Variety (June 1952)

s $» UJCITIMAT* - - ■■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■■ * '** Shows Criss-Cross Continued from pa^e 57 <> „ Inn," July 7; Haila Stoddard and Reginald Owen in “Affairs of State," July 14; Vincent Price in “Goodbye Again," July 21; Ilona Massey in “Angel in Paris," July 28, and Joanne Dru and John Ire- land in “Petticoat Fever," Aug. 4. Jack Quinn opens another sea- son at Southbury with the current (24-29) stand of “Here Today." Also on the agenda are “Silver Whistle," “The Happy Time" and “Suds in Your Eyes." Milford Playhouse, a community project strawhat that attained some prominence in its initial sea- son last year, goes into a second stanza July 1 with “Male Animal" and follows with “Stage Door," “For Love or Money," ‘Two Blind Mice," “Ah, Wilderness,". “The Women," “Light Up The Sky" and •Roberta.” Spot will also break in a new play week of Aug. 19. Aotive Shore Area Atlantic City, June 24. * The resort area will have more legitimate theatres this season than any time in the past dozen years. Summer stock by the Pleasant Mills Players, an Equity company, will be offered three days each week for an eight-week „ season in the resort and three days in Pleasant Mills, some 25 miles from here. \ The old Gateway Casino, one- time night club, is being renovated as a summer theatre and is sched- uled to open with “Brigadoon" July 2. Spot is in suburban Somers Point, some 10 miles from the city, and its backers hope to draw from all South Jersey’s resort section by offering top musical shows. Jona- than Dwight will operate with five musicals and four straight plays skedded. The Million Dollar Pier will of- fer some more borscht circuit legit, this time “Bagels & Minx," which gets under way July 2. Bur- lesque starts today (24) in the re- built Globe Theatre, its uptown home for years. Spot was badly damaged this past winter by a se- vere fire. Gianni Pitale, of Hammonton, and Mrs. Ada Fenno, of Swarth- more, Pa., are producers of the Pleasant Mills Players. Resort theatre is the Quarterdeck Play- house of Hotel Morton in midcity, near the Steel Pier. Cast of nine players will be seen in the eight productions, under direction of Sam Wren, of New York. Noel Coward’s “Tonight at 8:30," tees off July 3-9. Mary and P4ul Gillespie, of El- wood, will be music and produc- tion managers . of the Pleasant Mills Playhouse. Miss Barbara J. Whiting, .of New York, will be stage manager. Cameo’s Healthy Teeoff Miami Beach, June 24. The Cameo Playhouse, new stock spot here, has gotten underway with two healthy productions. The 950-seat house, with a $3 -scale, drew $10,300 for its opening bill, Franchot Tone, Betsy von Furst- enberg and Lawrence Tierney in “Petrified Forest." Gross was $10,- 000 for the second offering, Luther Adler, Uta Hagen, Herbert Berg- hof, Paula Laurence and Romney Brent in “Tovarich.” Cast for the litter revival was held over and Is appearing this week in “Play’s the Thing," staged by Brent. » . Carlisle-Xady’ $6,800, Bucks New Hoe, Pa., June 24. “Lady in the Dark," Kitty Car- lisle starrer which played unprece : dented two weeks as Bucks County Playhouse opener, closed Saturday night (21) after a sellout run which grossed $6,800 in its final stanza. Gross in 432-seater with $3.40 top beat bouse record set in 1950 by Miss Carlisle ih “O Mistress Mine.” Show goes to Westport, Conn., and Dennis, Mass., where Misk* Car- lisle leaves it. Future plans are undecided, according to Moss Hart, author of the show and husband of Miss Carlisle.. However, a possible London production has been men- tioned as a starring vehicle for Miss Carlisle. Current bill at the Playhouse is “Count Your Blessings," new com- edy by Carl and Dorothy Allens- worth, which opened . last night (Mon.). If it looks promising, pro- ducer Theron Bamberger and di- rector Ezra Stone plan to take it to Broadway in the fall. Blondell-'Sheba’ 7G, Olney Olney, Md., June 24. ■ Despite a generally favorable press and audience reaction, Olney Theatre went into the red with Joan Bloridell in “Come Back, Lit- tle Sheba," its second show of the season. Actually, the $7,b00 take would generally be considered comfortable for the 700-seat house, but unusually high nut for this one hurt. Show had a very slow start, but wound up with capacity week- end. “Happy Time" preems tonight (Tues.) with light advance. In con- trast, the Slavenska-Franklin-Dani- lova ballet troupe, due in next Tuesday (1), is already a virtual sellout. Sidney Blackmer in “Sec- ond Threshold" has been Inked for week of July 8. Chi ‘Moon 11 ¥ - ■ — Continued from pa ge 57 - with the advent of the summer box- office slump. ° Management last week dropped the Sunday showings and instituted a Wednesday matinee, with the idea of drawing femme summer conventioners. However, first mati- nee last week (18) was a flop, and it was decided to shutter and possibly tour next fall in the mid- west and Texas, hitting the spots that the Coast company with Diana Lynn and David Niven won’t make. Sherman will play a part in the “Wizard ofc Oz” at the Dallas State Fair July 28 for two weeks and do summer stock and television, and Miss Henderson leaves for the Coast and video work. Biff Mc- Guire returns to New York for teevee work. Richard Skinner, company manager, also returns east. With “Moon” Vacating the Har- ris this week, “Bell, Book and Can- dle" moves there next Monday (30) from the Selwyn next door. Reason for the shift, involving modest ex- pense, is that the former house has a better cooling system than the Selwyn, and is thus more desirable for the scheduled summer run of “Bell.” Jime Plays Abroad The Trap Glasgow, June 17, Henry $herek production of dratnh in three act* l>y A*hley Duke*, from the original by Ferdinand Bruckner. Stars Mai Zetterling, Herbert Lom, Betty Ann Davies; feature* Lana Morris, BiU Owen. Directed by Jullu* Gellner. Setting, An- thony Holland. At King's, Glasgow. Pies* .Herbert Lom Dora .1. Laha Morris Widow -»-Betty Aim Davies Karen Mtoi Zetterling Mrs. Pless Hermlone Hannon Brother No ®L,?°J? rl . ett Lorens.. »«*••*• *^111 Owen P'oliee Officer* R. Ford, L. Parker Even a good cast cannot lighten or make entertaining this sombre, inconclusive drama set in a small farmhouse in a remote district of northern Scandinavia. It- is a too familiar plot, of suspected murder and with the central characters a grim gentleman farmer and a beautiful, but simple maidservant who is in love with her employer. The-* illiterate beautiful, blonde maidservant, Mai 'Zetterling is ex- pecting a baby by her employer. The gentleman farmer commands her to keep ..quiet about the baby. They will journey into town, he says, and see a certain lady about it. But the naive, honest girl be- lieves it her duty to inform her mistress. The wife takes the news calmly, since she has coptie to ex- pect any amount of philandering on her husband’s part. Later she is found shot, and the husband is taken into custody. Before his arrest, he is visited by the wealthy widow, Betty Ann Davis, sophisticated lady of riches, who has plans to take over his heavily-mortgaged acres. Slowly, the grim depressing tale, complete- ly minus any humor, is worked out to a not very clear ending. Despite the material, there are several good studies in this psy- chological drama. Herbert Lom, British pix actor, is strong as the churlish farmer. He scores in a 1 o n g i s h part. Miss Zetterling, comely Swedish actress of such films as “Frenzy” and “Frieda," -provides a subtle study of the headstrong, illiterate servant gal. The interfering maid is ade- quately played in a strong London- ish accent by Lana Morris, 3{oung starlet of British films. The. gay, amorous widow is done with.suit- able lightness by Miss Daviesl Bill Owen, Broadway actor, copes well with the most unconvincing i part OI me pray, mac or Lorenz an „ sistant statlonmaster. ’ n as * Anthony Holland’s farmhnn^ setting is atmospheric. The SS however, here on tuneup before , London stand, doesn’t appear toJ likely a bet. It seems too grim slow despite marquee valued star names. Gord, 1M«I*JMP tor Murder London, June 20, James V. Sherwood production of now drama in three act* by Frederick kw, Starjr Jane Baxter and Emry s Jones ™ rected by John Fernald. Settings 'pS? Mayo. At Westminster, June lef« top, • ^ Sheila Wendice Jane Bavt*- ¥*x Halllday Alan MacNaSS fony .Wendice Jones &£■S. Wairi-. Xia™ -8SUSS5 Having scored a bullseye when it was screened recently on TV “Dial ‘M’ for Murder,” a first play by Frederick Knott, has now been brought tci the West End. The thriller loses nothing by its transi- tion to the stage, but, with the de- nouement being familiar to up- wards of 2,000,000 viewers, much of the excitement and suspense is missing. It is nevertheless a good switch on the whodunit theme and has a reasonable chance at this in- timate theatre. Play is crisply written, apart from a slack first act, and the five char- acters are intelligently drawn. John Fernald has directed with an eye to suspense. Principal character in the yarn is Tony Wendice, a tennis star, who plots the murder of his rich wife when he learns of her infidel- ity. The scheme is carefully worked out. Wendice will tele- phone from a stag dinner at 11 p.m. an<3L a hired accomplice will strangle the wife while she is an- swering the call. The idea comes to grief when the accomplice gets killed instead, but the would-be murderer sees the realization of his project when his wife is convicted of murder! The play is neatly dovetailed into three acts. In the first, the mur- der is being planned and the ac- complice hired. The second sees the plot go awry while the third re- sults In the chance trapping of the slayer. Atmosphere is effectively captured and the five-character (Continued on page 60)