Variety (June 1958)

Wednesday, June 18, 1958 P^^iEfr VAEVEVnXB 53 Mexico City, June 17. Asdciacion Nacional de Actores, the Mexican Actors union, hosted the powwow of the American Guild of Variety Artists which was held vin the Jorge Negrete Theatre located in the ANDA headquarters. Not only did the officers of the Mexican union pro¬ vide an honor guard for the visit¬ ing performers but sent around a native show and provided a buffet for them on Wednesday (11). AGVA reciprocated with a show' at the’ Plaza "Vista Hermosa Hotel, where the delegates w-ere domi¬ ciled. One of the most passionately fought subjects of the convention was the issue of elimination of na¬ tional voting. Although the bulk of the memheirs and delegates seem to be fighting for direct branch voting^ the battle had to be post¬ poned because of the method of at¬ tack, which the administration claimed was unconstitutional. It was the only major issue that caused the presiding chairman of the convention, Joe Canipo, to re¬ linquish the chair and deliver a speech urging a return to selection of delegates and officers on a local level. her of the national board which met following the conyention. Their son was also along with them. . A powerful protest against na¬ tional voting was registered by; the Minneapolis; branch, w’hich sent a letter to the conyehtipn stating that . the elected representative, Paul Burke, was . not a . rep of the branch but that candidates Sophie Parker and Bud jacobson, who lost to Burke in the voting,. w'Cre; Don George of Seattle, Therefore, stated that these names should^ be put into nominationas a courtesy to members. in that city: Biirke was also nominated from the flbor. One of the resolutions hitting the floor would haye made it legal for ah act to engage in booking. The resolution pointed out that in¬ asmuch as musicians, with; proper qualifications, may get a club'date producers’ certificate, this right is denied performers who w'ould want to augment their income by turn¬ ing producer or booker. Action was ^id by the administration to be illegal. Of course, such action might help the cause of Harry Baker, who had been elected as a delegate but was unseated on charges that he had illegally engaged in book¬ ing practices^ Diana Goldberg went in his stead. Her seating had been protested, .biit w as voted down. V- The seven-day week for variety acts seems doomed, in > few years. Resolutions- to- ptit In a six-day week for acts were advanced, but because of some outstanding con¬ tracts,^ passage was. deferred until such time as the six-day week could be installed for the entire industry. One of the measures adopted calls for at least t\v6; emcees in in¬ stances \v h ere continuous shows run for great lengths. ..Resolution-j is likely to be. put into, effect as soon as present contracts expire. : Until new. elections take place, ACVA will be without four au- thprized delegates. Chicago is minus two because of expiration, of; terms. Minneapolis and Hono-. lulu are still to elect their, reps. Paradise Room Shutters; Atlanta Nitery Pioneer A Vicliiii of ‘I Atlanta^ June 17^ : Curtain rang to end an era Sat¬ urday (14) when Henry Grady Hb- tel’s Paradise Room shuttered af¬ ter 20 years as a night club and switched to an eatery policy. . . Paradise was Atlanta’s pioneer nitery and a stepping stone for many eutertaimers. Among those who played it were George; Gobel, Mindy Carson, Guy Mitchell, Andy Griffith, Herb Shriner, Gene Austin,. Row'ian & Martin. Formerly known as the Spanish Room, PR was the only supper club in country to .offer a . com¬ plete noontime floorshow. At one tinie room v/as known. for its fiye-. act shows and especially its. chorus line. The June Taylor Dancers made an early appearance. Henry Grady’s cocktailery, the Dogwood Room, adjacent to Para¬ dise, will continue in bperation spotlighting Jim Scott .DuO for music. ‘ Fred Collier, president of Henry , Grady Hotel, said PR policy change- came as part of constant effort to keep hotel in step with march of i prbgresS.. Patrons’ tastes in enter- tainment^ he said, seem to lean to¬ ward the smaller, more intimate night spots, such as Dogwood Room. . “Some - very elaborate | plans, however, are in the making so far. as the redecorating and re¬ styling of the Paradise Ropm are concerned,’’ he said. I Acts inlying if^Sca^ in Atteiiipt To Help Lou Walters Ride Out Storm; Jerry lee lewis’ 1-f%liter Fiasco The Meadco City confab was dis^ tinguished by the unusually high number of family groups. Man and wife teams at the confab in¬ cluded Sid DeMay & Sally Moore; a comedy dance pair, and Monica Boyar and Lee ToUy. There were also the Duncan Sisters, the famed. Topsy & Eva twain. Delegate Diana Goldbe^ was accompanied by her husband, Irving Grossman, who is not a delegate but a mem- . The resolution, passed recently in Boston, asking the convention to bring the matter of the union’s [ paying $20,000 on Jackie Bright’s behalf in settlement of a. libel suit against the national adrhinistrci- tive secretary, was harried to death by techhicaiities. Charlie Brett, of the Boston delegation, w anted this, to come to the floor onee-and- for-all.. Labeled the Morgan jesolution, because it. was proposed by' Ralph i Morgan of that city, the matter, it w'as held, couldn’t come to the floor because it had been improperly presented, was riot signed by the Boston local, and the elected dele¬ gates, Brett and Billy Kelly, were not persbriaily instructed to bring it to the floor. The matter was dropped. Intent of the Hub. motion was to get the convention to bring the Bright settlement tb the attention of the McClellan Senate; Commit¬ tee ori Improper Practices in the Labor and Mariagement Field. CURRENTLY DORCHESTER HOUSE Jact C«NNplet«d CIRO'V Paris Mgr.-MILB INGAUS, HOWARIL HOYT YVONNE MORAY . . 42“ Tall — sinftnf Cenricdltnnt . PLANTATION SUPPIR CtUI ; Nathvlile, Teaii. ASSbCIATCD BUOKINa CORP. Joa Olatar, Prat. Vioilniat DanCf and Dinar Music ••• y* Mt. RatMt far tha tummar urim c^bn and tala wark raam and maalt furnithad. State musical aduca- tfan and axp. - la* IML 15S1 rwiy. Haw York. Jefiy lewis 63G III K.C. Allresco Kansas City,. June 17. The Starlight Theatre opened the outdoor season of musicals in Swope Park in strong ;fashion as the Jerry Lewis variety unit last week grossed $63,000, up among the better weeks of the theatre. Lewis showed patrons some sur¬ prisingly good dancing along with his comedy and singing, but un¬ fortunately used questionable ma¬ terial early part-of the week. This brought pannings froria both' press and public, but evidently strength of the star name weathered the rippdsition. The bill was well rounded with the Amin Bros. (2), Mr. Rallaritine, the Noveiites (3), Augie & Margo, and Eileen Barton. ^ After the opening show Lewis dug into his oum pocket for $2,500 with which 1 runway was built across the orch pit In an effort to get “closer” to his audience. It was used balance of the week, but was torn down after the final perform¬ ance Sunday (15). " CABCALLOWAY . Rdiuminf SPONTIN* UH In "PONdY Aa# MSS" fdr a Strita af Summ«p St«*k Infifamtnlr . Ill», j^U MIITM#. HIP 1^^ r .s Las Vegas, June 17. The Desert Spa, in seripiis finan¬ cial difficulty for the past two weeks, finally closed its doors at 10 am. Friday (13) when a $13,680 attachment was levied against the resort by the musicians uiiion, Lo¬ cal 369. All the money in the. cash-- ier’s .cage and in the slot machines was; seized. ; A riew show starring stripper Candy Barr was skedded to open on the same day the hotel closed. It was the first production of Jim¬ my Cavanaugh, who was recently named entertainment director. Claude Johns,- general manager of the Desert Spa, which Opened only two months ago, said, “We haye decided to clo^ down for a week. During those seven, days we will meet with the uriion and .other creditors to try and work out a mutually favorable financial ar¬ rangement. 'If that can be done, our hotel, casino, and show will re¬ open next Friday,” An earlier attempt to close the Spa was momentarily stayed when meat, plumbing and produce credi¬ tors agreed to an immediate 25% payment on their bills. However, the musicians nnibri; upon advice from its attorney John Mendoza, rejected the artangement as “top inadequate.’- Cayanaugh has asked tha cast members of the new show to stand by. in case the hoteL ls able to re¬ open June 20. In addition to him¬ self and Miss Barr, they include the Appletoris, Sandy Sims, Mac .Dennison, Irving Harriion, Vicky Denas, 24 girl dancers, prch leader Buster Hallet, 12 riiusicians—^plus two live camels and their trainert Chatlie "Ventura and Freddie. Bell’s Bellboys wera appearing In the lounge.. NXs Sole Burley Bowing TUs Week Atlantic Ci% June 17. . Summer burlesque opens Friday (20) in tha uptown Globa ou the boardwalk with Virginia Kinri fea- turedv Thera will be two shows, at 9 . arid midnight. Burlesque, only one in the state, has been a fixture at the Globe for more than a quar¬ ter of a century, and has met with no interference from police here. , With Miss Kinn \rtll appear Mara ic Maurice, Maxie Furman, Bennie Moore, Murray Briscoe, Johnny Crawford, Dottie Dean, Debra Dan¬ te. VeU, Alan Rerio and ^Uata. i A . batch of show bizites are pitching in to. try to keep the Cafe de Paris in operation. The NeW. York nitery found itself in a bad way follow'iiig the cancellation of Jerry Lee LeWis, who opened last Tuesday (10) to a derisive audience and w’as cancelled out after the second show that night at which only a handful appeared. Operator Lou Walters then took ill during the night with what was given put as a mild coronary and exhaustion. Lewis got settlement on the club with amount not disclosed. He was booked in at $9,000. Acts will play the cafe two shows nightly at AGVA miiiimums, start¬ ing last night iTues.) with M.imi Benzell. Henny Youngman goes in tonight (Wed.) and Joey Adams & A1 Kelly do a One-nighter tomor¬ row; Lou Holtz will do a stand one night next week, prior to the four- day engagement of Dorothy La- mour. Mickey Rooney comes in rtarting July 1. Decision to continue operation. . Chicago, June 17. The promoters who, originally promised Chicago a return of top¬ flight two - a - day vaude have pledged anew, they’re “definitely going to go” next fall. The trio, partnered as Mt. Royal Produc¬ tions, are just back from the Coast Where they canvassed a slew of nariib acts to topUne over a mihi- mum l2-week season, asseitedly obtaining . firm assurances from four or fiye of those approached. Names weren’t disclosed. It appears the only uncertainty, to a teeoff date is the availability of the Erjanger legit house, which domiciles the hit “Auntie Mame” as of Sept.. 2. Erlariger is first choice of the vaudery, which held ari option on it for the summer, and latter will' wait to see how “Auntie Mame” goes before a final decision on theatres. If the play shapes to ari extended run, it’s understood an . alternate legit showcase will be available for the vaude rtands. ’ Rival promoters Phil Lind and Mickey Goldstein, who blurbed similar plans subsequent to Mt. RPyal's initial announcement, haven’t been heard from since. Back in mid-April, they had bruited k summer stand. during Walters’ illness was made Monday tl6) afternoon. A stock¬ holders* meeting took place on Saturday and concensus was that continued operation would be at¬ tempted if a new bankroll eould be obtained. Monday was spent in lining up new backing, and s^pot resumed operation last night. Mon¬ day is the normal closing night for the spot. The attempt by Walters to open in. what was a record-breaking time, from blueprint to preem, is rrigarded as being partially respon¬ sible for the cafe’s plight. Open- j ing under such hurried conditions took a deep toll of Walters’ per¬ sonal health as well as his finan¬ cial resources. No reserve was left to compensate for any bad busi- . ness. Another factor was the high, price paid for Betty Hutton. It was felt that for her $22,500 she would have to draw two full houses every riight during her run. Otherwise the house couldn’t come out ahead. Walters declared that on the first week he grossed $70,900. However, he said, “If I had paid her a nor¬ mal salarj% I could have made $10,000: Instead, I lost $10,000.” " The Jerry Lee Lewis booking Was made by Walters in despera- ; tion since he; had no draw to follow Miss Hutton. It Was reported that Lewis turned out to be boxoffice poison, since an estimated 200 adult reservations cancelled out. (There wasn’t a sufficient advertis- I ing budget in the till to try to lure the youngsters into the spot. There is stiil one question mark in the operation, even if all goes well and the spot is able to pull through this precarious period. While all salaries had been paid up to Sunday, the normal end of the week period, there is a possibility that the American Guild of Variety Artists will step in and demand a bond to cover all salaries, which could shutter the spot. As far as is known, there is not now a bond with the union inasmuch as an opening-night deal w'as made Whereby the premiere ^May 28) was a benefit for the AGVA Sick & Relief Fund with tickets going up to. $50. Just how much the union made out of that isn’t knowri, but the tieup was figured to be in lieu of posting salaries for the cast in advance. Bligh A. Dodds, of Gouvemeur, N.Y., former, president of the New York State Assn, of Agricultural Fairs, and the International Assn, of Fairs & Expositions, has been re- riamed by President Eisenhower as collector of customs with headquar¬ ters at Ogdensburg, N. Y. CLASON'S PROFESSIONAL COMEDY MATERIAL for all Tkootricols “Wu Survlcu tHu Stars" Bi 9 Tomporory Spoclol on All 2SCag Filas fer $15, Plus $Y.OO Postagt Poralgii; $1.50 ca., 35 for $40 o 3 Parody Books, Por Bk. ... $10 o o 4 Blackout Books, Por Bk. .. $25 o O Mlitstrot Budfot ... . . .$25 o Hew to Mostor the Coremonios $3 por Copy Ho .e.O.D's . “^Alwoys Open" BILLY OUSON 200 W. 54th St., H.Y.C., If Circle 7-1130 (WE TEACH EMCEEING and COMEDY) (Lot a Raal Professional Train You) RON URBAN Presenting Pastels Currently on Tour of Duty with 5th U.S.Army Speciai Services Representing 5th Army in AH Army Show Now at FORT BELVOIR, West Virginia Aval/able After Murch II, IfdO Cenfsct.eANNY ORAHAM