Variety (July 1953)

VOL. 191 No. 4 £ ubllihed Weekly at 154 West 46thStreAt» New York. 35. N. Y.» by Variety. Inc.. Annuel, subscription 510. Single copies, an. cents, nteved se second class matter December aa# 1005. at the Post-Office at New York. N, Y.; under the act of March 3. 187®. COPYRIGHT. 1053. $Y VARIETY. INC..' ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 1953 PRICE 25 CENTS BLOW-HOT, By JIM WALSH The first practical disk talking- machine was. the Grani-o-phone, invented by Emile Berliner, Ger- man-bprn inventor who lived in Washington, O. G, On April 3, 1896, Berliner recorded what may have been the first platter ever made especially for Fourth of July trade. Although .the waxing was done in Washington, the record was called “The Spirit of ’76^-A Street Scene in Boston.” The per- formers of ’96 who “huzzaed” and defied the Bed Coats were uni- dentified, but they crowded lots of sound and fury into the single- sided, seven-inch, raspy zinc disk: For many years afterwards, Vic- tor and other record purveyors made a practice of issuing in June special supplements and demon- stration-booth hangers of “Records of Patriotic interest,” in the. hope that the approach of “the Glorious Fourth” would stir the flag-\yaying emotions of the average American and pep up the normally . below- par summer platter b u sin e s s. These special supplements con- sisted largely of standard patriotic songs: “The Star-Spangled Ban- ner,” “America,”. “Columbia, the Gerit of the Ocean,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Yankee Doodle,”. “Battle Cry. of Freedom,” etc. But there was also a smattering of pa- triotic orations; such as Leonard Garfield Spencer intoning Lin- coln’s Speech at Gettysburg, and (Continued on page 36) ‘Merry Widow’ Star Again In Bridal Suite Script For 50th Wedding Anni Des Moines, June 30. Mrs. Robert J. Shank, known professionally here as Mabel Wag- ner Shank, together ..with her hus- band, returned to the Congress Hotel. Chicago;. last week for a celebration of their fiftieth .wed- ding anniversary. It was the cus- ; tom, .at the time of the Shanks' honeymoon at the Congress, for . bridal couples to take with them the key to their hotel room, :after Which the hotel changed the lock. The Shanks had kept their key, . and in writing for a reservation for ; tlu‘ anniversary celebration, had mentioned the key. The hotel P ayed along to the extent of re- placing the lock in the bridal suite . • V Jh the one that.; was there 50 y tars- ago. In addition, hotel repre- sentatives met the Shanks in Chi- cago with a 1903 Holsman rope- nnve automobile, for a fast drive to. the hotel. .. . , Shank admits to age 80, but Mrs. ) n,r,n k, who has been widely known .\ owa tor many years as a dra- « ,, c , an d music coach, claims to •.V a: ■ .little younger.” She toured = r ycar^ilT^i^JTf vt'Va and concert work, and in {(•j, ,: jarred in . “The Merry tvidow on Broadway. . Unprecedented case of a network television show being telecast regularly on three • of the seven channels in the New York; market will occur nekt Monday (6), when “Juvenile Jury” starts on NBCrTV, with the show set to appear simul- taneously in N. Y on WNBT, WOR- TV and WATV, Newark. WOR-TV g^ts show because of its rights deal with Barry, Ehright. & Friendly, owners and packagers of the program, which originated on WOR-AM several years ago.. WATV will get the program be- cause Serutan, which is launching a new product, Geritol Jr. with the program, owns a piece of the Newark station, which occupies Channel 13 in the Gotham market. Both stations will pick up an NBC- TV feed; - Reno. June 30. Building of a $10,000,000 resort hotel is slated to begin in Reno within the next 60 days. The Reno Desert Inn would be along the de- sign of the Las Vegas Strip hotels, containing. 346 rooms, a swimming pool and dining room-casino to seat 1,000. Such hotels have been in the rumor stage in Rend for a year, or more, but this marks the first actual announcement of building plans, made' by A. Miller; a stock- holder, and partner in the. Town House here. - : No definite location AVas revealed for tlie swank hotel but the “logi- cal” point, and the area where all interested potential, builders have !. surveyed;; Will be two to three ’ miles south of Reno biii Highway 395. This is in the middle of the valley which has the Mt. Rose ski area in the west a. few miles, and the desert area to the east, The setting is socko and the potential of the area as a year-round sports area is tremendous. In the event of other hotels being built in Reno, most are figured to choose this vicinity, / v’■■■ ’ , In line With the year-round ac- tivity planned by such builders, the hotel will have not only a. swim- ming pool but an ice skating rink. I Adjacent area Of 39 acres will have ; a nine-fiole golf course and four i tennis courts. Hollywood’s entry into new di- mensions continues to be marked by vacillation. The uncertainty is as evident., as the shuffling of re- lease sked.s, as producers and dis- tribs maneuver in search of the most marketable product. ' When tlic Arch Oboler eye-open- er;. “Bwana Devil,” received a sur- prising bo, reception, almost every filmery showed an inclination io join the 3-D bandwagon. Critics’ Views, plus audience complaints, induced a degree of caution. This disappeared somewhat with the re- ception of Warner Bros.’ “House of W ax,’ ’ Para mount’s “S anga ree ’' a nd Universal’s, “it Came. From Outer Space.’’ Despite the socko b.o, returns, there remains among many trado- sters a hard core of skepticism t hat 3-D wil 1 take a dive, once thc nov- elty value wears out. It is this skepticism that’s causing the topsy- turvy in production plans. Frequent . changes in filming plans have inade it well-nigh im- possible to determine just how many 3-D pictures Will be available for delivery to the nation's thea- tres during the next year.- While the first announcement of a new picture may reveal that it’ll be a siercopic, subsequent reports of the film will quietly drop the 3-D ap- pellation, It may be changed to a widescreen technique, or may sim- ply be listed without any reference to the filming process;. ; wl_ Examples are Par’s announce- ment on “Red Garters” and “Knock (Continued on. page 40) Hollywood. June 30. Eddie Rio, Coast rep of Ameri- can Guild of Variety Artists, has alerted all A OVA field reps to - he on the watch for “tapeworms.” Rio said crackdown follows re- cent discovery that a pianist in the relief orcll at the Riverside, Reno,, was tape-recording, the Peter Lind Haycs-Mnry liealy act while it worked there. Rio complained to Riverside op Ruby Matters, who ripped tlie recorder apart and l.also will With the plx and television in- dustries still at arm’s length de- spite various attempts to get them together harmoniously, and the film companies still frowning on free exposure of their stars on the Sight airwaves, result has been closer eooperation be.tween pix and radio,. fellow sufferers of the tele revolution. Latest evidence is 1 he news (hat NBC radio has Induced Jimmy Stewart to try his trademarked voice hi . his firstregular series. Program, a cowboy si tualionor called “The Six Shooter,” wil I debut in the: fall. In addition-, Broderick Crawford do his first radio series J threatened t(T fire, the 88’or it it ever happened again, Rio says pia- nist planned to send tape .east, to writers, selling it to. them fur the • does gags. .- | ably As a- result, Rio is suspicious st unt may be in practice elsew'liere. so guild’s on the o. o. for “tape- worms,’' so. termed by Hayes fol- lowing the Reno incident. as “Moon Is Blue,” in a cut-down ' p h y s i c a 1 product; i on, may' I) e - sent on tour again next fall by Aldrich &. Myers to play cities and towns where the. picture . version is ] .... . . , . banned. It’s figured that the p.ubH licity from the film tabu may spark 1 Shubert, where the C e those who missed the F. Huslv Her -■■,■{£* “Wf bert.^cooihdy. previously ia.to want-j Jheie was the biggest hM,vi ^ l.i . ing to see whatail dlie .BhobUn-^tihree ■p^rso ; ra^MajoMty-t>£.il.e for. ' ; ; . Special, touring edition By ALICE GRIFFIN Check at ticket windows of N. V'. legit houses operating on 4Bb. 45th and ,46th streets during, these dog days reveals b,o, barkers dis- playing little'bite and much cour- tesy. Survey, conducted Iasi Friday afternOon 126) with the tempera- ture at 89, also uncovered dart- that good orchestra locations;.are to be had on short. notice, to all shows, and to most perform fine s, including weekends, during July. Scarcest ticket was “Can-(’an,' ; A1- ■ the Porter- as the star of CBS Radio’s “Big Joe Small,” to be written and pro- duced by Hank G, arson, who also Junior Miss.” Audition proh- will he taped this week in Hollywood. These two .pix, n.ames are but the latest in a recent .series- of moves of filmites into radio. Of. course, Ronald Oolmatii has been airing “My Favorite Story”, for years;. But Spring Byington entered the. AM lists only last December with hei: CBS. Radip ”i)eeemher Bride’- series. Marlene Dietrich started “Time for Love” series last April. Now on. hiatus; the '.Dietrich- A Met* Will be back io the fall, j Me ree d os Aj e Ci i nh r i d ge, w h o we n t i from radio to pi#;-has' reLurned to ' .AM with her CBS Radio .strip, *' r’ami Iy Sice 1 el on,” wI) i eh preerned. ; last niopth. '.Will. .Rogers, Jr., who ; slaifed wilh one pic and'then- de- cided to say in the biz, is starting ((.'onliriued on page 55) ’ Is ‘Rome-Inspired,’ ‘Ridicules’ Protestants Washington, June 30. Cecil B. were deserted.’ Devotees of b.o. etiquette DeMille, an .. Episcopa- lian and . a' 32d. degree . Mason, wrol.i* an irato.lei I er to New Age, published in Washinglon by the S up re in e Coun cii' of. the S ep 11 i sh. 'Rr.i .(> of , Er ge in a son i:y, Sou 1.1 i er n '■ Jurisdielion.. Ife 'denied, so fa'r. as •’The’ Creates! . Show; On i- EariJi” : fparr is ; eone •rhed. an .editorial ' a 1 lega f.i on by: !vl in e r ; Rogers.-, th a I a. : “Rome-inspired'’. Hollywood pi*,i can '.be* lice-. has.. been depicting C'at ’tJjie. with .“digniiy and •aying Protestant if “to .east ridi- on the entire The National Catholic Welfare. Council:- ‘.'iNfews Service in a story earned about Made her name synonymous with, syndicated to Catholic papers, ex- cond company courtesy in ticket-selling. - • plained that the criticism of “The netted tl fifi I . At . the 46th Street Theatre, Greatest Show on Earth” was based " r “Msted == -n5= rT Stockhold crrs^irrTt-h e= hotel corporation are Miller,. Wil- liam Besthorn, of Besthorn Cigar i (Continued ^n page 55) or so and might be able to break .. , even;for as little as $10,0.00 a week. • at_ .the Martin, RgyU- Original production of “Moon,’ -1 ( Crucible ),. in • all seasons, has financed at. $75,000, $205,000 profit. Second financed at $60,000, netted $160,- \ , ■ , . , ■ . .. GOO more;, and a third’ edition fi- j-whore "Guys and Dolls” returns on a- .scene s!mwm«. a Catholic nanced at $50 000 broke even No Aug. 10, the pasteboard Vendor priest blessing a departing circus income, has-been received thus far beamingly advised on prices, per- ; train. DeMille. direct or. and pro- ! from Se film version, which was formances and availability. Few duccr of the picture, noted in nis 1 produced on a cooperativ’c basis, I doors east, at the Fulton,..treatment letter that, there is no Te-ason to • - - - - 1 ' — j! -’ -- - u; >- f making ^\Tth^orlginal=st-agei^0tto-dh-einiri , -^w-a^^keMse^jcOJXliaL-as concerris^ a ecus.e—hinj _ Jjf—jU_a KljIg_^ ! ger.- as director, Pioduction -Code , .‘'The Seven Year It.ch, v, hei'e it .-.Catholic propaganda. He ’ Authority reriised approval of the . was imparted that orchestra loca -1 “No Roman Catholic has ' ..it,.-.. 1 iPnnLinnaA nn t • {nnnt ittii Crl nii nnflC ! “Roman X 1 U 11 l ilj . wil screen edition. 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