TELELEVISION may now lack the glamor, "oomph" or "it" of Hollywood's super-productions, but TV surely will acquire it within the next couple of years and then go on to outdazzle theater screens.
These are the blunt views of Durward "Bud" Graybill, famed photographer of filmdom's stars for more than two decades and winner of many international camera awards.
Graybill, whose fees range as high as $1250 for a single color photograph, last year chose to forsake the movies in order to launch a new career in television. And he's confident that his chosen medium will soon put glamor high on the list of essentials.
"It's obvious that television needs glamor to provide complete entertainment," Graybill explained. "Westerns, comedies, mysteries and human-interest features have established themselves in television.
"But until TV can develop smashing romantic shows, like the films' Boom- town, for example, it can't hope to attract 100 percent of the potential audience.
Many Glamor Stars
The noted film photographer says that television already has a substantial list of lovely and glamorous performers. Without attempting to list all, he rattled off the names of Lucille Ball, Maria Riva, Merle Oberon, Dinah Shore, Eve Arden and Ann Sothern as among those in the glamor ranks.
He also included Bess Myerson, Marguerite Piazza, Dale Evans, Gale Storm, Barbara Britton, Judy Johnson, Harriet Nelson, Coleen Gray and Corinne Calvet among TV's attractive women.
Graybill emphasized that television's approach to glamor would involve much more than its feminine stars.
"The other essential ingredients," he said, "include stories with glamorous settings, mood lighting, lavish wardrobes, the right hair-dos, painstaking makeup, and, perhaps above all else, a director with the ability to blend all these to- gether into an enchanting result."
"Television doesn't have all the top craftsmen and won't be able to lure them from motion pictures for another year or two, until contracts expire," Graybill says. "TV will have to come to Hollywood, because here are the indispensable veterans in glamor, both talent and craftsmen, who aren't available elsewhere."
What is glamor, exactly?
"Well, glamor is the physical and mental attraction an artist transmits to an audience. It is what the viewer sees and feels. It is a projection of what the audience desires."
How can you tell it?
"When you see a picture on a screen or magazine cover that stops you short and you exclaim: "That's a wonderful doll - where does she come from?'
That's glamor! Everyone recognizes it." How do you develop it?
"Glamor is an inborn quality that needs only to be discovered in some. If you pile all the lighting, wardrobe, makeup, hairdo and direction on some- one without it, there's still no glamor. It stands out like a Tiffany diamond, when real."
How important are revealing gowns to glamor?
"Not nearly as much as most people think. The physical attraction may be an eye-stopper but the manner of walking and talking and mental poise are qualities which sustain glamor beyond the first impression.
"That's another reason for the absence of glamor on TV now, simply because there isn't time or money to develop it fully. For example, a movie director would probably be two weeks behind schedule in filming the typical television film made in two or three days on a low budget."
Freshness Essential
As a photographer whose work has been published in virtually all the leading publications of this country and abroad, Graybill seeks certain characteristics in faces that represent glamor. They are primarily facial freshness and cleanliness, reflecting "zip and zoom," along with nice hair appearance. Together, he says, they should be just a bit "provocative."
His tips to girls for taking flattering portrait pictures, the way he poses stars, are far more complex. Use a street make-up, he advises, light and not caked, to achieve that desirable clean and fresh look. Apply only a little lip- rouge, and nothing else. Don't get a "flossy hair-dress." Merely have all the hair in place, adjusted to whether the face is thin or heavy. As for men, cleanliness is the sole requisite.
For best results, thoroughly-at-ease postures and attitudes are essential. The still camera is "the most penetrating critic," Graybill notes, recommending projection of "nice" thoughts from within to register convincing happiness. That's why men are better subjects, since they attempt no disguises whereas women may. Minimum facial strain is accomplished by sitting or lying while picture is being composed.
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