Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 109

1 add SOUL belly wats. to determine their very best friend was merely an excuse for some Caesar grimaces, grunts and groans. And even that dud had a bright side. It gave us a closer look at Jane Connell, a little blonde who, from her performance yesterday in all three acts, gave promise of being a marvelous comic foil for Ceasar. On Television: ABC Brings Back Sid Caesar-And nd TV Fun By Barbara Delatiner Newsday Television Critic If last night's visit with Sid Caesar things to come then the comedian's up to a most attractive ornament tinsel.

For, in his return to the TV Sid hit pavdirt two out of three times. And, since perfection is pretty hard to come by in any field, that's great batting average. Not that any of Sid's antics elicited mass hysteria. They weren't the -laugh, tear-provoking type of material. But who's complaining about a genuine smile or a sincere chuckle? I'm -especially in a seathat hasn't been noted for producing much laughter.

Sid's passes at originality were worth their weight in the gold that from the new situation comedies. is any portent of monthly outing will on ABC's pyramid of Barbara Delatiner hasn't been mined Anthony Quinn, Left, and Mickey Rooney in 'Requiem' Selected Short Subjects Slate 'Chinese Opera' Classical Chinese theater will arrive on Broadway Nov. 12 for a four week stay at the Longacre Theater. The touring Foo Hsing Theater of Nationalist China, 40 actors none of whom are over their teens, will perform 111 the 3.000-vear-old tradition of so-called "Chinese Opera." It is a stylized fusion of severely disciplined drama, singing and acrobatics. A spokesman said the troupe will be seen in a full-length musical drama, "The Beautiful Bait." derived from an incident in the era of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty in the Third Century.

A one hour British Broadcasting Co. study, "The Rise of Soviet Power." will be telecast by Channel 5 Oct. 30 (8 PM) and repeated Nov. 4 (9 PM). Malcolm Muggeridge is the narrator The late Myron McConnick will be seen in his last role on the debut of a new religious series, "Legacy of Light." Sundav (11 AM.

Channel 9.) He'll star as Mephistopheles 111 a modern translation of "Faust," with Hurd Hatfield playing the title role. Channel 7's big news is a one-hour week-night news show beginning Monday at 6 PM aptly titled "The Big News." News, weather and comment will fill the hour Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Greer Garson will star in an original drama, "The Shadowed on "Dupont Show of the Week" for Nov. 4 (10 PM, Channel 4). Curtain Up on LI (This column will print musical and theatrical notices if such notices are received at least 48 hours before the performance.

Address "Curtain Up out Newsday, 550 Stewart Garden City.) Tonight "Bre Bve Birdie" with Tom Poston and Chita Rivera at the Mineola Playhouse, Mineola, 8:30 PM. In his two successful sketches, it was this originality that scored the most. Just the notion of picturing the mind as a sort of electronic computing center presided over by the Brain, which coordinated the reports of various other parts of the human body, was delicious enough. So what if each and every line wasn't a howl? The idea alone and an occasional delicacy--like the Stomach chasing after nervous butterflies with a net- the bit amusing. So, too, with a pantomime slice-of-life domestic argument set against the dramatic background music of such composers as Beethoven, Wagner and Tchaikovsky.

It may have been too long -Caesar still doesn't know when to stop--but the sight of angry arms and hands waving and punctuating Beethoven's Fifth was worth the occasional monotony. Only when Caesar (and his writers, Marvin Marx, Hugh Wedlock and Marty Roth) reverted to the familiar did the half-hour resemble the gifted comic at his worst. A weak family sketch which had a couple trying Viewers finally got a look at both senatorial candidates last night on Channel 11's Javits-Donovan debate. And, while not as exciting as Sunday's encounters between Rep. Otis G.

Pike and Walter M. Ormsby and Rep. John Lindsay and Martin Dworkis on Channel 2, the half-hour at least did give us the opportunity to meet and hear the Democratic hopeful Channel 4's "The Story of opened last night with "Jockey" completing the title. Any similarity between this syndicated half-hour and NBC's big-time "World of is purely intentional. It's an inoffensive little documentary, not terribly perceptive, but interesting in a superficial way.

On Movies Anthony Quinn Packsa Wallop In 'Requiem for a Hea Heavyweight' By Mike McGrady "Requiem for a Rod Serling's bitterly beautiful portrait of a used-up prize fighter -has been etched in acid, framed in uncompromising realism and comes to life with one of the year's finest dramatic performances. Anthony Quinn goes the full distance as Mountain Rivera, onetime contender for the championship, battered veteran of 17 years in the ring. His face is a misshapen mass of old scars, but his pride is untouched. He considers boxing a sport despite his manager's more worldly outlook: "Sport? Are vou kidding? If there was headroom, they'd hold these things in sewers." The story opens with Mountain's final fight, a dramatically photographed sequence seen through the blurred vision of the battered boxer. And the audience, like Mountain, feels- than seesthe punches.

Mountain, told that another bout will cost him his sight, faces three alternatives. He can retire to the "graveyard," a bar where old fighters stand dying before the flickerings of televised fights. Or he can, as his manager suggests, swallow his dignity and become a pro wrestler. Or, most difficult of all, he can enter a brand-new world--the world that exists outside the arena. Fitting into the new environment is no small task for the big man.

His trials are dramatized with understanding and sympathy, with humor and sadness. As when he competes with crewcut collegians for a theater usher's job. As when he tries for a camp counselor's job with these references: "I had 111 fights 'n never took a dive. I'm kinda proud of And even the most comic lines are geared for compassion. As when he tries to persuade his manager to let him accept the summer camp position with this argument: "You got a third of the action." And when the manager, eyeing a somewhat more lucrative spot in the commercial moan-and-groan circuit, sighs: "My son, the counselor." Jackie Gleason as the manager and Julie Harris as the girl from the employment office turn in unsurprising performances.

That is to say, consistently first-rate. But Mickey Rooney, in the relatively small role of the fighter's trainer, outshines the two of them. During a card-playing sequence, Rooney records a show-biz first; he skillfully steals an entire comic scene right out from under Gleason's everwatchful gaze. Serling's taut script, based on his earlier "Playhouse 90" offering, allows for no digressions, no excursions from the main story line, no moment of respite. Director Ralph Nelson, making his motion picture debut, has captured the same pacing and mood of "On The Waterfront," and, more recently, "The Hustler." But it is Quinn's triumph--just as it is Mountain's.

Finally forced to enter the wrestling arena for his manager's sake, he hears Gleason conclude: "You're not a winner any more, Mountain." Wrong. The fighter sacrifices his pride, but maintains his dignity. Matinees for Young to Be 'Live' A Long Island movie chain will initiate a monthly series of live children's musicals on Saturdav afternoons featuring the Peppermint Players, a professional group that has made a name for itself off-Broadway. The new venture is being tried, the owner of the chain said, because of among other things- lack of decent films for "kiddie matinees." "There's such a shortage of good children's movies that at times I've had to put on things like "The Monster From Outer said Sidney Sinetar, owner of the Town and Country Theater chain, which operates movie houses in Hewlett, Wantagh and Glen Cove. So far, four shows are and the Baba and the Thieves," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Pinnochio." The 600-seat Hewlett Theater will have "Beanstalk" this Saturdav, "Ali Baba" on Nov.

17, "Sleeping Beauty" on Dec. 15 and "Pinnochio" on Jan 19. The 600-seat Wantagh Theater will have the same shows, respectively, on Nov. 3, Jan. 12, Dec.

1 and Feb. 2. The schedule for the 1.000-seat Town Theater in Glen Cove, also in the same order, is Nov. 10, Jan. 5, Dec.

and Feb. 9. There will be two showings each Saturday in Hewlett and Wantagh and one in Glen Cove. In addition to a shortage of quality children's films for Saturday afternoon showings, the theater owner said, the shows are planned in response to calls from parents asking for live shows similar to those presented by touring groups in schools. "I didn't want to put on a rank amateur group," Sinetar said.

"but when the Peppermint Players possibility came up we signed them. Ticket prices for the musical matinees will be substantially higher than thes are for movies. Single admissions are $1.25. Center Section Index Bridge 13C Classified M18-M31 Crossword 13C Cryptoquote 10C Earl Wilson 6C Movie Timetable 6C News Calendar 13C Obituary 27C On Stage 3C Radio, TV Listings 5C Sports 16C-25C Star Gazer 27C Stock Market 14C The Teen Scene 11C Your Problem 10C Your Purse Strings 14C 2 Newsday.