Variety (September 1952)

uiamniAn S, 19S1 Si (tub Barns Active CoMUatt«4 firotti paf* 4( comedy by Albert t)ick*soJi, rhich Anthony B. Farrell is con- ylderlnt for Broadway production g i th.e faill- Josephine HuU and oro Merande head the cast, Mae West |11,200, Ivorytow Ivoryton, Conn., Sept, 2. '' Milton Stiefel closed a moder- ately profitable season last week with Mae West ringing the b.o. cash register steadUy in ^‘Come On XJp—^Ring Twice.” Star pulled ih6 1952 record at $11,200 on a $3.60 top. It' was Stiefel’s 23rd season at this inland town and it represented some kind of record in strawhat annals, with one impresario oper- ating a summer playhouse at one location for almost a quarter of a century. OKrif.’ 16G, Danbury Danbury, Conn., Sept. 2, **Brigadoon” last week gave Melody Fair its best week to date, gross approaching $16,000. Boris Kogan was conductor, with John Shafer, Jim Alexander, Beverly Purvin and PoUy MacCullocn in principal roles. “Carousel” is current, with Hal liCRoy closing season for producer James Westerfield next week In “V^ere’s Charley?” 'Biography’ 7G, Olney Olney, Md., Sept. 2. Luise Rainer in “Biography” chalked up a pleasant $7,000 at Ol- ney Theatre despite mixed critical reaction. B.o. score left comfortr- able margin of profit for Olney management. “An Evening With Bea lillie” opens a week's run tonight (Tues.l, with house completely sold out for the ^ght performances despite a hike, in scale from $3.60 to $4350. Standees are expected to boost take to an all-time high for the straw- hat. 'New Moon’ $19,100, Toronto Toronto, Sept. 2. Hit by the Canadian National Ex- hibition grandstand show with Tony Martin headlining, plus Billy Daniels at the Casino, Melody Fair’s production of “New Moon,” with ^n Ayars and Clifford Har- vuot, grossed a neat $19,100. The BriU-Kamsler 1,640-seater tent set- up was scaled at $3.40 top. Current for a fortnight (Sept. 1- 13), “Annie Get Your Gun,” -with Marilyn Day and Earl Covert, has $33,000 ad'vance in the till. Vincent Price, Marsha Hunt and Beulah Bondi. Play moves to United Nations (Alcazar) Theatre In San Francisco for three weeks, starting Saturday ( 6 ). Mad Anthony May Resume - Toledo, Sept. 2. After ending a 10-week season of shows in the indoor theatre at Walbrldge Park Zoo, the Mad An- thony Players are considering a similar season next summer. Final decision will be made after a meet- ing with the board of trustees of the zoo, said Robert W. Feindt, pro- ducer of the group. Final week’s offering was “FOr Love or Money,” Aug. 26-30. Though the season was not a fi- nancial success, Feindt pointed out that attendance had increased steadily from week to week. The Players were a resident Equity company. Legion Report Continued from page 1 Souihbury Ends In Black Southbury, Conn., Sept. 2. Jack Quinn folded his South- bury Playhouse 10-week sea^^on Sunday (31) in the black, but a slight percentage below a year ago. A re-scaling of his 358-seater to in- clude more $2.40 toppers than last year heli)ed to maintain the over- all gross. Weak sisters were “Here Today” and “Silver Whistle” (both conven- tion weeks). Season’s best figure was drawn by “Slightly Married,” with “Love or Money” in the num- ber two spot. Jersey-Penn Bams Busy Easton, Pa., Sept. 2. The Grist Mill Playhouse, at Andover, N. J., is closing the sea- son this week wdth a new play, “A Night at Mme. Tussaud’s,” starring Peter Lorre and Miriam Hopkins. Other strawhats in this area will keep going for several'weeks more. “Where’s Charley?” opened a two- week stand at the Lambertville, N. J., Music Circus, Kay Francis Is at the Bucks Playhouse, New Hope, Pa., in “Theatre,” and the Poeono Playhouse, Mountainhome, Pa., has Kim Hunter in “They Knew What They Wanted.” Skancaieles ’53 Plans Syracuse, Sept. 2. Closing its initial season this week with “Show Boat,” the Lyric Theatre at Skaneateles ^ slated to return* next year with ’a 12-week bill of hit musicals. Announcement o4 1953 plans was made by producers Walter and Virginia Franke Davis, former strawhat impresarios who were successful in their first try at the- atre-in-thc-round under canvas. Listed for 1953 are “Carousel,” "‘The Great Waltt.” “Rio Rita,” “Brigadoon,” “Allegro,” “Rose Marie," “Wizard of Oz,” “Sally,” “Student Prince,” “Blossom Time,” 'Countess Maritza” and “The Choc- olate Soldier.” La Jolla Bowout La Jolla, Cal., Sept. 2. La Joila Playhouse closed its hlnc-play summer season Sunday (31) with Christopher Fry’s “The Lady’s Not lor Burning/’ starring the Red charges against Hollywood last December and who has been active in meetings on the subject with industry toppers since then, gave as his own view that great progress had been made in clearing the studios of Communists. “Hollywood has been moving in the right direction, there’s no question about that,” he declared. O’Neil said that the convention issue of the American Legion Magazine, which goes to press Sept 17, will have no mention of the film Communism issue beyond what transpired at the conclave itself. That was merely the introduction of the five resolutions and their reference to the Americanism Commission without any discussion or debate. The Legion editor added, how- ever, that he hoped early next year to get a story together on the Hol- lywood situation. Whether he does will depend on the report of the Commission. If a story does find its way into the mag, it Is assumed it will reflect the more favorable attitude of O’Neil toward the in- dustry. Legion exec refused comment on the letters of explanation which have been requested by the stu- dios If rom alleged leftists or sym- pathizers On lists provided by the Legion last spring. In cases where permission was given by the writ- ers, the letters were forwarded by the studios to the Legion for study and investigation. O’Neil referred questions on the subject to George Sokolsky, Hearst columnist, •vvho he said knew more about it, Sokolsky has been screen- ing the letters in a three-way ar- rangement among himself and a group of Holl 3 rwood anti-Commu- nists, the Legion and the industry. Broker-Angels Continued from page 1 almost invariably believe that brokers try to sell only the hit shows, he explained. Brokers, on the contrary, claim .that profitable agency operation depends on sell- ing the intermediate draws, for which the tickets are also more plentiful. It’s pointed out, also, that under the present setup In- dividual brokers can and frequent- ly do invest'in shows. If, as a con- sequence, they try that much hard- er to sell the show’s tickets, so much the better. The obvious an- swer is to increase the number of productions in which investments are made, the manager argues. Sponsors Eye Continued from page 1 tlon costs. While web exeps hope to give the public just as thorough coverage In ’56, they want to do so at less cost to the network, and so will study this year’s record carefully before even starting to plan for the next national conven- tions. It’s anticipated that none of the webs will devote as much time to the conventions next time. They figure that all the solid political gabfesting represented just so much wasted air time. If it’s at all possible to get a line on the sched- ule of events in advance, conse- quently, they’ll slick to only the actual business sessions in '56, cut- ting into their regularly-scheduled shows only for some flash news oc- curence. With Stars as Guesters 'Westtn WM,’ Westport Tryont, in British Bow London, Aug, 26, Charlotte TPrances’ play, “West- ern Wind,” which was done by the Theatre Guild at Westport, Conn., in ’49, and for which the Guild still holds the American rights, will be done in the provinces, open- ing at the Opera House, Northamp- ton, Sept. 8. Authoress is playing the lead herself, as well as directing the play. London Leyit Bits L<fcdon, Aug. 26. Agent Rita Cave has submitted Marcel Franck’s French play, “Le Congres de Clermont,” to Bebe Daniel and Ben Lyon. They are reading as suitable vehicle for themselves and family. Constance Cox’s new plAy, based on Oscar Wilde’s “Lord Arthur Sa- ville’s Crime,” will be tried out op TV Sept. 30 prior to its London production at the Royal Court The- atre Oct, 7. Play will be directed for TV by Andrew Osborne instead of Jack lliilberi. Chicago, Sept, 2. Loyola U. here is starting tht first of a projected annual Catho- lic Theatre Festival series this fall, with name guest stars, in a five^* Week schedule. John Bettenben- der, head of the Loyola drama de- partment, 1$ producing the venturo and will direct three of the plays, Eugene O’Sullivan, Salt Creek silo director, will handle the other two. First of the quintet’s stars will be Dennis King and Margaret Phillips in “Arms and the Man,” Sept. 23. Ruth Hussey is set for “Royal Family” Sept, 30. Anthony Quinn in “Blood Wedding” or Roddy McDowell In “Ring Around the Moon” will be the thirh offer- ing, Ian Keith will be the lead in “Macbeth,” and if* film shootirik schedules permit, Robert Ryan will appear in a modern comedy, pos- sibly “Venus Observed.” Outside of featured supporting actors, rest of the casts will be drawn froirr-the School, Semlnart for drama students and teachers will be held each Sunday, with the stars holding forth on various play problems. Loyola has presented several of Christopher Fry’s plays for the first time In this country and has previewed a musical each spring, written by professionals In the entertainment field. perennial arguments that they con- tribute nothing to the theatre. Although Schonceit’s proposal Is conceived primarily as a method of helping the theatre, he thinks it probably wouldn’t involve much financial loss for the participating investors, and it might even bring a modest profit. He suggests that as investments were repaid and dividends issued by hit shows, the returns should be left in the pool as a revolving fund for future financing. If the profits should swell the fund to more than ihe original amount, the extra coin I might be distributed to the par- ticipants. But the basic purpose of the plan is not to make money, but to spur production and thus increase the supply of shows whose tickets the brokers would handle. Informed of the proposal, one producer suggested that while •various wrinkles might have to be worked out, he favors any plan that would bring new money into the theati’e. Another manager re- marked that the setup might lead to brokei's pushing the sale of tickets for shows in which they had a financial stake, to the detri- ment of other productions. “Even if that didn’t happen, producers of flop shows would inevitably think it did and would howl their heads off,” he remarked. The showman in question was inclined to minimize that phase of the matter, however. Producer* • •. T/ib above honors were awarded Miss Kenyon as leading lady in the following musical productions: “THE FIREFLY” “MLLE. MODISTE” Cap* Cod Music Circus “THE GREAT WALTZ” LouhviHe Pork Theafricol Assn. -Monofsiemenf Associofes- JACK VAUGHAN and PEGGIE GATES 7 Eflsf 55kh $tr#«t N*w York