Variety (January 1954)

Show Biz Oasis Continued from pace t lclt^« a sensitive proposition. | bCMervyn LeRoy readying hi$ first f Warner Bros, but not before atnrng to Sao Paulo for the first St Guinte is commuting between here and Hollywood lining up personalities. No ‘Problems* Lou Quinn is deejaying from La Pai hotel cocktailery.il a.m.-l a.m. neve there are strictly no “probfems” and no “controversial" interSs, as wlien in N, V—just show biz chatter. Big problem is casting testers, other than some stowaway femme patrons at hostelry, cince this is an early-to-bed town, with sun and golf for the pix-video bunch here. But Quinn is fast putting La Par on the map via KCMJ, local GBS affiliate. It took Mrs. Edwin (Velma) Silverman (Essaness Theatres, Chicago) over a year to find a fivebedroom house, since most places locally are one or two-bedroom spots, or guest cottages, but she wanted her entire brood under one roof. Chi showman commutes to Windy City, while his family lives here the year 'round. Mrs. Silverman is prominent in local socialite and Parents-Teachers activities. Charlie Skouras phoned George Brown to “look after" his young niece, Angela Syrakis, on her first trip to Palm Springs and sojourning at the ex-Par studio pub-ad chiefs La Serena Hotel. Brown now preff of the local Hotehnen’s Assn. r.; Paramounteers Lou Ne.vins; Dr. Lawrence, Eugene Zukor here for exec huddles, with Carl Lesermari and Paul MacNamara' on Telemeter. Many pros and cons on “pay-as-you-see" home features. Leserman prefers that to “tollvision" (David Sarnoff’s phrase). “Road to Bali" (Hope-Crosby-Par ) shown twice-nightly at $1 per look. The “barker" (audible trailer) is the sound-scrambler, while the picture is also distorted until the buck is deposited. It’s on Channel 6 and, if by accident, some kid in the household switches away to 5-4-2 (the three other cuffo channels'seen here) that’s like “walking out on the movie." However, Leserman will credit the additional SI, when and if that occurs and the sealed metered cash receptable shows a double-fee was paid; CBS, NBC and Par’s KLAC are the 2-4-5 channels received here over the giant master antenna, where otherwise .tv is blocked-out. Leo and Frankie Spitz entertaining John and fieri; Balabah (from LaQuinta); and the. Walter (Lenore) Annenbergs dittoed by Mervyn LeRoy and Vic Damone at the new Tamarisk golf club. Set Track Hearings Hearings due Feb. 16 and 17 on proposed two new racetracks, a (luarter-horse straightaway and the other for larger 12,000-capacity thoroughbreds. Hotels, restaurants, C. of c., Rotary, etc., favor combining the two, and advocate a November pre-season and March nndscason scries of meets. iJuhe w.i,liam (Mousie) Powells’ . " anni, and Mrs. Charlie (Virginia Valli) Farrell’s birthday celebrations at Racquet Club l.w. llle Goldwyns staying there for a couple of months. T T?ob Howards’ (Andrea Leeds) liowar(i Manor catching on ie; ,dl“° ^ Mirador, but trend seems to be small restful hideaway fiinn Chcktailery, convention and :‘naar conclaves. however, at the rinK afu spota Hke the Racquet riio’.ihe Jennis Cfub, the hotels i * h,e Afalm Springs Biltmore, flnTa v! \ Manor' La Paz, El Miras' fJn. that old standby, the De 'iijc? Gamble’s brother, Joe, runs S>?al cCBS affiliate, KCMJ, Evenh course tlle best signal, ilio i an “overseas" receiver San Jacinto Mts. iniam. /"Ith AM >'eception for the iccmT,li S0” (hat the Public Servna) hJeV1f10n (community antenueG.essai-y for tv on a lation ^ll1°ecbas^s~^150 for installs and $5 a month for the serv .but0h^?n:t ®et tv in Palm Springs, CatliPfi* V G,amps 1” Banning a*d tliis rS* Cl ty’ °n ' either side of iiig can l*’ .a'vay from the toweri Imtow'h Mts-» Hash’ aerials, a pIlk'-h J10st?ls advertise . tv as ' actor, i,e., if they subscribe to the Community Service master antenna. Long established Tweeds & Weeds shop ( sportswear ) now has a Shears & Tears emporium nearby, which is a fancy southern California billing for a beauty parlor And. “Rags : from Bess Bender" is another way of billing a haut couturier establishment which specializes in “glad rags’* (get it?). Excellent Herb Rogers-Michael Ferrall (producer-director team), stock company, back for fifth season at the Playhouse Guild; a thetheatre-in-the-round in a new community playhouse which has civic bankrollers of $50 to $500 memberships that range from founderbenefactor ($500 per season) to $50 supporting members.. Barnard Hughes and his wife, Helen Steribprg, head the company which also includes Mary Foskett, Tim O’Connor, James Stubbs, Ed Matovsek, Alfred Shaeran and Walter Snook. Most bail from. Chi and have had considerable Stock and tv experience—and by their seasoned performances give go od evidence thereof. Hughes was thoroughly professional in the Paul Kelly original interpretation of the backsliding actor in Clifford Odets’ “Country Girl." Ruth Gordon’s “Years Ago" follows. Marjorie Rambeau was the g.of h. and did the ribbon-cutting honors at the socialite preem. Drags in H’wood Continued from pace 1 Hollywood sent a producer, the Ford Motor Co., sent its public relations director, and Life magazine sent its chief editorial writer ’. . . It was really quite fitting when the New York Times inserted in the text of the President’s speech a picture — not of Mr. . Eisenhower, but of Robert Montgomery, the producer who came from Hollywood to: stage the show." That Robert Montgomery has not been a Hollywood resident for some years and that he is prominently identified as a New York television producer and radio news commentator is so well known that Washington sophisticates find it hard to credit Mitchell with ignorance. Actors Over-Eat Continued from page 2 like’. The time you eat isn’t too important! What you eat is what counts! \ ’ • v “It’s such a ■' nuisance to count calories," you tell me. Why count them? A calorie is a measure of beat energy, just as a yard is a measure of length, a pound a measure of height. Eat food that will supply nourishment. And forget calories! ^ . • Carbohydrates are your enemy if you are fat— and don’t argue that with me, I can bring a hum dred doctors who will «back me up. In fact every doctor, unless he has been out. of school or has stopped learning more than TO years ago, will agree to that. I don’t mean you shouldn’t eat any carbohydrates.. I do mean ydu’ll get enough of them in your vegetables and high protein pastas to balance your diet. . “I must have my drinks or I’m miserable!" One of the best doctors in New York said to me, “I let my patients have some alcohol. If 1 don’t, they’d quit me and go to a doctor who would let them drink SO I take that into consideration and cut down on their other foods." So, when you tell ; me you must drink if you want to be happy I say, “Go ahead.” I don’t drink— and I wish you didn’t. But if you must drink, you must. Try to limit yourself to one or two cocktails as far ahead of dinner as possible, because taken right before dinner a cocktail will not only add extra calories but will stimulate your appetite. r Proteins are the only foods that actually nourish you— help build you up and keep you young. Eat as much of them as you like. Your best protein foods are: Beef, all kinds from hamburgers to filets. Poll ltry , which . includes turkey and chicken, young and old. Liver, kidneys, tongue, sweetbreads and brains. Lamb and veal, preferably baked. All fish foods— including lobster, oysters, crabmeat and clams. Cheeses, including pot and cottage cheese, perfect foods. High protein spaghetti and macaroni. Unsweetened gelatine, in drinks and in foods, a fine high protein. Nuts, if you take them Instead of meat or cheese or fish. Queen Down Under Continued from page 1 low Weight Watcher, which has just been published. (Abelard Press). The second book is more: comprehensive. It contains more tables, is actually a course in dietetics and includes the latest discoveries in a science, which, though it had its beginnings back in Greece, is still new. I worked mighty hard on those books. So hard, that now, when I turn to writing a fiction story, which requires no research, no experimenting, no visits to clinics or interviews with doctors, 1 feel as if I were on a holiday. I’m working on some, short stories for a new collection and it’s actually fun. I never thought I’d feel that way about writing. The great problems of people in the theatre, when it comes to losing weight— the problem of gaining weight is a small one, and most of the underweights are better off underweight, anyhow— are concerned, as with people outside of the theatre, with learning about themselves and about food. People eat too much because they are disappointed or frustrated or badly adjusted— or because they love to eat and .have the wrong food habits. They eat too much of the wrong foods for them because of economics, ignorance or appetite. The actor who is “resting" eats too much because he is .restless and unhappy. He turns to food for solace. The actor who is working can eat too much because of his satisfaction in making good. “Here I am, with a good job and living well,” lie says to himself. “How can I eat the right things when my hours are so different?" the entertainer asks me. Why not? I’m up until 4 and I try to eat the right things. So, breakfast is at noon, your second meal around 7 and your third meal around 12. It works all right. Or eat two meals ji day, if that suits you best. Or eat four or five small meals, if you of it will gO'intQ cinema and-live houses, J. C. Williamson, Ltd., will have on the Aussie runaround “Call Me Madam," “South Pacific," “Dial ‘M’ for Murder," “Reluctant Heroes’’ and the Borovansky Ballet. David N. Martin, chief of the Tivoli v-r loop, has already set top shows in the Aussie keys including Tommy Trinder, “Latin Quarter," “Zip Goes a Million," Vienna Boys Choir, and several pantomimes, giving the Tivoli loop its biggest talent lineup for Down Under, There’ll also be a Royal Command performance at the Tivoli, Feb. 6, with the classiest talent roster outside of Broadway. Longhair fare will be well in evidence here dver the Royal span with the National Opera, symphony concerts, top overseas concert stars, a spot of Shakespeare and Little Theatre groups. . Outdoor fare sponsors expect a “killing" from the mob with racetrack carnivals, greyhound racing, auto sports and amusement parks. The Royal Fair, regarded as the greatest of its kind in the world, will be a highlight of ’54. Anticipated that there’ll be a major lineup of U. S. carnival talent here to garner in the come-easy coin from payees loaded with dough and in carnival mood. U. S. pix will have the edge on British on marquee coverage but both Uncle Sam and John Bull tags should hit a new boxoffice high irrespective of outdoor counter attractions, Probably the biggest come-on for the pic mob will be Cinemascope. Niteries are setting their “seeds" right now in anticipation of a rich harvest from wool ranchers in town with heavy checks on a goodtime spree. Floorshdws, it’s understood, will be mostly via local talent. Byrd As Editor Sam Byrd, author* and former New York and British legit producer, has 'been named editor of one weekly paper and manager of another in North Carolina. Bob Gradjv publisher of the Duplin Times at . Kenansvillc and the Weekly Gazette in La Grange, said Byrd will become editor of the Times and manager of the Gazette on March 1. Byrd recently, returned to this country after producing a play iti England. He is author of “Small Town South." A former actor, Byrd long appeared in “Tobacco: Road;" • ‘Goose* Moves East “Blessed Mother Goose," Frank Scully’s cleaned-up version oi nursery rhymes, goes into a new edition under a new publisher this spring. Greenberg takes over from Scully himself in * deal just completed. First editions, which . were deluxe and sold for $7.50, with more gold braid than an admiral’s uniform, sold 8,500 copies. Mugg couldn’t get western publishers to stop confusing Scully and Shelley and reduce the price, so. after a year’s negotiations: he bought back the rights for a test run of his own convictions, Because of high manufacturing costs on the Coast, mugg found he could not give normal trade discounts and steered clear of retail' outlets. Greenberg, after toying with two editions,, hasdecided to Settle on one, a hard-cover job retailing at $2.25.* “Hoth painful and magnificent . . . has jolted my soul * . , it will go down in history as a document that teaches what a human tragedy of the 20th century was like." Traditionally insatiable Japanese appetite for tragedy and sentimental writing is credited with the book’s success. During the drawnout Rosenberg legal action and at time of the execution, reaction among* the general public here was noted to be more sympathetic than otherwise. Reshuffle at McCall’s General staff reshuffling at McCall’S mag;, announced last week by editor-publisher Otis Lee Wiese, finds John English moving into the managing editorship from his previous post of art editor. He’s replaced in the art post by Otto Storch; formerly assistant art editor. John W. (Pete) Dailey moves into N. Y. from the Coast, where he had been coast editor since 1950, to take over as feature editor. Other changes are appointment of beauty editor Peggy Bell to beauty and short features editor; Henry Erlich, from m.e. to picture story editor and Barbara Lawrence from associate editor to senior copy editor. ‘TV Writing & Selling* Writer, Inc., Boston, will issue EdwaVd Barry Roberts' “Television Writing and Selling" Feb. TO ($5.75), author being script ed Of NBC-TV’s “Armstrong’s Circle Theatre.” Ira L. Avery., show’s producer for the agency ,BBD&0), nas done the intro. It is a guide for freelancers who {want to invade the tv market, — Whether filmed or live, explains various techniques, and gives instructions covering the legal and release facets. Ewen’s European Composers David Ewen’s “European Composers Today" (Wilson; $4) is an excellent, handy reference book for the average music-lover rather than specialist, written in breezy, anecdotal style. Book, a * companionpiece to ! Ewen’s 1949 "American Composers jToday," sketches the composers’ lives and lists their chief compositions, with critical capsules. Biogs, i though concise, are fairly complete. | running from a column to two pages in type. Bron. London Klne Switch A. L. Carter has retired from the editorship of the Kine Weekly, London, with which he has been associated for more than 30 years. He’s been succeeded by Connery Chappell, former joint editor, who has been appointed editor-in-chief. Chappell continues as editor of the Picturegoer, which is also published by Odhams Press. Rosenbergs* Jap Bestseller Current bestseller in Japanese book shops is the Jap translation of “Death House Letters," by Julius, and Ethel Rosenberg, couple executed for selling U. S. atom secrets to Russia. Retitled “Love Beyond Death,” the paperbound hit the stands only a few weeks ago but is soaring into top place. That the book publishing business knows no political boundaries in Japan is borne out by the fact ; that publisher of the ^ook, Kobun' sha, is a strictly non-communist house. Among its recent top sellers has been the Japanese version of Herman Wouk’s “The Caine Mutiny.” The jacket blurb on the Rosenberg book is written by one of Japan’s leading writers, Tomoji Abe, never identified with the Communists, who says the book is Paris* Offbeat Legit Books A group of offbeat theatre books and periodicals have appeared in Paris/ of interest to legit people . and also the general public who take more than a passing fancy to theatre. Plerre-Aime Touchard, exdirector of the Comedie-Frandaise, has published a book on his experiences called “Six Annees De Comedie-Francaise" (“Six Years of the Comedie-Francaise"). Frederic Hoset has looked at French legit through an analytical eye in “Psycanalyse De Paris." Roger Vailland, whose antiAmerican play, “Le Colonel; Foster Plaiders Coupable” (“Colonel Foster Pleads Guilty"), was banned in Paris, gives a Communist eye-view , of theatre in Russia and general prophecies of future Iron Country theatre in “Experience de Drame." And Jean-Louis Barrault has; inaugurated the “Cahiers’* of his Marigny Theatre group, which is a special periodical put out with every new addition to the rep with articles by all involved and a general background and rundown of the approach to each piece. CHATTER The Bangor Evening, and Sunday Commercial, founded in 1872, has suspended publication because of steadily rising production costs. ° Toni Robin, Holiday mag fashion editor, resigned <as of Jan.. 1. Olga Fabian, her assistant, is also leaving, to join; the Ogijvy agency. David H. Beetle, of the Gannett News Service’s Albany .( N. Y.) Bureau, has been elected president of the Legislative Correspondents Assn, Warren Flood, sports writer for the Albany (N. Y.) Knickerbocker News, has been elected president of Tri-City Local, American Newspaper Guild. Viking Press has acquired “General Dean’s Story," as told to William L. Worden by Maj. Gen. William F. Dean, Probable publication date i$ May. Sir Edmund Hillary, conqueror of Everest, planed from Prestwick, Scotland, to Reykjavik, Iceland, on lecture trip. He will do a six-week gab tour of the U. S. shortly. Whitney Bolton, drama critic and columnist for the N. Y. Morning Telegraph, is finishing a biography, “Silver Spade" on the life of hotel magnate Conrad Hilton. Ruth Montgomery, tv panelist and Washington correspondent of the N. Y. Daily News, has done the cover story for the Feb, 23 issue of Look mag on Mamie Eisenhower. Al Hine, Holiday mag’s film critic, has a piece in the February issue on Sarasota. Fla., which deals extensively with the winterquarters activities of the RinglingBarnum & Bailey circus. Time mag has a cover story on the N. Y. City Ballet, with artistic director George Balanchine on the cover, in this week’s (Jan. 25) issue. Ballet troupe just started a winter run at City Center, N. Y. McGraw-Hill signed a contract with Columbia U. Prof, Donald N. Bigelow for a new life of President U, S. Grant. During 1952 Bigelow conducted the weekly tele program, “Seminar," produced jointly by Columbia and the ABC network. Theatre Arts mag has started a newspaper servicing project, titled Theatre Arts News Service, which provides news, features, pix and mats on the entertainment field gratis. Monthly service is being sent to 2,000 papers, dailies and weeklies, outside New York, “No Lam For Mary," new mystery novel by H. Felix Valcoe;, is going out to Hollywood story editors prior to publication. Valcoe, who authored "Lawyer’s Fee" and numerous shorts for the old Detective Fiction Weekly and other pulps, is now doing tV scripts. Viking will publish in April Gene Fowler’s “Minutes of the Last Meeting," a personal memoir about his longtime attempts to do a blog of Sadakichi Hartman with assists from John Barrymore, W. C. Fields and John Decker. Also skedded for May or June is “Palace Flophouse," novel by John Steinbeck on which the new Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, slated for 1955 production,, is based.