Variety (January 1953)

Forly-sevenlh HSEB5TT Anniversary W dlttc |(lay» January 7, 1953 Season’s Greetings EDMUND GRAINGER PRODUCTIONS NOW IN RELEASE “BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE” Color by TECHNICOLOR JUST COMPLETED “SPLIT SECOND” Ready for Immediate Production “ARIZONA OUTPOST” KKO ^My Machine and Me By COL. BARNEY OLDFIELD St. Moritz. I have just had an offer. As must come to everyone in this Jife, judging from the fre- quency of the device in advertis- ing, a fee has been ventured me for endorsement of product, pro- vided. . . . The crux of the issue is my type- New York Theatres — RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL - Rockefeller Center “MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID” ESTHER WILLIAMS - YICTOR MATURE WALTER PIDGEQN * DAVID BRIAN Color by TECHNICOLOR • An M-G-M Picture end The Musie Hall’s Great Christmas Stage Show writer. Come May, 1953, it will be 25 years since it came into my cramped college room, accom- panied by a tedious responsibility to dig up $5 a month until I owed it. It withstood the college toil. It went into pressboxes at foot- ball and baseball games, horse- races and was even the starting point for stories in Variety. It went in and out of Hollywood, and helped some with perpetua- tion of the fable there. It went off to a war with me, a war almost as globe-encompas- sing as an old A. B. Marcus tour. On it, pecked out by their own hands, were written the obituaries of Ernie Pyle and H. R. Knicker- bocker, before Normandy, although neither was to die there. Once encased in a sponge-rubber bag, it was jumped with me in a parachute to test whether war correspondents could safely take their own equipment with them on airborne invasions and have it survive a crushing fall. It has been in 26 countries, three full coats of travel stickers have been on it, and worn off it. It has worked variously for newspapers, radio stations, Beck- mann & Gerety’s carnival, Jack L. Warner, the ,U. S. Army and Air Force, and even the only living President-elect. Now, after an illustrious life, it Season's Greetings ESS AN ESS WOODS CHICAGO has won the right to a niche in the company museum, and a trib- ute from its constant user. Only the "provided” has to be worked out. The company wants a photo of it while being jumped in the para- , ''but 0 , an incident now 10 years old having in no way then been .thougnt to be of such likely historic moment now. The offer can go hang; it’s too crassly commercial. Besides, neither the typewriter nor myself could survive another parachute jump to get the picture. The only out is if I am able to split-fee with Hollywood stunter, Yakima Canutt, who is used to doubling for people, and falling on his head for money and photog-j raphers. The company is offering money enough for everybody—$35 cash! LEVATHES QUITS 20TH TO BECOME Y&R V.P. Peter • Levathes, in charge of shorts and television sales at 20th- Fox, has resigned to join Young & Rubicafn as a veepee in mid- January. Levathes, who has been with 20th for 16 years, will have special assignments, reporting di- rectly to Tony Gaghan, v.p. in charge of media. Exact nature of Levathes’ work at Y & R was not disclosed but while at 20th, where he was v.p. of the TV subsidiary, he was active in the origination of TV program ideas. He was also a prime mover in the establishment of the United Press-Movietone TV newsreel set- up. Levathes joined 20th in 1937 as assistant to prexy Spyros P. Skou- ras. After going into service, he became exec assistant to the sales manager in 1944 and, in 1947, took over liis present position. McNamara for ‘Moon’ Hollywood. Maggie McNamara will co-star with William Holden and David Niven in Otto Preminger’s "The Moon Is Blue.” She will play the foie originated on Broadway by Barbara Bel Geddes. Rising Prices Still Top Paris Tourist Beef Paris. A new mark was again set tour- istwise in Europe in 1952, with numbers and dollars spent ever- spiraling upward. The American Society of Travel Agents reported that the sum to be spent the com- ing year by American travellers abroad would exceed the past year, and next year would find an even greater exodus and spending spree. Paris is still the top mecca for the vacationing tourist, but nu- merous squawks about the rising prices here have led to many tour- ists exiting the city for greener and cheaper pastures before their planned time here was up. Other European spots are now offering a much more reasonable living scale and the tourist is taking ad- vantage of it. Airlines here report that many stays are ■ prematurely curtailed, and the Bureau of Tour- ism is concerned and looking into the matter. Questioning has found that many Americans feel that they are being taken for suckers in hotels and restaurants here. They state that hotels quote a price and the bill finds a hefty 15% tax tacked on to the price. They also feel that some restaurants have special tourist season menus that come out for them. Others say hotels make breakfast obligatory and then charge full-meal prices for them. Some state that hotels which serve meals put the tax on meals and then add an overall tax again on the bill. Hoteliers claim that they are not responsible for this and blame ex- cessive taxes. They also say that antiquated tax system forces them to add the tax in after bill price, or otherwise they would find them- selves taxed on the taxes they pay. Government is taking steps to remedy some of these conditions, for tourism is still one of the top industries here. It is estimated over 350,000 Americans passed through in 1952. Bureau of Tourism has stated that it will issue questionnaires to all visitors and* take cognizance of all beefs for action. Feldman Takes Over Alfred W. Schwalberg, Para- mount sales head, has concluded his term as head of the Motion Picture Assn, of America’s sales managers committee. Charles Feldman, Universal’s domestic sales chief, has taken over. OUTDOOR REFRESHMENT SERVICE from Coast to Coast ever y 4 Century S.PORTSER VICE CORP. SPORTSIPViC! BlOC • BU"4lO N Y CONGRATULATIONS Alliance Theatres Corp., Chicago S. J. GREGORY, General Manager