Variety (April 1953)

Pfi&Wff IEGITIMAXE 57 Vcdncsday, April 22, 195$ mim— H'»nn -rw-i-T" y-*— i m *ni— ' — r^~~— Not Too Much Upbeat at Chi B.O.; 'Madam' $33,300, IcThing’ $24, Chicago, April 21. 4 Th^re hasn’t been too much im- provement in' the overall picture here except that the shuttering of “Cali Me Madam” and ’‘Affairs of State” brought some last-minute tU There is *a hiatus until April 28, when ’’New Faces” comes into the Great Northern. Then ’’Maid of the Ozarks” attempts a stay at the Selwyn May 4. “Deep Blue Sea,” which was originally set for May 4 opening, has been pushed back to May 8 at the Blackstone. Estimates for Last Week Affairs of State, Selwyn (3d wk) ($4 20; 1,000). Ended stay here with dreary $5,000 Saturday (18). Call Me Madam, Shubert (13th wk) ($5; 2,100) (Stritch-Smith). Also broke up here with neat $33 300. * Dial M For Murder, Harris (13th wk) ($4.40; 1,000) (Richard Greene), picked up somewhat with $12,400. Male Animal, Blackstone (4th wk) ($4.20; 1,535). Backed up $9,700. Moves on next week. Mrs. McThing, Erlanger (2d wk) ($4.40; 1,353) (Helen Hayes). Good business with $24,000. Emlyn Williams, Great Northern (1st wk) ($3.50; 1,500). One-man show got $9,000. ‘Faces’ 27G, Hub; ‘Camera’ $7, Boston, April 21. “New Faces bf 1952, in its second stanza at the Shubert, picked up over the previous week, with indications that the current, final frame will hold up nicely. “I Am a Camera,” in its fourth week at the Wilbur, overstayed its leave and dipped severely. “Okla- homa” returned for its eighth visit, bowing into the Colonial Monday (20). Estimates for Last Week I Am a Camera, Wilbur (4th wk) ($4.20; 1,200) (Julie Harris). Fi- naled with a. sad $7,800. New Faces of 1952, Shubert (2nd wk) ($4.80; 1,700). Picked up over previous week, to $27,400. Final week is current; ‘PACIFIC’ BOFF $64,700, INDIANA; TO ST. LOUIS Lafayette, Ind„ April 21. Splitting a full week between two one-night towns last week, the touring edition of “South Pacific” put together another powerhouse gross of $64,700. Engagements were Monday-Wednesday (13-15) at Indi- ana U., Bloomington, and Thurs- day-Saturday (16-18) at Purdue U. here. Rodgers & Hammerstein steam- roller is playing a return all this week in St. Louis. ‘Stalag’ Slow $13,800 In First Pitt Week Pittsburgh, April 21. Big Saturday night (18)1 despite the heavy snow, enabled “Stelae 17” to wind up with $13,800 for the first of its two weeks at the Nixon. Figure was a little disap- pointing considering the unani- mous press and excellent word- of-mouth. Nixon gets return of “Maid In the Ozarks” Monday (27), for just one week instead of two as orig- inally planned, and it’ll be two- fere d this time in what looks like the end of the local legit season, Schwartz $2,700, LA. Los Angeles, April 21. Local legit continues to limp along-on one cylinder for'the rest of this month, with only Maurice Schwartz’s Civic Playhouse keep- ing the banner aloft. Repertory group’s incumbent, “Hard to fie a Jew,” racked up another $2,700 for Its second .full week at the 376- seat showcase. % Civic will remain the only house alight until the Biltmore and Phil- harmonic Auditorium both rekin- dle May 4 ; former with Henry Fonda in “Point of No Return” find latter with “Carousel,” first offering of the new CJvic Light Opera season. Equity Shows (April 20-May 3) Deep Arc the Roots—Lenox Hill Playhouse, N. Y. (22-26). Cornell ‘Wife’ 22G In Portland-Seattle Split Seattle, April 21. Katharine Cornell, dividing last week between Portland and here, grossed a total of just under $22,000 for eight performances in her revival of “Constant Wife.” Star drew almost $4,300 for the final two performances Sunday- Monday (12-13) of an eight-per- formance stand at the Mayfair, Portland, and added $17,700 in six shows Wednesday-Saturday (15-18) at the Metropolitan here. Show is continuing here through tonight (Tues.), then jumps to the St. Paul for three performances Friday- Saturday (24-25). ‘POINT’ $29,600, FRISCO; W DRAWS $14,300 San Francisco, April 21. “Pointy Of No Return,” backed by strong Theatre Guild subscrip- tions, is holding strong at the Geary. “Gigi,” at the Alcazar, got good reviews. Estimates for Last Week Gigl, Alcazar (1st wk) (C-$3.60; 1,147) (Audrey Hepburn). Draws $14,300 for seven performances. Point of No Return, Geary (2d wk) (D-$4.80; 1,550) (Henry Fon- da). Up to $29,600. Rodgers & Hammerstein Night, Curran (1 wk) (M-$4.20; 1,550) (Edward Arnold, Robert Wagner Chorale). A weak $7,000. ‘Farfel’ $29,000, St. Louis; ‘Horse’ Also-Ran $9,000 St. Louis, April 21. Although the crix didn’t under- stand Yiddish, they nevertheless tossed plaudits for “Farfel Fol- lies,” and piece wound up a week’s frame at the American Saturday (18) with $29,000. Stuart Erwin was visiting lead in “Three Men on a Horse” at the Empress. Piece did only'so-so biz, winding up Sunday (19) with $9,- 000 for eight performances. “The. Fourposter,” with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, teed off a week's frame at the American last night (Mon,) with the piece scaled to $4.27. Jane Wyman is the visiting star in “Biography” at the Eippres, opening tonight (Tues.) with the usual $2.50 top prevailing. ‘Dolls’ Profitable 38G In Witchita-Okla. City Oklahoma City, April 21. “Guys and Dolls” pulled p profit- able $38,800 gross last week in an eight-performance split between Wichita and here. The Frank Loes- ser-Jo Swerling-Abe Burrows tour- er got $4,800 in a one-nighter Sun- day (12) ending a five-performance stand at the Forum, Wichita, and picked up the balance Tuesday- Saturday (14-18) at the Municipal Auditorium here. Feuer & Martin production Is playing this week at the Auditor- ium, Denver. ‘Bard’16|G in Split 7 New Haven, April 21. A week of one-and two-nighters for the “Evening With Will Shake- speare” troupe (EvavLe Gallienne, Basil Rathbone, Faye Emerson, John Lund, Viveca Lindfors, Mar- garet Webster), playing Springfield (13), Bridgeport (14), Greenwich (15), Brooklyn (16), and New Haven (17-18), grossed an approxi- mate seven-performance total of $16,500. Local Shubert stand, at $4.20 top, got $7,100 on three shows. House goes dark until May 21-23, when “Constant Wife” (Katharine Cornell) ends its tour here. ‘Horse’ $2,600, Atl. City Atlantic City, April 21. “Three Men on A Horse,” second offering here in the 500-seater Quarterdeck Theatre, did $2,600 last week, $1,100 under the initial offering of the . 20-week season. Produced by Jonathan Dwight and directed by Larry Ethridge, show offered Teddy Hart and the Equity resident company located here. ♦ John Dali came in last night (20) in “The Hasty Heart.” He will be followed week of May 4 by Sidney Blackmer and Suzanne Kaaren m “Glad Tidings.” Esther Ralston ap- pears next week in “Goodbye, My Fancy.” B’way Biz Uneven; Hazel’ Ticnic’ Hits $27,500, ‘fifth’ $25,200, ‘Angels’ $22,800, Bennett Folding Ballet Theatre Winds Season With Split-Week Ballet Theatre wound up the last week of its tour, playing a split week, with guarantee dates in Philadelphia, Monday and Tuesday (13-14) and Providence, Wednesday (15). Both Philly engagements were sold out. Troupe played Hartford, Thursday (16), racking up a $5,300 gross, and P«*th Amboy the follow- ing night fora gross of $2,900. In its final concerts in Newark, Sat- urday (18), company grossed $8,800. Troupe heads out on an eight- month European tour May 1. ‘Can-Can’ $58,1)09, len 7G, Philly Philadelphia, April 21. Last weekend saw all of the town’s five major legit houses lighted, a strange phenomena for this time of year. “Can-Can” for a fourth straight week topped the $50,000 figure at the Shubert, and addition of sixth stanza failed to slake heavy demand for Cole Por- ter musical. “Masquerade,” which bowed in Walnut Thursday night (16), got a spur press reception and script is being completely overhauled. Estimates for Last Week Maid in Ozarks, Erlanger (3d wk) (1,880; $3.90). Hillbilly comedy went heavily on newspaper ads for final sesh. Poor $6,.500. The Pink Elephant, Forrest <2d Wk) (1,760; $4.55) (Steve Alien, Howard Smith). Political comedy by John G. Fuller, local playwright, received only mild support from constituents, with $4,800. Men of Distinction, Locust (2d wk) (1,580; $4.55) (Robert Preston). First full week for Richard Con- don’s farce about N. Y. vice probe. Weak $7,000. Can-Can, Shubert (4th wk) (1,- 870; $6.50) (Lilo, Peter Cookson). Nothing seems to affect this musi- cal smash. Adverse weather con- ditions only bother scalpers. $50,000. Masquerade, Walnut (1st wk) (1,- 340; $4.35) (Veronica Lake, Charles Korvin, Lisa Ferraday). Uniform bad notices hurting this one; $4,- 000. for four days. ‘MADAM/ ‘WAGON’ WILL BOW TORONTO FAIR Toronto, April 21. In from Las Vegas for a three- day auditions stint, during which they selected chorus and dance en- sembles from several hundred ap- plicants, Leighton K. Brill, execu- tive producer of “Vanity Fair,” and Ben^Kamsler, general man- ager, also announced two first summer stock releases—“Call Me Madam” and “Paint Your Wagon” —for their forthcoming 14-weeks’ season at the Canadian National Exhibition. Their tent setup ca- pacity this season at the CNE will be 1,850 seats over last season’s 12-week engagement with 1,650 seats. Scale is unchanged at $3.40 top. Resident company includes Jon Crain, Stanley Carlson, Andrew Gainey, Cynthia Latham, Kathryn Albertson. Staff repeaters from last season are; Arthur Lief, mu- sical director; Bertram Yarbor- ough, director; Bettina Rosay, choreographer; Grania Mortimer, stage manager, ‘Sea’ $17,500, Detroit; ‘Brides’ Poor $6,000 Detroit, April 21. “The Deep Blue Sea,” starring Margaret Sullavan, grossed $17,- 500 at the Cass last week. Current is “Farfel Follies,” starring Myron Cohen, in for a week. The Cass has nothing booked after “Farfel,” which may ring down this sea- son’s curtain. “School for Brides’* grossed a very poor $6,000 in its second week at the Shubert. Theatre now goes dark, possibly until “South Pacific” opens a six-week engage- ment May 18. GRECO $3,200, WILMINGTON Wilmington, Del., April 21. Jose Greco and his Spanish dance company drew only $3,200 into the boxoffice in four performances <16- 18) at the 1,223-seat Playhouse, at $3.60 top. “An Evening With Will Shake- speare” was here for two perform- ances yesterday and today (20-21’). Ballet Sextet plays a one-night stand Friday (24), Business was spotty on Broad- way last week. Instead of the ex- pected post-Easter slump, there was a spurt in attendance at some shows, but a marked decline at oth- ers. In general, receipts were satis- factory early in the week, but failed to register the usual im- provement on the weekend. “Date with April,” week’s sole opening, was panned, and is sched- uled to fold next Saturday (25). “Camino Real” slipped relatively little, considering that it com- pleted the Theatre Guild subscrip- tion support, and “Misalliance” maintained its moderate pace, while “Fifth Season,” “My 3 An- gels” and “Picnic” registered‘new highs. Last week’s closings included “On Borrowed Time,” “Pal Joey” and “Room Service,” all revivals, while “Mid-Summer” will also fold this week, and there are exit dates set for “South Pacific” (tem- porary), May 16; “Time of the Cuckoo” and “Evening with Bea- trice Lillie,” May 30; “Bove of Four Colonels,” June 16 (or pos- sibly before) and “Guys and Dolls” (temporary), June 27. Two shows open this. week. Estimates o for Last Week Keys: C (Comedy)-; D (Drama), CD (Comedy-Drama), R (Revue), MC (Musical Comedy), MD (Musi- cal Drama), O (Opera). Other parenthetic designations refer, respectively, to top prices; number of seats, capacity gross and stars. ' Price includes 20% arjiuse- ment tax, but grosses are net: i.e., ? exclusive of. tax. Camino Real, National (5th wk) (D-$6-$4.80; 1,172; $30,000). About $16,500 (previous week, $19,600). Children’s Hour, Coronet (18th wk) (D-$4.80; 1,027; $28,378). Over' $12,500 (previous week, $14,500). Crucible, Beck (13th wk) <D-$6- $4.80; 1,214; $31,000). Over $19,800 (previous week, $22,800). Date with April, Royale (1st wk) (C-$4.80; 1,035; $27,000) (Constance Bennett). Opened last Wednesday night (15) to unanimous pans; first five performances drew ■ under $5,500; closing next Saturday (25). Dial M for Murder, Plymouth (25th wk) (D-$4.80; 1,062- $30,377) (Maurice Evans). Over- $30,000 (previous week, $30,100). Evening with Beatrice Lillie, Booth (29th wk) (R-$6; 739; $24,284) (Beatrice Lillie). Nearly $20,400 (previous week, $20,100); closing May 30. Fifth Season, Cort (13th wk) (C- $4.80; 1,056; $25,727) (Menasha Skulnik, Richard Whorf). Ap- proached $25,200, new high for the run (previous week, $25,800), Fourposter, Golden '(78th wk) (C-$4.80; 769; $19,195) (Sylvia Syd- ney, Romney Brent). Over $7,400 (previous week, $8,100). Guys and Dolls, 46th St. (126th wk) (MC-$6.60; 1,319; $43,904). Got $34,400 (previous week, $38,400); exits June 27 for six-week road engagement, resuming here Au- gust 10. Hazel Flagg, Hellinger (10th wk) (MC-$7.20; 1,527; $53,000) (Helen Gallagher, Thomas Mitchell, Benay Venuta, John Howard, Jack Whit- ing). Almost- $49,600 (previous week, $44,300): King and I» St. James (108th wk) (MD-$7.20; 1,571; $51,717) (Alfred Drake). Nearly $43,900 (previous week, $49,600). Love of Four Colonels, Shubert (14th wk) (C-$0-$4.8O; 1,361; $39,- 000) Rex Harrison, Lilli Palmer). Over $26,500 (previous week, $23,- 200); moved this week to the 1,160- seat Broadhurst, with a potential gross capacity of $29,500. Mid-Summer, Vanderbilt (13th wk) (D-$4.80; 720; $18,500) (Mark Stevens, Geraldine Page). Over $10,300 (previous week, $10,400); closing next Saturday night (25). Misalliance, Barrymore (9th wk) (C-$3; 1,060; $24,996). Almost $12,- 400 (previous week, $12,100). Moon is Blue, Miller (111th wk) (C-$4.80; 920; $21,586) (Donald Cook, Biff McGuire, Janet Riley). Nearly $9,000 (previous week, $10,400). My 3 Angels, Morosco (6th wk) (C-$6-$4-.80; 912; $26,000). Over $22,800, new high for the run (pre- vious week, $22,300), On Borrowed Time, 48th St. (10th wk) (CD-$4.80; 925; $22,297) (Victor Moore, Leo G. Carroll, Beulah Bondi). Almost $9,900 (pre- vious week, $8,900); closed last Saturday night (18) after 78 per- formances, at a loss of about $75,- ne Segal, Harold Lang). Nearly $27,300 (previous week, $28,700); closed last Saturday night (18) atfer 540 performances, believed to be the longest-run revival in Broadway history; has earned about $185,000 profit to date; is touring. Picnic, Music Box (8th wk) (CD- $6-$4.80; 1,012; $28,000). Approach- ed $27,500, new high for the run (previous week, $27,200). Porgy and Bess, Ziegfeld (6th wk) (0*$6; 1,628; $48,244). Over $36,500, excluding tax, which the show retains (previous week, $44,- 100 ). Room Service, Playhouse (2d wk) (C-$4.80; 999; $21,500). Almost $3,- 600 (previous week, $4,600); closed last Saturday night (18), after 16 performances, at a loss of about $40,000.. Seven Year Itch, Fulton (22d wk) (C-$6-$4,80; 1,063; $24,400) (Tom Ewell). Over $24,700 (previous week, $24,734, house record). South Pacific, Majestic (209th wk) (MC-$6; 1,659; $50,186). (Mar- tha Wright, George Britton). Near- ly $35,100 (previous week, $42,600); exiting May 16 for road engage- ment, but resumes June 22 at the Broadway. Time of the Cuckoo, Empire (27th wk) (CD-$6-$4.80; 1,082; $25,- 056) (Shirley Booth). Nearly $18,- 400 (previous week, $18,800); clos- ing May 30. Time Out for Ginger, Lyceum (20th wk) (C-$4.80; 995; $22,845) (Melvyn Douglas). Almost $14,200 (previous week, $18,000). Wish You Were Here, Imperial (43d wk) (MC-$7.20; 1,400; $52,- 080). Nearly $44,300 (previous week, $45,600). Wonderful Town, Winter Garden (8th wk) (MC-$7.20; 1,510; $54,173) (Rosalind Russell). Approached $54,000, with party commissions limiting the gross (previous week, $48,000 for seven performances). OPENING THIS WEEK Dickens Readings, Bijou (CD- $4.80; ’ 618; $£4,000) (Emlyn Wil- liams). Sol Hurok presentation of the British actor’s reading of “Bleak House” opened Monday night (20); program of Dickens ex- cerpts opens tonight (Wed.) and the bills will be varied for balance of the three-week engagement; drew three favorable notices (Chap- man, News; Hawkins, World-Tele- gram & Sun; Kerr, Herald Tri- bune), two unfavorable (McClain, Journal-American; Watts, Post) and two mixed (Coleman, Mirror; Funke, Times). Pink Elephant, Playhouse (Cr $4.80; 999; $21,500). Eugene Paul, William I. Kaufman and Blair Walliser production of play by John G. Fuller; opens tonight (Wed.). ‘OKLA.’ WINDS 4-WEEK D.C. RUN WITH $17,700 Washington, April 21. “Oklahoma” completed a four- week run at the National Theatre last week, with $17,700 in the till for the final stanza. House reopened Sunday night (19) with a week of “Tumultime,” Anglo-Jewish comic revue. The Shubert Theatre, dark last week, opened Monday (20) with a two- week engagement of “Pal Joey.” ‘Fourposter’ Modest 13G In Roch.-Buffalo Split Buffalo, April 21. “Fourposter,” starring Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, gained a modest $13,400 last week in an eight-performance split. between Rochester and here. Playwrights Co. production drew $4,500 in three shows Monday-Wednesday (13-15) at the Auditorium, Rochester, and added $8,900 in five performances Thursday-Saturday (16-18) at the Erlanger here, Jan de Hartog comedy played a single show last night (Mon.) in Toledo, then moves to the Hart- man, Columbus, for the balance of the current week. 'BIO LEAP' $5,100, TORONTO Toronto, April 21. “Big Leap” tryout here, with plenty of week’s doctoring, grossed a light $5,100 at the Royal Alexan- dra, with the 1,525-seater scaled at $3.50 top with tax. Audience build* up was noticeable to week's end. Play, written by localite Lei Orensteln, Is lined up for three 000 . , , , Pal Joey, Broadhurst (68th wk I (MC-$6.60; 1,160; $39,602) (Vivien 1 Canadian road dates.