that helped provide both grit and realism. He notes that future episodes have not lived up to that pilot, but "a couple have been almost as good." Even when the plots seem to stretch credulity, the show continually delivers those quality scripts and fine performances, and that's not nothing.

The series, notes the always-reliable Wikipedia, was not only the first Western to feature a black co-star*, it was cancelled after complaints of excessive violence - which we probably wouldn't think anything of today. At an easily-packaged 26 episodes, I'm a bit surprised this never made it to DVD.

*Perhaps a forerunner of Brisco County, Jr.?

◊ ◊ ◊

I mentioned earlier that the Tijuana Brass had a couple of holiday songs on the Sulivan show, but are there any other Christmas goodies for us as November turns to December?

Well, there's a big one: Friday at 7:30 p.m., NBC trots out the perennial favorite Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer. It seems that by 1968, Rudy has taken his place as the unofficial television kickoff to Christmas, so I'd expect more programs in store next week. Of course, it's anybody's guess as to whether or not we'l still be in 1968 next week.*

*I lie, of course. Actually, I've already written next week's piece, and I can authoritatively tell you that it may or may not be from December 7, 1968.

But, you sputter, what about the "Week of Big Specials"? The thing is (and there's always a thing), while the week between Thanksgiving and Christmas is often marked by blockbusters, they don't have to be holiday-themed to be of the time. Take Perry Como, for example. On Sunday night (10:00 p.m., NBC), Mr. C. makes his "only TV outing of the season," and there's nary a Yuletide tune to be found between Perry, Don Adams, Carol Burnett, and the Young Americans. There's also a note that the show would not be seen if the technicians' strike continued, so it's anyone's guess.

There are other things on which similarly lack the Christmas spirit, but which we've come to see as a staple of the season. On Saturday, ABC presents a college football doubleheader - two games that scream "end of the season." First up is the traditional Army-Navy game from Philadelphia, a game that by this time exists so far outside the regular college football scope that it isn't even listed in TV Guide as "College Football," but as "Army-Navy Game," as if it were somehow apart from regular football, or regular sports for that matter. That's followed by a game that's never been mistaken for anything other than big-time, Notre Dame vs. USC from Los Angeles.

Moving from the secular to the sacred, if not directly related to Christmas, at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night, ABC presents an hour-long documentary on Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, "one of the world's towering art treasures," narrated by Christopher Plummer and Zoe Caldwell. Great tagline in the ad for the show - "Michelangelo put his heart into the Sistine ceiling. Will you spend an hour looking at it?" Imagine how spectacular this would have been if they'd already restored the ceiling, as they have since. I think this fits the season pretty well.

What makes this a really special weekend, in addition to Elvis, are a couple of variety specials with rookies as hosts. On Sunday at 9:00 p.m., it's the vivacious Ann-Margaret, one of Elvis' old flames, with guest star Bob Hope and special appearances by Jack Benny and Danny Thomas. It's hard to believe this is her first special, but so it is. At the time, and for some time afterward, she was one of the most exciting performers anywhere, and if the cover is any indication, the show packs a wallop. I don't know why, but for some vague reason I feel as if I might have watched this. At eight years old, the obvious reasons would hardly have applied to me.

Nor would they have applied to Brigitte Bardot, the most unlikely host of a "French-produced, bilingual hour of song and travel" appearing on NBC immediately following Elvis. Miss Bardot's guests are singer-actor Sacha Distel, actor Serge Gainsbourg, and flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata. Frankly, I've never thought of BB as a musical variety star - and I doubt those who saw that picture on the right thought so either. (The European censors had no problem with that shot appearing in the show; not so for NBC.) Her line in the promotions - "How would you like to spend an evening with me?" is undoubtedly considered a leading question.

◊ ◊ ◊
I ought to note one more of the specials mentioned on the cover - an edition of CBS Playhouse entitled "Saturday Adoption," airing Wednesday night at 9:00. I'm not so concerned with the story itself as with the folderol enwrapping it. It's yet another example of a network striving for the "youth" movement.

They trumpet, for example, that the story "puts the accent on youth, the leading players [Rick Gates and Eric Laneuville] are young unknowns, and the playwright, 23-year-old Ron Cowen, is the youngest writer to be commissioned by CBS." The plot itself revolves around race relations, what would be called white privileged today, and the hopelessness of the ghetto. I don't know whether or not the play's any good; Cowen's had what looks to be a fairly successful career, Rick Gates has had a serviceable career, and Eric Laneuville has done a lot of directing for television. The show was directed by Delbert Mann, who won an Oscar for Marty, so there's every possibility that it was good, but the publicity doesn't tell me it's good - it just uses the key words young, young young!

But for all the claims that "TV is waiting breathlessly for new, young, talented writers!" George Bamber isn't so sure. Looking back on his career, he remembers when he was relatively young (35), and relatively talented, even if he does say so himself, but he was caught in the eternal conundrum. You can't get writing credits without work, you can't get work if you don't have a recognized agent, and you can't get a recognized agent . . .unless you have credits!

The thing is (and there's that thing again), Bamber doesn't even blame them. "Today television is firmly entrenched, and doesn't want untried people. It is, after all, a business, and as such must justify its profits and losses." They are in the business of making a profit, and "[o]ne way of doing this is to deal with established writers." "Recently," Bamber writes, "a network announced that it would start an hour-long dramatic anthology that would feature the works of new writers. Later, they announced the names of the writers: Reginald Rose, Tad Mosel . . .I think Rod Serling was unavailable." Combine that with a note in the Teletype that "CBS is talking to Tad Mosel about a 'major dramatic production' to follow his CBS Playhouse entry" from last spring, and I think we know which network program Bamber is talking about.

So maybe CBS felt it had to trumpet a young playwrights' script about young people. Maybe it had to convince everyone that they really were interested in new and promising young talent. Maybe they even had to convince themselves.

◊ ◊ ◊

Finally, a look at this week's letters, which often provide pretty good insight into the minds of America's viewers.

First, Mrs. R.G. Moore of Jackson, Tennessee, writes about the recent presidential election in which Richard Nixon won a narrow victory over Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace. Says Mrs. Moore, "Was it my imagination or did seven out of 10 network commentators have a Democratic Party bias during the election coverage?" At least I think she was writing about Nixon and Humphrey, and not Trump and Clinton.

Howard Wachter of Brooklyn decries those who don't vote on Election Day. "If the American citizen can so degrade the sacred right to vote by letting others decide for him, this country is truly in trouble." Not at all like this year's election, as we haven't heard any stories of people not voting. Right?

John Caswell of Burlington, Vermont, speaks for voters everywhere at all times when he says, "Thank goodness the elections are over. Now the regularly scheduled comics can return to television."

And Edmond H. Davis Jr., writing from Piedmont, Alabama, says that on "Sunday, Oct. 27, I watched the Smothers Brothers for the last time. I enjoy comedy, but when a mockery is made of the Bible and religion such as on this program, then I will watch it no more." An editorial note below the letter says, "Many wrote us in this vein." So many people want to think of the Smothers Brothers as cuddly comedians who simply wanted to shake things up - this is a reminder that a lot of people thought of them as a pretty malignant cultural force as well. TV