Evening star., 1951-10-29
On the Air
Expanded
Still Life
Too Still
By Horry Macarthur

be expanded successfully, of
course, as witness the motion pic
ture. Brief Encounter" made
from Noel Coward's Still Life" +"
1t takes some doing, though as
was demonstrated by the at
tempted expansion of this same
item in the Tonight at $50"
collection to fill the allotted time
of Playhouse of Stars" last Fri
day night. on CBS-TV.
This. in advance, had some
thing of the look of a glittering
television event. 1t was the first
Coward play to be released to
the new medium and it had Mar
garet SULLIVAN in the leading role,
with Wendell Corey, a depend
able journeyman of the movies,
in support. AS it turned out,
however. there was precious little
glitter outside of that reflected
by Miss Sullavan's personal glow.
This reviewer. for one. would have
found it hard to stick by Channel
9 throughout that hour without
her presence.
1t was a plodding affair which
never got out of low gear and
there wasn't much Producer-Di-
rector Frank Telford could do
about it once he was committed
to the script: The failure of this
TV version of Still Life" lay IN
the adaptation, which too often
attempted to expand the original
by adding. scenes which merely
took up time instead of elaborat-
ing on some part of the main
story line.
The story of Still Life" ought
to be familiar enough by now.
what with the original version,
the movie version and countless
versions. It's rather a
fragile thing, actually. telling of
a chance meeting, brief ro-
nance which comes to naught
and a poignant parting capped
by one of CoWard's best ironic
scenes.
1t requires some acting and
Miss SULLIVAN Jared far better
with it than the adapter. Her
playing. in fact. almost
made up for any WEAKNESS caused
by the teleplay's shortcomings,
in that final farewell
scene which is Jared and lost
forever for the two participants
by the arrival of a garrulous
Still Life" was well-played in
other quarters, too, by Mr.. Corey,
Bibi Osterwald and some others,
but 1t certainly wasn't as WELL
written as it was originally when
Mr.. Coward tailored it to his and
Gertrude Lawrence's acting styles.
X 4 x
Golden Silence-Things were
far more dramatic on television
during the following hour on Fri
day night. That was when NIL
lions of televiewers across the
country tuned to NBC-TV saw
the Joe Louis fight end the way
many of his fights have. ended,
but with him in a brand-new role.
1t was, to any one who has fol-
lowed the Louis career, a heart
rending bit of drama when the
TV cameras watched that career
end on the ring apron, after Rocky
Marciano had finished of Louis
the way Louis had finished of
so many.
The drama Of it was height
ened Immediately after the fight
oy Greatest Fights Of the Gen.
Jury" the 15-minute film program
which follows the Friday night
lights on NBC-TV. The film re-
port which followed the Louis
was of that 1888 battle
With Max Schmeling, when Louis
came into the ring prepared to
.venge his previous knockout by
5chmeling and in a few minutes
battered the pride of the .Nazis
The Greatest Fights"
couldn't have arranged
/ more dramatic follow-up if they
1ad known in advance how the
Iousi Friday fight was going to-
end. ~
The Friday night hero to many
,eleviewing fight fans, incidental
y was Jimmy Powers. The New
York sportswriter turned com =
has long held to the
theory that a TV announcer can
talk too much and he followed It
to a greater degree than ever
before on Friday night. There
were times when he hardly said
a word while a round was in prog
ress, his feeling being that there's
no point in telling people what's
happening when they can see it
for themselves.
AS one pleased viewer pointed
out. instead of giving out a lot of
nisinformation while the fight was
going on, Mr.. Powers could take
The time to think and pass along
real information between the
Personal, Not Private-Dorothy
Shay will be the featured guest
when Jack Benny makes his first
TV appearance of the season next
at 1880 (WTOP-TV. j..
That big Show" visit last night
Of Mr.. and Mrs. James Mason was
the first of several radio and TV
appearances they're making to help
sell their new film. "a Lady Pos
sessed." Helen Hayes, who
the series, will make a
second appearance Friday on
Playhouse of Stars" in Lennox
"The Lucky Finger" :"
Dorothy Lamour will make her
TV debut on November 10 with
Ed Wynn.
Il X x X
Opiate-Man we know took his
- l.