This week in TV Guide: January 17, 1959

Xe start off the week with Bob Johnson's very amusing article on James Garner and Jack Kelley, the "Maverick Brothers" of ABC's Sunday night series.

The two stars maintain separate lives; Johnson suggests that "the boys don't like to discuss each other," although I'm not sure that there's any particular animosity between them. Certainly Garner, who was the first Maverick, is also first among equals; his episodes have higher ratings, and his appearances outnumber Kelly's through the course of the season (of the 20 episodes so far this season, nine have starred Garner, six for Kelly, and five have featured both of them.

It's not hard to dissect Garner's popularity: his easy-going manner, the implicit humor he brings to the role, are all products of his acting talent—or, as he puts it, his lack of same. He's no actor, he insists, but a personality; in fact, he can't act. "I'll learn if I have to, but I haven't had to yet. I'm playing me. Bret Maverick is lazy. I'm lazy. I like to get the bit over with at the studio and get out of there. I like being lazy." He adds that he's never taken a script home to study, "and I don't plan to."

You might be familiar with the story behind Maverick, of how the first few episodes were played straight—stock Westerns—until bored scriptwriter Marion Hargroves inserted a stage direction that changed the series forever. "Maverick," he wrote, "looks at him with his beady little eyes." Garner loved it. "You can't say that about a star," the research department told Hargroves. Nonsense, replied Hargroves; he'd met Garner, and he does have beady little eyes.

Soon the series had made the transformation to a comedy, and the Maverick boys "have been subjected to more house gags, in stage directions by Hargrove and other writers, than any two other actors living." For example, when Kelly leaves the saloon, he doesn't just leave. "He sees his horse. He smiles. His horse sees him and just nods." Garner is described  as "ahr hero" or "an itinerant clergyman," and when he considers a problem, "we can see his flabby little mind make a small connection." There's even a situation where "His face shows resentment, frustration, anxiety and anything else the director thinks he can get out of him." These directions don't explicitly show up on screen, of course, but it influences the way Garner and Kelly play their roles, and more important it indicates the spirit that has infected the entire show.

Interestingly, Kelly thinks the show can go three more seasons after this one, but "Garner has other ideas." As to what those ideas are, Johnson doesn't really say; instead, he captures Garner talking about the recent satire the show did on Gunsmoke. ("It's a classic.") Garner's other ideas, however, don't include three more seasons of Maverick; he quits the series in 1960 in a dispute with Warner Brothers, a case he wins in court. He's replaced by, at various times, Roger Moore and Robert Colbert; ultimately, in the fifth and final season (as Jack Kelly predicted), reruns of old Garner stories alternate with Kelly's new shows. Maverick ends its run with a secure place in TV history, and a warm spot in viewers' hearts.

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One of Ed Sullivan's first great on-air challenges came from Steve Allen, who left Tonight to take over an NBC variety show which, at the beginning, aired opposite Ed. 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 three seasons. Let's see who gets the best of the contest this week.

Sullivan: Ed's guests are actress Celeste Holm; French singer Edith Piaf; musical-comedy star Pat Suzuki; operatic soprano Antonietta Stella; musical-comedy writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green, currently appearing on Broadway in a two-man show; comedian Alan Drake; and juggler Francis Brunn.

Allen: Steve's guests are actress Esther Williams and singers Vic Damone and Jennie Smith. A large part of tonight's show takes place in and around a swimming pool located in the studio. Steve dons a bathing suit to join Miss Williams in an aquatic comedy routine.

As far as stars go, it's hard to top Celeste Holm, Edith Piaf, and Comden and Green. As far as entertainment, Steve Allen in a bathing suit with Esther Williams, cavorting in a studio swimming pool—that says it all. It depends on what turns you on, which is why this week is a push.

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That man in the baggy blue uniform is Bob Keeshan, aka Captain Kangaroo, whose show stands out "amid the cacophonous carnival of TV attractions for children" featuring broad slapstick comedy and raucous peanut galleries. Instead, the good Captain (his name comes from the enormous pockets on his jacket, vaguely resembling a kangaroo's pouch) treats them to "beautiful music, dancing, unusual games and toys, live animals, amusing cartoons, simple studies of nature, and tips on how to make things." 

Keeshan's entire television career has been about children. For five years he played the voiceless Clarabell the Clown on Howdy Doody, and followed that up with two local kids' shows in New York. Talking about the philosophy behind his series, Keeshan stresses the importance of his "gentle lessions" he presents to his young viewers, which mirror those he's imparted on his own children. "One important lesson I try to teach my own kids is that gentleness in a person doesn't necessarily indicate weakness; and that good manners and thoughtfullness are necessary to a happy life."

He's an ambassador for UNICEF, and creator of the "Trick or Treat" campaign that encouraged kids to collect coins, rather than Halloween candy, for the UN organization. (He's pictured above talking about UNICEF with three of Sir Winston Churchill's grandchildren.) Its success had led him to travel to other countries, including a stop at the Brussels World's Fair, encouraging similar ideas. He has a long-term goal of creating a news show for children, explaining the issues of the day in a way that they can understand. (A forerunner of In the News, perhaps?) Says Keeshan, "Children are an important part of the world—today's world. We owe them an honest explanation of what's happening to it."

Reading this brief article, one sees many of the same qualities and concerns that Fred Rogers would teach to later generations of children, and it's unfortunate, I think, that Captain Kangaroo often gets overlooked amidst the deserved praise that we've lavished on Mister Rogers over the years. Is it because of the Captain's episodes (the show ran on CBS from 1955 to 1984) were, as was too often the case back then, wiped? Or did Mister Rogers' Neighborhood come along at a time when children's programming was even worse, relatively speaking, than it was when Captain Kangaroo started? I'm not sure which, but the two men were great admirers of each other, and the shows themselves were never in competition. I've written about Captain Kangaroo before, noting the irony that the "Love Generation" that viewed his program often displayed attributes directly at odds with those he strove to teach them. Regardless, it's good to remember the genuine concern Bob Keeshan had for his young viewers, and the lessons he worked so hard and so long to teach them.

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Lest we get too caught up in the panacea of the 1950s, Wednesday reminds us of the decade's downside, with Edward R. Murrow's The Lost Class of '59 (7:00 p.m, CBS), a report on six high schools in Norfolk, Virginia, that the state ordered closed rather than submit to a federal court order to integrate. Murrow interviews local and state officials, segregation leaders and their opponents, and four local students to get their views on the situation, which affects some 43,000 students, including the "Norfolk 17," 17 black students whose attempt to enroll sparked the crisis. 

The Lost Class of '59 turns a national spotlight on Norfolk, bringing "unwanted" attention to the school crisis. Shortly after the broadcast, a group of 100 business leaders take out ◀ a full-page ad in the Virginian Pilot, urging that the schools reopen; they concede that while they prefer segregated schools, it's time to acknowledge and accept the "new reality." A week later, on February 2, the schools are reopened; by that time, however, many of the affected students had scattered to other schools in other cities and states, while others stayed home, married, or joined the military. On the 50th anniversary, honorary diplomas were awarded to 1,300 seniors who lost the experience of their senior year in high school. 

Murrow and producer Fred Friendly receive a Peabody Award for The Lost Class of '59, "for their concise reporting and compassionate insight into the plight of the group most seriously affected by the struggle for integration.  

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On a very quiet Saturday, I'll give the nod to Perry Como's show (7:00 p.m., NBC). Perry's guest stars are Nat King Cole, the McGuire Sisters, and Dick Van Dyke. At 11:30 p.m., KDAL in Duluth has the movie Michael Shayne, Private Detective, starring Lloyd Nolan. It's actually a pretty good movie if you forget both the novels by Brett Halliday and the series starring Richard Denning. Opposite that, on WTCN, is I Led Three Lives, and this week "Herb Philbrick becomes embroiled in a Communist plot to infiltrate a labor union." What a shock.

Returning to the news beat for a moment, Meet the Press expands to an hour on Sunday afternoon (5:00 p.m., NBC) for an appearance by Soviet First Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan, next to Khruschev the most powerful man in the Soviet Union. Mikoyan was a survivor if nothing else, serving Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, and was one of the rare top Soviet officals to retire rather than meet a violent death at the hands of a rival; although he was forced out by Brezhnev, he was "allowed" to die of natural causes in 1978. In the great panoply of Communist figures, Mikoyan was thought to be friendlier to the United States than most, one reason why was sent to represent the USSR at the funeral of John F. Kennedy. He's being interviewed here on the occasion of his second trip to America.

The second half of Meet the Press runs into competition from ABC, with the final round of the Binbg Crosby Pro-Am golf tournament from Pebble Beach, California. (4:30 p.m.) Then, as now, the stars are part of the attraction, and this year's batch is expected to include Bob Hope, Phil Harris, Desi Arnaz, James Garner, Bob Crosby, Fred MacMurray, Randolph Scott and Dennis O'Keefe. And then there's Der Bingle, of course. It's as fine a lineup of stars as you'll see anywhere on TV this week.

There are a few stars left over for Sunday evening, though, as Nina Foch stars in a special presentation of Agatha Christie's famed mystery Ten Little Indians. (6:00 p.m., NBC) In today's politically correct times, it would probably be known by its alternate title, "And Then There Were None." Fine with me; the original title of the story is even more problematic. At 8:00 p.m., it's G.E. Theater on CBS, starring Tony Curtis, in the David and Goliath story, "The Stone." (8:00 p.m., CBS)

An ad in this week's issue proclaims CBS's hour-long block of The Danny Thomas Show and The Ann Sothern Show on Monday as the "funniest hour on TV." I wouldn't know about that, not being a particular fan of either one—which leads me to ask whether, aside from us classic TV aficionados, anyone really remembers them anymore. I'm not being sarcastic in asking this question, just wondering what kind of a cultural footprint either of them left. Danny Thomas, of course, is probably best known for St. Jude Children's Hospital, but how many know that at one time he was considered "one of television's greatest comedians"? Just a thought. At any rate, Danny's guest tonight is Tennessee Ernie Ford (8:00 p.m.), which counts for something. Meanwhile, Ann Sothern (8:30 p.m.) resurrects the old question facing women of the time: do you choose a career, or marriage? To find out, though, you'll have to pass up Peter Gunn on NBC and The Voice of Firestone on ABC. 

If one night of Steve Allen (Sunday) is good, two nights must be better, right? Tuesday is the second night, and The Bob Cummings Show* is the occasion (8:30 p.m., NBC). Tonight, Bob tries to get rid of his girlfriend Betty (Joyce Jameson) by telling her that he can get her a job on Steve's show. Have you seen that one, Hal Horn? Even more significant than a second night of Steve, though, is the first night of Alcoa Presents (9:00 p.m., ABC), which you'll probably recognize by its subtitle: One Step Beyond. The much-loved supernatural cult series, presented by John Newland, will stick around for three seasons, joining a panoply that includes The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.

*Fun fact: According to the always-reliable Wikipedia, The Bob Cummings Show was the first series to debut as a midseason replacement. There's no citation to prove it, though. 

Lawrence Welk is one of the few stars to enjoy the distinction of two weekly prime time programs running each week; besides his better-known Saturday night extravaganza, he also has an hour each Wednesday. Initially known as Lawrence Welk Presents Top Tunes and New Talent, it now carries the title The Lawrence Welk Plymouth Show (6:30 p.m., ABC), and it has a distinction of its own: according to the always-reliable Wikipedia, the Welk Plymouth Show is the first television program to be aired in stereo; this was accomplished, "by ABC simulcast the show on its radio network, with the TV side airing one audio channel and the radio side airing the other; viewers would tune in both the TV and the radio to achieve the stereophonic effect." As corroboration, the program description notes that viewers watching the show on WTCN, the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul, "can hear this program in stereophonic sound by also tuning to radio station WTCN, operating on 1280 kilocycles." 

On Thursday, Cesar Romero guest stars as "The Gay Caballero" (not to be confused with Guy Caballero) on Zorro (7:00 p.m., ABC). I'll bet he steals the show. At 8:30 p.m., CBS's Playhouse 90 presents "The Velvet Alley," a Rod Serling play about a struggling writer who may have finally gotten his big break when he sells a script to—Playhouse 90. Art Carney makes a rare dramatic appearance as the playwright who has to ask himself whether success is worth selling your soul.

Speaking of show-stealing and meta stories, Phil Silvers is well-positioned to steal Friday in an expanded one-hour edition of his series (8:00 p.m., CBS) which is wonderfully, bizarrely meta. In it, Sydney Chaplin (actor and son of Charlie), playing himself, plans to use Bilko's life story for an Army musical. Bilko travels to Hollywood to meet the actor chosen to play him: Phil Silvers! Diana Dors, also playing herself, guests; later this year, she'll marry an actor who'll do pretty well in an Army sitcom himself—Richard Dawson.

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A word about the changing face of television production. While the movie studios have tried, once they realized that television wasn't going anywhere, to enter the TV production industry, the three studios that today dominate television are all independent from the movie moguls: Desilu, Screen Gems, and Revue. Together, as Dan Jenkins reports, the three of them will do an estimated gross of $100 million in this fiscal year, all of it in television. And their output far dwarfs that of their big-screen counterparts.

As an example, the three networks use an average of 36 hours of film in prime time each week, the equivalent of 24 feature films. Over the course of a 39-week television season, that amounts to an equivalent of 936 movies, more than four-and-a-half times the number of movies turned out by studios in 1958. And keep in mind that these figures don't include syndicated series or shows broadcast outside prime time.

Of the three, Screen Gems is the oldest, having started out in 1949 as a subsidiary of Columbia. Desilu represents "the ever-lengthening shadow of one man, Desi Arnaz," who has gone from being virtually shoved down CBS's throat by his wife, Lucille Ball, to become television's most successful producer, with three former motion picture studios and more soundstanges than are owned by MGM.* Revue, the third of the big three, grosses an estimated $40,000 per episode, multiplied by 39 episodes, for each of the series in its stable. Together, the three turn out 32 network and syndicated shows, representing 17 hours of television per week, "more than twice the footage of all the major and indpenedent movie companies combined." 

*And this is how, as the cover notes, Lucy and Desi became "America's Favorite Tycoons." 

There are, however, challenges on the horizon. Warner Bros. currently puts out four hours of television per week on ABC alone, including the aforementioned Maverick. Walt Disney has three film shows of his own on the same network, while other studios, including Ziv, "sausage-grinder of the syndication field," and George Burns' McCadden Productions.

For the most part, Jenkins notes, members from the motion picture industry have had little to do with the rise of television productions. Even when the studios have jumped into TV, they've chosen TV-trained executives, such as Harry Ackerman at Screen Jems, and Martin Manulis at Fox. Even in the case of rising contender Four Star Films, which was founded by movie actors Dick Powell, David Nive, and Charles Boyer, the organization was put together by radio-TV agent-producer Don Sharpe. 

Times will change, though. Remember not that long ago, we read about Lucille Ball selling out Desilu to Paramount. WB will become more and more prominent in television, and Disney will come to control just about everything. But in the meantime there is no question that the big three are part of Hollywood's new elite, in an industry that didn't even exist ten years ago.

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And now a moment to mention this week's starlet, 23-year-old Nancy Malone: 23, "red-haired and blue-eyed and freckled and pert." She's been acting since she was 11, and left school at 17 to appear in the Broadway play Time Out for Ginger. Since then she's appeared on many of the New York-based dramatic anthologies (Studio One, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, the Hallmark Hall of Fame) and is currently a regular on the CBS sudser The Brighter Day, along with her dog, Miss Madrigal (five years old, half beagle, half dachshund, likes to chase squirels). 

Next year she'll take on her best-known role, that of Libby Kingston, aspiring actress and good-hearted girlfriend of Paul Burke's Detective Adam Flint, in Naked City. She'll remain on Naked City for three seasons; later, she'll be one of the stars on ABC's The Long Hot Summer. After that, she'll work her way up the entertainment ladder, moving into producing and directing (where she wins an Emmy and is nominated for two others), and does a stint as vice-president of television at 20th Century Fox. Always a pleasure to watch, she's an example of a starlet who makes good.

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Finally, some notes from the TV Teletype:

Bill Lundigan's new series Moon Flight, which is billed as a "new semidocumentary series abou tman's exploration of space," has gone into production. It will emerge with a new name, Men Into Space, when it airs this September on CBS. You can catch reruns of it on Comet if you're so inclined. And speaking of new series, that guest appearance by Tennessee Ernie Ford on Monday's Danny Thomas Show made an impact on the producer, who liked the character Ernie played on the show and thought it was a great idea for a new sitcom—not for Ernie, but for Andy Griffith. They're working on it now, and when it premieres as The Andy Griffith Show in October 1960, it will find a place in television history.

Dwayne Hickman is leaving the aforementioned The Bob Cummings Show at the end of this season for his own series, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, good for four seasons on CBS starting this fall. The detective series Peter Gunn, which debuted last September on NBC, has been picked up for the rest of the year—a full 39 episodes. And Dave Garroway has postponed his trip to Paris from April until early May; there's a funny ancedote about that trip in my interview with Jodie Peeler.

Finally, a note from the local section that Miss America 1959, Carol Ann Mobley, "is in town to crown the North St. Paul Jaycee Queen," and will be appearing with Arle Haeberle on her WCCO afternoon show Around the Town. I don't see any "Carol Ann Mobley" as Miss America, in 1959 or any other year. There is, however, a Mary Ann Mobley, who happens to be Miss America 1959. I hope the Jaycees that were expecting Carol weren't too disappointed. TV  

This week in TV Guide: October 22, 1966

When it comes to "Mod," no city defines the term better than the London of the 1960s. And that's where Lucille Ball is this Monday in a special hour-long edition of The Lucy Show entitled "Lucy Goes to London" (8:30 p.m. PT, CBS), with Anthony Newley on hand to take the world's favorite redhead around on a tour of the world's swingingest city. The premise sees Lucy winning a limerick contest that earns her a one-day tour of the city. Newley plays her tour guide, the owner of a threadbare travel agency, her other guests are Wilfrid Hyde-White as a museum guide; James Robertson Justice as the museum's drector; Peter Wyngarde as Petruchio, Shakespeare's male lead in The Taming of the Shrew, and the Dave Clark Five (as themselves?). Newley also finds some time, as himself, to perform songs from his hit musicals Stop the World and The Roar of the Greasepaint). 

As Robert Musel looks on, Lucy is preparing for a mod dance sequence to be staged at Osterley House, one of the stately homes you always see in tours of England. Looking at some of the "far-out costumes that end 6 inches above the knees", she wonders out loud to Musel if they're supposed to be short skirts or long belts, then proceeds to show off her own "notably elegant legs" in various outfits that form a pictorial during the scene. It can be painful sometimes watching these shows where your favorite stars try to act younger than their years, but if anyone can pull it off, I suspect it's Lucille Ball. Anyway, you've got a link to the video up there; you can check it out for yourself. 

In case you were wondering, and it should come as no surprise, the Brits love Lucy as mucg as we do; throughout her time there, "Truck drivers gaped and slowed down to give her the traditional thumbs up of approval, and there was a good deal of cheerful backchat with passers-by." In fact, while cast and crew were filming at Mme. Tussard's, she received quite a fright when she was approached for an autograph by a cleaning woman. The poor lady just wanted a good look at Lucy, so she had stood quietly, staring at the star and hoping not to attract any attention, totally unaware that from an angle she appeared to be part of one of the wax displays. And, of course, when one of those figures appears to come to life and start walking toward you—well, what else can you do but scream? Lucy happily, if somewhat shakily, signed the autograph. 

One scene in particular demonstrates Lucy's dedication to her work. It takes place at the poluted river Thames, which Musel describes as "'not much better than a sewer in some stretches." Lucy's character expresses a desire to go punting on the Thames, but Newly's hapless travel agent can only come up with an inflatable raft. Ball was warned that if she sank with the raft, as was called for in the script, she'd need typhoid and other shots, and if she swallowed any of the "sludge," she'd probably have to have her stomach pumped. Why don't we just go to a nice, clean—and safe—reservoir and film it there? Lucy, however, disagreed, and since she also happened to be Executive Producer of the special, her word was final. To prove it, she "went into the Thames up to her lips right then and there." No stunt doubles for this star.

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

Sullivan: Ed's scheduled guests: Jim "Gomer Pyle" Nabors, who sings "The Impossible Dream" and "Swanee"; singer Peggy Lee; jazz pianist-bandleader Duke Ellington; Mirella Freni and Gianni Raimondi, of the Metropolitan Opera; comics Joan Rivers and Norm Crosby; the Kovac and Rabovsky Gypsy Ballet; Upstairs at the Downstairs, comedy troupe; Tanya the Elephant; and the Muppets puppets.

Palace: Comedienne Phyllis Diller, making her debut as a Palace hostess, presents singer Tony Martin; comedian Bob Newhart, who offers a monolog about a policeman and a would-be suicide; Herman’s Hermits, rock ‘n’ roll group; dancer Lada Edmund Jr.; magician Kirk Kirkham; Del Morals’ acrobatic act; and the Palace Duo, trapeze artists.

You might remember that last week I promised I'd compare TV Guide's scheduled listing of Sullivan guests with the actual show lineup; this week's description was pretty accurate. There was only one significant addition, but I think it's worth mentioning; the four-person comedy troupe Upstairs at the Downstairs, one of those members being one Madeline Kahn. Otherwise it's a tough call, with Bob Newhart and Herman's Hermits making a strong statement for Palace. On the whole, though, I think Peggy Lee and Duke Ellington make the difference, and on that basis Sullivan carries the week.

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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. 

It's always nice to be able to analyze one of Cleveland Amory's reviews from the perspective of having actually seen the series he's reviewing, and this week we have such a case, with CBS's WWII action-adventure series Jericho. I never saw it during its original sincle season, but I had the chance to view the entire series this year, so when Cleve calls Jericho "the season’s best new adventure-filled, action-packed series involving undercover work in a fun war," I'm in a position to agree with him. Mind you, I didn't like the show quite as much as he did, or perhaps his ardor dimmed somewhat as the season progressed, but as Amory points out, it has a good many things going for it.

Start with the three principals, Don Francks, John Leyton, and Marino Masé, playing the three members of a special unit, code-named Jericho, sent to pull off impossibly impossible missions with the help of local partisans. They're all good actors, playng characters that are "intrinsically interesting," and though the show can be heavy-handed at times, well, what isn't? Amory singles out one episode which he considers "one of the finest individual episodes of any show we've ever seen," which is high praise indeed, particularly coming from Our Critic. It involved choirboys being smuggled into a secret German submarine base carrying loaves of bread containing bombs, and if that doesn't whet your appetite enough to go to Roku and check it out for yourself, there's not a whole lot more I can do for you. (It's called "A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and POW!" but don't let that stop you; remember that reporters don't compose their own headlines, either.) 

Having watched Jericho just after finishing Garrison's Gorillas and just before starting Combat!, I can tell you that the show, good as it might be, doesn't measure up to either one of those. It's certainly not as gritty as the latter (but then, what series is?), and the entertainment value of the former was just that much bit higher that it allowed one to overlook the implausibility in which both Garrison and Jericho traffic. However, as a devoted fan of Hogan's Heroes, I'm in no position to lecture anyone on plausiblity. Amory himself points out that the the trio might be well-served by going about their jobs displaying a little more grimness and a little less relish. As he concludes, "Fun's fun, boys—but still . . .

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I've had numerous occasion over the years to quote from Richard K. Doan's weekly Doan Report, a valuable source not only of insider stories, but of hard news perspectives on various issues within the industry. This week, while we're still absorbing the debuts from the new season, we get to see the debut of the Doan Report itself! Doan was, in the past, the radio-TV editor of the New York Herald Tribune; now, with the Herald Tribune closed for good as of August, the newspaper industry's loss is TV Guide's gain. And what, pray tell, is the first item on the plate? The ratings for the season's new shows, of course!

The first "definitive" poll of the season is in, that being the Nielsens for October 10, and while the week's top show was a returning favorite—Green Acres—first among the newcomers is ABC's WWII series The Rat Patrol. As for the biggest disappointment, at least in terms of potential, that belongs to the network's Stage 67, which was highly touted at the start of the season but "was so scorned by critic and viewer alike" that it's likely going to be replaced by a Wednesday night movie. The jury's still out on where Stage 67 winds up, and whether it survives as a weekly series or an occasional special. But since a Wednesday night movie requires more than just an hour, that's going to necessitate moving the week's second airing of Peyton Place. Where to? At this point, probably in place of The Man Who Never Was, although Shane and Hawk, two hour-long dramas, are in big trouble already. As for the year's biggest bomb, The Tammy Grimes Show, well, that's already a scratch.

The axe swung quickly at CBS as well, with Jean Arthur's new comedy to leave the air on December 5 after 12 episodes, to be replaced by a prime-time version of To Tell The Truth. And while the network hasn't announced any other casualties yet, "the Smothers Brothers, signed for a new variety hour, had been alerted to stand by for a January debut." Sure enough, when the new year comes around, the Brothers will be sitting in place of the revival of Garry Moore's show. Perhaps the best news for the Tiffany Network applies not to this season, but next Carol Burnett will be returning next fall in a comedy-variety hour, the first woman to helm such a show since Dinah Shore; it's probable she'll be replacing Danny Kaye, who's "experiencing ratings fatigue." 

Meanwhile, all is quiet at NBC; there are no reports of "second season talk," although The Roger Miller Show and The Hero are said to be on tenuous ground. A possible replacement: a long-promised live-action version of Dick Tracy. It's only been 58 years, but we're still waiting.

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President Johnson's tour of Asia takes up some airtime this week, with all three networks providing special programs of the events leading up to the Manila Conference dealing with the Vietnam War. CBS and ABC have reports on Saturday night, while CBS covers the president's arrival in Manila on Sunday (6:30 p.m.), the opening ceremonies of the conference on Tuesday (10:00 p.m.), and a 15-minute special on the conference's close on Thursday. (10:45 p.m.) Meanwhile, NBC plans daily coverage on Today (7:00 a.m.), and ABC, in addition to any special reports, plans to cover the story on the evening news. ABC also has a special, "To Save a Soldier" (Monday, 10:00 p.m.), narrated by Henry Fonda, which looks at the medical evacuation teams working on the battlefields in Vietnam. 

As for the rest of the week, on Sunday, KXTV tours the magnificent collection of Oriental art donated to the city of San Francisco by Avery Brundage; Brundage may be best known to most of you as the head of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972, a man for whom amateurism in the Olympics was a hill to die on, and one of the most controversial figures in sports in the 20th Century. Tuesday, Truman Capote is one of the guests on David Susskind's program (9:00 p.m., KQED), discussing his life and works, including "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and In Cold Blood. On Wednesday, Tony Bennett stars in his first hour-long special (10:00 p.m., ABC), with trumpeter Bobby Hackett, drummer Buddy Rich, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, Candido on bongos and conga drums, and flutist Paul Horn and his quintet. Bennett also performs with the Ralph Burns orchestra. Thursday sees the conclusion of a two-part Batman adventure (7:30 p.m., ABC) starring Liberace in the dual role of Chandell, the famouns pianist, and his evil twin brother Harry; as I recall, this story pulled in the highest ratings of Batman's run. And on Friday, Swingshif Theatre (1:00 a.m., KNTV in San Jose) presents "Who Killed Julie Greer?," an episode of The Dick Powell Show that served as the pilot for Burke's Law, with Powell himself in the role of our favorite millionaire police detective, Amos Burke.

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On Thursday, one of television's most enduring—and endearing—specials, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown makes its television debut(8:30 p.m., CBS). It's the third of the Peanuts animated specials, after A Charlie Brown Christmas, which aired for the first time last December; and Charlie Brown's All Stars, which premiered in June. 

I think it's safe to say the Great Pumpkin is the second-most popular of all the Peanuts cartoons after A Charlie Brown Christmas, and it's probably also the second-most successful as far as merchandise marketing is concerned. I mean, have any of you gone been in a grocery store in the last month? If so, you've almost certainly seen boxes of pumpkins for sale, and just about every one of those boxes has Charlie Brown, Linus, and Snoopy on the side, sitting in a sincere pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Pumpkin. And this is 58 years after the cartoon first aired! I've mentioned in the past how Hallmark really cashed in on it at the time, putting out The Peanuts Book of Pumpkin Carols, including the classics "Great Pumpkin is Comin' to Town" and "Pumpkin Bells." (Maybe they still publish it; it's been a while since I've been in a Hallmark store.) Then, of course, there's the legend of Snoopy vs the Red Baron; the storyline had been introduced in the comic strip the previous year and was instantly popular (just ask the Royal Guardsmen); it plays a crucial role in the plot of The Great Pumpkin. We don't do much for Halloween in the Hadley household besides greating trick-or-treaters at the door, but we always make it a point to watch The Great Pumpkin on Halloween night.

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Arthur Schlesinger Jr., John F. Kennedy's house historian and a past contributor to TV Guide, writes this week about the changes television hath wrought in politics. "More and more Americans, it appears, are forming their impressions of the world on the basis of the things they see on the tiny screen," he begins, adding that in 1964 Broadcasting magazine declared that "television had become the 'Nation’s primary news medium.'" (Substitute "social media" for television, and we're probably at the same point.) Some argue that reliance on the medium produces "a more alret and better-informed electorate" while others counter that it is "reducing our politics to a mixture of high-pressure salesmanship and beauty contests." Schlesinger attempts, in this article, to sort through the various claims and evidence and come up with an understanding of where the truth lies.

As far as news is concerned, Schlesinger believes that "the greatest influence in shaping political judgment is stil the reality of events themselves." This is the area in which television has had its most pronounced success; Schlesinger cites television coverage of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Vietnam as a prime example of an event that would not have had the same effect on the public had it not been on television, not only exposing the public to open debate on the issue, but giving viewers "the effect in many cases of heightening the sense of popular participation in public matters." This day-by-day coverage of politics has also made it more difficult for important issues and personalities to fly below the radar, giving the electorate "a larger knowledge of public personalities and a greater acquaintance with public issues."

On the other hand, television has also played a role in what Schlesinger refers to as "pseudo-news"; that is, "the creation of news on the initiative of the medium." That news may be legitimate, even important, but too often it winds up being "mischievous and irresponsible," as in the case where a TV news crew attempted, in the course of an interview, to spur Schlesinger into criticizing President Johnson. Although their efforts failed (and, to the crew's credit, they still aired the interview even without any provocative comments), this kind of interview technique, "designed to lure or trap people into sensational statements they would not otherwise make[,] can be dispensed with."

Schlesinger is less sure about the effect or usefulness of editorialization by news personalities. Frankly, he wonders, it's quite possible that television has a tendency to constrain such commentary. His preference is for panel discussion shows, most frequently seen on public broadcasting or local television. Schlesinger believes these shows "have improved the level of political discussion in part because they permit the suggestion of subtleties and complexities in public problems." Shows of this kind nowadays tend to become either echo chambers or shoutfests—one can only imagine what he'd think of them.

Finally, there's the question of paid political programming. Schlesinger's greatest fear is reserved for what he refers to as the "spot announcement," what we'd call a commercial. The length of political speeches has steadily decreased in the era of mass communication; whereas 60 years ago an audience would travel miles to hear a candidate discourse for a couple of hours on important issues, the coming of radio reduced such speeches to 45 minutes, then a half hour. By 1956, Adlai Stevenson's television advisers said that 15 minutes "represented the outer limit of the attention span of an American audience." Today, even that is too long. The result has "degrad[ed] the level and character of our political discourse" (preach it, Art!), resulting in "the vulgarization of issues, the exaltation of the immediately ingratiating personality and, in general, an orgy of electronic demagoguery." Perhaps the majority of the television audience doesn't want an intelligent discussion of the issues (it doesn't), but doesn't the media have an obligation to provide it for the minority who do? Schlesinger suggests that government subsidies enabling networks to give more time to candidates without losing ad revenue might be a possible solution.

Television has also resulted in an emphasis on style over substance, preferring "the poised, photogenic, otherdirected, manipulable candidate." Presidents such as Adams, Jackson, and Lincoln wouldn't have stood a chance in such an environment. Of course, Schlesinger's former boss, JFK, was among the first politicians to recognize the power and potential of television, and the words "poised" and "photogenic" describe him to a T. Schlesinger doesn't acknowledge that, but he does allow as to how the national grief following Kennedy's assassination was in part "a result of the way television had made him a cherished figure in remote lands." If television would "app[ly] as much as much thought and talent to this as it does to selling detergents," it could play a great role in making "our democracy more rational and responsible." 

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MST3K alert: I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) A psychiatrist's drugs turn a youth into a monster. Michael Landon, Whit Bissell, Yvonne Lime, Tony Marshall. (Saturday, 1:00 a.m., KCRA in Sacramento) "You are not drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic’s, young man, you’re just not old enough."Michael Landon was two years away from Bonanza when he starred in Werewolf, and he remained a fan of the movie for the rest of his life. "I think it's a good movie. I like it. My kids like it. They better like it, their dad's in it." TV  

This week in TV Guide: February 15, 1958

Xt was something of a tradition for TV Guide, back in the 1950s and '60s, to come out with these issues that I like to call "What a Week!" issues. (This one happens to say "A Great Week," but you get my point.) The What a Week! issues usually came out during Sweeps, and the ones I most remember were from the week after Thanksgiving. We're a little early for that here, but the effect is the same; the networks have some blockbuster shows scheduled to keep us entertained. We'll get to them all, but let's start with the four biggest ones, those that appear on the cover.

The week kicks off with NBC Opera Theatre's production of Verdi's tragic "Rigoletto" (Sunday, 2:00 p.m. ET), the first major American production of the opera to be staged in English. It comes to us live and in color from NBC's studios in Brooklyn, and stars Igon Gorin, Dorothy Coulter, and Kirk Oreste, with Jean-Paul Morel conducting the Symphony of the Air. You can see the broadcast, which unfortunately survives only in black and white, here. And in case you wonder about the commercial viability of opera, and its place as a "big event" on television, a contemporary newspaper article headlined "TV Opera Succeeds in Tagging Popular Audience" says that "Opera is fast becoming a popular mass entertainment in the U. S." The broadcasts on NBC averaged about 15 million viewers; by contrast, last year's most-watched non-sports program, Yellowstone, averaged 11.6 million. I know; different times.

Next up, Victor Borge presents the third of his Comedy in Music specials (Wednesday, 9:00 p.m., CBS), for which, we're told, he'll be picking up a handsome $250,000. Brooks Atkinson, the famous theater critic of The New York Times, describes Borge as "the funniest entertainer in the world," but despite his hugely successful specials, he has no desire to do a weekly broadcast. "I tried one, years ago, with some breakfast-food people," he says. "But although their cereal was delicious, their suggestions were a trifle hard to swallow." We'll have more on how advertising agencies develop TV series later on.

   Check out the art work by Hirschfeld!

On Thursday, Playhouse 90 presents "Point of No Return" (9:30 p.m., CBS), based on the novel by past Pulitzer Prize-winner John P Marquand, and adapted for television by future Pulitzer winner Frank Gilroy. Franklin Schaffner, a veteran director of live television (who will later win an Oscar for directing Patton) helms the production, which stars Charlton Heston as an executive who realizes during a trip to his old home town that there's more to life than business success. Heston got his start on live TV, and even though he's now a major movie star, he's never forgotten how important television was to his success. Later this year, he'll be heading off to Italy to film Ben-Hur, for which he'll win his own Oscar.

The final blockbuster of the week comes on Friday, with DuPont Show of the Month's live (and in color!) musical adaptation of "Aladdin" (7:30 p.m., CBS), with music and lyrics by Cole Porter (his final work for the theater), and humorist S.J. Perelman responsible for the book. Sal Mineo plays Aladdin, and he's joined by an all-star cast including Anna Maria Alberghetti, Cyril Ritchard, Dennis King, Basil Rathbone, and Howard Morris. Perhaps the only thing bigger than the cast is the budget; NBC's expenses for "Rigoletto" were $125,000, but they're dwarfed by the half-million dollar cost for "Aladdin." Was it worth it? See what you think in this black and white kinescope.

As far as truth in advertising goes, I think the cover has it right: it is a "Great Week," and there's still more to come. 

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Starting in 1954, 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, just 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 tonight include singers Vic Damone and Toni Dalli, popular vocalist from Italy; the Little Gaelic Singers from Ireland; the Four Esquires, vocal quartet; the comic team of Davis and Reese; vaudeville comedians Willie, West, and McGinty, with their classic "House-building" sketch; Spanish illusionist Richiardi; and pantomime artist George Cahl.

Allen: Tonight's show originates for the second week from Hollywood. Steve's guests are actor Dale Robertson, star of the TV series Wells Fargo; the Hi-Lo's, vocal group; songstress Peggy King; and comedian Don Adams. Dale Robertson joins Steve and the regulars in a comedy sketch, "How a Movie Star Is Born."

It's been over a year since we've looked at a matchup between Sullivan and Allen, but that doesn't mean it's been forgotten. Tonight's lineups have a little of everything; Ed leans heavily into vaudeville's roots, with the team of Willie, West, and McGinty, plus a quartet, an illusionist and a pantomimist. Steverino's cast strikes me as being more representative of the direction entertainment is going: a TV series star (Robertson), a stand-up comedian headed for his own series stardom (Adams), and a pop singer (King). Perhaps it's my own bias showing, and maybe I'd have a different opinion if I'd seen both shows, but this week the future sounds more to my liking, and Allen takes the prize.

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I mentioned earlier that those four blockbusters on the cover weren't the only big shows to air this week, and as you know, I'm nothing if not a man of my word, so let's count the stars.

Saturday evening sees the premiere of The Dick Clark Show (7:30 p.m., ABC). This is in addition to, rather than instead of, his Monday through Friday afternoon duties on American Bandstand, making Dick one of the busier men on television. It runs for two years, later known as The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show. Later, Lawrence Welk's Dodge Dancing Party (9:00 p.m., ABC) observes the 60th anniversary of the battleship Maine, the event that triggered the Spanish-American War, with songs dedicated to Spanish War veterans. 

On Sunday night, Claudette Colbert stars in "The Last Town Car" on "TV's Most Popular Dramatic Show," General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald Reagan. (9:00 p.m., CBS) Monday night, American tenor Richard Tucker is the featured star on Voice of Firestone (9:00 p.m., ABC). Tuesday, Jerry Lewis presents "60 Madcap Minutes" on The Jerry Lewis Show (8:00 p.m.), one in his series of occasional NBC specials, from the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. He's joined by Betty Grable and Sophie Tucker; according to the Teletype, Jerry also wanted Elvis Presley as a guest on the show—but not at a $100,000 price tag.

Wednesday, it's a special Shirley Temple's Storybook (7:30 p.m., NBC), as Shirley narrates the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Nightingale," with Thomas Mitchell starring as the Chinese Emperor who brings the beautiful bird to his palace. The story is the basis for Stravinsky's opera Le Rossignol. The music for tonight's production, however, comes from Mack David* and Jerry Livingston, the pair responsible for the theme to 77 Sunset Strip and so many other Warner Bros. television series. Also on Wednesday, Milton Berle plays a straight dramatic role in the Kraft Theatre presentation "Material Witness" (9:00 p.m., NBC); Berle was, in fact, a very good dramatic actor, as he would show in this and other performances over the years.

*His brother, the lyricist Hal David, was the long-time collaborator on so many hit songs with Burt Bacharach. 

It's been a busy week for Don Adams; not only does he appear on Steve Allen's show Sunday, he's also Rosemary Clooney's guest on The Rosemary Clooney Show (Thursday, 10:00 p.m., NBC). And rounding out the week is a dramatic story on The Frank Sinatra Show (Friday, 9:00 p.m., ABC). In an unorthodox format, the Sinatra show features a combination of musical variety programs, dramas starring Sinatra, and dramas starring other actors that are introduced by Sinatra. Tonight's show falls into the third category: "A Time to Cry," starring Anne Bancroft, Lloyd Bridges, and John Archer. It's generally conceded that this format was doomed to failure, and indeed the series lasts only one season; Sinatra's future television specials will be musical hours.

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This week's review is The Big Record, the CBS musical variety show hosted by singer Patti Page, and though the show has struggled in the ratings, it's an unpretentious, entertaining show. The credit for that goes mainly to Page, who sings in "a pleasing, unaffected way," and exhibits a natural warmth and energy as host. 

The show has put on display a strong lineup of guests throughout the season, including Hoagy Carmichael, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnnie Ray, Eydie Gorme, Gale Storm, and Benny Goodman. And they don't just show up and do their thing; they're integrated into duets and production numbers with Patti and her team of dancers (choreographed by June Taylor, longtime choreographer for The Jackie Gleason Show), and exhibit other talents as well—Gale Storm, for instance, not only sang her own current hit and then did a duet with Patti, she also turns out to be a gifted vocal mimic. "The entire bit could have been successfully presented in any of the more expensive night clubs."

True, the show is not highbrow—it's just entertainment, pure and simple. Unfortunately, the clock is running on The Big Record; in the Teletype, it's noted that one of the alternate-week sponsors has already given notice, and in March it's cut from an hour to thirty minutes. It leaves the air entirely in June, but fear not: Patti Page will be back next season with The Patti Page Oldsmobile Show—I'm betting that Olds was not the sponsor that cancelled out. And speaking of sponsors, that leads us to this week's final segment.

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I've mentioned numerous times over the years how advertising agencies used to be responsible for creating and producing the majority of television shows. It was one of the factors in the Quiz Show Scandal, which was in turn one of the many reasons why networks eventually assumed control over the creative process. This week, we're going to take a look behind the scenes with two of the preeminent figures involved in devising, planning, producing, and sponsoring the shows we watch.

First is C. Terence Clyne, vice president and chairman of the plans review board of the TV and radio department at the McCann-Erickson advertising agency in New York. Clyne's clients sponsor such shows as Studio One, Climax!, Disneyland, and The Frank Sinatra Show. He tells TV Guide that the most important aspect is instinct. "In this business," he says, "you have to know h ow to guess. If the guess is a good one, you're a genius." 

One of Clyne's shows is the time-share arrangement between comedian George Gobel and singer Eddie Fisher, who alternate as hosts of an hour-long variety show seen Tuesday nights on NBC. "First the word went out from one of our sponsors that they were interested in live personalities," Clyne says. Although Gobel's last show suffered a steep decline in ratings, and Fisher's was cancelled, Clyne felt that each of them had "sufficient friends" to make their show palatable to the sponsor. Each star has his own writers, director and producer, so Clyne had to coordinate the two staffs so they would work together. When the sponsor decided he only wanted to cover the weeks when Fisher was host, Clyne worked with another agency to get a sponsor for Gobel. The final step involved "sparring" with NBC to get the timeslot for the program. 

Nicholas E. Keesely, senior vice president in charge of radio and television at the Lennen and Newell agency, also in New York, says the first thing he looks for a show is "heart." Among the shows he's bought are Queen for a Day, Stop the Music, Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, and The Court of Last Resort. He says the key is to "put something in a show that makes people want to come back and look at it next week and the week after." Keesely prefers tear-jerkers and human-interest stories; "We find the public sympathizes with an advertiser it associates with a good cause." 

He points to The Court of Last Resort, a drama based on a real-life organization assembled by Perry Mason author Erle Stanley Gardner to investigate legal cases featuring people who may have been wrongfully convicted of crimes. The original idea came from the sponsor; "Somebody up there had been reading [Gardner's] stories in Argosy. He thought they had pictorial value. I agreed. I thought they had heart."

To set up a show for success, a crucial aspect is finding the right time slot; it helps to follow a show with good ratings. "And, of course, we want to buy the time that best reaches the market our client wants to hit." Food sponsors, for example, prefer early evening hours, while tobacco companies, such as the one that sponsors Last Resort, look for later times. In this case, "we aimed at a later time period than the one we got—8 P.M. on Fridays—but we had to settle for what we could get."

Both men agree that while ratings are important, they aren't everything. "The factors governing the life or death of a TV show also include the personalities involved and the sale of the sponsor's product," Clyne says. "There have been shows with terrific ratings which nevertheless were dropped by their sponsors because the products weren't moving." Adds Keesely, "If a weak show has an ideal time slot, it may have a better rating than it deserves. On the other hand, I've known good shows to struggle along on poor ratings because of bad time slots." 

One question that stumped both men was, perhaps, the most important: "What are the ingredients for a perfect TV show?" For that, the author defers to another ad man, Hal Davis, VP in charge of radio and television at the Grey Advertising Agency, who said that "The perfect TV show (at this moment) would feature a cowboy sitting on a stool in an isolation booth." If you ask me, they still haven't found the secret. TV  

This week in TV Guide: January 4, 1958

Well, here we are at the start of another year of TV Guides, and if you'd told me I'd still be paging through these old issues after all these years, I'd have said you were crazy. Wait, no—I'd have said I'd be crazy to be doing this for so long. Now, that's a conclusion I'm sure many of you reached long ago, but there's a lot to be said for self-awareness, and the fact one knows they have a problem means they're not too far gone.  

In the meantime, though, since any such treatment will prove to be time-consuming, we'll continue with this week's issue, and since controversy is always a rich topic, we'll start with the latest wave of censorship scourging the airwaves: cartoons. Woody Woodpecker cartoons, to be specific. It seems that ABC, in preparing its late-afternoon Woody Woodpecker Show, had to make at least 25 edits to the 52 cartoons included in the package—even though all of them had passed through the restrictive Breen and Johnston Offices and had received the Purity Seal to play in movie theaters, which they have been doing for years "with nary a critical comment." Says Walter Lantz, Woody's creator, "I was quite surprised when TV censorship was applied. I thought we were safe." 

The culprit, as always, is the sponsor, in this case the Kellogg cereal company. Wally Ruggles, from the Leo Burnett Company advertising agency, explains that "If there was a question at all on a scene, our feeling was why do it? It might cause some group or other to bring pressure, and Kellogg doesn't want to make any enemies." The cartoons reviewed included not only Woody, but other characters like Andy Panda and Oswald Rabbit, and some musical cartoons. Among the scenes that endured the censor's snips:

• All cartoons with black characters. There were eight such cartoons, but, says Lantz, "we never offended or degraded the colored race, and they were all top musical cartoons, too." Oddly enough, a cartoon with African Pygmies was "found acceptable."
• All drinking scenes, including one in which a horse drinks cider from a bucket and then drunkenly tries to walk a tightrope. (Don't ask.) "On TV you'll still see the tipsy horse on the tightrope but, since we cut out the scene showing his drinking the cider, you won't understand why he's groggy."
• The "Abu Ben Boogie" cartoon was rejected entirely due to "a little harem girl wiggling her hips." 
• Any kissing scenes in which cartoon animals kiss cartoon human beings. Cartoon animals are allowed to kiss other cartoon animals. Imagine what would have happened if these standards had been applied to Bugs Bunny.
• Physical or mental disabilities, including a scene in which Woody's antics cause him to have a nervous breakdown, and he's hauled away by two other woodpeckers wearing white coats. There's also a scene in which "Three Blind Mice" are changed to "Three Lazy Mice," and they're shown to be only pretending to be blind.

Lantz concedes that some of the changes were a good idea; a mouse putting his mouth over a gas jet and floating around like a balloon was cut, and he concurs, "because it's visual and a two-year-old might try to imitate what he saw without understanding the consequences." Although the Woody cartoons have considerable action and violence, Lantz points out that nobody really gets hurt. "A character may be run over by a steam roller but in the very next scene we see that he's perfectly well and ready for more adventure." 

The final word goes to Thomas Kersey, manager of ABC continuity acceptance. He took the edited cartoons without making a single change, but notes that "in television, there are 50 million continuity acceptance editors. You can't please everybody. The best I can do is try to use common sense."

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I have to be honest; when I saw the combination of Lawrence Welk and censorship on the cover, I was hoping that it might have something to do with Welk's former "Champaign Lady," Alice Lon, and how the Maestro sacked her for "showing too much knee." Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. Alas, in this case the cover story is about Welk's formula for success. "If I had to analyze our music in one word," he says, "the word would be 'melody.' Second in importance is a good beat. At least I think we have a good beat. I know we play the melody."

Welk bases his success on "what 26 years' worth of constant experience tells me the great majority of the audience wants to hear." He constantly talks with his live audiences and insists on reading critical letters first. He recalls the time a new arranger advised him to "quit playing this ricky-tick, cornball music and get into something a little more modern." So he tried it at his usual live haunt, the Aragon Ballroom, and found the audience holding back. He asked them why. "They thought I had changed. They didn't like my music any more. So the arranger left and his arrangements left with him."

His early influencers included Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey, and from there he developed his own style. He admits that he doesn't understand progressive musicians like Stan Kenton and Dave Brubeck; "I think it is much complicated for the average person to understand." His own personal tastes, which he thinks it would be unfair to impose exclusively on his band and audience, include "Claire de Lune," "Stranger in Paradise," and "Moon Love," and he admires the music of Montevani and Paul Weston, although he thinks that Andre Kostelanetz tends to "overarrange."

I've often thought of the irony that Lawrence Welk and his music tend to skew to an older audience; he's still popular with that older audience, only now it's comprised of a couple of generations who made fun of their own parents and grandparents for liking Welk. Personally, I think when you reach a certain age, a switch goes off in your DNA, and the next week you find yourself tapping your toe to the champagne music. But, as of 1958, Lawrence Welk had a gross income that approached $4 million a year. Who are we to argue with that?

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The TV Teletype crystal ball is working well this week. In Hollywood, Dan Jenkins reports that "NBC will continue to go along with the new Rowan and Martin comedy team, has scheduled them for six major guest appearances for this year." NBC will continue to stick with them—eight years later, they're the summer replacement for Dean Martin, and the following year they graduate to their very own series, Laugh-In. It runs until 1973. Also: "ABC has a situation-comedy format in mind for Donna Reed." Yup, that's The Donna Reed Show, which debuts in September 1958 and runs for eight successful seasons, until 1966.

There's more: "CBS is talking seriously to Rod Serling, wants him to produce as well as write an hour-long series next season dealing in fantasy and science fiction." That, of course, is The Twilight Zone, which ran from 1959 to 1964. From what I've read, it was Serling who originally wanted an hour-long series, but the network prevailed upon him to do a half-hour, and in time he came to see that it fit the format for TZ perfectly, so much so that he was not happy with CBS when they did expand the show to an hour. 

Things are looking up for them in the coming year.

Not to be ignored, at "Late and Exclusive," Burt Boyar says that "Garry Moore's desire [is] to emcee a variety show every week." Garry gets his wish; he's currently hosting I've Got a Secret in primetime and The Garry Moore Show Monday through Friday mornings, but in September of 1958 he'll end his morning show in favor of that hour-long variety show, which runs until 1964.

Not everything we see is a hit, though. Jenkins correctly reports that Johnny Desmond "is the leading candidate for the permanent love-interest in Joan Caulfield's Sally series." And Desmond does indeed get the role of Jim Kendall—for what it's worth. NBC's already considering cancellation of the series, which premiered in September 1957, as it's being devoured in the ratings by Maverick and The Jack Benny Program. Desmond's appearance as a regular is part of a retooling of the show's concept, but things don't improve; Sally is cancelled in March, meaning Johnny Desmond got to play his new role for all of seven episodes.

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Starting in 1954, 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, just to coexist with him, which he did for several seasons. Let's see who gets the best of the contest this week. 

Sullivan: Fredric March and Florence Eldridge are seen in an extended excerpt from "A Long Day's Journey into Night," by Eugene O' Neill. Other guests include Johnnie Ray, vocalist; the Everly Brothers, vocal due; Bambi Linn and Rod Alexander, dancers; the Vienna on Parade Orchestra": The Amandis, teeter-board act; Tex Barton and his horse, novelty act; Clifford Guest, ventriloquist. 

Allen (color): Steve's guests tonight include: Ward Bond and Robert Horton, of TV's Wagon Train; Xavier Cugat and his orchestra with songstress Abbe Lane; and Singer Sam Cooke and comedian Johnny Haymer. Tom Poston, Louis Nye.

I've mentioned before that Sullivan and Allen are really two different kinds of programs; while Ed's show is built around his guests, with him usually just the emcee, Steve is an active participant in a show that's maybe closer to Dean Martin or Carol Burnett, with sketch humor and regulars in addition to a smaller number of guests. So you ask yourself which of the two is likely to retain your interest for the whole show? One thing Ed could do, with his proximity to and influence with Broadway, is bring in top stars to perform scenes from their latest plays and musicals, and that's what we have with tonight's excerpt from "A Long Day's Journey into Night," which brings Broadway into the homes of people who may never visit New York. On the other hand, I'm not sure teeter boards, horses and ventriloquists are going to hold me for the rest of the hour. Steverino's got a pretty good lineup, so based on depth, I'll give Allen the advantage. 

However, I'll put in a good word as well for the show that follows Allen on Sunday: The Chevy Show (9:00 p.m., NBC), with comic actor Tom Ewell, dancer Shirley MacLaine, musical-comedy star John Raitt, and singing actress Anna Maria Alberghetti. If you just keep your dial tuned to NBC after Steve, you've got a pretty good couple of hours going. 

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Let's see, what else is on this week?

On Monday, it's the debut of the daytime quiz show Dotto (11:30 a.m., CBS), hosted by Jack Narz, in which questions are answered to connect the dots on a drawing; the first contestant to identify what the drawing is wins, and gets to continue against a new opponent. Now, you ought to recognize Dotto for a couple of reasons: first, while CBS continues to air the show in daytime, NBC will simultaneously begin broadcasting a weekly nighttime version beginning in July. You don't see one show on two different networks at the same time too often. Nor do you see a successful show—Dotto had become one of the most popular shows on television*—cancelled so abruptly, when both the daytime and nighttime versions are axed in August. The reason: a little thing about the results being fixed. No matter where we are in 1957 and 1958, we can't seem to keep from running into signs of the brewing scandal.

*According to the always-reliable Wikipedia, "On NBC's July 29 episode, a contestant on the show, actress and model Connie Hines had a telegram read on air with Columbia Pictures stating interest in her as an actress. Hines later became famous as Carol Post on the popular comedy Mister Ed."

I always enjoy nights when we see big stars appearing on the small screen, and Monday also has some fine ones: Bob Hope is on The Danny Thomas Show (9:00 p.m., CBS). He's Danny's guest star at a benefit charity show, and Danny begins to worry that Bob might overshadow him. (That's on opposite CBS's Twenty-One, and there's that scandal connection again!) Then, on Goodyear Theater (9:30 p.m., CBS), Jack Lemmon is the star of the story "The Victim," as a man who realizes he's being followed by two men shortly after the death of his wife. 

As an aficionado of MST3K, you can understand why Tuesday's Red Skelton Show (9:30 p.m., CBS) holds so much appeal for me. "Guests Lon Chaney, John Carradine, and Vici Raaf join Red in a 'mad scientist' sketch tonight. Henpecked George Appleby is thrown out of the house and ordered by his wife to get a job as a laboratory assistant to a pair of experimenting scientists (Chaney, Carradine). The two scientists are attempting the transplant of animal brains to human beings." If you've seen any of these movies, you know what's coming next.

I'm assuming most of you know who Parley Baer is, but maybe not? Sure, you've probably seen him as the mayor in The Andy Griffith Show, and you've probably heard him as Chester in the radio version of Gunsmoke (and you've probably eaten his cookies; he was the voice of Ernie the Elf in the Keebler commercials), but I think he might have been on literally every television and radio show ever made. (If you're ever listening to an old-time radio program and one of the actors sounds familiar, it's probably either William Conrad, Parley Baer, or Virginia Gregg.) Anyway, he's Darby, the Nelsons' neighbor, in Wednesday's episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (Wednesday, 9:00 p.m., ABC). 

On Thursday, Jack Benny hosts the latest Shower of Stars (8:30 p.m., CBS), with guests Tommy Sands, Ed Wynn, Jo Stafford and Paul Weston, and the dance team of Chiquita and Johnson. (You've got to love those caricatures of Benny and Wynn by Hirschfeld.) If you're looking for something more substantial, check out Aaron Spelling's play "The Last Man" on Playhouse 90 (9:30 p.m., CBS), starring Sterling Hayden and Spelling's wife, Carolyn Jones. It's the story of a man whose wife dies in childbirth because a storekeeper delays in selling him the medicine that could save her life. Now he's settled down in the area, while planning his revenge. It's later made into the movie One Foot in Hell, which is probably a better description for the story.

Friday's Zane Grey Theater (8:30 p.m., CBS) features what could be called a Western version of Twelve Angry Men, but with a twist: the jury is deadlocked in the murder trial of a gunslinger, with eleven voting guilty and one innocent. But as the lone holdout tries to convince his fellow jurors, the gunman escapes. It's a strong cast, with Robert Ryan, David Janssen, and Harold J. Stone. That's followed by The Frank Sinatra Show (9:00 p.m., ABC), with Frank's guest Robert Mitchum. After that, Robert Taylor and George Murphy are the guest stars on The Thin Man (9:30 p.m,. NBC), with Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk as Nick and Nora Charles.

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Finally—well, I don't know. Can you call Carol Channing a starlet in 1958? She's already been nominated for a Tony, appeared on the cover of both Life and Time, and spent several years working with George Burns. She's been in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Wonderful Town, and is a regular on television. But she hasn't been in Hello, Dolly! yet, the role that brings her international and everlasting fame. So maybe we'll put her somewhere in-between.

So let's end with Sheree North. Or, rather, Sheree North's diet. She's already become well-known as one of Marilyn Monroe's potential successors, and one of the reasons she's been able to succeed at such a wide variety of roles is the health food diet that allows her to vary her weight to between 102 and 148. It includes "nothing but unprocessed, unpreserved and unchemically-treated foods available at any health-food store." She augments it with supplements such as cashew-nut butter, almond paste, and malts. Dinner, for example, might consist of raw chopped vegetables, cooked vegetables, and a broiled steak or lamp chop, with molasses and lemon juice or cider vinegar and honey for refreshment. You'll notice that you don't see recipes for these kinds of things in TV Guide. Then again, there's nothing wrong with a good steak, as long as it comes with a loaded baked potato and a salad. We won't even discuss dessert. TV