Variety (April 1953)

1 JIIISCSXXANY Red-Tainted French Fdm (Montand) Booth, Clift Iff Yank Citations By GENE MOSltOWITZ 4 Cannes, April 28. With the Cannes Film festival winding up tomorrow (Wfcd.) night, a straw poll indicates »that the Grand Prize for the best film will go to the French “Le Salaire de la Peur” (“Wages of Sin”) (reviewed in this issue). Survey also reveals that Winners in other categories will be as follows: Shirley Booth, best actress for her performance in “Come "Back, Little Sheba” (Par); Montgomery Clift? best actor for his portrayal of the priest In CBS Radio Is auditioning Jimmy Cannon, sports - columnist of the New York Post, for a half-hour, once-a-week show on the big city. Program is aimed for a N. Y. heartbeat Slant, stressing Cannon as a poet of the pavements rather than a sports mug. Lee. Johnnie Rav Sten In HORACE HEIDT FOR LUCKY STRIKE . Under Personal -Management JOHN LEER 111 Fifth Ave., New York Alfred' Hitchcock’s. “I Confess” (WB); and Vittorio De Sica as best director for the. Italo “Stazlone Termini.” (“Terminal Station,” Selznick co-production, co-starring Jennifer Jones apd Montgomery Clift.) Metro's “Lili,” starring Leslie. Caron, is seen as copping an award as the best selection for a particu- lar country. Other awards in this category, according to the poll, will go to Brazil's “O Congaceiro” (also reviewed in this issue) and Fin- land’s “Le Renne Blanc” (“The White Reindeer”). There’s been a last-minute flurry of pix and film people here. Shown near the close of the Festival were “Sheba,” “Termini” the Swedish “Barabbas” and Mexico's “El” (“Him”). “Peur” is; the pic that started some controversy here when star Yves Montand was (Continued on page 12) The rugged civilian grind proved too much for former GI Eddie Fisher, who was forced to drop out of the Paramount The- atre, N. Y., Show for one show Sunday (26) *nd- two shows the following day. Peggy Lee, current at La Vie en Rose, substituted for him during his first day's ab- sence and".Johnnie Ray carried on during Monday’s 'performances. Fisher was forced to skip per- formances because of exhaustion. He had Been doing from five to seven shows daily 'when his strength gave out. Again, the ex- citement of being discharged- from the ‘Army and going to work at the Paramount the same day? con- tributed to his collapse. He closes Tuesday J 5). LONG WAY ROUND SHIFT FOR 10VE’ For Westminister Abbey London, April 21. A. Coronation play, “Out of the Whirlwind,” especially written for the occasion by Christopher Has- sall, is to be presented in West- minster Abbey for a limited season, beginning June 10. It will be the first time in history- that a play has been staged inside the Abbey, and all profits will be donated to the restoration fund. The principal role will he played by Fay Compton and with 45 in the cast. Music will be provided by the Abbey organ and choir. \ Christine’s Dates Christine - Jorgensen has been signed to play Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas, July 14, for two weeks. It’s her second theatrical date, first being set for the RKO Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles; May 8 at $12,500. Sahara deal was made by Bill Miller, booking the spot, and Charlie Yates, who is representing Miss Jorgensen. Product of Danish surgery is slated to leave for England to at- tend the Coronation immediately after the Orph stand and will re- turn to the U.S. in time for the Sahara engagement. Per Thousand'* 8 W SA. Per Hundred 10? For Fifty We uia Cast* man Paper. Fret J Delivery Anywhere Our eervjce »• to duplicate your photos in - quant)* ties as good as your . original or better- -Our Guaranteei You must be satisfied or yodir money back. Samples of our Work sent on request. 100 FREE WITH ANY ORDER OF 100 OR, MORE LET'S GET ACQUAINTED! ' 24 HOUR SERVICE DUPLICATE PHOTO 6L, If 41 §v * * mtT . HOLLYWOOD, CAMFr Cost of moving “Love of Four Colonels” from the Shubert, N. Y., to th$ next-door Broadhurst last week came to about $4,500. That's • nearly equal to a quarter of the normal weekly operating nut for the show. Although the produc- tion was merely carried across an alley, the standard regulations re- quired the management to pay the cost of loading. and unloading it on trucks and carting it around the block. All the bills for the move have not been received by the producers, the Theatre Guild and Aldrich'& Myers, but the transfer called for the payment of IX “loads’’ at the Sunday rate of $60 (instead of $50 on weekdays) per load. Stage- hands also got time-and-a-half for working after the performance Sat- urday night and all day Sunday, plus regular scale for Monday, when they set the lighting. The job took about 25 men. Additional expense included ex- tra-space advertising to announce the move, plus the cost of chang- ing the signs In front of the the- atre. Wanted: Angels With Savvy (&$) for’Church Theatre’ Harry L. Wagner, a Bronx, build- ing contractor who specializes in churches, has come up with an idea for an “inspirational theatre,” which would show non-sectarian religious or spiritual films. Wagner feels such a theatre would not only fulfill spiritual needs but provide entertainment of a high moral na- ture. He further points out it would attract people who seldom or never enter/a church. Wagner’s got a. rough draft for such a theatre, and a sponsor with limited means, but he’s looking for some “angels” with the funds and know-how to put it over. Vegas as Metopera Annex Marguerite Piazza, formerly-frith the Metropolitan Opera Co., will play her first nitery date at the Sahara, Las Vegas, July 14. Miss Piazza has been with the NBC-TV “Your Show of {Shows” for several years. Other former Metbpera singers who have succumbed to the'lure of Las Vegas dollars Include Ezio Pinza, Mimi Benzell, Lauritz Mel- chior arid James Meltoji. Robert Merrill, currently on the Met ros- ter, plays the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, in June, _ ft London, April 28. Claiming that 3-D was the' sub- ject of a British patent in 1862 and that nobody has yet seen bet- ter productions than those made by British technicians for the Festival of Britain, Anthony Asquith, prexy of th’e Assn, of Cine Technicians, declared at the union’s annual con- ference that the ACT did not want to be flooded with applications for labor permits by foreign producers who claim “they have got to show us how to make these films.” If Increased production is re- quired, Asquith added, there would be no difficulty at all in British technicians being available to meet the requirements of all producers. Asserting that 3-p Is not a revo- lution in the way that the coming of sound was, Asquith said that films would still appeal to only two senses, sight and hearing. Also that after the novelty had worn off pub- lic support would depend on the quality of production. The first les- son, therefore, was not to substi- (Continued on page 12) Charlock & Parsonnel Mull G&S Pix Deal With Savoyards, Martyn Green TV film producer Marion Par- sonnet and S. M. Chartock, leading U. S. producer of Gilbert & Sul- livan operettas, are talking a deal to film the works of the Savoyards both for the theatrical and video release. Pix would be filmed at Parson- net’s Long Island City, N. Y., studio, with Chartock providing the services of his entire G&S troupe, including Martyn Green. It’s estimated that each oper- etta, • to be filmed in Eastman color, can be brought in at about $85,000. With Chartock having the scenery, costumes and a well- rehearsed troupe, it’s figured that each film can be shot in five days. Following the theatrical release, producers plan to trim the film to one hour for TV distribution. According to present plans, no deal is contemplated with a major distrib. Pair feel that the cost of prints for a large-scale release would - cut down on the profits. Plan is to follow a slow playoff, keeping about eight prints Of each film in circulation at any one time. FREAK AIR ACCIDENT Kay Ashton-Stevens, widow of the late Chicago Herald-American drama critic, is in New York’s Doctors’ Hospital with three frac- tured ribs as result of a freak plane accident suffered en route to Gotham. Mrs. Stevens was in the powder room of the- American airliner when the plane hit a ■ sudden squall, spinning her around, and causing the injury. She- was in- stalled in the hospital upon arrival by William Randolph Hearst, Jr. Wednesday, April 29, 1953 Gieseking Plays A Merry Game Of Critical Confusion On N.Y. Return t By ARTHUR BRONSON Lanza’s Concert Trek Hollywood, April 28. < Mario Lanza is planning a three- month concert trek around the Country beginning in July. . He was scheduled to star in Metro’s “Student Prince” last year, but repeated failures to report re- sulted in studio dropping him from contract list and filing a-$5,195,888 breach of contract suit against the singer. Larry Adler’s Busy Sked i As Harmonicist, Author, Lecturer and Traveller Ottawa, April 28. Larry Adler is a busy man these days. He’s quarter-way through his autobiography, “From Hand to Mouth,” Which Doubleday is pub- lishing. He also started work on a harmonic instruction course, which his own firm, Larry Adler Music, will publish. He’s doing a concert at Town Hall, N. Y., May 13, and tours South Africa in July for the Jewish National Fund. In October he starts a concert tour of west Ger- many, with three impresarios split- ting the booking, and has 27 dates guaranteed 'within 31 days. He hasn’t been ' there since his 1949 troop shows, one of which, with Jack Benny, was the first' USO troupssto play Berlin. A Canadian composer, Alexander Brott, on the staff of McGill Uni- versity, where Adler lectured re- cently while playing Montreal, is writing a concerto for him. While in Ottawa he addressed the Glebe Collegiate Assembly, near the Glebe theatre, where he and A1 Martino co-headlined. I^ast Friday (24) he was guest soloist with the Ottawa Philhar- monic Orchestra at its spring party in the Coliseum here. He presented Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent with the harmonica which he used to entertain Canadian and U. S. troops in Korea last February. “Play it!’’ the crowd of 5,000 cried, and the PM rose in his box and zipped out a fast scale. He’ll never replace Adler, though. Stolz Faces Vienna Jail Rap On Alimony Claim Vienna, April 28. Robert Stolz, Academy Award winning composer, was ordered to debtors’ prison for non-payment of alimony and for failing to attend court. Stolz was out of town with his fifth wife, Yvonne Louise. In court, his third wife, Josephine Stolz-Zernitz, suing for $1,288, claimed Stolz had considerable property outside Austria, His law- yer said the composer had no .prop- erty or cash and “his only wealth is his evening dress.” Stolz came to the U.S. when Hit- ler invaded Austria in 1938. He Won Oscars for “Spring Parade” and “It Happened Tomorrow.” Times change and tempers cool but German pianist Walter Giesek- ing, returning to Carnegie Hall, N. Y., in recital last \^eek (22) for the first time in 15 years, kicked up almost as much fuss as had Norwegian ringer Kirsten Flagstad on her A American return seven years ago. Civic officials, war vets and young Jewish pickets protested outside while, for a rarity, cops were stationed Within-the hall (they hadn't been even- for Flagstad). A well-behaved 'audience filled the hall to overflowing, with over 200 extra seats on stage. House had been, reported sold out day after the first ad appeared, with 2,000 turned away since. No Ameri- can pianist can do that any more. Audience gave Gieseking a warm welcome on his first appearance, then rose to continue the greeting. But it wasn’t as frenzied a mo- ment as at Flagstad’s first entrance. There was less of the ugly earlier feeling of political zealots out to welcome a symbol. The audience seemed to be a. crosS-sCction of young and old music-lovers; pro- fessional music fraternity and man- agers, and plain pro-Germans. They liked Gieseking, roaring and rising at intermission, and demanding eight encores at the close. There was Some feeling that management had stacked the house with well-wishers to mini- mize trouble, but disinterested man- agers pooh-poohed this, claiming the sellout was real. What they did point out was that this “feeler” concert had been, set up by Giesek- ing’s own Paris manager, assisted by his Montreal representative. It ( Continued on page 68) Morrison Sues For Fay On Plush Party For Ray Hollywood, April 28, This time ft's* Johnnie Ray’s father-in-law who's crying. The Weeper's in-law, Charlie Morrison, took his wails to-court last week and asked for a judg- ment of $11,582 from ’Marlon Davies. Amount covers the cost of catering the lavish party Miss Davies tossed for Ray and his wife, Marilyn, Morrison’s daughter, last Oct. 2, Morrison’s McGuire, Inc.* catered the party. Morrison’s attorney, Jerry Gies- ler, said the sum represents "all food, liquor and service, supplied at cost. Repeated demands for payment were unavailing, Giesler added, hence the court action. Ray and Miss Morrisoh have since separated. Script Before Scripture Hollywood, April 28. Scripter Ken Englund, busy con- juring up the new “Road to the Moon,” for Bob Hope and Bing Crosby at Paramount, was unable to make the trip to New Haven for the marriage last Sunday (19) of his director-son, George, to actress Cloris Leachman.’ Family repre- sentation included George’s moth- er, actress-director Mabel Albert- son, and his actress-sister Patricia Englund. Marriage, at the Yale U. chapel, was performed by Rev. Kelly Clark, an old friend of young Eng- lund’s who attended UCLA and then went on to the Yale Divinity School*- • 4/*9 Subscription Order Form Enclosed find check for $ Please send VARIETY for f To ........................ , . 4<i , Street Vm.i,..,.,,,,, City. .... *Zone... . State. #*.* • • Regular Subscription Ratos Ono Year—$10.00 TwoTears—$10.00 Canada and Foreign—$1 Additional per Year ...... . . P’SrIETY IRC. 154 WesMMh Sfae.fr New York 34. N. Y. O