The page was topped with a Hirschfeld cartoon devoted to the big Broadway premiere of the week, the musical revue "Call Me Mister" opening at the National Theatre on Thursday. The cast members caricatured included Lawrence Winters, Betty Garrett and, as the "Senators from the South," Harry Clark, Jules Munshin and George Hall. A story by actor Melvyn Douglas, who was producing the show, followed. Hirschfeld's caricatures had been appearing in The Times since the 1920s and would continue until his death in 2003, five months short of his hundredth birthday.
A box listed the openings of the week including
"Woman Bites Dog"- Opening Wednesday evening at the Belasco. It was a comedy by Bella and Samuel Spewack, The cast included Broadway veterans Taylor Holmes, Ann Shoemaker, Royal Beal and rising stars Kirk Douglas, Mercedes McCambridge, and Frank Lovejoy.
"Call Me Mister"- See above.
"Tidbits of '46"- An evening at the Barbizon-Plaza with tenor Mordecai Bauman, calypso singer Muriel Gaines, comedian Phil Leeds, and the modern dancer company of Jane Dudley, Sophie Maslow and William Bales, Mel Tolkin, who would achieve later fame as head writer for Sid Caesar's TV show and "All in the Family," was among the sketch writers. South African folk artists Josef Marais and Miranda also were in the cast. The revue which featured a number of alumni of the Youth Theatre played eight performances at the Barbizon-Plaza then had to make good with the unions for employing non-union members before it could open at the Plymouth Theatre on July with a mostly different cast, It only lasted eight performances on Broadway. The Times review at that time noted the spotty show was more suited to a nightclub than to the Broadway stage. The American Youth Theatre, founded earlier in the decade as the Flatbush Arts Theatre, had mounted several revues at the Barbizon-Plaza, some of which had gone on to very brief runs on Broadway. Well generally critically dismissed, the shows did help launch the careers of several performers including Betty Garrett, opening that week in "Call Me Mister," and the former child star Mitzi Green featured at this time on Broadway in "Billion Dollar Baby."
A front page photo showed a scene from "Woman Bites Dog" featuring Holmes, Shoemaker and Beal.
Lewis Nichols reviewed the prior week's opening of "Candida" and the return of "Carmen Jones" to New York following its national tour. Lewis Funke dished out the theater news.
On the movie front Fred Stanley reported from Hollywood and Bosley Crowther contributed a piece on a new organization of theater owners and its implications for moviegoers.