Evening star., 1955-11-25


Serling network.
The promising young author
on Kraft last season is represents
of six days-United States Steel
wednesday night, Climax last
night, and Studio One next Nom
day.
That is clearly q new worlds
record--the hottest typewriter
since Bill Saroyan.
Servings wednesday effort was
q story about q rookie policeman:
Climax offered q drama with a
Hollywood background. and Stu
dio One win be offering come
dy. .aThe Man Who Caught the
Ball at Coogan's Bluff" # noth-
ing else, he Is versatile.
He can also write bad play.
like anyone else. and the first Of
the trio. Incident in an Alley"
was precisely that. q confusing.
repititious account Of q young
policeman's ilightmarish ordeal.
It went something like this.
The rookie cop. played by
Farley Granger, shoots at a f1g-
ure fleeing from the scene Of
what looks like a felony. He kills
the suspect. who turns out to be
q l4-year-old boy who had COM
mitted nothing more than a
prank.
The cop is indicted on a first
degree manslaughter charge and
the atmosphere is supercharged
as the boys distraught mother,
the press lever the villainl and
the public howls for his scalp.
The case against him looks
strong. Unbelievably SO. The po-
liceman. as q boy. had seen his
father. q legend on the force,
brutally killed by q hoodlunl.
The psychological implications
Of this are not lost on the prose-
cutor, and the sensitive young
policeman. already a nervous
wreck, begins to half believe the
charges himself. He looks bad
on the witness stand how does
q man look who is innocent? t?"
and his uncle, q detective, finally
concludes that he may have
made Q mistake in encouraging
him to become cop.
The defense attorney wins the
day. however, with the facts
but the jury's verdict doesn't
relieve the conflict in the young
mans mind.
The victims mother pays him
an unexpected visit and that APP
parently does it. He rushes out
to the scene of the shooting,
collapses sohbing on the ground,
and finally comes to his senses.
The evidence that / collected
here. however, is enough to In
dict author Serling with at least
q hit-and-run case Of writing.
What caused this change may
have been clear to him, hut it
was quite fuzzy to this viewer
and ! suspect. to Farley Granger.
In fact, the movie star seemed
to be IN over his handsome young
head. with the most realistic
performances being turned in by
Larry Gates as his uncle, Moon.
and whoever it was that played
the victims mother. Eerling was
at his best In the trial scenes,
which were as authentic as any
I've seen on TV. The summing
up" speeches were soundly writ-
ten and delivered.
An extra is minutes Of playing
time may have enabled SerlingI
to wind up this unconvincing
play more convincingly, q chorel
he may have postponed until 1t
Is transformed into an uncon-
vincing movie. as 1t undoubtedly
viii.
H&A&
Thought In Passing: The sue
cess Of the remarkable Antonio
and his dancers at the Shubert
Theater this week, which has
prompted the management to
tack on another seven days. can
be attributed In part to the re-
cent appearances Of the troupe
on network shows. Impressarios
who made wise use Of the new
medium, 1t goes without saying.
md many y-splendored payon ct
box ONCE.
On the Run: The withdrawal
Of Margaret Truman from the
east cf .'Daisy, Daisy" Tuesday
night (WRC-4) was news tostnis
reporter. Apparently, the
NBC afhliate here was unaware
Of the cast change. as It had all
day To look at the picture OF
Maggie in the Star and call In
the necessary correction.
The former Presidents daughter
Is pretty busy with her weekday
radio program from NBC. which
may have accounted for her exit.