Variety (September 1961)

MISCELLANY Hollywood Leaders Teaming With Cops| To Strip Legal Cover From Nudie Pix Hollywood, Sept. 5. + Motion picture industry, smarting under amattack by L.A. County Board of Sup rvisors that it is responsible for the upsurge in risque “girlie” films and that if something |, isn’t done to curb such production the future of the industry’s upcom|’ ing Hollywood Motion Picture & Television Museum may be endangered, has picked up a big pole and will lay-to on all sides against offenders. Industry leaders. met last Thurs@ay ‘31: w:th Board Supervisors Frank Bonelli and Kenneth Hahn and assured them of their complete cooperation and that of all members of the industry. Outcome was that a 10-man commission will. ‘pe appointed, drawn mostly from the film industry and related fields, tc operate as a factfinding body and to recommend new !aws andj regulations by which city police, the L.A. County Sheriff's office and the District Attorney may erack down on both theatres showing such product and possibly producers themselves... Supervisors, after. Jengthy explanations -of the operation of the motion picture industry ; jtself. finally conceded. as Slmitcs ; pointed out. that the vroducers of iivar and will erect a counterpart | (Continued on page 61) Former Head-Shrinker Uses Laugh-at-Yourself Approach as Lecturer Auckland, N.Z., Sept. 5. Dr. Murray Banks. American: * psychiatrist turned .lecturer and ° entertainer, recently toured here under the Harry Miller manage-. ment. Admittedly a frustrated actor, Banks got into show biz through the lecture route. While conducting group therapy . as a young practitioner, he would jnvite relatives and friends of his patrents to sit in on the sessions. With the idea of using laughter to dispel fears and neuroses. he. would attempt to make patients | laugh at themselves. He had little success with the | more deeply troubled patients. but at least entertained the others. Presently they began to invite him to give the same talk to their clubs, organizations, staff parties. and so] on. “I was finally spending sa. much of my time away lecturing that you could say that. the tail} was wagging the dog,” the expsychiatrist remarks. Banks drew capacity audiences jn Auckland’s Town Hall :2,000 seater, $2.50 top! already primed by his LP disk. “How To Live With Yourself.” a big seller on the La Gloria label here. The doctor delivered his “So You Think You're Normal?” program, a 75-minute lecture on how to adjust to life’s problems, followed by a free-for all session in which the augience was invited to fling questions at him. hearing | Theatre Integration hh San Antonio, Sept. 5. An executive of the Texas Intertate Theatre Circuit told the Stu that local Interstate theatres would integrate here when other restaurants and hotels in San Antonio altered their segregation policies. Perfecto Villarreal, chairman of the SCL, which staged several. peaceful stand-in demoustrations at local Interstate. theatres, met with John Q. Adams, yeepee of thetheatre circuit. Villarreal forsees [ integration in San Antonio soon. ‘$30,000,000 Counterpart Of Rockefeller Center Proposed for L.A. Site! > Hollywood; Sept. 5. N. Y. syndicate has. -bought the Muller Bros, service station site ! covering five acres at Sunset and of Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center to cost $30,000,000. Frank Muller, who with the estate of: his ; ; late brother, Walter, i property, declined to disclose the | purchase price of the property. Real is now in’ escrow and ex' pected to clear within a month. :Estimated that it will be a year ‘before actual construction of the ‘new business center starts. Muller. and his three nephews own three : parcels of property’ ‘adjoining the site. Muller said: he would devote his time to developing his properties in the San Fernando Valfty, Ana-. ‘heim and Nevada. Identity of the buy ers was not ‘disclosed. ‘Greatly Exaggerated’ | Ricky Oughta Know . Minneapolis, Sept. 5.: Still plagued by: rumors of his; ; being incurably sick, singer Ricky Nelson assured fans here that he’s in fine fettle “despite beating his. nerves are taking from the recurring reports. Appearing at Minnesota State (Fair, Nelson told Minneapolis Star | iradio-tv editor Forrest Powers: “I’m in perfect health. How else could I maintain a schedule as tight as mine? The rumor {fs get-+ ting on my nerves. It bothers a guy to hear that he’s supposedly dying. I deny it in one place, then it pops up in another section of the country. ” 9/6 Enclosed find check for $.........000 Subscription Order Form | Please send VARIETY for (]. One Year (1 Two Years [ Three Years To Coase eoeneseersstesesesee Ccccccecsscesesecsse oecooe @iease Print Name) Street PRESCTC RESCH STSHESHHH OCS SCHTSHKRHOKESCEHSLFESCHESHESESCOS £088 City ‘Terre ere te yee ee ee Zone. .... State. .cssecs Regular Subscription Rates One Year—$15.00 Two. Years—$28.00 Three Years—$39.00 . Canada and Foreign—$1 Additional Per Year VARIETY Inc. | 154 West 46th Street New York 36, N. Y. Tex. Awaits Hotels’ Move | ' ‘dents for. Civil Liberties last week | owns the PAUL ANKA A grateful acknowledgment: “ae Mankiewicz’s direction. ri. respectful -appreciation-to DARRYL F. ZANUCK and sincere: ‘thanks to the entire staff and crew, shooting. his picture ‘THE LONG EST DAY’ in France for making |" my film stint really memorable.” AUL ANKA, | Far East Tourism ‘Tn Marked Upbeat ‘Honolulu, Sept. 8. Travel to the Pacific set a new record during the first half of. the year, according toa Pacific Area Travel Assn. report, with Hawali retaining its traditional first place in tourist volume. -Japan and Hong King still ‘are in ‘second and third. place, latter showing a spectacular 36% gain. Runnerup. destination areas are India; Singapore, ‘Malaya, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines. Taiwan, Vietnam, Macau, Fijf, 4.Korea, Tahiti, Burma; Indo | nesia, New Caledonia. ‘and Samoa. ‘An all-year gain.over 1960s now projected ‘at: 15%, with another. 18% increase . anticipated in 1962. . Indonesia, with the Asian Games set for next summer and hotel ex pansion under way, forecasts an. 80° gain this year and 100% more next year. Other vacation areas predicting sharp gains in 1962 are Tahiti, ‘Vietnam, Korea. and New Caledonia. A P.A.T.A. ‘spokesman ‘admits the Pacific. has a long way to go before’ it catches up with Europe iravel. but, he adds, the figures. “show . that.’ the trend is toward ‘this exotic area.” | WHAT ‘BURIAL BY THE ACTORS’ FUND’ MEANS ‘San Francisco. Editor, VARIETY: The sting of death was considerably . softened for me. last week. As-a theatre historian for 25 years I have head thousands. of obitu-. aries’ of which, so. many ended This became such a stock phrase. that I paid it little heed. . That {s, ‘until last week, when I received a telephone call asking me for some date on an actress who had |: died: st the State Hospital. I was asked to write a suitable obituary for the newspapers and also to call | the hospital aud give them the in formation. ‘until I spoke with the hospital di _ (Continued on | page, 62) | } When. F.D.R. Was Beaten ‘Commenting: on the fact” that Warners has entered the field of cinematic controversy with “Splendor in the Grass,”.. a company .exec recalled experience of the recent past. At about the same time that “Elmer Gantry,” .“World of Suzie Wong,” “The Apartment” and “Butterfield. 8” were playing various parts of the market, WB was offering “Sunrise at Campobello.” These four competitive pictures .all dealt: frankly with sex while “Sunrise,” of course dealt with the early life of velt: Added the WB spokes-. ‘man: “The four all cleaned up ‘and nobody spent. any money +" to’ see our picture.” |. | $250,000. with, “Burial by the Actors’ Fund.” It. seemed a routine assignment rector. He explained to me that} the only information.he had of the {deceased was her name, the year ‘President. Franklin D. Roose Wednesday, September 6,. 1961 New York Isa Summer Debacle’ | For Show Biz, But Vegas, P-R. Swing i Richard Burton To Net $250,000 In ‘Cleopatra’ | Hollywood, Sept. 5. —Richard Burton's chore in 20thFox's “Cleopatra” will net. -him Star, who leaves Broadway. musical hit “Camelot” Sept. 10, gets $300,000 from studio, out of which he agreed to pay producers of’ the x |X. Y. show $50,000 to bow out be fore year-end so he could appear oprosite Elizabeth Taylor when Walter Wanger production . re sumes Sept. 18 in Rome under Joe It'll Bea Sad Day For Entertainers When Paar Quits, Sez Phil Foster Minneapolis, Sept. 5. Insisting that Jack Paar is “the only star-maker le ness,” comic Phil Foster, appearing at Freddie’s nitery. here last, week, went to bat for the oft: denounced . Paar. “On the big variety shows— Moore, Sullivan, Como—the star is already “established,” says Foster. “‘Name me one act you’ve seen on the Sullivan program that. ‘stands out. in your. mind. You act, never a personality. gives him a chance to be a star, Look at what he’s done for Phyllis Cass, just to name a few.” ~ -Commentifig on the tv luminary’s attributes,. Foster said Paar is “fiercely loyal, honest and too often misunderstood. When Paar quits his program—and he defiritely will—it’s going ito be a-sad day for entertainers.” Foster admitted that ff a hoped for role ina Broadway show materializes for himself, it would be a direct result of his Paar show appearances. Wanted: Narcotics Show ing agency office in Bangkok: seek narcotic smuggling. The request in the form of a letter said the agency has a client interested in. sponsoring such a series. Letter mentioned the pubaffairs special “Hell Flower” and said if there was a series sjmilar in nature, or a show, it would appreciate details. One distributor {s sald fo have replied that it has shows on the law enforcement angle. . Volume 234 Music™ “in the. busi-| can't. On Sullivan, you're only an “Paar, ‘on the other hand, allows |: a performer to stand on his own | two feet as a human being ‘and | Diller, Cliff Arquette and Peggy} For Bangkok Market Many U.S. distributors received. ‘a request from the Grant Advertis| ing a tv series on narcotics or {Minnesota. Trade. Mark Registered POUNDED 1903 by SIMS SILVERMAN, ropresite Weekly by VARIETY, Ine. en . verman, 184 West 46th St., New york peniey Xe. 6404 Sunset Ber: hevard Holywood. 9-1143 1202 National Pres i 400 No. Michigan rey oo Seiaware. 71-4984 49 ‘t. James's Street, Piccadilly, HYde Park 4561-33 . "SUBSCRIPTION Annual, $15; Foreign, $16; Single Copies, 3s Conta ABEL ‘GREEN, Editor ; DAILY VARIETY . Published in Hollywood by: Daily. Variety Ltdy ‘$15 a year. $20 Foreign. The Labor Day. weekend rang the curtain down on a-siummer seae son regarded. 3s. somewhat less than brilliant. in most. sectors of the show biz. economy.. Sever pbonifaces wish they. had been claire ‘yoyant enough to have shuttered for the hot months. In the international travel areas, business has been off as much as 30% in some parts. of Europe. The Catskills ‘areas of New York's Borscht Belt have had. only a fair season, with the . usual exceptions of Grose singer’s, “Ferndale, and the. Con‘sord at Kiamesha Lake which liad a fine year. Hotel registrations in New York have been offish even for-a summer due, primarily, to thon absence of firstclass conventions. On the brighter. part of the ‘tledger is the excellent summer :n Las Vegas, which has been getting a bigger share of tourist revenue. It’s also. blosseming as. a convention center, which is bringing in an. -increasing . "slice of. business: on a. year round basis.” Also a bright ‘spot is the increased. talent’ employment over last year in the Catskills. .Because of the heavier competition for the -vacationing dollar, many spots have upped their ':performer budgets. Most spots upping. the bankroll have bought. more acts rather than (Continued on. page 62) Do-It-Yourself Bill E or Investment Execs Renting Tony Minneapolis: Nitery _ Minneapolis, Sept. 5.. Something new in: nightclub of |ferings is slated here Nav. 6 when ‘officials of a local investment com‘pany will take over Freddie’s. one of the city’s toniest supper clubs, for three nights. The execs, associated with Midwest Technical De velopment Corp., are forming a Dixieland band. which they've tagged: “Midwest Tech Convertible Notes” and plan. to entertain at the nitery Nov. 6-8. It’s more than a gag ines 1 many of the businessmen. have played. {with other bands and aH are’ ‘wouldbe musicians while working at other pursuits. Group includes three Midwest: Tech vicepresidents, the investment organization's treas ‘urer, a: y.p. of :Technical Manage ment Services Inc:, an electronic design engineer. with Telex. Ine. anda .cost analyst for the U. of Businessman ‘band . has hired. a public. relations counsel, an ad agency and a ticket broker and plans to open with a private preem for which execs of companies associated with Midwest Tech will be flown in from around the coun try. Second and third nights will be open to the public with a $I cover charge and regular. menu prices. JUdaon 2-2768. ding: ‘STerling $5448 <p" . IN DEX Bills ....... secedveseoes BL | New Acts... vevetecrenes BB | Casting News ....ccee0e. 60. Night Club Reviews weote BZ: Chatter .t..-.seeceeeeee O2. | Obituaries 00.0... e + 68 1. Film Reviews | sesencecee 6 | Pictures iteesengeeeeds 3) | House Reviews ......... 81 Radios... ease Saeneie 20. ' Inside Pictures ......... 8 | Records Reviews weoccee 44 HT Inside Radio-TV ........ 29 | Télevision ........0ece04 20 | ‘International ..........5 156 | TV. Film custusagvadeeeit 22... Legitimate .....s..-..00. 5&4 |. Unit Reviews ..ss.esee, ‘BL. Literatl ....cees+s-eeee. 61 | Vaudeville. ivttenesneee 48 sores we cccscrcccse 44 Wall Street \.c...3.00-.¢ 18)