Variety (December 1954)

n ^lnfBday, December 29, 1954 VAUDEVILLE 43 N. Y. Cafe Ops Avert Tooters Strike Set for Eve; Men Gain $10 Hike A musicians* strike that had ♦* been ^ated to start m New York night clubs on New Year's Eve was averted by an agreement signed vesterday <Tues.) between N. Y. Lfe operators and Local 802. AFM. Although the tooters had to drop demands for a five-day week they won a $10 weekly increase in the class A spots from *97 to *107, plus several other important gains. The operators had been adamant against the five-day week, as it would disrupt current practices, and they claimed it would force some cafes to the wall. On the other hand, the union wanted to put the musicians- on a par with other trades that have won a five- day week. That feature would also have served to stimulate musician employment in the cafes. The new agreement stipulates a maximum of 14 shows in the pres- ent six-day week. Extra shows are to be paid at the rate of $5 for each layout. This was the first time that the musicians had placed a ceiling on the number of shows that can be performed in a 1 nitery. At the same time, the union placed a maximum of one hour and 40 minutes for each show. Musicians are to be paid $5 for every 15 minutes over that limit. One important concession made by both sides is that Local 802 re- serves the right to reopen wage discussions if the 20% cabaret tax is reduced or eliminated. Union is still to negotiate for scales in class B and C cafes. Local 802 was prepared to picket the niteries on the Eve just as the gayety, at as much as $25 per head, was to start. EXPAND Pin ICE UNIT FOR MIAMI B’CH DATE Pittsburgh, Dec. 28. George Von Birgelen ice unit, “Symphony On Ice,” which has been at the Oakhurst Tea Room in nearby Somerset for the last two months, is being expanded by Joe Hiller, local ten percenter who has been booking it, for a winter en- gagement at the Floridian Hotel in Miami Beach. That inn was re- cently taken over by some Pitts- burghers headed by Harold Gray, and it will go in for rink revues beginning Jan. 21, when the Von Birgelen unit opens. Skater, who has been featuring his wife. Eileen Meade, Phil Richards and two girls at Somerset, will add a line and George Arnold for the Florida date. Arnold and Richards have both headed their own shows here at the Ankara, with former taking over after Arnold left. Blade Show to Feature 1955 Nebraska Fair Omaha, Dec. 28 . Ed Schultz, secretary of the Nebraska State Fair In Lincoln, next year will pass up the usual grandstand revue to play the ‘Holiday on Ice” blade show for six nights in front of the 10,000- seater. Lack of drawing power of last fall’s Barnes-Carruthers unit out of Chicago was given as reason, although weather was not as good as in past years. “Holiday” does its summering in nearby Sioux City. TV New Angle In Martin M. B. Tiff Beauty Contest Winners Set As Singing Trio Chicago, Dec. 28. Three midwestern beauty contest titleholders are being packaged by the General Artists Corp. bureau in Chi into a singing trio' with sights set on disks and general vaude playdates. It’s figured that their various distinctions will give them added selling values and a uniqueness in the warbling group sweepstakes. To be known as the Loveables, threesome comprises former Miss Chicago Terry Georgian, former Miss Michigan Anna Karol, and former Miss Illinois Celeste Ravel. Mpls. Night Club Strike Threat Nipped in Time Minneapolis, Dec. 28. Night spot operators here breathed more freely when a threatened strike of bartenders, waiters and other restaurant and tavern help"was settled as they were prepping for top business of the year. The strike threat brought labor conciliators into the act befoae both sides agreed to new 21-month contract which granted a 9'^c hourly increase across the board. Bartenders will get $70.50 for 40 hours, or $89.49- for a 48-hour week. Three unions were involved, and fill had filed strike notices with the state, causing apprehension among operators planning special New i car’s festivities. Noted was the fact that the settlement came on the eve of union elections, with at least one business agent under fire by his own union. Tony Martin wanted out from his Beachcomber, Miami Beach, contract, and w ent to the Fontaine- bleau because he could get out of the show on Monday night in or- der to do a telecast for Toni home permanents, according to Music Corp. of America. Fact that he could avoid a billing problem at the Fontainebleau, where he would be the sole headliner, was another plus in his desire to play that inn, according to MCA. At the Beach- comber, he would have shared headline status with Sophie Tuck- er. Date for that stand is Feb. 8. The American Guild of Variety Artists is likely to enter the case, as the Beachcomber claims to have I had a firm commitment from Mar- tin despite the fact that a contract hasn’t been signed as yet. In the past, there have been cases in which the union had to make ad- judications even though formal pacts hadn’t been inked, but it was proven that verbal understandings had been made. With Monday night off, Martin would be able to fly to New York for the Monday telecast and get back to Florida in time for Tues- day’s showing. Martin, according to Music Corp. of America, was willing to work the Fontainebleau at a lower figure than he w'ould get at the Beachcomber because of the six-night week, and the fact that he would make up the salary slice by his tele stipend. Mae West will open her first Copa City, Miami Beach, engage- n*ent Jan. 8 for four weeks and then will return March 15 for three weeks. That OF 20% Tax Still Haunts Ops The woes of the night club in- dustry are being blamed on the 20% cabaret tax. Cafes are the sole segment of the amusement field which still pays the old slice, | others having had their impost re- duced to 10%. Bonifaces say that if it weren’t for the extra high excise tax, the night clubs of New York and many cities elsewhere would face an underseating problem. It’s evident only on Broadway where the ma- jor nitery, the Latin Quarter, packs them in nightly. There isn’t a similar spot on the stem, and the other cafes in town are faced with the problem of buying attractions in order to-get business. Nitery owners say that with the stock market acting the way it is, niteries should be loaded. Gains are being registered the majority of business days on the big board, and there should be more cele- bration. However, this isn’t the case. In the old days, one bonifaee re- called. the maxim among the cafe men Was to read the Dow-Jones averages, figure out the gain and then they could predict the kind of business that would fall into the spot. Fact that the pre-Christmas slump came as usual, and that the nitery owners have to pray for a pancity of house parties to sell out for New Year’s Eve, is blamed on the fact that city and Federal | taxes in New York 'eat up 25% of the total check. It’s a tough psy- chology to break down unless there’s a topnotch attraction on tap. Cafe men hope to be able to do something during the next session of Congress. They hope that the theatrical unions, plus represen- tative figures on the continual de- cline of night clubs and attendant downward graph of employment of catros, waiters, etc., will create action that will reduce the 20% levy to the 10% prevalent in other sections of the amusement industry. Biggest Holiday Week for Miami B’ch In Years; Competish Stronger^ Ever But Older Hotels Still Hold Their Own Lucy Monroe Rejoins USO Troupe in France Singer Lucy Monroe, who con- tracted a virus shortly after start- ing out for the European Theatre under USO-Camp shows auspices, rejoined her troupe early this week in Bordeaux. Miss Monroe was con- fined to bed a few days in Paris. The bad weather and series of storms in Europe had caused a few minor casualties among some of the other performers as well. Pitt s Nitery Fare Due to Slim Down Pittsburgh, Dec. 28. Nitery fare’s going to be consid- erably curtailed here after the first of the year and a lot of spots plan to operate strictly on a limited basis until spring rolls around again. Vogue Terrace for one will operate weekends only beginning next week, with shows and a band Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Twin Coaches has been on a weekend policy off and on now since early fall and plans to continue that way until Easter. Horizon Room at Greater Pitts- burgh Airport will keep going at least until end of January when it will shut down altogether for a cpuple of months, but for other reasons. Andy Chakeras is shut- tering for a remodeling job de- signed to increase his capacity to 1,000. Chakeras, who once owned Vogue Terrace, where he built up a big banquet business at the 1,100- seat theatre-restaurant, thinks he can recapture a lot of It at the Horizon Room with more space. That will leave only the Ankara, among the bigger and better- known spots on the highways, open fulltime and management figures to keep going at least for the ! else present. Copa downtown, the only bona- fide nitery in the Golden Triangle these days, of course won’t pull in its horns, and the New Nixon Restaurant, on site of old Monte Carlo, is now going in for limited entertainment, mostly with musi- cal combos, although it may eventually book some small-sized stage shows, too. Reitato Rossini returned to the solo guitar desk at El Borracho, N.Y. » ! OUT NEXT WEEK! The 49th Anniversary Number Of i Kaye Trio to Palm Beach In Jan.; Shank Leaving San Francisco. Dec. 28. >e Mary Kaye Trio has been cooked for eight weeks at the Alibi j n a,m Beach opening Jan. 17 anti is then set to open the new oom at the New Frontier, Las '(‘gas, for a two-month run. . an ^ Shank is leaving the group iui is being replaced on piano by ;•> Brown from the Alvino Rey • Shank is starting his own Forms closing shortly Usual Advertising rates prevail Special exploitation advantages Copy and space reservations may be sent to any Variety office NEW YORK 34 154 W. 44th St. HOLLYWOOD 28 4311 Yecca St. CHICAGO 11 412 N. Michigan Ave. LONDON. W. C. 2 • St. Martin’s Pine* Trafalgar Sqaara By LARRY SOLLOWAY Miami Beach, Dec. 28. The biggest holiday week in years saw more night clubs and hotel-cafes in operation than at any time in this resort history. Business generally was good for most opening nights sending them off to a healthy coffer-fill. The newer spots encountered some difficulties in readying their cafes, most notably the $14,000,000 Fontainebleau and in lesser degree the Balmoral. The Fontainebleau postponed the official opening of its La Ronde several times, with definite date set for tomorrow (Wed.> night. However, a closed— to-the-public inaugural dinner- show was held for some 1,600 per- sons last Monday (20), who con- tributed $50 a head to the pro- ceeds, divided between the Mt. Sinai and St. Francis Hospitals— $40,000 each. Staged in the grand ballroom it served to introduce the Richard Hayman orchestra and Vaughn Monroe, with Patti J’age also on hand for the affair. Miss Page is set for a February date in the La Ronde. Glittering as was the turnout, it marked another first, what with the hotel's marbled lobby and overall immensity steal- ing the show from the beminked- bejeweled crowd who canve to be seen, and in turn, remained to gasp and comment. Addition of the Fontainebleau and the Balmoral Hotel further up the Beach, has led many to believe that the mid-section of the strand would be marked obsolete. Holi- day bookings disproved this think- ing in no uncertain manner. There’ll always be a Roney Plaza, and the Algiers is in the area, boasting a new addition which fea- tures a 1.000-seat convention room. FTirther down are the Nautilus, Delano and DiLido Hotels—all comparatively new. They attract different elements than those who flock to “this year’s hotels.” A guest at these hotels is from the substantial garment trade group or the borscht-belt, younger type. . As for the swank big three, the Saxony, San Souci and Sea Isle, they remain as glittering and as tough to get into as ever. The Fontainebleau, it seems, has added to the attractions that lure more and more tourists to this area, in addition to the thousands who re- turn year after year. Heavy na- tional advertising campaigns and television program promotion have aided no little in helping to in- crease the influx. For the after- dark entrepreneurs, the compe- (Continued on page 44) FISHER PACTED FOR PALLADIUM PREMIERE Eddie Fisher has been pacted for the premiere of the Palladium, London, March 28. Fisher will film several of his Coca-Cola shows in advance in order to make the date. Palladium is opening later than usual this season because of the extension of the pantomimes. Beachcomber All-Male As Martha Raye Begs Off Miami Beach, Dec. 28. Norman Schuyler, operator of the Beachcomber, who thought he had himself one of the strongest lineups in town for the competi- tive holiday-opening week of the season, wound up with an all-male show when Martha Raye didn’t make the date, due to reported “nervous exhaustion.” Supporting acts Vic Damone, Jack Carter and the Novelties car- ried on, with Milton Berle filling in for the first show (23). Miss Raye, who was staying at the Fontaine- bleau, checked out of the hotel over the weekend for an unknown des- tination, with Schuyler trying fruit- lessly to get a replacement He de- cided, finally, to continue on with the trio of male acts and a $4 95 food or beverage minimum policy installed to aid in luring the patronage.