Television: Jan. 22, 1965

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THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT. In Bill Manhoff's sly interpretation of the mating ritual, a saucy prostitute (Diana Sands) runs circles around a stuffy book clerk (Alan Alda). To his horror and the play goer's amusement, he helps her to trap him.

LUV. Mike Nichols, a matchless director of comedy, contributes mightily to Schisgal's lie-down-on-my-couch-and-let- me-tell-you-all-about-myself farce. Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson and Alan Arkin keep the humor quotient high.

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR. Joan Littlewood guides her group of Pierrots and Pierrettes through the Brechtian woods of song and savagery in a bitterly funny dissection of World War I.

Off Broadway

BABES IN THE WOOD. Rick Besoyan's musical spoof of A Midsummer Night's Dream mimics Gilbert and Sullivan, nineteen-thirtyish musicals and burlesque to provide a diverting trifle for playgoers.

THE SLAVE and THE TOILET argue that the Negro wants not so much to be equal as to be able to retaliate. LeRoi Jones's latest contributions to the theater of cruelty are one-act spasms of fury.

RECORDS

Spoken

SHAKESPEARE: OTHELLO (4 LPs; RCA Victor). Sir Laurence Olivier is an even greater Othello on records than onstage. While at times he seems physically a caricature of the Moor in the celebrated English production, his voice is magnificently attuned to the part. At the outset, as the all-conquering military hero, Olivier speaks in deep, commanding tones; then, as lago's poison begins to work, and Othello's rich confidence drains away, his voice alone proclaims his tortured soul, burning "like the mines of sulphur. "Frank Finlay's lago is not so much a demonic force as a compulsive troublemaker, making Othello's ruin all the harder to bear.

WINSTON S. CHURCHILL: HIS MEMOIRS AND HIS SPEECHES, 1918 TO 1945 (12 LPs; London). The price of the package is $100; the value is incalculable. On paper, the great Churchillian cadences still stir heroic memories. Hearing them again stirs the blood, and draws tears as well. In addition to the greatest oratory of our times, the set contains excerpts from Churchill's Memoirs of the Second World War that he recorded 16 years ago, when his voice was still deep and sonorous. He has also recorded some of the wartime speeches to the House of Commons, notably The Finest Hour ("Let us there forebrace ourselves to our duty"), that were not taped when he originally delivered them. His last address on these recordings is This Is Your Victory, the triumphal, grateful oration that was almost drowned out by the cheering crowds in Whitehall on May 8, 1945. The recordings are permanent proof of John F. Kennedy's verdict: Churchill "mobilized the English language and sent it into battle."

EURIPIDES: MEDEA (2 LPs; Caedmon). Dame Judith Anderson's portrayal of the barbaric princess is now preserved in all its chilling horror. Classic Greek tragedy, with a minimum of action and the use of a chorus to forward the plot, is ideal for recording. The records actually deepen the delineation of Medea, for the chorus at times sounds like voices bickering in her tormented brain. Anthony Quayle makes a fine, feckless Jason.