Variety (January 1951)

Wedncsclay, January S, 1951 Fortyfifth Annivermry LEGITIMATE 271 It’s America’s No. 1 Tryout Town i Broadway During the Past Year By HAROLD M. BONE New Haven. , The words “World Premiere” i have punctuated the front of the ! Shubert theatre here so often that , the management is thinking seri' ously of having them installed as a permanent part of the marquee. , Which is just another way of stat1 Jng that this particular town stands high on the list. Of the country’s legitimate break-in spibts. Uniciucly, New Haven is probably the only legit town on record Wl)(*re premieres constitute more than half of each, season’s attracv tiohs. X The 1944-45 season saw 19 tryouts. Of the first 19 attractions of the 1 945-46 season, 14 were premieres. Total score for 1946-47 was 40 productions. 24 openings. Season of 1947-48 brought 16 premieres out of 29 Shows.. In 1948-49, the season started off with something of a record by scheduling eighl (r\outs out of the first nine, attractions and ending up with a total of: 18 new ones out of 28 plaved. Season of 1949-50 ushered in 17 oinbryos from an overall of 28 shows. The 1950-51 seasteppccl off on a normal foot eight preems out of played at time of emerged, from preparatory cocoons into hit prominence following their New Haven premieres. A random list of these includes “I Married An Angel,” “Leave It To Me,” “The Boys From Syracuse,” “DuBarry Was A . Lady,” “Panama Hattie,” “Call Me Mister,” “Make Mine Manhattan,” “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Brigadpon.”. ' Trying It Oh The Dog j Shows like “The Fifth Column/’ ; pointing the way to important im■ pending events, were tried out on j the New Haven “dog.” Plays which j eventually passed on to celluloid ' prominence raised . their initial curtains here. Some of these were “Tomorrow The World,” “Over 21,” , adapted from “Heart of a City’’ (which became ‘ previously won Legit had its quota of significant ‘ and bizarre developments during 1950, The year saw economics assume more importance than ever, while the ominous international situation presaged difficulties for the able developments mushrooming of tents and hotel even greater future. Notincluded the mtisical. show arena theatres, and the British invasion of Broadway. It was the year in which the Shuberts and the United Booking Office were sued by the Government as a monopoly. In 1950 the Pulitzer Prize for. \vent to a musical season before and a book that had a Pulitzer award. the best play produced the son by inlroducing lb attracUons Avriting. The town, has had record for tryouts, more recent ones. an impres.sive Among the some still on the Technicolor “Tonight and Every Night,”) and. “I Remember Mama.” Stars like Tallulah Bankhead, in “Skin Of Our Teeth,” have benefitted from New Haven’s critical premiere reaction, and it was this same brand of reaction that heralded the rebound of Katharine Hepburn in “The Philadelphia StorjK” following the critical dunking she took in “The Lake,” an earlier flop. The country’s top directors and playwrights, like Elia Kazan and John Van Druten. have unveiled their talents with tryouts here, deck after enjoying metropolitan notable examples being, respective success, for lengthy periods, are “Mislcr Hoberts.” “Happy Time,” “AtTnivs of State,” “Born Yesterday.” “Streetcar Named Desire,” ' Bell. Book and Candle,” “Call Me IMadam;’ and “South Pacific.” And. of course, there was “Oklahoma,” wlvich had its baptism, here under its original title of “Away We Go.” With such an impressive record for tryouts, it’s obvious that the town must have something that dnuvs producers. Sta.gc-Conscious Town Analyzed briefly, the situation boils down to something like this: There i.s probably no other stageconscious city that offers such a widely varied barometer in such a concentrated district. For instance. when a show opens in New Ilaven. its sponsors can get, at oiie and the same time, the reaction from the common or garden variety of city dweller playgoer; the same from numerous suburban centres and other cities throughout Connecticut from which the Shubert draws business; the collegiate response from the faculty and student body of one of the country’s Icadijig universities (also the techr nical reaction from Yale Drama School personnel); and, as an added asset, the reaction of playgoers v\'ho, due to Gotham’s proximity, frequently run down 'to New York for their entertainment and thus are “hep”.to what Broadway may or niay. not like. Another factor, at least from a technical angle, is the excellence of the Shubert stage crew here — a seasoned staff that knows how to iron the bugs out of a new production. This th i ng of spawning theatrical hits is by ho means a recent characteristic of the town. New Haven Was always a favorite hopping-off spot for stars like A1 Jolson. More than one “Sinbad” kept local ticket-buyers glued to ..their , seats in the wee small hpurSi when Jolsoh openings were standard fare at the peak of his stage career. Fred Slone broke in more than one ’ hit on the local boards and when he staged his comeback after the j airplane accident that almost' eliminated him, he picked New Haven for the big event. Incidentally, daughter Paula made her | stage debut here. ' New Haven footlights have im ^ubated a fair share of Pulitzer . Prize winners in such plays as! "The, Time Of Your Life, ’’“Skin ! Of Our Teeth” and “Streetcar | Named Desire.” British imports; like “Blithe Spirit” and “Edward, 1 My Son.” which clicked, in their J native London, got their first Amer, lean reaction from New Haven { playgoers. Shakespeare revivals j like the Helen Hayes-Maurice ' Evan.s “Twelfth Night”; Bernard . vSnaw’s “i^vgmalion” and “Man and bupermnn”: and Ferenc IViolnar’s ; .’,s The Thing,” celebrated Uieir reincarnation across Shubert loodighf.-.. -N n m e r o u s musicals have while the citation for music was bestowed on a compbser-authordirector for an opera presented on Broadway, as a “musical drama.” It was the year in which the N. Y. Drama Critics’ Cificle award for the best American play was given to a novelist for her adaptation of her oWn novel, and the honors for 1 tlie best foreign play went to an AmericanTborn poet. I With economics an increasingly I important factor in the commer * ' cial theatre, a significant devel. Ppment was the growth of pfo' duction under special, .low budr geted conditions. There were 14 shows produced in New York under such circumstances, compared to seven in 1949 and three in 1948. ... Two of the plays thus presented early estaolisn. sufficient popular draw to be transierred to Broadway for Commercial runs, thus apparently demonstrating the practical value : of the low-budget origin. They ; were “Devil’s Disciple” and the !. current “Twentieth Century,” both I revivals. Outfits active in this move to combat rising costs were The : N. Y. City Theatre Co., Arena I Theatre, Festival Theatre, Theatre I Venture and ANTA Play Series, these, the most promising appear to be the ANTA Play Series, which the American National ly, “All My Sons” and the longrunning “Voice of the Turtle.” Credit for the ment of New Haven as one of the stage’s most important tryout towns during the last three and a half decades goes to the Shuberts who, along about 1915, opened the Sam S. Shubert theatre as a memorial, to the late showman. The theatre has had its ups and downs since then, under tenancy of the Shuberts for a quarter of a century until a new team took over in 1941. During depression years, the theatre passed through Of various, foreclosures and resorted ' to every means possible— even a fling at burlesque and various cutrate shows— to keep the ball rolling during the lean years. In 1936 an attempt was made by the WPA to take over the house, but nothing came of the gesture. Somehow, the place kept going until things took a slight turn for the better in the season of 1939-40. Even under the C|Urtailed activities of that peripd, the maintained its prominence as a tryout town. Of a slim schedule of 20 attractions for 'that season, more than half of them (11) were breakins of new shows. August, 1941, brought about a change in . operation of the Shubert. At the time, it was the policy to renew the lease on an annual . basis and when the Shuberts spent ^ too much time dickering, Maurice Jessica Bailey and Morris Nunes headed i a group that put in a satisfactory , , bid and plucked the house right ; out from under the Shuberts, Who had tenanted the property 26 years. ! The new operators knew prac! tically nothing about the handling , of legitimate show business. But j they hired Leonard Sang as man! ager and the house immediately started its upward climb. Thanks to Sang, and his present successor ; Ben Segal, that climb has been : steady since 1941 and has resulted iri many new production^ unfurling their banners here first. By KOBE MORRISON 1950 was the ; most extensive in memory. It included not only 13 plays and one musical, but a number of distinguished actors, directors and designers. The notable shows included “The Enchanted,” “Cocktail Party,” “Daphne Laiireola,”. “Black Chiffon,” “Lady\s Not for Burning” and “Ring Round the Moon.” Some of the name j players were Alec Guinness, Edith ■ Evans, Flora Robson, Georges ' Guetary, John Gielgud, Pamela i Brown, Rex Harrison, Claude i Dauphin, Lilli Palmer, Valerie ' Taylor and Ritchard and Miss Elliott. Directors inciuded Peter Glenvillej Michael Benlhall and John Burrell. A London name who joined U. S> designer ranks was Oliver Messell. The Department of Justice suit against the Shuberts and the UBO, rumored months in advance, was finally filed in N. Y. Federal court, where it has involved considerable legal skirmishing, including several postponements. It may come to trial during the coming year, but seems unlikely to be resolved without various appeals to higher courts and extended delays. I The ticket situation, a perennial source of controversy, par■ ticularly in New York, underwent several developments without appearing any nearer a real splution. Following the furore of . the Murtagh inve.stigation, a Mayor’s committee vvas formed and ultimately worked out a ticket code which was incorporated into the N. Y. C. Department of Licenses r,egulations. But there weie obvious loopholes in the new setup and no perceptible improvement resulted. According to trade tax), sources, scalping is just as wide and spread and flagrant as ever, but city officials are obviously wary of again becoming embroiled in the situation. Meanwhile, however, a new development has entered the ticket picture in New York. That is the rapid growth of the Show-ofthe Month Club and various smaller subscription organizations. Theatre & Academy is presenting Coupled with, the huge increase at its recently-acquired ANTA jn advance mail ordcc buying. that has complicated the traditional ticket distribution setup and affected the brokers. Since the wholesale spread of any system of putting tickets directly in the hands of the public obviously tends to undercut the distribution of “ice,” the situation is loaded vvith controversial .possibililie.s. .. The League of N, Y. theatres, in which the election of composer Playhouse, and the N. Y. City Theatre Co., which has had unprecented success with its own productions under the supervision of Maurice Evans and George Schaefer. Arena Theatre has yet j to come up vvith a hit, but has stage • managed to keep going and has town interesting plans for the future. In a somewhat different category, blit also holding promise, is the Brattle Theatre, at Cambridge, producer Arthur Schwartz as pres mu:.,. — i a: -...j ^ < . • , « Handlesman Quits As Pitt Opera Biz Manager Pittsburgh. Sam Handlesman; business manager of the Civic Light Opera A.ssn, for the last two years, turned in his resignation over the weekend. It’s believed that recent Government . restrictions agaimst any theatre building, which indefinitely postponed the start of the summer opera company’s own $1,000,000 amphitheatre, brought about Handlesman’s decision to depart, although present plans call for the continuation of outdoor shows in 1951 at the old site, the Pitt Stadium. Handle.sman is returning to New York where he’s contemplating going in with a group trying to promote a circuit of thoalres-inIhc-round across the couiUi'y; Mass . This vital organization, outgrowth of the Harvard Veterans Theatre, has produced a number of excellent classic revivals and provocative new plays, including Edmund Wilson’s “Little Blue with Hume Cronyn and Tandy (Mrs. Cronyn) costarred, which the Theatre Guild has acquired for Broadway presentation, The group joined with the Guild in producing the recent “Relapse” revival on Broadway, with Cyril Ritchard and Madge Elliott (Mrs. Ritchard) as stars. And because of its exceptionally economical producing facilities it is being sought by other Broadway managements for tryout deals. The foreign : invasion during ident and a new board of governors has brought about a more progressive and vigorous administration, has been trying to deal with the ticket snarl, with the cooperation of th^ Committee of Theatrical Producers. Acting through the Ticket Code Authority, in which the League is partnered with Actors Equity and brokers, a move is un weeks of maneuvering, including a strike, call by the union, the issue was settled with the actors winning virtually all their demands. Oh another front, Equity sought to deal with some of the annoyances of summer Stock operation, chiefly involving guest stars, but after passing a nevy set of rules it reversed itself in the face, pf protests from the Stock Managers Assn;, and the situation remainis' much as before. Despite a chorus of optimistic 1 predictions from municipal offir . I cials and a few trade figure.s, little. ; apparent progress has been made I tovvard modernizing the New York City building code relating to theatre construction. The Quinn Bill, ! which has been generally endorsed as permitting the building of iip1 to-date theatres; has still not become law, and appears to be no , nearer passage than ever, Meanwhile, the Government’s freeze ' order on non-essential building has made the whole situation academic, at least for the present. Efforts of the Committee of Theatrical Producers to obtain union ! concession for pf e-B road wa y t ryI outs have thus far largely failed. The Di'anriatists Guild okayed certain provisional and limited cuts, but Equity has refused to follow , suit and the stagehands, musicians, managers and pressagents, and others have not been approached. The year saw a contimiatioh of the ti’end toward higher boxoffice ; prices for musicals, but no further • attempts to boost the weekend .scale for straight plays. The admission for tune shows, for some years standard at; $6 (including now varies from ,$6 to $6.60 $7,20. But straight plays in recent months have all had a straight $4.80 top, instead of charging that price for Monday-Thursday nights and $6 for Fridays and Saturdays. A new development during the year was the entry of the networks as 'financiers of Broad wav shons. With NBC putting up $220,000 for (he click “Call Me Madam,” indications are that other, such deals will follow, with several incoming shows already being in line for at least partial network and record company backing. Anthony Brady Farrell, after a spectacular but unpromising start as a producer, theatre own^r and angel, indicated during 1950 that he’s becoming a stable force in legit, with profitable in/cstmonls in numerous shows of other managements, two pending co-p’’ocliicor deals and at least a modoralely strong theatre tenant in “Bless You All.” The Grind Try I An attempt to present legi( stows on a grind basis in film theatres on west 42d street, N. Y., proved only a passing stunt. But several lowbudget touring productions indi cated possibilities for road developderway to revise the old setup of ■ direction, and the “mutual” control -of tickets, but this is being fought by Lee Shubert, League vicepresident and dominant figure in theatre operation in New York and on the road. The year saw a bitter struggle between producers, represented by the League, and Equity over a new basic production contract. After on productions . straight plays . ... , . . musicals revivals v . : . . . . . \ rniscellancous shows . adaptations . . .... . importations . . . . * . ^ Indicated hits at year-end . . . . . . Total gross for all shows . , .. . Total gross (toad) . . . . . , /. . . . Total weeks’ playing time . . . Total weeks’ playing time (road) Number of Number of Number of Number Number Number Number of of of of Total invested in production 1948 1949 1950 . 74 67 72 . 45 43 36 : . 18 12 ; 16 ; 8 5 : 7*'= 3 7. I4v . 10 8 IZt 7 6 13 14 12, 14 36.000 $28,211,500 $28,321,200 30,000 $21,051,206 $21,75.5.100 1.261 1.118 1.191 1.230 1.000 1,043 00,000 $4,300,000 $5,800,000 ! * Includes “Devil’s Disciple,” vvhich is. also included amopg “miscel . laneous shows,” as it was taken over for commercial presentation after being revived at the City Center. i Miscellaneous Shows include City Center productions (but exclud! ing return engagements there of touring companies) and such presentations as the ANTA Flay Series. Arena Theatre, Festival Theatre and Theatre Venture (Bleecker Street Piayhou.se). ' $ Adaptations include’ dramat’/ei’e-^s oi novels or .short stories i there were seven in 1950) and nuiS'C'd VJ’.’r'ens of straight plays (si.x in 1950', but excludes translations of plays’ from the* foreign. Theatre Guild, with the coopera-, tion of the CTP, also took steps to expand the road by adding bonus shows to its regular subscription list. Washington was reopened as a touring stand during 1950. with the indie Gayety replacing the jim(Tow. National, but the collapse of a scheduled third season lour by I the' Margaret Webster troirpi ended I a project that seemed to offer j promisirig prospects. Indicated hits. oh Broadway dur' ing the year were “Member of the Wedding,” “Cocktail Party.” ‘ Happy Time,” “Affairs of State,” , “Black Chiffon,” “Seastn in the Sun,” “Lady’s Not for Burning,” “Country Girl” and “Bell, Book and Candle,” all straight play.s; “The Consul,” “Peep Show.” “Call Me Madam” and “Guys and Dolls;” musicals, and “Devil’s Disciple,” levival. . Among the players scoring individual cUck.s were Shirley Booth* Sidney Blackmer. Ethel Waters, Julie Harris. Louis Calhern, Paul . Kelly, Uta Hagen, Jessica Tandy, Geleste Holm, Jean Arthur; Boris Karloff, Charlotte Greenwood, flthel Merrnan, Valerie Bettis, Katharine Hepburn, Patricia Neway, Rex Harrison, Lilli Palmer, Cyril Ritchard, John Gielgud, Pamela Brown, Maurice Evans, Dennis King, Edith . Evans, Alec Guinness. Valerie Taylor, Flori (Continued on page 272)