Variety (Jan 1948)

Fotty-Mcond P^^tSRiJBWW Amdimtaarf 23S -Br EDEUE DAVIS- Kentucky Johnson opeifed the door and threw the newspaaaers on the bed. Even before they , hit the bedspread, his collaborator, George Hart had unerringly pjcHed the DJIy News out of the' air, • , "Don't read the reviews," said Kentucky.. "They stink.'' s ■ • Hart's 'fa<:6 «eU;ft t>)jtK!k,^^ he asked. ; ' ■ " •' ' ' "Worse," said Kentucky. , Hart let the News drop listlessly from his fingers. "Flop, huh?" "You got no idea," said Kentucky. He opened one paper to the theatri- cal section. "Listen to this/! he be- gan to read: " 'This musiCat has a message which Js, know jfoiir near- est exifc' E;ronenbei?gi*,'PiM^' Kfe' 'dropiped '^^^^ to the"floor picked lip Heair^. Hart was holding his .bald head in his cupped hands. ; "iaevlew of *^dom And Broad' by Bobert Garland," Kentucky an- nounced. "'This show has tee new look, but still keeps the old 'smell.'^' Hart groaned loudly. Kentucky continued ^o. punish hiniseUt 'relentlessly. "Walter Win- chell. 'Russia can keep the atom bomb. This show, is our new secret weapon against Vlshinskyi' "■' Hart staggpred into the bathroom holiljng hi^ hefid, "This one is the killer," intoned Ken,tucky Johnson. "Listen: '. . 'This show is lousy, Dad, it fetinks 1 never saw one so smelly I wish ! had those authors 1 would kick them in the belly'." Hart Stuck; out his greenish head. "V-'ko wrote that 'one?" he gurgled. "Nick Kenny. The George Jean Nathan, of the Mirror." Kentucky threw the paper on the bedj; "What the heck do those bjankety critics want?" he mumbled to himself. ' In a little while Hart was all right •gain.- ;. "Gotta get back ,intt action," he nauttered. "Ho goo* for us ^to lay arotind after a flop.** i There was a pregiiant silence. A short time iatef, little quiets, were ■ \>oxn. . ; V ■■ ■*.•■ ; "How about aaother . ti^usical?" ventured K^tui^. Hart nodd«Kl '^Sure another musi- cal, sure. Maybe." He riiOok his bead. "I'in scared to even write my name right now. The critics would pr<ibaf)ly pan that too." Kentucky scratched his head. "Why did they pan us? Why didn't they-pan 'Annie Get Your Gun'? Why didn't they pan 'Finian's Bain- bow,' oi; , 'Brigadoon*? Are those writers siny better than we are? Hell ; no." ■ ■,;. "It's not the writers, it's What's in the show," said Hart. ' , . "Let% see," mused Kentucky. "What're those shows about. 'Annie Get Your Gun'. A lady sharp- shooter. ' 'Finian's Rainbow'. An, Irishman buries a crock of gold near Fort Knox. 'Brigadoonf. Two guys find a town that goes to sleep for a hundred years. So?" He looked at Hart. George Hart seldom got ideas. He was the plugger of the team, the ^/orkhorse, the guy who waxed his pant? and pounded out the material. Kentucky Johnson Was the idea-and- inspiratidn naiaih: So wh^n this idea hit hmi,, it almost knocked Wm down! "I got it! I got it!" He jumped up off the bed so hard he Upset the Moms Plan chart on the night table. "Listen, ^Kentuck," said Hart, a steely gjjnt in his eye. "Those critics like certain things. They pick out what they like in every show ever produced, and it's always the same things. So, we're gohig to combme everything and giye the critics a Whole show of just what they like and nothing else!" Kentucky was on his feet too. "Terrific! I got it with you. Here.... I can see it now,.." Hart was still punching. "Show opens with a ballet by Agnes DeMille. Out on a "desert. Cactuses running through the trees, being chased by coyotes who want to take a bite at them. Symbolic, see?'" "Sight! Then the sho.w opens. A Scottish forest. Lady sharpshooter wanders, in and stubs her foot on a crock of fairy gold." "Make that silver. Let's be origi- nal!" "Right! We got three hits in one. Can't miss. Then we get the switch!" "Dam0 holds a shooting match against a leprechaun and beats him. Then she beats it back to America with the silver." "Great!" Kentucky had his tie off. "On the' boat we have another De- Mille ballet. Fairies trying to keep the boat from sailing and the lady sharpshooter pots them off with her rifle one by 6ne. WKen the last fairy dies, curtain!" "Sensational!" Hart was standing on a chairi deUionstrating! "Then we. get the comedy relief. Lepre^ chaun who lost silver comes back after it. Terrific chase ail over the joint with the leprechaun running after' lady sharpshooter, fairies run- ing after leprechaun, .lady sharp- shooter running after silver." • "But here's the switch. The whole tribe of fairies go Into a fairy dance and they forget all about the silver. Two fairies fall in love, couple by couple!" "Gigantic! I can See the royalty checks from her?!" Kentucky had his shirt off now and his pants were falling rapidly. He was sweating like a stuck pig. "Dig this for a topper! -Lepre- chaun falls in love with lady sharp- shooter. She falls for him. They leave the silver and go back to some place where nobody ever sees them again, except once every hundred years!" "Better make that a thousand, Kentuck, Don't want to get sued, you know." * . "Good idea! Pyery thousand Sears. Pinalie ballet by Agnes DcMille. Fairies With rifles shoot the crock of silver while leprechaun and lady sharpshooter Stand up on a big shelf in the curtain. Silver turns to dross. They fade away- from the audience in a cloud of mist!" "All three finales at once. Colos- sal!" "Get to the typwiriter, Hart! D,on't let it get cold," yelled'Kentucky Johnson. . "Boy, wait, till our agent Jules Lastfogel hears this one," Hart Was jubilant. '-We'll be tiie biggest guys in the Morris Corporation of America!" Kentucky was jumping up and down on the floor; "This is it! This is it! It can't miss. Nevet in a mil- lie a years!" Hart ,dug his nails into his palms. "But how can you. be sure?" he said desperately. "Because," said Kentucky proudly, "this show is going to be produced by Rodgers and Hanmierstein!" THE BRITISH THEATRE TODAY Boom Days Over But Yet of 126 Productions in 56 Years Finds If All Very 'Interesting' By CHARLES B. COCHRAN C. B. Cochran London. After more than 50 years in the theatre and show business, during which I've presented such varied at- tractions as "The Miracle" and "The Better 'Ole," Sarah Bernhardt' and innumer able British revues, Eleonora Dus» and the Rus- sian Ballet, plays by Sean' O'Casey, James Barri'e and Shakespe are, b o X i n g matches, and £'vea an inter- national rodeo, I find the outlook ex- tremely interesting. We have run out of the war "boom" and are .back to show busi- ness, which means. that plays, and entertainments generally, have got to be good to do business. It's a state of •things I like. There is less monCy to spend and there must be more discrimination and good taste. Dur- ing wartime,'as on Saturday nights and holidays, people have to see a show, and if they can't get into one of the shows they specially want to see, they go where they can find seats. Nowadays, and in normal times, generally, people don't go to a theatre—^they go to a specific show; they want to see "Oklahoma!" "Ijd- Ward My;Son" or "Bless the Bride." Our times make people choosey; they demand real entertainment, stuff of high quality, which can be "Hamlet," a good modern straight play, a good musical, a good picture, or a good variety show. Probably the only industry which Will really benefit by the economic crisis 'Will' be show business, as limited audiences with a limited aimount of money are bound to impro've the general taste of pilayers. It's a sure sigh that, at present, in London and the prov- inces,' plays and shows I like are all doing well. . In thinking of the theatre ih Brit- ain, ' one mustn't thitak of London .onlyl There are sonje 700 repertory theatres in the c'o'iintry, and I am told that ll,000,OdO ,of people listen to "Saturday Night Theatre" on the radio. Moreover, we seem to be growing into a nation of amateur actors; there are about 20,000 amateur dramatic societies in the country — more than ever before. They are also morle selective than formerly in the plays they present. Some of Shaw and the best of the modern dramatists. Almost every big town has its amateur operatic society. I've just had evidence of the mag- nitude of this business by the pur- chase from me of the amateur rights of "Bless" the Bride," the musical play now running near its .300th performance at the Adelpbi theatre. In addition to the scenery and cos- tiimes I am using at the Adelpbi, Messrs.. French .& Co. (the ;. pur- chasers) are making four new com- plete, productions and have Ordered from Chappell & Co., our publishers, 1,000 copies of the vocal score. I Can't See Tax.*Free Angle | I'd like to be able to say ai word for C. E. M. A. (Council for Encour- agement of Music & Arts) and the Arts Council, who are still sending plays into remote mining areas and small towns and villages in the countryside. I am, however, strongly against the ramp which excludes these, and some other plays, from payment of Entertainment Tax. As I said recently in a letter to the Lon- don Times, it is not yet a statutory offense in this country to go into business. Yet those of us who look to the theatre for a living, are called upon to pay Entertainment Tax, whereas those who form, a non- profit making company, presenting, what are considered by the Arts Theatre Council, "partly education- al" plays, are exempt from this heavy burden of " taxation.. Even when a professional manager makes losses, he has to pay a heavy tax, which commences with the first ticket sold. Such income as i havfe' been able-to earn since I made my debut as an actor in "Around the World in 80 Days" at Niblo's Garden, New York in 1892, has come mainly from the theatre. It seems a ridicu- lous and harsh condition of trading that, to enjoy the privilege oif jtax exemption, I must assume an ama- teur status. "Theatre rents in London are heavy, as I understand they are in America, but I don't see how that is to be dealt with. So many of our theatres have been let and sublet so many times that those holding the current leases are, themselves, paying enor mous overheads,' specially consider ing that the majority of them are held on a basis of 52 we<^s a year. NatioMil Tbiatre The talk about the National Thea- tre has gone on for a great manjr them .give Shakespeare^ years how. A site has been bought-^ Season's Greetings KATHARINE CORNELL and, I believe, sold at a profit; there 'is a great.deal of money in the bank, but that is as far as it has gone up ' to now. I'should like to see a Na- tional Theatre, providing it is handed over to an individual for direction, and whoever may be chosen should be given a free hand, until he makef'' a muddle, of things, and then ha' should be fired. Obviously the selec-' tion of sucli a person would' be a great responsibility for the Council of Administration. London badly needs new theatres, but there is not much likelihood ot getting any for many ye$a»i as bi:dldf*.' ing will be strictly limited to what is considered essential.' - | ; Some of us think the theatre is an important part of life, but it is a view which, I fear, has not been generally adopted .in England. When, and if, new theatres are built, I hopp that the architects will go back to the old horseshoe shape, so that th» actor on the stage can,' to all intents and purposes, embrace his audience^ I would like to see them all deco-: rated in the old crimson and gold, those warm, romantic colors thai- help to enrich the 'world df make- believe which is the theatre. We have a number of clever young, players and their numbers are increasing. Alec Guiniiess has successfully followed Laurence Oliv- ier and Ralph Richardson as the leading afator of the Old Vic. These three young men'can bear compari- son with the giants of the past. The slick and efficient presentation of the straight play "Edward My Son'," now at the. Lyric theatre, dem- onstrates completely that, on, the production side, the British Theatre is not without yitallty. The perform* ances of. Robert Moriey ,(wrt- au- thor) and Peggy Ashcroffr would be memoraWe on any staged to any country, in any epoch. I am glad that New York is to see this play. In the 98th year Of my happy la- bors in show bushtesE, and with my 126th production on view ip. London, I find that all is well with^ what the late Henry Irving was fond of al- luding to as "our blessed calling." GmldSticking By fes RefiKal The Theatre Guild is standing on its refusal to accept notice to move "Oklahoma!" out of the St. JameSj N.JY. It has asked the Shuberts foip the show's 70% share on Jhe lOf tickets recently "lost" in the box- office of the Shubert-owned thea- tre. . ■ ■ ■ ■ . ■ . .. • The Guild contends that the thea- tre management must be respon- sible for the mistakes of its ticket sellers. "Oklahoma!" now approach- ing the five-year mark at the St. James, is the longest-run musical in Broadway history. ■ • Amount of money - involved is $416. If that were added to the figure set forth on the statement for the -syeek ending Dec. 20, it would have made the total gross more than the stop limit ($18,000) under which a vacate notice may be given. Ex- planation of the "lost", ticl^ts was that they had been placed "In next week's rack." It's understood ttie. Sliuberts had intended book^H^oxm of the Incoming musicals into the house. That tlie Shuberts have tacitly ac- cepted the Guild's stand is indi- cated by the booking of "Make Mine Manhattan" into the Broadhurst, N. Y., next week and the spotting of "Look, Ma, I'm Dancing" at at the Adelphij N. Y., later in the month. Current tenant of the Adeigbi J» "Music in My Seart," for whicft notice to close Saturday (3) wai8 posted but efforts were being •tnad'U to keep it lighted. However, the booking situation has eased » ,bit, as "Bonanza Bound" closed its tpyout Saturday <3) in.mtlladd&m« for recasting.