Variety (February 1953)

FILMS RADIO VIDEO MUSIC STAGE VOL. 189 NO. 9 Published Weekly at 154 West 46th Street, New York 36, N. Y„ by Variety, Inc., Annual subscription $10. Single copies, 23 cents. Entered as second class matter December 22, 1805, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y„ under the act of March 3, 1879. COPYRIGHT, f953. BY VARIETY. INC., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1953 PRICE 25 CENTS ADULT' YARNS HIT FILM RfflDIRT » » t ANSWER BEEPS ON No Letup in 3-D s Sock Impact; IMMATURE’ PII Cinemascope'Lifts 20th-Fox Stock Disk Biz Looks to $250,006,000 For 1953; Sheet Sales Also Soar All facets of the music biz are+- marking up last month as the best m i n ? n . January for sales since the end of |)r. 1. Q. QUltS MlltlStrV the war. Trade execs estimate that ^ ^ - if business keeps rolling at the Dallas,. Fe 5* 3 ‘ same pace for the rest of the year, J ames W. McClain, former the disk industry will top $250,- P r * Q-” on NBC radio, has re- 000,000 as the gross figure for 1953. S1 f»ned from the ministerial staff Solid structure of current disk °J Matthew’s Episcopal Cathe- sales is seen in the fact that about dral here to devote ful1 time to a 15 sidls arVgoine stroMly Last boys ’ ranch P r °S ect which will leSr four or I?e lones wire click- occu P y 600 acres in south Texas - ingduring the fi?st roupie of Nonsectarian, the Three-Cross months This year’s wider* SOTead Eanch and Sch ° o1 wiu P rovide a means 'tlS more customer are and self-supporting jobs for coming into the stores to buy more i5 „.x D< L yS r _ , than one disk at a time. . pdch f °r’ the new project, made ah c .m • i u i by Rev. McClain m December All of $he major labels, more- when he was featured on “This Is over, are sharing in biz upbeat Yo ur Life” by Ralph Edwards, via Which is in marked contrast to last NBr _ TV drew* almost $17 000 in year when only two or three disk- enes dominated the hit lists. Of n „ ar f PrQ the current top 10 bestselling art- q J ists, Columbia has two with Jo ^ # Staffoid and Doris Day} Coral has v «■■■ I mA/ hMA two with Teresa Brewer and Law- LjCrlOUS I IIHSDS rence Welk; Mercury has two with www m iiwpir the Gaylords and Patti Page; Vic- w ~ « tor has one with Perry Como, Dec- T 'AT f 1 n , 0 J <Tt ca has one with the Mills Bros.; 1111II I V ItOITlPnV M-G-M has one with , 4 Joni James J. f WIIIvlIJ j and the indie label, Essex Records, ' has one with Don Howard. D* f 1 * _ _ I 1IMA Sheet sales are also way up this |f|0 1.0111 IjIITP year as compared with the same Will tlu «UI */ period last year. Although not as „ .... healthy as the disk, business, hit The tal1 money obtained on W Wt & A V a, w ^ V M* V . ists, Columbia has two with Jo « # Staffoid and Doris Day; Coral has I maaha two with Teresa Brewer and Law- LjCrlOUS I I1HSDS rence Welk; Mercury has two with www a aivu|w the Gaylords and Patti Page; Vic- w ~ « tor has one with Perry Como, Dec- T 'AT f 1 n , 0 J <Tt ca has one with the Mills Bros.; Hlift I V IfOITIPnV M-G-M has one with , 4 Joni James J. f WIIIvlIJ j and the indie label, Essex Records, ' has one with Don Howard. D* f 1 * _ _ I 1IMA Sheet sales are also way up this |)|() 1.0111 IjIITP year as compared with the same Will tlu */ period last year. Although not as „ .... healthy as the disk, business, hit The tal1 money obtained on songs are now beginning to hit the vaudeo programs has resulted in 500,000 sales marker, a figure that many dramatic players paying (Continued on page 46) O’Connor, Cantor Nix Filmed Shows Hollywood, Feb. 3. closer attention to that medium. The quest for coin is changing many a serious thesp into a come- dian. The talent agencies have been encouraging that trend not only because of the higher coin, tut as a means of building up repu- tations in other fields. The per- centeries feel that it’s no longer feasible for a headliner to be a one-track performer. Tele has pro- vided the major chance for many Overtures to Eddie Cantor and to indicate some degree of versa- D'onald O’Connor for half-hour tility. comedy shows on film next season The coin quest, although primar- have been definitely rejected by (Continued on page 22) the two comedians, who will con- tinue with “Comedy Hour ” Cantor A^L I AA A„l r :„-. wjII do 10 hour shows for Colgate UrCll L63fl6r$ ASKIIICJ next season and O’Connor five or n /i . I .• six " r f . e ror Cuts on Lucrative Both Cantor and Sam Jaffe, n n • figent for O’Connor, said the new Rallrfinni | nnPPQQlAIIQ format was discussed but discarded DdlirUUIII vUUlXoMUlla after exploring the advantages. The band biz is far better than Cantor’s only demand on Colgate is it looks from the ballrooms’ gross that he be allowed to have filmed figures and orch leaders now want in advance some of the production a cut of the unseen, but substan- humbers or scenes that require tial revenues. Latter comes from Quick changes. He will concentrate the candy, soft drinks, liquor and wholly on television. setups concessions which have be- O Connor’s picture commitments come a major by-product of the would militate against a regular ballroom operation in the south senes of half-hour filmed .come- and midwest. , flies, each of which would require Orch leaders are currentlyvork- (Continued on page 63) (Continued on page 61) Hollywood more and more is pro- viding the answer to filmdom’s detractors who over the years have rapped the “juvenile jnentality”* of pix emerging from the studios. Producers are definitely trendihg toward “mature” themes and frank, realistic circumstances. New outburst of forceful pic fare, incidentally, is familiar. There’s a trend toward them every few years, which continues until the bluenoses decide to crack down. Execs of major studios reveal they’re well underway with in- creased use of “grown-up mate- rial,” and point to current produc- tion skeds to prove the point. Ellis Arnall, president pf. the Society of Independent Motion Picture Pro- ducers, added ‘ in N. Y. this week that the indies generally are in the vanguard of film-makers “develop- ing films designed to appeal to the adult mind.” Speaking for the industry gen- erally, Arnall said in no case are the producers flirting with more censorship problems. “While they’re dealing with realism, the producers are stressing good taste and avoid- ing anything which would embar- rass or displease film theatres’ all-age-group audiences,” he stated. “And obviously there’s no desire to stir a row with any church group.” . Regardless of the manner in which it’s being done, it’s clear that a good part of Hollywood is now tackling subject matter which heretofore has been largely tabu. Film-makers relate the public wants more advanced screen fare, and they’re grooving their turnout accordingly. Romance of a priest (Mont- gomery Clift), for example, is a radical departure from the conven- (Continued on page 20) NIXON SEES CAMPAIGNS SHORTENED BY TV Washington, Feb. 3. Television will eventually short- en the time of national political campaigns to only three or four weeks, Vice-president Richard M. Nixon predicted last week in an interview on WTOP-TV. (Shorter campaigns were urged in a speech two weeks ago by CBS Board Chairman William S. Paley.) “We may find developing in the near future,” he said, “a period in which campaigns may be short- ened. In three or four weeks the public can get to know a candidate through radio, television and news- papers. No one will as yet cut his campaign short. But, sometime, someone will.” Convicts Sensitive Minneapolis, Feb. 3. “Gangbusters” radio show has been tabooed at the Minnesota State Prison, and has the distinc- tion now of being the only ether program which inmates aren’t per- mitted to hear, equipped with ra- dio earpieces, in their cells. Warden Leo Utecht informed the state legislature during an ap- pearance before that body that the reason there’s no longer, any tuning in on “Gangbusters” is be- cause prisoners would cheer when a policeman was shot. “Inmates got disgusted, too, when the crooks always were shot or captured,” explained Utecht. “They really didn't like the show and were glad when we eliminated it.” Red Pluzzes Showing With faces’ Fracas Current theatre, shortage on Broadway resulted last week in a hassle between Leonard Sillman, producer of “New Faces,” at the Royale, N. Y., and the Shuberts and Sullivan ticket agency. Situa- tion involved what the producer claimed was an attempt to curtail agency sales for the revue so as to hold down -the gross below the stop clause and force it out of the the- atre. Sillman, apparently tipped off, hired a private detective agency, whose operatives phoned Sullivan branches in various New York (Continued on page 61) Coast Pubs Flip Over Nip Tune Penned by GI; Disney Music Nabs It Hollywood, Feb. 3. Music publishers and platteries in this town are in a fevered has- sle over “Gomen Nasai,” a song with English lyrics and a Japanese title, meaning “Forgive Me.” Two weeks ago a sailor of the U.S.S. Bon Homme Richard sent the platter to Ralph Story, KNX disk jockey, explaining that he bought it in a Tokyo music store. (Continued on page 47) " By ABEL GREEN | * Hollywood, Feb. 3. The fourth dimension fojr 3-D is the boxoffice. Third-dimension is nothing new; it’s merely been manifest in re- cent weeks as a new b.o. value. The simple conclusion is that if that’s what the public wants and will pay for, that's what Hollywood will give ’em. If “Bwana Devil” can continue its mopup business; if Sol Lesser’s Stereo Techniques shorts can do what they are doing; if Cinerama continues as a top ticket on Broadway -— quite patently, the filmgoing public wants that new value. Metro did it years ago with a Pete Smith short; showmen like Darryl Zanuck and Frank Ross re- call a third-dimension (with tinted lenses) sequence in a mid-1920s Ziegfeld Follies—these further at- test to the fact that 3-D is nothing new. f But' the b.o. has created a new impact on 1953 thinking. The awkwardness of Arch Oboler’s pioneering “Bwana Devil' has al- ready resolved into certain refine- ments, as seen last week on the WB lot, where WB was utilizing the same Natural-Vision (Milton Gunzburg) technique employed by Oboler. Bryan Foy is producing “House of Wax” (nee “Wax Works”) in N-V, with Jack War- (Continued on page 7) British Equity Now Warmer to Aliens London, Feb. 3. While negotiations between Brit- ish and American Equity are de- ferred for the time being, there is every evidence that the . British thespers’ union is displaying a more cooperative attitude in okay- jng work permits for alien artists. Since the countrywide controversy that followed the embargo on Jose Ferrer working at the Old Vic, managements are agreed that a more reasonable attitude is being followed. For recent and upcoming pro- ductions requiring the use of American performers, managers have met with a ready, helpful re- sonse from Equity. One producer whose production called for a substantial number of U. S. artists, told Variety last week that all applications were dealt with ex- (Continued on page 23) % Tune in Sunday Night — LINC.OLN-MERCURY TIME on CBS-TV — When ED SULLIVAN’S “TOAST OF THE TOWN” presents “The Walt Disney Story”