Evening star., 1954-10-12


Joy Cormody, dromo editor Of The StoI
is on vocotion.' His column will be
resumed next week.
supporting players closely for q
glimpse Of a face that has since
become famous.
You can do the reverse. too,
which is not always cheerful.
You can sit there watching some
glittering doll larrup through her
celluloid emotions, wondering all
the while the. saddest words of
tongue or pen, Whatever hap
pened to her?"
Another thing you can do to
keep your mind from concen-
trating too closely on a movie
you just have to watch because
it is on is muse upon the ravages
of age. Age affects various people
various ways and whatever it
does or doesn't usually is star
ting.
There was a movie around the
. TV circuit no long ago, for in
stance, which must have been
gathering dust on the shelf for
some time. 1t had Henry Hull
playing the romantic lead and
Jimmy Cagney playing a sec
ondary male role. They've
changed.
The dialogue often adds a
FLIP to these things. too. 1t
some times sounds as if some
writer with occult powers had
sneaked a line in just for the
effect it would have in the light
of future events. One of these
lines provided a bright moment
on an old-well, middle-aged-
movie unreeled on one of the
Baltimore channels the other
night.
This was a 1947 item en-
titled ''Lured," which had Lucille |
Ball supported by a set of char
acter actors who couldn't be
assembled today for anything less
than an epic. Nothing. at any
rate. less than an epic G.gD. |
Surrounding Miss Ball (who
didn't look a day younger than |
Lucy Ricardo) were Charles Co.
burn, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Boris
Karloff, Joseph Calleia, Alan .
Mowbray and George Zucco.
This is quite an assortment of
character actors. And Miss |
Balls leading man, who has
since become more of a leading
character than a leading char
acter actor. was George Sanders. +
Even with this impressive cast, /
1t was one line of dialogue which /
made this late TV movie a sue
cess. Miss Ball seemed to be in
volved in some worthwhile en-
trapment for Scotland Yard. At
one point she earnestly impor-
tuned Inspector Coburn: "You
will let me know, won't you, the
minute you have any news of
Lucy?"
Scotland Yard was forgotten.
1t succumbed to the indelible
impression that Charles Coburn
kept the pilot film of II Love
Lucy" locked up for three years
before letting it loose on TV.
SOLUTION-The question of
who flung the dungarees in Betty
Hutton's "Satins and Spurs" may
never be answered conclusively,
but evidence continues to pile
up. Miss Hutton, as you un-
doubtedly know, has announced
her intention of renouncing all
OF show business to go home
and rest up. apparently for the
rest OF her life. The betting
currently is better than even
that a producer with the bank
roll for a film on the life of
Sophie Tucker could get Betty
TO unrenounce show business on
short order.
1t seems that Miss Hutton
had expected to awaken the
darling of the Nation and the
sensation of television the morn
ing after her widely advertised
TV debut on the first color spec
tacular." Instead she awakened
to ind what must have seemed
the entire world snarling in
unison. Somebody goofed." In
spite of the personal praise for
her which accompanied the criti-
cal lambasting of her show, Miss
Hutton departed for California
and announced that she was de-
parting this entire business.
1t could just possibly be that
she knew what the trouble was.
The October 16 issue OF, TV
Guide magazine will carry an
exclusive story repeatedly telling
why Betty Hutton Flopped on
TV." It seems that some of the
people Miss Hutton brought
along to lend assistance in the
staging did not see eye-to-eye
with NBC Producer Max Lieb-
man.
Mr.. Lehman, quiet and
gentle man Iat least in public,
has not said anything rough
about Miss Hutton's encourage.
but she must have noticed along
with every one else that he can
stage television show. He fol-
lowed the unsuccessful Hutton
show. an original musical COM
edy, with the successful Lady
in the Dark" an already tested
musical play. Then last Sunday
4