Variety (January 1956)

4 Golden Jubilee Pfi&t&TY 50th Anniversary _ Wednesday, January 4, 1956 Rendezvous At 50 Over the years Variety has enjoyed extraordinary prestige and acceptance, sometimes to its own astonishment. This trade paper has been profiled ad infinitum in magazines, books and editorials. The quotations, and internationally, have been beyond numbering. Think, too, how many times the flying V masthead has been prop, plot detail or atmos¬ phere on theatre screens and television sets. A recent Philco dramalet was titled “L. A. to N. Y.” in frank reference to the weekly travel listing. All of these palms are the more remarkable since they were not sought. Only during 1955, in anticipation of the onceTin-a-lifetime of a Golden Jubilee, has Variety indulged in' anything like “systematic” promotion, and this would seem minor indeed to modern publication merchandisers. Even so, Variety declined offers of a number of television producers to make its milestone the occasion of a network salute, preferring that the Golden Jubilee Number speak for itself. The reader, now holds in his or her hands the net heft and weight of a profound nostalgia — ours, and Show Business’ — on the marking of these 50 years of independent theatrical journalism. The independence must be emphasized, for it cost us a lot on occasion and several times threatened our survival. With the Golden Jubilee Edition we can not hide our sentimental feelings and will not withhold our ■ grateful acknowledgments. The point is stressed elsewhere that out¬ numbering our enemies during half a century were our friends. Take this issue as evidence. Also see “Jimmy Walker Called It Sime’s Square.” The present editorial text has been painstakingly and affectionately collated and has never been matched, we be¬ lieve, for sweep, scope and abiding value. This is one to read with care, a bedside volume and a keepsake. In the broadest sense the editors of Variety have had the collaboration of all show business. Come-lately showmen may never have heard of Frohman and may live by Nielsen. To them Ackerman & Harris could be clothiers and the smalltime “death trail” of decades ago a quest for ore veins. But though the old days and ways may be unfamiliar to some of our latterday readers even an ad agency Boy Scout may turn aside from his Trendex and ponder with profit the yesteryears of Sullivan & Considine, Alexander Pantages, Burlesque-that-was and so much else which is reprised in these pages. The Bard of Avon’s classic crack, “All the world’s a stage,” is surely updated by the stage moving smack into the family parlor. The struggles to come— theatre screen vs. home screen, and pay-to-see vs. sponsorship— will be duly reported in the years ahead in the weekly issues of this journal — we hope. Meantime showmen of the old media will counter with George M. Cohan’s “Nothing’s ever been invented that’ll keep a guy home— except a dame.” A more partisan crack,. Sam Goldwyn’s, runs, “If you wanna see bad pictures, stay home!” Technological unemployment overtook hundreds of vaude¬ ville acts when the old circuits expired, but vaudeville in other forms continues today, highlighted by the great tele¬ vision vaudecasts and the big floor shows of the cafes. Broad¬ way’s own legit has been called “a fabulous invalid,” forever counted out yet always coming back. The moral seems clear enough. Amusement forms may be modified, but the essen¬ tials endure, although it is true that minstrel shows and show boats, both American inventions, are picturesquely has-been. Celluloid, amplitude modulation and electronics not to mention trains and planes altered entertainment. But no matter how many changes of form, or even of personnel, the show is still the thing and talent reigns supreme. For exam¬ ple, it took a half century of tradition, a Frohmanesque buildup, and a combination of Sir James M. Barrie and Maude Adams to create the aura of “Peter Pan” which comes alive as a contemporaneous reality via Mary Martin, mated to the electronic medium. This is a sampling of all that has hap¬ pened in these recent -crowded months and will happen withr. in this coming year, not to say years, as the whole wealth of entertainment becomes as familiar to the" public as its hometown newspaper. Which, once again, brings into sharp focus the fundamental — there is no substitute for talent. All the gadgetry and wizardry from Schenectady to Menlo Park to Princeton, N. J., will never or can ever replace talent. That goes for the per¬ former, the playwright, the producer. That gets us back to Variety — “a pub,” as we’re listed in the phone directory. Here, too, there is no substitute for talent or short-cut to experience. The responsible stewards of this paper had to live this textbook of 516 pages. Sime, of course, created the pattern 50 years ago. In his first 16-page 5c issue of Dec. 16, 1905, Sime Silverman •outlined “policy.” He said, in part, “Variety will be conducted on original lines for a theatrical newspaper. The first, foremost and extraordi¬ nary feature will be fairness. Whatever there is to be printed of interest to the professional world will be 'printed without regard to whose name is mentioned Or the advertising columns. " ‘All the news all the time ’ and ‘absolutely fair 9 are the watchwords. “Nothing will be suppressed which is considered of in¬ terest. We promise you this and shall not deviate. “The reviews will be written conscientiously, and the truth only told. If it hurts it is at least said in fairness and impartialitv.” The story begins with Sime and for us who have been entrusted to preserve these principles for the next genera¬ tion, this is the proper sign off with one word added. “Thanks.”