Variety (Sep 1946)

S8 LEGITIMATE Wednesdayf September 25, 1946 6 Legit 2 Yauders Survive Decline Of Yiddish Theatre for'M Season Yiddish theatre season of 1946-47 ♦ tees off next month with but six legit and two vaude houses. Drop- outs from last year are the Hopkin- son, Brooldyn, a key house in that borough for years but recently sold to a picture chain; also the Windsor, Bronx. Latter is part of the Brandt indie film circuit and will play straight films with English vaude on weekends. Folks theatre, N. Y., ■which intermittently played Yiddish shows, has; also reverted to film pol- icy. Theatres housing legit in New Yoirk this season are Yiddish Art Theatre, operated by Maurice Schwartz; Second Ave., operated by Tsidore Edelstein; Parkway, Brook- yn, under aegis of Nathan Gold- berg and Jacob Jacobs, and Bronx Art, under management of Jack Chernak. Out-of-town houses are the Lincoln, Philadelphia, .and Douglas Park, Chicago. There may. be some touring com- panies sent'-out later in season, ac- cording to -Reuben Guskin, head of the Hebrew Actors Union, but thus far only one such troupe has been set. This will be headed and operated by Paul Burstin and will tour in "Hard To Be Honest," by Louis Freiman, with opening set lor Boston Oct. 6, with Buffalo, Mont- real and Toronto to follow. Support company includes Lillian Lux, Jeanette Paskewitz, Mildred Block, Abe Dorf, Morris Seidman and Sam Josephson. Second avenue theatre relights Oct. 5 with the Isadore Frifedman- Abe Elstein musical, "I Love You," starring Menasha Skulnick and in- cluding. Leon Gold, Max Rosenblatt, Jacob LUzanoff, M. Fader, Lillian Lilliana, Anna Thomashefsky, Yetta Zwerling, Anna Tietelbaum' and Rose Greenfield. Ofi same date "Cowboy from Oklahoma" will re- open Parkway Theatre, Brooklyn. Cast includes Nathan Goldberg, Jacob Jacobs, Leo Fuchs, David "Popper, Rose Goldberg, Betty Jacobs, Anna Hollander and Sara Gingold. Bropx Art also relights Oct. 5 with ."The Woman That God For- got," by Anna Chernak and Sophie Geby. Cast includes Mrs. Chernak, Max Lasky, David Dank, Clara Gold and Helen Beda. ^ '¥id'dish Art's 'Dnieper' Yiddish Art tees off Oct. 21 with "The Song of the Dnieper," by Z. Schmeyer and Joseph Rumschinsky, dramatized from Zalman Schneour's book of same title, with Maurice Schwartz starred. Support includes .'sidor Casher, Menachem Rubin, Abraham Teitleman, Mark: Schweid, Gustave Berger, Anna Appel, Luba Kadison, Charlotte Goldstein, Ola Shlifko, Celia Person and Jack Eechtzeit. Lincoln, Philly, also opens Oct. 5, operated by Aaron Lebedeff, with » "Conditional Wife,", by" William k Siegel. Company, besides Leb«deff, '' includes Vera LebedeflE, Julius Adler, Henrietta Jacobsen, Fanny Lubritsky and Leon Schaohter. "Life Is Beautiful," starring Jennie Goldstein, opens season at Douglas Park Theatre, Chi, same evening, ■with Michel Michalesko, Rose Wal- Xerstein, E t h e 1 Saltzman, Dave Lubritsky, Frances Weintraub and Sam Gertler also having principal ^' ro'^s.' ,,'.■ ■'aude houses, Clinton and Na- ti .lal,;. N. Y., have already opened for season and lined up formidable list of'talent. , Former has Israel Rosenberg,. Vera Rozanka, M a x Kletter, . Seymour Rechtzeit,, Jacob Zanger, Pincus Lo.wendaj Sylvia and Miriam Feder, Miriam Kressyn, Tillie Rabinowitz, Solly Schorr and Liza Gilbert, while latter has Moe Schoenfeld, Jenny Jacobsen. Sonia Zomina, Moishe Oysher, Herman Yablokoff, Chaim; Tauber, Celia arid Misha Bodkin, Anna Lubin, Mal- verna Rappel, Fania Rubiner, Max and Rose Bozyck. Molly- Picon is also set for here when she arrives from her current European trekl Respite decline of number of Yiddish houses it has not' noticeably affected earning power of the 288 members of the union, according to Guskin, who stated there ,are more summer dates for Yiddish actors than ever before in the mountains . and resort areas, also much more to be earned on concert dates in Yiddisli centers, which, while hav- ing no theatres operating, pay off in spades on the "concert" dates. For- merly, in the palmy '20s, some 30- Odd theatres were devoted to Yiddish policies, with 25 in New York alone. Engagements Lois Wilson—"A Family AiTair." James Dunn—"Moon for the Mis- begotten." John Halliday — "Washington Square." Adrienne Matzenauer, Allen Kearns, Frank Milton, Jane Mc- Gowan, Youka Troubetskoy, Marilyn Dav, Martin Sameth,^Eleanor Jones —"If the Shoe Fits." Zero Mostel—"Don Quixote." ' Claire Trevor, Phillip Dorn—"The Big Two." Frank Gonroy> Andra Lindley, Lynne Carter, Ray Bramley—"Hear the Trumpet." James Barton, Dudley Digges, Carl Benton Reid, Nicholas Joy, Jeanne Cagney, Leo Chalzel, Ruth Gilbert, Russell Collins, Paul Crabtree, Mar- cella Markham, Morton L. Stevens, Al McGranary, John Marriott, E. G. .Marshall, Joseph Marr—"The Iceman Cometh." Etta Moten, Rex Ingram, Leigh Whipper, Fredi Washington, Mildred Smith, Mercedes Gilbert, Babe Wal- laceT-"Lysistrata." Jay Fassett, Jean Parker, Helen Murdock, Jessie Busley, E'laine Stritch, Si Vario,- Morgan Wallace, Parker Fennelly, Mario Dwyer; Shirley Gale—"Loco." San Gabriel Playhouse Returns to Legit San Gabriel, Cal., S6pt. 24. Mission Playhouse,. originally opened 20 years ago for John Steven McGroarty's "Mission Play" and changed to a film policy in 1932, will reopen to legit Sept. 29. House, a 1,500 seater, has been re^ modeled and will start off with a series of concerts, followed Oct. 19 by "The Hasty Heart." Adrian Awan will stage a revival of "Mission Play" there next year, opening Jan. 15. ■ LOU LEVY PLANS LEGIT GROUP ON THE COAST Los Angeles, Sept. 24. Lou Levy, manager of the An- drews Sisters, is organizing the Cir- cle Theatre, a new legit group of players made up chiefly of film talent. Levy's representatives are hunt- ing a site for the erection of an out- door arena on the ancient Greek plan. Nat'l Operetta Assn. In Oct. Memphis Meet Memphis, Sept. 24. Formal organization sessions of the new National Civic Operetta Assn. will be held in Memphis in October. Preliminary meetings have been held in Louisville and St. Louis, Actual adoption of constitution and bylaw.s, now being studied by tljp various: local boards of directors, will take- place at the Memphis hud- dle. Officers may also be; elected then. ■ ■ - Joseph Cortesej general manager of the Memphis Open Air Theatre, denied that the establishment of an association among the al fresco show towns is intended for the pur- pose of a better bargaining position in dealing with talent, etc. He said it is intended merely as a medium for the exchange'. of ideas, and ex- perience. Already active in the organization are tlae St. Louis Municipal Opera, the Iroquois Park Theatre Associa- tion of Louisville, the Dallas Star- light Opera, Grand. Rapids, Cleve- land, Indianapolis and Memphis. Akron and Pittsburgh are being in- vited to join. Radio Maestro Maps Own Broadway Musical Lloyd Shaffer, maestro on the Perry Como "Chesterfield Supper Club," plans to produce his own musical comedy, "Adam and Eve," on Broadway this season. Shaffer has completed tunes for the show, and is currently finishing the book. For the lead bandleader has been dickering with radioite Alan Young. Situation with Young is at a stand- off because the air comic returns to NBC Friday (20) with his own variety show under Bristol-Myers sponsorship. If Young takes the part it win be his first Main Stem fling. hside Stnff-L^ Agitation by Equity for a lifting of color discrimination in Washingtoti and Baltimore legit theatres with its implied threat of boycott has en- gend'ered considerable comment in these cities, General opinion is that the actors' organization is being used to Patsy for a difficult and highly complicated situation. Will opening the legit theatres to overall Negro patroDage solve the other existing restrictions enforced by hotels, res- taurants, picture houses and department stores? . Why should Equity, ac- tually a trade union interested in the working conditions of its members, stick its neck ou^ on an involved matter Of social and economic implica- tidn? Win, lose or draw, say the commentators, the theatre and the actor must wind up holding the wrong end of the stick. Trek of Metropolitan Opera singers into, legit continues with the sign- ing of Norman Cordon, basso, for an important role in Dwight Deere Wiman's musical version of "Street Scene.'^ He's second Met singer to take the plunge this .season, other being Stella Andreva,, of the current "Yours Is My Heart" (Shubert, N. Y.). Annamary Dickey was lead of the short-lived "Rhapsody" two seasons ago, While John Brownlee took time off his Met chores three seasons ago for the brief tryout. of thei revived "Vagabond King." Margaret Matze- nauer, retired Met contralto, has been playing small legit parts. And Jan Kiepura,, Met tenor of some years back, has been playing legit in recent seasons in "Merry Widow" and "Polonaise." New York truckmen's strike, which crimped newsprint deliveries and resulted in display ads being dropped from New York dailies, also saw bills for legit-theatre copy drop 50% one week and 35% for another. Shows expend from $700 to $1,000 weekly in the directory form of ads. Daily News, which has the highest amusement rate and the highest cir« culation -was the only daily that continued the directory through the strike, period; Herald-Tribune particularly splurged with picture and legit display copy last Wednesday (l8), day after the strike was called off. ' Strike did not interfere with new shows being moved into Broadway theatres, because there is a contract between the Truckers Assn. and the.- teamsters union. Dan Tobin, head of the latter group, tersely told the truckmen not to violate any contracts. H'wood Actors Lab Goes To Frisco With 'Home' Hollywood, Sept. 24. Actors Laboratory will move out of town for the (first time in its his- tory to present "Home of the Brave" at the Geary theatre, San Francisco, for eight performances, opening Sept. 30. It will also be Lab's first appearance in a full-size commer- cial house. Original cast will appear, with the exception of Don -Hanmer, who will- be replaced- by Gene Reynolds in the role of Fitch. Playhouse, N. Y., will have Mike Onerato and Thomas Brotherton as co-treasurers, first time a legiter will have two boxoffice heads. Bon Marden, who bought the theatre last season, decided to eliminate the $25 salary differential between the treasurer ; and assistant. Last season Brotherton was head man in the Alvin boxoffice, while Onerato was at the Morosco.' ■ Brotherton had an interest in the Alvin, along With Norman Pincus and latter's brother. When the house was sold to the Howard S. Cullman coterie some months ago, Brotherton banked around $25,000, after provid- ing for taxes. Playhouse opens with "Hear That Trumpet" Oct. 7^ it be* ing Arthur Hopkins' first production this season. A gold mine in which the late Sam H. Harris was interested is being sold, and among those who will benefit are the former China Harris (now Mrs. Ned Marin), the showman's widow, Walter N. Haggerty, who oper- ated the property, and Goley Madden, former betting commissioner. Mine deal recalls Harris' after dinner speech when he and George M. Cohan were honor guests' of the Jewish 'Theatrical Build more than 10 years ago at the Hotel Astor, N. Y. He excited much laughter when telling how "the mill burned down," referring to a smelter near the mine in Nevada. Lewis Nichols, who covered first nights for the N. Y. Times during the war years, is on leave from the daily for a year or more but is not writing a book as reported. He joined the staff 19 years ago soon after leaving Harvard, being then-rated a "summer replacement." Brooks Atkinson, who resumed as critic for the Times after being war correspondent for the sheet, appears to have fully recovered from a physical condition" caused by foreign hardships. He weighs 131 pounds, which is: more than ever for him. Pasadena's Fall Sked Pasadena, Sept. 24. Autumn schedule for the Pasadena Community Playhouse opens Sept. 30 with the F. Hugh Herbert comedy, "For Keeps," directed by Lenore Shanewise. Other plays on the fall program are "Truckline Cafe," "But Not Goodbye" and "The Rich OfuU Life.'.' Lancaster-Corey Legiter Hollywood, Sept. 24. New legit play, written by Burt Lancaster and Wendell Corey, will make its bow at Corey's little thea- tre in Bucks County, Pa., with hopes of showing on Broadway next win- ter.' ■ Authors will take a six-week leave of absence from Paramount,' where they are currently thesping in "Desert Town." Basil Rathbone declined an offer to appear, in Boston with Gertrude Lawrence in "Pygmalion" this week on grounds he didn't want the road work that went with it. Rathbone is in "Obsession'' switched from the road to Broadway, at the Plymouth next week. Temple Drama Course ■ Philadelphia, Sept. 24. Temple University has instituted a new course in dramatics, leading up to a bachelor of arts degree. The curriculum will be under the direc- tion of the College of Liberal Arts and will include both academic and technical subjects. Actual specialization in drama will not begin until the sophomore year. Studies will include acting, direction, stagecraft; scenic design, directing and dramatic literature. The newly formed department of Dramatic Arts will present several pro^iuotions each year in conjunc- tion with .the Templayers, student dramatic prgarjization. Lucille Page in 'Girls' Pittsburgh, Sept. 24. Lucille Page, wife of Buster West, one of the three leading comics in the Gertrude Niesen show, "Follow the Girls," went into the oast here at Nixon last night (Mon,), taking over ingenue assignment from Vir- ginia McGraw; who left company. Miss McGraw had been in the role since musical first hit the road in Philadelphia several weeks ago. Part was originally played on Broadway by Dorothy Keller. 'Lost Colony' in Black Raleigh, N. C, Sept. 24. The sixth season of "The Lost Colony," which ended on Labor Day, was financially the best year the Paul Green symphonic drama has enjoyed since it opened at the Wa- terside theatre at Fort Raleigh on. July 4, 1937. C. S. Meekins, treas- urer of the Roanoke Island Histori- cal Assn., which produces the drama, reported that receipts from all so^jrces for the summer totaled $126,- 624.73.: AH expenses were paid, and a 10- acre tract of land adjoining the Fort Raleigh reservation was bought from the receipts. '-Three to-Make Ready," starringJRay-Bolger (Broadhurst, N. Y.), has paid off a third of its original investment. Checks went out last week to the bankrollers, who anted up sums as low as $50 apiece. Co-producer Stanley Gilkey (with Barbara Payne) told friends that, it business conr tinues at present rate, show will pay off a second third of the investment: in another month. Pieces of "Bal Negre," colored dance attraction headed by Katherine Dunham, were offered along Broadway prior to opening out of town. One per cent, could be had for $1,000. Among those So interested are Hal Olver, Dan Melnick and Rube Bernstein. Attraction is being presented by Nelson L. Bross, whose father, Edward, produced ".St. Louis Woman'' last season. "Negre" came near folding before opening but Dale Wasserman, formerly with Miss Dunham, went to Philadelphia where he relighted and redirected the dance revue. When the Astor hotel, N. Y., was picketed by . the musicians union re- cently. Equity officials wanted to cancel its fall quarterly meeting, dated there Friday (27). There is nothing on the agenda, and most actors are busy with rehearsals or tryouts. As the strike was called oft the meeting convenes as scheduled. Manages Toledo House . Toledo, Sept. 24. Ediyard D, Kita, with the Shuberta since 1921, has Ijeen named man- ager of Town Hall, Toledo legit house, succeeding Mrs. Flora Ward Hineline, who managed the theatre last year. - . . .. ■ Mrs. Hineline had previously for 13 years brought road shows to To- ledo for one-night stands. She will continue to bring musical shows to Toledo in the 3,000-seat Paramount, with her first tiooking being "Car- men .Tones," Oct. 17. Both "Okla- homa!" and the Ballet Theatre are also scheduled for the Paramount. Helenic Tragedies, Inc., chartered to produce plays and pictures, and to deal in books. Offices in New York. "Burlesque," which Jean Dalrymple plans to present with Bert Laht starred and June Knight playing the femme lead, may be booked inde- pendently before essaying Broadway. Reported that Jose Iturbi will back the revival. Miss Dalrymple was formerly the pianist's secretai-y. Fortune Gallo is readying his San Carlo Opera Co. and take.s/to the road soon, first stand out being the Eastman. Rochester, N. Y. It will be the. troupe's 35th annual tour, billing for the attraction rating it "the oldest road'Show." ■.■■.■•■:.■:- Mae West, Todd Sued On 'Catherine' Rights Los Angeles, Sept. 24. Mae West and Mike Todd were sued for $100,000 in Superior Court by Edwin K. O'Brien and Michael Kane, Hollywood writers, charging piracy of material on the lite of Catherine the Great. Scribes charge they got no pay for their material which was used by Miss West in a play produced by Todd. Nuangola (Pa.) Tryout NuangOla, Pa., Sept. 24. "Abby Smith, Lady," new play by Royal C. Stout, is having its pre- miere at Grove theatre, local straw- hatter, this week. ^ Stout is the theatre's director. Sullivan Vice Fredericks In B'way 'Show Boat' Los Angeles, Sept. 14. ■Joe Sullivan, Metro contractee, has been inked to replace Charles: Fredericks, another Metro pactee, for the role of Ravanel in the Kern- Hammerstein revival of; "Show Boat," current at the Ziegfeld in New York. -: Fredericks has been called back to the home lot for film work. Sets Ptt. Strawhat for '47 Reading, Pa.j Sept, 24. George R. Snell, owner and pro- ducer of Green Hills Lake theatre, summer stock hoUse at Green Hills, six miles south of Reading, will re- open next June 16 With a 12-weeK season.