Variety (February 1956)

MISCELLANY Variety Wednesday, February 1, I955 linority Sahibs, Gilbert Bros., Spread Credit and Blame As To Annual Stockholder Meetings In the 261-page book, grown up< from a booklet,! which is their 16th "Annual Report of Stockholder Activities” the leaders of the “cor¬ porate democracy” movement. Lewis D. and John J. Gilbert of New York, touch on a variety of companies either in or connected with show business and some of their officers. Nor are invidious comparisons spared. “Gen. David Sarnoff presiding so well at the RCA meeting and with such equity of manner . . . proved himself stockholder-mind¬ ed” but “William S. Paley of CBS should realize that the old-fash¬ ioned meetings of that company are now out of date. That includes voice votes on resolutions, which should be voted on by ballots.” Gilberts report “a legal luminary of Columbia” seated as an observ¬ er in a rear seat at the RCA meet¬ ing and deductively supposes CBS was scouting Sarnoff for hints on how "to handle stockholders! In the chapter on “options” objection is voiced to Columbia Broadcasting management asking the removal of the “wise provi¬ sion" -limiting to 15,000 the num¬ ber of CBS shares which could be allocated from* the treasury in any one year. CBS wants 94,250 shares optionable in any one year. William Zeckendorf’s failure to attend the Webb & Knapp annual meeting was denounced by the brothers as corporation officer ar¬ rogance and the seven-year option to Billy Rose allowing him to pur¬ chase 825,000 shares of Webb & Knapp at $2.31 a share was criti¬ cized for its “generous” nature. (Continued on page 61) A Pain* in Canada, Too Ottawa, Jan. 31. Frequent police calls and establishment of lengthy blacklists have followed up¬ surge of vandalism in Ottawa filmers, particularly in the nabes. Managers are issuing personal pleas to parents in their effort to curb the destruction of upholstery, marquee glass and signs and general loud-talk and quarrel¬ ling in the seats. Managers find the worst offenders in the 13-to-16 age group in the nabes, with older juves ha¬ rassing downtown managers. Managers report upped vandal activity in slashing seats and destructiveness in rest rooms, linking the fact that more of the leather- jacketed youths are carrying knives than ever before with the increased damage. Oscar's Protocol Hollywood, Jan. 31. It’s up to CBS to decide if Bing Crosby will emcee the NBC tele¬ cast of' the Academy Awards pre¬ sentations March 21. Groaner's willing but feels a moral obliga¬ tion to CBS. Another twist: Bob Hope, who m.c.’d Oscars last year, can’t en¬ core because Chevrolet, his cur¬ rent sponsorship, opposes his iden¬ tifying himself with Oldsmobile, sponsor of the Acad outing. Chewy and Olds both are products of General Motors, but competitive nonetheless. Jog Hollywood As to Canada (& Its Writers) New project under which Cana¬ dian literary material is present¬ ed to Hollywood studios via the Canadian Cooperation ’Project came to light last week in the Project’s annual report issued frctm the office of the Motion Pic¬ ture Assn, of America. The' Project, now in its ninth year, was set up in January of 1948 by MPAA prexy Eric. John¬ ston as an American effort to keep Canada represented in features, shorts, and newsreels, encourage location lensing in the Dominion, etc. Coordinator, with ft. Y. head¬ quarters, is Taylor M. Mills. In the annual report, Mills out¬ lined the “books-to-films” program started by the Project in early 1955. Arrangements have been made with Canadian publishing houses to submit their film poten- (Continued on page 61) From Out in Right Field American Legion Mag’s Film Throw Curves Left Manhattan film execs reacted with a mixture of anger and sur¬ prise this week to a column in the American Legion Magazine, accus¬ ing the industry of “backsliding” on the question of decency and Americanism in films. Column pre¬ dicted “a new public reaction” against some of Hollywood’s prod¬ uct. Legion Mag backed its conten¬ tion by citing the release of such films ^as "Man With the Golden Arm’ 4- and “Blackboard Jungle.” American Legion publication lashed out against “Golden Arm” not because of any Communism in its content, but because it was based on a novel by Nelson Al- gren “a gent whose commie and commie front record stretches from here to there.” It nominated “Blackboard Jungle” as “The Film That Hurt America the Most in Foreign Countries in 1955.” Commenting on the mag’s attack 1 “Man With the Golden Arm,!' (Continued on page 63) Baptist’s 29 Piano Buy St. Louis, Jan. 31. There will be plenty of music in the Tower Grove' Baptist Church I which last week moved into- its new $1,000,000 building in South St. Louis accompanied by 29 new pianos which,- with two old ones, brings the number to 31. The pianos, studio-type uprights, were purchased from the local Baldwin Piano Co. for $16,000 and represents the largest single trans¬ action of its kind. Instruments are being placed in Sunday School rooms, with a seating capacity of 2,820. > VARIETY Subscription Order Form Enclosed find check for $ Please send VARIETY for y e e * r rg To . .. Street City. ., (Picas* Print Name) Zone.... State. Regular Subscription Rates One Year-Si 0.00 Two Years—$18.00 Canada and Foreign—$1 Additional Per Year VSRtETY Inc. 1 154 West 45th Str«t N.w York 35. N. Y. Refereeing Honest Disputes in Bars Just Side-Line By ROBERT J. LANDRY What do people want to know? Variety is asked a great many questions by phone, mail and oc¬ casionally telegraph. Quite a few represent bar & grill arguments. They even come long distance. “Variety, we want you to tell us whether it was Chauncey Olcott or Fiske O'Hara who-” Two of the commonest questions concern: Actors' ages (we never tell). Actors' religions (we never know). How. can I get my song -pub¬ lished?” ranks high in frequency of asking-everybody in the U.S. and Canad'a being -a songwriter in his or her spare time. They get no encouragement whatsoever from Variety. Run-of-mill queries concern missing persons; These come from banks, insurance companies, law¬ yers, relatives. It’s amazing how many “show people” are totally unknown to anybody in show busi¬ ness. Requests are frequent for Variety’s Tecommendations of tal¬ ent agents, literary agents, dra¬ matic schools. We’re moderately evasive. “Variety, can you recommend a good play for me to invest in?” No. we can’t. A banker recently asked, “Who owns the Vanderbilt Theatre? Our reply, “It’s now a garage, drew a gulp on the other end of the phone. A real daffodilly was the woman who called wanting to buy theatri¬ cal puppies which could do tricks. “Madame, all dogs have to be trained, even the litters of head¬ liners.” That one was on a par with the daffodilly to the Theatre Collec¬ tion (see adjoining editorial) from the imaginative hostess who said, “I’m taking a dozen children to the matinee of “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Can you give me some 17th century recipes for lunch¬ eon?” Next after the age of actors, people call Variety about actor’s hair. Is it real or a wig? This is “fan” stuff, and we duck. Our handsomest office boy was eiribarrassed to receive a gift from a young woman only to find out what she wanted to know \Vas Eddie Fisher’s hotel. She never found out. Bona fide questions from within the trade are answered, if at all possible. Many concern our edi¬ torial features, of course, notably the annual Radio-TV Showmanage- ment Survey and the List of Top Grossing Films. A frequent re¬ quest from the librarians of radio or video stations is for musico-his- toric material for program plan¬ ning. Typically we refer them to Julius Mattfeld’s book, “Music Cavalcade,” the text of which was originally printed in Variety. The annual Best Plays volumes (formerly “Burns Mantle’s Best Plays), Blum’s “Theatre World," and various other year books, al¬ manacs and directories are natural¬ ly a godsend to one and all. One of the best (and least used) the¬ atrical reference works is the New York Telephone Directory. One great pity: the absence of an American “Who’s Who In the The¬ atre," which throws reliance upon the attention given (increasing) American players in the British 1 “Who’s Who.” The Happy Morgue Just turned 25, the Theatre Collection of the’ New "York Public Library shares, with Variety, just turned 50, a common interest in entertainment media and a common susceptibility to what Curator George Freedley characterizes as “shrewd, sharp and practical questions.” It may be added that neither institution is adequately staffed for servicing inquiries, but do the best they can. The disadvantage as to Variety is nothing we fret about' since this publication is staffed for news-gathering rather than his¬ tory and has the convenient “out” of being able to refer people to its own weekly issues (fully microfilmed at the N.Y. Library) as containing most of whatever this periodical has to offer in the way of answers. The disadvantage of under-staffing to handle inquiries in the case of the Library’s Theatre Collection (open only 1-6 p.m.) is that its usefulness rests on availability of materials, complete¬ ness of cataloging and general capacity to serve. Freedley, as¬ sistant curator Elizabeth P. Barrett, cataloger William H. Mat¬ thews, librarian Paul Myers, one clerk and three.pages are a tiny crew to cope with a growing Collection whose dimensions are suggested by these random data: 30,000 published books, 20,222 theatrical scrapbooks, 65,000 play manuscripts, 750,000 programs and playbills, 560*,0Q0 photographs, prints, engravings, motion picture stills and 162 filing cases of unclassified clippings, each case containing 1,000,000; Securing memorabilia is one problem of the Theatre Collection, but well organized. For example, Universal Pictures and the Dramatists Guild are conscientious contributors of material. So is Sophie Tucker. David Belasco, Winthrop AmeS, Ada Rehan. Augustin Daly, Joe Laurie Jr. have all added to the trove. Be¬ tween 1870-1925 the drama critic of-the Toledo Blade, Robinson Locke, filled and carefully dated and annotated 500 bound scrap¬ books, now in the Collection. And so on. More to the point, material accumulates but its proper classifi¬ cation, mounting and putting intS maximum safe accessibility lags since the depression days, when 45 Federal Arts Project, workers were a blessing. Here is a repository of great practical value—as the legit pub¬ licists well know, especially for revivals. To underline the ob¬ vious, New York is the theatrical - , broadcasting, advertising and —say the word quietly—the cultural headquarters of the U.S. It cannot afford to stint its Theatrical Collection. Land. MONTREAL AGENCY EXPANDS Paramount . Bureau Adds Gordon Beerworth As Exec AGVA Is Eyeing Models; Wants’Em To Join Its Union Hollywood, Jan. 31. American Guild of Variety Art¬ ists will launch -a campaign to or¬ ganize professional models now “highly underpaid,” despite their specialized field. Union is mulling special introductory initiation fee. According to national exec sec Jackie Bright, the union will con¬ centrate on models used to demon¬ strate products at hotels, theatres, fairs, autoshows, etc.,' but will also make membership available to pho¬ tographic models, since their work is “in a sense entertainment.” Models, he pointed out, frequently work places where AGVA has juris¬ diction. They’ll get full member¬ ship, and be eligible for all rights, including accident, life and medical ‘Age’ in Gag-Hungry TV?|"- t union also wiU embark Montreal, Jan. 31. Paramount Entertainment Bu¬ reau Inc., believed to be Canada’s oldest talent agency, has added Gordon H. Beerwoth as head of a new Special Attractions Dept.. Originally a Canadian newspaper¬ man, Beerworth switched to radio, first in the Dominion and then at stations in Beckley, W. Va., Man¬ chester, N. H.,"3nd Gardner, Mass. More recently he’s had televisflJTi experience at Quebec City’s CFCM. Beerworth will handle Para- . mount’s expanded activity in video field as well as industrial shows, growing here as in the States, plus fairs and expos. President Roy Cooper of the agency is currently on a scouting trip in Hollywood. Dora Maugham’s Question: Does Only Female Quipster New York. Editor, Variety: I am seething with Injustice this morning. The case in point is the appearance of Miss Fay de Witt on the NBC Comedy. Hour. The ma¬ terial used by her was conceived (business, music, etc.) and directed and produced by myself and my composer-partner, Harry Blum. It is the. product of two months of hard work—most of it spent in con¬ vincing Miss de Witt she was ca¬ pable of doing it. It was used with¬ out permission—and nary a credit line! I rankle partly because I have been continuously told that it is impossible to Sell me to the net¬ works as a comedy writer because, and I quote I am a WOMAN and the producers are lookihg for young minds! End of quote! Good¬ man Ace, who is just about tops, but not very young, was a news¬ paper man when I was a headliner, doing material I had written for myself! It would seem, then, that only the female brain grows old! In defense of said, brain—in the past year or so it has produced a few items that are worth mention. The material used for Miss Sue Carson’s brilliant debut on the same Comedy Hour—all material being used (with rave notices in your paper as well as others) by Miss Karen Chandler—Julie Wil¬ son’s most successful (at the mo- (Continued op page 63) campaign to organize all sportsmen’s shows. Bright said singers at shows sometimes get $200-$300, while “iogrollers, tree climbers, flycasters, Indian guides” get as much as $3,500 per week. AGVA will seek to enroll these out¬ door type performers on the slogan “Everybody belongs to AGVA, or there’ll be no show.” NON-GLORIFIED NEGROES Shortwave Listener Reacts To Promise from South Africa Manhattan Beach, Cal. Editor, Variety: Apropos your Cgrnelius Vander¬ bilt story from Capetown, South Africa, detailing how that country bans books “glorifying” Negroes, I took down a DX broadcast news item from ZSC, Johannesberg, the other night describing a series of 13 films being made for British* and after that American, commer¬ cial television. Included is the fol¬ lowing bit of non-glorifying, South African style: “Murder in the Mountains” will deal with a ritual murder in Basutoland.” Should be great stuff for court¬ ing good will for some American sponsor among Americap’s 15,000,- 000 Negro consumers. H. Y. Ballou , (Retired Film Projectionist).