Variety (Nov 1948)

FILMS RADIO VIDEO MUSIC STAGE Publlslled Weekly at 1S4 West 4«th Street, New Toi'k 19, N. Yii ty. Variaty. liiO. Annual subsorjptlon; WO. Singl* oopI«K III cent* Sintered a* aeuond eIfiB» matt« December 12,. 18011; at th« Boat Otctce at New Xork, N. Y., uodar th« act Dt. March l.- IBTDi - OOFXHIOHX, im, m variety, inc. AIX^ lUGHtS BEEHSBTkiD VOL. 172 No. 12 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1948 PRICE 25 CENTS 20TH EYES ABC FOR TV EMPIRE Propose Matinee Opom^s To Get Away From First Nhe Yoo-Hooers In an attempt to get legit open-4 ings back from the yoo-hoo first- night crowd, a move is under way -to premiere Broadway shows at matinees instead of at evening per- formances. Idea ia that if the there-to-be-seen bunch can be avoided, plays will get a more nat- ural reception and have a fairer chance. ■ . ■ Garson Kanin,"a top dramatist- director, is reported to have pro- posed the idea, which Bi-ooks At- kinson, N. Y. Times critic, has en- dorsed. Next step may be to sub- mit the suggestion to the other critics. If they go along, the League of N. Y. Theatres and various individual managements would be approached to cooperate, In case: such a development tran- spires the present sort of first- night, in which the professionals, cafe society, mob and various habit- ual premiere hounds take over the- (Continued on page 2) Future of Baseball Video Hinges on Minor-Major Meet in Minneapolis Hollywood, Nov. 23. No baseball rights will be signed away to television here before the Minor-Major League meeting in Minneapolis in December. -Video is slated to get top priority airing at the meet, when baseball czars will strive to ^find a way to save minor league clubs from the claws of the medium. Neither the Hollywood Stars nor the Los Angeles Angels will toss over their TV rights to any station here before the effects of the me- dium on smaller leagues is fully discussed at the conclave. Repre- sentatives of every league in the (Continued on page 55) 5G-a-Day Bid to Bing London, Nov. 23. Highest offer ever made for an American performer to play London was made to Bing Crosby. Maurice Winnick, London band- leader and producer, has cabled Crosby offering him 10,000 pounds (arourtd $40,000) for eight days at tlve Empress Hall, London. According to the offer, Crosby would do only one show daily for eight days, for a stipend of $5,000 daily. HOUGHTON SEES LEGIT THEATRE ON DEATHBED Hartford, Nov. 23. The Amei-ican theatre is nearer the mortuary stage than ever, Nor- ris Houghton, director of Theatre, lai., New, York told a group here last week. Speaking in the Ran- dall School lecture series, "On- stage, USA," the director said that immediate "future of the theatre in this country depends on decen- tralization." Houghton^ corroborated his con' tention that the theatre is on its deathbed with following figures' Fifty years ago there were 5,000 theatres in this country. In 1941, there were 192. In the 1927-28 season, 302 productions hit Broad- Way. Twenty years later, or last season, 90 got on the boards. Houghton called for an Ameri- can theatre "that is American, not just New York." He felt that there is an audience for legit nation- wide. Rank's 4 Features ToPlugUNCredo : Tlie United Nations' film section is going to cooperate with J. Arthur Rank, Britain's ace producer) in the production. of four features during the coming year. The quartet of pix will be fictional in form but of a semi-documentary nature to further the UN's pitch for greater cooperative efforts between the member nations of the organiza- tion. Features : will carry • UN sponsorship while distributed by Rank through ordinary theatrical outlets; At Ranlc's request, UN is mak- ing available its film library includ- ing all stock shots and its extensive written material covering the. ac- tivities of all cooperative, interna- tional services rendered between countries. From time-to-time, similar UN facilities have been offered to Hollywood producers with but one string. Any pic made, if , UN sponsorship is desired, must carrj a message favorable to the creation of international institutions oi services. So far, no Hollywood producer has picked up the offei which Rai)k is now going to exploit. TV-Made 'Gorgeous Geo.' Vs. Camera in N. Y. In the first known instance where a sports figure developed by television emerges as a top boxoffice attraction, "Gorgeous George." Coast wrestler, takes on Prirao Camera, possibly at Madi- son Sq. Garden, N. Y., in the next few weeks. It's expected that CBS TV, in view of its .Garden tiein would get the video nod, marking the first time that the "Gorge- ous" character has "played" before the cameras in the east. No definite date has been set, but it's slated to come off before the end of this year. It would be the first wrestling matph in tlie Garden in over a decade. PIX COS. IN VIDEO Deal Is currently being negoti- ated for 20th-Fox to. buy Ameri- can Broadcasting Co. either in whole or in • part. The revelation follows in the wake of reports that Ed Noble,' chairman of the board of ABC and principal: stockholder in the network, is anxious to sell out, but whether 20th-Fox would acquire a majority of the stock is s'till problematical. Chief aim of 20th, of courier is! to move in on ABC's expanding: television empire. If the stock deal materializes, it would give 20th the dominant position among all film companies with a TV in their future. ABC has rgreeted the reports With a "no comment" retorty al- though high 20th execs admit that negotiations have been in progress. Noble acquired ABC network a few years back for a reported $9,000,000 and today the network,: with its auxiliary television opera- tion and its five: owned-and^oper- ated stations, has an approximate $21,000,000 valuation placed On it. Three of the Or&-o TV stations are already in : operation (New York, Chicago, Detroit), with the Los Angeles and San Francisco stations scheduled for premieres about the first of the year. Principally to obtain coin for floating its TV operation, ABC last May 17 sold to the public 500,000 shares held in its treasury. These were offered at $9, out of which ABC received $8 after flotation charges. That increased the out standing stock to 1,689,017 shares and reduced Noble's holdings from 75% to 53.4%. He owns 901,667. shares, while his family has 26,000 shares and the Edward John Noble Foundation, of which he is trustee; holds 38,000. Ail other officer!! and directors together own 135,550 shares. They . (Continued: on page 55) ' Todds B^e 15G Winter Garden Show for TV; Sunday s Video Snarl Boy Who Made Good Boston, Nov. 23. , The James E. Downey Medalv awarded each year by the trustees of the Boston High School of Com- merce Alumni Educational - Fund, Inc., to an outstanding alumnus, was handed out at the annual re- union last night (22) to John F; Sullivan, class of '11; He's known in the trade as Fred Allen, $5l)0.(l(IORadio-TV Turkey Thurs.? The flock of two^hour radio-tele- vision Thankisgiving - Christmas shows, representing a time-and- talent investment in excess of $500,000, finds the assorted spon- sors plenty worried as to the ul- timate payoff, and wondering whether they- all won't wind up as turkeys. Seldom before has so much sponsor-identification con- fusion popped up on major bank- rdlled shows: calculated to leave the average viewer in a state of bewilderment.:: Elgin for the past six years has been bankrolling the brace of holi- day shows on CBS. This year it moves to NBC and It is plunking down approximately $100,000. for: talent alone,, because. Wrigley:: is taking over Elgin's former time on Columbia and is even spending more coin than Elgin in a bid to grab off ■ the lion's share of the audience. Just how habit-forming that Eigin-CBS association has be- come, however, has everybody concerned in a tailspin. Then;: to add to the confusion, Elgin-American, the compact out- fit which sponsors. Groucho Marx on radio (ABC), is taking over the ABC-TV web for two hours on Thanksgiving night for a; major budgeted production. Right now a lot of people are asking: "Why does Elgin move its radio show from CBS to NBC and then btiy ABC for television?" ABC recog- nizes that it's got a job on its hands, hammering home: the fact that "it'.s a couple of other guys.": UNUSUAL SHEET SALES ON CHRISTMAS TUNES Experienced musicmen arc rather amazed at the unusual sheet sales strength being shown by Xmas songs so early prior to the holiday, plus which they say they have never seen so many individual yule- tide tunes within the first 12 top songs. This week's Music Dealers Service list (MDS supplies a larger percentage of outlets than any other: jobber in the country) lists "Here Comes Santa Claus" No. 4; "White Xmas,," No. 5; "Santa Claims Is Coming to Town," No. 10, and "Winter Wonderland" No, 12. "Here Comes Santa Claus" posi- tion as No. 4, incidentallyj is the first time in years that ' White Xmas" ha"- been topped by a rival tune at any period during holiday sales. Interest in the tune stems from Gene Autry's Columbia re- cording, which sold, it's claimed, 1,000,000 copies last season and is already beyond 500,000 Uiis year> Mike Todd, Orf&dy hailed is "Comeback Man 0£ the Year" in show business, has negotiated a deal with Niles TrammelL NBC proxy, for television's top musical package todate. The Todd-NBC deal, accentuates ane w the "embarrassment . of riches" situation on Sunday night television which has become so confusing and: scrambling to spon- sors and viewers alike that Philco has already decided to cancel out its widely - kvtdosed "Television Playhouse." Todd's video proaucilon, carrying a $15,000 weekly nut exclusive of network time, in effect, will be a glorification of the refurbished Winter Garden theatre on Broad- way. That's the house which Todd recently acquired from the Shu- berts for his own, and which only the past week racked up a "world's record legit gross" of $53,800 for the first full week of his smash (Continued on page 55) Ballet Commissioned By Pepsi-Cola Co. The Pepsi-Cola Co. has commis- sioned a ballet which the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo will prcr miere in its N. Y. season at the City Center in February. Ruthanna: Boris will do: the choreography. This is first time the soft drink outfit is venturing into ballot spon- sorship, although it has promoted painting awards and has sponsored (Continued on page S5) Hart and Billy Roses Kiss 'n' Make Up After Feudin' on light Up' Life commissioned Billy Rose to "review" Moss Hart's "Light Up the Sky," which preemed last week on Broadway, and concerning which Rose squawked to the play- wright. The complaints focu.sed more around Audrey Christie's "cheap" takeoff on Eleanor Holm (Mrs. Rose) than the showman's personal objections to the way Sam L e v e n e supposedly personated him. To all this Hart rebuttaled that alL the characters were proto- types or eomposites. Broadwayites agreed that the swish version of Glenn Anders' interpretation might be viewed more objectionably than anything else. The preem at the Royale was un- usual in that it was akin to one big party of insiders, all hep to a wide-open "private" joke, and for that reason it became a bit dif. ficult to divorce the play's basic values from the inside stuff. Part of the inside stuff was a (Continued on page 55) NO EIRE ANTI-SEMITISM, SO MEEMENT* FLOPS Dublin, Nov. 16. After a run of only three weeks 20th-Fox's "Gentleman's Agree- ment" was withdrawn from the Metropole, No. 1 house of the Irish Odeon circuit. Pic had lukewarm reception from critics, and despite ballyhoo it never picked up cus- tomers' coin. Feeling here is that pic lacked interest for Ireland where there is virtually no anti-Semitism, and problem merely puzzles average filmgoer.