Sam's Show

Each Sunday night from 7:30 on, in the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, the TV screen is an electronic Valhalla in which Ben Cartwright grapples with the Smothers brothers, Walt Disney with Perry Mason. For millions of viewers, the keenest new prime-time contender is a show-biz nonentity. Nevertheless, as star of the Sam Yorty Show, the mayor of Los Angeles, at 5 ft. 9 in., is a jolly big giant.

Ninety minutes long, in color and with a theme song groaned by Bing Crosby, Yorty's show on its first two exposures proved at least that a quirkily provocative off-screen performer can upstage Donald Duck on the air. Sam bantered with Art Linkletter ("I don't want to embarrass you, Art, but what are you running for?" "I'm running for home in a few minutes"); consoled Neighbor Tippi Hedren on the horrendous reviews of her new movie, A Countess from Hong Kong; helped Pierre Salinger, a sometime political foe, plug both his employer (Continental Airlines) and his book (With Kennedy). Each guest--the first two shows included Comedian George Jessel, Actor Hans Conried and sundry starlets--walked off with an autographed copy of Maverick Mayor, a 256-page Yorty biography.

"I've Been There." Most of all, Yorty boosted its namesake, who has his eye squarely on 1968 and Republican Thomas Kuchel's Senate seat, giving the mayor full opportunity to demonstrate the command of world affairs that he has gleaned on twelve trips abroad since 1961. Before minisuited Chris Noel, the G.I.s' disk jockey in Viet Nam (TIME, Nov. 25), could even flutter her eyelashes, Yorty turned to a map of Southeast Asia and launched into Poli. Sci. 101, touching on the Ho Chi Minh trail, North and South Viet Nam, the Viet Cong, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. His prescription for ending the war: escalation.

"I'm glad I've been there twice," he confided to Jessel in the all-channel understatement of the evening. "I feel I understand it better, and I don't mind talking about it." Not to be outdone, Jessel averred that he had been wounded by an "enemy bullet" on a 1965 visit to Viet Nam, then assured Angelenos that they were getting full value for their mayor's peregrinations.

Show-biz-wise, indeedy. Yorty's first show topped Perry Mason, It's About Time and Truth or Consequences. The critics were not altogether kind. Along with a nix from Variety, Sam's show prompted a double-edged encomium from Los Angeles Times TV Critic Hal Humphrey. "Would it be fair to say," asked Humphrey, "that Yorty makes as good a TV host as he does a mayor? Probably."

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