Variety (Apr 1949)

MISCELLANY Wednesday, April 13, 1949 Sexy Circus Gives Papa a Break While Kids Ogle the Spec and Acrobats By HERB GO|[.DEN Sex has hit the circus. Gals and i Derbv GcC-Gce ProfitS gams have been creeping up on the ^^'Jf^^^\,!^ , * tx^ j elephants and aerial acts for years, i To HypO L Vllle M.D. Fund of course, but the emphasis on pul- , oiii<ivill* Aofil 12 thritude seems to have finally come I p,„„„„^ ..f^ ..V rinrntiii 10 full bloom in the current edition I „ Proposed sale Ot Churchill ot the Ringling Bros.-Bamum &, Downs dace track, scene of the Bailey extravaganza, which opened , Kentucky Derby, has developed to its 79th season at Madison Square , point where a little publicized cor- Gardfen, N.Y., last Wednesday (6). ; poration, The Churchill Downs No. 1 in the sex department for, Foundation, seems the likely pur- those a.k.'s who remember back chaser. Foundation was incorpo- •\vhen the circus was all sawdust, j rated under the laws of Kentucky canvas, animal acts and a couple | jn 1946, and question of whether daring young fellows on the flying ; the track would be operated main- trapeze are the showgals—a couple jy {q,. the University of Louisville dozen of them_, tall, trim and _de- school of Medicine is to be de- lightful. And Miles White has done his best by Mama Nature in his costume designs, which means they are plenty brief. Then, too, there are the ponies -^,')0 of them^not in the eques- trian sense, but in the musicomedy inteijpretatiott of the term. Like the showgals! stager John Murray Anderson has chosen them with a Billy Rose touch. Every one is a terminated by the university trus- tees.'''/ • ■ ■ . When and if the sale of the track is con.suinmated, new owners will operate solely as a non-profit organization. After allocatipn of sufficient revenue each year for interest and maturity of bonds; balance of the net profit from the operation of the racing plant will He Capital Gains Tax Turmoil ' By J. S. Seidinan, C.P.A. ' ; " ■ 3.57lhWEEIC! 3,650 Rerformancet All-tlrae long run record In the legitimate theatre. KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF 1949" El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood, Cal. And now In world-wide release "BILL AND COO" K«n Murray's Academy Award Film First, why is there so much straining at the leash to get a capi- tal gain? The answer is simple; An actor's salary, an author's roy- alty, a director's fee, a producer's profit, are all taxable in the ordir nary way, and the tax can eat up over 80% of the income. With capital gains, the maximum: tax rate is 25 %v That makes 'a whale of a differ- ence. A capital gain of $100 to an actor, author; director or producer means that there will be $75 left for himself. A salary, royalty, etc., \ of $100 means that there will be I only $20 left for himself, if he is I in the 80% bracket. In order to have $75 left out of regular in- come he must first make $375. How is a capital gain identified? looker. Again the costumes do be available for distribution to in- well by them and they're given '',titutions which may be selected plenty of chance -to demonstrate trustees. their charms, not only in the regu air specs, but in a "Girl in the.' Moon" number which finds 401 femmes aloft, going through a bal- ; let routine on prop moons. Femmes among the featured per- i formers likewise lean generally i to the puleh side. There seems to , be less emphasis on beef and more | on charm, among the ladies who i work aloft and in the rings. There's j an A'mazon::named Beatrice Dante, | f'rinstance, who puts the chimps j through their pace. The chimps i are marvelous, too, but there's no i hombre over 16 who's going to waste his time looking at them. And then there's a flrst-tim'e^in- America-act, the Rola Rola Duo,: in ■which ■ "the Venus and Adonis of (Continued on page 15) ■ Should American Turf board and stockholders approve, the ac- tual transfer would take place sometime after the Downs spring meet which ends May 21. Bill Stern Series For TV-Theatres Sets New Pattern Television bankrolling, will take an entirely new twist in the up- Gracie Fields'British I . , , Ti * Ayr * D 1 J *>• Ihalf-hour sports-slanted iiateS; Monty liankS JriXj dramatic show being packaged by Gracie Fields returned to Brit- Bill Stern, NBC's radio-video ain Friday (7) on the Mauretania ! „„„^, ..„„ r«„i«..fi. .. Ki^i. after several months in the iT. S. ''P"''^* director. Colgate, which Following a series of concert dates i sponsors the Stern Friday night In England; the comedienne hopes | NBC radio program, is audifion- to start a two-month vacation at! ,ing ^he tele show for probable her Capri estate some time in July, i , , ... '-^^'nr,-. She is also mulling an offer to ap- bankrolhng on NBC-TV. peaf in a film to b<^ produced byn TV program is being formatted Basil Dean. Picture would be a re-1 and put together for simultaneous nuake of a 21-year-old feature—the ; first she ever made. ■ Accompanying Miss Fields on her homeward trip is Monty Banks, her husband.' • A distributor and producer of films in Italy, he as- serted before sailing that he had «equired"^10 American pictures" - to be released in the Italian terri- tory through his Union Film Co. In addition, his organization has; completed a film version of "II Trovatore'' in Rorpe, and is 'wind- ing up a pic on Leonardo da'Vinci. Miss Fields' Radio Lux Series London, April 12. One of the biggest radio deals in years has been concluded by Tow- ers of London with-the signing of Gracie Fields for a series of spon- sored shows over the Radio Lux- embourg wavelength. Harry Alan Towers concluded the deal shortly before he left for New York en route to JloUywood and Sydney. Fields program has been booked for 39 consecutive weeks and will be aired at the Sunday afternoon peak listening time. Sponsor is Personna Blades, with deal made via J. Walter Thompson agency. Towers has also signed with Sir Thomas Beecham for a series of recorded disk jockey programs. television and theatre presenta' tion, the entire series, including the TV version, to be filmed via 3,5m. Columbia Pictures will handle the theatre distribution. It'marks the first attempt to pro- gram specifically for TV .and the- atre at one and the same time. Sam : Wood will direct the new series; Alton Alexander writing. In addition to packaging the show, Stem will appear in each installment. v ■ : ' Friars' Record 300G 1-N^iiter ' Hollywood, April 12. Coast Friars Frolic, for benefit of the Motion Picture Relief Fund on Saturday night (16), at the 6,- 600-seat Shrine Auditorium, is ex- pected to gross over $300,000, by far the greatest one-iiight gross in show biz history.: The journal, al- ready printed,: accounts for $151,-. 000. Tickets, $100 down to $2, sold thus far have brought in $130,000, with possibility of another $10,000 to $15,000 more being sold before performance. Programs will be retailed to audience at $1 per copy and up. Hit song of the affair, "Trixie From, Sunset Strip," penned by Joe Cooper and L. Wolfe Gilbert, has been published by Mills and wiU be sold at $1 per (Continued on page 63) sale of "property." The Govern- ment said Benny was selling his "person" or talent, and compensa- tion for services is not a capital gain. Actually, Benny sold to CBS stock in a .corporation that in turn owned the. Jack Benny program. The Government, however, .said- that was merely the form of the deal; The substance was the sale of Benny's services, because the Benny program means, nothing without Jack Benny. It doesn't mean that all cor- porations are "out." Kequirement' (3) is met if, for example, a radio program operates under a fictitious name or slogan, built up over a long period of time, and does not depend on the services of any par- ticular individual. The primary It takes a combination of a. lot of i value is then in the .program, not clue.s. Here are the ingredients: (1) There .must ;be a sale, (2). at'»■ profit, (3) of property, (4) that has been held: for at least six months; and (5) the property must not be the stock in trade of the actor, au- the services. That is the way the Government squares the favorable capital gains ruling in the Amos and Andy case. • Stock Device Some of the boys have made a ■thor, director or producer, 16) nor i .stab at capital gainS: by taking a can the property be something | "piece" of a picture or a show, in- Now that the Government has stead of salary. For example, a nixed the Jack Benny plan of capi- director will agree to take stock (al gains, it is well to pause for instead of salary.-with the idea of- station identification and see where I later selling the stock and getting talent does stand in the quest for j his money as a capital gain instead this form of tax saving. | of a fully taxable director's tee. that is held primarily for sale in the usual course of things. The Jack Benny plan went a cropper on item (3), which requires Kath Grayson, Johnston, i Ethel Smith London Hits \--'- .^r, .London, April, 13., i American actress Kathryii Gray- son and her singer-husband John- ! ny Johnston won a sensational re- I ception in opening yesterday ; iMon.) at the Palladium. An ex- ceiled audience clamored for its fa- ' vonte song numbers and the stars j earned three curtain calls. I Packed house also,. acclaimed Ethel Smith's session of swing or- igan music. Trio of U. S. perform- |:ers were hailed in the true Pal- ladhmi tradition and obviously wore moved by the ovation. ♦/as Subscription Order Form' Enclosed find check for $ Please Send VARIETY for On« Year To (Ple<M Print N-ani*) Street G'ty';« • • • • •: • • • • • • ... i Zone. •.., State, •. < • •. > Regular Subscription Rates for On* Yoar—$10.00 Canada and Foroign—$1 Additional ^Klitfr Inc. 154 Wost 46tfi Stroot New York 19. N. Y. TV Welding Directors Of Pix and Radio Into 'One Big GaM Idea One Big Union idea,: which is gradually welding together the tal- ent unions under the impetus of television^ is now gaining headway among the directorial guilds in films and radio, Talks have been going on towards this objective for about a month between the east- em sections of the Screen Direc- tors Cxuild and the Radio and Tele- vision Directors Guild.: Initial aim of the informal nego- tiations has been to reach a work- ing, agreement on jurisdictional problems created by video pro- grams. Complete merger of the two outfits is still remote, but the current discussions are feelers in that direction. West coast wings of both guilds are expected to con- duct similar talks at a-vlater date. While no scraps have occuiTcd between the film and radio direc- tors up to now, the guilds want to chart a mutual course on avoid- ing any head-on collision in the video field as both expand. Knot-: tiest problem growing up is the mixture of live and filmed mate- rial for video, sometimes within a single show, making it tough to de- termine which guild has control of the program. Another area of dis- pute is the jurisdiction over straight vidpix being produced in the east since SDG; has no formal pact with the studio operators. Continuing talks are beuig car- ried on by Jack Glenn, eastern SDG prexy, and Robert Lewis Shayon and Nickie Burnett, prez and exec secretary of the RTDG in New ork. BMs Chicago As Showcase for TV Fibn Name Shows This plan will generally: prove a: dud because the value of stock issued for services iiS taxable in the 'saijte>way. :as if the dil'ector iwey.e paid in cash. The ' "one-tltne'' or collapsible; corporation has also been given a" workout. Here, is t^ if goe.s: A producer of a motion picture orgahizes a company just for that; picture. More than Six months! later, after the picture is made and : its value established, the corpora- tion is liquidated. On a: liquida-: tion, ttik ehb^nceiiiient in valiie of the picture oyer the amount put up by the stockholdersJs a capital , nhi^.n^ k^^n io I Rain. Thus far this plan has .stood nMn^ar, n,«h^l loiohfJ i. 1?",*, ' "P' 't *s no state secret that the ^5i"!l!?,3",tlff•.?Jil?^f.l'.*„^i*.^ Government is trying to figure out a way to deal the plan a knockout blqiw,:";: . \' A,uthors and J)^^ : have sortie interesting encounteira: With vaude house; will probably become a showcase of pictures names in television. WBKB, B&K tele sta- tion, has packaged a show which ''^'HuH.^^'r*^*''-*i*8e. capital" gains." A fellow writes a of the theatre, using purrent stage , book, keeps the finished manuscript attractions. 'The hour-long package for .six months, and then sells It to will be aired on: the seventh day of the bill, with a permanent m.c. handling the chores. ■ a publisher. Is that a capital gain? The book is certainly property, but how about requirement (6)r^that Nate Piatt, theatre booker, has! the property must not be held pri- lined up picture names, none of I whom have been regular tele fare. I If a sponsor can be garnered in j time, it may be that the house will air the Frances Langford-Jon Hall bill, May 14. On holdovers there will be a marily for sale as part of tlie writ^ er's business. A professional writ- er would run afoul of this i^equire- ment, for by the very nature of the thing a proteissional writet writes to market his product. : An. i^ii iiuiuuvcis mcic wm uc a ^niateur Writer, OH the Other hand,' repekt"thr7econrwcek'"of"'thei« that category and so he same acts, but with different rou- "'"uld "ot be derailed by require- tines. Rehearsals wiU take six days I ""fir 1°. , ■ r ■ with various unions already clear- .^^^''^ if 't'^l Sinclair Leyyis ing. providing extra performance | « ^« ha.s ordinary in- pay for acts, musicians, and stage- '"r"^„ ^^"".^n^ Eisenhower hands and projectionists. ^i^.^ide m Eu- _ , , . vs* Taa . . I rope" giving him capital gain clear- Package to cost $6,000 weekly,, ancc. What goes for a writer of a is well below the cost ot similar book also goes for a playwright Broadway shows, and already has I The professional playwright would I several sponsor nibbles.' Besides not .have capital gain, the neophyte Langford and Hall, Plait has set would have capital gain. Dan Dailey, Joan Davis. Jo Staf-I Authors have some .sort of tax ford, Peggy Lee, Perry Como and [ balm if they don't come off with a others. It may be'that .Eddie Can-1 capital gain. There Is a special tor's cancellation of the April 15; rule that says that if they have date here was due to wish of the, worked on their manuscript for theatre for him to lead off the i three years or more, they can, un- program, jvith the comic hedging | der certain cireumstances, sptead off to a later date to build a visual i their income back over a three- show. I .year period. In that way they can Coast lots arc cooperating and, Possibly get a better break on the trying to line up package shows I tsx 'jracketsj to put their stars in a favorable GRADE INKS WHITEMAN FOR EUROPEAN TOUR London, April 12. Lew Grade, in association with Eddie Elkort, has booked Paul Whiteman and his orchestra for an extensive European tour, starting early October. Tour will last two months, and comprise 40 concerts, at rate of five per week in Hol- land, Switzerland and Scandina- via. ■ ■ If arrangements can be made, American maestro may do series of one-night stands in England. What does It all add up to? Capital gains are available to tal-. erit just as to atiyhody eise, but sraarty stunts won't work. The six rfequireiTientS nfiiist be met in a, realistic way. Services, incorpo- rated or othehvise, are not: capital gains, Incorporation or packaging of an honest-to-goodness property Show Biz Tourists Warned i 1? honest-to-goodne.ss cm pora- A . >-i i -.., - tion is, on the other hand, all right. On Europe's General Boom light, with the usual personal ap- pearance shots out. Local ABC- TV outlet, WENR-TV, will not carry the show, which will either be aired Friday or Thursday nights. With this season promising to be I the biggest in years for" European I tourism, show bizites are warned to , make reservations as soon as po.s- I sible for transportation and hotel ; accommodations. Not only is the spring-summer Hersholt's Donations To Motion Pic Relief Fund Hollywood, April 12. Jean Hersholt is giving half of his salary for thesping stint in 20th's "Bandwagon" to the Mo- biz on the Riviera expected to be \ tion Picture Relief Fund, it was great, but trade is said to have i learned here. He plays himself been surprisingly good all winter, in the film, helping William Powell Many of the hotels at Nice and' as a broken-down actor, get a bed Cannes, which don't ordinarily see in the industry's hospital much biz until April, reportedly have had plenty of occupants since December. The heavy influx from Switzerland and Holland boomed France and Italy. The Fond prexy's contributions in the past, from radio guest shots, and other chores—all contributed has i anonymously—-have built two bun- galows and one hospital room.