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Show Around Town The Broadway Lights: They say Henry Ford II is quietly backing several Broadway hits . . . Producer-director John C. Wilson was named in his mother's will for a young mint . . . Martin Kingsley of the "Red Gloves" cast was on the Tommy Harmon team at Michigan Mich-igan . . . Jerry Colonna is in our feverish midst with gray hair, albeit al-beit his mustache remains raven black . . . "He & She," the Ken Englund revusical (with lyrics and chunes by Ogden Nash and Vernon Ver-non Duke), is being readied. Sono Osato and Lionel Stander will be In it. Jose Ferrer will direct. The cost: $165,000. George Wright, the organist t the Paramount financed his musical studies 5 years ago by making salads in the kitchen at the swank Colony. Now he's Introducing a tune named for his former boss: "The Cavallero Calypso" . . . Rise Stevens spurned "The Little Foxes" musicalized version planned by Cheryl Crawford . . . Broadway stage shows will Include some of the top names In H'wood jiow on the At Liberty lists. The First Nights: The aislemen went West going to town for the fabulous Mae in an encore of her 20-year-young hit, "Diamond Lil" . . . "Blood Wedding" was rejected by some, while others rejoiced. Mr. Atkinson called it "rich in poetic aspiration and deserves to be appreciated" ap-preciated" . , . Shakespeare's "Richard III" received a big hello from several drama deputies who warmly greeted Dick Whorf for putting the class in the classic. However, most critics were not as affable as Dick Watts, who- wrote: "A great, vibrant show" . . . The next entry, called "My Name Is Aquilon," has Lilli Palmer and Jean Pierre Aumont executing some feathery man-and-woman-euvers, but they're shackled by the leaden scrivening. The flippancies display a dimple here and a wrinkle there . . . The week's windup, "Death of a Salesman," ignited a critical torchlight parade. Memos on a Theatre Program: Here's a strange twist: The revivals reviv-als of "Carousel" and "Diamond Lil" inspired more rejoicing among reviewers than when they were first displayed . . . Incidentally, Mae West is the 10th star of the new season to romp away with a rousing personal triumph . . . Met-opera Met-opera execs must have their brains In their hip pockets. They signed pro-Communist Paul Robeson for next season. Apparently they're going into the red in more ways than one. . . One Variety article blamed "misinformed" columnists for spreading talk about a Hollywood Holly-wood depresh. Another (on the same page) contained this: "Television may be the savior of the film industry, leading it out of Its current financial difficulties" dif-ficulties" ... By the way, aiding needy thes-pians thes-pians has burdened the Motion Picture Relief Fund with a 329G deficit. In short: Things are so rugged the relief fund needs relief. The Cinemagicians: "He Walked by Night" gives the attention a fast workout with a taut and tingly thriller. Richard Basehart's gam-uting gam-uting wraps the spine in ice . . "John Loves Mary" clowns around with some romantic problems. It's funny when Jack Carson is around to make the whacky goings-on whackier . . . "Tarzan's Magic Mountain" has a new set of mus cles named Lex Barker on the tree to-tree network garbed in the cus tomary 35 cents' worth of clothes . . . "Kidnapped" spins R. L. Stev enson in his mausoleum with a feeble version of his classic . . "Strike It Rich" is lusty stuff in the oil fields with decorative Bon ita Granville dropping in for the sighing episodes . . . "The Count ess of Monte Cristo" has Sonja Henie's graceful gyrations giving you a better whirl than the inepi yarn-spinning ... "A Place o: One's Own" is a British spook storj haunted by the ghost of a dead script . . . "Blazing Across the Pecos" isn't fit for -cowboy 01 horse. Love Letter of the Week: From an article by the former chief prober of the un-American Activities Comm: "Chairman Dies, after a brawling debate with Walter Winchell, had left, Washington for his Texas home and had decided not to run for office again." Hot diggety! It took Just one fistful of facts to send Dies reeling Into oblivion. |