Variety (Apr 1949)

MISCELLAIW yARXETT Weclheeday, April 6, 1949 Coast Friars' Dream One-Nighter For MPRF May Gross Record 270G Hollywood, Api'iJ 5i Friars Frolic at the Shrine Audi- torium April 16, for benefit of the motion Picture Relief Fund, is ex- pected to chalk up a new record gross for a one-nighter, with over- all take probably reaching $270,- 000. Of that sum, ticket sales will account for approximately $140,- 000, remainder coming from the invited Hosalind Russell to appear at Royal Danish State theatre at Elsiriote as Queen C'fertrude In "Hartiiet." Special ■ pi-odijctibft will be co-sponsored by Royal Danish t^.= « =.nn..t hnt frrnnmber of State theatre and American Na- Its a sellout but for a number ot Theatre and Academy. It's the, first time an . Americart has Roz Russell Gets Bid For Elsinore 'Hamlet' Legiter Hollywood, April 5. In initial step in plans for a world-wide exchange of theatrical talent, the Danish government has journal being printed for the af- fair. Scale at the 6,600-seat house ranges from $100 down-front to $2. $50 and $100 seats. , William Perlberg, coordinator of been honored'by such an in the affair, has arranged with y^,, second time that foreign- American Federation of Musicians g^.^ ,,3^^ ^^^^ invited to, play in to donate services of the pit band., tj,e home of the Tragic Prince, between 45 and 50 ment, who 11, . . .. . ,Qq„ . ""^sic^udL fehet' ' r/u«ti Ollvirand S between $10,000 and $12,000. Also ^t- . "was that trek that made cooperating cuffo are the Team- Ol'^'^ decide to film "Hamlet as S Union, whose members will vo^m^^, Play is sched- v»fl w. V _ uled for production June 17-18 at 356th WEEK! : 3i640 Perfopitiancei AU-tlme lonf; run record in the legitimate theatre. KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF 1949" El Gapitan Theatre, Hollywoodi Cal. And now in world-wid'e rcleas* "BILL AND C<30" Ken Murray's •■y. Academy Award Film aid in parking the cars, the Car penters Union and the local gea darmes. Talent, of course, is on a "for free" basis. film. historic Kronberg Castle. Miss Russell says she hopes to w'ire. ac- ceptance as soon as She learns, the „ . ,. , - u completion date of the current Already lined up for the show Columbia comedy. "My Next Hus- are a pair of production numbers band," and starting date of• her next as well as several specialties. This Is My Night With Trixie" features Gene "Kelly and "includes Gary! Cooper, Robert Montgomery, Ray ' Milland, Walter Pidgeon, Jimmy. Stewart and others still to be en-' listed. "The Tramp Ballet, or The Other Side of the Tracks" boasts ; a cast including Brian Aherne, Wil- j liam'Bendix; Eddie Bracken, Rod j Cameron, -Dan ' Duryea, George;! BENNY'S INDIE 'STIFF' MAY SEE ^mm RED Jack Benny may go into the hole more than $400,000 as reisult of in- demnifying the Columbia Broad- casting System against loss on the Circus Ticket Mess Again New York's circus ticket mess, highly publicized last season, ap- parently hasn't Jlmproved this year, according to J.-Raymond Walsh, moderator on WMCA's "Something Ought To fie Done." On March 27 Walsh had a salesman on his airer who said he went to Madison Sq: Garden the day tickets went on sale, waited in line 45 minutes; then "was told there were no tickets such as he wanted for three Sundays in a row, even though more than a month away^ ' Walsh wanted to give the Ringling Bros.-Bamum & Bailey outfit a chance to reply, and also had circus p.a. Bill Antes on the March 27 program, Antes said that this year the circus sold no tickets, that the Garden had full disposal of /^ame. Garden was offered time on the airer to answer complaints and promised to send some- one to the April 3 broadcast. On Friday (1) Walsh was notified that Gen. John Reed Kilpatrick, Garden's prez, had dcfclded he didn't want to answer any charges. There the matter rests. Yoice'Gets $8,000,000, info Films $2,000,0i in New State Dept. Budget Pro-H'wood Pitcli To Or^te from Paris Paris, April 5. Major company biggies in New York have a. plan afoot; for a large- scale public relations job^ on the Continent to combat anti-Ameri- can; picture; propaganda, it has been learned here. Idea is under- stood to entail setting up a public relations exec and aides in Paris Staid M'waukiee Journal la Ti|b(^ Milwaukee, April 5. ,"1."*''^.?^*^'*/. I^ennisI Eddie Cantor, making a per- O Keete, Vincent Price, Cesar Ro- , , j • mero. Sonny Tufts and Keenan sonal appearance here under spon Wynn. Other performers will be sorship of Pabst, his radio bank- Alan Ladd and Humphrey Bogart; roller, crashed the editorial col- : I (in which Benny does not appear, • but .which! stars Dorothy Larnbur) 1 had not yet gone into release. ,Ar^ Clayton, Jadcson & Durante in a „mns of the Milwaukee Journal on 1 !!l^1f^„l''*^n*"!rn* revival of their "wood number; e t j . tt n ^ ju vnAt, instead of chancing an un- known quantity, CBS would be guaranteed by ; Benny that it Wbuld t' take no loss on the film. That was i cbnfirmed tp yARiETy by CBS Jtreky William S. Paley this week. ; I "Stiff" cost better than S700.000. first and only picture produced by I , . , ^, , his Amusement Enterprises, Inc., to work out of the Motion Picture Film, "The Lucky Stiff," being dis- 1 America offices here, tributed by United Artists, is doing! Hollywood product is subject to so poorly at the b.o. it may miss by , » constant pummeling in most of $200,000 even covering its negative | Europe, not only in the Soviet- gjjjt o o I pj.jjjj countries, but in others as i „ ^ ■ well.' MPAA toppers, it is under- Amusement Enterprises was one i gt^od, feel that a good public rela- of the Benny assets that was turned tions .iob would not only be a long- over to CBS when the latter made a capital gains deal with him sev- eral months ago. Thus the net- work became owner of "Stiff." When the deal was made, the pic range help on upping grosses, but would improve the po.ssibility of thawing 'some :of their frozen coin and reducing currency and quota- restrictions. ievivai oi uieu- , wooa; numoer >, V ■ j ., ;_i , i-iu Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly; Saturday (Z). Usually one of the George Burns and Jack Benny as most conservative of the nation's Burns & Allen; Jimmy Cagney as dailies, the Journal beat the drums George M. Cohan, and Bob Hope, comedian, lauding him as Al Jolson, Martin & Lewis, Dan , • i ' the actor with the social con- Dailey, Lou Holtz, Tony Martin Global Broadcast For Toscy's 'Then and Now' Lausanne Festival Revival Washington, April 5. , The House Appropriati ons Com- mittee delivered to Congress today (Tues,) a budget recommendation of $34,000)000 to finance the State Department's information aiid edu^ cational program during the neif fiscal year, beginning Julv 1. It was $2,000,000 less than what was requested but $3,000,000 over last year's allocation. "The Voice of America,' the ra- dio phase of the State Depart- ment's propaganda work, is slated to receive $8,000,000 for staff, pro- gramming and technical facilities, while the documentary film pro- gram'will get $2,000,000, a slighti increase over the current year. In secret testimony before the, House committee, which was re- vealed today, George V. Allen, a.s- sistant secretary of state^ said /there was little possibility of ex- panding the distribution of Holly- wood films behind the Iron CuN . tain. The department's chief ob- .tective, Allen said, was to prevent further-limitations on U. S. pix and to keep certain films from be- ing iised "to vilify and slander" ^ this country. He disclosed that ! several Soviet satellite nations were editing U. S. films to con- form to the party line. Seven U- S. broadcasting com-; panies have' been ticketed by the Dennis Morgan and Ronald Rea- science" gan. George Jessel, who will emcee. Is supervising; the entire produc- tifin which is being staged by Joseph Santley and directed by Harry Joe. Brown. " The MPAA's Arch Reeve and Duke Wales are handling press; Lance Heath assigned to assist. CARMEN MIRANDA TO MAESTRO OWN BAND , Hollywood, April ,■). ' Carmen Miranda will; assemble lier own band for a four-week date at the Hotel Ambassador's Cocoa- riit Grove, starting Oct. 4. She'll fp,llow Dorothy Shay,, who opens Sept. 6 for four weeks, her third date at the Grove in a year. No band is set to back the latter. Grove now has shows set through mid-June. Rudy V^allcc and Del Courtney are current, with Vallee getting .$3,000 weekly and Courtney $2,750. Frankie Laine opens April 26 for four sessions with Leighton Noble backing, Sherman Marks' "Salute to Geoi ge Gershwin," recently at College Inm Chicago, comes in Mav 24 foi- a month. The Journal commented: For a good 40 years Eddie Cantor has been visiting Mil- .waukee a week at a time. He came first as a boy player in a vaudeville, ''kid" revue, then , suc- cessively as a star of the Zieg- I'eld shows, and as a nationally prominent figure in films and radio and civic life. He has just provided this city with another exciting week, coming under the sponsorship of the Fabst Brewr ing Co. Eddie Cantor represents Holly- wood and show business in gen- eral. But he is the actor with a social conscience, He could just entertain and have the rest of the time to himself. Instead, he throws himself into all sorts of CIVIC movements. He is willing to lend a hand wherever it is needed. We sometimes find it neces.saiy to "pan" Hollywood. . Certainly it has a little more than its share of "phony" figures. So it is a real pleasure to acknowledge sincerity and helpfulness and ab- sence of .selfish purpose when these are apparent. We like Eddie Cantor, not only because he is a good actor but i lor the man he is. 1 Paris, April 5, One of the great musical events i SfaV^tiil^-t^fiJI^f of postwar Europe, designed to' fJ^i^,!^?*'"ff,Sc <: /7 "1 , Its domestic grossing possibilities, j ?how that while Nazi terror and \ payments gi>e National Broadcast- based on experience to date, have intimidation have vanished, cul- [ i„g Sys?em $405 72S AssSed .brought estimates from UA of be- tural achievement lives on is be- n"LSna 'ti^',™^. ^^^^ I tween $500,000 and $600,000. From I i"S Planned here. French Radio that the distributing company takes ! System, the Swiss Radio and Radio 271,2% as its fee, while an addi-, Monte Carlo are joining in the tional 000 Using, . .. , , some of the loss may be made up I "'I'Oadcasting facilities. _ 1 later from foreign distribution and ' - ' ' Broadcasting, $131,713; Columbia Broadcasting System, $412,956; Crosley, $295,086; General Elec- tric, $321,027; Westinghouse, $62,- tional sum of approximately $100,-, Project. Out of it is expected 10,677: and World Wi^^^^^ 000 was spent for prints and adver- I pome an historic event which will! addition the Sr^Kh Sif-l^ Using. There's a possibility that 1 be put at the disposal of worldwide Co ,l^?n'J^f video and 16ni rights: Plan is to revive an Arluro Tos- i Appropriations CoimnUtee canini-Vladimir Horowitz concert ° recommended a $3 750.000 at thp r.nii<!an,iB Woctivoi , ou<\get lor the anti-trust division at the Lausanne Festival in Swit-■ , ti,„ r .• zerland on the night of Aug. 31, i ^^P^ii^"^"-^"*^- ' "P^^^ taking up 10 years to the day | -J^n/'ng a $338,000 increase over inhere the Toscanini-Horowitz I i*^* ^f^^- ^" committee testimony [Festival performance left off on' "^"^ claimed victory of the anti- \ug. 31, '39. Two hours after the 39 concert was over, the war was OUTBOUND LAST SAT. hand, Johnny Johnston. Others sailing were Fred Leahy, production manager for Walt Dis- To . Subscription Order Form Enclosed find check for $ Please Send VAfllETY for One Year 4/( Slreel . ... . ..... .. , , , ... . ,. .., ,.,, City . < .,.......... . V . ... Zone..,.. State.; Regular SHbscrtption Ratts for On* Y«ar—-$10.00 Canada and Foreign—$1 Additional P^RlEfr Inc. 154 West 46fii Street New Yorli 19. N. Y. Global Coverage For Atlantic Charter Signing i AugV'si, '397"l>o houi's'after the ■ -continued on" page 25) • Washington. April 5. 1 in°Spe' bined here ye-sterday (4) 'to play ' ^" that occasion, the Mzls re-' FLOCK OF SHOWFOLK the major part in making the sign- -^P^^S . ^^^^ broadcast of ing of the North Atlantic Security ' Festival because of tlie appear- Pact the event seen and heard by ^"'^^ Horowitz. This time not more people than -any previous ""'^ Germany hear it, but ill Heavy complement of showfolk ■ event in history. will be broadcast to all European | ^ere on the Queen Mary when the ' Scene was kleig-lighled for the countries and made av.iilabie forMiicr sailed from New Yoi'k for I news cameras and television which .'^'^''rtwaving to all parts of the 1 Europe last Saturday (2). Dcpart- ; told the story on viewing screens ! "'°rld. Idea, too, is to have Tor- i ihfi film players included EitoI ' over the cntii-e northeaist quarter ' *<''"i"i Horowitz pci l'orm the I Flynn, off on a three-week yaca- of the U. S. same concert that wa.s heard 10 I'ion, as well as Kathryn Grayson ) Radio carried the story to the.y^^rs before. who was accompanied by her hus- , nation without overlooking any' The ''then and now'- concert part. idea was initially projected by i Then the State Department lined . Sammy Simon, the French pro- I up what it claimed was the great-i ducer, with Pierre Crenesse, Di- i oey; music publisher Louis Drcy- ; e.st shortwave hookup in history, rector of the French Broadcasting If us; William Pizor; foreign chief 1 The two-hour ceremony was picked System - in . North Amei-ica, han-1 for Screen Guild Productions; jup by "Voice of America" and put: dling the art^angements in the U. S.] Joseph Harris, board chairman of out live by 29 transmitters, includ- | Realart Pictures; Anita Colby, , ing special relays lined up for the TV TTplnpH rimns l.snst Yr ' former.model turned film publicist, occasion. Tlie worldwide web in- \I /xt \t. i an<l Fulton Oursler, senior editor eluded "Voice of America," British But JNorth Says NlX NoW I of Reader's Digest. Broadcasting Co., French Broad- Television, which helped give i Leahy will look over the studio casting System, Canadian Broad- the Ringling Bros - Barnum & situation in Britain in an cd'ort to casting Co.. and U. S. Armed Bailey circus its biggest gate in ' ''""y groundwork for the Dis- I'orces Network. Proceedings went hi.storv la.st vear during its stand I ney-RKO upcoming live version ot out over Kuropo. North Africa, at Madison Sq Garden N Y will' "Treasure Island" which is slated Middle Ea.st, and LaUn America, be nowhere in sight when the cir-' ''^art sometime this summer with--;;'double-coverage-"-;fbr-the cus opens tonight (Wed.)-at the . with Byron Haskin directing. Pizor Iron Curtain nations. ' Garden : is on his annual threc-month Eiiro- Later, summaries of the cere-1 Circus prez John Ringling North I Pean survey, while Harris expects mony arid speeches were rebroad- is definitely against TV this year. I scrutinize foreign product be- cast to Latin America and to the He would offer no reason, dcclar-i lore returning in time lor a Real- tar East and on all regular "Voice" ing only that was the policy h"! art board meeting next month Sl'^!,"^ ^""^ '''""'^ ^3 'lad established "for the moment." languages. jjg banned the pickup of any segments of the performances for I trailerizing purposes. Pat Neal With Flynn Hollywood, April 5. Patricia Neal is set to coslar 20TH MEETS MAY 17 | Garden spokesmen conceded . with Errol Flynn in "Dallas" at onfv,"?"® u ^^^^ of [that the circus last year opened . Warner Bros, when actor returns o* ,2* 57,1 soft and not until CBS-TV moved from Europe. Flynn is vacation- Mockholders of record, April 15,, into the arena for a seric of eight " will be eligible to attend and elect: pickups did the ticket s:.le climb the new, board. J to record proportions. ing there while she recently fi"" Ished "Hasty Heart" with RonaW Reagan in England.