Variety (January 1954)

FILMS * »« • #>• / .• < RADIO ? . <? • • * VIDEO MUSIC STAGE . * . • > • Published Weekly at . 194 West 46th Street. New York 36, N. Y., by Variety, Inc. Annual Subscription 910. Single coplea.. 23 cents. * Entered ai second class matter December 22, 1903, at the Posjt Office at New York. N. Y„ under be act of March 3. 1879. COPYRIGHT. 1954, BY VARIETY. INC.. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED VOL. 193 No. 8 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1954 PRICE 25 CENTS By JOSEPH C. SHEA "4 Diminishing editorial space devoted to amusements and to the legitimate theatre in particular is i noted, in almost every city in which touring companies of Broadway -hits or the original New York company hazard a trip from coast :t0 coast. This condition is a vital problem for the working advance agent, local theatre manager and •t he producers who venture beyond Henry Hudson’s River. . • Since the. amusement rates are generally higher than for other sections o£ the newspaper, the -subject of more adequate coverage of both stage and screen might well be placed upon the agenda of -the Council of the Living Theatre and the Assn, of Motion Picture Advertisers; ‘ Aggressive theatre managers and publicity agents are using television and radio to supplement their campaigns. Of course it cannot be authoritatively proved that television and radio sold any show, but in areas where this supplementary campaign was hot used, hit shows have hot sold Out. The recent newspaper strike in New York might cause speculation'' about reader ( Continued on pager 60 ) 0 * Drew Pearson’s Gumshoe : Filmed Interview With Masked Igor Gouzenko • Operating under cloak-and-dagger secrecy, Drew Pearson, and an American camera crew Visited a remote rented-for-occasion farm in an unnamed part of Canada over the past w eek e*n d. . Resultantly, Pearson secured an exclusive 35-minute, filmed interview with tfie famed-but-neverfceen former code clerk of the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, Igor Gouzenko. This will be on 58 American tv stations this Friday (29V. New York outlet is WABD at 7:45 p.m. Pearson’s interview presages a hew type of aggressive tv journalism. Gouzenko, who will wear fi (Continued on page 70) • ^ • As Symph Narrator Allentown, Pa„ Jan. 26. • * re,d Allen* appeared in a new role here Sunday (24). that of a ^.^ert-artist, and made a big hit •9hnn a capacity audience of over pwwu. as narrator of Pro Ig* 5 ‘Peter and the Wolf,”’ w jee Allentown Symphony Orch tjn conducted. by Don Yodmt jnade a hit with the audie: IP®? he remarked before he sti J£a™e narrati°n: “When Vishir Ef* we were # going to do this t_JePiovyn' he invoked the veto y to stop this performance. ] (Continued on page 71) t . . • ■ :■ . ♦ All it e VII Hi Ml Whatyamean, • Vague’? Washington, Jan. 26. Recgnt decision of the U.S. Supreme Court invalidating censorship of “La . Ronde” (N.Y.) and “M’‘ (Ohio) on the grounds of film censors’ “vagueness” was one of the “vaguest” decisions ever written, So declares Martin H. Work,, executive director of the National Council of Catholic Men. Quote: “Not even a constitutional lawyer is prepared to state the exact meaning of the ruling or what implication it holds.” Gingerbread, As Was, for Sale Chicago, Jan. 26. Owing to recent modernization of the major theatres in the chain, Balaban & Katz this week is staging a giant auction of theatre furnishings which for some 32 years had made up the decor of the Chicago and other B&K and Great States houses. Included among the items displaced from the old rococo vogue are antique furniture, bric-a-brac, silver, crystal chandeliers, statuary, lamps, decorative firearms, mirrors and 100 paintings by fairly well-known artists. ' Sale may help circuit to recoup a goodly part of its refurbishing expenditure last year. Chicago Theatre alone was retrimmed at cost of $400,000. Auction is being held At Chicago Art Galleries. ■, BROADWAY SIDESHOWS SHOULD STAY: DOWUNG Despite the recently enacted legislation by the^ N.Y. City* Council aimed at elimination of the 'honky-tonk atmosphere of Times Square area, Robert W. Dowling, prexy »of the City Investing Corp.with considerable holdings in that district would like to see Broadway retain its carnival aura and in fact would like to see the entirg area Converted to one big • well-run amusement park. bowling stated that by depriving Broadway of the low cost amusements such as the shooting galleries, various museums and the open window hotdog stands, many of the younger people without too much money to spend would rarely -see Times Square. “Why," he asked, “should these youngsters have to go to Coney Island or Palisades to get low priced entertainment? Just as long as they are Well-regulated, and aren’t clip (Continued on page 71) By JOE COHEN The desirability of haying a salesman with pad and pencil in hand somewhat nearer than the home telephone or the nearest sales showroom is causing the Detroit automotive* industry to become an increasingly larger investor in live talent entertainment. Current rash of auto shows around the country, each with a whopping talent budget/ attests to the fact that the industry has decided that it’s best to get ’em while the oohs and aahs are still oozing at the sight of the latest models. The 1954 pitch is strictly on the hard-sell side. A wag has quipped: “This will be a four-and-a-halfmillion-Car year, if General Motors has to sell every one!” It’s going to be very brutal for the also-ran companies that don’t, or can’t, move their wheels off the sales floors. The biggest show of all is the General Motors Motorama at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria, N. Y., which is drawing /more than 30,000 daily into the main ballroom, (Continued on page 60) Senator McCarthy Rates $1,500 for a Lecture, Same as Mrs. Roosevelt Chicago, Jan. 26. * That Senator Joseph McCarthy ranks as one of the top paid attractions on the pulpit circuit currently, is pointed out by a Chicago SunTimes survey of lecture booking agencies. McCarthy commanded $1,500 for an appearance here last week at, the annual dinner of the Cicero Manufacturers Assn., an amount which, untapped by any ageht, ranks on par with well established speakers like Eleanor Roosevelt and John Gunther. Also it’s substantially higher than What is paid such notables as Carlos P. Romulo, Philippine ambassador and former president of United Nations, Clifton Fadiman, Bennett Cerf, and Arthur Treacher. Redpath Bureau, oldest lecture agency in Chi, disclosed that the average speaker receives between $100 arid $300 per lecture, McCarthy is known to have waived his fee for certain engagements, accepting only expenses for himself arid his wife. Marilyn on Captor TV’er For First Family Twin Hollywood, jan. 26.; Marilyn Cantor opens Feb, 3 at El Rancho Vegas, Las Vegas. This Sunday (31) she’ll appear with her father, Eddie Cantor, on “Colgate Comedy Hour,”. NBC-TV, the first time any of his daughters have appeared professionally with him. By ROBERT J. LANDRY He Means High Chested Abram F. Myers, an exhibitor prone to give his vocabulary a workout, professes to be puzzled over Production Code tqipkick Joseph I. Breen’s decisions, which okay Rita Hayworth’s dance in “Salome” but nix Jane Russell’s terpery in “French Line.” Perhaps, Myers Opined, Breen is drawing a “bathycolpian” line of distinction. Less-learned men checked with Webster, found the word is of Greek origin and means “deep-bosomed.” President Eisenhower has every, intention of showing up as honor guest at the annual Radio-TV Correspondents dinner at the Hotel Statler, Washington, on Feb. 6, but he’s let It be known to the boys arranging for the entertainment hoopla to keep the show down to an hour and five minutes, since even that much will take the President too late into the evening. At least that’s 65 minutes more than Ike witnessed last year, when he expressed a preference to “sit it out” on that occasion because it was just post-inauguration time and he was still getting his D. C. feet wet. This year CBS is in charge of putting on the show (the major networks alternate annually) and co-producers Lester Gottlieb, CBS radio program veepee, and Irving Mansfield, CBS-TY producer, have set Raymond Massey in a scene from “Abe Lincoln in Illinois v; Art Linkletter will emcee. Despite ^ segregation, which is weakened but stilf general, the American Negro has become the most important, financially potent, and sales-and‘-adveirtising serenaded “minority” in the land. During the . past 10 years While foreignlanguage publications and broadcasting have defined notably, the Negro market, which during the depression was despised as mar-* ginal and underprivileged, has become a 1 5-billion-doll ar market. In numbers it exceeds the total population of Canada. These facts, and their byproducts, now immediately concern sponsors, advertisers and operators of theatres. While the Negro goes on struggling for equal rights in schools and colleges and public transportation, he is increasingly courted by those with goods and services to sell. . Usually written about and discussed in terms of social evil, “segregation” actually is very profitable to the owners of media and services catering to colored •< Continued on page 69) Met Opera Opening Nites Set for Closed-Circuit Theatre TV in 3-Yr. Deal Opening nights of the Metropolitan Opera, always a gala New York social and artistic event, will reach the hinterlands starting with the 1954 season via Theatre Network Television. A three-year contract has been signed. Part of the plan, to be sponsoredby the Metropolitan Opera Guild as a benefit for the Metopera Assn., will be an arrangement in each hooked-up city for a prominent local charity to stage a theatre party. In order to close the deal, TNT (Continued on page 70) BAKER HOTEL DALLAS^ TEXAS Currently presents THE HOUR OF CHARM All Girl Orchestra and Choir Featuring EVELYN and her Magic Violin under the direction of PHIL SPITALNY