Variety (April 1953)

1 Entered as W M^*dan wStc^&cwSber Port'om^it' nJw Y^£ U *N “v^under *£i COPYRIGHT. 1953, BY VARIETY. INC.. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED net \\ Copies, 3$ cents. March 3, 187t. NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1,1953 PRICE* 25 CENTS / Secret Probe of N.Y. Legit Tix < Death last week of Harold L. Groves, a private investigator who was conducting a secret ticket probe for the League of N. Y, The- atres, has presented .a dilemma for the managerial organization. No decision has been reached on what to do with the evidence complied, reportedly implicating 25 brokers and numerous boxoffice inen' on charges of ticket code violations. : Groves, who had been a film the- atre checker for some years, was engaged by attorney Arthur Gar- field Hays, representing the code authority of the League, to investi- gate reports of widespread ticket abuses on the part of^ Broadway brokers and b.o. men; in an effort to keep the probe secret, the League board of governors was not informed of the scheme, f Word of the investigation grad- ually began to get around among brokers and theatre treasurers, however, and there was consider- able resentment expressed at-“en- trapment” methods used. Members tff the League board who heard of the ‘situation apparently took vary- ing views of the situation, in some cases being critical, on the ground that* as usual only the small fry were* being caught on infractions <nd that no evidence was being obtained, involving higher-ups. Decision on whether to drop the whole probe, at least for. the pres- ent of whether to proceed oh the basis' of progress so far, or even to hire a new top investigator and start anew, is up to the code au- thority,' in whieh the League and Actors Equity are represented; ' Dusk-to-Dawn Ozoners '/t +■ $ * — ~ y 9 9 m Ml ;K;0.d by San Antone Clergy San Antonio, March 31. Following a blast by local clergy- men, moviethons” at a number of ozoners here, in which film show- co . ntlnue into-the early hdurs t Sunday morning, have been dis- ontmue.d. Churchmen cgfnplained- ^°. ung . peopie attending the phows stayed put so late they could Sunday school or other , ?• a Y morning church services. tL« 0rd l*° one roadster, some inor9 u ^9°r theatres were show- mfdn^r feature twice after inte^iff 1 ^* and teena K®f»' are* hot ti p i,, ? seein K th * same pi c - eeeiJ? i. us f for' the sake of peeing a movie.” - 12 in V ^f riv -' ln i °, ut of * total of on a I* i a , rea been operating the /* us k-to-dawn policy. Ops of • fdlloifriii'g-the all- continued on page 95) Same Prices Since ’17! Chicago, March 31. Despite lifting of controls . and rising prices, there is one indie house that refuses to take advantage of the situa- tion. New Strand Theatre, owned by Clarence Leider and John Nainick, which has just been redecorated, has had the same admission price since 1917; 20c * for adults and 9c for children. 500G TV Package With Name Talent In 17-City Swing A widescale show biz operation, designed to sell live name-star TV programs to loeal and regional ad- vertisers in 17 cities', is being teed off this week by four N: Y. radio- TV ad agency execs. Development, which looms as something approximating a TV-era Keith-Albee circuit, is backed by an estimated $500,000 and a closed corporation, TV Roadshows, Inc. Novel concept involves packaging name star shows in N. Y., and send- ing them on two-week tours to TV stations. -At a talent cost of $6,300 to $12,900 per stanza, depending on the number of TV sets in the area, local advertisers win. the merchan- dising and ballyhoo prestige of bankrolling their own live glamor program once every four weeks. While no contracts have yet been (Continued on page 69) N.Y.TO-D.C. TOUR-JETE FOR DARVAS & JULIA Darvas Sc Julia will be doing a long-distance hicycling act starting next Tuesday (7). Duo will double between the Palace Theatre, N. Y., and the Shoreham Hotel, Washing- ton. • Dancers had been booked for the Shoreham date last November be- fore their current date with the Danny Kaye show had been set. With steady extensions of the Pal- ace date,. terpers claim they couldn’t get out of the Shoreham commitment. Thus they’ll catch a plane at the conclusion/of their Palace show at 9:30 p. m/and hope to get in Washington in time to do the 11:45 show at the hotel. ‘ELITE' HOUSES' While still in the blueprint stages, emergence of a “hierarchy” of super-deluxe roadshow houses specializing in widescreen offer- ings is intriguing observers. Development, which takes on the character of an industry within' an industry, could seriously affect the current exhibition pattern whereby many of the majors now draw some 80% of their revenue from 1,000 to 1,500 first-runs. “Elite” circuit is shaping with (1) the gradual \expansion of Cin- erama, which plans to limit stbict- ly number of theatres where it will play, and (2) deliberate confining of Magna Theatre Corp.'s new 65m Todd-A6 ^Widescreen process to no more than 500 showcases con- trolled in the main by the Joseph M. Schenck-George Skouras inter- ests in Magna. Distrib execs agree that, for a while at least, this may make for an unhealthy situation, with wide- screen showcases drawing the cream Of the available biz and other houses suffering. Growth in the total of these special houses also may affect distrib revenues, as (Continued on page 29) Hurok May Run Monte Carlo Deal Negotiations are pending' be-, tween Sol Hurok, N. Y. concert- legit impresario,- and > Aristotle S. Onassis, Greek shipping magnate who controls the Casino and Opera House setup at Monte Carlo, for Hurok to take over the directorship of the Riviera resort’s show biz ac- tivities. Onassis, who recently bought control of the Societe des Bains de Mer, which owns most of the re- sort activities, is. anxious to re- vive the cultural prestige and draw of Monte Carlo, Which has^Suffered from competition of other resorts and festival areas in recent sea- • (Continued pn' page 90) * Christine on TV Christine Jorgensen will make her first TV guest appearance Sunday (5) on the “Arthur Murray Shpw” over DuMont. She’ll* make a two-minute pitch cn. behalf of the Damon Runyon Fund and the American ’ Cancer Society. On Walter Wiiicheli’s TVer recently she Was shown in the audi- ence. Zukor Biopic? JPgramount apparently is considering an Adolph Zukor biopic. . Outfit has registered the title “Mr. Motion .Pic- tures/’ listed, as^ an original feature, with* the Motion Pic- ture Assn, of America. •’ . That’s the*, title cohferred upon Zukor, who was recently feted on his 8Qth birthday and 50th year in the film business. Berks Tlay 2, Lay Off l 9 Sked General Motors has placed a/ ten- tative order, with NBC-TV, via the Kudner agency, for an alternate- week sponsorship of the Milton Berle Tuesday night TV .show, which Texaco is relinquishing. GM has been 'sponsoring the. “Buick Circus Hour” on an every-fourth- week basis during the past season, but; this will be dropped. *, Meanwhile, efforts are still being made to wrap up a‘ second client for the Berle stanza, which ‘will have an approximate- $70,000. tal- ent-production nut next season (plus the $60,000 charge for a full hour of time). It's reported that Berle may in- crease his layoffs next season from once every four' weeks to every third week, which would pose the problem again of finding the alter- nate 8 to 9 attraction, as in the case of “Circtfs Hour.” • IKE DINING GOLDWYN; LATTER’S ‘GUYS’ TALKS • • * l Samuel Goldwyn has a dinner date tonight (Wed.) with President Eisenhower at the White House. It’s an informal session /which has its origin in the filmmaker’s sup- port of Eiserfhower during the presidential sweepstakes last No- vember. * Goldwyn will return to N. Y. fol- lowing the D. C. conclave and still has plans to embark pn a European trip April 21, Monday (30) in Gotham the producer had an in- formal luncheon-session^with news- paper critics. He revealed he’s ne- gotiating, for the fights, to “Guys and Dolls” with co-author Frank Loesser. • With a rejuvenated ABC-TV net- work (offshoot of the United Para- mount Theatre merger) serving $0? tice that “the sky and the stars are the limit” in its bid for preemi- nence in show business, a n evf „ inter-network battle for talent con- trol is taking shape. • Until now ABC has been run- ning a poor third in the ooast-tO- . coast web rivalry, bUt with its acquisition of valuable properties . in recent weeks, topped by the Danny Thomas-Ray Bolger-George Jessel pacts, the “full speed ahead” signs are posted. . That NBC-TV is already alerted to the ABC “Grand Opening’* scheduled for the fall is evident from the fact that Frank White & Co., despite previous indications of curbing excessive talent demands, are moving in to strengthen the NBC talent roster. That NBC is agitated over the ABC eagerness to grab off top tal- ent availabilities is gleaned from its acquisition this Week of Tom Ewell, with a deal imminent for the pacting of Bietty Hutton. Ewell, star of the^Broadway hit, "Seven Year Itch,” has a long-term radio-TV exclusive which will per- ‘ mit him to do plays and films. First. deal .will be a half-hour situatibd' comedy filmed in New iork. Miss Hutton, arriving in New (Continued on page 29) Shubert the Younger Orders Lopoff of All Hired Hands Over 65 Expressing a long-standing man- agerial gripe that many veteran stagehands are too old to do satis- factory work in legit, theatre own- er-producer J. J. Shubert last week ordered the dismissal of all em- ployees over the age of 65, includ- ing not only grips hr the Shubert houses, but those working in the firm’s costume, scenic and service departments. Edict is figured likely to have little or no effect, as stagehands are |»not hired individually but are as- signed by the union, while em- ployees in the costume and scenic shops and storehouses are covered by seniority contracts with their respective unions. Informed of the Shubert order, a representative of the stagehands' New Yorjc „lpca]l suggested, that any 65-year limit also apply to mem- bfers of the League of N. Y. Thea- tres. According-to Who’s Who in the Theatre, J. J. Shubert is 73 and his brother. Lee is .78, but both are generally believed to be sev- eral years older than that. JOE E. LEWIS' 30th ANNIVERSARY .(Pages 32 to 55)