Evening star., 1951-11-13
|HoIIywood's
Intentions
Honorable
By Harry Macarthur

II VI tdhC u IA A4 0eSP A0 VAAS SAAASS
ton of putting television on a|
par with the movies. As Of the
Donald O'Connor Show" Sun
day evening television, just like
the movies. has Yvonne De Carlo
Whether you consider this q gen
erous assist or an act Of retribu-
tion depends entirely, Of course,
on your personal reaction to Miss
De Carlo, who may be our finest
actress since Alice White.
All that will be said here is
that Miss De Carlo undoubtedly
can do as much for a television
show as she does for a motion pic
ture.
Seriously, some of the appre-
hension over what Hollywood
might do to television was allayed
Sunday evening. The O'Connor
appearance on 'The Comedy
Hour" (WNBW-8 p.mJ was sur
rounded by production as slick
as some Of the New York Com
edy Hour" originations.
It was as agreeable a show. in
all departments. as these eyes and
ears have caught at this end Of
the 3.oo0-mile microwave throw.
Red Shelton (WNBW-Sunday.
10 p.m.), who has so far proved
to be the best excuse for coast
forecast television seen In the
East. also made Hollywood look
good with another winner. Mr..
Shelton, beneath all of that SLAP
stick. is an entertainer with much
closer professional kinship to Sid
Caesar than is apparent at first
Eglance.
He has the same discerning eye
for human foibles and for the
comic commonplaces Of life and
his comments on them are marked
by q certain affection as well as
by comedy. Comedians, not to
mention comedy writer's, being
humans with foibles and frailties,
too. Shelton seems bound to come
up with a dull Sunday evening
performance sooner or later, but
so far his batting average is pretty
close to leading the league.
Cum Laude-Mr. O'Connor, on
the basis Of his most recent TV
appearance, can be set down as
one Of the most promising Of the
young entertainers in the busi-
ness. He can portray most agree
ably the Il-starred young man
against whom the fates seem in
continual conspiracy and he sings
and dances well enough to get
away with doing both in public.
Just about everything he did Sun
day night is graded A-plus on this
departments score card.
This included a clever dancing
version of ME and My Shadow" +"
an impersonation Of half Of q
song-writing team trying to con-
jure up a hit tune, q slapstick
demonstration Of what might hap
pen to Private Lives" If it were
staged by Olsen and johnson and
a moderately spectacular finale,
with O'Connor as q dancing
French sailor In the midst of some
lively choreography. (Hollywood
dancing girls. incidentally and II
you hadn't noticed, have more
muscular calves than New York
dancing girls).
This Comedy Hour" show also
owed one Of its bright moments to
the television debut Of Harpo
Marx. The medium is ideal, Of
course, for such q skilled comic
pantomimist as Harpo and he gave
the viewers a too-brief session Of
high-level fun at the piano, ut the
harp and with his old blond-chas-
ing trick.
Roger Price added another
funny moment with one Of his
mad chalk-talks, this one dem
onstrating the causes of the COM
mon cold. C"There are two kinds
OF cold germs-boy cold germs and
girl cold germs-and there is alb
solutely no difference between
them. This is enough to make any
body sick.")
(The grade set down on the
score card beside Miss DeCarlo,s
two numbers is "oh, WELL" mean
ing live and let live Is the new
Sunday evening motto around
here"
Retaliation While this was
going on NBC-Tv, some rare
Ihigh-Jinks were taking place on
Ed Sullivan's Toast of the
Town" (WTOP-TV - Sunday. 8
p.mD. or at least on some Is
minutes Of the Sullivan show.
This was the period occupied by
Guests Peter Lind Hayes and Mary
Healy.
Miss Healy, according to the
departmental spy. apparently had
read a critical note that she was
principally foil for her husband,
MIR. Hayes, and was setting out
to prove she Is much more than
that. Her evidence included sing
ing impersonations of Ethel
Norman and jeanette Macdonald
with Mr.. Hayes as a beautifully
wooden Nelson Eddy, both Of
which are termed hilarious" in
the spy's report on them.
These are standard items In
the Hayes-Healy repertoire and
not new, but Miss Healy's brass
voice In the first and toothy grin
in the other accent a couple Of
the funniest caricatures you are
likely to see anywhere in show
. business.
At Ease - Fred Allen seemed
much happier about the whole
thing when he reappeared on the
televiSion scene on Sound Of
Time" (WNBW-Sunday. p.m)