August 22, 1949
From Walter Winchell’s Column
The Magic Lanterns: Outstanding among the week’s films was “The Wizard of Oz,” notable for its luxury of comics, including Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley, each hefty enough to lug his own B’way show. This is the old Montgomery & Stone forget-me-not, brightened up with color and nifties and looking very audience-catching . . . . M. Boyer and Irene Dunn repeat the tremolos of “Love Affair” in “When Tomorrow Comes,” but there are enough fresh angles to warrant the encore. What of it? Boyer only has to count up to 10 to paralyze every doll in the house.
The Wireless: The Hit Parade is a hit without all that gabbing about tunes. The songs speak for themselves, please omit the static . . . Tommy Dorsey playing the tinkley “Scandals” score reminded us of what a wonderful invention radio really is . . . Very adroit sponsor spotting is that of a headache remedy on the news broadcast, which tellse you how to cure a headache—and then gives you a dozen in the bulletins from Europe . . . That narrator on the drama “Career” can get a good job as a pipe organ if the silent films ever come back. If he can get those rumbles with words, what can he do with music? . . . Some of the sports writers are jeering at the coinages of the baseball reporters of the air. Put yourself up there, brothers, on a task of never going silent and you’ll invent a few words, too. Or go nuts . . . Judith Arlen, fresh on a sustaining chore, is soothing and throaty in a manner that bodes good for her.
The Headliners: Said Jeanette MacDonald: “My impatience drives me mad!” . . . Then imagine what it does to the people around you! . . . Intoned Jimmy Stewart: “I’m forgetful, I even forget dates.” . . . Gwan! I hear you have so many dates your lap is outta breath . . . Jimmy Cagney’s message of the week: “I don’t want to re-make the world.” . . . Oh, so you’re the one! . . . Binnie Barnes’ remarkable remark: “I girl’s figure does count.” . . . Lady, a figger to a girl is what ham is to eggs.
The Milwaukee Sentinel
Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity, by Neal Gabler – Paperback
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