Simply Amazing

"Everybody said there wasn't enough dramatic appeal in it," says Producer-Director-Writer Cy Howard of his Life with Luigi (Tues. 9 p.m., CBS). "Everybody told me no sponsor would buy it. And now look! It has knocked over Bob Hope,* and cut into the rating of Fibber McGee & Molly. It has made Tuesday night. It's got a wonderful sponsor [Win. Wrigley Jr. Co.]. It's got everybody amazed, it's got me amazed."

Five years ago, radio had still to hear of Cy Howard. After modest success as an actor in New York and a $70-a-week selling job in Chicago, Howard decided to drop his inhibitions and change his personality. The result? "Last year I made more than $300,000. I'll go over $500,000 this year."

In Hollywood, where he produces his My Friend Irma (Mon. 10 p.m., CBS) as well as Luigi, the new, extraverted Howard wears tasseled shoes, owns a pedigreed Airedale and lives in a penthouse. He drives a Cadillac convertible with the top down, even though it's bad for his sinus, smokes a pipe though he prefers cigarettes, goes to Palm Springs for his sun tan though he would rather go to San Francisco, stay indoors and read. During rehearsals he regularly throws calculated tantrums, thumps the table, bites his necktie and otherwise acts as an uninhibited genius is expected to act. His actors view these antics with mixed emotions, but one of them has conceded: "Everything he touches is so successful you have to respect him."

Last week the calendar of triumphs for jumpy, hot-eyed, 33-year-old Cy Howard was climaxed in his home town of Milwaukee, Wis. In celebration of "Nationality Night," Life with Luigi was broadcast before a packed audience of 12,500 in Milwaukee's Arena, which included Cy's proud parents, Mr. & Mrs. Sam Horwitz. Said Cy: "This thing's in my heart. I'm a guy who was born and lived on the wrong side of the tracks in Milwaukee. So look what I am now and what I've got. Nobody ever told me I couldn't do it. Nobody ever oppressed me. And look at the story itself--an Italian immigrant, created by a Jew and played by an Irisher [J. Carrol Naish]. It's wonderful--amazing!"

* Though Luigi led Hope for the previous three months, the latest Nielsen ratings show: Bob Hope, 15.9; Life With Luigi, 13.2.

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