The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 115

Right Out of Left Field By KATHY SAWYER (EYERLY HILLS Tie "AH the" family tree will bear strange fruit this fall Liberal fruit in the person of a lady named Maude. Billed as the flipside of Archie Bunker, "Maude" is the only legitimate off-spring of the controversial hit series in the new television line-up, though there is a general upsurge in ethnic humor. Maude Findlcy, played by Beatrice Arthur, confronts Archie In an "All in the Family" episode to be re-run next Saturday (7 p.m., Ch. 5). The new CBS series begins taping July 11, before a live audience.

Norman Lear, who brought "All in the Family" to American television, is the executive producer. Lear and producer Rod Parker see Maude as an example of "flawed-libcralism," a knee-Jerk liberal who is just as sure of her beliefs as the conservative Archie is of his, "a dominant, forceful woman who can kill with a line or can intimidate with overpowering "We think Maude is a character that everyone will recognize from real life," said the producer. "As one of our writers put it, 'I'm dying to put words in that woman's Fourth Husband In more specific terms, Maude is an upstate New York matron who has been twice widowed and once divorced. She lives in a comfortable home with her fourth husband, the only man in her life she cannot dominate (played by Bill Macy), her divorced daughter and her eight-year-old grandson. They have an arch-conservative neighbor (played by Conrad Bain).

"There's a great deal of mo in Maude," said Mrs. Arthur, a Tony Award-winner, who was sought out by her long-tinia friend Lear to play the role. "Her outlook is not just politic! it's a way of life. "For instance, in the pilot episode, a plumber comes to her I I Archie Bunker's Cousin Maude, liberally portrayed by Beatrice Arthur, is never shy about voicing her opinions to her husband Walter, played by Bill Macy, in the new series called "Maude," to be seen beginning in September. The pilot for the series airs on "All in the Family," Saturday (7 p.m., Ch.

5). house and isn't able to fix anything but he still tries to charge her $10. She gets very, very kind and polite and gives him $2, smilingly, and tells him to consider himself lucky, getting $2 for doing nothing. "I once took a landlord to small claims court over a rent disagreement. I got $74 out of it, but it cost me $150 in court costs.

It was the principle of the thing. I think people ought to complain more." After "All in the Family" soared to the ratings stratosphere, Lear kept after Miss Arthur to appear in an episode. Then when her husband, director Gene Saks, came to Hollywood to do "Last of the Red Hot Lovers," he nicntioud to Lear that Bea was coming out too. Lear worked up a "Cousin Maude" script and Bea agreed to do the episode, in which the Blinker family takes sick and she comes to minister to them. Maude and Archie mix like oil and water, head-on.

"Afterward, Norman called me in New York and said that Fred Silberman (CBS vice-president in charge of programming) had called and said, 'Who was that That broke me up." She subsequently did the wedding episode which CBS, enthused, designated as the pilot for the spin-off series. "When the thing was first broached to me, it was to take place in New York," said Miss Arthur. 'Now it's been moved to the West Coast and I'm out here trying to get a house with enough land for two German shepherds and our sons, Danny and Matthew. I'm a little anxious about the whole thing." A veteran of 20 years in the theater, her television experience is limited largely to what she calls "under fives" parts with under five spoken lines on the old Sid Caesar and other comedy shows. "Then when my husband became successful, I decided that since I didn't have to worry where my next meal was coining from I wouldn't do more 'under I didn't work for four years," she grinned.

"I did a lot of 'closing out of town. Now I like to say I come out of retirement every four years. "The television show shouldn't be too different from the theater. It's taped before a live audience, and the laughs have to be gotten there on stage. As with all 'practicing liberals," she said, Maude sometimes finds her instinctive emotions in conflict with her ideals and political beliefs, a conflict she is unwilling to admit exists.

"If she were a true liberal, she would be able to see both sides of every question. But a Liberal with a capital always thinks she's right, which is actually conservative." In describing her own orientation, Miss Arthur said, "I hate injustice, I hate bores, love life I'm a very lusty lady." She said she is not a political activist, devoting her time rather to such efforts as animal welfare. Producer Parker said the show would shy away from major "causes." "We have found that, to be perfectly honest, women in upstate New York don't get involved in too many such activities. In local ones, yes. But we feel Maude's views will be more effective as they bear on her family and community, more so than a woman who ties herself to a steam roller and goes to Washington to protest." Met Years Ago Miss Arthur, a husky-voiced actress who won her Tony for her 1966 performance as Vera Charles in "Maine," met Norman Lear years ago just after he had become producer of the "George Gobel Show," then on its last legs.

"He called and said he'd seen me in a revue and asked me if I wanted to become a regular on the Gobel show. Three or four shows later, it went off the air, so there was no Job, but I've stayed in touch with 11 4th Is Alive Well On Ch. 2 Tuesday! THE PUBLIC Broadcasting Service will celebrate Independence Day with a full and festive schedule of July 4th programs. The birthday party will begin here at 2 p.m. on Channel 2.

Among the candles PBS will light on its July 4th birthday cake will be: Coverage of the final competition in the National Intercollegiate Kodeo from Dozeman, Montana, 5 p.m.; An all-American Evening at Pops concert with conductor Arthur Fiedler, composer Leroy Anderson and the Boston Pops Orchestra, at 7:30 p.m.; The Great Circus Parade, live color coverage of Milwaukee's spectacular street extravaganza narrated by Ernest Borgnine, at 2 p.m.; An animated retelling of America's birthday story through the drawings and voices of children, at 7 p.m.; A sampler of the Smithsonian Institute's annual Festival of American Folklore from the Mall in Washington, D.C., at 4 p.m. After the ice cream and the fireworks, the parades and the picnics, the celebration will continue on PBS. i if i i Chess Match On Channel 2 THE Public Broadcasting Service plans to carry simulated play-by-play color coverage of the first game of the historic Spassky-Fischer world championship chess tournament beginning today at noon on Channel Two. Shelby Lyman, a chess master and instructor will receive the play-by-play information direct from Reykjavik, Iceland via teletype. Lyman will duplicate the moves on a demonstration chess board and, on a second board, will provide explanations of possible counter-moves.

Lyman will also be in telephone contact with chess writer Frank Brady in Iceland, and with experts from the Marshall chess club in New York City. Brady will provide tape recorded interviews and background on the participants and the setting. I -J is.