Variety (January 12, 1955)

2 MISCELLANY Wednesday, January 12, 1955 'Personal Service’ Exempts Voorhees From N.Y. Unincorporated Biz Tax In a ruling regarded as signifi-*- cant in show business, the Court of Appeals, State of N. Y., has held that Don Voorhees, in conducting orchestras for DuPont and Ameri- can Telephone & Telegraph radio programs, was not functioning as an “unincorporated business” and consequently is exempt from the state’s unincorporated business tax. The tribunal thus reversed an Appellate Division decision which held Voorhees subject to the tax. The Appeals Court noted that this was the first such tax case in- volving "the arts,” as distin- guished from the practice of law, medicine, dentistry and architec- ture. These fields have been specifically listed as being beyond application of the tax in cases where more than 80% of an indi- vidual’s gross income is derived from personal services rendered. N. Y. firm of O’Brien, Driscoll & Raftery represented Voorhees in the appeal. British Package Old Films For U.S. Television Reversing a policy it had pur- sued since the war, the J. Arthur Rank Organization is currently in- viting bids on a package of 52 theatrical Rank pix from tv film distributors. None of the films are new but few—such as the classic “39 Steps” —pre-date the war. Among the titles in the group are “The Blue Lamp,” “Fanny by Gaslight,” “Pink String and Sealing Wax.” “Blackmail,” “The Smugglers” (Technicolor), “Dear Mr. Prohack,” etc. As recently as three months ago, John Davis, Rank’s managing director, refused to even discuss any tv deals, partly on the advice of Universal execs. Indies in N. Y. feel that the Rank move may foreshadow a similar policy change at Associated British Pictures which, in the past, has flirted with the idea of tv sales but reportedly wouldn’t go through with it as long as Rank stuck to his anti-tv guns. Quite apart from that, Warner Bros, has an interest in Associated British and has some- ing to say about any tv deals. Fact that the Rank package is be- ing offered around has some of the indies jittery and rushing through their own deals. Their reasoning is that, once the Rank ptx find a buyer, the tv film market will be glutted for a while and prices will drop. Breathe Deeply Pays WOR, N. Y., is making a big thing out of gabber John B. Gambling’s 30 years with the station. Outlet is taking over Madison Square Garden for four hours in the morning on March 8. It is believed the first time the Garden was taken over to cuffo listeners of a radio show. WOR is going to do the entire ayem lineup from the arena. Author Not Taxable On Earnings From Rights Prevously Transferred Washington, Jan. 11. When a writer gives exclusive rights to use his copyrighted work in a specified entertainment me- dium, it is a transfer of a property right and he is not subject to Fed- eral income tax on earnings of these rights, Internal Revenue Service rules. Revenue explained that “copy- rights are divisible into separate properties and a grant of the ex- clusive right to exploit a copy- righted work in a specific medium, such as radio, television, films or the stage, throughout hhe life of the | copyright transfers a property right. “Accordingly where a taxpayer, by deed of gift transfers and di- vests himself of all rights, title and interest in the dramatization rights to his novel necessary for its pro- duction in a specific medium, such as radio, television, motion pictures or on stage, he is not liable for Federal income tax with respect to any income deriving from his for- mer interest in these rights.” 30 YEARS AT ST. GEORGE Eli Dantzig, Radio Vet, Has Daughter At The Ivories BUY A TICKET AND HELP CATCH MURDERER This really deserves billing as the first benefit premiere of its kind. United Artists is opening “Romeo and Juliet” at the Lux Theatre, Panama, tomorrow • Thurs.) with the proceeds to be- come part of a fund used for the international search for the assas- sins of Panama President Jose An- tonio Remon. Arrangements for the preem fwere set by Arnold Picker, UA’s v.p. in charge of foreign opera- tions, who’s now touring Latin America. HORACE HEIDT For Swift A Co. Starting Jan. 8th Office*—J. Walter Thompson, Chicago $ 1200 . 000,000 Pix B.O. in U.S. Washington, Jan. 11. Boom in both the film boxoffice and the sale of tv sets for 1955 is predicted by Sinclair Weeks, Secretary of Commerce, in his special report on industrial out- look for the year ahead. He esti- mated the film business at the boxoffice at $1,200,000,000 in 1954, and figured tv set sales should be nearly $1,150,000,000 in 1955 at factory prices. Weeks credits the b.o. upswing largely to Hollywood’s emphasis on quality product, asserting: “Further increases at the box- office are expected in 1955, as the industry concentrates upon quality production rather than quantity, which proved so successful in 1954,1 when estimated gross box- office receipts totaled $1,200,000,- 000. This was an 18% increase over 1953 and brought the average admissions near 80,000,000 per- sons. The foreign market for U.S. films is becoming increasingly important, bringing in nearly $200,000,000 in 1954.” Weeks asserted that “the expan- sion of color television receiver production is expected to result in factory sales of $150,000,000 in 1955, while sales of black and white receivers will have a factory value of almost $1,000,000,000.” Film Research Spades Strange Sod Irish Tunes Mostly Written in America by Non-Irish Tunesmiths Like Westermarck By DIMITRI TIOMKIN Weep No More, You By-Liners Veteran Mariner of our Annual Sea of Prose Gives Advice To Amateur Authors Who End Up In the ‘Variety’ Overset By FRANK SCULLY Palm Springs, Jan. 11. Sometimes it seems that the chief motive of these anniversary num- bers of Variety is to teach contributors—staffers particularly—that they are not indispensable and that when guests are around, the place of staffers is below the salt. If anybody must drown in this sea of prose, It seems the crew must go down first. To the cry "Man overboard!” the urgency of the rescue depends on whether it is a member of the crew who is paid to keep on deck or a paying guest whose loss will have serious repercussions. Hordes of one-shot contributors drown out our hard-won prose in a flash flood of brilliance. The primary effect is stunning. Awe and admiration, however, soon give way to doubts as to their durability. Could these brilliant contribs keep it up for 52 weeks? Or, like quarter horses, are they brilliant only for short runs? Year after year these brilliant amateurs are set against us old pros. In all fairness it must be conceded that they beat our brains out. But again I say, would they like to stretch their sprints into marathons and see who wins then—the hare or the tortoise? You may have read where Warner’s had to run “The High and the Mighty” all over again to have its theme song qualify for the Oscar Derby. It seems the picture ran long and they cut a choral surge at the finish because the words were intelligible and this wasn’t needed, because the picture was finished anyway. So they settled for John Wayne’s wistful whistle. But those words were essential to an Academy award so Warner’s had to put them back in the picture and run it again to meet Academy requirements. We unfortunately have no such rules concerning an anniversary number of Variety. Otherwise some of those contributions, or even paragraphs that were heaved overboard when the cargo began to list, would be rescued and incorporated in a playback. Anny Number vs. Battle of Bulge v Part of this battle of the bulge is traceable to editorial jitters. Along about October each year, fearful that he faces nearly 300 pages and little reading matter .to fill in between the ads, the editor sends (Continued on page 73) Bob Hope Says IA Bum-Raps Him Greenland Air Base Show Filmed by Government Cameramen—Local 659 Squawks ♦ MIKE KAPLAN, PUBLISHER Former Variety Staffer Starts Free Daily For Hotels Hollywood, Jan. 11. A new type of daily newspaper —a giveway—to be slipped under the doors of every room in every large hotel in the L.A. area, is being inaugurated by Mike Kaplan, who resigned Dec. 31 as a Daily Variety staffer to embark upon this project. Tagged The Traveler, publication starts Feb. 20, and will include a large range of features, including United Press news and telephotos. With a 12-page tabloid format, paper is aimed directly at the more than 3,500,000 visitors who annual- ly spend in excess of $500,000,000 in Southern California, thus giving advertisers a concentrated reader- ship. Additional features include syndicated columns of Joe and Stewart Alsop, Hy Gardner and Art Buchwald. Free circulation will be confined to hotels’ guests. Kaplan plans to publish Traveler in seven key cities after getting local edition firmly established. Hollywood, Jan. 11. Bob Hope Sunday termed com- pletely unfair an attack made upon him because Government photog- raphers were used to film his show lensed in Greenland, and shown on the Colgate Comedy Hour Sun. (9). Hope was the target earlier of a blast by IATSE cameramen’s local 659, which complained to Bob Hope Enterprises, and sent a letter to Defense Secretary Charles Wilson asking for an investigation, charg- ing it was unfair to the 150 jobless cameramen in Hollywood. Hope said he understood union cameramen made the Greenland jaunt but that all arrangements were made by Air Force Secretary Harold Talbott. Talbott, he ex- plained, wanted the show filmed so that it could be shown before Air Force bases throughout the world as a morale-booster. And l^e told Hope he would like to see it (Continued on page 65) BORGE’S N.Y. SOLO PAYS HIM $897,350 TO DATE Victor Borge is continuing to Eli Dantzig is marking 30 years as orchestra leader at the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn by enroll- ing his daughter Harriett for piano and vocals. Dantzig was a radio orchestra back in the old WOR and WHN days and also once administered the club department for Loews under Marvin Schenck. Last week as I watched the shops ar.d stores dismantle their Yule- tide green festooning it occurred to me the next "wearin* of the green” isn’t far off; less than three months to be precise—St. Patrick’s Day. This coming March 17 I would like to hear a radio or video pro- gram devoted to genuine tradi- tional Irish music. Annually Subscription Order Form Enclosed find check for $ Please send VARIETY for y e “ rs 1 . 12 To tPleasc Print Nam*) Street City . . Zone. .. . State Regular Subscription Rates One Year—$10.00 Two Years—$18.00 Canada and Foreign—$1 Additional per Year yft-RlETY Inc. 154 West 44th Street New York 34. N. Y. some broadcast programmer strikes a stance of superiority and painstakingly points out what “Irish” music was composed In Tin Pan Alley and what is “authentic.” Then he patronizingly brushes aside Tin Pan Alley and cascades on his helpless listeners a stream of melodies as indigenous to Ice- land as to Ireland. That “authentic” Irish ballad, "I’ll Take You Home Again, Kath- leen,” was concocted in Kentucky by a German named Westermarck for a sick wife who had a nostalgia to return to her native Long Island. “Come Back To Erin” was written b> a Baltimore belle, Mrs. Charles Barnard, in Baltimore, under the nom-de-clef of Claribel, on an occasion of a visit to Ireland by Queen Victoria on which Her Britannic Majesty was most coolly received. There is even reason to believe the song, actually, is a satire. Of course, “Mother Machree” and all those kindred trills about tumbledown shacks in County Down are strictly Tin Pan Alley— but at least they are honestly so. They are plainly and proudly stamped “Made In U.S.A.” and are meant to be what they are, senti- mental hands-acre£s-the-sea sa- lutes,/ Perhaps this year some broad- (Continued on page 74) PICKENS SIS PLAN REUNITING FOR ‘TOAST’ The Pickens Sisters (Jane, Patti & Helen) will make their first pro- fessional appearance since 1937 on Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town” salute to New York Daily News radio-tv columnist Ben Gross on Jan. 30. Trio will sing a couple of songs, and Jane Pickens will re- create her death scene from “Re- gina.” in which she starred on Broadway in 1949. Sisters’ last appearance together was on an NBC radio show in 1937. Since then, Jane has continued as a legit-radio-tv-screen performer. Helen is a New York advertising exec with Needham, Louis & Brorby, while Patti, who lives in Bucks County, Pa., occasionally subs for Jane on her radio-tv shows when the latter vacations. Josh Logan’s Screen Debut Hollywood, Jan. 11. Josh Logan, Broadway stage di- rector. makes his screen bow on Columbia's “Picnic,” starring Wil- liam Holden. He reports here next week for huddles with prexy Harry Cohn. Pic rolls in May. take out some tall coin from his one-man show at the Golden The- atre, N. Y., which opened Jan. 23, 1953. Since that time, Borge has received as his share of the take $897,350, said to be the highest to be derived from a solo perform- ance. The Borge show is produced by Harry D. Squires, who toured Borge in various cities before his Broadway opening. Sousa Shrine Washington, Jan. 11. Home of John Philip Sousa, near the Capitol here, is to be preserved as a shrine. A movement has been launched for funds to purchase the little two-story home of the march king, whose life was the subject of a film biography. Plan is to refurnish the house and to include a collection of memorabilia, Including copies of his music, medals, etc. Amru Sani, Indian chanteuse, arrives in New York, Jan. 17, aboard the Liberte after touring Italy in the musical, "Tutte Donne Meno Io.”