Frying Friars

For once, every act on next Sunday's Ed Sullivan Show will be funny on purpose; there will be no performing dogs, no movie clips, no marching bands--just laughs. Sullivan turned his whole program over to a film of one of the famed Friars Club dinners, at which the venerable show-business club periodically honors and heckles show folk. Target of the dinner seen on the Sullivan show: Ed Sullivan. Result: one of the sprightliest TV hours of the fall.

Faced with a dais of sharpshooting comedians, frozen-faced Ed Sullivan himself is separated from a smile or two, notably when Friar "Abbot" Joe E. Lewis describes him as the "only fellow who can light a room up--just by leaving it." The smile actually broadens a bit when M.C. Jack Carter snaps back: "Lewis is more than a Friar. He's really a stewing chicken." Between Rocky Graziano's remote snuffles and Jack E. Leonard's belligerent groans, the show seldom slows down. Comedian Joey Bishop's brief speech moves the audience to a fine double take once everyone realizes that Joey has finished. "I have been asked to talk about the generosity, warmth and honesty of Ed Sullivan. Thank you." exit Bishop.

Before the show is half over, viewers are likely to wonder why CBS is not putting other Friars Club dinners on the air. Fact is, CBS planned on doing just that. After seeing the Sullivan pilot film, the Texas Co. was all set to pay $4,500,000 for a package that included eight similar shows, but backed out at the last minute. High-octane operators were disturbed, so the story goes, over a brief, dull speech by New York's Republican Senator Jacob Javits in the last portion of the dinner. But Producer Nat (Bilko) Hiken, himself a Democrat, would brook no interference. So far, no other buyers for the Friars.

The same shortage of sponsors for unrehearsed humor also killed the best new comedy show in years. The show: Keep Talking, a zany competition between teams of comic talkers trying to spin out a screwball tale while slipping in a screwball secret phrase that the opposition must spot. Literate and consistently funny, the show was carried by CBS all summer and into the fall without attracting a sponsor. Last week CBS decided that while it still liked Keep Talking, it could not afford to keep paying.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.