Variety (November 1954)

Published Weekly at 154 West 46th Street, New York 30, N. Y., by Variety, Inc. Annual subscription; $10. Single copies, 25. cents. Entered as second class matter December 22; 1905, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y.. under the act of March 3. 1679. COPYRIGHT, 1954, BY VARIETY, INC.. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED VOL. 196 No. 10 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1954 PRICE 25 CENTS By ARTHUR BRONSOtf ...New .York’s show of shows of the year — a gala Metropolitan Opera opening night — became a national event for the first time on Monday night (8), when the mink-and-music jamboree was tele- vised on a closed circuit into -32 theatres around the country. The occasion not only put the Met into the electronics age, but it pointed the way out of an annual morass of red ink. It’s too soon to estimate what the Met got as its share of the teeveed event, because installations, line costs and theatre takes aren’t in, but with added theatre outlets each season the way is pointed in the future, to offset the annual deficits (last season, the Met went, into the red for about $250,000). Problem that plagues symphony orchestras . and ballet troupes as well as opera companies—the need of subsidies to,.offset annual deficits—looks like it' might be solved here. ' As. for the Met’s N.Y. take, the gross (at a hiked $30 orchestra top, With boxes bringing $450 each) reached a resounding $62,438, not tpo far below last year’s alltime record of $65,576. The Mpt lost sjx boxes and about 45 orchestra seats, to tv this year for camera installations, to explain the differ- ence. But with subscriptions this season running about $5,000 ahead of last year’s; record, list, and about $1,535,496 paid into Met coffers' by subscribers before opening-night curtain, the Met, looks set for* an- (Continued on page 20) Theatre-TV Pulls ’Em In But Metop Better Switch From Hams, Beefy Divas By HY HOLLINGER .If Metopera presentations are to be continued, via large screen the- atre tv, there'll have to be some changes made. While opera lovers .may be accustomed to over-sized sopranos and hammy acting, a larger-than-life-sife closeup view, plus facial contortions of some of .the' performers, presents a situa- tion that induces laughter rather than making for complete enjoy- ment of the topnotch vocalistics. This is not. intended wholly as a rap of the theatre telecast Of Mon- day’s ,(8) opening of the Metopera Which went to 32 theatres in 27 fcit’iSs,-'for-a good deal of it came over perfectly and the theatre audi- ence showed as much enthusiasm fpr the arias as did the plushly- garbed observers at the, 39th St. Oper^t house. It points up the fact,, however, that Met general man- ager Rudolph Bing will have . to m’ake a more careful selection of his principals for the large-screen vidcasts. From a- technical standpoint, Nate Halpern’s Theatre network (Continued on page 20) Liner Notes Bring Hub Ire Down on R&H Alburn Boston, Nov. 9. The Watch & Ward Society has requested local record dealers to remove singer Lee. Wiley’s new Rodgers & Hart album with George Frazier’s controversial jacket de- scription from sale here. Album notes on George Wein’s Storyville label was tabbed by the indie cen- sorship body as “undesirable mer- chandise,” although conceding they don’t deem' it necessary to ban it at this time. Action, resulted in at least two downtown retailers removing the album from .sale. Phil Baker arid Bert Wheeler have cornbined as a comedy team. Pair have signed RCA Victor vocalist Wyoma Winters as a third, iriemiber of the act, which will play a string of nitery dates before coining' to Broadway in the new Sid Silvers musical, “Cops and Robbers.” Baker & Wheeler signed a three-year deal this week with MCA, and their first nitery booking should be set before the. end of the week. Combine, represents the . first time Baker has had a partner since he played with Ben Befnie, and it’s Wheeler’s first partnership since a short spell with‘Sid Slate. ! Silvers and Eddie Moran are writ- ing some new material for the act, with Baker and Wheeler provid- ing most of the hew routines them- selves.. Incidentally, Silvers, now. a writer, was Baker’s longtime | box stooge in their vaudeville act. Actors & Chorus Equity Assns. May Do a Split Instead of merging, Actors Equity and Chorus Equity may sever affiliation.. That has been proposed' by Equity, president Ralph BeliamjL and will be; con- sidered by the union’s .council. As result of recent agitation by a faction of the Chorus member- ship, the council, yesterday (Tues.) tabled a scheduled referendum on the subject. Group also referred to | Chorus the latter’s recommended constitutional changes, j Bellamy’s proposal of a complete | (Continued oil page 71) Two more' major tv comics with New York Origihations are plan- ning the live-to-film transition next season in what now Appears to be a wholesale embracing Of celluloid by video’s top funnymen. Milton Berle, “pappy” of all the bigtime' tv comedians by virtue of getting in first, plans to. go half-hour, via film for the ’55-’56 semester, de- serting the full-hour formula, as so many others before him have done. Similarly, Red Buttons has put himself on record that,, starting next season, he,, too, will berth on. the Coast arid transfer to film.. Thus, with the exception of. a handful of the top comics commit- ted to full season shows, among them Jackie Gleason, Sid Caesar, George Gobel arid Imogene Coca, the. live-to-film transfer is being stepped up at an accelerated pace. Jimmy Durante presently does his every-Othcr-week “Texaco Star Theatre.” half-hour show on a live basis from the Coast, but like Don- ald O’Connor, who alternates with him, he’s already made arrange- ments for the shift to film! Both were one-a-month live comics on the Colgate Sunday hour last sea- son, Eddie Cantor, also out of the Col- gate .-stable 1 of stars, preems i Jan- uary with his new half-hour film' series,, which will be syndicated by Ziv. Jack Benny shows more and (Continued on page 42) U.S. 8th to Sign, Washington, Nov. 9. New- Universal Copyright Con- vention will go into effect Upon ratification by four more countries, 12 being needed and the U. S. hav- ing become the eighth on Friday 15) when President EisenhoWer signed the accord, in a formal ceremony in Washington. Confirm- ation of the treaty by ail!41 par- ticipating nations is expected. In effect, all: these countries are' accepting the concept of the U. S. statutory system of copyright pro- tection based publication with notice of copyright. This, means that all countries wjJl give the same protection to. citizens of other, nations that are given to their own nationals Under do- mestic, law. Attendees at the Friday cere- mony in D. C. included Austin Keough, Paramount v.p. who rep- resented the Motion Picture Assn, of America, and Edward A, Sar- goy, who heads the copyright seC : tion of the American Bar Assn. Sargoy is a member of-the Sargoy & Stein N. Y. firm which is active in film business legalistics. Max Conrad’s Publicized Songwriting Almost Nil Max Conrad, the; 1954 edition of “Lindy,” is more proficient , at piloting than songsmithlng. Conrad, who took, off from Idlewild Airport (N.Y,) Sunday (7) in a twin-engine Piper plane for a non-stopper to Paris, was tabbed by the dailies as a songwriter; True, he has written seven songs but none has been published Or even submitted to publishers. He has no other show biz background. Conrad has long-distanced light planes before. In 1950, he flew a single engine job to Europe'and has made sev- eral cross-country flights in private planes. “Tender Trap” is about to be- come one the quickest payoff shows in. recent Broadway history. The Clinton Wilder production will probably recoup the balance of its cost by the end of this week or early next week, or only after five weeks, on Broadway. Major factor in the situation is the prerproducr- tion film sale to Metro. Max Shulman-Robert Paul Smith comedy, at the Longacre Theatre, N. Y., has already repaid; one-third of its $75,000.investment. Wilder plans another $25,000 distribution in two or three weeks, with pay- ment of balance contemplated be- fore Jan. 1; “Trail” cost $46,808 to bring in, including $45,516 production cost (Continued on page 68) t Ziv Television Programs' biggest teiepix gamble to date—-the sign- ing of Eddie Cantor to a $9,000,000 seven-year deal calling for pro- duction of 39 films a year for seven* years in the face of a rapidly tightening, market—looks like it's going;, to pay off. Syndicati firm, holding sales meetings this week prior to kicking off its cam- paign on the series, announced that it has already, sold the series to three regional* bankroilefs~who will sponsor in 23 markets. Deals weie closed before the series, was actually on the market. ^ Cantor show marks a fling in the face of accepted syndication, practice. First group of 39 will, average out to a $53,000 per-show budget, highest in syndication his- tory, and Ziv prexy John Sinn says that .the show will carry “the highest rate card ever issued for a Ziv.show or for any other syndi- cated .telejrision film property.’’ Sinn said he’s well aware of the -“industry concern” Over cost prob- lems in syndication, but he' pressed the belief, that “adver- tisers want high quality produc- tions and we believe that local and regiori.al advertisers are willing to pay for them;” Three "regional deals Were all to (Continued on page 42) Ballads to Ballots, Westerns to Politics, Rex Bell Lt. Gov. of Nev. The affinity between show biz and politics came to the fore agai in last week’s election. Over the years thesps have been exchanging greasepaint for Government, and. lunesmiths have been switching from ballads to ballots. Latest show bizite to hit the po- litical front Is former oater star Rex Bell, who was elected. Lieuten- ant Governor of Nevada on the Re- (Continued on page 62) a la porfe S i t Currently presenIs Horn* of Charm All Girl Oi’clicstfa anti Choir Featuring EVELYN an cl her Magic Violin under the direction of PHIL SPITALNY