Variety (September 1952)

Two More Hotels in Blueprint Stage Las Vegas, Sept. 2. >' Twe more new hotels aside from the Sands and the Sahara are slated for the Las Vegas strip. B^ports are one syndicate, headed hy Sam Cohen; a Mlamd Beach hullder in conjunction with Larue’s owner, Jerry Brooks, is negotiat- ing for a hotel to be erected near the track administration building. Another group headed by Sammy Mandarine, who has money in sev- eral Miami Beach nlterles, has made a deal with the owner of the land parcel adjacent to the ‘Thunderbird Hotel, to build a hotel which will be leased to that group. Both these inns will be com- plete with casino and will become major talent buyers. Operation of these two new spots will further complicate the Las Vegas picture. The major nltery owners already are faced with a shortage of names. Entry of the two previously announced hotels, the Sands and the Sahara, will make the competition for top names extremely keen. "What will happen with two more spots in the Strip area is anybody’s guess. As a matter of fact, name short- age is so acute that the Thunder- bird is packaging its own units as a substitute. Jean Sablon and James Barton have been signed to head packages to be produced by Hal Braudis, Thunderblrd’s on- tertainmeftt buyer. At the same time. Las Vegas has been forced to pay more for talent than any other hotel or nitery in the country. Names that get $5,000 in that area can get nowhere near that price in other showshops. 'EVELYN WEST’S $25,000 TREASURE CHEST’ SUIT Mlnneapoll;^, Sept. 2. Stripper Evelyn West has filed a $25,000 damage suit against Char- lie Fox, who operates the local Al- vin and the Gayety, Milwaukee, burlesque houses, charging that he misappropriated her trademarked ’Treasure chest” designation in re- ferring ^in advertising to other of his exotic dancer performers. In his answer to the complaint,. Fox maintains that Miss West did not originate .the expression per- taining to her allegedly Insured bosom and that other strippers used it before her and have been using it in theatres other than his. Toronto’s Berserking BuRs Set Pace for Mile Race Toronto, Sept. 2. Participating in George A. Hamid’s afternoon vaude show at the 24-000-seat grandstand of the Canadian • National* Exhibition, three elephants of the Joe Hanson, Jr., animal troupe went ’berserk when a revolver shot in the infield started off over a score of sprlnt- er^ in the men’s mile race. Elephants scattered other per- formers and stagehands when starting gun was fired, trumpeted their way across the track, with trunks aloft, among the runners, who probably never ran faster in their lives. Bellowing through the backstage trailer setup of the en- tertainers, the pachyderm trio finally trotted sedately into their own vans, wth Hanson and his wife, Rosalie, In pursuit. Specta- tors thought it was part of the act but Wes Sante, Kansas City, win- ner of the foot race, never ran faster, though not clipping the record. Injunction on Zoning Vs. San Antonio Nitery San Antonio, Sept. 2. Suit for an injunction restraining operation of a nitery in Castle Heights,' a new section here, was filed in 45th District Court by Castle Hills Mayor E. W. Horton for the city council of the suburban community. Petition stated 'that Leslie Bow- man, Jr., and Albert Huehner ran the spot in violation- of a compre- hensive zoning ordinance, and that combined operation would cause injury to property holders in the area, described as predominantly residential. Greta Kdler Back Viennese songstress Greta Kel- ler, longtime abroad, entertaining chiefly In Austrian and Swiss re- sorts, is back on the New York scene and will probably open Oct. 16 In the Carnival Room of the Hotel Sherry-Netherland, N, Y. She Is also readying for a role in ’’Time of the Cuckoo,” the Robert Whitehead production ,ior ANTA. Can. Expo Coin . Over '51 Gale Ottawa, Sept. 2. . Despite a 50,000 attendance drop, Central Canada ExmbitiOn claims It made more money this year than last. Management gave no figtmes, but it reported its 1952 net as more than 1951’s $139,523. Reasons for financial success in the face of sharply decreased at- tendance included a saviug .of more than $13,000 when giveaway auto- mobiles were eliminated, of $3,000 by using a local name Instead of star orchster on the dance stand, and cutting to a minimum the sale of low-priced advance tickets. In recent years, CCE worked hard to sell advance tickets at three for $1 (with gate price at 50c), including changes on gratis car and ’other gimmicks. Only a few advance, cut-rate admissions were' sold this year, and there were no gimmicks. CCE head office reported mid- way receipts down from 1951, but the grandstand (“Grandstand Fol- lies”) considerately up from last year. No figures were given. Wirtz Sets for Indpis. Preem in OcL; Sonja To Beat Tollies’ Into Chi Chicago, Sept. 2. Arthur M. Wirtz’s “Hollywood Ice Revue” has repacted most of its stars of last year and gets im- derway at the Coliseum, Indianap- olis, Oct. 8 for 17 days. Barbara Anri Scott will headline again this year, with Andra McLaughlin and Carol Lynne as the other femme stars. Michael Kirby will have the male lead and Freddie Trenkler the top comedy spot. Three Bruises will also be featured. Blade revue then heads into the St. Louis Arena, and on into new territory, starting with Denver and Omaha. After a Milwaukee stand, the show plays Its traditional Christmas date at the home base, Chicago Stadium, through Jan. 18. It’s set for Madjson Square Gar- den, New York, several days later. If Canadian arenas can offer suit- able dates, it’s probable the show will tour extensively there before going to Detroit and. other midwest spots. The Wirtz show is currently In rehearsal at Chi Stadium. Bill Burke Is assistant producer to Wirtz and Ludolf Kassebaum will direct. Ray Gaynor continues as stage manager and Paul Van Loan as musical conductor. Carl and Dorothy Littlefield will do the choreography. Tom King will flack. Sonja Henie opens her 1953 leer at the International Amphitheatre here .Sept. 11, and runs through Oct. 5. Private showing will be held for American Assn, of Engi- neers Sept. 10. Route from Chicago has not been announced as yet, Chicago Arena gets into the act Oct. 9 with Shipstads & Johnson’s “Ice Follies of 1953.” Keaton’s 3-Weeker At Paris’ Medrano Buster Keaton, former film comic who’s been working television shows of late, has been signed for a threeweek stand at the Cirque Medrano, Paris. Deal was started by Jacques Me- drano, spot’s operator, during bis recent N. Y. visit. Lew & Leslie Grade Agency completed it. pfSSrEff VACBBvnmg 48 Names Front and Centre in $1(0,01)0 WAYNE CARROLL . SonfeKj you like to hear! TV RADIO CLUBS THEATRES Direction MORISON.A NbRELL AGENCY 1560 D^adway, New York Koplair Vs. Koplar For St. Loo Names St. Louis, Sept. 2. The Koplar brothers, Sam and Nat, are vigorously competing with each other for trade and big at- tractions in their west end niteries. Although Sam 'with his son, Har- old, managing the Chase Club, seem to have the edge thus far on class attractions for the forthcoming sea- ! son, Nat and his nephew, Norman Probstein, who books and man- ages Town & Country in the Conr igress Hotel, are striving to con- tact more big names for the spot. Chase Club has snared Frank Sinatra to tee off the season Oct. 3. He will be. followed by Los Chavales de Espana, Dorothy Dan- dridge, George Qobel, Bud & Cece Robinson, Quinetto Allegro, and Connee Boswell, with Ted Lewis getting the New Year’s Eve date. Town & Country opened Friday (29) with Dick Egner, concert pianist, for one week frame, to be followed by Page Cavanaugh Trio plus Mary Kaye Trio and Jimmy Symington. RAY BULGER TO OPEN VEGAS’ NEW SAHARA Las- Vegas, Sept. 2. New Sahara-Hotel, now nearing completion, expects to throw open its doors early next month with Ray Bolger as the headliner of the first show in its 500-seat Congo Room. Stint will mark dancer’s first nitery date in almost a decade during which he devoted himself exclusively to legit and film work. Sahara, a $5,000,000 venture, hopes to continue hooking names who make only rare nitery appear- ances. Plans now are underway for a giant prpem to which news- men and celebs will be flown from both coasts. Macdonnell and ZaU Deny Exiting Foster’s Harry Foster, head of the' old international agency bearing his name, denies by cable from Lon- don that Leslie Macdonnell and Hyman Zahl are exiting the Fos- ter agency. Macdonnell, also in a cable denial, joins Foster in the same. disaffirmation of last week’s -report that Foster’s associates were entertaining such ideas. Zahl, who’returns to London by air this weekend, has been on an extensive U.S. and Canadian tour, lining up talent for European dates. His route embraced Hollywood and Las Vegas. There have'been intra-trade ru- mors about Zahl and possibly Mac- donnell going in business on their- own, or making a deal with Music Corp of America, but denied from both London and New York. Calum<^t, 111., Cleanup Chicago, Sept. 2. Calumet City, Chicago suburb, is going through another cleanup stage. Town, which draws heavily from workers in steel mills and conventioneers from Qhi, has been wide open as far as strip shows and other entertainment go. City council last week approved a demand for a two-man vice squad to “tone down” the revues and^ alleged gambling activitjes. Miranda’s Nitery Six '' Carmen Miranda has been signed for a nitery tour that starts at the Sheraton-BiUmore, P r o v I d ence, Sept. 24, and winds up In Las Vegas with a standi beginning Dec, 23. Latino’s bookings include the Town Casino, Buffalo, Sept, 29; -Elmwood Casino, Windsor, On,t., Oct. 10; Vogue Terrace, Pittsburgh, Oct. 20; Mark Hopkins, San Fran- cisco, Nov. 11, and the Desert Inn, Las Vegas. Offio! Unkm s AGYA Walkout The Office Workers International Union pulled a switch on the American Guild of Variety Artists in New York via a walkout last week. Stoppage was staged last week after AGVA and the office workers failed to come to an agree- ment on a contract that 'h^d ex- pired March 1. AGVA and the OWIU had agreed on ^wages and conditions, but stumbling block was AGVA’s insistence that the pact run two years. Vaude union toppers fell that with one-year contract, both would have to go through the same hassle within a few monthsr OWIU refused, but later presented a com- promise which gave AGVA a two- year contract, reserving the right to open the wage question at the end of one year. Solution was un- satisfactory and. walkout resulted. George Frazier to Take Over (or Exiting Entratter And Granoff at N:Y. Gopa When George Frazier, the writ- er, takes over next week as pub- licist for the Copacabana, N.-Y., it is figured he wlU also assume some of the duties “of Jack Entrat- ter, who is exiting as partner with Jules Podell in the nitery. Entrat- ter has a tempting offer from the new Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, which, coupled with a chronic arth- ritic condition, has virtually de- cided him to favor the warmer year-round climate. Budd Granoff, head of George Evans Associates, is exiting. as Copa publicist after Joe E, Lewis reopens the fall season tomorrow (Thurs.). Granoff wants to concen- trate on non-nitery accounts. Since George Evans died Granoff has carried on the Copa account. Lewis is in for eight weeks, the first four with Gloria DeHaven, then Tony Bennett for the final four weeks. Billy Daniels will probably follow Lewis under ari old commitment. His stint last May was an emergency spotting when Martin Sc Lewis balked at the Copa date. By coincidence or otherwise, the Copa in recent seasons has suc- cessively lost Lena Home, Tony Martin arid Frank Sinatra to Bill Miller's Riviera, the across-the- Hudson roadhouse in New Jersey, which appeals to performei;^ be- cause of its two-shows nightly policy as against the three-a-night at the Copa. Frazier, a longtime friend of Podell’s, will probably assist on mending the talent pool, consider- ing that Jimmy Durante will not be available—at least according to the present schedule—this season; and likewise Martin Sc Lewis will probably hot make up their com- mitment until the winter of ’63-’54. Johnnie Ray is among those due for a return next spring at a fan- cier figure than his first time here. Rosemarie Booked For N. Y. Pierre, Las Yegas Songstress Rosemarie, currently held over five extra weeks at Giro’s, Hollywood, goes into the Cotillion Room of the Hotel Pierre, N. Y., Oct. 17 for four weeks. She precedes the Pierre date with two weeks at fhe .Flamingo, Las Vegas, starting Oct. 2, at $2,750 weekly. Hartforci, Sept. X The second anutial Cigar HarviiM Festival is leaning heavily on shov( biz personalities to perk up attend- ance at the slx^day event hefe^ Sept. 9-14, Several have been pen* cilled in for the annual promotion of the Connecticut River Valle:^ cigar industry that constitutes a $65,000,000 business In the suiy rounding area. Ultimate aim is to make tht event a rival toj the New O^^ani Mardl Gras. The festival this yea* is setting back its sponsors—the tobacco growers and allied elgai manufacturers—some $100,000, It Is expected to draw mote than !,*• 000,000 persons. Last year’s fet# drew more than 600,000 in three days, A minimum use of nairiei and acts prevailed then, with the main feature the picking of a gar Valley Queen.” lArge draw was due to the fact that it was a first-timer and people came out ol curiosity. This semester there is a great deal of resentment and lack of co^ operation by neighboring towns Tjhey wei;e so denuded of businesi during last year’s affair that they are unwilling tb cooperate. They point out also that event is of bene^ fit to a particular industry and hai no value to their townships ak though tobacco is grown there, Thus the greater booking of talent this trip, ' '* Marguerite Piazza, Jimmy Dor* sey, Mel Allen, Jane Pickens, Yul Brynner, Ed SulUvan, Ted Husing, Paul Lavalle, Elizabeth Threatt and Lee Bowman are among thi top names slated for next week’i affair. Parades, pageants, a beauty contest, a Rodgers Sc Hammerstein night, water follies, a 74-mlle mo- torboat race, New England preem of the film, ’The Big $ky/’ etc., will be among events pf the week. The RAH night is skedded'^for Thursday (11) with Ed BulUvan at commentator. Performance will be given for benefit of the Heart Fund. Featured will be Miss Pi- azza, John Raitt, Miss Pickens, and -Thomas ^ayward and Claramaa Turner of the Met Opera. Music will be supplied by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra with Salva- tore Delle-Isola of the “South Pa-^ cific” pit band as conductor. Mel Allen heads up a sports pro- gram. Ted Husing will he on hand to describe a special boxing exhi- bition. Willie Pep and Chico Vejai will put on an exhibition bout, Yul Brynner of “The King and I” will participate in pteem cere- monies. In addition to narrating the RAH presentation, Sullivan will J[ead a parade on opening day, Jimmy Dorsey will play the Coro- nation Ball, Jean E. Shepard, a tobacco grower, is head of the festival, Ray Linders heads the publicity and Kenyon Sc Eckhardt, Inc.* is in charge of national promotion and planning. Resort Goncessionaires Get Labor Day Setback Although the Labor Day week- end was a literal washout for east- ern concessionaires, the N. Y. State mountain resort operators and per- formers who worked that region had little cause for complaint. Most of the Labor . Day weekend crowds had already arrived when the hurricane started. Most of those who left ahead of time had paid up for the entire weekend. In the case of the few shows that had to be cancelled, performers were paid because contracts were play or pay. With the concessionaires, it was an entirely different story. The huge supplies stored In for the three-day weekend remained at the end of the holiday. Millions were lost by entrepreneurs at Coney Island, Asbury Park, the various Long Island resorts, Atlantic City and elewhere. Over the stretch, one of the N. Y. mountain resorts had their best seasons in several years. The prolonged sieges of hot weather forced city dwellers into the vaca- tion areas. The heatwaves over- came the losses that resulted early in the season when the Decoration Day weekend was washed out and when the June and early July i weekends were hit by bad weather.