Variety (October 03, 1951)

71 3, 1*S| Always a New Yorker Story, Never Yet a Play, ' tomahawk Boys Roshinf Season; Flail Away At Radio, Tele, Misic, Dance Although the fall lesson hat only his appreristtofl to Mr Rise* for his effoit* and thoughtfully plat inf a «u|>|Mxiin* hand under my elbow ^ust befun. the* critical fraternity to prevent me from rolla{>*mf dr- Ha* apparent 1) already swung into ^ M # liverrd M»r fmp dljrw . -high With IHr verbal brickbat* A> TUl’f lokar • Ralh I .e ntmtitf in thu *vc7 " mg thick and fast througlMHit 9 represent a prose version of the entertainment and WtetUi is or Id* By Alt I tit R NOBI It m enes from the cornedv which. for Reectionv of the scribe* have nit a The «nh*r ' ninrnlng TVf r « k rbf period fascinated wide swath w hile taking a surp .rr ,»>u».t- ■— r —;« , MlKr T«SM M, »■ .■> piniK If. wwwt .11 th- while Ruing »n> calistneww v ny time Iht wound* have healed 'the way from castigations ahswst • per picking up and lowering th e jN - a' . aeara are almost iitvMble 1 and Ihe son's honesty to iefleet ion* on hi* Tima* mv rye rhonred to light on niemoiy of the pain, save fat an virility. an item m the movie section This « MT a*kMsal sharp throb. it some- Las* week In particular there time it wa ikot I dim uoa;9 1 uh of lUch fournali- 1 lifted for there, for all to opt, *•' | slave to hahit that 1 am. I M*p- Imrds and diatribes, to make even the announcement that Gabriel . pose that I shaft one day make an >. the most jaded leader alt up and | ( S*ral had owifhed emptier 0] ) M . r attempt at willing a fill a*k wha* happen" ' The hatchel Krshihe to direct the screen ver* * 1**14 Bella Grow. u*tng ; the jo ha have been Wont and straight- pfMjft of O to fg * Bernard Shaw * stwriet in this volume Osthehosi* forward »aihci than satirical ar Aitdro*lev and the Lion Thi* is | to employ a phrase who h will subtle, with little if any thing left the *ame Chester I.rsktfw ** >( * undoubtedly be stolen. wonder* j to the imagination eaiU m HB, had pm nwt l m ion r d - In last. Tuesday* N V. rip to write a ph** I«*» Him, and d • y r^o^orrl toi Bella. Bella 11a* World Telegram & Sun, spoil* %sa* in thin play that Bella Aitovs a 4 bar Arthur KobeV, pub writer Joe WllUam* tore 1 nip NBC'S Charter wills *hom I have been ftahrd bg Rando-i Hun$e>. Hill Stern for a full c«rfuitin. suing non e or lew preoccupied for 20 the Army's sponsorvtup of the gab pmrv had hist appeared Straus Beslans Omni beak bets air show foi recruiting pur The year 1929 w a* ’ ' K Straw* publisher of poors, a* stepping off point for a whirh I wav recovering fcous the OiniwWi Mag readied hi* po*l blunder bow attack on the moral*, loxv of an esprnwve shirt. having g hf MobB^i T; bul cuaifmoe* a* principles and methods pf tild ventured Same in the Musk »«*«- '***»***+' and *• direct or of the car Sterno." Listing a aeries of objec Bet The pear 1930 wa* IM IB tol> !t » ht< h PU ^ g Sff “* ™*'*"*l •*" Sx.vtn\ br„ad which I Wa* pres* agent for one of ,* s ^ r h ,„*£ C *' U W,U, * m * called the gabber ”*• IBr greatest hits of Us d«> 'The awn . lKIIU t „, ( ,t ik,- Religious phenomenon »d the elerironic age €«reen I’astuies ' And M>e v«'.»r Book C lub ' ■ adding that there an* ibtiigv alHHit IKW wa* the year in which C lies- ! Straw* w<*s 4 foundei of Oiimi- r !* ij***■!,^°***'^ in radio lei* Ri vhine. fat -with fiMski-'MRp* Imok in 1939 ahmg with M VI that are baifling ■ _ plied him by Pai aiuouni I’o lute* Geflfrn and V H Knauih In div In Friday * '29* N. ;T; Times, to prodyce piay* on Broads*a*, of- riming his re^ignarum. I*e said hts radioTV reviewer Jack Gould de* fried me an advance of gvOil to withdrawal a* publisher marked n*ted hi* whole column to a sharp wide a eosnedy about a Bronx Ikr end of his astive paHiripathm attack on Milton Berle. based on SCULLY’S SCRAPBOOK »♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ a an Frank Scully what he called the latter 4 * u*e ol old material, repetition of material on guest shots and tendency to airfMMiiaphrr and her advenioie* m the mag y diie« to»n I". * Vj I Hns» 'IhBragsas' Are lUrs cal low ! out h with " an Inocdinate | ..6<ne JKow ter > ; BfBsmtfoia. 4 the ^ jmcwr Mw f| and blue* humor, thirst lor fame and fortune -tn STT^iSfliLifK ’lea ha* raiher Special oblrga the receine ordef-went to Molly, 1 * j reads -TaT Mr Bernard t ,,on * l ° TV V J observed Gould, "and wood lor a •wilt »U weeks only to ' ^ sr shoi^aml dedh alton * , ’*^ PC ’a ,,y wi1h • Ur « # children s Bnd that my thiist wa* oitslakable ^bnh omi« abort witn corirni* *udien«e must keep rcr'ain mini a vUf l«r which there l* no gtoup spontaneity. Both the biographer •**Pd* , ds n» nigC* . , A spare anon> mous or puhlle. I vj* join v and the hto^rapitee, when the final vicepf evident show Id take The work I wrote lor the astute pfmd* were read, pondered the hi in MMle for a little talk . and tinIItant young kr*kme was point Hi whom the hook should be Al*a in the 1 line* last week. HI never prmluced. wbeihei it w . .be- <h d..atrd and both der ided on the dance entic John Martin, wa* lam- cause it larked merit dr because he restaurateur kMR the Ballet Theatre, now in wa* astute and brilliant I never I —— a fail engagement at the Met Opera .Hd know However the sesond Bwbers Bright ‘Bella’ .House One day he was attacking art laid in the home til tlie tiros* Arthur Kotrnr Boswell ol Bronx- Luna ( has# Alljrhli co director of t*P In. company * rev ival nf ‘ Bluebeard '' n* v »*l i * imijr Lana ( has* remain* from the original product ion. “ Martin write, ‘ and she. poor dear, has not done a bar re h»r ever ««* long M The next day he wax flailing i„w •««,. mm S'.igte »* M< " 5 4amtrr% - p4rt ^ appeared in the pages ut The New tUr H { An< i 4 rd of hi* play Yorker and whirh were later col- Wmiderful Time’’ and the other h«'**l •*o , l poidished a* Thunder Bella Gioss «4*rie*. ‘Thunder (hrr Over the Bronx* \ the 4 My I tear Bella.’* etc I then decid**d to km ad these The Ule*l cnlleetion of LA stone* episodes Into a piay abowl B« lla include* three never before {mb- and her difficulties in finding a *'* familiar to prop*o suitor I had one act ftn^, r J? V T ^‘ *deyiL ^ _ .■ • ■•; I*u ..w< »| m 1 t*i 1 Flavw light-humorist U rut rent lx parly I was givmg In o.d.r to d ue ^ o>i o| s W|||<t)rfa| T ,me ’ with 10 ys.ll out of Hollywood, H.m Ha*rsaid J Rono who has done the tonne ly. whose Pullfte. |m/e^wm tmm ^ Joshua la.gan who will ning plav I had once puhllcued re- ., riK j llcr an< | »| J |g r “B uh \ou B'Cre Called some ol the thing* I had jf* rr - „ drlflF l*e called told bun ah.Mil »ny expenem-es at Abel. a social director at a summer ramp Thta time it was he who olL-ied (llltriB me an advance If I would abandon Maxwell Hamilton i* leaving the play I had started, to write Motion Picture mag to edit Blue one about summer t amp* PS— Book 1 * again at the orchestra, at whtme co < unductors, Alexander Smallans and Joseph Levine, he had been sniping for two week* 'The evening opened with an appalling performance of ‘Swan Ukc,' thank* to Mr. Irvine and the orchextra he wax conducting “ Martin wrote. “No doubt they were pr emeu pied with the concerto which lay ahead but the dancer* would has* done better to call the whole thin* off and whist la the mu- sic themselves At least they would Having Woodarfu. Tm,. Alb,rl K..rnl. l4, llm,^ I fig * .»* ^ pnetiieed and directed by the jT'f tden editor, bedded at home , ! H IW ***** N*B9l| ♦♦♦♦♦»*»♦♦» Bridfepon CM J As self appointed mediator between tha Pewtagomans <a tngg. • • happy sect of the Planet Earth* and the Saueenans 'supposedly sno.. ; o ers from another planet'. I am aaturally given VIP treatment whew ever Hollywood turn* to the tcieme fiction field for entertainment No Ut I haVeh’t raoght a failure Some of them, like ’ IJestin** Moub * and 4 t% hen Borld* Collide ^ were excellent in a frighten mg sort of way. Rut B remained for 20th-Fo* to take this thing off n> level of terror-for-terror'* sake what might better be called * xcten*>. friction,* and move R up to where intelligence could deaf with the problem in the latest of these ftaororiaa saga* s. irnttsta who try Tia V* their way out irr-icad of generals who trv to fiphf BkiBf Ww> »hm a appealed to by a visitor and hiv robot bodyguard from another pU; in the hope of saving tbit world from destrurilian j It seem* from this picture that people of other inhabited planets have done in an interplanetary way what we did when we fOrn • t the Lnited State* of America and what we are non trying to do *n the Lmted Nation* Rut the interplanetary peace, which they arrived at A.mio years ago t* being threatened by the continuing war* t ,r cartbbound mortal* Our atoigr bomba and rockets Look to th e outside our atmosphere a* the first sign* of interplanetary aggression. U w c *o much at nUk ane of their planets they are prepared to o< integrate the earth, and have sent a tnisstonary to warn 0 % lo flop our nonsense while there ts still time The picture is called 4 The Day the World Stood Still " Titer# 1 slifcht exaggeration here but Box much. H Maadt attli. not for a da*., but for 90 minute* Everything operated by any electrical devu from elevators to motorcycle copa. refuxex to budge till the yivit»n.< release the eie. trnmagnet»c fune* their hand* have stayed A.* long ax. . nothing move*, this 1 * the aaoat dramatic sequence J have ever *. on a screen ! The plot Is credited to a xtory by Harry Rates, It was made intu a pra< tii-ally Haw less script by Edmund North It couldti t have t>* better done it 1 were its technical director A Larger and iiwtre cl. - tlmg saucer than any described to me by magnetic research w lists who claim to have researched three si*h spaceships in S', rv Mexico, settles down on the Mall of Washington with the grace ot a seagull. It is sniq surrounded by the military, with all device* of destruction at our command After two hour* a pieshaped wedge ap- pear* in Die rim of the saucer, a ramp slides forward and out atepv ® quiet giant named Klaalu. whose face I* unfamiliar to American au.i core* He has been known, however, m a dxsni pictures in EngUM as Michael Rennie Six feel four; he makes my little men froth ; * Behind the Flying Saucer*.* as well as most of the populace and the military look pretty small The Coni Is High As nowhere in the story is the source of his origin described exactly, this issue of stature is not Important. We know that com grows le-x than three feet tall under an apple tree and rises more than eight feet high where the sun ha* full play U is therefore quite possible than on a planet like Venus, which has a cloud formation around B, men might be small, if any live there and on other planet* having more sun than we do. giants might be the order of the da) and longcvit > a matter of centuries. j The pilot himself Utar says he hw covered over 2AO.OOO.OOO mite* Mlx saucer took 9ve month*, traveling at 4 099 mbh to enver lli# distance. This would put his planet somewhere between Mars and Jupiter Maybe he came from ant of the leal planet* Nexrapaper I he idtinex describe him ax a man from Mars, but the researchers at 20tVFo« make no such claims and apparently don't Intend to be boxed , uxto any controversy of this sort. The giant has hardly walked off Ma runway kntn this terra net a* firm* when a trigger-craaed ofli r .•hoots him in the shoulder, believing a present for .the ftreeident |was withdrawing front bla uniform was a weapon. Thia brings BB I body guard from the spaceship—a giant towering above his master by at least two feet. He turns out to be a robot named Gort. whose only weapon ta either an electro-magnetic distintegrating force or a c o smic ’ray Whichever it Is. it is the most powerful weapon so far revealed to the fear-ridden people of this earth Tha New Miracle Draw Doctors rush the victim to the Walter Reed Hospital With the u*e of some salve he had brought along. Klaatu cured the wound himself overnight, which seemed to move him eight light years head of our with laryngitis Actor Mir hart Brown completing a novel about Hollywood. ‘The Feature fMayer." ment Weeklies No Different In Uie weekly rags there was as much vitriol B Rf” Baffin, music a*tute and brilliant Mari C onnelly. Later. I took the art I had w rtt- ten and chopped It up into anothrr sriiet of Bronx slorte* for The New Yorker. These talc* *ub*e- qu* ntly appeared tn a volume en- shinied 1 s Ith^UUklba oTseemtf « oT'i ** ,w > l *»g Ceiwtnt* of turo Toscanini. “A Taubman writ- Mr* Richard Finnegan, wife ot critic for tlie Nation was reviewing t*hi Times-Sun exec, in ho*pitai 1 the recent hook by N Y. Times mu- sujlermg from heart ailment j sic editor Howard Taubman on Ar Mo *?»h« KU m 11 .* y* Mr t teeth on edge.” Haggln wrote, call- | h,tln. ( m, r '„ VSS’ ItTS. !"* T * Uhmln - * m0n « ^ ■■■ , an inaccurate rep«»rter ... a man S. V kill* polistung her new hrxtk n*y characters on the stage. I adapted the hook Into a comedy which John Golden accepted Again*t Mr Golden s sound ad h, r '"***“«• "tsjs::-;:.-T- r\,rr.-j rr-, _ 1 aw >„d >»ur. Irrtlun tor „„ .,..k mat h- r , n ,. d h - » »* hom, !««• from “f‘* W ' 1 **"*' to tw ,«> Mr author It took mr .'‘" , *' r * n ' 'on durtna -hoh , , . , . . taima. uw. ta« t.vwiar I MiM he 00 d Otowhu in Zurich. Milan B wt It was left to Irving Kolodin M Wii discover Iv.a* l‘-*> * Vienna, Cannes. Nice, Lyons end N Y Sun music critic and ing Titlhy^a Mmiewhat baldmg ,.. nt ~ ;** | now Saturday Review of Literature Tri tn. to be iur« t+t*U h+»ui. Mary Margaret McBride's first columnist, writing on the recent Hut I managed to mag. article in several years ap- N Y City Ballet Co xeaawi, tn pull pearing tn tVtoher i*%ue of Me- out all the stops "F.very genera 1 ( v J?*'£*•: 1he ******* iio * ba* it* artistic cross to bear Again I cribbed from mv^lf, Wsdc m^ the While House during and ours I guess, is ballet. 44 he a<ain the saga ol Bella and her **MW overhaul ! -' j wrote . ' TBuu ''.Bp,• tWf Into The suitor* apfiearcd in mV favorite, ■*> lusliiJir. who “ - - fitagarmr. anct once more I .on Verted the stdrtex into a miracle drugs They keep him under custody, and the secretary to the President calls on him Klaatu tells him that his planet has been monitoring our radio and broadcasts, and ha therefore knows the English language wall. During the first two years of mouttoring our television they were convinced that all wa did was wrestle. Later they discovered w# were planning to step up destruction from atomic to hydrogen bomba HI* mission, he Informs the secretary tn the Presi- dent. is tn talk sms# Into all the nation* of this earth, because If they keep messing up the atmosphere xvtth explosions of this sort the repercussions are bound to disturb the other planets and thev would simply have to destroy the earth for their own protection The secretary orders Klaatu to be held In protective custody. |i*i» Svrngali shake off his hypnotic effect the production a* well. vnobbivh cult of degeneracy. ” as eg Ihnmicle marine* ulll lT ™ r <*jnt . V.'v ' tilt c*.nunc to N \ fv.o M premieres of Jcnonr RobbmV The SZJX"* z .i%SS*rU£K r 4 & ****’' •• 1 PmhIu^hI m i»4A un«l« r tlw «*«re< - thcatiii-rfl *uh)«*cU and prrikOnali Miracnlmsa Mandarin 4 * turn ot FIuier Rice. ties for it. Galling the ballets “an Inversion The play really wa*nt meant to Sam Boa I freelance mag writer*' Values 44 and "arrested develop be produced privately. In tact, it going to France on assignment! was intended to he oit«-r* d to an from Holidav mag to do a piece on ea.:ec public *l regular hovoffice H w‘i 11 he «. included in a, C xee* \f|er 10 da* * n( ix'heantals. l^armiati ntnab«*r the publication •sever the t»ro«!ueer. fresh from _ ** prrppmg for issue in * his out-of-town triumphs with a ^ „ . nmvical. L p in Central Paik or- »****?* \ 1 1?* t ?*! rU dered a run-lhrouch of mv plav; Ja., ' ^I r * j Mr r t Esi. itS*.y ! r;sz: jx* the Player, on the *t-»ge. fu ln g fo ^ da " ,^T r tn solemnly thanks tlu-m for their eight-week lon.hmed Kurop* an eflortv, iu*t a* **»lemnty exp«x**vrd Big-fat at to« trek. 1 I Continued on page 74* m ck Hopalwng Crieket. \ Rnti*h juvenile mag. The ('hampion. ha* a story about * Buckaroo Bill 44 who is on the Winning team , in a cruket match again*! (lie Two-Bar- One team Everybody knows, of course, how popular a sport cruket is with the American cowboys. This doesn’t work at all, Klaatu seemingly ha* powers to walk through a wall. From here the chase begins. He changes to civilian garb, takes on the name of Carpenter and puts up in a highetavs boarding house run by a war widow to support bar 11-year-old son. Her name is Mrs. Helen Benson, played by Patricia Neal, liar boy, Bobby, and Klaatu. the man from outer space, strike up a great friend- ship It apparently is easier for children to trust him and not he terrified by the force he can liberate than R is f9r adults. He and the boy visit the spaceship and tboR Bn to eall on Professor Hauibardt. a Hollywood substitution for Professor Einstein. The prn- fe*n>r happens to be out Thera is i very complicated mathematical problem on Earnhardt”* blackboard which seemingly hat left to* professor stumped. Klaatu takes a piece of Chalk and solves it tn the professor s absence I have seen magnetrnnte calculating devices which are claimed to dash off a million calculations a minute, so this solu- tion didn't strike 'me as too a maxing. When the military establish a road block and Anally catch up w ith Klaatu and kilt him. It kooks as if our present means of destruction h** Anally eliminated the well-intentioned Sauceriaa But before Gort the robot can start too far on his rampage. Mrs Benson, to whom Klsatu entrusted the magic words before he died, utters "Klaatu barada niklp,” and Gort stop* wiping the world off this aolar system’s slate and goes to rescue his fallen master instead. He carries bias Inside the saucer, sets a current going sod Klaatu comet back to life How Murk More To Fly? The Saucer designed for ’The Day The World Stood SUIT* folio" • the generally accepted descriptions of these space ship* The di*k ro< a mi ring 350 feet is said to have cost 20th $100,000 to build v Drew Pearson. If V. Kaltenhorn. Elmer Davis and even Gabn*- Hestter are photographed describing the world-shaking news Elmer Davis even goes so far as to say that this is not just another A>w- saucer scare; this one is vouched for by the military. Messrs Zanuck. Hlau*tem. Wise. Tover and Herrmann, as well ** all those previously named, deserve no end of praise for reaching into the heavens and bringing down the must uplifting and m«»*t believable of Saucenan sagas. I hope Klaatu comes back soon, this time in prrvm, as they any in show business.