Variety (Apr 1949)

1 43* FILMS RADIO VIDEO MUSIC PuMta^ea WMkly pit 1E4 .We»t <etb Street, New lorli 18. N. T.. by Variety, Inc. Annual BUbsorlpUon, $10; SinjI. etoples, JS cent* , WBl«rM ■» npood GiaBD inaUer December 83, 1905. »t the Poet Omce at New York, N. Y., under tb* act of Ilar<:it t, ' llM. COmUGIiT. 1040. BV VAKIifTX. INC. AJ.I, RIGHTS aESKAVISO VOL, 174 No. 4 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1949 PRICE 25 CENTS 'BATTLE OF THE JACKPOTS' iLonely Heart Terperies Big B.O. In BUyn, BroM-and Also on B'way By BERT BRILLER If you're over 28 and need a friend, New York City has three •friendship clubs that will solve 'your problem for around 75c or 'x buclf:. If your interest is "endur?- 'ing friendship that leads to mar- riage" it will cost at least $50 at Clara . Lane's Friendship Centre. ,' All these businesses talce in big coin. The Clara Lane outfit has an annual gross of more than $250.- 000. ,Two iriendship clubs oper- ated by tester Lockwood in Brook- lyn and the Bronx have played •host to,more than 1,000,000 cus- /torners in the past eight years. | In fdct, the friendly biz is so good ; that the Rialt.o Ballroom on Broad- i • way early this year began billing '. ■Itself as "The Friendship Club on i ^TCinies Square." Lockwood thought i 'this an unfriendly aping of his j 'Clubs' names, took the ease to court j •and on March 17 forced the Kialto j ' hall to switch its tag to "Fellow- t . ship Club." I In Bronx supreme court Lock- • wood testified that he hit on the (Continued on page 63) I Are You Kiddin'? By GEORGE ROSEN I New audience participation . show, tentatively titled "The Stork i situation I Race." is being auditioned this 1 week. Twist is to get three ex- I pectant mothers before the mike I and the fir.st one to give birth dur- ing the half-hour broadcast gets loaded with loqt. No obstetricians are in the stjidio, '. however, be- cause tlie airer-is taped well in ad- vance of the mothers' due date and the ""race" is judged via hospital records. Auditioners are Addi.son Smith, writer-producer of "'What Makes You Tick?" ant^ Cy Harrice, the an- nouncer. Time Buys Ike s VidpixFor400G lo. Waltz'Now Official State Song; Negro Solons Objected to the Lyrics I Time. Inc.. publisher of Time, i Life and Fortune, lias bought I "Crusade in Europe.'' vidpic series I on the life of General Eisenhower, i. j.u 4. ifor $400,000. The 26-part series n^'-ed, was. the single factor that j will bow on ABC'TV late this, (Continued on page 45) I month or the first week in May. I It now looks as if the competi- tive NBC vs. CBS Sunday niglit will not be fought; out on the talent front, but will prob- ably wind up as a "Battle of the i Jackpots." ! CBS is already moving into ac- tion in a bid to counter the loom- I ing tlireat resulting from NBC's I determination to install a giant I giveaway in its. Sunday-at-7 slot as opposition . to Columbia's Jack Benny. CBS is all too aware of what ABC's Sunday night "Stop the Music" did to both Fred Allen . and Edgar Bergen. What, it rea- j sons, is to prevent a "biggfer and I better" giveaway on NBC from (whittling down those impressive Benny Hoopers? I The grave danger, it's 'recog* I nized, may come during tiie sum- j mer months, when Benny lays off, '■ and NBC's glvea\va.\' has the 7 to 7:30 Sunday field to itself. Behind the thinking, too. is the I general awareness that a single I pivotal show can be the answer to the success or collapse of an I entire evening's programming'. Benny's exit from NBC, it's recog- RCA and 20th Unveil Best BigrScreen Theatre TV Yet Before Fix Engineers + By BOB STAHL Pilffn Factor naurn PfAAinl 'I'hose predictions of big theatre I/UIIU CdMCI l/dWIl 1 I CCUt I circuits linked for large-screen television programming moved a step nearer reality Monda^ niglit (4) as RCA and 20th-F6x Unveiled . I the best quality theatre TV pic- tures yet seen in a demonstration Despite Agency is Young & Rubicam. "Crusade" will be broadcast St. Louis, April 5. : Tluirsday.s at 9 p. m., the 20-minute complaints of three i film being incorporated into 25- , Negro members, the Missouri House of Representatives by a 91 to 31 vote last week passed, a bill that would make the "Missouri Waltz," President Truman's fa- vorite ditty, the State song. In- clusion of "mammy." "pickaninny'' and "darkies" in the lyrics were objectionable to Reps. Walter V. ■ Lay. St. Louis; and William A. Cole and James McNeal, both of ■ Kansas City. Cole and Neal stated they liked the melody and suggested that the objectionable terms be deleted. Neal suggested that when the bill is considered by the Senate the lyrics should be changed to sub- siitute "baby for pickaninny" 'mother for mammy" and "old wlkS ior darkies." minute shows. Skedding of "Stop i the Music" at 8 and "Crusade" at ; 9 is expected to give ABC-TV a j strong lineup thai may cut heavily | into ratings on opposing shows.; Other sponsored programs in the 1 period are tlie Arrow. Swift and | Gult shows on NBC-TV and Chev- rolet's "Winner Tiike All" on CBS- ■ TV. Deal on the Eisenhower series (Continued on page 55V Hunt Stromberg's 3-Way Radio-Video-Pix Prod. Lightweight 'Basic' Set Paves Way for First Airborne Repertory Hollywood, April 5. Plans for an initial western tour of "Tlieatre on Wings," an airborne repertoiy company which may eventually bring the legitimate theatre to every city in the coun- tr.v, are nearing finalization here. Project, conceived by producer- director Harold Winston, is made possible through a revolutionary basic set-l'ramework which he has Fix Market For Legit Flays Ferks After 2"Year Lag Film niarlcet for legit pla.vs, more or less dormant for the last year, has come to a boil this week. No actual deals have been set, but several are bubblin.? and others are at least possibilities. Situa- tion for legit authors and produ- cers is more encouraging than in several years and after a definite two-year lag. Most active prospect at the mo- ment is "A Streetcar Named De- sire;"' Irene Selzniclf'.s production (Continued on page 54) . Hallmark Productions' "The Lawton Story" will have a cufl'o pre-dawn screening during Easter j services to be held on the Central Park, N. Y. Mall April 17. Use of the picture was donated by Hall- mark prez Kroger Babb and no admissions will be charged. Babb feels the resulting publicity will compensate for the waived rental fee. Seats will be available for some 10.000 people, according to the Churches of God of Greater New York, Inc.. sponsors of the event. Picture deals with the life of Christ and also weaves in an an- nual Easter pageant held at Law- ton, Okla. A large screen will be , . , , . . *i . i „ set up on the mall for the showing I installations by the years end-^or and two projectors will be utilized j -^^^./^/.'^f;,^^^^^^^^ Sba^^'S? ! beyond the reach , of most small- I towii and nabe exhibitors, but is I believed weU within the pocket- book range of the key city show- j case houses, which would be most ! likely to use it under ipresent epn- dilions. . Fact that Kteuzer listed the (Contintte4 o»ii page 55) for the Society of Motion Picture-: Engineers' convention at the Hotel Statler, N. Y. Utilizing, every possible method of transmission to prove the new instantaneous projector works equally well on all, the system pro- vided images in most instances as good as those obtained thi'ough standard 35m film projection. RCA engineer Barton Kreuzer, handling the demonstration in association with Earl L Sponable, 20th re- search chief and SMPE prez, dis- closed RCA plans to turn out pilot; Rank Sees New $ Yield Via U.S. TV One of the big questions'which i J. Arthur Rank must answer be-1 fore he returns to Britain is i whether to turn his older features' loose on television hei-e or stand by for another year or so. He has; already decided in favor of video' programming of his product, it is ^ understood, but the time element, is still being mulled by him and | his American advisers. What Rank \ (Continued on page 60) Good Walking Weather Offsets N.Y. Taxi Strike's Dent on 6 way B.O., Cafes Plastic Surgeons Look To TV for Bonanza; Talent's Schnoz Bobs Hollywood, April 5. First three-ply parlay of a radio program, television show and fea- ture film is lieing set up in New „ _-- York by Hunt Strombefg. Vet pic- perfected. Entire idea stems from what Winston calls his "ohe-maii pro- test" against pi-ohibilive costs which have made it impossible for ture producer, wlio is getting his initiation in radio and TV, expects to ink the papers this week with a sponsor for the radio airer. Show, 'abeled "Prowl Car," is ■ based on actual adventures of cruising police. Half-hour weeklv program will originate live from the Coast. Same .snonsor has an-, option on the TVer, which is ex-i iContintied ou page 25) i a repertory company to travel profitably and have "decreased (he number of road companies reach- ing even the larger cities around the nation. Recognizing the tremendous nut (LC'onlinned on page'S5j Mike Todd's Musicalized 'Aida' a la *Carmen Jones' Musical comedy version of "Aida," with stoi'y and lyrics adapted by Charles Friedman and the Verdi score arranged by Robert Russell Bennett, will be produced on Broadway in the fall by Michael Todd. It will be titled "My Darling Aida" and will be localed in Memphis during the Civil War. Friedman will probably direct I the book. Howard Bay will design ! the scenery and Irene Shai'aff will j do the costumes. At Uast two Metropolitan Op-jra sin' •; are in ' (Continued pn page 20) Favorable weather cooperated with New York's entertainment en- terprises to lessen the effect, that the taxi strike would have on the boxoflice. Contrary to expec* tat.'pps. boijifaces as well as- legit and theatre operators declared they lo.st comparatively little be-r cause of inability tp hall a cab at will. .■■ While it's true that some were forced to walk from the eastside to the theatre district and thence : , , , I to a cafe,; good walking weather New York s plaistic surgeons ex- j broupht out the usual number of [ spenders. ITtter^ 1 hardy citizens W'ho hired private I limousines biit majbrity fotind that (Continued on page 551 ' pect a bonanza as more performers get the video yen. Tele is expect- ed to replace films as the prime reason for facial renovation. : Vic Damone has just had his schnoz trimmed and others are de- liberating on a similar , step. It's i <i figured that a pug-proboscis may be okay on radio, but for tele- vision, it's a dift'erent matter. Milton Berle probably anticipat- ed the need for a classic profile for television. He had' the schnoz surgery done several years ago Salesman/ 'Madwoman' Seen Critics' Choices Probabl. winner of the N. Y-: Drama Critics Circle prize for best „„.„^.._, „ play of the season is figured to Henry Slate, of the Slate Bros.,! be I'Death of .a Sstesman," Arthur also had a beak-bob recently and j Miller drama at the Morosco. N* Y. the B,arry Sisters, a singing team, current at the Chez Paree, Chicago, both had their noses nipped. The need for facial correction is more important in. tela than in films. In Hollywood there are re- Likely choice as best foreign play is figured "The Madwoman of Chaillot," at the Belasco. N. Y. There may also be a best musical award, with "Kiss Me. Kate." at the Century, and the incoming takes so that best shots can be se- j "South Pacific," at the Majestic lected for presentation on the \ seen as favored cahdidate$. I screen. There's no second chance,. Oulside choices for the best play ion video. < (Continued on page S4)