Evening star., 1951-10-23
By Horry Macarthur

44AC1C d1C tIlOSCs W NC sure
who find Miss Raye raucous and
unladylike to the point of crude
ness, but there are others who
consider her the funniest female
around. She certainly has few il
any peers as a slapstick come
diennne. She throws herself into
her work and risks life and limb
to get a laugh.
Her face. not at all unattractive
in its normal state, becomes q
mad. rubbery gargoyle mask when
she uses it to describe a comic
aspect of an otherwise ordinary
emotion. More than anything
else. come to think of it, Martha
Raye is q feminine Jerry Lewis
and she was there first.
Miss Raye does often have q
tendency toward the gamey in
her comedy (she insists it comes
|of following Sophie Tucker into
'cabarets and what else can she
Ido?) but she or some one man
aged to hold this well in check
Saturday evening. She certainly
can be mighty funny without
sounding a single blue note and,
while she might be too strenuous
as a regular thing. she'll be well
coined on periodic visits to TV.
Not So Ge0rge-Jerry Lester
who won a rabidly faithful con-
stituency on Broadway Open
House" last season, has been in
stalled now as one Of three regu-
lars (along with Bob Hope and
Fred Allenl on Sound Of Time"
(WNBW-Sunday, Z p.mJ. Mr..
Lester, who has enriched, If that
is the word. the language by max
ing commonplace the phrases
George" and George all the
way" did not enrich much OF
anything Sunday night.
He did. it is true, give evidence
Of an assumption Bob Hope failed
to adopt in the same spot week
earlier-the assumption, that is
that those cameras were there to
carry his image into the homes OF
some televiewers. Lester, though
he milks a studio audience hor-
ribly and plays to it almost con-
tinuouSly, does at least acknowl-
edge the presence of the home
audience represented by the cam
eras.
He seemed a little lukewarm on
his first Sound Of Time" per-
formance, however, without his
old "B. o. H." supporting cast, or
more probably without too much
support from his writing staff.
He did manage during the latter
half of the program to get in
volved in a moderately imagina-
tive modern comic ballet, but for
the most part he looked like a
man who would have been better
on with Dagmar around to in
terrupt him.
One Of the Lester troubles. in.
cidentally, is that his air of bub.
bling cheer and good will does not
always seem genuine. That "don't
step on my line" warning turns ur
often enough on the tip of his
tongue that you get the feeling
that he is kidding on the level.
+ + \ =
More Script Trouble-There wa.
a certain air Of WEAKNESS over the
Jack Carson appearance on "The
Comedy Hour" (WNBW-Sunday
g pmD. With so many of these
TV variety shows on the air it i
obvious, Of course. that there isn't
enough fresh material to &c
around. The Carson show had
more the look Of the last one be.
fore a vacation than that of the
f1rst one following a rest period.
Carson. who got on the right
track for him last year by doine
situation comedy shows with Q
vague plot running through each
strayed little from that path on
his first appearance this season
and it was q mistake.
He's an able clown, Of course,
and he dredged a fair amount of
fun out of playing an old comedy
skit backwards and out of a wildly
slapsick Apache dance In which
he got involved. He Jared better,
truthfully, than the above-men-
toned Mr.. Lester, but he was on
twice as long and the law of aver
ages may have had somthing to
do with it.
Mr.. Carson is not being read
out of the ranks because he is al
most certain to come back and
make amends, but with this sort
of thing he'll never send Ell Toast
Of Town" Sullivan of on a tour
of the employment agencies.
4
Bright Sp0t-Whatever else hap
pens on the week end, and there
is always Red Shelton on Sunday
night at 10 (WNBW). After his
first highly successful appearance
there has been some understand
able concern over whether or not
he can keep this up, but appar-
emily we can stop worrying. Skel-
tons fourth television show was
in many ways the hveliest and the
smoothest he has done yet.
Shelton, by the way, has re.
ceived a silent tribute Of consid.
cradle significance. None of Dave
Garroway's most enthusiastic ad.
mirers. no matter what the clamol
for his return. has suggested thai
it be arranged by removing Skel.
ton from that Garroway niche h,
took over.
III C 6hlITn uEAFEDCD