Daily Record from Morristown, New Jersey • Page 47

Daily Record, Northwest N.J., Thursday, November 16, 197847 'Jolson' MayBe Broadway-Bound By FRAN WOOn stylized, which is fine for a show which captures the feeling of early Broadway song-and-dance musicals and Hollywood's first "talk (ft Sv showgirl Sally Baxter, is only so-so. Her singing voice is passable, her dancing a little less than that. Her acting, of which there is very little, is quite good. On the whole the score is uneven, although there are more good songs than bad. "Little Sammy" and "The Good Guy Always Gets the Girl" are great; "It's a Great Idea," performed by a quintet representing the board at Warner Bros.

Studios, is well-executed and catchy. But "The Question" and "Who Needs Love?" have neither lyrics nor music to recommend them. Bill Guske's direction has its flaws, but his choreography is superb. "Tappin-G-Minor," a show-stopping tap routine featuring male and female choruss drew enthusiastic applause, and the finale following Baldwin's delivery of "Give Me a Good Old Mammy Song" (the only number done in blackface), was stunning. The time is right for a musical about "Jolson" witness the success of current Broadway shows about Fats Waller Misbe-havin' and Eubie Blake But this "Jolson" is going to need a lot of work before it gets there.

It plays through Dec. 17. MILLBURN TWP. Jolson's back I don't mean back on Broadway although that Is certainly the hope of the creators of the new musical premiering at Paper Mill Play-house now. When and if it is snapped up for a New York run, however, it won't be this particular version.

"Jolson," which focuses on a 10-year period (1926-36) in the entertainer's life, incorporates a book by Leslie Eberhard and David Levy and music and lyrics by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown (best known for co-writing "Sweet Gypsy Rose" and "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak These components are delivered by a cast of 30 in the tone of Broadway's memorable musicals of the 30's. While the show has a number of shortcomings, it has enough going for it to reach Broadway. Not in its present form, however. A number of scenes are plodding and need extensive rewriting.

Tightening up the first act, for example, is a must. Herbert Senn and Helen Pond provide some smashing scenery. Most of it is flashy and ies." One depicting the humble Lower East Side apartment of Jolson's parents, however, misses entirely. The only part of the story which hints at the singer's roots, it is most seriously marred by an enormous lacy frame surrounding the players and some outlandishly exaggerated 30s furnishings. (Additionally, the characters of Mama and Papa, played by Nina Dova and Reuben Schafer, are so stereotyped they may embarass anyone who is Jewish.) Star Clive Baldwin is a dead ringer for the "World's Greatest Entertainer." He offers more than just the aura of the arrogant, egocentric, manipulative he also moves, talks and sings (you could close your eyes and swear you were listening to an old recording) exactly like him.

Unfortunately, unless he is engaged in one of those three activities, he stands about with an expression of confusion, looking as though he is either waiting for his next cue or wondering what he's doing there. Sherry Rooney, who plays Jolson's wife, Clive Baldwin and Sherry Rooney (I MUSIC NOTES By STEVE LIBOWITZ Got a little pocket money? Capitol Records has iust the thina for vou. Star Bubble Gum For The Brain They released The Beatles Gift Box this week, a very limited thirteen-record set containing all twelve Beatle studio albums the way thev were originally released in England, plus an LP entitled BeatJes Rari ties, which is comprised of seventeen sides of singles. Two "The Inner Light" and the jukebox classic, "You Know My Name (Look Up The I i lit-. I flumcer) have never been issued on an album in the U.S.

Only 3,000 copies will be available to the public. List price: $132.98. Charlie Karp and David Hull have been around the music business too long to stick with a deal they don't like. Karp and Hull the heart if V-' and soul of Dirty Angels, who were at the Show Place last weekend have played music together for ten years, recording for six record labels and supporting some of rock's biggest (Buddy Miles, Jimmy Hen-drix, Arthur Lee, Steve Tyler) names during the span. So when the pair felt Private Stock records wasn't doing a decent job promoting Dirty Angels, their latest project, they bought out.

Now they're happy at A where producer Lew Futterman (Ted Nugent) handled their label debut. As Hull explains it: "We have a very varied sound, mixing many styles. Richard Gottehrer Blondie, Richard Hell just didn't know what to do with us. Now at A Lew just let us do what we wanted. We had a lot more time and I think it came out great.

How about you?" Well now that you asked, Dave, the album's real fine. I especially like the way the cuts alternate from power pop to hard rock. Mixing Beatles with Nugent not bad. By the way, "Tell Me," an instant classic if there ever was one, has be named Dirty Angels's first single. It's a re-master from the Private Stock album on which, it was also the single.

As Hull pointed out, that makes putting his career together, but claims to be a "15-year overnight success." Since then he's starred in "Force 10 from Navarone" and the World War II romance "Hanover Street." He said, "It's the movie that made the world safe for war movies." Daniels came here for the special after completing a run in South Africa in the play "P.S., Your Cat Is Dead," in which he played an American cat burglar. "That was a great chance to get away from C3PO," Daniels said. "He's zappy and has a great sense of humor. C3PO is terribly formal, which gives him his sense of humor." Mayhew said after his role as Chewbacca he went back to his old job as a hospital orderly. "But it was no great strain on me," he said.

"It was what I had done before and I enjoyed it. I'm basically out of it now." Mark Hamill was another unknown whose career went into orbit after "Star Wars." He starred in "Corvette Summer" and in the upcoming "Big Red One." "All our personalities are close to our characters," Hamill said. "George Lucas cast it that way. I'm very pop oriented. I love being on bubble gum cards.

four separate releases. Good singles never die. They just get re-released. GRAND mi- ii ii ii I. A family of Wookies ml By JERRY BUCK AP Television Writer HOLLYWOOD (AP) "I don't sing, I don't dance, and don't ask me," says Harrison Ford of "Star Wars" fame.

Ford, the laconic Han Solo of the swashbuckling space epic, said he leaves the singing to Carrie Fisher. At least she's the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. But Ford, along with Mark Ha-mill, 3CPO, R2D2 and Chewbacca, stick to their characters and the tenuous plot for "The Star Wars Holiday Special" tomorrow night on CBS. Is it an exploitation of the big-, gest grossing movie of all time? You bet, but relax and enjoy it. It's bubble gum for the brain.

It loosely centers on the family of Chewbacca, Solo's 7-foot-2 Wookiee co-pilot, on the planet of Kazzook. At home are his wife, Malla; his father, Itchy, and his son, Lumpy. It's Life Day on Kazzook, and the Wookiees are visited by many of the stars of the movie and are entertained by Beatrice Arthur, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, Dia- hann Carroll and the Jefferson Starship. Miss Arthur tends a bar not un- like that on Tatooine that attract-l ed such strange customers in the movie. She looks like she could handle the crowd.

The special has its own dazzling special effects. Part of it is found in the Wookiees' sophisticated electronic equipment. Diahann T. Carroll appears as a water god-' dess singing only for Itchy's en- joyment. And when Lumpy gets bored, he plays halographic TV cassettes in which the characters emerge full-size from the screen.

The Jefferson Starship comes in an electronic music box. Co-producer Ken Welch said, "We wanted to do things you've never seen before. For one se-" quence we've got the camera in a lighted mirror box and it endless- ly repeats the image to infinity." Most of the "Star Wars" cast Ford as Solo, Hamill as Luke Sky- walker, Miss Fisher a Princess Leia, Anthony Daniels as 3CPO and Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca will assemble early next year in Norway for the first movie se-; quel, set on an ice planet. Un- doubtedly Darth Vader, given voice by James Earl Jones, will I be there, too. Miss Fisher, attired in Princess Leia's white gown and with her dark hair up in buns, said, "I've never been more excited.

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