Variety (October 1953)

RADIO FILMS ST A UK MIJSIC Published Weekly at 154 West 4tith Street. New York 30. N Y . by Variety. Inc., Annual subscription tlO Single copies. 35 rents. £ntered as second class matter December 32. 11*03. at the Post Oftu-e at New York. N. Y . under the act of March 2. 1874 COPYRIGHT. 1953, BY VARIETY. INC., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRICE 25 CENTS NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7. 193.1 One of (he major items on Hie upcoming NBC-TV agenda. now that Sylvester I,. (Pat* Weaver h;<« taken over program reins, is an ambitious 90-minute show to lie called “The Wide Wide World," vvhirh. in its concept, approaches I he "Operations Frontal Lobes” originally earmarked by Weaver a lew seasons hack hut which never go* oil the ground It’s being de- signed as a weekend show, possi- bly for Sunday afternoon slotting, lint, if (tenoral Motors will lend an attentive sponsorship ear, would go into Saturday afternoon time and take lip where the (JM- binkiolled NCAA football game pickups leave otT If (tenoral Motors tails to gel sufficiently ex- cit'd. NllC plans to invite all comers on a multiple-sponsorship Cinerama, whicn touenea oii Hollywood’s dimensional revolu- tion. has become a social phenom- enon of our time. Now marking the first anniversary of its world preem. medium not only touched off the excursion into 3-D, wide- screen and stereophonic sound, but it has had an effect on industry outside the entertainment world. The realistic sense of participa- tion it gives in the travel sequences is said to have had a marked reac- tion on American tourists. Trans- continental airlines reported re- quests for flights that "go over those canyons” seen in Cinerama. The British Travel Bureau receive^ requests as to the date of the Rally of the Pipers which was featured iu the film. Information was askgu the Stale Tourist Bureau of Italy about the Festival of Venice. The increase in American tourists in Spain (45%* and Italy <15'<* this summer is credited partially to the presentation of these countries’ points of interest in "This Is Cinerama." Closer to home, the roller- coaster at Rocka way’s PlaylanJ. N Y.. which provides the initial sensation in the film, did a record- breaking business during weekends all winter, w'hen amusement parks are generally deserted, and a huge billboard proclaiming it as the star of Cinerama has helped to make it a popular puller on the midway. Cypress Gardens. Florida, where one of the principal (Continued on page 71* By GEORGE ROSEN 25,233,000 Telesets Noel Coward at Waldorf Television’s free entertainment budget has hit.the stratosphere this season. In all the annals of .show- biz. nobody’s played around with these kinds of figures before as talent and production costs reach the "colossal” stage. Putting on the "Big 5” TV extravaganzas— the Colgate “Comedy Hour." the Jackie Gleason Show, Buick’s Mil- ton Berle Show, Max Liehman’s "Show of Shows” and Kd Sulli- van’s “Toast of the Town”—repre- sents a weekly talent nut ‘exclu- sive of network time charges* in excess of $300,000 strictly lor a one-time performance. It takes a "Can Can" or "Me and Juliet” legit musical a couple of years to re- coup that kind of an investment. Projected on a 39-week basis 'permitting for the customary 13- week la\oft >. these five shows alone approach the $12,000,000 mark'for program costs alone. Add another $12,000,000 tor time • at the rate of $00,000 per hour for Class A network time) and the five-slum seasonal parlay, dittoed to the American TV viewer, hits a grand slam $24,000,000 figure It’ll even take 20th-Fox’s CinemaSeopic "Rohe" with all its attendant and unprecedented fanfare, a lot ol global circulation and >ears to match that kind of figure TV talent costs for the *53-’54 season are at an alltime high With the comparative situation between networks hitting its peak—now that ABC-TV looms as a major po- tential threat—all the top-budg- eted. higtime entries are splurging bm guest talent as never before in their hid for rating and audience leadership. Witness, for example, the $50,000 NBC-TV is -helling out for two upcoming Ethel Merman (Continued on page 50* As of Sept. 1. telesets in the US. totaled an estimated 25,233,- 000. according to a breakdown by Hugh M Beville, Jr., NBC’s direc- tor of research and planning Fig- ure marks an increase over previ- ous month id 33H.000 and (i,521,000 for a year. Compilation shows that 55'? of American homes have TV re- ceivers. It’s pretty well set for Noel Coward to make his American nitery debut at the Empire Room of the Waldorf-Astoria. N. Y., pos- sibly this winter. He has been play- ing the Cafe de Paris, London, at 1,000 pounds i$2.800* in recent ses- sions. Minimum there is $6. Following the current Patachou. who reopened the Waldorf’s win- ter season, Edgar Bergen & Char- lie McCarthy, Dinah Shore and the Katherine Dunham Dancers are slated to tallow iu four-week in- tervals. Patachou is in for six weeks, and thence to the Last Frontier, her first Las Vegas hook- ing. Haymes’ Philly Cafe Biz Bad, Cuts Final 3 Days; Rita Nixes Cuffo PA R&H Staging Hour-Long TVer Saluting 40th Anni Of Anti-Defamation Org Philadelphia Or I f» Complicated financial ,»r l legal • ft.ii* s 'ft Dirk Havno's took a new tm ii v. lien he failed to show up Mood i\ 5' night for tin* final t-brei* days ol Ins 10-day engagement at the Latin Casino here llaymes, in a I $5 000 weekly and $7,200 fur Hie nm had been doing slim biz in the Philly spot, which may li.ne contributed to Hie decision to wilk out Spot'-, operators bandn’t been too happy about Haymes' appearance. When they apprised him of the !•* that the business picture would he improved eonsiderabh if bis bi d- Mila Hayworth, appeared at • be ,poi they were told by H.iymes • hat Ibis was a solo hooking and Mi-- Hayworth ‘ wa n’t part ol Hie lonlraet Haymes is said to have originally called from (iie-riwub. Conn , where lie’s living, Hill bis 'Continued on page 71 * Minneapolis. Oet. (> Newspaper ads for a number of neighborhood film theatre here- abouts promise adults freedom from "juvenile noises and rowdy- ism.” Special police enforce Hi i> promise and some houses actually decline admission to teenagers at night unless accompanied by a ma- ture citizen. Another new angle used by ex- hibitors is to themselves eliminate screen advertising and then sell the public on “escape front annoy- ing radio and television commer- cials.” Il’s got so some theatres assure in the public that trailers lor fortheoin- e. and* mg attractions are held to a min 1 Ollie's imurn. Idea is that "sheer relaxed ‘diversion" is on tap. Sloan Simpson O’Dwyer Slated for WOR-TV & AM Sloan Sunp-»ni! ex-wife of foi met New York Mayor William O'Dv.yer. may become a radio and television regular within the next few weeks. WOK and WOR-’IV N Y . are currently dickering a regular radio strip plus a TVei for tii** former model, with a deal expected to materialize in a week Oilie (Kukla, Fran &) In N.Y. Town Hall Concert