Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-19

lis a handsome, agreeable young
man with o melodious voice, but
for all his popularity, he lacks
the stature (which comes only
with time or great acting ability
to carry of the part of a song
historian. From the way he sings
almost any song. incidentally,
you'd have to say that America
has changed imperceptibly
through the years.
! Bobby Van. a sprightly dancer
in the Donald O'Connor image,
performed valiantly in pedestri-
ian turns and Shelton worked
like hero. Mrs. Fisher looked
Idarned cute.
I'm kind of sorry Bing Crosby
ducked out Of this assignment.
He could have done 1t with au-
thority-especially as he would
have ordered the script COM
pletely rewritten to begin with.
Omnibus: That was most
thoughtful of producer Bob Sau-
dek to schedule Oscar Wilde's
"Salome" as the final feature Of
yesterdays show, thereby allow
ing Wide, Wide World" fans to
move from channel four to chan
mel nine without really missing
Anything.
Omnibus opened with Anna
Russell. the British Coincidence
who describes herself as a
"singert?," and while she can
be very amusing, / doubt very
much whether she and Mr.. Az
erage Viewer have much in COM
mon. Miss Russell's satires Of q
folk singer az gave my love a
cherry, without a pit') or a
Spanish dancer might send any,
one who has witnessed recital
programs Of this kind into hys-
iterical fits. but old Mr.. A. ",
who's never stayed at a recital
of this nature for longer than
one number. being above average
in intelligence. probably took
this portion of Omnibus in re-
spectful silence.
"Salome" was worth waiting
| for as the saying goes,
The Wilde version Of the Bib
lical story casts Salome as the
villainness In a court of cillainy
making 1t her wish-and not her
tmother's-that John the Baptist
be beheaded. This was a strange,
moody girl, and Eartha Kilt
played her precisely that way.
Her off-key Interpretation con-
trasted brilliantly with Leo
Gems heady fireworks as the
luStful Herod.
Yet all performances were Sec
ondary TO the staging which,
with its fabulous demonstration
of TV lighting wizardry. in
Istantly transported the viewer to
the scene. The cistern In which
John was imprisoned actually
looked cold"
/ The staging was particularly
defective in the famous dance Of
the Seven Wells. playing the sin
uous. sensual movements Of Miss
Kilt against a symphony in light
and shadows.
| Oscar Wilde didn't waste any
time disposing Of the obviously
mad Salome for a curtain. Herod
orders her killed like q man COM
ing to his senses.
! Why is it. incidentally, that
Omnibus can achieve strikingly
realistic effects in setting and
staging time after time, while
lother shows falter with the SIM
Iplest Of production problems?
4 y
/ On the Run:
I WRC-4 and the Air Force pre-
miered the first of four programs
on "Efficient Reading" Saturday
|. 1t was an Introductory show
and there wasn't too much time
to go into the various tech
niques used to improve reading in
the service. but it seems like II
could be Of considerable help to
anyone with reading difficulties
i. The man in charge Of the
course apparently knows his
work, and while he isn't the most
efficient speaker around, he looks
a lot like Bill Holden All the
I ladies ! know say that helps.
The young fellers watching
II "a