Variety (October 1954)

^edn<a4ay f ‘. Octolbeit' 20, >1954 143 ARTHUR WINNER'. Arthur Wisner, 54; manager of the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra, died qf a cerebral' hemorrhage in K. C., early Mon- day (18), lie went there in Novem- ber," 1952, after a Splitup with Com- munity Concerts Inc., where- he had spent niuch of .his business career. One of the organizers of Columbia Artists Mgt. and its Com- munity Concerts; adjunct, he spent, lost of his adult life in the con- cert business. Bom jn . Athens, Mich., he graduated r Michigan Business & Normal College.. First with the Redpath Chautauqua & Lyceum Bureau, he "“helped to orf Still "THE KING' AL JOLSON MAY 24, IMS OCTOBER 23. 1950 Al Jolson Memorial Club gariize Columbia in .1930, He was at one. time a performing musician. Survived by wife and three sisr ters. ' ' ” ’ B. IVINFRED MERRILL B> Winfred Merrill, 90, former iicert violinist, composer, music textbook writer and dean emeritus of the> Indiana U. School of Music, died Oct. 17, in Bloomington, Ind. In 1880 he founded and . directed the first high school orchestra in the U. S. at East Aurora, 111, Joining Indiana’s faculty in 1919, Merrill became dean of the new school of music, in 1921' and served until his retirement in 1938. Throughout his 19 years with the university he conducted the I. U. Symphony Orchestra. Surviving are his wife and a daughter, Prof.: Winifred Merrill, of the I. U. School of Music. RICHARD TEMPLE Richard Teriiple, 81, vet actor and a panel member on “Life Begins at 80,” tv show, died of a IN MEMORIAM In Loving Memory of Our Brother SAMUEL LIEBERT COMEDIAN Diod Oct. 24, 1945 AT REST heart attack Oct. 14. in New York. Born in:England, he was the son of Richard Temple, who originated roles in all of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas when they were first produced, The. younger Temple was brought to the U. S. by the Shuberts, and appeared in many of their productions. ; Temple performed in Chicago in “The Better ’Ole,” with De Wolfe Hopper and in Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” with Ruth Chatterton. His other appearances included roles in “She Stoops to Conquer,” “Rebecca” and “Sons O’ Guns.” ERNESTO SABATINI Ernesto Sabatini, 76, veteran actor-manager, died in Milan, Oct. 6, of a > heart attack, In recent years he had been, working in Italian radio and tv. From 1910 to Fred E. Abler! per: 20th. 1953 In Loving Momory MILDRED, RICHARD, FRED, JR. 1940, . he played leads with top Italian touring companies and also headed his own road company. Although Sabatini- .appeared in some 50 films as a featured player, he never achieved stardom. A mem- ber of an old theatrical family, he was a doctor of medicine be- fore embarking Upon a stage ca- reer. EDWARD R. NORRfS Edward R, Norris, 53, who had managed the boxoffice of. the Na- tional Symphony Orchestra in Washington since that organization commenced in 1931, died in D. C. last Oct, 13 after a long illness. Norris, a native Washingtonian, had previously worked the box- offices at the old Belasco and Poll’s Theatres there. . He was a member of Variety Club of- Washington and the •; Cirgps Saints 'and Sinners there. /Surviving are this wife, a sister and brother; HERBERT V. ANDERSON Herbert V, AndterSon, 47, ac- count executive with NBC-TV’s net- work sales dept., died Oct. 14, in Manhasset, N. Y., after a long ill- ness, He joined NBC in April, 1944, ih the spot arid local sales dept. Upon formation of the tele- vision network sales dept, in 1950, he was named an account exec. A native of Falconer, ,N. Y., Anderson is survived by his wife, Mrs. Anne Wright Anderson of the J. Walter Thompson Go.; his par- ents and two sisters. „ ALFRED GRADSTEIN Alfred Gradstein, 51, Polish, com- poser, died Sept. 29, in Warsaw He studied at the Warsaw > Con- servatory of Music from 1922 to 1925, and at the State. Academy of Music in Vienna from. 1925 to 1926. Best known for his songs for children and for popular music for yoiqe and instruments, Gradstein .Wort two state'prizes for his works’ : for chorus. Among his other com- positions are a piano concerto and a number of mazurkas. HARLEY SADLER Harley Sadler, 62, longtime tent showman, died of a heart attack Oct. 19. in Stamford, Tex. A state senator at the time of his death, he was stricken, i Avoca, Tex., where he had gone to judge a talent contest. Sadler traveled with various stock companies in the midwest and southwest arid also acted on Mississippi, showboats. RICHARD RICCARDO Richard (Ric) Riccardo:, 51, own- er-operator of the Chicago restau- rant bearing his name, died there Oct. 11. He had been in poor health for nearly four years. A painter himself, Riccardo opened the eating place in 1935. It later evolved into a. combination restau- rant arid art gallery that became a favorite 'hangout: for the radio-tv and ad agency crowd. Survived by a son and daughter, HALLIAM BOSWORTH Halliam BosWorth, 79, actor in many Broadway , stage productions, died of a heart attack Oct. 10 in New York. At the age of 16 he played a super in William A. Brady’s “The Things That Count.” On Broadway Bosworth later ap- peared in “The Hawk” “Treasure Island,” “Lombardi, Ltd./’ “Top- aze,” “Trick For Trick,” arid “It Can’t Happen.” His wife survives. THOMAS FLETCHER Thomas' .Fletcher, 82, retired vaude performer, died Oct. 12 in New York'. At one time he toured with a number of vaude song and dance shows throughput the coun- try. Later, with his wife, he formed a team known as “Fletcher and Bailey.” More recently he had appeared on the tv show, “Life Begins at 80:” Surviving are tw HENRY STANTON Henry Stanton, 68, senior veepee of the J. Walter Thompson ad agency, died Oct. 7 in Palo Alto, Cal., of a heart ailment. In partial retirement, he maintained an of- fice in the San. Francisco branch of the agency, with which he had been connected; for .40 years. His wife and four children sur- vive, Lou Morris Lou Morris, 65,. prominent in- dependent exhibitor,, died in a London; hospital Oct. II after a short illness. He was taken: ill with food poisoning the previous week and suffered a stroke a few days later. ’ Survived by wife arid.two sons. LOUIS C. SNYDER Louis C. Snyder, 68, violinist and composer, died Oct. 10 in Chicago. He wrote several hit tunes includ- ing “Dreani Book,” “Gypsy Cara- van,” and “Dear Friend, Gentle Heart.” Wife survives. v. - “ Mae L. Zimmerman, 61, retired vaudeville performer, died of cancer, Oct, 5, in Cleveland. Some 35 years ago she was featured with Roland Travers who specialized in magic and illusions. Surviving are her sister, Cecilia Emerick, and father-in-law, Edward E. Rudolph Jr., 56, Re- public Pictures salesman, was killed in an iautp 1 accident Oot. 5, near Salem, 111. He operated the Studio” Theatre in St: Louts, and the. State Iti Columbia, 111.,' before joining Republic j. Ellsworth Sliker, 68, singer on ‘ eai'.ly’"NBC radio pyogratiis; was ‘ .found dead Oct. 12 At his home in Easton, Pa. He directed the ..Easton Oratorio Society, and "his failure to appear for a rehearsal of the group led to discovery of his body. • - . V >• HedWig B. Smith, 81, who for more than 50 years 1 conducted a costuming business for profes- sional, and’ amateur theatricals from her’; home in Albany, N.Y., ! died suddenly there Oct. 3. A sis- ter survives. Widow, 80, of John J; McGuirk, pioneer film theatre operator and ■ president and chairman of the board of the Stanley Co. of Ameri- ca, died Oct, 15, in Philadelphia. Two daughters survive; Continued from page 2 ; Joseph Tavani,. Sr., 70, motion picture projectionist with Warner Bros, fof 32 years until Iris retire- ment a few years ago, died Oct. 10; in Philadeiphi , His wife, seven sons and three daughters survive. Frederick T. Ifyskell, 84, founder of the Pacific Coast Advertising Assn.,, died Oct. 13 in Hollywood. Surviving is his son,. Dean, Fox West Coast advertising executive, Ercole' Marchisio, 71,’ former proprietor and co-owner of the o’d Marguery Restaurant, known to many showbiz figures, died Oct. 13 in Teaneck, N. J. Mother, 76, of Mrs. Richard Rodgers, wife of the composer, died Oct. 11 in New York, after a short illness. Surviving, besides, her daughter, is a son, H. Evan Williams Jr., 55, music and drama critic f or the old Akron Times-Press, died' of a. heart ail- ment, Opt. 13, in that city, Sur- viving are his wife and a son, -• ' •>' • Arthur Edward Reeves, 62, film cameraman of long standing and owner of a camera supply store, died Oct. „1Q in Hollywood. His wife and two daughters survive. Father, 82, of Paul J, Miller, manager of radio station WWVA in Wheeling, W;Va., died Oct. 13 in Zelienople, Pa. Irifant, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack M. Warner, died Opt. 14 in Hollywood.. Father is a production executive at Warners. Mme. Emmy Ifeiin, 69, former singer and a voice teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Music, died Oct. 12 in Toronto. Infant daughter of Thomas A. Power, news editor of radio station WMUR in Manchester. N. H., died in Worcester, Mass., Oct. 9. Doiph Bleiler, 29, drummer with, the Rainy City Jazz Band, Seattle, died in that city Oct. 13 of a heart attack. Joseph A. Norm, 71, sculptor and makeup artist at Metro, and Warn- ers for 31 years, died Oct. 10 in Los Angeles. He retired last year because of failing health. Joseph W. Gutzweiler, 79. vet- eran exhibitor! died Oct, 12, ih Jasper, Irid. He .owned the Astra and Tivoli Theatres there. BlgTHS Mr. and Mrs. Frank P. Rosen- berg,; , Hollywood, Oct; 8. Fa-: ther is a Warner producer. Mr. and Mrs-. Don Reid, son, Memphis, Sept. 25. Father is danceband : leader; mother, Gwen Parke, is Vocalist with the. band. Mr. arid Mrs. Bill Veeck, daugh- ter, Los Angeles, OPt, 14. Mother, is Mary Frances Ackerman, for- mer p.a. for “Ice Capades.’ Mr, and Mrs. Alec Coppel, son, Hollywood, Oct. 12. Mother is the former British actress, Myra Mor-. ton; fathef* is a Screen Writer. Mr. arid Mrs. Allen Fletcher, son, Pittsburgh, Sept. 28. Father’s a g rector at J* the Carnegie Tech rama School. Mr. and Mrs. Dick Trapp, daugh- ter, Bronxville, N ; Y., Oct. 11. Father is, CBS-TV sales service staffer. Mr. arid Mrs. Richard Stark, daughter, Oct. 13, in Englewood, N.J. Father is an account exec with ABC-TV. . Mr. and Mrs. Ben Halpern, daugh- ter, New York, recently. Father is assistant to Samuel Coheri, foreign publicity manager of United Art- ists. Mr, and Mrs. Leon Feldun, son, Brooklyn, Oct. 16. Father is With United Artists’ liomeoffice foreign dept. away to the avid Anglophile • the tremendous advantage which Amer- ican, entertainment ha's in the Brit- ish market. Take motion pictures. There is in existence an Act of, Parliament which stipulates 30% quota, for British product, with reliefs arid exemptions allowed under the Act shaving this to about 25%. In ac- tual performance, the countrywide average is not .much; above. 20%. Interpreted in: the logical way; roughly; 80% of the British screens are filled with Holly wood product. .Who says now the British are anti- American? , .. Yet only a month ago, J ; Arthur Rank reported that British .pix in the U.! 3. didn’t. gross 1% of the total American revenue. He in- sisted that the only hope he had of getting a. fair deal was to ac- quire his own chain of theatres.. Irrespective pf the .rights and wrongs of his arguments, they niake wonderful copy for the. An- glophile. : Legit Situation What’s the situation concerning the legit theatre? At any time there’s always a wide choice ■ of Broadway hits which have been trans-shipped to London, frequent- ly with American stars, often staged by U. S. directors, with set- tings by a Yank designer. In the postwar era, th e Broad way musical has become one of the sights of London. Currently there are three such sights on view at key West End theatres. They are “King .and I,” at the Drury Lane; “Pal. Joey,” at the Princes; and “Can-Can,” at the Coliseum. This impressive total is in addition to the array of straight legit hits such as “Teahouse of the August Moon,” “I Am a Camera” “Sabrina Fair,” and “Bell, Book and Can- dle.” How does this record compare to the current Broadway scoreboard? One British, musical. “Boy Friend,” incidentally the first, in years, and one comedy, “Dear. Charles,” which is of questionable BritHih origin. (The latter first played on Broad- way before being translated into the French,, from which it was translated into English.) In addi- tion, ^there was the limited run of “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Metropolitan Opera House arid now on tour. • ' In the last couple of years com- paratively few British plays have reached the big time in America, arid a few local hits have proved to be dismal failures. “Escapade” ran fof a. year in London, but sur- vived for little more than a week in New York. “Women of Twi- light,” which had a profitable sea- son here, lasted for only eight performances on Broadway. “Dial M for Murder” on the other hand was a success on both sides and, as the proverbial exception, “The Fourposter” did far better in New’ York than originally in London. Two-Way Street Admittedly, there has been a greater two-way traffic in legit than in most other entertainment media, and that not all the exports from ■the. Main Stem have been hailed ! along Shaftesbury Avenue, but it must be conceded that Broadway has collared the bulk of the West End’s musical trade, leaving little room for local talent. Even “Wed- ding. in Paris” which has been jamming the. Hippodrome since it opened in February was authored by an American (Vera CaSpary) although it’s being tagged as a British tuner/ Not.; Since “Fi inn’s Rainbb.w” failed to make an impact several years back has there been a flop Broadway musical in London, and the lineup of current West End at: tractions is only part of the gen- eral pattern. There’s still a tour- ing company, of "Oklahoma!”, out on the road, although it’s more than fouf 'years since it was re- placed at the Drury Lane by “ear- ousel.” The principal failures from America were “Stalag 17” and “The Shrike,” both of which had short lives at the Princes and “Bruno and, Sidney” which lasted six performances at the Phoenix. As. it only survived five shows in America, this was one example where the people and the critics of both countries delivered the same verdict. Yank Vaude Superior There’s never been any question about American superiority in the vaudeville field ever since Val Par- nell introduced his policy of i. f ter- national variety at the London Palladium several seasons back, And this naturally leads into the Success of U.S. rds in the Brit- ish market; as many of the Pal- ladium headliners were pre-sold solely on the basis of, their record- ings. By (lie same token, there has been a strong Yank, domination -among the best sellers- for disks and sheet music. The importance of American tal- ent in vaude, and a tribute to th part U.S. artists, have played making, the Palladium the world’s premier vaudery, is demonstrated by the inclusion pf a : number of Hollywood stars among the galaxy of talent recruited lor this year’s Royal Command gala. Bob Hope, Frankie Laine, Guy Mitchell and Howard Keel have been chosen lor royal honors, arid wiri appear the Palladium stage Noy. 1. Cabarets; Too Even in the , more restricted cabaret field, American performers have had their full' share, of the available gravy. London’s premier nitery, the Cafe'de Paris, has con- sistently booked the cream of’U.S; talent; the Colony Restaurant on Berkeley Square lias always had a generous quota of Yarik acts, while other restaurants and clubs..have regularly signed American stars' as cabaret headliners. Agreed that, a number of British act have succeeded in breaking into the American nitery field, , it must nevertheless l>e conceded that the traffic mainly has been in a single direction; Broadway will always make, attractive, bids for top talent ’ the Noel Coward category. , America is not so enthusiastic, however, towards the “bread-and- butter” acts of. showb[/., \vhich would benefit from the prestige of an American season as well as be- ing able to use the cciii, U. S. artists in this category are nearly, always sure of a .warm welcome and plenty of v/ork when they come to thi^ island. Undoubtedly, deep down in the true British hearts, there must be some envy of the firm grin which the U.S. holds on every facet of. entertainment. But to be- envious of America and Americaiis is vast- ly different from being^ariti-Ahior- ican. Plenty of local, girls may be envious of Audrey Hepburn, one of the many British, artists 'who has made her . name in .Hollywood. None would be against her. Rogers, Autry 'SSS Continued from paK0 1 their films from being sold to tele- vision. W’ithout extra recompense. First instance was reported in Variety in a front page yarn as early as July, 1935, when Edna Ferber refused to sell her novel, “Come and Get It” to Samuel Goldwyn unless the contract spe- cifically reserved radio and tele- vision rights to her. . Since then, the studio guilds and the AFM have fought the televised iise of pictures made by their mem- bers for theatrical use, unless par- ticipants received extra pay. Lawyers Nonplussed , Hollywood. Oct. 19. Fred. Sturdy, Roy Rogers’ at- torney, is undecided whether he will ask U.. S. high, court to recon- sider. , Gang, Kopp &. Tyre, Autry attorneys', has no present : intention of seeking such reednsid: eration^ Latter sgyj‘- •“H^ann.er ,iri . vyiiieb--- Republic can Use pix still is not completely decided.” MARRIAGES Edith Finkenstein to Bernard Hiller, Long Beach, L. I,,.N:Y., Oct. 9. Bride is secretary to Robert Ferguson of Columbia. Pictures’ ad-, pub dept. Ruth .Hampton to. Byron Palmer, Hollywood, Oqt, 17. , Bride’s a screen actress; he’s on television. Kathrjm Parks to Arthur Lack, Pittsburgh, Sept. 26. Bride runs a dancing school; he’s a Pitt report- er for the Wall Street Journal. Barbara Young to Johnny Oxley, Edinburgh, Scot., Oct. % "Bride’s a danceband chirper; he’s a musi- cian. Daphne Walker to Richard Hoyle, Johannesburg, South Afri- j ea, recently. Bride’s an English ' ice-skating s‘tar. j Jo Ann Greer to Stiin Stout. La j Canada, Cal., Oct. ^9. Bride's a vo- ! calist; he’s a trumpeter w,'th Les 1 Brown's band.