The New Shows

Amos 'n' Andy (Thurs. 8:30 p.m., CBS-TV) reaches television as a half-hour filmed show after a talent search that took four years. Heading the cast of characters originally created in blackface by Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden in a quartercentury of radio shows: ex-Vaudevillian Tim Moore as the posturing Kingfish; ex-Teacher Spencer Williams as Andy; Actor (Anna Lucasta) Alvin Childress as Amos, the taxi tycoon. The opening show served up the most rudimentary of plots (the Kingfish gets a draft notice by .mistake), but embellished it with slapstick situations reminiscent of the better two-reel comedies of silent movie days. The dialogue is above average; the sight gags (one of the best: the Kingfish owlishly taking his Army medical exam) are expertly staged and played. Despite a protest from the directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People* that such shows "tend to strengthen the conclusions among uninformed or prejudiced people that Negroes ... are inferior, lazy, dumb and dishonest," the TV Amos 'n' Andy seems set for a long and profitable run. Commercials: unobtrusive filmed spots in praise of Blatz beer.

The Carmel Myers Show (Tues. 7:15 p.m., ABC-TV) manages a new twist to the interview show, now a TV staple. Veteran Cinemactress Carmel Myers, 50, enlivens her 15-minute program with clips from such ancient movies as Girl' From Rio, in which she co-starred in 1927 with a promising young actor named Walter Pidgeon. She also sings in a small but pleasant voice, strums a ukulele, trades anecdotes with such guests as Composer Richard Rodgers.

Rocky Jordan (Wed. 8 p.m., CBS), "long on nerve and short on talk," and played by Hollywood's George Raft, runs Cairo's Cafe Tambourine, where he matches wits with camel drivers, Moslem fanatics, suave villains, and beddy-bye blondes who murmur: "Be nice to me, Rocky." On the opening show the plot was a scramble for some nonexistent diamonds, nearly as silly as the dialogue.

Down You Go (Wed. 9 p.m., DuMont) is another TV quiz show, this time based on the old parlor game of "Hangman." Unlike many others, it has a relaxed tempo, some briskly intelligent repartee, and gives the impression that the participants are actually enjoying themselves. As moderator, Northwestern University's Dr. Bergen (The Natural History of Nonsense) Evans handles his four-man panel of experts with the assurance of a high-voiced Clifton Fadiman.

*For other news of the N.A.A.C.P., see NATIONAL AFFAIRS.

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