Variety (October 1952)

Wednesday, OctoT>er 22,'1952 MBzneTr LITERATI 61 Literati Mile. Gets Hep Mademoiselle magazine, for No- vember, will run an eight-page en- tertainment section, instead of the normal two to four pages with en- tire section being a Variety takeoff, It will have items on legit, pix, bands, disks, radio-TV and even books And art, done in Variety style, heads and language. Out- side contributors include Harriet Van Horne, Aline Louchheim and Edwin Shallert. Section is edited by Leo Lerman. There's also a Variety link ia fashions, for nine other pages. ‘Fanny' Promotion Drive Ladies’ Home Journal is prep- ping a big promotion drive on “Fabulous Fanny,” bio of Fanny Brice by Norman Katkov, which it is serializing prior to the tome's publication by Knopf. First of the four-part serial hit the stands to- day (Wed.). Mag is sponsoring a cocktailery Oct. 28 for the late comedienne’s friends at Toots Shor’s New York restaurant. Miss Brice’s* children, Frances Stark and William Brice, turned over about 300 pages.of her un- published memoirs to Katkov for .this bio chore. Esquire Reshuffling Death of David A. Smart, prez and board chairman -of Esquire, Inc., at age 60 in Chicago.last week (16) has necessitated a reshuffling of the mag publishing company’s top echelon. A new prez and board chairman will be named tomorrow (Thurs.). Smart was the publisher of Esquire and Coronet mags. Jack Lalt Back In Hosp Jack Lait is back in University Hospital, N. Y., with the same circulatory leg ailment which bedded him four months ago. He was recently discharged but the N. Y. Daily Mirror editor is encor- ing for new treatments.— Chapman's New ‘Best Plays' George Jean Nathan didn’t think the 1951-52 season warranted his annual “Theatre Year Book” but John Chapman, continuing where Burns Mantle left off with his “Best Plays” series, again has an appealing record and document of the past season. In addition, as if to take up the slack where Nathan- Knopf left off, it is subcaptioned “The Yearbook of the Drama in Amcricd ^ The N. Y. Daily News' drama critic gives detailed space to “Mrs. McThing,” “I Am A Camera” (the N. Y. Drama Critics Circle choice), “The Shrike” (the Pulitzer prize- winner), “Barefoot in Athens,” “The Fourpbster,” “Jane,” “Venus Observed,” “Gigi” and “Remains To Be Seen,” besides the other vital statistics of the 1951-52 sea- son. These include the chronology of openings and closings; and other vital statistics; the Pulitzer and Critics Circle winnahs over the years; a review of the Broadway season by Chapman who also did the Off-Broadway and Dance re- prises; and informative key city reviews by the local critical out- standers: Elliot Norton (Post) on Boston; Arthur B. Waters (Gazette- Democrat) on the Philadelphia sea- son; Claudia Cassidy (Trib), Chi season; Fred Johnson (Call-Bul- letin), San Francisco; and Edwin Schallert (L. A. Times) on the sea- son in Southern California. There are several references to Variety for source material by several critics, and Chapman men- tions this paper’s Hobe Morrison (Hobe) for his statistical break- down on the. dollar equations. It holds a load of pertinent info ex- pertly put together, such as best plays over the years (and their publishers where in book form); agents for the current crop; births and birthplaces; necrology for the past year and the toll of other show biz personalities over the years. Withal, Chapman’s newest Best Plays” (Dodd, Mead; $4) is a library must and for general ref- erence. Abel. CHATTER Ray Brock, Middle East expert, visiting Greece then on to Italy. Siodmak’s new novel, Whomsoever I Shall Kiss ,” is on the book stands. Upcoming November Dance News * be tlle 1Q th anniversary issue of the magazine. Two Reels and a Crank,” tome by pic industry pioneer Albert E. omith, out next month via Double- day. ac tor-director Jack Lloyd author of story on Ferry Como in December issue of Movies maga- zine. The Holmes-Neatrour literary Agency *has added a play and tele- vision department headed by Ed Kaufman. Maitland A. Edey, assistant man- aging editor of Life magazine, elected a director of the N.Y. Phil- harmonic-Symphony. “New York—Winter Serenade,” article by Rober Angell .on Gotham as a winter resort, to be published by Holiday mag in its December issue. John B. Danby, formerly articles editor of Redbook mag, named ex- ecutive editor of the publication succeeding William B. Martley, who resigned last June. Gian-Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl, and the Night Visitors,” opera beamed by NBC-TV, published by Whittlesey House in book form with illustrations by Roger Du- voisin. , Harold R. Foster, creator of the “Prince Valiant” comic strip, will be honored at the Banshees lunch Nov. 6 at the Waldorf-Astoria, N. Y. Milton Berle headlines the entertainment. Chicago Tribune has dropped its gossip column, leaving it the only Chi daily without a chatter pillar. Bill Leonard, who has been doing the column for almost two years, will do feature stories. Book by Ward Morehouse, col- umnist-critic of the N.Y. World Telegram-Sun, a log on personal experience going back to his Geor- gia boyhood, to be published by McGraw-Hill in spring of 1953. Kenneth Bird and Russell Brock- bank, ed-in-chief and art editor, re- spectively of Punch, British humor mag, due in New York next month for exhibit of original drawings from the mag which will be on dis- play at Time-Life Bldg., Nov. 11- Dec. 6. William Constable, Sydney artist associated with J. C. Williamson Theatres, Ltd., who designed cos- tumes and scenery for most of the ballets presented by the Borovan- sky Ballet Co., has produced a new volume of sketches and comments called “Flying Artist.” French Cultural Services, who edit a France in New York month- ly, are devoting the November-De- cember issue to a special edition on the Madeleine Renaud & Jean- Louis Barrault legit troupe, which Sol Hurok is presenting at the Ziegfeld, N. Y., Nov. 12. The New Yorker magazine is cur- rently running a two-part profile on drama critic-lecturer John Mason Brown. Scribe Herbert Warren Wind refers to him as, “in the opinion of audiences from cogst-to-coast, the greatest lec- turer of the present day.” Tallulah Bankhead to address the first Book & Author Luncheon of the season at the Hotel Astor, N. Y., Tuesday (28). She’ll be in the role of author (her autobiog ap- peared last month). Also on pro- gram will be Judge Harold R. Me- dina and novelist Mary Borden. Bill Ornstein, Metro trade rep whose book, “Ma and Me,” is about to go into a second printing, has four short stories coming up for publication in as many periodi- cals, starting next month. Yarns will be published in Kansas Maga- zine, Prairie Schooner, New Story and American Jewish Times Out- look. Exhibs Eye Continued from page 1 fraction of that. And industrial sales meets represent only one facet bf the possibilities open to such uses of theatre TV. Halpern revealed that TNT lost out by a shade in pacting with Volunteers for Stevenson to use a circuit of big-screen theatres for fund-raising campaigns. With the number of equipped theatres ex- pected to be far more numerous in 1956, he said, it’s inevitable that Presidential candidates will turn to them to help raise funds. Deal to televise the United Nations Ball Oct. 24 to a string of intercon- nected theatres fell through be- cause of lack of facilities, and TNT also almost had a deal with the D’Arcy ad agency for Coca-Cola to hold its national sales meet in theatres. ^ Surgical Demonstrations Big-screen TV’ing should be especially valuable to organizations like the American Medical Assri., since TV will permit a number of doctors to watch demonstrations of new surgical techniques, unique operations,, etc., without. being forced to close down their own practices while they travel to At- lantic £ity for the -usual AMA meet. Such outfits as Smith, Kline & French, pharmaceutical lab M M »♦♦ ♦ • » » » » ♦ f* M » » » M - M> ( 4 + » SCULLY’S SCRAPBOOK ! « » * " By Frank Scully , ,I Mi Hollywood. Having looked in vain through several thousand words of Uncle Joe’s brochure on the laws governing capitalism, Socialism and. Com- munism fbr some reference as to how sweet charity louses up the ad- mittedly selfish motivations of capitalism now and then, I thought of John Haskell and wondered what he was'doing'to keep Uncle* Joe confused on this issue. I found he was doing alright. The Variety Clubs of America, it seems, are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and plan a big show in Pittsburgh Nov. 23. Has- kell has lined up a charity show in Dublin for next May '30. So he is tak- ing the troupe from Hollywood, stopping off in Pittsburgh to give his Variotous pals a sneakview. In Dublin Louis Ellermap, et al, hope the Haskell touch will do as much- for Irish kids as it did for London kids a year ago. That benefit raised 18,000 quid, which is about J50G. According to the Duke of Edin- burgh, who is prez of the National Playing Fields Assn., this sum exceed- ed the committee’s wildest dreams and broke all records for charity per- formances, including command performances in pix and vaude. Considering that the benefit was played in the middle of December and was under advance wraps because it was feared such publicity might take off some of the sheen of the. Command Performance, which was due* in ahead of the playground pitch, such a response was the triumph of hope over experience. In London They Pan Benefits? The show as a show took some terrific pannings both at home and abroad. Frank Sinatra was in rather low favor at the time and his name, unfortunately, led a troupe, which I suspect got panned-by-asso- ciation. Among them were Ava Gardner, who said nothing and did nothing, so frightened was she by the whole thing; Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Dorothy Kirsten, Orson Welles, Rhonda Fleming and Jimmy McHugh. The London end of the bill was carried chiefly by Noel Coward and Tommy Trinder. Trinder also staged the event. Haskell showed me photographs of what had happened to the $52,000 take in the intervening 10 months. A bombed-out slum area had been cleared and is now a beautiful playground of 30 acres and three cricket fields. It even has a baseball field and stands, so the Yanks will never be allowed to forget their beau geste. Variety tents have been or are being formed in other continental capitals, and these will follow similar lines of activity. If the Dub- lin shpw is well received (at the boxoffice, to heck with the critics), it will be repeated in Hamburg, Paris, most certainly Madrid, and pos- sibly Rome. Haskell went to Madrid this summer. He didn’t know a soul there. He got in touch with a publisher and explained who he was, what he had done in London and what he would like to do for the children of Madrid. Five’s a Crowd in Madrid In a short time he was called back. A senor named E. Sanchez Cobos was in the lobby and wanted to talk to him. Haskell said he would be right down, but checked with the Embassy first and was as- sured the senor was allright. He interviewed Haskell, who seemed to him more like a Wall St. magnate in appearance than a humanitarian (See what I mean about lousing them up?). After the interview he warned Haskell about a Spanish law which made it a prison offense if more than five persons gathered together for any purpose, and as- sured the humanitarian that after the Cobos interview appeared in Madrid, the innocent abroad would be swamped with visitors. It worked out exactly as Cobos predicted. Haskelll’s hardest job was keeping out of that population squeeze. It seemed every time he turned around in his room there were at least 15 persons present. Franco must have been busy elsewhere, because Haskell got his Va- riety tent set up and his arrangements in order for the playground benefit, and then hopped back to Hollywood to round up a troupe. As the primary objective was Dublin, he began contacting people like Maureen O’Sullivan, Ann Blyth, Stephen McNally, Dennis Day, Barry Fitzgerald, Owen McGiveney, Jack Mulhall, Irene Dunne and Virginia Mayo, though my own belief is that he’d do better by try- ing to rescue acts from the Masquers, whose cavalcade of show biz, put on as a benefit for the Motion Picture Relief Fund a few weeks ago, not only scooped up $50,000 but put on a show that not even Pegler could have panned. In fact, the Masquers show, cut from four to two hours, and re- taining all the features of the original format, was worthy of a world tour and would do more good to relax the tensions of the era of ill- feeling than anything that has come out of Hollywood since Chiarlot made “Shoulder Arms!” Of course, it would be pretty hard to get singles like George Bums,. Frank Fay, Eddie Cantor and Jack Benny, but there are lots of performers buried in the files of Central Casting whose real talents haven’t been used since they were typed as char- acter actors. That names are not all-important was proved at that Masquers presentation of an old time minstrel show, which closed the first half of the program. People didn’t know that the great singing and danc- ing were being done by Dan Dailey, Dick Haymes, Jack Carson and Phil Harris. Well, maybe they knew Harris, but Dailey was cer- tainly applauded first as a performer and afterward as a name. Europe has fond memories of bur old minstrel shows. They were about our most original contribution to show biz, and they still carry as much of a kick as the can-can. Burlesque, too, was something we added, and Jane Wyman’s performance as a soubret, backed by a chorus, of the ugliest, female impersonators in history, would panic even: a conference ,at Panmunjorig* .. I urge Senor Haskell. tp. look jppito this before flooding Europe ex- clusively with a troupe of singing and dancing Sinn Feiners. which sponsored such demonstra- tions on CBS-TV recently, could tie m easily with the AMA meets to add further coin to the exhibs’ Coffers. Halpern also pointed to the po- tential use of the medium by man- ufacturers of certain intimate articles for women which are not permissible on regular broadcast TV. Such a manufacturer, he said, could rent a string of theatres to sell an educational program on its product to young girls. Or, Hal- pern said, there could be Emily Post lectures, how-to-dress demon- strations, etc. And, he add?d, there’s a definite use for theatre- TV in fighting juve delinquency, via . sales pitches on safe driving, etc., which could be made by popu- lar athletes. Best feature of big-screen video for sales meets, Halpern said, is the dramatic way in which the sales pitch can be made. Lees, he said, will literally roll out its .carpets for the assembled salesmen, retail- ers, stockholders and others, and then, via montage effect, will de- pict the use of Lees products on the new United States steamship, United Airlines, in the new Lever House, etc. Lees will air the show in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Cleveland, Denver, St. Paul, New York, Philadelphia, Pitts- burgh, Washington, Detroit, Salt Lake o City, ■ San Francisco and Los Angeles. Halpern has set up a new divi- sion of TNT, Theatre Tele-Sessions, to handle the new biz. Victor M. Ratner, former veepee for CBS and Macy’s department store, N. Y., is in charge. Ceiling Pay Continued from page 4 ; — compensation converted into week- ly amounts. If the sum is less than $1;000, no cut is made but the slice is 25% in the $l,000-$2,000 bracket, 35% in the $2,000-$3,000 category and 50% on everything in excess of $3,000 weekly. Assuming that Schenck’s 1951 salary of $130,357 and his addition- al compensation of $94,411 (based upon Loew’s profits) continue at the same rate in the 1952-’53 fiscal year, he would be cut to a total of $159,172 upon application of the percentage table. But since this figure is in excess of the $146,799 ceiling, the * company chief would collect the latter. Likewise, Rubin would find him- self with a new salary of $137,176 compared to his 1951 total coin of $180,898. Mannix, who drew $202,- 607 in 1951, would be sliced to $148,096. Here, too, the $146,799 ceiling would apply. Evidently los- ing the least under, the percentage table is veepee William F. Rodgers. Collecting $L,100 weekly -as a con- sultant under a July, 1952, deal, he’s been docked “only $25 per week. American Legion - 7 —- Continued from page 1 ■ Chaplin’s right to re-enter the country. He’s now in England. UA is currently testing exhib reaction to various policies for “Limelight.” Pic opens in New York tomorrow (Thurs.) with a dual premiere at the Astor Theatre on Broadway and the Trans-Lux 60th St. artie. Astor will play on a- grind policy at regular prices, while the Trans’-Lux goes two-a-day at $1.80 and $2.40. Key-city poll on two-a-day, added to the New York experience, will help UA establish the final pattern for showing the Chaplin film. Pic is skedded to open at the Odeon, Toronto, and the United Artists Theatre, San Francisco, Nov. 14. Odeon run will be at advanced prices, but the UA Theatre plays the film at regular admissions. Hollywood Foreign Correspond- ents will honor Charles Chaplin, in absentia, at a luncheon at Ciro’s, Hollywood, Oct. 30, Award will be given for the pro- ducer’s newest, “Limelight.” Big Chaplin Ovation, Pic Sock in London London, Oct. 21. After the terrific buildup for the world preem of “Limelight” at the Odeon, Leicester Square, last Thursday (16) the event itself might easily have come as an anti- climax. That it didn't was indica- tive of the tremendous upsurge of pro-Chaplin popularity since .the star returned to his native London a month ago. The* gala drew a bigger turnout of fans than is nor- mally seen for a Royal Command show, and the crowds held their positions outside the theatre for several hours. Chaplin’s personal ovation as he entered the theatre after his pres- entation to Princess Margaret was far greater than that accorded the royal personage. It was a spon- taneous tribute almost without parallel. Entire proceeds of the royal preem were handed ovgr to the Royal Society for the Blind. In- flated admissions for the occasion (with a top of $45) raised a net of over $25,000. The following day, “Limelight” began its normal run at the Odeon, where it is expected to play into the New Year. It grossed $8,500 in the first three days. Pic is leading for a record- breaking $19,500 in first Week. During the past week the Chap- lin probe by the U. S. Attorney General was the subject of ques- tions to Anthony .Eden, the British Foreign Secretary, in the House of Commons and he was asked to make representations to Washing- ton to allow Chaplin’s re-entrance to the U. S. The Minister resisted the suggestion of official action, explaining that nothing could be said until the U. S. Attorney Gen- eral’s decision had been made known. Although qualifying their re- views, the London critics gave ex- ceptional space to “Limelight,” and with one exception the notices all appeared after the press screen- ing and were not delayed, as is normal custom, . for ' the usual weekly colutnn. The majority ver- dict appeared to be that the film was overlong and that Chaplin had overdone the pathos. With these reservations, however, they were almost unanimous in hailing a pic- ture of magnitude and went over- board in their comments on the final pantomime sequence. Claire Bloom nabbed unanimous raves for her sensitive performance as the ballerina.