Variety (April 1953)

Aj5:23S3fc Published Weekly at 154 West 46th Street, New York 36, N. Y.. by Variety. Inc*, Annual subscription $10. Single copies, 85 cents. Bucred as second class matter December -22. 1905, at the. Post Office at New York, N. ,Y„ under the act of March 3, 1878. COPYRIGHT, 1953, BY VARIETY, INC., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED VOL. 190 No. 7 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1953 PRICE 25 CENTS As Fix Retool for 3-D, Glam Colony Takes a Shot at V-D (Vegas Dollars) By BILL WILLARD 4* Las Vegas, April 21. The hegira from Hollywood is finding its mecca in Las Vegas, where top film personalities are picking up nice bundles of lucre as nitery headliners. They’re being groomed and boomed into the new medium, some to bridge the gap while studio execs retool for 3-D, others because of low resistance to nice offers from hard^put bonifaces angling for any kind of name to lure suckers. Mazdas along the {Strip are blinking , more and more names from the celluloid capital. ’* Most recent example was Van Johnson’s big splash at the Sands. His opening last Thursday (16) found an impressive list of ring- siders in the cheering section for the teeoff, including Eddie Cantor, EdgaF Bergen, Keenan Wynn, Dick Sowell &$ June AHyson, Peter Law- ford, assorted fall mag scribblers and'photogs, and columnists. " Matching this hopjila and per- haps surpassing it will be Susan Zanuck’s preem at El Rancho Ve- gas tomorrow (Wed.) In the Greg- ory .Ratoff packet^ Darryl Zanuck Will be on hand with other 20th- Fox biggies to .witness the cafe de- but of daughter Susan as chantoosie. Ratoff, himself a character of note in the flicker village, is also a new- comer to niteries, although having had' earlier credits in Broadway legits-and musicals. Current head- liners at El Rancho, Abbott & Cos- tello,’are also fugitives from sound (Continued oh page 50) Ice & Igloo Video 4 Anchorage, April 21. A TV station is scheduled to “go on the air” in Anchorage, Dec. 1. The new station, to be operated by a newly-organized firm) known as Anchorage TV, Inc., will set up a 500-watt DuMont transmitter capable of a potential 3,000-watt output. Station is said to have been organized the past year. Names of firm members have not been disclosed, all stockholders requesting to remain anonymous. - Stockholders predict a' potential audience of between 75,000 and 100,000. The population in Alaska has been estimated about 175,000, Stanley Adams Seen Certainty As ASCAP Prez NBC-TV Left Holding Bag on Shows As Ednds Backs Down on Contracts CBS-TV ‘Omnibus’ Gets Shaw’s Plays . George Bernard Shaw's plays, long denied to the American tele- vision audience, have been made available to “Omnibus,” the 90- minute CBS-TV program produced by the Ford Foundation’s radio-TV workshop. First play, Robert Saudek, work- shop director, announced, will be 'Arms and the Man.” It will be enacted by an all-star cast Sunday, may 3. under the direction of John Jurrell, who staged the play for London’s Old Vic. Entire program, last of the “Omnibus” shows for the season, will be devoted to the ohaw comedy. The arrangement to release onaw plays for American televi- sion was made by -Morris Emst r attorney representing the Shaw estate in the U. S. It was felt that Omnibus” assured the high standard of showcasing the Shaw estate demanded. The fee was not disclosed. , T* 0 be staged on the program in the fall are other Shaw plays lend- ing themselves to TV, such prop- erties as “Candida,” “Major Bar- bara” and “Caesar and Cleopatra/* With full support of the writers and backing of key publishers, Stanley Adams is now virtually certain to be named the next presi- dent of the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers. The ASCAP board will make its prexy selection next Thursday (30) artd at the present time, Adams is the sole candidate in the field. Clincher for Adams’ election to the top ASCAP spot at $25,000 per for the one-year term was the back- ing he gained both from Herman Starr, head of the Music Publish- ing Holding Corp., and Max Drey- fus, Chappell combine topper. Both Starr and Dreyfus wield enough influence in ASCAP to get (Continued on page 16) Hollywood, April 21. Despite grandiose predictions of the amount Hollywood will reap from television when and if the industry’s huge backlog of films is released to video, most telestation execs here feel that film studios have missed their golden opportu- nity. None will pay tog prices for pix anymore, even top product, and some, particularly -the webs, don’t even have Class A time available. Commented one station man- ager: “They should have been forty-niners if they wanted to pan gold. If they’d come around in 1949 when we needed pictures badly they could have gotten much better prices. .1953 represents an entirely different situation. The majors are going to be surprised if they anticipate a bonanza from the sale to television.” Adamant stand against paying top prices is coupled with repeated contention that video is so altered in its program structure that fea- ture films no longer enjoy a domi- nant position. Some execs said they had al- ready nixed what they considered good packages because no Class A time was available. Don . Hine, KNXT filmbuyer, says “majors (Continued on page 63) Can’t Copyright History Dallas, April 21. A Dallas court has held that one station can “recreate” a sporting event from the original broadcast of another station, without infring- ing on the broadcast rights of the latter. Decision came in an appeal of a similar judgment by a lower court in suit brought by KRIZ, Phoenix, against KFIL, Dallas. Court said that had KFIL’s re- porter been at the track itself, it would have constituted a violation of KRIZ’s exclusive contract, but his absence from the track gave KFIL the right to recreate the event. KTTV Ipores Pressure Gronp Beefs on Showing Of Old Chaplin Shorts Hollywood, April 21. Rejecting beefs from pressure groups, KTTV will continue showings of old short subjects starring Charles Chaplin. When one Chaplin short was shown a month ago, channel got 46 calls, and 15 beefs came in on a Chaplin shortie last week. Most callers base objections on actor’s “moral character,” others on his alleged “subversive” associations, but none, identifies himself. One caller said, “How do you dare ‘Juliet’ Scalpers’ Cleve. Field Day Cleveland, April 21. Five days before “Me and Juliet” 4 NBC legalites were at work this wfeek studying reprisal action after the network was notified by Pear- son Pharmaeal (Ennds) that* it had found it necessary to change its mind about sponsorship of the Saturday night “Ethel and Albert” show and would also have to bow out of sponsorship of the Monday night “Eye Witness” program. “Ethel and Albert” preems this Saturday (25) in the 7:30 to 3 p.m. slot (previously occupied by “My Hero,” which now goes into the 8 o’clock segment). Contracts had been signed and the web had com- mitted a number of affiliates to f the pickup. For reasons reportedly * ascribed to inadequate station clearances, Pearson Pharmaeal suddenly notified the web late last week that, contract or no contract, it was bowing out of the deal. As result “Ethel” (which originally ap- peared on TV as a comedy insert on the Kate Smith show) preems on a sustained basis, while NBC scurries around in search of an- other bankrolled Similarly, the network finds it- self out on a limb on the Monday night “Eye Witness” show, which preemed a few w.eeks back under Ennds’ alternate-week sponsorship. (Network bad not succeeded in finding another client for the al- ternating week). With NBC com- mitted to the program (it’s slotted opposite CBS-TV’s “I Love Lucy”) it's another case of NBC left hold- ing the sustaining bag. Whether or not the network’s legal dept, will insist that Ennds go through with its double sponsor- Bob Hope, Others Ruled Ineligible For TV Station Washington, April 21. Because of circumstances sur- rounding the deal by which NBC sold KOA in Denver last year to a company in which Bob Hope holds a substantial interest, the FCC’s Broadcast Bureau yesterday (Mon.) recommended that the company, Metropolitan TV Co., be found in- j ship commitment was still being eligible for a TV station.. j resolved this ' week. Network In proposed findings on the hot contest for channel '4 in Denver be- tween Metropolitan and KMYR, i the Bureau “held that in the sale of opened here Monday (20). it was a i KO a, NBC has retained a direct sweeping sellout for the two-week interest in the ownership, opera- f Hanna Theatre run, duplicating the t j on and,. ( control of the station, history of the second company of | Metropolitan’s application for TV, “South Pacific” when it also teed | therefore, “is not eligible . . . since it follows that NBC would then be acquiring a direct interest I the ownership, operation and South off its tour here several seasons ago. . Power of the Rodgers-Hammer- stein label on a new Broadway- bound tuneshow is so potent that there has been a ticket stampede for the new entry, according to Hanna manager Milt Krantz. It also took only a modest three-day advertising budget to sell out all the house’s seats, totaling $24,000 for the fortnight’s tryout. Despite precautions taken, a large batch of ducats at $5,55 top were apparently grabbed by claims the station clearances are satisactory. Kaye’s Huge 744G In 14 Palace Wfes. in (Continued on page 63) I Danny Kaye will bow out of the Palace Theatre, N. Y., Sunday (26) after chalking up $744,692 in 14 weeks for the highest weekly aver- age. to be scored by any performer who worked there. Longevity record is held by Judy Garland, *' who drew $750,000 last year and Evangelist Sawdust Trail; Cincinnati, April 21. j def. Miss Garland left to take a Mel Martin bowed ppt_ dra- * rest and Kaye's picture commit- * ments prevented a longer run. Mel Martin Exits Cincy TV ‘B’fast Party’ to Hit Kaye averaged a net of $53,192 during his 14 weeks, while Miss Garland averaged approximately scalpers. Up to premiere time, it, matically from the Crosley Broad- j was reported they were peddling j casting Corp. by announcing • “Juliet” tickets under nitery tables j Thursday <16* during the “Break- for prices ranging from $12 to $25 * fast Party” show, which, starred each. ^ | him for the past 30 .months on} $39,474. It’s recalled, though, that Producers, accompanied by one j wLW’s TV network, that he was re-j Miss Garland frequently had to of the largest production staffsi nouncing the entertainment world {cancel shows because of illness, | ever seen here, held dress rehear- [.to return to evangelical work. The j while Kaye met every stage dead- nirfnre^imme- \ sa ^ s behind locked hotel and the- j word was as startling to his bosses J line. Kaye started out by doing snow P . _ . ,, [ o+ra HnftTc T'lramatif' rntips nn i I jq shows Weekly but WOund up with the regiilation eight shows during his run. • Kaye’s highmark was made dur- ing his first week, which was reck- (Continued on page 63) Hintoiv affor thp telecast of the I atre doors. Dramatic critics on j as to his fans, rr Un-American Activities I three daily newspapers couldn’t i The 38-year-old preacher said he f ! crash the gates while the cast of'“felt the old urge within me" niv on the L A -Times- 1 70. was doin S ^ ess run-throughs. while attending services of Evange- station are sponsored by j Building up suspense. Rodgers & | Ust B illy Graham at a convention owned Cameo Curtains, Inc. (Continued on page 18) meeting here the night before. j