Evening star., 1953-06-25

and is admitted by his mother
in-laW. He is almost to the top
of the stairs before he breaks
down, Sobbing, II only wanted to
keep her alive a little bit longer"
It is a most affecting story
and it was played we'll under Don
Petrie's direction. Mr.. Albert,
who used to conflne himself to
movie comedy, proved himself a
sensitive TV actor. He drew a
thoroughly credible and life-like
picture of man refusing to be-
lieve that the greatest tragedy OF
his life had just happened to
him.
THE Little Wife" had the
mark of quality in its every
aspect. If Producers Donald
Davis and Dorothy. Mathews
continue to be as fortunate in
matching story and star they'll
have in Mirror Theater" a sum-
mer replacement superior to
some Of the winter entries in it's
field.
u
QUESTION-The $50 to 9
portion of the hour vacated for
the summer by Mr.. Berle has
been occupied by Break the
Bank" This, as you undoubtedly
know. is one of those things
where people are given money
for answering questions. It is
conducted by Bert Parks. q sort
of pressure cooker of good cheer.
who threatens at any moment
to blow his safety valve and
splatter cuteness all over the stu
dio. Mr.. Parks may be a gen.
erous provider, a faithful hus-
band, a doting father and a good
neighbor. He may neither smoke,
drink, swear, play cards nor drive
over the speed limit. But are
there people who really like that
act he performs on television?
X X X
INGENUITY - Adventure"
the CBS-TV Sunday afternoon
series, continues to be what the
name implies a rewarding
weekly adventure. Last Sundays
visit to Mitchell Air Force Base,
with its pilots eye views of aerial
maneuvers, was fine TV. It
also demonstrated, among other
things, that Mike Wallace is a
man Of rare GOODNESS. Never be-
fore did a man make his solo
flight with so many looking on
to see how high he bounced on
the landing. He set the Piper
Tri-Pacer down with a thud
which must have Jared it's de-
signer If he was watching, but
experienced pilots have bounced
heavier airplanes higher. Mr..
Wallace's triumph over the air.
plane also was a triumph for the
TV engineers. To record the
take-off. they rigged a battery
driven camera and a microWave
tranSmitter in a station wagon.
Mr.. Wallace gunned the airplane,
the driver gunned the station
wagon down a parallel runway.
The signal was sent by micro
wave to the remote truck on the
field, from there by microwave
to CHS in New York.
+ X 4
PREMIERE - Ben Hecht's
''Tales of the City" will start
tonight at $3.50 on CHS (WTOP-
TV. The first half-hour drama,
Mr.. Hecht said in a recent inter-
view, is a story about Broad
ways heart. It's heroine is an
Iowa girl who has told her hus-
band about some important peo-
pie she knew when in New York.
He discovers some of his wife's
friends" when they visit New
York and the friends" back up
her story for the girl they never
heard Of.
Players in Mr.. Hecht's first
tale will be Ann Rutherford,
Barry Nelson. Janis Carter. Olga
Baclanova and Garry Merrill,
which any press agent can call
an all-star cast with impunity.
Mr.. Hecht will act as his own
narrator for the series. but will
be heard, not seen. when
you're as homely as am" he
explains, "you have an obliga-
tion to keep your face off,
camera"