Variety (Jan 1949)

WedAesdiiy, January 5« l!Mi9 Forty-third P^fiMETY Anniversary 2»7 Bonnie Scotland Invaded By Yankee Vauders By GORDON IRVING Glasgow. Vaudeville audiences in Scotland saw in 1948, the biggeSt-ever inva- sion of American artists. Majority topped music-hall bills, mainly at Glasgow's No. 1 vaudeviller, the Empire. ■ Most successful were . Martha Raye, the Bernards, Jack Durant, the Nicholas Bros, and the Ben Yost Hoyal Guards. Last-mentioned went on from Glasgow to score Heavily in summer show at Edin- burgh Empire, with native comic Jack Radcliffe. Other U. S. vaudeville visitors included Pearl Bailey, June Rich- mond, Ella Fitzgerald, John Boles, Bob Parrish, the Merry Macs, Arnaut Bros., George Riley and Helene Heller, Jack La Rue (who joined Jack Durant in his act), Frank Marlowe, and Jackie Bill- ings and' Diana Chase. old minstrel, Sir Harry Lauder, In the circle) was a memorable event. Despite strong, press criticism re lack of new gags and fresh mate- rial, resident shows in Scotland^ changing programs Mondays and headed by Scot comedians, regis- tered good biz. Jack Hadcliffe wa? sole Scot comedian to make- extensive tour south of Gretna Green. He is fast becoming a favorite in England. Leadins Comics Leading comics in Scotland are Harry Gordon (who made brief autumn tour of States and Canada Edinburgh Festival, Top Musical Event, Draws Many Visitors Glasgow. Biggest event in Scottish music in 1948 was the Edinburgh Festival of Music and Drama. Over 250,000 visitors swarmed into the Scottish capital for the second festival. ■For three weeks in August- September, '■ Edinburgh becomes the scene of an orgy of international music-making; The Augusteo orch from Rome and the Concertgebouw from Amsterdamt in addition to five British orchestras, gave con- certs last year. Names of Piati- gorski, Schnabel, Menuhin, Cortot, and Segovia indicate the type of soloists booked. Legit Shows In Upswing In Eire; Vaude Slips » By MAXWELL SWEENEY Dublin, lage of comedians. Apart from There was a definite upswing in I Jimmy O'Dea, wha plays Dublin biz in Irish legiters in 1948, al-1 twice-yearly in his own revue, though the year was not notable I there is no other Msh topliner who for anything outstanding in way of f^*" P"U >« the customers. English new productions. The Abbey Thea- tre, which had been downgrading, has checked the slip and under Ria comics do not ge^ laughs as read- ily as in their own country and, generally viewed, the biz they bring and soes out ae,iin iindpr thP Wil- one regret was expressed, was Walter Macken, formerly Uam Morris banner"n 19^^^^^^ difficulties kept down known only as a playwright. MarUn Son^ Jack Radcliffe D^^^ °^ ^^^""^^ ^- S.! MoUoy, a comparative newcomer, Wnnr Tommy Mo^^^ Allc <*PP3'-«"tly baggage-burdened is the best bet among dramatists; Finlav J^iorgan and Alec Americans are not so air-minded as his "King of Friday's Men," essen . Shortage of good new comedians 1 ^Ij-^ and none iS worrying agents., although Lex : "^^^he^ great^Amencan^orc^^^^^^^^^^ Mooney's stage direction is now dO' does not cover the heavy coin they ing work approaching Standards of, are demanding, its best period. But the company Big name bands did only moder- is still: losing players to the screen j ately at the b.o.; with the exception and youngsters are coming up'of Joe Loss, who. had a good sea- slowly. j son at fhe 3,750-seat Theatre Royal, But acting acquisition of the year "^"hlin. iTnnhiP Tui^ker cooed valiantlv McLean, Tommy Lester, Frank , J^'*'' Sophie iucKer ?°pea vauanuy ■ Timmv T nean (tipoIipw , Carnegie dips into his pocket to with the non-music-hall atmosphere ; ^'"■vey »^^^4'"™y ^"San (nep^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^j^^, of the 3,000-seater St. Andrew s r^' .^.^a. i^o^an) are oemg cioseiy (,,^^,^,, ^^ Hall in Glasgow. Her one-night stand here (with Scotland's grand Danish Amus. Biz Nosedives tially an Abbey play, did smash biz. Other new plays during the year were a couple of. eomedies from es- tablished wirtttr^ 4- "The Garei takers," by George Shiels, and Len- bassy, Scotland is likely to know i nox Robinson's "The Lucky i . The oldtime circus has swung back into the entertainment spot- light with a big open air show by the- Becco Bros., at a Dublin foot- ball, stadium in tht summery this was followed by the dropping of pantomime, tradition by Theatre Royal for Christmas and importing the Kayes Bros,, Continental Cir- cus;. While opera took an upswing "^Generanv The'^mfl^^nflui „f i th"e"Am7rYca"n "orchestras onlFby ! Finger'-r'anT'^The D'rums""Are ^^'^' P"" '''an legit stage, con" A^an Ikude^lle name^^^^^^ Itheir gramophone disks.; _ _ . | 9ut," a_ not very inspiring piece ; Zll "t'l^iZ?.''." .HI* J. playing Glasgow before their Lon- i " ^»"anced by the British Arts don debuts) helped considerably to :Council Edinburgh Corp. and pri- buttress music-halls here in popu-.^.a'f Festival So- lar favor. But native acts, especially "ety budgeted the first year for a eoi^edt^flSjrare-sfill-xlear^q^tiqttiSt^ aiuiieihcfes,; iijEcca' ' Of numerous, American sta^e folk is Lauder Ma,' stately I modern mansion home near Strat- By VICTOR SKAARUP ] haven, Lanarkshire, of Sir Harry Copenhagen. | Lauder, now retired and in his Danish boxoffices have tumbled ; 79th year. He's yet a name to while the costs and taxes are still conjure with in American minds, high. Worst hit are the cafes. The I and the veteran minstrel has re- terrifically high alcohol tax has i ceived numerous requests to make emptied most of the cafes. Also, I a final tour of the U.S.A. the new statfe-authorized rule, that ] Top favorite with.Scottish vaude- waiters are entitled to 12i/^.% min- vUle houses is kilted tenor Robert WiLson. who plans visit to America soon. He last toured States aS member of D'Oyly Carte Opera CO.,, now features Scottish songs, new aild old, on stage and radiO- No. 1 acts in Scotland, apart from regular comedians^ include comedy dancers Stewart and Mathew. impressionist Janet Brow.n and pianist-singer Nicky Kidd. Scoring heavily In native comedy and song are. the talented family act,; the Logan , Family (fathery mother, two sons: and daughtetK Moiheri May Dalziel, is sister of America's Ella Logan Imum as tips has made restaurant going unpopular^ Two new enter- tainment places are Atlantic Pal-, ace, which features dancing, sev- eral bars and 'foreign vaudeville names, and Hollywood Canteen, Where the- jitterbugs gather over toft drinks: and ices and dance and listen to hot disk jockeys. Concert impresarios here have had to cut prices severely; and still many world-famous artists cannot fill the big K. B. Hallen, where most concerts are held de- spite the not-quite perfect acous- tics. Big names like Jussi Bjorling •nd Yehudi Menuhin did not draw the thousands, they would have drawn just a year ago. The biggestUlm hit here in some time is '.'Carnegie Hall," bought by independent film renter Durloo from United Artists. But many deficiU-of—about— £30,000- (about $120,000); they dropped only £10,- 000 ($40,000). Last year's deficit was about the same. .'And for this outlay Edinburgh pockets from visi- tors over £2,000^000 (about $8,000,- 000). Opera Fails to Pay Oflf . Only the opera failed to pay its way. The Glyndebourne Opera was held in John Christie's private opera-house adjoining his mansion in Sussex. Ljuba -Welitsch, the Bulgarian sopranoy was this year's "discofvery''. among the multi- national casts. For rest of the year, Scotland is dependent for opera on the long- established, peripatetic Carl Rosa company, and for orchestral music mainly on the Scottish orchestra. Latter, between October and April from Torontoan, John Coulter, i '*''.''^' aPParently due to high ad- These productions were directed 12?'®"°" Principals of tJi« by Ria Mooney, who also did new : •French Opera Comique made a suo productions of "Blind Man's Buff" ; T^^^"' V" ^ J? ,^.P'''"^ P*^? (Ernst Toller and Denis Johnston) ^ormances of - - Pelleas et Mel* and "Mungo's Mansions" (Walter ' under auspices of the Dub- Macken). Rest of the vear was 11"), ^"^and Opera Society, and the filled with, oldies. Heavy tourist I''*"^^"^°?.T^i''' ? number of im- biz during the year brought a good P*"^?^ ^° .^'"S leading roles flow of coin to the boxoffice. i —Returned smash gro&es. Long- no.,,-,,.,] A v,K„ . * . nau's who concerted have included f„ hZ ffl^i?fl'*^*"'>*'''^,^'''i"wbi. Pouishnoff, Lauritz ,„HcH?. ^.'"T'ated Irish play- i Melchior and Cortot, with Sir r^^Hnin rAl^'^^^io'iQ'^KT''*'" . Thomas Bcecham maMng two visits ?nrth.„ Jna*^t L^^*^' ''"^ T"^ ^"h-the Royal Philharmonic orch. forthcoming from new writers. ; Ballet proved a big attraction Broadway and London successes , with a short season by the Sadlers hit the jackpot at the Gaiety, with Wells Co., which is to Tje repeated "The First Gentleman," "Edwafd, I in the coming spring. My Son," "The Winslow Boy," and' Radio Eireann symph, country's 'Life With Father" at the top of sole major orch, added a number the list. Absence of Hilton Ed- of continental European iiistrumen- wards and Micheal MacLiammoir I talists and for most of the yeai- company on U. S.-Canada tour dur- j played under visiting conductors, ing part of the year left room for . Bis-scale public concerts were some, interesting work from "im-1 ended after being found financial ported'" companies, the first since i failures; public, in small numbtrs, 1939. The Bristol.Old Vic co., did ; can now see orch perform for free gives SO^odd concerts in-Glasgow . , . —- and half as many in Edinburgh, be- I well with The Second Mrs. Tan-1 in its newly constructed Phoenix sides paying visits to Dundee and I Queray. but its revival of "Lady: Hall studio. elsewhere. < j Windermere's. Fan" was knocked! Disk sales, both modern and clas- Iturbi, Rubinstein, Lily Pons, j as too arty. The Glasgow Citi-1 sical, showed an upward trend, but Lauritz Melchior, Gigli. Sophie I ^^ns' Theatre did a short season interest in sheet music continued Tucker. Duke Ellington, Isaac ""ith an oldie, "Bunty Pulls The low. Strings," and James Bridie's"The . —: . ■ ■ .■ — Forrigan Reel"; both were well American who visited Scotland 1 Stern are among big names from hii( nn( iinfnHiinatplv fnr Qtat>l> the U. S. WhO haVB entertained -"•»*&"\> '^•<-v; , ""wi wcic w appfarrncV'- wa^durk/Ma'xt^e Scottish audiences during the past done but failed to pull-audiences. Sullivan. Fortv-eight hours before 12 months; and they have all prom- | Biggest draw of the year was ised to come back. ■ . j Mrs.. H. T. Lowe-Porter's chronicle While Scotland has produced vir- j play, "Abdicatioh," basied on Ed- opening at London Casino she flew north foi-' summer .• evening's glimpse of Loch Lomond, romantic Scot spot she has sung (and swung) about 10,000 times in the famous other big films have had quite sliort runs, and generally, both in . baUrd ortrat'name Copenhagen and the. provmces', the cinema takings are 30% less than last year's. Hardest hit is the Danish film industry, which has had some costly flops: It is be- lieved, that the state will allow special tax reductions for Danish film companies. Hitherto Danish films have had to pay the same high entertainment tax- as the for- eign films. Most Hollywood" pix have had only half the run they would have had last year at the first-run theatres. tuosi like Mary Garden 'ahd Fred'j ward VIII's bowout but set back erick Lamond, she is mainly de-[400 years in time and put into pendent for recitals on the celeb-| Shake.spearean verse. As a play it rities Harold Holt tours: on the en-! had little but curiosity value to terprise of a newcomer to the ranks of British', impresarios, Harold Fielding, whose stars this year in^ eluded Lily Pons and Gigli^and Sophie Tucker and Duke Ellington; and on the chamber music societies. 'Charley's Aunt' A Hit The legit theatre in Denmark has only one real hit,"Charley's Aunt," at the small Nygade the- atre. It stars Christian Arhoff, who after being Denmark's most pop- Over 60,000 Nitery Employes Affected Rw Nanlrinff" n<»/»ri»A "^^'^''^ societies, numerous in Brit liaiinuig I/CVl€Ciain, in many cases qualify for Gov Shanghai, j ernment grants through the Arts Mrfie than 20,000 taxi dancers, 1 Council, and bring noted execu- some 500 musicians and 40,000 ; tants and the best of music to even recommend it, except brilliant stag- ing and production by Hilton Ed- wards. Play aroused considerable press controversy in Ireland and England which was reflected in upped boxoffice takings. China Show Biz Balked by NG Pay By HAL p. MILLS Shanghai. Show blis in this once hectic city has vanished intb the ainaconda of all things temporal-<—the past. In Other words,' show biz is dead. Any good, artist thinkiiig of journeying j to Shanghai to ply his or her • »»• «-■■ , . ~, —"T"" chosen line should have his head Micheal MacLiammoir's ' The examined. - Engagements are short. Mountains Look Different" was the pay is less than peanuts and the best new work by an jnsh the cost of living terrific. Best New Work other cabaret and ballroom em-|the smaller centres. Run on the; author, but .got severe handling consider these facts^ ployees will soon be jobless as the Isame lines as the American clubs, from local critics beoause of its ' The city^s top femme artist is a result of Hie turnabout of the | these music clubs throughout Scot-1 theme. It's about an Irish hick I gai whose: Sftamsh roU^^ Nanking government with refer- -land bring chamber music to an , who unknowingly marries a prosti-; click almost anywhere; She has ence to "commercial dancing." i ever-growing Scottish public. | tute and brings her home to his been dancing at a famous local Niteries not employing hostesses \ In spite of the short distances ; father, who turns out to have been hotel. Salary: 56 gold yuan per will not be affected by the new 1 separating the main cities and' one of her patrons. week, which is about $14 at the ruling, which became effective in ; towns of Central Scotland, tliere is I A revival of Denis Johnston's official rate of exchange. On the December. j no permanent all-the-year-rpund I 'The Moon on the Yellow River" black market, which is commonly ular slapstick comedian became I According to the government's, orchestra. Inter-city rivalry has reawakened interest in the work of used despite severe penalties if unpopular on political grounds and' austerity plan, the cabarets and jthis year led the Edinbuigh Con- j this dramatist, who has now gone caught, the gal is being paid about went into retirement for three ballrooms will be gradually elim-, cert Society to invite the Halle ; into radio and television. •, $7 pef- week. Of course, she gets years. He's had a comeback with inated, the process of eliminating ; from Manchester, and the York-. pigy^ gt other theatres had little ' her dinner, which she generally completely sold-out houses through to be done by drawing lots. Last | shire and Birmingham Orchestras. ' to commend them, except for a needs. many months. Most of the too- y«ar the government announced , to give concerts in competition ■ ^old effort by Pat O'Connor, who '. There is not one American artist many summer revues closed in the a ban on commercialized dancing, , with the L,Iasgow-ba.sed Scottish produced "The Iceman Cometh", in town. The total embraces a red."Deai- Ruth" ran over 200 1 but following a storm of protests • fenestra, with a moderate degree of success, I motley aggregation of Russian. times at the Nv, but often to ■ and an attack on the offices of the ' —— — although hampered by a cast Hungarian, Chinc.^e and Central small attendance. It has now been ; Bureau of Social Affairs by i R|r|l|c|i TAiifKf Rnard largely made up of part-time play- Europeans.' In order to make ends followed by "Edward My son" a i enraged taxi dancers, who com- wiuwu ^uuiioi uvaiu ■ ^^.^ jneet these artists are obliged to big hit With Guiinar Lauring in the | pletely wrecked the , office?, the leading role. The Norwegian I """der was recinded, Followmg the prima donna, Lillebil Ipsen, who'action of thf taxi dancers, more , London. stage. Latest to go to Hollywood of them are oftiroes hungry, .-^nd had a flop in her first play, now i than 50 were arrested and of that; r,,,^^ British Board of Tourism is being Abbey-ite Eileen CrOwe. An^ as. for costumes, few have been scores heavily in "I Remembee i n"niber fully half are still m i p^ppgring to fight intention of the ' other senior Abbey player, Michael able to buy new ones since the Mama" at the Folketeater. ithe clink. j Labor Party to introduce legisla-' Dolan, was away from the theatre end of the war. . The music publishing biz is look-I ^., ■.■■.,', .—^ I tion forbidding entertainment after for work on Rank and Korda film.S: The huge Chinese dining and ing brighter. After many years' i Mozambique's Rative House j u p.m. Boarl feels that such a; Anew McMa.ster. one of the best dancing spots are indifferent :to, shortage of gramophone records \ Mozambique. ■■ law would result in the loss of veterans, alSo left during the year foreign artists unless accepted on you can now buy new records with- ] Application has been filed to tourist trade and their sorely need-, for an extended Australian tour, their own terms—starvation terms, out giving an old one as compensa-. construct a special motion picture ■ ed dollars. I Noel Purcell, topline comedian, was The few foreign nite spots cannot tion for raw material used. And j theatre for natives on the out- The 11 p.m curfew, if adopted, missing from stage while working afford to pay decent salaries, the record companies,' although I skirts Of Lourenco Marques. Al- would probably mean the end of, oh "The Blue Lagoon" for Rank's The artists have no guild or Tn Fitflit Nitorv Cnrfaw' Departure of players for films work in from two to four" spots :»v I Igui nuci J vUIICn continues to be a drain on Irish evei-y night, and even at that some still restricted in their importing i though there are 5.000,000 inhab- i all private bottle clubs as well as Individual Pictures, and later on "nion to protect their interests of foreign records, are now mak^! itants of the colony; there are inlsuch spots as the Embassy, Cocoa- Korda's "Saints & Sinners." their battles chiefly being fought ing Uie highest number of local I operation only nine permanent the-1 nut Grove, and the Nightingale. [ Apart from current boom in big by the Shanghai Theatrical Enter- recordings, in years, jatres and three mobile units. [Latter club opened two weel^ ago ;legit houses there is a growing pulvvP'^s^Sj ? hooking agency,hssaded by But, all; in all, the entertainment I Regular theatregoers are d Ambrose Orch and | lie in the provinces, situation in 'Denmark is rather from the 27,000 Europeans living Hutch (Leslie Hutchinson). Other Vaude standard faa$ continued to cloudy. here. 1 spots have girl shows. I slip, and thete is aft acute sbbrt- Miss Vi Erickson, an American. If her agents had to depend for itf (Continued on page 226)