Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-03-02
Or the Air

oH1ll o puL Ilio 1I1A6Cl OA1 o ANAAAbSA
Of our modern problems from
q considerable distance in time
and space. He couldn't be
specific about television. of
course. it not having been in
vented yet.
IF it had been. he would have
been among the first to see it. 1t
would have started out in the
tayerns, even as it did here. and
Robbie undoubtedly would have
been sitting in that pub in Ayr
when the set was installed. He
could have become a fine TV
critic. TOO.
ooh wad some power the
gAtle gle us" he once wrote. Ito
ser oursels as others see us!' He
might today yearn that some
power the same giftie wad gle
Ray Bolger.
Mr.. Bolger is a firm devotee
of filmed television. a perfec-
ti6nist who feels that the cutting
room floor is the At repository
fo1 anything except his very
best. This week, though. he
gave some unequivocal support
to: the proponents of the live
brand of TV. 1t may have been
urHntentional, but it also was
Obvious when the dancing come
dian joined Martha Raye and
Milton Berle on Max Liebman's
NRC-TV spectacular. big Time"
On his regular Ray Bolger
Show" (WMAL-TV - Friday,
$50 p.m0. the star has put
his faith in the movie cameras
ard has met with mixed reac-
tidns. They have not been very
stfong reactions, however. Those
who dislike the show just don't
lille it very much. Those who
lilp it do so because they are
B0ger fans who will settle for
the diluted version if nothing
better is available.
The show in truth does have
some agreeable comedy and it
has some expert dancing per-
formed by a past master. It
does not have the f1uffs it might
have if performed live. The
trouble is that 1t does not have
the fully-charged, 100 per cent
Ray Bolger. either.
.rhe Bolger live appearance be-
fore the color TV cameras was
something else. He pranced
through the comedy foolishness
inc high style and finally-Mr
Liebman's no fool-got around to
Amy" as the show stopping
number of the evening.
y
s'Amy," with Bolger singing.
dancing and leading the COM
nSlnity sing, is one of the truly
memorable numbers of the mod
eth theater. It came across with
full impact Sunday night. a
lifting, zestful tonic. The warm
Bclger personality fairly lit up
the room and his Amy" lifted
the spirit immeasurably. 1t was
an unanSwerable argument for
the superiority Of live television.
at least for this sort of thing.
sWe still have that problem,
though. that the poet pointed
out more than 200 years ago.
Bolger never can see for himself
the difference between Bolger
live and Bolger on film. All he
OF any other entertainer has to
base the comparison on is a
knescope recording Of the live
slow against a motion picture.
sThe latter wins every time.
Heaven knows how many stars
prefer filming their television
shows for the simple reason that
they never have seen and never
can see themselves on live TV.
IFS too bad. The next line in TV
Critic Burns couplet about see
ing oursels as others see us reads
TT wad frae monte blunder
free us.
s"And foolish notion"
rQUICK SWITCH-Mary b.
land, having been forced out of
tie cast by illness, will be re-
placed by Edith King in Ferenc
Mplnar's THE Guardsman" to-
night at 10 on BEST Of Broad
way" (WTOP-TV). How Miss
King has been faring on this
short notice probably depends
on how much the play has been
aRered to At a television hour.
sShe has played the role be-
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