Variety (December 1953)

Dcccmbtf SOj 1953 LEGITIMATE 55 Chicago, * Dec. 29. ■4* i Jg&S2S?2?'$?&Z ‘Camera' Set for London more definitely logged in on the upcoming slate, the 1952-54 Chi III lpeit season,, now at midpoint, is sWing-into one-iOf-the-skimpiest- -^I^Tn-a^am^’^nirvainJm calendars in recent years. Count- ten’s dramatization of Christopher ******* ***** Stories <• will dozen for the present season. 'The be produced in London next spring next few months will have t0 see by Gertrude Macy . and Walter a flurry of new entries, nowhere Starcke, who presented it for a 262- immediately in sight, if fhe 1953- performance run on Broadway dur- ro ste r -is to come anywhere near „ing the 0951*52-- season-.- - They’ll the 29 shows anchored here "last partner with West End theatreown- year. er-ma nage r Donald Alber.v, Three plays, are definitely. :ert^ Dorothy Tutim, who scored a route in the next two_ months, _but critical click in Graham Greene's other than these the, nonzon iopks current drama success, “The Liv- bleak. “Time-Out for Ginger ar- i n g Room,” will star in the role of rives at the Harris Jan- _11.^ My gaily Bowlesy played on Broad- Three Angels comes in February way by Julie Harris, with van Dru- with ho theatre named as yet. ten repeating his original staging “Porgy & less” returns to the assignment rivic Opera House March 1 for a limited run. • • . „ Both “Ginger” and “Angels are part of the theatre Guild sub- scription * bundle, and their ar- rivals will bring the Guild total to «;iv leaving two vacancies still, to be ’ filled in the eight-show sub- scription package. The current season would have been even lean- er from a volume standpoint had “Can-Can” still playing to srtSSon e *support? 1 *aA?untlrit^ U t« standee attendance at all perform- between $28,000 and $30,000 for ances, last week repaid the final each play. “The Children’s gour,” $50,000 of its $300,000 investment. in inSo^three at The C Y Feuer-Ernest H. Martin the - Sdwyn, undoubtedly would^ ■ /J! 1 .. shortly make an not have made the Windy City in »tial profit distribution, probably stoD without the Guild commit- $60,000-$70,000. It is netting more jnent. than $12,000 a week. . Longevity Angle For the; four weeks ended Nov. From the longevity angle, “Sev- 28 > f he . Cole Porter-Abe Burrows en Year Itch” holds top honors musical grossed $203,800 against a for the season, currently in its capacity (excluding standees) of 15th week at the Erlanger. Eddie $200,640, for an operating profit of Bracken-starrer; hopes—to -hold- -$48,665riesr$l,699^5W~Y<5fk State here until June at least. ‘‘Wish unincorporated business tax. That You Were Here,”^in to-~fourfh brought the net profit to date to stanza- at the ■ Shubert* has been snn ^jck t* vine cinpo doing good biz despite unanimous $72,765; It has since repaid the re- pans from the four local critics, maimng $50,000 of its investment, but no one connected with the and^the first profit dividend will be production here is making any issued early in January, longrange predictions until, the Thejshow is currently in it$JJ4th January conventioneer response week af the Shubert, N Y. has been tested. "An Evening With Beatrice Lil- , 9 t lie” opened last night (Mon.) at RhlllP DpbvC ASRE Rid the Blackstone and is shooting for DM,UC Wlajfb JdOUo D1Q a minimum of six weeks. “Good , '. • London, Dec. 29. Nite, Ladies” arrived at the Great Vivian Blaine, femme, star of the Northern Saturday (26) oh a low- London version of “Guys and stakes budget and a. twofer push. Dolls,” turned down an offer to ■When. “Ginger”, arrives, the five play the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, Shubert houses and the Indie Er- commencing June 9. She hopes to lanjger, owned by Marcus Heiman, be able to appear there next Sep will all be alight, at least for a few tember. weeks. The Shubert’s Selwyn Is Miss Blaine vacates her role in housing the “Julius Caesar” film, “G&D” on May 28 on the conclu- which should be good for at least sion of her year’s contract, and three months. The Civic Opera intends to take a short vacation on House, which only now and then the Riviera before returning to the books a musical, runs on practical- States, ly a seven-days-a-week schedule with one-nighters, . opera and bal- let. Sadler’s Wells Ballet is cur- rent. Theatre ’53 Preps Preem Of Okla. Medico Story Dallas, Dec. 29. ' Theatre ’53 preems “Oracle Junc- tion” here Monday (4) for a. three- week run. New drama by Sari Scott is the fourth of eight new scripts offered by managing director Mar- go Jones in the current 30-week season. Play is based on the life of Dr. Michael Shadid, Oklahoma physi-, cian. Author, whose play, “An Old pteatrtJp Womanpreemed here at Theatre ’49, is here 'for the “June- opening. tion-’ “King and I,” which ends its Broadway fun next April 10, lias earned $756,330 profit as of last Oct. 31. The distributed profit is $700,000 thus far, divided 40-60 between, the management . and backers, representing 117% profit on the $360,000 investment. Back- ers get the extra 10% share, but don’t participate in the film or for- eign rights. N For the five weeks ended Oct. 31, the Rodgers & Hammerstein mu- sical grossed, almost $213,000 and earned $29,042 operating profit. After distribution of profit, the re- maining assets included $10,625 ad- vances,. $25,000 cash reserve and $20,667 balance available. The musical version of Margaret Landon’s “Anna and the King of Siam” novel, with Yul Brynner as star, is currently in its 144th Week at the St. James, N.Y. Bat Shares Royalties Robert Fryer; producer of “Won- derful Town,” has abandoned plans to 1 do the show in London, but will get- the management’s customary share of the author royalties from. such a presentation. Agreement to that effect was reached last week by the producer and, libret- tists Joseph . Fields and Jerome Chodorov, composer Leonard Bern- stein and..lyricists Betty—Comden and Adolph Green. The ^authors are reportedly negotiating .with various London managements for a West End edition of the musical. Fryer’s option on the British rights were up for renewal, but he wante^ an extension of the time limit on a London production, on the plea that there are no imme- diate prospects of a suitable the- atre becoming available. When the request was denied, he decided to let the option go, merely retaining the standard producer share in the author’s royalties. There was a disagreement whether Fryer’s op- tion had expired before he gave notice, but that was amicably set- tled last week. In Balto Sub Setup Novel setup is being used by the Baltimore Sun in handling its drama and film departments, pend- ing the appointment of a perma- nent successor to Donald Kirkley. Latter was recently shifted to tele- vision editor after many years as legit-picture editor-critic. : For the present, three members of the City staff, R. H. Gardner, -Patrick—Skencr'Carling aird Jan- etta Somerset, are alternating in charge of the Sunday drama-film section, as well as rotating the reviewing of legit and screen open- ings.; Eventually, the idea is to give one of the trio the regular critic-editor assignmeht. Unusually elaborate physical production for “By the Beautiful Sea” has created a theatre booking problem. Although plans call for the musical to go into -rehearsal Jail .' 17. and have its Broadway opening March 25, producers Robert; Fryer and Lawrence Carr have been unable to contract for a New York bouse. With “King and I” scheduled to close April 10 at the St. James, that theatre will be available; However, its backstage specifica- tions; are reportedly too. small to accommodate the “By/the Beautiful (C on tinued :on_page-56) — Trial for Everybody Newspaper copyreaders and printers are apparently due for one of their periodic spelling bee binges over the title of “The Caine Mutiny . Court Martial,” Herman Wouk’s tlramatizatioirof a chapter from his “Caine Mutiny’’ bestseller. There’s already been local confu- sion during the show’s .engage- ments on its current tryout tour. Producer Paul Gregory has au- thorized the spelling as “Court Martial” for the Playbill and in all publicity releases, etc., in connec- tion with the engagement at the Plymouth, N.Y., opening Jan. 20. However, the ABC ads for the run will spell it “Court-Martial,” with a hyphen. But just to complicate things, the spelling is usually “Courtmartial” (one word) when the printing is in script form. On the road r it occasionally 1 was used as one word, even in block letter- ing. ■ Princeton, N. J., Dec. 29. Takeover last week of McCarter Theatre .by Princeton U, from the Triangle Club, and the university's plans for future legit- presenta- Klons^have excited—much interest in professional show biz circles as well as at Princeton and other col- legiate centres. It’s believed to be the first tirhe. Certainly in the east, for a university owning, a theatre to back a commercial legit enter- prise, and to import a professional for the purpose. ... — University has appointed vet barn and company manager^ Rich-_ |"srd~ Skinner "general manager “ol the theatre, whose duties will be to supervise operation of the house and arrange bookings of pre-Broad- way tryouts and road shows. Five weeks each fall will be given to the Triangle Club, for its annual production; balance of season Skinner will book in concert and ballet attractions as well as legit. Longhair stuff will run early in the week, legits, on weekends (Thursdays through Saturdays). Skinner will have faculty, status, though not teaching or carrying scholastic rank. College feels that the. sciences are.; getting sufficient attention, with the humanities somewhat neglected. It wants to stress the humanities.- and feels it can ex- press this best,via the professional' theatre. ' So Princeton is in show busi- ness. For a starter, it’s put up $10,000 for a facelift of the bouse, repainting it, fixing it up backstage, etc. Skinner has a generous budgei for promotion, exploitation in the surrounding area, etc.. College,, is propping on a longterm basis to establish the town as a legit cen- tre. It wants to build the theatre up as part of the community and college. Other schools will watch tbe-experiment rlosely:—— :— Joshua Logan, Princeton grad (Continued on page 56) ‘Dolls’ Back Into Black After showing an Operating loss for the previous four-month period, ‘Guys and Dolls” got back into profitable operation for the four- week period ended Oct. 31. Broad- way and touring production of the Frank Loesser, Jo Swcrling and Abe. Burrows musical have since been merged and the combined troupe is currently on the road; ..For the four-week span during October, the New York company earaed $11,870 operating! profit, plus $3,838 from the sale of Decca recordings, Swedish royalties, sou- venir programs, etc. That brought , e l°tal profit on the original pro- duction to $927,291 to date. For the saine period the touring edition ii on operation, plus ft* 01 ! 1 souvenir program sales, less $5,688 additional pfoduc- J’®" expenses. That brought the to$794in ° n * be secon< * company ne t profit on the two com- of Oct. 31 was thus MdI? - 408 ' The Cy Feuer-Ernest H; i ? o n , p I esentati0n hits distributed SSS& 9 ?- profit thus far, on its dS°°° ‘^vestment. Another divi- S’i pro . babl y $50,000, will be pa< * ln mid-January. OUT NEXT 48th Another Drive Doe On i ATPAM Mood Clause; Season’s Quota Filled A drive to eliminate the new blood clause in the Assn, of The- atrical Press Agents & Managers* ■ minimum basic agreement with the League of NY, Theatres, is due soon. Ben Boyar, head of ATPAM’s managers group, plans to reacti- vate the managers apprentice com-, mittee within two or three w’eeks with the intention of doing away with the clause. The Committee has been inactive most of this. year. Blood clause enables producers to propose a total of three new members seasonally for entry into the union, without going through an apprenticeship period. Previous efforts to knock out the clause have been defeated by the League. The quota of members eligible for admittance into the union un- der the blood clause has been filled for this season. Trio of new members are Oscar Olesoh, Charles N. Mooney and Edward Woods. Oleson is doubling as gen- eral manager and company man- ager for ’’Remarkable Mr; Penny- packer,’’while Mooney .and Woods are company managers, respective- ly’, for “Dear Charles” and “Star- cross Story’.” Woods, incidentally, was co-producer With Gen Geno- vese of the 1952 flop, “Buttrio Square.” Additional candidates for entry into ATPAM under the clause will not be eligible for mem- bership until next Labor Day. SUGAR SAM, SHIRLEY’S MOPPET ASSIST IN ‘SEA’ Sugar Sani, an eight-year-old Negro singer-dancer, - has been signed to make his Broadway debut in “By the Beautiful Sea.” He’ll play a Coney Island Urchin who performs for penny-tossing midway patrons. One of the latter will be the show’s star, Shirley Booth, and the script will have the latter be- coming so enthusiastic that she joins the moppet in a song-and- dance. Also set for the musical are Mae Barnes, Negro comedy singer cur- rently^making a nitcry appearance at Bon Soil*, N.Y.; Robert Russell Bennett as arranger, and Jay Blackton as pit conductor. Wilbur Evans will sing the male lead.