Variety (December 1950)

FILMS RADIO VIDEO Mrsic STAGE Published "Weekly at 154 West 46th Street, New York 19, N. T., by Variety, Ino, Annual subscription, $10. Single copies, 25 cents. Entered as second cless matter December 22, 1906, at the Pos t. Office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. COPYRIGHT/ 1950/ BY VARIETY, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED VOL. 180 No. 13 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1950 PRICE 25 CENTS Moola Comes Over the Mountain In Kate Smith’s $6,(100,1)00 TV Take BIGGEST TAKE Powerful Interests Back Ex-Nazis IN iT<; mim Seekiim to Control German Pix Biz NBC television’s expensive gam-- ble on daytime television with the hour-long, cross-therboard ‘‘Kate Smith Show” is paying off in a way that may open up a whole new concept of selling daytime video. Program, which could have cost the web close to $6,500,000 a year for time and talent if sponsors had turned it down, by this week had 11 different bankrollers pacted for 18 of its 20 available 15-minute Segments. With other bankrollers now rapping at its door to get in, NBC hopes to achieve a complete sellout by the week’s end. As of now it represents $6,000,000 in an- nual billings. New concept is that of selling such a show on a participating basis. NBC exec veepee Sylvester L. (Pat) Weaver had inaugurated the same idea on the web’s big “Saturday Night Revue” and suc- ceeded in selling out a show that would have been too expensive for one or two advertisers to sponsor. Recognizing that there would be even more sponsor reluctance to pick up the tab on a daytimer, Weaver gave his salesmen the go- ahead on the participating setup. While some of the bankrollers on the Smith program are top-spend- ing advertisers, the fact that many newcomers have, also bought in in- dicates, according to web execs, that the idea will provide a chance for clients who don’t have too heavy budgets to get into video. Sponsors pay $85,000-$90,000 for (Continued on page 54) Touring ‘Pacific’ Biggest Legit Earner in Years; 650G Profit in 26 Weeks Touring company of “South Paci- fic” is believed to be the highest-, profit legit production in many years. It earned an operating net of almost $200,900 during October, including nearly $64,100 for a sin- gle week in Dallas, when the gross reached $112,000. The show had amassed a total profit of over $647,- 900 as of Oct. 28, in a 26-week run. The original Broadway company, wfiich had played 80 weeks by then, had netted the sum of $671,900 as of the same date. For the week ending Oct. 28, split between Dallas and Omaha, the road company grossed over $88,900, on which it made an op- erating profit of more than $44,200. It paid theatre rental of $1,5,100 for the week and included in the company expense of almost $29,600 were $8,200 company payroll, $1,- 500 for musicians, $1,800 for com- pany crew, $8,892 author royalties, and $2,200 director Royalty. Other company expense items in- cluded almost $560 for wardrobe attendants and dressers, $550 for stage managers, $550 for.company and general managers, $250 for pressagent, $100 scenic designer royalty, $150 for rental of electri- (Continued on page 62) Jessel Glorified Jock In Planned New Airers Hollywood, Dec. 5. George Jessel cut a recording over the weekend for the proposed I “George Jessel Time” packaged by jDon Davis in quarter-hour seg- ; ments for airing three times week- ly. Jessel tells nostalgic stories about show biz personalities as I lead-in to records identified with , his subject, making him a glorified platter-pusher in effect. I Audition disk deals with A1 Jol- son. It was cut at ABC, giving the I net first refusal on a package buy. B’way Tryout Last Friday night’s (1) Ford Theatre TV presentation of Zoe i Akins’ “Another Darling” set I something of a precedent for show business, with the hour production ] representing a tryout for a pro- ! jected Broadway legit entry. Singular aspect was that the TV version, adapted by Nancy Moore, ^ went out over the CBS Video lanes , simultaneously with its perform- ance last week by the Cincinnati Civic Theatre at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Aldrich & Myers have an option on the legit play, but not the TV rights. The legit producers and potential backers “screened” the show’s legit possibilities on. the basis of the TV adaptation. . ‘Korean Circuit’ Route Cancelled by War Dept, Hollywood, Dec. 5. In View of,the critical military situation in Korea, the Danny Kaye and Edward G. Robinson troupes slated to entertain troops in Korea have been cancelled. Kaye was to have teamed ^with N. Y. Giants’ manager Leo Durocher and the Dunhills for a jaunt of the fighting fronts starting in January. Robin- son was to have left this month. Order calling Off the trips came from Gen. Douglas MacArthur. It’s not likely that any top enter- tainers will be called upoin by the Pentagon to entertain GIs in the war theatres until the U. S. mili- tary picture gets better. Military officials had been seeking names for trips to Korea for some time. The Kaye and Robinson Korean jaunts were to have been the first big top names sirt(;e those played by Bob Hope and the late A1 Jol- sori. Jack Benny had been slatfed to tour the area, but had to call off the trip on advice of his medico, Kaye and Durocher had previous- ly teamed on an entertainment tour of the Pacifi? nvca under USO- Camp Shows au.spice&. Presaging television’s upbeat to Tin Pan Alley, the American So- ciety of Composers, Authors and Publishers will rack up ■ the big- gest take in its 36 years’ history. When all performance fees are collected, the 1950 music melon should hit $11,000,000. Considering the loss of $1,- 250,000 in picture theatre rev- enues under last year’s adverse decision by Judge Vincent L. Lei- bell, in N. Y. Federal district court, and the downbeat of radio, the $11,000,000 peak gross is the more remarkable. The music men envision $15-$20,000f)00 in a mat- ter of years. Despite the seac-tax loss from the picture houses, current nego- tiations directly with the film pro- ducers should see $750,000-$!,- 000,000 in direct synchronization film licenses on Hollywood produc- tions. Breakdown of ASCAP’s take shows that radio is still, the most important source of revenue by far. Despite the inroads of tele- vision, radio will shell out approxi- mately $8,000,000, in performance fees this year. This will be about $500,000 more than received from the AM broadcasters in 1949. Television, meantime, is rapidly building up as the second major user of music. While ASCAP r^ ceived virtually nothing from TV last year, the tAke from video in 1950 is expected to hit $1,000,000. (Continued on page 20) lO-HOUR LP SET BY CO.; BIBLE TO BE 1ST Utflizing the development of long-play disks, a new outfit, the Record Book Society, has been formed with the aim of putting literary classics on wax. Initial work in its library, already pro- cessed, is the New Testament, which runs 10 hours on 10 long- play platters. Disks are being pressed by Wag- ■ ner-Nichols Recording Co., which has developed a super micro-groove record which permits a full-hour I of material to run on a 10-inch disk. Radio and legit actor Alex- ander Scourby nan'ated the Bibli- cal text. Record Book Society is I operating on a subscription basis. Asa’s Stand-in for Jolie Three-year-old Asa Jolson will receive the Civihan Or- der of Merit posthumously awarded his foster father, A1 Jolson, tomorrow morning (6) at the Pentagon. Jolson’s widow, Erie, who arrived in Washington this evening with young Asa, will be on hand for the presentation. Presentation will be made by General George C. Mar- .shall, U. S. Secretary of De- fense. The award was taken up with the White House and approved there* Radio Shows Now Serving As Legit Attractions A new source of material for plays targeted at stock companies is being developed by Samuel French, drama publishing outfit. Company is putting out plays based on radio shows. Initialer, published recently, is a dramatization of the airer “Crime Photographer.” Also being released by. French are two works by James Reach, both based on radio programs. These are “My Friend Irma” and “People Are Funn^.” Disk, Sheet Sales Zoom Upward Although starting later than an- ticipated, disk and sheet music sales zoomed sharply upwards this week as the Christmas market be- gan opening up. Normal holiday pickup begins immediately after Thanksgiving, and platter com- panies, in particular, believe that loss of a week will result in a last- minute rush of sales. If such a jam-up takes place, it’s feared that it will be difficult for the distribs to get enough of the right records to the right outlets in time. The gale which swept the east- ern seaboard last week is seen as a contributing factor in delaying the Christmas pickup. Rise in sales is being felt across the board with the current pops as well as the Xmas songs sharing in the gravy. Among the pops, “Ten- nessee Waltz”* is heading the field in both sheet and disk form while “Rudolph,* the' Red Nosed Rein- deer” is maintaining its leadership among the Xrpas. entries.. “Frosty the Snow Man,” a new holiday tune, is also showing up strongly. ^ By GEORGE F. GAAL Frankfurt, Dec. 5. Powerful state, financial and in- dustrial interests have allied them- selves with former top Nazi picture executives in an attempt to start a giant film monopoly^patterned on the Nazi state-owned UFA com- bine—before the end of this year. Reports reaching western officials to this effect indicate that this monopoly group is attempting to regain control of the 50,000,000 marks ($12,000,000) UFA em- pire, decreed to be sold at auc- tion by the Allied High Commis- sion next summer. Available information indicated that by manipulation it will be able to evade High Commission anti- trust laws and thus could become a critical thi’eat to the recouping independent industry. Outfit is planned to be formed in the Ruhr state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Continued on p^ge 62) Par Helps Foot Bill For Ringling Costumes In DeMille Pic Tieup Sarasota, Fla., Dec. 5. Costumes for Ringling Bros,- Barnum & Bailey circus next sea- son will be the most elaborate in the show’s history—thanks to Para- mount. Studio is footing a large part of the bill, si^ice the costumes will be used in Cecil B. DeMille’s pic built around RB-B&B, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Part of the deal calls for de- livery of the costumes to the oir- cus’ winter quarters in Sarasota, Fla., by Jan. 15, instead of the normal April date. DeMille plans to start shooting in Sarasota at that time with some of the acts and crew of the show plus stars Betty Hutton, Dorothy Lamour, Lucille Ball and James Stewart. Costumes will run to about $200,- 000. They’re being done by legit designer Miles White, with Brooks Costume, N.Y., making them. LAST FRONTIER HOTEL LAS VEGAS PRESEKTS The Hour of Charm All Girl Orchestra and Choir Under the Direction of PHIL SPITALNY DEC. 1 TO DEC. 28