First Things First

Jennie Lewis is a big (5 ft. 8 1/2 in.), bosomy, blonde showgirl who changed her name to "Dagmar" and made quite a splash on TV last year in NBC's Broadway Open House (TIME, July 9). With her sensational looks, Dagmar didn't even have to try very hard: she merely sat on a high stool, breathed deeply, and occasionally malapropped her way through a poem or a short play. Last week, looking bigger and blonder than ever, after months of "trying to find the right kind of format," Dagmar was back on TV with her own show, Dagmar's Canteen (Sun. 12:15 a.m., NBC).

Music and comedy acts spice the program, but Hostess Dagmar is still the whole show, and her talents are not quite up to filling the TV screen: she recites, sings (in a pleasant little voice), dances (inexpertly), and breathes deeply. She prefers to play the dumb blonde off the set as well as on, but Dagmar is shrewdly aware of fundamentals. Says she: "I used to think I had a 40-inch bust. Last week I discovered I'm a 42, and I thought we'd better tell the people about this right away."

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