GETTING A GRIP     
                                              ON THAT STREETCAR

1950s television was so overrun by horses and hats 
that it is easy to overlook that another migration was taking place. 
Movie stars were also being driven to this new cowtown, 
some by their own curiosity and creativity, others by an awareness 
that they were getting too old for the cattle calls of Hollywood. 
The Loretta Young Show appeared in 1953, 
and following on its tracks came countless others; 
here are some attached to the most recognizable names: 
The Mickey Rooney Show, The Ray Milland Show, 
The Bob Cummings Show, The Joseph Cotten Show, 
The Eve Arden Show, The Ann Sothern Show, The June Allyson Show, 
The Donna Reed Show, The David Niven Show, 
The Betty Hutton Show, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, etc. 


Fireside Theater, Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre, 
Jane Wyman Theater, The Jane Wyman Show, etc.  
The show seemed to have as many names as episodes. 
It hadn't started out as a vehicle like those for other divas, 
but had begun as The Fireside Theater in 1949. 
Lawyers and producers may have reacted to Jane Wyman's arrival 
in 1955 by contriving as many combinations of her name 
with that of Fireside Theatre; but these official appellations 
quickly receded to the last frames of the closing credits, 
and only the two most important words remained visible on tv screens 
during the introduction and the intermissions—Jane Wyman.  
Producer, host, and also lead actor of a good number of the episodes. 
Was this simply a star turn, a boost to the ego, a career move? 
Maybe, but take a look at any episode of Jane Wyman's show, 
and watch the personality, presence, will, talent, and charisma at work. 
Simply put, Wyman carried an episode as effortlessly 
as six magnificent horses pulling a stage to each station. 


NO MORE TEARS  

'No More Tears,' which aired on October 18, 1955, 
was an adaptation by Kathleen Hite of a story by Alice Eleanor Jones. 
Not only are there familiar Hite elements 
that you may want to pounce at, 
but there are also enough Gunsmoke alumni to distract you, 
were it not for Jane Wyman's power to pull you into what 
is otherwise an unexceptional story. 
The 'amnesia' device probably came about to explain Methuselah's 
lack of memory after almost 970 years of Bibling; 
and despite being dismissed in every doctor's testament, 
amnesia will continue to afflict tv characters and screenwriters. 
It is usually macho males who suffer this kind of forgetfulness, 
so they can beat up everyone as they bull their way to remembering. 
All credit to Alice and Kathleen, the lost in 'No More Tears' 
is a woman, and the way back is traced delicately. 
Olivia Rainer finds herself at the ticket window of a train station, 
carrying no memory but a suitcase which she seems determined 
to leave behind.  The suitcase, of course, will thrill and amuse 
any Hite fan who knows that just about all of Hite's female characters 
arrive with what Hite likes to call a 'grip.' 
Amnesia Episodes usually point to the Cliché that A Certain Trauma (or Drama) has been set aside in order for the Victim's 
Psyche to Survive.  Alice and Kathleen honor the tradition:  
Once Olivia gets past the twinkly initial phase, 
she searches through her pocketbook for clues, 
takes a cab ride, has her memory jarred by a few sights and sounds, 
and finally makes it back home to Windover Arms 
where she can face that Oh, So Awful Thing that made her forget. 


Okay, so Wyman keeps us awake through a ho-hum episode by Hite. 
But even if Olivia's grip on memory is not your bag, 
traipse along the lane with her because there are plenty of things 
that will challenge your recollection as well: 
What female actor from radio Gunsmoke here appears 
as a phone operator?  What radio actor who later 
played a stubbly- and smudgy-faced tippler 
on tv Gunsmoke, here plays a stubble-free, 
clean-faced, young-looking cab driver? 
And what actor who played the half-owner of a certain establishment 
in tv Gunsmoke here appears as the man in the coffee bar? 
Last but not least, Gunsmoke guest star Robert Cornthwaite delivers 
a fantastic performance as Olivia's doctor husband. 



June 10, 2006 


Copyright © 2006-2011 E. A. Villafranca, Jr.  
All Rights Reserved