From Hollywood

The Last Hurrah. A brogues' gallery of Boston Irish politicos, headed by Spencer Tracy as lovable, larcenous Mayor Skeffington, who fades out with the kind of bathos that could even dissolve an Ulsterman in tears.

Damn Yankees. A musical miracle play by some madcap Mephistopheleans, Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon, turns the Washington Senators into home-run kings and pennant winners.

Me and the Colonel. Danny Kaye's first straight role is one of his best. As a meek, ingenious Polish refugee, he outsmarts a pompously feudal Polish officer (Curt Juergens) and perhaps fate itself.

From Abroad

Separate Tables (British). Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, David Niven, Wendy Hiller and Gladys Cooper sit down to eat crow, served up by Playwright Terence Rattigan in a ratty old resort hotel. The actors gnash away in splendid style, though in the end they seem to be left with nothing more than a mouthful of feathers.

The Horse's Mouth (British). The film version does not quite come straight out of Novelist Joyce Gary's mouth, but Alec Guinness is almost the spitting, boozing, wheezing image of Gary's painter, a magnificently hilarious gutter genius.

Inspector Maigret (French). Jean Gabin keeps on his toes as Georges Simenon's flawless flatfoot, and Director Jean Dellanoy's camera is a superb shadow.

My Uncle (French). A wicked satire on mechanized modern living by Jacques (Mr. Hulot's Holiday) Tati, who is probably the funniest funnyman in films, but in this one overdoes his wit by at least 30 minutes.

TELEVISION

Wed., Dec. 17

Pursuit (CBS, 8-9 p.m.).* Playwright Rod Serling can be counted on to keep the corn from getting too ripe when Franchot Tone plays a gentle old man agonizing over his two sons, one a cop, the other a criminal.

U.S. Steel Hour (CBS, 10-11 p.m.). A drama that painfully parallels Chicago's recent parochial school tragedy. An accidental fire that burns down part of a Catholic home for small girls provides a coldhearted mother superior (Helen Hayes) with a startling excuse to warm up to the kid who caused the trouble.

Thurs., Dec. 18

Pat Boone Chevy Showroom (ABC, 9-9:30 p.m.). Guest Star Shari Lewis, television's gift to kids of all ages, makes a neat little pre-Christmas package.

Du Pont Show of the Month (CBS, 9:30-11 p.m.). Barbara Bel Geddes, Don Murray and Jackie Cooper get a chance to work over The Hasty Heart, a familiar weeper about a tough Scot dying in a Burmese hospital during World War II.

Sat., Dec. 20

Holiday Bowl Football Game (CBS, 1:30 p.m.). Arizona State College at Flagstaff and Northeastern State College of Oklahoma kick off the post-season football parade.

The Perry Como Show (NBC, 8-9 p.m.). Kukla, Ollie and their wonderfully wacky "Kuklapolitan" puppets help Perry retell the tale of the first Christmas. Color.

Cimarron City (NBC, 9:30-10:30 p.m.). Having already rounded up most of TV, the western will also try to hog-tie Christmas. George Montgomery and wife (Dinah Shore) take the holiday season's first crack at turning Dickens' Christmas Carol into horse opera (see below for a similar effort on G.E. Theater).

Sun., Dec. 21

Omnibus (NBC, 5-6 p.m.). Gene Kelly, whose direction of the new Broadway hit Flower Drum Song has kept him busy with Oriental dancing girls, undertakes to prove that dancing is also a "man's game."

Shirley Temple's Storybook (NBC, 8-9 p.m.). "Mother Goose" will give Shirley's own children a chance to edge Mamma offstage. Color.

G.E. Theater (CBS, 9-9:30 p.m.). A rerun of last year's success, Trail to Christmas. Jimmy Stewart manages to take Scrooge, Cratchit and Marley's ghost to the U.S. cow towns of the 1870s.

THEATER

On Broadway

Flower Drum Song. Rodgers and Hammerstein's latest (see SHOW BUSINESS).

The Pleasure of His Company. As a prodigal father playing hob with his daughter's wedding plans, Cyril Ritchard is a superb specimen of a middle-aged enfant terrible.

A Touch of the Poet. A garrulous, alcoholic innkeeper, his dream world gone awry, gives Playwright Eugene O'Neill an excuse for a little too much talk, but the evening still adds up to fine theater. With Eric Portman, Helen Hayes, Kim Stanley.

The Music Man. All the wonderful brass and blare of a band concert on the town green.

My Fair Lady. The girl with the ten-million-dollar smile (the estimated gross by year's end), and every penny well earned.

Two for the Seesaw. Two lonely people by New York's late and early light, too much in love--and a little too neurotic--to say good night. The entire cast: Dana Andrews and Anne Bancroft.

On Tour

My Fair Lady in Chicago, Music Man in SAN FRANCISCO, Two for the Seesaw in CINCINNATI, are accurate echoes of the Broadway productions (see above).

Sunrise at Campobello. Franklin D. Roosevelt's toughest years of personal ordeal--from the day he contracted polio at Campobello to the day he nominated Al Smith for the presidency. In TORONTO.

Li'l Abner. A lusty copy of Al Capp's comic-strip characters, with some lilting Dogpatch music. In MONTREAL.

The Ages of Man. A tour through Shakespeare's plays and sonnets conducted by the man most suited for the job: Sir John Gielgud. In FREDERICKSBURG, PITTSBURGH, HARTFORD, GREAT NECK, N.Y., and WASHINGTON, D.C.

Romanoff and Juliet. Actor Peter Ustinov does a fine job with Playwright Ustinov's international farce. In CHICAGO.

* All times E.S.T.

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