Ed Sullivan

May Davies Hopkins Martenet, 85, a novelist and short-story writer, died of complications stemming from lung cancer June 6 at the Westminster-Canterbury retirement home in Virginia Beach, Va., where she had lived since 1985.Frantz Casseus, 77, a guitarist and composer, died of heart failure June 3 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.Marlo Lewis, 77, a TV producer who was co-creator of "The Ed Sullivan Show," died of heart failure Tuesday at a hospital in Palm Springs, Calif.Gabriel Preil, 84, the last of the generation of poets who revived Hebrew into a modern, living language, died in a Jerusalem hotelroom June 5.

Gosh knows, there's been enough Elvis on TV this week to keep all but the most rabid fans happy. But if you've managed to avoid the deluge so far, or if you're trying to decide which is the best program to watch today, set your dials to MPT.The documentary "Elvis '56" (8 p.m.-9: 30 p.m., Channels 22 and 67) captures the King at his undisputed best, at the beginning. Elvis in 1956 was practically an unstoppable force: At 21, he had his first No. 1 hit ("Heartbreak Hotel") and his next four ("I Want You, I Need You, I Love You," "Don't Be Cruel," "Hound Dog" and "Love Me Tender")

''Bye Bye Birdie,'' the touring revival of the 1960 musical starring Tommy Tune, will replace ''House of Flowers'' in the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre-Lyric Opera House 1991-92 schedule.''House of Flowers,'' with Patti LaBelle in the lead role, was to have played the Lyric Feb. 11 through March 8. The producers have postponed the tour, according to Hope Quackenbush, managing director of the Baltimore Center for the Performing Arts, which oversees the Mechanic.In ''Bye Bye Birdie,'' Tune plays the manager of rock singer Conrad Birdie, who, as a publicity stunt, will kiss a young lady on the "Ed Sullivan Show."

Herbert Kline, 89, a documentary filmmaker who sneaked into Eastern Europe to film the Nazi conquest and later told the story of the Holocaust, died Feb. 5 in Los Angeles. His 1940 film, "Lights Out in Europe," documented Hitler's invasion of Poland. He also worked with author John Steinbeck on a 1941 film about peasant life in Mexico, "The Forgotten Village."Irwin C. "Watty" Watson, 70, a comedian and musician who appeared in nightclubs and on television, stage and cruise ships, died Feb. 1 of a heart attack in Orlando, Fla. He was a comedy star on "That Was The Week That Was" with David Frost; a regular on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson; and he appeared with Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, Virginia Graham, Mike Douglas and on other shows.

MPT works through the final weekend of its August pledge drive with an evening of programs chosen by you, the viewers (picked according to the number of calls received when the shows aired earlier during the pledge drive). And it looks as if you're a pretty musically inclined bunch.First up is violinist Andre Rieu (5 p.m.-8 p.m.), leading the Strauss Orchestra in a performance that includes "Persian March" by Johann Strauss Jr. and "Radetzky's March" by Johann Strauss Sr. Then comes "Great Moments in Opera" (8 p.m.-9: 30 p.m.)

A rock 'n' roll heartthrob in the suburbs? A normal American family on Ed Sullivan? An English-teacher-turned-music-agent struggling out of debt and his mother's clutches? Welcome to Sweet Apple, Ohio, circa 1950s, in the sweet musical comedy Bye Bye Birdie, performed last week at Hammond High. Birdie centers on recently drafted rock idol Conrad Birdie (Glen Newhall), his frazzled manager Albert Peterson (Jason Beall), and Albert's secretary/girlfriend Rosie Alvarez ( the lively, energetic Kelsey Girard)

TERESA BREWER, 76 Singer had hits in 1950s Singer Teresa Brewer, who topped the charts in the 1950s with such hits as "Till I Waltz Again with You" and performed with jazz legends Count Basie and Duke Ellington, died Wednesday. She was 76. She died at her home in New Rochelle of a neuromuscular disease, said family spokesman Bill Munroe. Ms. Brewer had scores of hits in the 1950s and a burgeoning film career but pared down her public life to raise her children. She re-emerged a decade later to perform with jazz greats Mr. Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Wynton Marsalis.

* Pat Buttram, 78, singing cowboy Gene Autry's sidekick in the 1950s and the annoying Mr. Haney on the sitcom "Green Acres," died yesterday of kidney failure at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, according to radio executive Bill Ward, a longtime friend. From 1965 to 1971 Mr. Buttram played Mr. Haney on CBS' "Green Acres." Mr. Haney was the irritating country con man who sold a tumbledown farm to Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert) and Lisa Douglas (Eva Gabor). Playing under his own name on "The Gene Autry Show" from 1950 to 1956 on CBS-TV, Mr. Buttram helped Mr. Autry and his horse, Champion, keep peace out West.

Jay Marshall, 85, a magician-ventriloquist, dean of the Society of American Magicians and the first entertainer to open for Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas, died Tuesday at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, his family said. Mr. Marshall had suffered a series of heart attacks. Although he was a noted historian of stage magic and wrote several books on the subject, his own act did not incorporate the spectacular illusions and escape stunts that were popular when he was a young vaudevillian.

GERALD V. EMGE, SR., age 94, of Rehoboth Beach, DE died Sunday, October 30, 2005, at Brandywine Assisted Living in Rehoboth Beach. Mr. Emge was born May 31, 1911 in Baltimore, MD son of the late Frederick and Julia (Mc Rae) Emge. Mr. Emge retired from Black & Decker in the Towson, MD area in 1974 where he had worked as a accountant. He was also a former member of the American Legion. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife Virginia in 2003 and his son Gerald V. Emge, Jr. He is survived by his daughter Donna Merrill of Kiowa Island, SC; his son Kirk J. Emge of Falls Church, VA; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.