Variety (May 1946)

S8 LEGITIMATE Wednesday, May 22, 194$ Hurok To Scout Europe for Talent For New Russ Ballet Co, Due in SepL Impresario Sol Hurok is planing* to Europe first week in June to' scout for talent and productions for his new ballet company which pre- mieres next season. Hurok, who hasn't been abroad since 1939, prior to which he made annual trips searching for artists, isn't looking this time, for any new solo attrac- tions or companies for his. regular concert list. He'll merely scout the ballet scene in-London,-Paris .and perhaps Rome, to pick up dancers or ballets for his present troupe. " Group, to be known as Russian Ballet Co., was formed by Hurok when the Ballet. Theatre recently divorced itself from his management. Company will be headed by Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, who toured with their own small troupe this season, and will also include Andre Eglcvsky, Rosella Hightower and George Skiblne as' featured i dancers. Hurok is taking over six ballets from the repertoire of Ballet In- ternational, the Marquis de Cuevas-. sponsored company which folded to $1,000,000 loss after one short, sea- son a year ago at International (formerly Cosmopolitan) theatre, N.Y, On his trip, Hurok will also huddle in Paris with Alexandre Benois, Diaghileff collaborator and designer, on a full-length "Swan Lake," with Benois' original sets, to be done in the U.S. for the first time. Company will give world premiere of "Camille," new ballet to Schu- bert music with choreography by John Taras, as well as U.S. premiere of two works originally produced by the Vic-Wells Ballet in London, "Job". and "Haunted Ballroom." In all, first season's repertoire will in- clude 35 productions. Season will open at Metropolitan Opera House, N.Y.. Sept. 15, followed by five- month road tour. EQUITY NIXES CLEVE. STRAWHATGUESTARS Cleveland, May 21. Dina Rees Evans' plans of securing professional Broadway guest-stars to appear in her summer productions at Cain Park, municipally operated amo,hitheatre, were, stymied last week when Equity ruled agr.inst such a policy. Director of the 3,200-capacity strawhatter had been negotiating With Elissa Landi to appear here in "Damask Cheek!" . Although the. actress signified, willingness, the actors' assn. refused to grant her permission on the grounds, that she would be playing, with non-Equity members. Ruling is being protested as un- | fair by Dr. Evans, supervisor of dramatic activities at Cleveland Heights' schools, who was instru- mental in promoting the outdoor theatre. It is operated by the suburb on a non-profit, non-professional en- terprise primarily as a training school for. theatrical students, and as a cultural center. By holding down its budget and using local talent, it has been able to put on nearly a dozen plays each summer for half-week stands at 50c. top, or 41c. for advance tickets. If the strawhatter had to pay Equity salaries to all its players, the direc- tor pointed out, it would have to hire a complete unionized staff which would raise operating costs to a point where it would have to be run on a com- mercial instead of a municipal scale. Picketed 'Uncle Tom' Does Quick Folderoo When B.O.Dives in Pitt Pittsburgh, May 21. "Uncle Tom's Cabin," with music, did a foldo last week at Syria Mosque after playing out only half of its scheduled Six performances. Spokesman said the cancellation was the indirect result of protests by Negro leaders, adding that the pro- ducers felt the critcism might ham- per other dates in this area. Box- office, however, suggested an en- tirely different reason. First two times "Tom" didn't even play to a total of 300 customers in the big 3,- 800-seat Mosque. Just five hours before the colfapse, the producers announced the show would go on "even if it costs us a fortune." They had a change of mind upon taking a look at the re ceipts. Last week a delegation represent- ing the Inter-Racial Action Council, the Urban League of Pittsburgh, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the Ameri- can Veterans Committee protested the Pittsburgh booking to Mayor David L. Lawrence. He said he'd send a representative to the first performance and did/Unofficial cen- sor reported back to Lawrence that he could see no reasons for banning the show. Protesting groups had pickets all around the Mosque with pamphlets urging non-attendance. They could have saved themselves the trouble. Nobody came anyway. Drama critics were busy at time covering Maurice Evans' "Hamlet' at Nixon, so local papers sent music experts around to. cover "Tom." They came back and wrote scathing pans. Harriet Beecher Stowe classic had previously played a few one-night ers in this territory, and to big biz. Attraction, before taking Mosque, wrong site for it completely, had tried to get Casino, downtown bur- lesk house, but couldn't make a deal. 'Fortune Teller' for B'way Los Angeles, May 21. Edwin Lester, who took his stage production, "Song of Norway," from Los Angeles to N. Y„ is figuring to do the same with "The Fortune Teller," backed by Californian coin. Show is a rewrite of the Victor Herbert operetta, to be produced here .for the Civic Light Opera Assn. lively Bucofic Season Due in Easton Sector Easton, Pa., May 21. Plenty of competition among strawhats this summer, is seen in this section, with three playhouses in operation. The Bucks County Playhouse at New Hope, long established, is not expected to be affected too much, but two summer theatres a few miles from- each other near Clin- ton, N. J., may have trouble before the summer is over. . Hunterdon Hills Playhouse, opened last year, will open its sea- son on June 18 with "My Sister Eileen." lone Hutaine owns the theatre, which . was leased by Ted Miller and Peter Harris. Billy Gil- bert, is the director. The Music Bell theatre, opened this year, plans to run 15 weeks, starting with "Soldier's Wife" on May 27. This theatre is only a few miles away, from the Hunte'rdoh Hills Playhouse. Blauvelt Barn Theatre Bought by Coast Agent Nyack, N. Y., May 21. Following purchase by Harry Rosen, Hollywood agent and pro- ducer, Greenbush theatre, Blauvelt, N. Y., strawhatter, is currently un- dergoing postwar conversion for May 30 opening with "Personal Ap- pearance." Group is scheduled for 14-week run with all-Equity cast, and possibly longer if heating units can be installed in time. Resident company includes Bar- bara Bell Wright, granddaughter of Alexander Graham Bell, and daugh- ter of novelist Harold Bell Wright; Sam Fertig, nephew of Elliott Nu- gent; Rudolph McCool, formerly with RKO and Cleveland Playhouse, and Kay Buckley, of Chi "Wallflow- er" company. Midwest Strawhat Set Kansas City, May 21. Midwest's newest strawhat will open June 11 near Kansas City when Summer Garden theatre, under di- rection of John Reeder, ex-thesper, produces "Hay Fever." First try will be followed by "Enchanted Cottage," which Reeder directed in Equity Li- brary production in N. Y. last fall. Expected for ,a Week in "Bad Man" is Leo Carrillo, with other name people still bri the docket. Kaycee Spa, skedded for twelve- week,. all-Equity run under manage- ment of L. G. Simmonds, will have union backstage. House, located on 1,200-acre school property, seats 7- 500. 3d Union' Company Hollywood, May 21. Third "State of the Union" legit company will be formed by Howard Lindsay . and Russel Crouse this summer to tour the west coast. Cast will be organized in this area, with a break-in at San Diego before moving into the Biltmorc, Los Angeles, in August. 'Union' Due in. Texas Dallas, May 21. Chicago Company of "State of the Union," with Judith Evelyn, Neil Hamilton, and James Rennie, has been booked for a three-day run at the Melba here in Jan. 1947, with subsequent bookings for other key Interstate cities. . . Prospects are that Interstate will' have its brightest season of Broad- way hits this fall with tentative bookings already made for "Okla- homa!", "Voice of the Turtle", "The Glass Menagerie" and Billy Rose's "Carmen Jones." Evans Serves Emily Post With'Hamlet 1 at Pitt Preem Bobbysoxers Eating It Up Pittsburgh, May 21. Only straight-thinking of Maurice Evans kept opening performance, of "Hamlet," Monday (13) at Nixon, from being almost a complete fiasco. The more than 700-seat gallery for the preem was packed with school- aged kids, most of them seeing their first legit play, and opening act was pretty painful on everybody, what with the younger generation talking, squealing and screaming the way they would at a Sinatra movie. Capacity . audience' in the lower reaches kept shushing them all through the beginnings of "Hamlet," but it was no use. Then just before the curtain went up on the second act, Evans stepped out of the curtains and made a short talk, getting around gradually—and graciously—to the subject at hand. Instead of bawling out the kids, which might have been fatal, he talked to them like a patient father. First asked those who were seeing their first play to raise their hands. Practically all of them went up. Then he asked how many had never seen a film. Not a hand went up. Whereupon star pointed out dif- ferences between a living play and a film, explained that there were several scenes .coming: up in the sec- and act that required rapt' attention and asked kids to show some respect for those who knew "Hamlet" and loved it. He added that they, too, would come to love it if they gave the play and the players half a chance. Entire'speech, which took about five minutes, was a model of diplomacy , and won him a terrific hand from everybody. What's more, it did the trick. Bobby-sox gajag was as quiet as a mouse throughout final act and per- formance in general was 100% bet- ter as a result. Jamestown Colony Saga To Be Va/s 2d Pageant Raleigh, May 21. Virginia is going ahead with plans for producing a dramatic pageant of the Jamestown and Williamsburg colony. During the past few days Gov. Cherry and the Dept. of Conserva- tion and Development have been asked for information .on the Roan- oke Island incident as a basis for Virginia's plans: At first ft was feared the Jamestown project might steal some of Roanoke Island's "Lost Colony" thunder, but it now appears the two may complement rather than compete with each other Paul Green's "Lost Colony" drama portrays the first attempt at Eng- lish colonization of the new world, while the Jamestown play is expect- ed to memorialize the first perma- nent English settlement in America and carry on through early Colonial days. Bard Bit-Player Pounds Drum in 'Salvation' Play Pittsburgh, May 21. Howard Otway, bit player in Mau- nc.e Evans' "Hamlet," has authored a new play about the' Salvation Army, "Penny on the Drum," which will be given a strawhat tryoiit in July at Cragsmore, N. Y. Otwpy's background is closely connected with his subject. Actor- playwright's mother and father have been In Salvation Army work prac- tically all their lives. Father is Col. Henry Otway of the Chicago SA. Inside Shiff-Legit It was Max Gordon's Intention to.use the settings of the Coast revival "Roberta" for his intended autumn eastern revival, but after seeino \v show in San Francisco last week the producer decided to build ann»h production. One reason was that practical scenic doors are painted on th' drops, although there's no suggestion that the Civic Light Onera nmn! stinted with the designer. When Gordon produced the musical in iom the production nut was around $60,000, and the estimated cost to duniw it how is double that figure. ""yucaie Musical originally tried out under the title of "Gowns By Robert - score being by Otto Harbach and Jerome Kern, After a Philadelphia ing, Gordon interpolated an expected punch number for the late T Z' Roberti. But the show's sock song was already in the score—"Smoke r\>? In Your Eyes"-warbled by Tamara, who was lost in the Lisbon Cllrm.. crash three years ago when she and other artists were on their wavT entertain GI's. "Roberta" lingered in cut rates for six wcclcs. then [IS on, largely due to the popularity of "Smoke." Bob Hope was the siw comic and soon after he was on his way to Hollywood. s Annie Oakley, the girl sharpshooter, who dates back a couple of erations as a standout performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show usedit do her stuff while astride a horse. In "Annie Get Your Gun " Broadwav- new musical smash based on the Oakley tradition, she is supposed Z a1 some sensational shooting while whirling about on a motorcycle » »„ traption unknown in the days of Buffalo Bill. It's a glittering nron thai cost around $3,500, the scene itself costing 6G. p at Included is another prop, a sort of revolving chandelier with Anni» shooting out the lights. That is accomplished by an electrician who handles a special switch panel to douse the lamps as Ethel Merman (Annie) her target gun. ^ ps Some Jo Mlelziner scenes were designed after close scrutiny of old Buffalo Bill lithographs. Impression Is that the Wild West show was given in a tent, but while the seats werep rotected with canvas, the middle of the tent was open when Buffalo Bill vied with the major circuses but n top was used when it rained. ' Doubtful whether the Vanderbilt, N. Y., will ever be used for leelt again, American Broadcasting Co. having purchased the theatre last week. House, which had such intimate musical hits as "Irene" and "A Connecti- cut Yankee," has been used for broadcasts by ABC under a rental agree- ment for some time. Recently a realtor was reported having bought the property as an investment and Mike Todd was expected to take title but the deal failed! to materialize. Last year when. Todd operated the 48th Street under a lease, he pro- posed acquiring the Vahderbrlt and moving "Harvey" there but Brock Pemberton, show's producer, nixed the idea. Elaborate setting of "Lambs Will Gamble," which closed while on try- out depicts the interior of a gambling establishment. Reason why it is being sent to Denver for the use of;the Elitch Gardens stock Company; is the interest in that annual project of George Somnes and Helen Bonfils .(Mrs. Somnes), who produced "Lambs." Somnes is connected with the stock company in a managerial capa- city. Miss Bonfils, who has appeared at the Gardens, inherited the major share from the Denver Post. • _ While in London during the war with the Red Cross entertainment arm, Dwight Deere Wiman, who is re-entering Broadway legit production, main- tained offices in the Playhouse, N. Y. He organized a company among his staff, they being Jack del Bondio, Forrest Haring and Lina AbarbanelL They will be his chief aides in producing two musicals scheduled by Wiman for next season. Tom Weatherly, who was agent for the showman, has been engaged for that job again. , Number of new shows being produced In London and Paris has re- vived Broadway managerial interest, one reason why several showmen are going abroad. Those due to sail on the Queen Mary June 1 Include Gilbert Miller, Lee Shubert and John Byram. Latter will contact play- wrights and look over material for Paramount Plx. Miller, who clippered across last fall, has theatre interests in London. N. Y. World-Telegram exec editor Lee B. Wood states he's going to take his tune filling drama reviewer's spot recently vacated by Burton Rascoe. Says that in meantime, drama dept. staffers will handle the reviews. 'CASABLANCA'SET FOR NEWPORT THEATRE Newport, May 21. Casino theatre, local strawhatter, Will produce stage version of War- ner's "Casablanca" pic under the guidance of managing director Sara Stamm week beginning August 12. Play was originally titled "They All Come to Rick's." Jo Ann Page will assume the role she played in the picture, that*of the fleeing wife, while John Heath will take lead. Hudson Fausett will direct. Miss Page will remain with the company as a resident member, Billy Gilbert to Act, Direct N. J. Strawhatter Hunterdon Hills Playhouse, near Clinton, N. J., will open its season, June 18, with "My Sister Eileen," with Billy Gilbert, who staged Broadway's current hit, 'The Red Mill," directing and playing a fea- tured role. Co-producers are Ted Hiller and Peter Harris. Both are Broadway actors, former also being co-author of "Love That Girl," musical sched- uled for Broadway production next fall by Paula Stone, "Mill's" co- producer. . /Backlash'In for Coast Los Angeles, May 21. Craig Reynolds and Georgia Cane draw top roles in "Backlash," a new legit mystery slated to open June 10 at the^Belasco theatre here. .Play, authored by Al York, will be produced by J. Harvey Thirkell and George Cunningham. Equity Insists Players Take Salary Claims In 'Duchess' B'way Flop During an arbitration hearing of a claim for salary in lieu of notice to close for "The Duchess Misbehaves" company, players involved declared they did not want .the coin if the musical's producer A. P. Waxman had to pay it personally, instead of the backers. Equity took the posi- tion that members could not waive their rights on the principle that its rules covering such situation's would be evaded. Waxman posted notice of closing in Phila. during a tryout, but decided to bring the. show to N. Y. in Feb- ruary, where it was withdrawn at the Adelphi after five performances. Equity had telegraphed the manager that he could open the show on Broadway if the company agreed to ' the notice cancellation, and pro- vided the manager guaranteed at least two weeks at the Adelphi. Waxman did not answer but read the message to the actors, otherwise: the claim would not have been made. Equity says one week's pay is due the "Duchess" company. . Collette Lyons Out Collette Lyons is temporarily out of "Show Boat" at . the Ziegfeld, N.Y.,- with water on the knee, after having bumped into a prop during performance. She is getting around on. crutches, takes daily treatments and is expected back into the show in two weeks, Effle Afton, who was a recent "Carousel" replacement, is subbing for the comedienne.