Variety (April 1953)

60 U 8 CITUHLATE Wednesday, April 22 r I953 Legit Bits Producer Richard Aldrich back Leo Robin-Joseph Fleldsand Jer- nHooV nf oine Ch6dorov musical to be pro- In the office after an attack of pleurisy . . . “Top Banana" gross for the week ending April IX^at the Lyceum, Minneapolis, ■ was, $21,848, according to the house, management, instead of $18,000, as reported . . . Random House will publish the text, including full lyrics, of “Wonderful Town’’ . . . F. Hugh Herbert will Stage Girl Can Tell,” his. new comedy to be produced nex£ fall by Aldrich & Myers, in association: with Julius Fleischmann . , . Hollis Irving has gone into the cast of “Men of Distinction,” Sol Jac6bson will pressagent the five-week “South Pacific” engage- ment in Boston opening May 18 . . .Nitery comic Bernie Hern has joined “3rd Dimensions of *53,” off-Broadway 'revue at the Hotel Sutton, N.Y. .. MAurice Evans, star of “Dial M for Murder,” has prepared for his first summer run on Broadway by having tils Gram- ercy Park home completely air- conditioned and a : cooling unit in- stalled in his dressing room at the Plymouth, N.Y. Dorothy Rice has withdrawn from the cast of the incoming “Men of Distinction” ... “Denhy Malone,” play with music by Har- old J. Tauh and Frank Fields, will he showcased April 29-30 by the New Dramatists Committee at the Palm Garden, N.Y. ... Producer George Kondolf is planning a tour- ing edition of “Fifth Season,” to open in Chicago early in Septem- ber... With “Time of the Cuckoo” now set to close May 30 at the Em- pire, N.Y., the date for the house to be torn down to make way for an office building has reportedly been advanced to early June. Elaine Perry has. scheduled a fall production of “Paradise Ques- tion,” by Walter Hart and Richard Maibaum . Donald Wolin will try out an untitled comedy by press- agent James Proctor this summer at Theatre-by-the-Sqa, Matunuck R.I., and is mulling a similar pre Broadway test for “An Ancient In stinct,” by Sig Miller... “Censor ship and the Arts” will be the sub ject of a panel discussion Friday (24) at the New England All-Col lege Conference at Boston U. .. Renee Jeanmaire has been signed for the .title part in “Girl in Pink Tights,” the Sigmund Romberg* ome Ch6dorov , duced in' the fall by Shepard Traube ... Laura Arnold, actors agent, sails for a European vaca- tion April 28. She’s due back Aug. 4. Margaret Guenveur is playing jie lead in the Rochester (N.Y.) Arena Theatre production of “Be Your Age” this week. Last fall she was in the Equity Library Theatre production of “Hotel Universe.” Landon Laird, legit critic and columnist of the Kansas City Star, will be guest conductor of a drama workshop at Kansas State College, Manhattan, Kans., Saturday (25), Laird will al^b /turn lecturer, as assembly speaker at the Fine Arts festival at the college. A feature of the event will be the Kansas State Players presentation . of Death of. a Salesman” toniorrow (Thurs.) through Saturday. Unique Plan c Continued from page 55 up will follow in Buffalo, Roches- ter, etc., dates for these-cities be? Ing dependent on extent of the Toronto run. Meanwhile, on''the “South Pa- cific” booking, RawjLey has dropped his plans for his summer musical and drama stock at the Royal Alexandra. He is^ booked on his regular season till ‘middle of June, this including the London Festival Ballet and Hildegarde. Opening new season last August, this will give Rawley 44.weeks, with only one dark* week, till middle of June. Detroit Advance ‘Flood’ Detroit, April 21. Dave Nederlander, manager of the Shubert, reported that more than 10,000 mail' requests already have been received for “South Pa- cific,” which opens jr six-week run at the Shubert May 18. Neder- lander said the advance sale al- ready hAs broken all records. The - ] boxoffice^sale began Sunday (19). Top tickets are $4.80 in the 2,050- seater. Some of the mail orders for ducats have come from Indiana, Ohio and Ontario. —.Ii.p ■ I t 1-1 n Current Road Shows (April 20-May 2) ■m Can-Can — Shubert, Philly (20- 25). J m Constant Wif e (Katharine/ Cor- nell, Robert Flemyng, John Em<?ry) Aud., St. Paul (24-25); Lyceum, Minneapolis (27.-2). Deep Blue Sea (Margaret Sulla- van)—Cox, Cincy (20-25); Davidson, Milwaukee (27-2): Dial M for Murder (Richard Greene)—Harris, Chi (20-2). Evening with Shakespeare (Mar- garet Webster, Eva . LaGallienne,’ Faye Emerson, Basil Rathbone, John' Lund, Viveca Lindfors)— Playhouse, Wilmington (20-21); Ford’s, Balto (23-25); National, Wash. (27-2). * Fourposter (Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn)—Paramount, Toledo (20); Hartman, Columbus (21-25); Ameri-J can, St. L. (27-2). Gigi (Audrey Hepburn)—Alca- zar, S. F. (20-2). Good* Nite, Ladies — Her Majesty’s, Montreal (20-25); Royal Alexandra, Toronto (27-2). Guys and Dolls — Auditorium, Denver (20-25); Fox, Spokane (28- 2 ). I Ain a Camera (Julie Harris)— Royal Alexandra, Toronto (20-25); Her Majesty’s, Montreal (27-2). Maid in the Ozarks-—WRVA The- atre, Richmond (20-25); Nixon, Pitt; (27-2), Maie Animal (Buddy Ebsen, Martha Scott, Charles Lang)— Blackstone, Chi (20-2). Masquerade — Walnut, Philly (20-25). Me and Juliet—Hanna, Cleve- and (20-2). Men of Distinction — Locust, hilly (20-25). Mrs. McThing (Helen Hayes)— irlanger, Chi (20-2). New Faces — Shubert, Boston (20-25); Great Northern, Chi (27-2). Oklahoma—Colonial, Boston (20- Helen Hayes Kicks Continued from page 55 countered Move about when you can, boy. Take some trips. See things and meet people. A man has to keep on broadening his horizons. With these words, an itinerant Shakespearean actor left young Ward'Morehouse flat broke in Roanoke, Virginia, one day in 1915, Just how well,,, WARD MOREHOUSE 3 T * has been following that advice ever since is set forth with warmth , humor and excitement in Just the Other Day From Yellow Pines to Broadway A Georgia boyhood of hot summers, buggy rides and picnics. Twenty plays written by the age of fifteen. Re- porting days in Savannah and Atlanta—then to New York to the Tribune, the Sun and finally The World-Tele- gram and Sun. Nearly thirty years of covering Broadway, with time out for travel around the world and a whirl- wind courtship. It is a book of vivid reminiscence — sometimes nostalgic, sometimes cyclonic, but always frank, human, and readable, $4.00 At all bookstore s McGRAW-HILL BOOK CO.. New York 36, N. Y. 2 ). Pal Joey—Shubert, WaSh. (20-2). Point of No Return (Henry Fon- da)—Geary, S. F. (20-2). South Pacific (Janet Blair, Webb Tilton)—Keil Aud., St. Louis (20- 25); Coliseum, Evansville, Ind. (27- 2). Stalag 17—Nixon, Pitt. (20-25); Erlanger, Buffalo (27-30); Aud., Rochester (1-2). Top Banana (PJul Silvers)—Or- pheum, K.C. (20-251; Aud., Denver (27-2). Plays Out of Town Continued from page 58 > * Tumuli line tually, it’s a vaude show—some good and some not so good—with the same people appearing in sev- eral numbers. There is some surefire material here for an audience which under- stands Yiddish, particularly the turns of Sands and the Barton Bros. Sands is a fast-talking comic whose .specialty is takeoffs on the mommas and children at the Borscht Belt resorts of the Cat- skills. He has a fine sense of tim- ing and milked the opening-night audience to a fare-thee-well for laughs. In the same category are the Barton Bros., who have a semi- slapstick act which ranges from imitations of Jimmy Durante to an Anglo-Yiddish song called “If Troubles Were Money, I’d Be a Millionaire.” Not to mention, “Old Cow Hand from the Rio Grande,” done in Yiddish, and a takeoff on Mexicans which is played with plenty double-entendre. Saxon holds the production to- gether as. songster, comic and em- cee. His most ambitious number, however—advice to the single men not to get married—with Eddie Barton and Jenifer Marshall act- ing out the parts and Saxon nar- rating, falls rather flat. It smacks of something remembered from an old burlesque show, cleaned up and given a Yiddish accent. The two best novelties are of- fered by Kathryn Chang, a hand- some, tall Chinese gal who sings in Yiddish, winding up with a sock rendition of “Eli Eli” which rouses enthusiastic mitt “ action; and Rickie Layne. Latter is a ven- tro who speaks good English while his dummy uses Yiddish intona- tion and colloquial idiom. Layne handles this well, without leaving character, but doesn’t hold up when his dummy, Velvel, sings. Marty Drake is straight bari- tone of the cast, working both English and Hebrew, while the Rivieras are a dance couple. Best of their two selections is an Apache number in reverse, with the woman tossing her partner about through use of Jiu-jitsu. There is virtually ho scenery, a single backdrop being all that the company travels with. Orch per- forms onstage for accompaniment. Lowe, ture of a play. Miss Hayes: cited an example -of ..N. Y.'s “number one” (but unnamed on the pro- gram) critic, who tried and failed to keep .a show alive. ‘The Public Decides* In the “public- decides” vein, Miss Hayes thinks the surest sign of a success is a healthy advance sale. She blithely sidestepped with an “I wonder?” when the panelists asked if a good p¥fes§agent is more important to a play o than a good review. ’ Expense of traveling was cited as a big factor in keeping many shows from touring. Wistfully, Miss Hayes talked of lowering rail rates, theatre rentals, general union costs and admission prices. Miss Hayes was particularly dis- tressed, over ticket costs to the public, but admitted the producer could not get by at slashed prices. Dwindling number of children at- tending the theatre is haying an effect, too, and she admitting dis- appointment in the failure of great- er numbers of moppets to attend her “Mrs. McThing” — especially since her prime reason for touring the fantasy was to appeal to the younger set. Parents are not to blame, she said, because to take a party of children.to the theatre Is just too expensive—and nothing more bor- ing could happen to a child than to be the lone youngster with grownups afrthe theatre. She said she talked the price scale over with managers—particularly as to “Mrs. McThing”—but all agree that ad- mission tariffs cannot be scaled down for children. ‘Those Domesticated Actors* Another important reason for de- cline of road companies, according to Miss Hayes, is that “actors are getting domesticated. Oh, for the days of the strolling players!” Tele- vision, too, plays a big part in keeping performers handy to N. Y. They’re simply not willing to run the risk of a short road tour at the expense of losing out on good- paying video work, she said. Questioned on whether legit theatre was remiss in not providing more comfortable seating facilities and elevators for the balcony pa- trons, Miss Hayes said she believed the American public needs some legit spine-stiffening, like their British cousins, who stand in queues for hours in adverse weath- er to see plays. Miss Hayes neatly question as. to the American theatre being too wishy- washy with “that’s formulating in my mind.” Her plans after the June 1 end of her current show—the 14th in which she has starred in Chicago— include “no television, no anything, but a good long breather.” Right of Critic Continued from page 56 places must offer equal accommo- dations to all. Theatres are unlike a store, where you can go in and look over the goods before paying your money.” Henry Epstein, former solicitor general of N. Y. representing the Associated Dailies of Connecticut, said, “As far back as the days of King James, audiences were al- lowed by statute to applaud or hiss performances.” Parker’s Springfield Bid Springfield, Mass., April 21. The “savage” critic of the Hart- ford Courant, T 4 H. Parker, who was barred from his own city’s legitimate theatre because of his alleged severity in his reviews, will get a chance to- turn his typewriter on plays in the neighboring city of Springfield. He has been declared persona grata at the Court Square Theatre, where the first of a series of six musicals opens a spring musical festival, beginning tonight (Tues.) with “Annie Get Your Gun,” fea- turing Sandra Deel and David Atkinson. ANTA is backing the project. Parker accepted the the- atre’s invitation. WANTED CLEVER AND ORIGINAL SKITS. SKETCHES and BLACKOUTS For FALL B’WAY MUSICAL REVUE Send Material to: ANTHONY PARELLA 230 W. 54th St. New York City . Now available for presentation by other companies THE PERFORMING RIGHTS, ORCHESTRATIONS, COSTUMES AND SCENERY OF THE REPERTOIRE OF the late CoI. de Basil's BALLET RUSSE For Particulars Apply to:— RICKARD Ic CO., Incorporated Accountants 20 Southampton Place, London, WC 1 CAB CALLOWAY Sportin' Life “Porgy and Bess’' Currently ZIEGFELD, NEW YORK "He li 'Incisively enjoyable'." —Rowland field, Newark, N. J., News Mgt.i BILL, MITTLIR, Hit .Broadway, New York