Variety (June 1954)

UNCBlXm . Cos. For 4**1 .■ . < ■ By ROBERT J. LANDRY f Another round in the fight against cigaret advertising on the air is coming up. The tlpofl has been passed along to temperance, church, medical and other sources which are alarmed by the increase of lung cancer. The tipoff is this: a precedental case will soon come to trial in the midwest. Ira C. Howe of Pestus, Mo., has sued four cigarette companies and a national chain of grocery stores charging that he contracted cancer of*the lung, and lost one lung surgically, .as the result of claims made in advertising that smoking is harm- less. Howe is demanding $250,000 damages. That full propaganda use will be made of the Howe case is clear from the prominence giVen .it in the initial newsletter on “Smoking and Health” produced by publicist Roy Norr, who has been the ob- vious brains behind most of the attacks 4n the past two ’years against cigarets. Norr argues that the cigaret companies’ defense that “no conclusive proof” has been established cannot, by itself, stop the Howe case from going to a decision. Chimneysweeps’ can- cer, which dates from Sir Percival Pott’s dictum of 1775, could be the legal precedent. Norr suggests that the tobacco lawyers know this, and are worried, along with the net- works which, having been obliged to pass up whiskey advertising, don’t like the implied possibility that (Continued on page 30) THOSE EXPANDING PARKS Pacific Chain Opens 25th Drive-In -—Starts 26th WHEN‘UNITS’ UNNERVED BRITISH MUSIC HALLS By JESSE FREEMAN Alfred Zeitlin, whose rather skimpingly detailed obituary ap- peared recently in Variety, was a pioneer in .producing and traveling American revue-type units in the British music halls. The current generation has hardly any notion „of the impact of such “innovations” at a time when vaudeville was in- tensely personal and any change of business methods which threat- ened or increased the probability of more acts working more dates, or less, was immediate in its emo- tional reaction. It was around 1913 when Zeitlin. an agent for music halls, started the vogue for units. This was irr collaboration with Con Conrad and Ned . Wayburn. Dyed-in-the-wool oldtimers raised a big holler in the London of that day. They contend- ed, and they were right, that units would be at the expense of book- ings for individual turns. The units had a considerable fad both in Lon- don halls and in the provinces while worried performers stood by and sweated it out. In a year or two World War l came along and then there were never enough acts to go around. ^ Los Angeles, June 8/ Pacific Drive-In Theatres wifi open its 25th ozoner, the Rose- crans, next week and . will then start construction on its 26th, to be known* a* the Covina. Each of the new theatres repre- sents an outlay of $300,000, exclu- sive of the land, and will have a capacity of 1,500 cars. Behind-Scenes-And-Necks View Wins Respect For McCarthy Video Experts / By FLORENCE LOWE * Washington, June 8. The person with a tv screen has a front row seat to the country’s current number one attraction— the McCarthy^Army hearings. But, as in all top show biz produc- tions, there’s a behind-the-scenes operation that not even the front pew stub holders can see. And In this one" respect, even the most humble spectator, jam-packed in the aisles of the 200 seat Senate Caucus room, has an advantage j over the comfortably-seated living room viewer. .The hustle-and-ibustle of the hearing room is necessarily lost as Lthe strategically placed cameras [ concentrate on the stars of the per- { formance, training the sharp eyes of tv on such principals as Senator ! Joseph McCarthy, the committee members, counsel for the various sides, the witness of the day. The (Continued on page 13) Robert Taylor’s Oil Well Omaha, June 8. An oil drilling firm in which Robert Taylor is associated v has brought in its first well at New- castle, Wyo., in the state’s eastern sector, C. B. Simmons, affiliated with the film star in a 10-well drilling program, said the Dupler-Yates Robert Taylor No. 1 has been set with pipe. STEIFEL ‘CAN’T BELIEVE’ 1 BOXER BRIBE CHARGE Philadelphia, June 8. a Heavyweight ' Clarence Henry’s arrest in New York on charges of i trying to “fix” the fight between ; middleweights Bobby Jones and ! Joey Giardello at Madison Square I Garden, Friday night (11) had re- percussions in the local film ’ colony. Sam Stiefel, former Hollywood 5 pxoducer and Philly theatre-man, took Henry out of amateur com- ’ petition in Los Angeles in 1948 and financed the first years of his career as heavyweight contender. Stiefel said he was shocked by the report, and “I wouldn’t believe it un’ess Henry told me himself.” Stiefel said Henry, an amateur sensation in Hollywood in 1948, was brought to him by Johnny In- drisano, former Boston fighter and a Hollywood consultant on boxing, who was working at the time on Sticf<Jl’s production “The Big Wheel.” The producer bought Henry’s contract outright and put the fighter, his manager and trainer on personal payroll. At the end of the summer of 1951, Stiefel turned the heavyweight over to ’ Frank (Blinky) Palermo, Philadel- phia fight manager. Stiefel said the fighter cost him about $15,000, “for which I never cut him a dime.” ; “Now that he’s in this trouble, I sincerely hope it turns out to be a mistake. I just Can’t believe Clarence would do any such thing,” Wednesday, Jtme % 1954 HORACE HEIDT Currently On Tour Under Personal. Management WALTER PLANT “REALISM” By HAL BLO.CK Now I am a kid who likes real- ism. All I say is just don’t carry it too. far. Now take “Dragnet” on tv, for instance. This is a brand hew de- parture in private eye stuff, and stresses realism. To them it wasn’t real for cops to be screeching all the time, so they decided to tone clown. This did so well that each player decided to underplay the other one. If the program gets two decibels softer, this may turn out to be television’s only weekly offer- ing of “Silent Night.” Another place we’ve decided to go in for realism is in toys* especially dolls. Now, the way I look at it,-a doll is supposed to make a child get to like little children, in the hope that one day they will be pleased to have a child of their own. In our day and our grandparents’ day, a doll was a nice, mute thing that a child could tuck' into bed, unmind- ful of the actual problems of par- enthood. But that doesn’t go for today. Realism set in! First of all, the dolls are getting to be so big the child can’t bring ’em in . for half- fare at a movie house. Next the dolls started walking, As if this wasn’t enough, they started talking, and yelling “Mama”! Now, that wasn’t too bad, but when they suddenly have the doll crying, sneezing, wetting its pants, and regurgitating, I say that is go- ing to far. It’s enough to have to burp your kid at five in the morn- ing, without having to diaper her doll! Now we come to the movies: The movies used to be a wonderful place to relax. When the movies got so bad that they had to put chlorophyl in the popcorn, the (Continued on page 10) ► Subscription Order Form Enclosed find check for $ Please send VARIETY for 6 . 9 To (Pleas* Print Nam*) Street City Zone.... State...... * Regular Subscription Rates One Year—$10.00 a Two Years—$18.00 Canada and Foreign-*-$! Additional per Year P%!R1ETY Inc. S 154 W.st 44 th Street New York 34. N. Y. Hot Weather Joe E. A1 Bemie goes into the- Copacabana, N. Y., July 22, for three weeks. This is Bemie’s third summer engagement at the Copa. Impresario Jules Podell has dubbed him “the hot-weather Joe E. Lewis.” Bcrnie has just finished six months on the Kate Smith tv show, averaging one appear- ance weekly. BlliflellW a Televisum Problem, But Wig Biai Is - Overcoming Scnsitiviticf OBOLER OSES OWN DOUGH His 'Divans Devil’ Profits Behind • Spear* / Hollywood, June 8. Arch Oboler’g next 3*P produc- tion/ “Spear in the Sand/’ will be made without'partners end without outside financial backing. It will be bankrolled by his profits on “Bwana Devil.’' - Picture, currently In the writing mill, Is slated for a September start at the Palladium studios, in Copenhagen, with finishing touches to be made in Hollywood. Minevitch Sets Parisian Record Revamping Inn; Town’s Smartest Looker By GENE MOSKOWITZ Paris, June 8. Borrah Minevitch probably set a record in his tour-deforce of completely redoing a centuries-old cafe on the lie St. Louis in a week. Long shifts rapidly shaped this into a refurbished, but still possessing its archaic charm, up- stairs club, plus an immensely domed cave for the more cabaret aspects of the club. Np. 1 Qua! De Bourbon was Inaugurated. last Tuesday (1). Reps from all walks of show biz flocked to the colorful isle which, up to now, possessed no gathering place. Crowds filled both sections of the club and overflowed into the street at intervals. Outside,, the curious islanders gathered to watch the outlaiiders who had made the first beachhead in cen- turies on this tighlTittie Island. The St. Louisans are a clannish lot, and raahy rarely make the trip abroad, which they consider is crossing the Seine into Paris. A bit frustrated, inbred and suspi- cious of the new, they have, a so- ciety, Society Des Amis De L’He St. Louis, for the preservation of the historical and spiritual main- tenance of the island. Minevitch shrewdly had a Beaux Arts rep on hand to inspect and make sure that the original con- (Continued on page 61) LOUISVILLE SHOW TRAIN BRINGS QUICK REPRISE Large response to last month’s Louisville-to-New York show train has prompted a second Brdadway playgoing jaunt from that south- ern local?. Boyd Martin, drama editor of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, who arranged for the initial legitgoing trek, has set up a repeat trip for the latter part of this month. Martin had to turn down about 65 bids for the "May visit. Second Louisville Legit Train will . accommodate 100 persons, shelling out $87.50 apiece for trans- portation, hotel quarters and tix to “Sabrina Fair,” “Ondine,” “Solid Gold Cadillac,” “Oh Men, Oh Women,” “Tea and Sympathy” and “Wonderful Town.” Plays are the same as were covered by the first Louisville contingent. Second string of theatregoers will leave Louisville June 28 and return J uly 4. ■<. ? j ^Hollywood, June 8. Much been * mid* and written about bald-headed men; that they’re romantic/ Industrious '* (“grass doesn't* grotr on a racetrack”) and haVe 'A cejrtaifl gently .charm. This much can be;, said against them: they’re %ot for television. The shining pate/ihe glisten qf an unthatched' scalp and the.luxuriant lack bf a vegetated skull nave made these slick-domed and. how hapless mortals the anathema of camera- men (“it’s* like shooting into the sun”). Out of which has-thrived a new Industry, a byproduct Of the elec- tronic age. It used to be that fur- tive calls were, made on beauty shops for a hair dye, a facial or other artifices to rout those tell- tale evidences of advancing years. \yhat has long Jjeen the silent prayer , of the actor, “God save ray hair/’ has assumed even greater importance how that the actor is the guest in a million living rooms. No longer does the un-hirsuted thesp sneak into Max Factor’s, Perc Westmore’s or a dozen other emporiums of the' orsatzr hair-do for a “fitting.” Hair has become standard equipment and the baldies recede from recognition' at the casting offices in conformity With their hair line*. When the seba- ceous glands become dormant and there sprouts not a jot or tittle of filament, the actor knows full well (Continued on page 61) ETHEL MERMAN’S 100G CBS-TV CONTRACT Hollywood, June 8. Ethel Merman’s ‘ contract with CBS-TV was completed last week. Web will get hqr exclusive services from September of this year to the following June during which span she will do 'four one-hour shows with no less than two to emanate from the Coast. Pact calls for Miss Merman to get $100,000, with payments start- ing in October at the rate of $10,-' 000 monthly. She’ll also have the right to approve the rest of the show. * • NBC said in New York that Miss Merman is scheduled to head up one of Leland Hayward’s Monday night spectaculars next season, but no date was. given. Broadway singer made a January and Febru- ary appearance on the web’s Col- gate “Comedy Hour” at a reported $50,000 for the pair of dates. EDDY DUCHIN BIOPIC But Lawyer Says Metro Jumped Gun on Publicity Metro claims to have purchased the life story of Eddy Duchin for production next year. Film will be based on an original by Leo Katcher and will star Edmund Purdom in role of the late pianist- bandleader. Studio’s purchase announcement, however, was refuted in New York by attorney Sol Rosenblat, execu- tive director of the Duchin estate. Rosehblat declared that while Me- tro’s purchase price had been agreed upon, there were yet many other details to be settled before the purchase could be finalized. * Telethons continue in bad odor, the latest in- fragrance coming from Providence, R.I., where razzle-dazzle promotion laid an egg. The snapper on the fiasco was provided by the Providence Bulletin: '.in other words, jt cost nearly five times as much to make a net of about $500 below last year’s net.” . r « * ♦ e As usual, the Cause was worthy. As usual, the buildup was high-powered. As usual, the disappoint- ments ^ere mahy. Angry local newspapers attempt- ed to-pin the'blame on. some person or persons. They' made much of a New York firm of charity consultants getting a fee of $3,500 for talent con- tacts, in the light of the failure o& the promised stars to make an appearance. The New York charity expert denied it was anybody’s fault, and perhaps he is' right in the sense that it’s the whole telethon way of life which is guilty. What came out in Providence is a carbon copy of disclosures following earlier telethons in other , burgs. ,The cpsts ar^,abnormally, high animate mockery of the "sweet charity” involved. It goes like this: $3,500 (or 10%) for New York advice, 10% for Theatre Authority permission, $3,500 for the tv station, $900 for rental of auditorium, $600 for special telephones, $300. for pledge cards.. This spells complication and hazard to any local charity committee committing itself to an all-night grind. Presumably more telethons wilt have to bum the breeches of more charity auspices before, the , illu- sion is abandoned that this is a suiretfrp method for raising funds. Meantime’natives Will be shucked when they learn (Invariably after, not before the event) that those dynamic all-night emcees get $1,000 and expenses minimum and that everybody else gets paid, and well paid, The Manhattan charity consultant not-only has an unpleasant Incident against him but asserts that he, too, is in the red. Maybe thatVthe final- answer to telethons;, when the promoters also complain of losses, the stupidest local auspices. must .tumble .to the unreliability of telethons*.* •■-41* .