Variety (July 1949)

July 20, I.BGIT1MATB 49 MGRS. KEEP SAME AUTHOR TERMS Justice Dept Gives Derwent 1 T Qean Bill; Disgruntled Extremist ^ C[|[|IIET11IIM0II May Have Put Finger on Equity Prez Clarence Derwent. Actors ^ Equity president, has been given a clean biil of health by the Department of Justice; on whose orders he was detained and questioned for six hours Sunday (17) by immigration authorities at LaGuardia Airport, N. Y. The actor was cleared of any suspicion at a hearing yesterday (Tues.) by Hacold W. Ramsey, immigration inspector. It was indicated that the questioning was a “routine” procedure after receipt of a letter, apparently from a crank, charging Derwent with leftist affiliations. Theatrical circles were bewildered over the case of Clarence Derwent, who was detained by immigration authorities upon his return to New York from Europe. Among those who ktjow him and his record as president of Actors Equity, there’s no question ‘Skatinji: Playwright’ Has 3 Plays in Prod. Ken Parker, the “skating playwright.” will have thiee different plays in production next month. . “There’s Always a Murder” will be t presented Aug. 17 at Dixfield. Me. ; “Yours Till Yesterday” will be : done at Wellesley College summer [theatre, and “Four Flights Up” is .scheduled to go into rehear.sal for a I lour by Independent Theatrical Enterprises. j Author is a skater in “Howdy. Mr. Ice of 1959,” at the Center theatre. N. Y. Equity Incensed The Government’s handling of the Derwent case was called a “scandalous affair” in a protest sent to President Truman yesterday (Tues.) by Actors Equity and Chorus Equity. The message cited the “casual” way the actor was informed that “there never had been any charges against him” and a.sserted the action was “not in any way an ample or sufficient vindication.” The President was asked to order a public hearing and “full report” on the case. of his possible Communist affiliation or sympathies. The puzzle is what could have been behind the situation. Although everyone in the theatre was at a loss for an explanation It’s indicated that .someone tried to put the finger on the noted actordirector, Whether such a thing, if (Continued on page 51) Hldegarde s 60% Strawhat Date Membership Veto Of Council Gets Equity BruM Pending a full report from the ' constitutional review committee. Actors Equity has voted down an , amendment giving the member! ship power to overrule decisions of the union's council. However, the turndown is not figured as indicating membership opposition to the idea, but merely a willingness to let the matter ride until the ; special committee on the subject I can study it and make a recom, mendation. Latter is not expected 1 for many months, j Amendment giving officers the i right to vote at council meetings ' was recently adopted by the memI bership. Matter was first rSised at a membership meeting last spring, when it was pointed out that officers did not actually have such power under the union’s constitution. Amendment giving them the right to vote was defeated at that lime, but the recent approval reverses that previous nix. Under the new setup, all officers piesent at council meetings may vote, except the president, who may cast a ballot only in case of a tie. Marblehead. Mass.. July 19, Hildegarde goes into the North Shore playhou.se here Monday 125) as a one-woman show with only a band for accompaniment. Singer's deal with the theatre calls for 60% of the gross, which from •11 indications will probably give her about $8,000 for the week. The theatre’s capacity is $1.5.000 ■nd it’s expected, with a terrific •dvance .sale already racked up, that the show will be a sellout. Chanteuse actually will do an elaborated version of her nitery routines with Salvatore Gioe’s band. Ex-Wife Sues Wm. Eytbe In $2,500 Alimony Default MotiJ^l for judgment by default will be heard tomorrow <Thurs.) ” Y. city court of a suit for brought by Buff Cobb •I«inst Jier former husband. WilEythe, actor and co-producer Lend an Ear.” at the Broad Claim represents niony that was to have been Wid within six weeks after Broad •y opening of the revue. Sumihi''* *‘’^^***1 June 24 was answerni>a rlo.vs, but Eythe has not to th l<*8ol reply. .4ctor planed the Coast over the weekend on two-week vacation from “Ear. ” iti were divorced in (Chicago *°E,h*ry, 1948. and a year later Cobb married Myron WalChf • She’s now living Englund-Chaney Split Splits ‘He & She’; Revue Indefinitely Postponed Production of "He and .She." the Ken Englund-Ogden Nash-Vernon Duke revue, which was slated for early fall, is indefinitely postponed. Stewart Chaney, who was to have eo-produced with sketch writer Englund. has withdrawn, and all financing is being returned. Englund is at present on the Coast, di.scus.sing a film scripting assignment with Leo McCarey. Collapse of the undertaking came when Chaney and Englund disagreed over financing and production plans, John Shubert. who was to have supplied $55,000 and been general manager of the show, is standing by. but with Chant*y no longer involved. "I."'?' raise the entire balance of $110,000. I Despite the recent outlawing of the Dramatists Guild’s minimum . basic agreement, managers are j showing no indication of trying to revise author’s terms in new production contiacts. Not a single such case has been reported. Moreover, several ranking managers. including tliose who liave been most critical of the basic agreement in the past, have recently been reported as expressing approval of the existing terms for authors. j .4t a meeting of the Committee of Theatrical Producers recently. Max Gordon declared he would not think of trying to change the prevailing terms in any new production contracts he may sign. The , basic contract is sound, he told those present. Although there may be specific clauses that inI dividual manager.s may object to. any breakdown of the existing setup might create a chaotic situation, he warned. t i Brock Pemberton, who with Gordon ha.s objected to the basic I agreement in the past, has al.so hold associates he intends abiding by the existing author terms contained in the now -illegal pact. He, too. noted that the revision of specific terms would run the risk of breaking down the whole struc! ture of manager-author relations. Attitude ‘Unanimous’ Their attitude appears to be more or less unanimously held by ^ all established managements. Although virtuall.v all concede that certain advantages might be gained by modification of individual aspects of the regular pact, they fig ure that if the whole agreement were to collapse, the resulting confusion might be even worse for producers than for authors. It’s pointed out that in ca.se of a general breakdown of the regular setup, all existing contracts might be nullified. That would admittedly hit authors, but it would be ruinous for managements Since copyright of all plays is in the author’.s name, the management would have no legal ownership in it.s production, it’s noted. Since the court's nullification of the basic agreement, the Guild no longer has power to enforce contractual term.s. It has issued an approved contract omitting references to the basic agreement, but retaining the same minimum royalty provisions and other standard terms. Observance i.s on a vol: unlary ba.sis. ! The Guild council has still reached no decision on whether to appeal the court’s nix of the basic | agreement, although it’s expected a reversal will be sought.^ New York Municipal Control Seen Necessary Should Theatreowners Give Up Ticket Control to Prods. ‘USA’'Holds Over In Chi for (Convention Hiz Chicago. July 19. “Inside US.\,’’ .Arthur Schwartz musical with Rea Lillie and .lack Haley, stays on at Shubert theatre, contrary to closing notice posted last week. Last-miniite stayover is an effort to boost steadily slumping biz by playing to the 100.000 Shriners convened here and the National Jewelers convention next week. Eye Leads For ‘So. Pacihe’ Co. Touring Next Yr. Although a second company of “South Pacific” will not be pro I duced for over a year. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammer.stein, 2d, are already looking for the ' two leading players to play the parts created by Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza. Auditions probably won’t be held until late next spring or early next summer, however. The proposed Rodgers-llammerstein production of “The Happy Time.” Samuel Taylor's adaptation of Robert Fontaine's novel, depends on finding a suitable boy of 11-13 to play the leading role. MAJOR PARTS CAST FOR ‘MONTSERRAT’ With the signing of Steven Hill for the title role. Kermit Bloom-' garden has vitrually completed I casting of his and Gilbert Miller’s ' production of “Mont.serrat.” Hill, who drew attention last season for his performance of the hillbilly soldier-hu.sband in "Sundown Beach.” has been given a year’s j I^ave of absence by Metro to ap | pear in the Lillian Heilman adap ^ tation of the Emanuel Robles drama. Others .set for the play include Emiyn Williams. Reinhold Schun7.el. Francis Compton, David Hoffman and Vivian Firko. Two minor male parts remain to be cast. The show goes into rehearsal Sept. 12 Cities After Ctlltago Heilman s direction. It will play two weeks in Philadelphia starting Oct. 10 and is due the week of Oct 24 at an undetermined Broadway hou.se. 20th’$ ‘Lightnin’ ’ Rights Precludes Filtnusical Plans for B’way Tuner Hollywood. July 19. .Although 20lh-F()x still owns the .screen rights to the Frank BaconWinchell Smith play. “Lightnin’.” the studio will have no rights in the musical version, which Robeit L. Redd hopes to pmduce on Broadway next spring. When producer .lohn Golden sold the original play to 20th there was a clause 1 in the deal exempting the picture ' rights for a possible future musical i edition. | Redd, who has a four-month option on the piopeity, is trying to , get Frank I .oes.ser to compose the music. He woirld like to tiave either Waller Huston or Walter Brennan for the leading part cr-eated by Bacon, and is thinking of .lohn C\ Wil.son to direct. Sarmtel P'rench negotiated the option deal with Golden. ♦ .Any effective refor’rn of the Broadway theatre ticket distrihutioii setup will have to involve enforcemer\t by New York City, in tire opinion of some of the leading producers. The idea is that, if control of tickets is taken fr'om th(‘atreowners and given to prodircets. as has been proposed, a degree of sirpervision by municipal authorities will be needed. .According to latest indications. John M. Murtagh, New York (’ity commissioner of investigation, has i given up the idea of eliminating all brokers and setting up a eentral cooperative ticket office. He has said that there is room for only about 30-35 brokers, birt apparently he has found orriy lukewarm interest among producers tii the idea of a central ticket office, I Since the commissioner's rneetirtg with the (’omrnittee of Theatrical Producers several weeks I ago, he has gone ahead with plans for legislation to license hoxoffice employees. He has al.so b<‘guti agitating for producer control of tickets. It is in the latter conI nection that some producers see the need for enforcement by the city. I To bring about I'eal proditcer control of tickets, it’s pointed «urt, the employment of hoxoffice men I would have to be transferred from the theatreowners. On the sirrfa<e that would be a relatively simple matter, as the theatre rental terms could be adju.sted to cover the added salary item on the producer’s payroll. However, it’s pointed oirt that whereas theatreowners are a relatively static group, generally operating the same houses over a period of years, people enter an<i leave the producer field in an everchanging pattern. While some producers are consistently active over long periods, others have little experience in the field and know practically nothing of the complexities of ticket distribution. Transfer of Ticket ('ontrol Therefore, it’s argued, the transfer of ticket control from the thcatreowner to the producer might lead to much worse conditions in some cases than now exist. So (C’ontinued on page .50) Roberts’ to Tour 20 Chicago. July 19. “Mr. Roberts.” currently at Erlanger theatre, will tour over 20 cities, after il!^ Chi departure in late September, with company plaVins two chiee-wMkfra and three two-frame bookings. Kan.sas City will be the farthest booking west. Shawn'i Jacobs FMIlow Festival, at Lee. Masv. ■ weekenli, than la.st third Ted Dance swinging into its reports bigger busine.ss year. 2 Guild Shows for Columbus ('olumbus. O.. July 19. Two Theatre Guild productions have been .scheduled for next season at the Hartman here. They are "The Madwoman of Chaillol” and “The Silver Whistle ” . , The Guild opened sub.scriptlon sales coincident with this announceuieol. Daubeny, Flamm Sticking To London for All Tryouts London. July 12. Because of lower production costs. London will serve as the testing ground for new plays under the auspices of the new Donald J. Flamm-Peter Daubeny partnership. First play by the new combo is “The Late F^dwina Black.” which was warmly received at its West . End opening last week. Flamm is now aiming to debut it on Broadway before end of the year. Some revision of the play will be neci essary before It moves to Broadway and F'lamm is reluining to New York In September to look around for star names. Decision to tr’v out in I.ondon was taken because, according to F'lamm. production costs here are about one-quarter of what they are n New York. The combo is working on a strictly .50.50 basis, with the F’lamm contribution being paid in dollars. Party Agents Get Murtagh Gander John M. Murtagh, New York City commi.ssioner of investigation, has now expanded his piobe of theatre ticket-scalping to include theatre party agents. His representative.s last week began inquiring into the operations of the benefit party setup. However, there has been no announcement of the move and the party agents’ books and records have not been subpoenaed. According to members of the commi.ssioner’s staff. 11 party agents are licen.sed as brokers, but others active in the field are unlicen.sed. It is stated that the law requires that all individuals or firms .selling theatre tickets at a premium to be licensed. It’s also understoml that there may be a question of the legality of the amount of mark-up on many theatre benefit bookinK.<i. N. Y. Bus Strike Snakes Salmaggi Opera Sked Performance of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci,” which was to take place at Triborough Stadium, Randalls Island, N. Y.. Saturday (16), was postponed, due to the N. Y. bus strike. Impresaiio Alfredo Salmaggi figures that virtually 75% of the opera patrons come by bus. Performance, with the same cast, will be given Saturday •23*. if th« alrike Is settled by then.