Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-01-21
On the Air

It Is January, as somebody
was saying the other day, and
everything is going to pot every
where. Galloping viruses invade
the body and chill forebodings
invade the mind. The flesh is
weak and the spirit is wailpg.
This is a passing condition and
the odds are strong that there
will be February and a March
and even an April and MAY. as
there have been in a number
of years past.
The one-hour dramatic shows
on television. however. it ought
to be noted, are not making
these present times much easier
for us. Well, some of the recent
one-hour dramas, at any rate,
have left this viewer with the
impression that four fast balls
just went by, barely missing the
outside corner.
The play without its dream
sequence, during the early part
OF the week. at least. was a
poor thing. indeed. There was
one on Robert Alan Aurthurs1
Heres Father on "Television
Playhouse" Sunday night. Rob-
ert Montgomery went whole hog
the following night. presenting
Sophie Treadwell's ''Machinal."
a play which seems to take place
in the mind of the leading char
acter.
Studio One" passed up the
dream sequence, unless it had
one in the first act while Mr..
Montgomery was still under way
~. S. Steel Hour" came through
on Tuesday. though. In THE
Rise of Carthage" Paul Douglas
was forever looking up from his
drink to find the village of
Carthage, N. Mex, sliding
through the walls of New York
bar.
There was something of merit
In each OF these plays. 1t is
not merely possible but quite
likely that many viewers en-
joyed one or several or all of
them.
Mr.. Aurthur's Here's Father"
on "Television Playhouse" for
instance, had some good comedy
lines and situations. It had to
do with the son of separated
parents consigned to spend
week a year with his father, and
you know who brought whom
back together again, Van Dyke
Parks, who used to belong to the
Bonino clan. played the boy be-
lievably, but Cyril Richard an
accomplished British actor. never
got through to one viewer.
Playing a sophisticated roue
songwriter. Mr.. Ritchard man
aged to resemble nothing so
much as a road company Clifton
Webb in a play somebody wrote
for Noel Coward which Coward
had sense enough to turn down.
y
Mr.. Montgomery's production
of "Machinal" boosted the pres
ence of Joan Lorring. who COM
ported herself commercially in
a role she took over on short
notice as replacement. Miss
Lorring was playing a girl so
overcome by the machine age
that she knocked off her dull.
crude husband. Betrayed by a
young man she thought her true
love CLARK Gable played the
role in 1923 on Broadway, she
trudged off to the chair.
At least this is what seemed to
be happening. Mr.. Montgomery
kept urging us to remember that
we were seeing all this through
the girls mind, and we can only
say that we're glad it wasn't in
our mind.
This was disposed OF by Mr..
Montgomery just as Betty Fur
ness was getting into her first
commercial on Studio One"
After another act of "A Criminal
Design" Miss Furness returned
to sell. not refrigerators or dish
washers. but atomic-powered
submarines. She once sold us
jet engine for an airplane, so
well probably have to take one
of these.
Haila Stoddard, Geraldine
b Joks and Richard Kiley played
the leading roles in "A Criminal
Design" Miss Stoddard irnper-
9eonated an Italian designer en-
aged in the smuggling Of dope