Variety (December 1954)

Wednesday, December 29, 1954 . LEGITIMATE 49 Otf-B’way Getting Back in a Rut; Few Clicks, None by New Authors By JESSE GROSS Off-Broadway is getting back to normal. Promising early-season indications of a continuation of ti ie T>3-’54 boom have fallen flat. Although the quantity of pro- ductions this semester is on a par with last season, the quality has generally been disappointing. Con- trary to last season, none of the shows that have received favor- able reviews have been by new playwrights. Top showcases such as the Theatre de Lys and the Phoenix Theatre, which last sea- son scored with a variety of pro- ductions, haven’t yet been able to connect with their ’54-’55 offerings. Top critical acclaim this season has gone to two Restoration come- dies and a Shakespeare classic. Former are “The Clandestine Mar- riage.” which wound up a run at the Provincetown Playhouse last Sept. 29, and “The Way of the World," which calls it quits Jan. 29 at the Cherry Lane. The lattei* entry. "Twelfth Night," is current at the Jan Hus House. Last season’s top entries in- cluded Leslie Stevens’ “Bullfight.” Calder Willingham’s “End As a Man” and Alfred Hayes’ “Girl on Via Flaminla." All* three authors were making their professional bows, with Willingham and Hayes adapting their own novels. Of the three, Stevens has remained the most active, with several shows slated for future production on Broadway and on the strawhat cir- cuit. Of the present lineup of oflf- Broadway shows, two, besides "World” have set closing dates. They are "Stone for Danny Fish- (Continued on page 50) Road Managers Seek Rights to B’way Shows For Local Area Runs Minneapolis, Dec. 28 In a move to activate legit in this area, two local managers are dickering for touring rights to cur- rent-season Broadway shows. Idea would be to finance and produce Ihe plays for local runs, then book them into surrounding territory, or in some cases for extensive tours. What road business may be in other key cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul are having the slimmest season in years. In a desperate effort to hypo conditions, Bennie Berger, who operates the Lyceum here, has approached Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse, who have the road rights to “Teahouse of the August Moon,” with a bid to put on a third company for en- gagements here and in adjacent territory. Meanwhile, Jay Lurye, a Duluth manager who has been booking various legit and concert offerings over his own circuit of towns, is dickering for the road rights to a current Broadway show, “The Tender Trap," not only for his regular route but for a national tour. He’d like to take over the original company, which is slated to close Jan. 8 at the Longacre, N Y. He’s also seeking the touring rights for other Broadway shows. Despite optimistic advance pros- pects, Minneapolis has had only “Picnic,” the twofer offerings of Moon Is Blue” and "Naughty Na- talie ’ and the current week’s pre- Broadway tryout, “Sailor’s De- light” thus far this season. Can. Stock Continues; Was Slated to Close Ottawa, Dec. 28. The Canadian Repertory Thea- lie, local winter stock which had been slated to fold next Sunday has gotten a 10-week reprieve. Board of directors has agreed to continue the operation through next March 12, at least, and great- er public support is promised. *n a move to bolster business, five-ticket books are being sold for !&•>. good for any seat in the house, V, ch is scaled t0 a $1-75 t0 P* Ian cl lows, assistant general manager, ! ;eomes "resident producer" and ul engage occasional guest pagers. Peter Sturgess continues ! IS business manager, and most of the company remain. Theatre is currently offering a ' nristmas pantomime, “Mother Loose." Custom Must Go On Nobody can • accuse play- wright Bella Spewack of be- ing unresourceful. With hers and husband Sam Spewack’s new comedy, “Festival," due to open a tryout last Saturday night (25) in Boston, she nat- urally wanted to follow the- atrical tradition by sending flowers to the femme star, Betty Field. The authoress had been so intent on the usual backstage preliminaries, however, that she forgot the premiere was on Christmas Day. and realized too late that all the florist shops were closed. Something had to give, and it wasn’t Mi's. Spewack. She calmly appropri- ated a vase of roses on the front desk of her hotel, the Ritz-Carlton, had them charged on her bill, and ordered them sent to Miss Field at the theatre. Just Witness Millers Surprise Apparently no one was more sur- prised than Gilbert Miller by the click Broadway reception of “Wit- ness for the Prosecution." follow- ing the fold of “The Living Room.” Producer has confided to congratu- latory friends that he really pre- ferred the-Graham Greene drama, which he says “those critics killed." As more tangible evidence. Mil- ler followed his regular policy in personally supplying the entire fi- nancing for “Living Room,” but made an exception on “Witness” by taking in backers to the amount of $58,625 and putting up only $16,- 375 of the capital in the name of his wife, Kathryn B. Miller, who incidentally costumed the court- room meller. In thus hedging his bet on "Wit- ness,” the producer reverted to the financing procedure he initiated with T. S. Eliot’s “The Cocktail Party,” the 1949-50 hit he presented in partnership with London man- ager Henry Sherek. With the ex- ception of Andrew Rosenthal’s “Horses in Midstream," which he co-produced in 1952-53 with Don- ald Oenslager but without having any financial stake, Miller has al- ways supplied the entire bankroll fof all his shows. In many cases, including “Wit- ness," “Living Room" and “Cock- tail Party," the shows have played Miller’s own theatre, the Henry Miller, N.Y., named for his late actor-father. He thus gets a size- able extra revenue from the hits. 9,728 Yank Patrons At 1954 Edinburgh Fest Edinburgh, Dec. 28. Americans are the biggest over- seas audience for the Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama. According to new sta- tistics, 9.728 of the 23,194 foreign visitors to the 1954 arts junket were from the U. S. Comparative tigures for the U. S. influx in previous festivals were 7,015 (1953); 6,879 (1952); 4,304 (1951), and 3,928 (1950). Records of the Edinburgh Fes- tival Society show that visitors in- cluded peoples from 45 countries outside of Britain. Yankees’ Take Over in Spring “Damn Yankees," the musical version of Douglas Wallop's recent satirical novel, "The Year the Yan- kees Lost the Pennant," is now slated for production next spring by Frederick Brisson, Robert Grif- fith and Harold Prince, with Paul Hartman as possible star. It will he done immediately after the open- ing of the touring edition of the same producers’ "Pajama Game.” The new musical is reportedly headed for the 46th Street, N.Y., on the assumption that the Broad- way booking jam will have eased sufficiently by that time to trans- fer “Bad Seed," current at the house, to a smaller theatre more suitable for a straight play, “Yan- kees” is to reach Broadway early next April, after a tryout tour. George Abbott, who collaborated with Richard Bissell on the “Pa- jama Game” book, is teaming with Wallop on the adaptation of "Yan- kees.” and will also stage the show. In addition, “Pajama” songwriters Richard Adler and Jerry Ross will supply the tunes, and Bob Fosse will likewise do the choreography. No one is set for the cast. The musical for which William Saroyan and Abbott are to collabo- rate on the book, also for produc- tion by Brisson, Griffith and Prince, is listed for next season. LINK OHIO STRAWHATS FOR TANDEM BOOKINGS Cleveland, Dec. 28. A two-theatre strawhat combina- tion has been formed In northern Ohio. The Theatre-in-the-Round, Canal Fulton, and the Chagrin Val- ley Little Theatre will offer the same shows on an alternating basis next summer. Both houses are un- der the same management. David Fulford, William Dempsy and Elizabeth Bliler, who’ve been running the Canal Fulton silo, have just acquired the Chagrin Valley showcase. Producers plan one- week runs at each house, opening in mid-June. Chagrin Falls was previously operated by Paul Marlin and Wil- liam Van Sleet. Equity-Chorus Merger Still Hot; Everybody Wants "Equitable 9 Terms Anybody Here Seen? With the idea of cooking lip a feature story about "Bad Seed.” in which Nancy Kelly is starred, the Playwrights Co. press department did some re- search last week on the vari- ous Kellys in show business. Grace was no problem, btfing the femme lead in two newly- released pictures. "The Coun- try Girl” and “Green Fire." Also, Gene and Fred Kelly have leading roles in the filniusical, "Deep in My Heart." Immediate check of the newspaper files failed to come up with info on the current activities of Paul Kelly, Patsy Kelly, Walt Kelly or Grace’s uncle, playwright George Kelly, however. Pre-U.S. ‘Tryout’ Folds in Britain London, Dec. 28. Plan to use London as a pre- Broadway tryout for “The Duchess and the Smugs" has had to be abandoned by U. S. producer Wal- ter Starcke. The play folded on the road after three weeks. It had been scheduled to open at the New Theatre, Jan. 5. replacing "I Am a Camera,” which closes next Saturday (1). “Duchess," authored by Pamela Frankau, starred Martita Hunt and Hugh Wakefield and was staged by John van Druten, who, incidentally, dramatized “Camera" from a Chris- topher Isherwood story. “Duchess” was being presented here in asso- ciation with Donald Albery. According to Starcke, one of the main reasons for the closing of the play was difficulty in casting a moppet role. Originally this was played by 21-year-old Dudy Nim- mo, but she was regarded as too mature. Subsequently she was re- placed by a 13-year-old child, who was considered too immature. Tarheel ’54 Drama Boom Greensboro, N. C., Dec. 28. Outdoor dramas in North Caro- lina had a big season in 1954. “Unto These Hills” drew an at- tendance of 149,905, an increase of 12,155 over 1953, despite 1,061 re- funds because of rain. “Lost Colony” drew 45,227, de- spite rain and hurricane, while “Horn in the West" played to 41,- 439 payees. OUT NEXT WEEK! The 49th Anniversary Number Of Forms closing shortly Usual Advertising rates prevail Special exploitation advantages i Copy and space reservations may be sent to any Variety office m. . _ . m IIAI I UtllA S A « i I AUAAkl IAI ^ ^ NEW YORK 3* 1S4 W. 4*Hi St. HOLLYWOOD 2t *311 Yucca St. CHICAGO 11 *12 N. Michigoa Ava. LONDON. W. C. 2 • St. Martia't Ploca Trafalgar Sqaara By HOBE MORRISON Having tossed out a couple of proposed constitutional “reforms,” Actors Equity can now resume concentration on the question of merger with Chorus Equity. Mat- ter is now in eommittee, but is due for a reconsideration agffin by the Equity council and, probably, by the memberships of the two groups after that. Two proposed constitutional amendments were recently voted down at a quarterly membership meeting of Equity. Both had been condemned by the council. Only about 200 members attended the meeting and a maximum of only 128 cast votes. One of the proposed amend- ments would have required a two- thirds vote of a special membership meeting to ratify all agreements and contracts terms of employment or working conditions for actors. The other measure would have changed the union’s election ma- chinery to eliminate the nominat- ing committee and substitute individual nominations by petition. Issue of merger, w'hich has been relatively quiet for some weeks, is likely to stir considerable heat when it is taken up again by the council. Equity president Ralph Bellamy, currently in Chicago as star of the touring “Oh Men, Oh Women," is a stro'ng advocate of merger, and has the support of a large segment of the council. At- titude of the Equity and Chorus memberships isn’t clearly indicated. A merger program was approved by the Equity council, with the apparent support of the Chorus representatives and the Chorus executive committee. However, a Chorus faction then raised a row and led the council to recon- (Continued on page 50) Questionnaire, Heavy Ad Campaign As B.O. Lures For St. Loo Muny Opera St. Louis, Dec. 28. In a move to hypo interest in the summer light opera season at For- est Park, the Municipal Theatre Assn, has been conducting a ques- tionnaire via an intensive ad cam- paign. Ostensible object is to get suggestions for next summer’s line- up of shows, but the primary aim is to stimulate a sense of participa- tion on the part of the public and expand the mailing list. Series of display ads in news- papers in St. Louis and neighbor- ing cities, headed “Wanted,” asks for “Your Opinion" on the best of the 11 shows presented last sum- mer and “Your Advice” on the most desirable of 39 listed musical comedies, operettas and operas-in- English for the 1955 season! Those replying are asked to indicate sex and age bracket. Previous questionnaire to a list-of 11,000 guarantors, subscribers, etc., drew 60% response. It’s hoped that the ad campaign reaching a combined circulation of about 1,- 000,000, will bring another large response, boosting the mailing list, substantially increasing the sub- scription and incidentally giving the management an idea of pop- ular choices in booking shows. Ads are handled by the Gardner agency, a local outfit. The 1955 Muny season will open June 3 and continue 12 weeks. Backers of Proposed Revival Sue for Coin Two backers of a proposed re- vival of‘“Good News" sued in N.Y. Municipal Court last week for the return of their $3,000 investment. Plaintiffs are attorney Edward M. Miller and radio sportswriter Frank Litsky, and the defendant is Leon- ard Karzmar. Action charges that the $3,000 was advanced last June and July on Karzmar’s prom- ise that the musical would open on Broadway before Thanksgiving. Miller claims that with the dead- line past and the show not in re- hearsal, no cast signed and no part- nership agreement filed, Karzmar has promised several times to re- turn the investment, but has failed to make gfiod. Karzmar’s previous producing experience is said to have been limited to amateur shows.