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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 19, 1958)
12 MAIL TRIBUNE. Mcdferd, Or,on, Monday, M.y 19, 195S Lewis Show Ranges From Tee-Hees To Low Tedium By WILLIAM EWALD United Press Correspondent New York flPl Jerry Lewis seemed a little less bent gin playing the primitive on his special NBC-TV show Fri day night and I would say it was all to the good. Unfortunately his material was spotty and, as a result, his hour shuttled between tee hees and tedium. - One of his sketches had a decent basic idea: Lewis, a bass player stationed in the rear of the orchestra, was called upon to sing the open ing lines of each tune the band played. Forced to ne gotiate the distance between his position and the. front row microphone Lewis caus ed a considerable amount of havoc during his excursions. The climax, however, in which the band ganged up on him, was pointless. There were a couple of take-offs on commercials particularly one about those also showed some inventive ness. But there were less for tunate bits an airport wel come scene with George Jes sel that ended in predictable chaos, an interminable vaude ville type skit in which Lew is played a heckler, and a sketch in which Lewis es sayed another one of those "poor soul" type creatures at a dance. Better At Dancing Strangely enough, I found Lewis easiest to take when he hoofed. Actually, he's not much of a dancer he fakes a lot and he doesn't seem to know much beyond the rudi ments of the trade. But Lew is does have a relaxed gang liness in . his movements to music, a Ray Bolger-Gil Lamb kind of limberness and bounce that I find moderately engaging. This was the last show for Lewis of the current season and I would sum up his ef forts by saying they have been indicative of what is wrong with much of our cur rent TV comedy. The Lewis type of comedian the de stroyer of furniture, the ma ker of funny faces, the belter of sincere-brand songs done Jolson style, the faller-down on the floor, and stumbler has worn thin his welcome. The type is a remnant from the pre-mike era in which performers played to the balcony. As Shelley Berman, one of the new comics, put it recent ly the future of comedy seems to lie in the satiriza tion of situations found in everyday life. Those situa tions are almost inexhausti ble. There are only so many Steel Production Still Climbs Following Predicted Improvement Cleveland, Ohio rtfl Steel production last week continued inching up from the year's low point for the third consecutive week following an anticipated pattern of grad ual improvement, Steel Mag azine reported today. Furnaces were operated at 51.5 per cent of capacity, up 1.5 points from the previous week's rate. Production was about 1,390,000 net tons of steel for ingots and castings. In the last three weeks, steel-making rebounded from the year's' low point to the level of late March. The op erating rate climbed 4.5 points. As much strength was gained in the three weeks since Aftril 27 as was lost in the five weeks preceding that date. Even without further re covery, the trade magazine said May production should approach six million tons, easily topping last month's 5.53 million and just beating February's 5.78 million. Eight of the 13 steelmaking districts showed improve ment last week. They were Cincinnati, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Birmingham, St. Louis, Wheeling and the Mid Atlantic. Youngstown, New England and the Far West held steady, while Pittsburgh and Cleveland registered slight drops. In Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia, steelmen were looking less harried. Interna tional Harvester Co. reported its farm equipment sales for the six months ended April Intelligence Agency May Receive Review Washington (IP Sen Styles Bridges proposes that a senate subcommittee review operations of the super-secret Central Intelligence Agency in the wake of Vice President Richard M. Nixon's violence scarred good-will tour of South America. "Now is a good time for a review," the New Hampshire 3 Republican told the United Press. , As a top Republican mem ber of the Senate Armed Serv ices committee, Bridges also serves on the five-man sub committee which plays a watchdog role in the admin istration of CIA. The sub committee conducts an annual study of the agency's work. Generally its members spend a couple of days checking into its operations. No such review has been conducted this year. Charges of inefficiency were made against CIA in the furor which followed stu .dent riots and anti-U.S. dem onstrations which marred the Vice President's trip. Bridges did not echo those charges. But he recommended that the subcommittee look into the agency's advance preparation for Nixon's tour. "We should find out what information was obtained, how it was evaluated, and whether it was acted upon when it was passed to other agencies," the Senator said. Other Senate sources said it was likelv the subcommit tee would undertake its regu lar review in the near future They said such reviews in the past had disclosed no serious faults. On at least some occasions. onesource said, CIA has been found to have passed along information which was not apted unoii. Principal comolaints voiced by subcommittee members after cast reviews, these sources said, have involved the agency's use of funds for which no strict accounting is made and the heavy roster of CIA employes in Washington Chairman Richard B. Rus sell " (D-Ga.) of the Armed Services committee, heads the CIA subcommittee. In addi tion to Bridges, committee aides said the subcommittee now includes Sens. Harry F. Byrd (D-Va.), Senate v Demo cratic Leader Lyndon B. John son ,(Tex.) and Leverett M. Saltonstall (R-Mass.). Johnson . said in a speech Wednesday that "We will have to find out what hap pened to the normal channels of V diDlomacv and intelli gence" in connection with the Nixon trip which ended with mob violence in Caracas, Ven ezuela. ; . A second Senate subcom mittee a panel of the pow erful Senate Appropriations committee rides herd on the financing of CIA for the Senate. Funds for the agency are provided indirectly, through appropriations to other agencies, to mask the nature and scope of the na tion's intelligence report. 30 were 5 per cent ab'ove those of a year ago. Tractor sales for the last week in April were the best of any week in 6V2 years. Construction activity also is helping demand. Steelmak ers said they were getting bigger orders forwide flange beams, reinforcing bars, mer chant pipe and galvanized sheets. Automakers appa rentl'y have placed their last steel or ders for the 1958 models. It is understood that General Motors wants to complete component production runs by the end of June so that it can do tryout work on '59's. Detroit mills reported an in flux of inquiries and small or ders for die tryout and pre production runs. If steel producers intend to raise the price of tin plate July 1 to coincide with in creases expected on other products, they'll have to give automakers 35 days notice. Steel said an announcement could be expected by May 27. The metal working weekly said the tin plate announce ment may give a hint of the nature of the general steel price increase. Steel said that if no word came on tin plate next week it could mean that steel producers plan to fore go increases on some pro ducts. A survey by the magazine showed that prices of most metalworking components will stabilize at present 'lev els or drop slightly the rest of this year. Increases were anticipated by only a few in dustries. Despite spiraling costs, markups are being post poned because of competition stemming from weak demand and overcapacity in some in dustries. The scrap market contin ued to gain strength for the second week. Stells compo site on No. 1 heavy melting grade was $32.83 a gross ton, up 83 cents. Timer suggestion if you need money! Call on America's oldest consumer finance company Modern money service backed bp 80 years of experience Any time of day is a good time to talk to the friendly people at HFC about your money problems. Conduct your business with experi enced people you can trust. Advice is sotmd and helpfuL Loans are made promptly and ki privacy. Borrow up to $1500, with repayment terms you choose up to 24 months to repay j OUSEHOLD FINANCE 128 E. Main St., 2nd Floor PHONE: SPring 3-5301 variations on one-line gags, on mugging and prop break ing. It's a lesson that Lewis might take to heart next sea son. Short Shots: Steve Allen was the best mystery guest I've ever seen on CBS-TV's "What's My Line" this sea son. I liked particularly his rejoinder to the question: "Is your show a situation com edy?" Allen's . reply: "Well, the situation is that we could use more comedy." Leonard Never Big . Jack E. Leonard, the com edian who appeared on the CBS-TV "Ed Sullivan Show" Sunday night, has never made 3 m ON HTME 0 it big in TV and I think one of the reasons might lie in his lack of adjustment to the TV medium. Leonard plays to the studio audience insult ing them, trying to ' wheedle laughs from them instead of working to the audience at home. Another reason might lie in his occasional insertion of "blue" material. His joke about Frank Sinatra's house "The towels are marked 'his' and 'sign in, please' was pretty gamey for TV." Ida Lupino's comedy - in terview sketch with' Elaine and Mike on the NBC-TV "Dinah Shore Shjrw" was a very funny bit and Miss Lu- pino worked well with Miss Shore and Ginger Rogers in a singing routine, too Miss Lupino is such a pro it's kind of strange she hasn't worked on more variety shows. CBS-TV will show "Zane Grey Theatre" twice during one week in July on July 7, the first of a summer series of Zane Grey re-runs will start in the Monday half-hour now filled by "December Bride," and on July 11, the last of this season's regular Friday night Zane Grey show will be shown. An anthology series, "Destiny," will take over the Friday Zane Grey spot for the summer. Negro Pupils Stay ' Away From Classes New York OFMore than 500 Negro pupils boycotted classes Friday in protest against alleged segregation of their two Harlem schools. The pupils stayed away at the request of their parents, who acted in response to a plea from a Harlem parent teacher association. The students represented about 38 per cent of . one school's enrollment and 17 of the other. Both schools are predominantly Negro. Both sea and lake sturgeon live in the fresh waters of the St. Lawrence river the year around. In spring dense 'schools drive into tributary streams to spawn. Manslaughter Trial Set for Vale Man Vale, Ore. HP) Richard Newlan of Payette is sched uled to go on trial July 14 on five counts of a manslaughter charge. He pleaded innocent before Circuit Judge M. A. Biggs, who set trial date for May 26 and then changed it to the mid-July date. Newlan was charged in connection with a traffic accident near . Hunt ington last July 3 whch cost the lives of five persons. PLANER BLOX Clean Quick Delivery Medford Fuel Co. 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