Evening star., 1955-09-12

oCdoOn Will ~.
And after inspecting NBC'
colossal spool that is Thornton
Wilder's THE Skin Of Our
Teeth" to q 21-inch screen for
two eye-throbbing hours. you
feel like you've been sitting in
the Shubert's third balcony
watching a colony of sensational
midgets perform.
To be sure. Mr.. Wilder wasn't
thinking Of television when he
wrote his play. In fact. there are
a few who have wondered what
he was thinking about when he
wrote it.
But. as Art Linkletter pointed
out in an explanatory prologue
that someone deemed necessary
probably after watching a re-
h THE Skin Of Oui
Teeth" is a comedy about the
indestructibility Of man thai
covers 5000 or so years. And II
there are dinosaurs and nam
moths about, and if there Is tc
be an ice age and q fire that
must be kept burning. then il
follows that such a vast canvas
cannot be viewed from the
wrong end Of a telescope with
out Transforming the scene into
q hopeless clutter.
And that, alas, Is what hap
pened most Of the time.
One Of the most appealing
moments in the play. I can only
suspect. Is the moment when
Mrs. Antrobus Helen Hayes !,
hurls q bottle with q message
for all women into the Atlantic.
I could imagine this as 1t must
have been on the stage
moment made poignant by the
loneliness Of the woman. On Tv
last night, the camera 1oomed
In like a rabbit as soon as she
began to speak, fearful lest there
be one distraction. intent on NIL
Ing the screen with somebody.
Washington's first lady Of the
theater was quite up to It. But
I'm afraid I wasn't.
Nor did the audience asides
Of Sabina, the ever loving temp
tress MARY Martini. ever quite
disengage themselves from the
play. as must have happened In
the theater.
There Is no way Of telling II
anything went wrong in the per-
formance. Mr.. Wilder wrote in
more adlibs and stagehands
than you'll 1lnd in any SIX Bob
Hope programs.
The cast performed capahly.
although several Of the players
seemed to be over-engrossed
with the stage floor. On Tv, at
least. it was more Miss Hayes
play than Miss Martins. proving
again, / suspect. that the Sa-
binas Of the world are at their
least effective when viewed from
a safe distance,
George Abbott played Mr..
Antrobus and the supporting
cast also included Mary's daugh-
ter. Heller Holiday.
The commercials. which were
ack-to-back between acts,
were produced without consid-
Grafton for the entertainment
and were. therefore. ineffective.
In several reviews OF ''The Skin
of Our Teeth" incidentally. the
critics noted that the play was
received better this time than
when originally presented some
10 years ago. Perhaps tele-
vision, too, Will grow up TO 1t In
about 10 more years.
4
There were two new shows
Saturday night. both on CHS
TV, Its Always Jan" (Janis
Paige) and "Gunsmoke" (James
Arness) and Of the two, I'll put
in q timid aye for the latter and
q maybe for the former.
Miss Paige is an comply Miss
with a song-and-dance talent
comparable. say, to Lucille
Balls. She has been surrounded
with agreeable actors In q situa-
ton comedy that casts her as q
war widow with q young daugh-
ter. She shares an apartment
with two other young ladies and,
in the opening episode. audi
toned for q spot in q Broadway
show.
The comedy lines were funny