Variety (March 1952)

\ Published Weekly at 154 West 46th Street* New York 36 , N.Y., by Variety, Inc. Annual subscription. 110. Single Copies, 25 cents. Entered as second'class matter December 22, 1905* at the Post Office at New York, N. Y,, under the act el March 3. 1879. COPYRIGHT, 1952, BY VARliTY, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED VOL. 185 NO. 13 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 1952 PRICE 25 CENTS Talent agencies/ fearful of mak-> ing the same mistake iff video that they made in radio, are now 'blue- printing plans whereby they will make their own vidpix; Major per- centers feel that it was their talent that built up disk companies and daytime radio. They will thus keep their top names for themselves in making tele shorts. Agencies are of the opinion that once the video freeze is lifted, small-town stations will be hard- pressed to fill daytime program- ming needs. They envision that video versions of disk jocks will be playing five-minute shorts. It will be these shorts that will make tal- ent, and the agencies want to con- trol the output* Master plans are . ready to be sprung, once the FCC gives the go signal on new station construc- ti . Cost estimates are already on the ledgers, based on the current number of stations. It’s felt that they can make a profit on that basis. Returns will be increased considerably when there are more video stands. Firms like the William Morris agency, General Artists Corp. and Music Corp. of America are already in film syndication and are in- volved in the making of their own pix. It's f elt, that they are building up their distribution arm to get rolling in high, ,as soon the number of stations is increased ma- terially. An outfit such as GAC has prob- ably the largest number of record- ing toppers in the pop category of any percentery. Their ranks ‘ - (Continued on page 22) '52 Overall Score; Pair Say TV No. 1 Exhauster Minneapolis, March 4. Martin & Lewis, appearing at Radio City here, told Minneapolis Star columnist Cedric Adams that they’ll gross approxirr.ately $2,000,- 000 from their TV, radio, theatre and nitery appearances and other income sources. this year. The^ve established the York Corp., em- bodying all of their enterprises, arid all income goes into it. It comprises their attorney iri addi* tion to themselves. They take this income lightly, according to Adams’ column, which quotes Lewis as saying: “Look, you can. eat three meals, wear ore suit, drive one car, have one house. What’s money?’’ They told Adams that their TV shows take the most out of them physically’ It became necessary to delay the ® jrly evening Radio City stageshow 40 minutes on the final night, Thursday (28), of the Martin .& Lewis stand when Lewis sprained his back during a fall at the pre- ceding performance. Comic was taken to Northwestern Hospital, X-rayed and bandaged. He re- turned to the theatre, where 0 he (Continued on page 78) Dicker Hope, Horne, Spike for Helsinki Hollywood, March 4. Rob Hope and Lena Horne may play Helsinki this summer as top nighttime attractions during period of Olympic Games. Both already ^re set ior the London Palladium by Lew & Leslie Grade Agency. Grades are also dickering Spike Jones to play Helsinki three weeks at weekly guarantee of $12,500. British musicians union ban hasn’t yet cleared Jones, which could nix whole European junket. Hollywood, March 4. Speaking before the semi-annual meeting of Coaist writers last week, Otto A. Hartyach, prexy of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, estimated that ASCAP would get $5,000,000 annually from the jukebox industry if the pending royalty amendment to the Copyright Act passes Con- gress, After detailing a report on the Society’s record $14,000,000 revenue for 1951, Harbach said the bill had strong chances to pass. With ASCAP’s 1952 income ex- pected to rise still further this year due to increased take from video, the juke amendment opens pos sibility for a still sharper hike in revenue. Harbach . said that the juke Ops lost the initial battle in failing to get the Kefauver-Bryson amendment killed in the Con- gressional committee. The decision will probably dome in a few months, Harbach predicted, adding that if the issue were not settled by election time, the whole picture could change. Harbach’s estimate of $5,000,- (Continued on .page. 78). Murrow's ‘See If Sets To CBS-TV’s "See It Now” cameras will move onto the Sam Goldwyn lot in Hollywood next week to com pile material for a 12-minute docu mehtary* on ’‘Hollywood, 1952.” Ed- ward R. Miirrow and Fred W. Friendly, co-producers of “See It, will attempt to depict how a major Hollywood producer, such as Gold- wyn, has confidence enough in the film industry’s future to invest $4,- 000,000 now in his currently-shoptr mg “Hans Christian Andersen” in (Continued bn page 78) Exhibs this week appeared to be turning from grumbling and threats to action in their anger at pro- ducers who have been making their old features available to TV. Re- ports suddenly began to crop up from a number of quarters that a definite boycott is now on. Film-makers on whom the exhib wrath was turned were primarily Republic, Monogram, Pine-Thomas, Edward’ Small, J. Arthur Rank and Sir Alexander Korda. Their prod- uct in recent months has been ap- pearing with increasing regularity on tele. Curiously, the sudden decision to stop talking about boycotts arid really refuse to book pix of Offend- ing producers appeared to have no common starting point. As far as can, be ascertained, various exhibs iri various parts of the country— particularly important indie circuit operators in the New York terri- tory—seemed more or less by co- incidence to have hit their combus- tion point at about the same time. If there were any concert, in the action, the theatremen certainly weren't admitting it That’s as ex- pected, since a concerted boycott of ariy distrib would open the ex- hibs to charges of conspiracy. There seemed to be sortie small signs, (Continued on page 78) Chicago, March 4. The high cost of video living is underscored in the nextrseasori ne- gotiations currently under vi/ay be- tween NBC arid the participation bankrolled on its Saturday night “Show of Shows.” The trio of spot sponsors—-Libby. McNeill & Libby, SOS Cleanser and Benfus—are each shelling out slightly over $16,- 000 weekly for their 60-second “Show of Shows” blurbs. And the tab is going up to $17,600 next fall. That makes the time arid talent price for the minute spots just un- der a $1 ,000,000 operation on a 52- week run. Actually, the three.par- ticipating clients “buy” a 10-min- ute slice of the 90-minutje display In which to sandwich their mes- sages. Errol Flynn and Wife s New Act Set for London Hollywood, March 4. Deal is set for Errol Flynn and wife, Patrice Wymore, to play a London Palladium fortnight start- ing Sept. 15. They’re working up a new act which probably will revolve strong- ly around Miss Wymore’s dancing, Whiteman Jure Winner Goes Sour in Dope Rap Philadelphia, March 4. A 20-year-old jazz musician, Mike Furirio, who recently copped the top prize On Paul Whiteman’s “TV-Teen Club” Video show* was picked up last week, charged with possession of narcotics. White- man’s show has a juvenile, welfare pitch aimed at getting kids into wholesome club activities. Another jazz looter, Wilbur C. Brown, was nabbed with Furind on the same rap. Tex McCrary’s NBC bowout last week on a leave of absence spot- lighted for much of the entertain- ment industry the hazards of over- zealous partisanship on behalf of any candidate by show biz person- alities^ McCrary is ah Eisenhower campaigner. Issue is made par- ticularly tough in the upcoming Presidential campaign by the seem- ing preference of So much of the industry for General Eisenhower— or at least the vbcalness of that segment which “likes Ike.” Riding a bandwagon Is great sport, according to sober and .ma- ture show biz execs, but what Hap- pens when your wagon runs second best? President Truman, Senator Taft or whatever dark, hoss may come up the winner in November could hardly be expected to look with any love or devotion on an industry that almost unanimously favored his opponent* One top film figure with mote than usual knowledge of his way around Washington pointed out that plenty of large corporations in (Continued on page 79) Get ‘B’-Hi J • Rating Under Cops' 0.0.; Chicago/Iffarch 4. Strip joint operators here have been clamoring against the prac- tice of placing uniformed cops, in their bistros to see that shedders and “B” girls dorn’t solicit cus- tomers for drinks. Members of the Chicago Cafe Owners Assn, say that business has almost vanished due to the watchful eyes of the constabulary. In his appeal, Milton Raynor, attorney for the association, said: “The cops are discriminating (Continued on page 64) Members of the cast of the re- cent flop play* “Collector’s Item/' protested to Actors Equity last week over a column about the 8how that appeared iri the N. Y. News a few days after the closing. The piece, under the by-lirie of John Chapman, the sheet’s drama critic, allegedly implied that the actors in the cast realized the show was hopeless and deliberately gave poor performances with the idea of kill- ing it quickly. Matter was considered at last week’s regular meeting of the un- ion’s council, which decided after considerable discussion not to make any formal protest or take other official action. I i was point- ed out that a public statement supporting the cast might invite a reply that if the actors weren’t ac- tually trying to give bad perform- ances, they gave that impression. In other words, it was feared the critic might write another piece, explaining that the players must have been merely incompetent rather than deliberately unconvinc- ing. Although deciding against mak- ing an official statement on the sit- uation, council members were re- portedly indignant and authorized the publication of' an editorial an- swer in the next issue of Equity, the union’s monthly magazine. The council was informed that one actor .(Continued on page 78) Ricketson Sees Loss Of a Third of Theatres Good for the Industry At' least one-third of the na- tion's film theatres may be closed down in the next five years, and it will be a “good thing for the in- dustry,” it was prophesied this week by Frank H. (Rick) Ricketson, Jr., head of 20th-Fox’s IntermOuh- tain chain, Ricketson, who head- quarters in Denver, was „in New York for huddles with 20th execs and is awaiting return today (Wed.) of prez Spyros Skoiiras from Switzerland. With no television m hj[s area, Ricketson said his own circuit was doing about a$ well as at any time i its history. He was pessimistic, however, about the effects of TV elsewhere. Theatre closings which have been taking place in, much of the country recently, however, were viewed by Ricketson is strength- ening the industry. “There are now too many houses splitting up what business is avail- able,” he said. “With fewer the- atres, patronage will be more con- centrated* Thus houses that re- main in business will be. doing bet- ter and will be able to pay more film rental for that reason. In ad- dition, overhead of an excess num- ber of theatres wc*/t be eating up income, so the industry as a whole will be on a much firmer founda- tion.”