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.
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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.
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CHINESE SPUTNIK SKEW
'Moscow (IP) ' The presi
dent of the Communist Chi
nese Academy of Science says
China might launch its own
earth satellite soon, the Soviet
Communist party newspaper
Pravda said Sunday. ,
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