The Toronto Star from Toronto, Ontario, Canada • 32

Smii 32 TORONTO DAILY STAR Thors Jan 11 DCS MinwBiBBMWiaiiiagmMimmiMaam that Tracy Hepburn magic all the way got to laugh a little cry a little And then the clouds roU by a little the story of That's the glory of Love Stanley Kramer has bucked the trend in at least one respect: Instead of choosing to have a title song writ ten specially for Guess Coming to Dinner the film that arrives today at the Carlton he has selected an old familiar song as his theme Kramer himself told me the other day that he is not wildly enthusiastic about the song but as far as con cerned a perfect touch The Glory of Love richly echoes the naive sen timentalism of the pop culture of the 1940s and 1950s and though a thoroughly modern picture in some respects Quess Coming to Din ner is at heart a nostalgic throwback to that era The theme of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is super contemporary: Can an upper class American white girl marry a Negro without scandalizing her parents and cutting herself off from her roots? There is bound to be a lot of sneer ing about the facile way in which Guess Coming to Dinner tackles this problem and though 1 suppose some of it is quite justified the movie has so many charms that I am willing to overlook its glib and' self indulgent sentimentalism Chief among its delights are the performances of Katharine Hepburn and the late Spencer Tracy united on the screen for the eighth and last time as the parents Tracy and Hepburn as a team have the kind of magic that is found all too rarely in the modern cinema They transcend the material their personal TIIE YOUNG LOVERS played by Katharine Houghton and Sidney Poitier in Guess Coming to Dinner leaf through family album while her supposedly family face and finally surmount the shock of inter racial marriage ii ities as stars are too big for the roles they play and their magnetism is so strong that they steal the focus of the film away from the young lovers who are supposed to be the central charac ters But none of this matters: they are great It is their personal magic their stylish bittersweet projection of love that has flickered and endured that breathes life and joy into an otherwise conventional romantic drama Sidney Poitier as the Negro who wishes to marry their daughter is as usual too perfect to make the racial barrier a serious issue for the white liberal audience He's a distinguished doctor of international reputation af fluent dignified aristocratic and no ble so noble that willing to call the whole thing off if the parents do not give the young couple their blessing Katharine Houghton (Miss Hep burn's niece) as the girl is too naive to be credible She tells her fiance that there be the slightest problem because her parents are the most lib eral enlightened people imaginable And when she arrives home with Poitier in to spring the news on them she is totally oblivious to their unsuccessfully disguised shock Her mother a chic art gallery own er is floored at first but is soon swept awav by the romance of it all and goes to bat for the couple with her husband a craegy faced white haired old liberal San rancisco newspaper publisher This man who has crusaded on the side of the angels all his life is given the ul timate decision and he finds he is in spite of his liberalism against the whole until of course the pre dictable change of heart that allows things to end happily Despite the easy and predicta ble sentimentalism there are plenty of redeeming features in direc tion and William screenplay or one thing the pace is just right or another there is a consistent streak of ironic 1960s racial humor that ikVT wflHI 7qJ AV A MAGNETIC TEAM portraying a love that has flickered and endured Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn steal the focus of the film away from the young lovers supposed to be the central characters in Guess Coming to Dinner Movie dealing with inter racial marriage opens today at tire Carlton It was produced by Stanley Kramer runs counter to the prevailing tone of 1940s and 1950s bourgeois romance and creates an effective balance The caricatured family maid a send up of the Uncle Tom figure provides comic relief from the script's senti mental embarrassments as when told to add yet another place to the growing dinner table (Poitier his humble parents from Los Angeles and an iconoclastic priest are on the guest list) and pipes up that it must be Dr Martin Luther King The 1930s sophistication of Tracy and Hepburn adds another dimension in the context of a film that has a surface of flippant 1960s dialogue and a soft heart of 1950s sentiment their glam orous and worldly style is all the more striking all the more refreshing Tracy and Hepburn pull out all the stops There is simply no one around who can do it better and they have a high old time that is not to be missed In my favorite scene they go for a drive to discuss the problem and pull in to a drive in where the customers are all 40 years younger than they a marvellous sequence in which Tracy after hearing the car hop recite all the latest flavors of ice cream orders what he thinks is his fa vorite only to discover that he hates it And then backing out he bumps into a sportscar whose young owner creates an undignified scene and calls Tracy an old fool Here is a glimpse of a distinguished gentleman of another era discovering that the noisy swinging happen ing world is beyond his control and even his comprehension and of a wife who yearns to protect him but must watch him being wounded Tracy and Hepburn bring it off mag nificently as no one else could and this scene alone is worth your time and the price of admission A first: Prime time news in depth By RICK DU BLOW HOLLYWOOD (UPI) One of the most exciting concepts in the history of network television news programming is in the works at NBC The network said that in one year on Jan 7 1969 it would start broadcasting commercial televi first regularly scheduled two hour prime time news series on a monthly basis will characterize the se ries said William McAndrew president of NBC newsigjArW iC a are going to stress investigative he added of events that have taken place or of the old fashioned hard digging revelation kind of journalism And we are going to aim at the unin volved young of our both the young in years and in To begin' with move is another large step in the elongation of prime time network program ming a trend already marked by the success of mov ies and lengthy specials Tn addition it appears in part to be one of com mercial television's answers to the new Public Broad cast Laboratory of national education video Ai investigative eye The laboratory is a weekly two hour which attempts to explore news and culture develop ments in depth and also with an investigative eye at times It covers in general a variety of stories each week a NBC says of its coming scries: new effort will bring together investigative reporting units with time to dig into a running story or to go out and uncover a new one We with this unrestricted do as little as two stories or as many as a dozen But in any case the story itself will dictate how much time we give it rather than any so called CBS TV had previously announced that it is plan ning a series of prime time news programs with a magazine type format NBC however is the first to plan a two hour series on news Another' aspect of the announcement is that the series is tentatively titled irst Tuesday and will be seen the first Tuesday of each month starting at 9 pm Unless the network plans a change in scheduling Tuesday is one of its movie nights and this series would be shown in the motion picture slot once a month It marks a first lit the ever increasing search for fresh material to fill these two hour programming spots this marks the first time that any network apparently plans to use news broadcasts on a regular basis to plug the gap In the past in addition ot movies there have been theatrical specials and original two hour films The networks have had success with lengthy news specials in prime time on the few occasions they have been tried NBC TV had broadcasts on civil rights foreign policy and organized crime CBS TV on the Warren Commission Report and ABC TV on Africa Until this season NBC TV had for some time been lacking a regular public affairs series in prime time' NBC TV said that its new monthly broadcasts in 1969 would not affect its plans to keep showing other public affairs programs in pnme time and oth er times" Said McAndrew: new program will give us the kind of flexibility we have been At a nimble 68 years of ae TELEVISION Astaire dances on TV again TV HIGHLIGHTS TONIGHT PETER USTINOV 1O3O RIDAY JANUARY 12 starlight Stolz serenaae Man from UNCLE 7 wonders of world (2) Dean Martin Rowan Martin Su san Barrett Barbara Heller Buddy Hackett Movie lopkapi Melina Mer couri Peter Ustinov Maxmillian Schell Rob ert Morley Akim Tami roff A white knuckles suspense story of a bunch of dubious types and a complicated plot to steal museum jewels (1961) Thai Girl MENTION THIS AO GET 1 WWTBfE PENT 633 9026 The Edge ol Night (D The Saint Your More riendly Giant Chez Helene 0 Mr and Sirs Beverly Hillbillies Concentration Donna Reed Mr and Mrs ashion world of Mary Quant Happening Ironside Bewitched 900 when preparing a show such as this I concentrate on anything else I work and think about the project every waking That means Astaire has no time to devote to his sta ble of race horses plays no golf and even foregoes ses sions at the pool table in his showcase home in Beverly Hills red Astaire is a gentle man in every respect His voice is modulated his manners without flaw his talent unapproached by any dancer of modern times There are in fact no As taires coming along Gene Kelly made a run at it more than a decade ago but turned to acting and direct ing instead Quite literally there is no one to fill his shoes Astaire has never allowed his routines to become olcj fashioned nor does he speak nostalgically of the past His new NBC TV spe cial will feature the Young Holt Trio Sergio Mendez and Brazil The music will be provided by Neal Hefti and Simon and Gar funkel along with The Gordian Knot Most of the youngsters in volved in the show weren't born when Astaire danced his way into the movies in the 1930s But someday be able to tell their grandchil dren they worked with red Astaire the most remarka ble modern dancer of the 20th Century red himself even think about such things He's too busy dancing dancing dancing ENJ1968 Admiral IflArPvtaMefts 924 1 143 Tonight looks like a tolerably good night although it starts off pretty slowly with the first of a two part study of on (J at 7 Things brighten up considerably by 730 when 0 pre sents a retread of the Stanley Livingstone Trail with John Glenn retracing New York newspaperman Henry trek through the African jungles to find Dr David Livingstone That will carry you to 830 when 0 offers a look at the Carnaby fashions of Mary Quant who started it all At 9 on 0 is the jewel of the evening Topkapi with Aicrccuri Peter Ustinov Maximillian Schell Robert Morley and Akim Tamiroff This 1964 movie adapted from an Eric Ambler mystery story tells of an ingenious and hair raising plot to steal the Turkish Topkapi mu jewelled dagger Melina plays the money greedy man hungry moll of a motley gangUstinov and Morley are priceless as the fumbling hapless scared stiff amateurs pressed into service by the thieves Turkish Greek and Parisian backgrounds are authen tic If you don't fancy this you might like to catch comedian Buddy Hackett on 0 at 9 (and on at 10) Rich Little hosting a new ABC travelling variety show on at 10 rancophiles and phobes may want to see what the CBC has to say about de Gaulle at 1030 Best late movie bet is The Two Headed Spy with Jack Hawkins on 0 at 1130 DALE 1030 Man at the Centre What is de Gaulle? Who is he? Reach for the Top 1100 By VERNON SCOTT HOLLYWOOD (U I) red Astaire a nimble 68 years old will star in his first television special in seven years eb 7 with the dancing grace that only he can bring to viewers In his first special back in 1958 he collected nine Emmy awards Two subse quent shows in 1959 and 1960 were equally popular with viewers although the video academy backed away from handing him another sack ful of trophies He was cor nering the market Lithe and debonair as ever Astaire rehearses no fewer than eight weeks training himself much as athletes do for the strenu ous routines that look so easy once they are accom plished Appearing a dozen years younger than his age red took a break in his rehears al hall a towel draped around his neck He was asked why he allowed seven years to slip by since his last dance festival don't like doing movies and television at the same he explained either one or the other As you know I've done several pictures in recent years" Among them: The Pleas ure of His Company The Notorious Landlady and just recently Rain bow which may be the most delightful characterization of long and distin guished career And what inspired red to tackle this fourth special? had a couple of new thoughts for dances in he grinned some new music I like and I thought it would be right to put them togeth er This show will have a little bit of As in the past Barrie Local News (1120) 1130 Sports WeatherMystery Theatre Justified jailbreak News (1246) Movie (1140) Lucy Gallant '4 Jane Wyman Charlton Hes ton Claire Trevor Oil rich tycoon and fashion house owner find careers and mar riage mix (1955) 0 Probe (1140) Obesity: Olympic wrestling 0 Movie The Two Headed Spy 4 Jack Hankins Gia Scaia Suspenseful spy film set behind German lutes (1959) 0 Tonight Show Stella Stevens 0 Moe ie Southwest Passage John Ireland Joanne Dru Rod Cameron Robber joins caravan testing camels in US desert (1954) 0 Merv Griffin Sports Movie A Day of ury Dale Robertson Jock Maho nev Western (1956) Movie (1140) Movie (1145) 1200 MIDNIGHT 0 Movie (1210) It Had to Happen ti George Raft Roz Rus sell Comedy drama of Italian immigrant who becomes big city boss has affair with banker's wife (1936) News (D News Pierre Bertou 1115 0 Viewpoint (1119) Night Metro (1126) How's Your Moth erin Law Cartoon Capers The IJttle People 1200 NOON Innrheon Date Q) The Little People 0 News Doctor's House Call (1225) 0 Jeopardy Bewitched 0 Cartoons (1210) 0 Cartoons Neus News Spnrts 1230 0OBO0 search lor lomorrow Guiding Light Hintstnnes News 0 Photo inish 0 Mike Douglas Outrageous Opi nions News Movie 100 a Luncheon Date 930 0 Dragnet Probe prophet 0 Peyton Place 1000 Dragnet '68 Cop is suspect Merv Griffin Ted Mack 0 Mannix hunts maniac Dean Martin See 0 at 9 Operation Enter tainment (debut) Ruch Little hosts this new variety show Guests include Vikki Carr Lennon sis ters Checkmates Mic helle Mademoiselles 0 Run or Your Life Under Attack Dean Martin RENT A TV AGS TOSHIBA NEW PORTABLES ROM $10 COLOR with Option To Buy 923 8481 ffl Junior Hockey London vs Hamilton 0 Star Trek 0 Stanley Living stone Trail John Glenn 1st US as tronaut to circle the earth leads re creation of search in this Great Explorations series special (pre empts Daniel Boone) 0 Batman NYPD 0TBA That Girl 800 O0OO0O Heroes a The lying Nun 830 0 0 0 Telescope The Quant Theory: RED ASTAIRE inally another special Chase will be his dance partner although there will be Astaire solos as well He will reprise Top Hat this time to the music of the rock group The Gordian Knot Perfectionist Astaire in sists on lengthy rehearsals for his own good reasons never totally satisfied with anything he does time you begin rou tining dancing you know a lot of it will be wasted be cause you throw so much he said "My attitude is that no matter how good a show is it good enough I want to do anything less than the best I evaluate what I do watching the steps in a mirror and find that I like what I'm doing Many times I have violent reac tions of disappointment Then again I'll see an old movie I did years ago and say to myself that it so bad after all RENT a tv admiral rtxrruRCA PKiLc COLOR OR ELACK ft ViHJTE TRY Before You Buy! mi i etu i Irt 8 tnU ri It il IKrttie pin ECLIPSED 378 ARUAMEMT 5T 924 8397 CRBJ010 CRB THURSDAY 9:05 11:00 PM Competition: Comnoten Rakoczy March from The Damnation of aust Berltoz Etude in Minor Op 10 nl! Chopin Speak To Me Of Love Lenoir On The Trail from Grand Canyon Suite Grote I Loves You Porgy Gershwin Waltzes from Eva Lehar Danse Macabre Op 40 Saint Saers La Campanella Liszt Waltz from Sleeping Beauty Ballet Tschaikowsky Plaisir D'Amour Martini Overture to La Scala Di Seta Rossini Interlude from Notre Dame Schmidt Marcheta Schertzmger Allegretto Scherzando from Concerto 2 in Minor for piano and orch Saint Saenz Home from The New World Symphony Dvorak Perpetual Motion Ries Viha from The Merry Widow Lehar Potpourri from Operetta When The Little Violets Bloom 500 0 Birdman Galaxy Trio Man from UNCLE 0 Perry Mason Ol Love Lucy 0 Trailmaster Merv Griffin Zorro Camp Runamuck Campus Quiz 530 Go News 0 Marshal Dillon Tainmy Untstoncs 600 0 21st Century (debut) The Laser: A light antastic ro Pierre Berton Eli Wallach 0 News Movie Invisible Stripes 4 William Holden Hum phrey Bogart George Raft Ex con is put through his paces (1940) Mv Three Sons Pierre Berton 630 0000600 Evening Report CD High Chaparral Lassie Movie 700 The Day It Is irst of two part study of student power in cluding of demon strations over napalm and chemical company recruiter 0 That Girl 0 lying Nun plays fish spotter 0 Movie The Big Circus Victor Mature Red Buttons Rhonda lem ing Grand Hotel of the Big Top with sub plots (1959) Hazel My Three Sons He and She 730 Gentle Ben AERIAL REPAIRS ALSO COLOR HEADS TOWERS ROTORS 465 1234 0 You Say Commander Tom 4 CO G0Q00 Bonnie Prudden How to lessen the blow of divorce 01 Love Lucy The Secret Storm 0 Divorce Court Lassie 430 0 Up side Town wing ar ound Island 0 Movie Witness for the Prose cution Tyrone Power Charles Laugh ton Marlene Dietrich Agatha story of a sensational murder trial (1958) Truth or Conse quences Men Griffin lintstoncs ig Al Mike Douglas 0 Movie (103) Katie Did It Ann Blyth Mark Ste vens Comedy of small town girl meeting NY city slicker who take (1951) Meet the Millers 0 Perfect Match 0 Movie Lightning Strikes Ruth Roman Richard Todd Mer cedes McCambridge Man is acquitted of murder (1951) Perry Mason Movie 130 0 As the World Kirns 0 Dating Game 200 0 0 0 Many splendored Thing 0 Days of Our Lives 0 Newlywed Game News Elaine Cole 230 Coronation Street Perry Mason 0 People in Conflict House Party 0 TheDoctors Baby Game Children's Doctor un (245) 0 Gray Calendar 300 0 0 0 Take i hirty 0 Ct loieu toe irutn Another World General Hospital 330 1100 0 0 0 Mr Dress op Pick ot tne vveeic (1125) The Public Eye 0 Toronto Today 0 Andy of Mayberry 0 Personality 0 Temptation News Pete's Place Sunshine School Romper Room 2130 0 0 News (1155) Mar rise Confidential 0 Uncle Bobby 0 Dick Van Dyke 0 Hollywood squares 6 9 Toronto 2 4 7 Buffalo 3 Barrie 8 Wingham 10 London Hamilton icafes coor Kitchener 12 Peterborough $8 1 fem Hh i Ji an I I.