Variety (March 1956)

Wednesday, March 7, 1956 PfiRIETY LEGITIMATE 57 Accept 8-Line Limit (or ABC Ads; Stars Must Okay Directory Setup Pending final arrangements for*- a directory-style setup for day-to - 1 day legit ads for Broadway shows,' the various managements have agreed to an eight-line limit for the individual ABC ads. Since the minimum accepted by the news¬ papers is six lines, that means that all regular alphabetical listings will be six-to-eight lines in depth.. Meanwhlie, plans are in progress to inaugurate the directory-style of alphabetical listings. However, since star contracts nearly always specify that the actor’s name ap¬ pear above the title in all advertis¬ ing, it’s necessary to get waivers from the stars involved. That’s causing some delay, but is report¬ edly okayed in most instances. If any star refuses to agree to listing to the right of the title in the proposed directory-style ad set¬ up, that particular show will have to be excluded. In that case, all other shows would be included in the directory ad and the exception show or shows would have separate ABC ads. The whole plan is pred¬ icated on the assumption that all New York dailies will accept the directory-style copy. If any refuse, they will get copy in the present ABC form, while the directory- style ads will go to those willing to accept. (The Times has re¬ portedly informed the ad agencies that it will refuse the directory- style copy.) Prior to the suggested compro¬ mise on the eight-line maximum, there had been some talk in man¬ agement circles of discontinuing all legit ads in the hold-out papers and possibly bringing suit to test the matter. The compromise was worked. out by legit pressagents William Fields and Bar?y Hyams, (Continued on page 58) Bucks County 25-Week Season Kicks Off May 5 With Billie Burke’s‘Cad’ New Hope, Pa., March 6 . The longest season in the history of the Bucks County Playhouse here is scheduled to begin May 5. The theatre will remain open through Oct. 27 for a 25-week run. The bpening bill, which will mark the start*-’©! ithe operation’s 18th year, will be “Solid Gold Cadillac,” starring Billie Burke. “Cadillac” will run for two weeks as will four other shows. Another 10 entries from the stock catalog will be put on for one week each, while four tryouts and one musical will also get single-stanza showcasing. Productions lined up for the season, besides “Cadillac,” include “Seven Year Itch,” “Tea and Sympathy,” “Anniversary Waltz,” “Anastasia”' and “Remark¬ able Mr. Pennypacker.” The Playhouse is offering three subscription plans this year, with a 15% discount for season ticket buys. A 10% discount will be given patrons purchasing six to 10 consecutive shows and a pay-as- you-go plan is available to weekly subscribers. Theatre parties and benefits, with discounts for groups of 25-400 are also being booked by John J. Crowley, the barn’s gen¬ eral manager. Michael Ellis, who runs the Playhouse, is currently function¬ ing as managing director of the Coconut Grove (Fla.) Playhouse. DROP PLAN TO IMPORT ITALIAN GROUP TO U.S. The plan to bring Eduardo de Filippo’s Italian repertory, company to the U. S. next fall has apparent¬ ly been abandoned by the Pro¬ ducers Theatre. The decision is understood to have been reached last week, shortly before the de¬ parture of Robert Whitehead for Europe. Whitehead is partnered in Pro¬ ducers Theatre with Roger L. Ste¬ vens and Robert W. Dowling. Mischkc Vice Frisbie Mischke has joined The waybill, official program for New ork legit theatres. He is assistant f 1 i itor -. succeeding James Frisbie, who died last week. ™ ard Huber is publisher of Ic with Barbara Blake editor and John Dow associate editor. ‘Plain’ Tardy, London; Figure ‘Pipe’ Is Next London, March 6 . “Plain and Fancy” is the first Broadway musical in nearly 10 years to get.off to a bad start at the Drury Lane. Apart from the first few days, it has been playing to about 50% capacity. The disap¬ pointing business is apparently at¬ tributable in part to adverse wea¬ ther conditions, but mainly due, it is thought, to the unfavorable reviews. The import is presented by Prince Littler and Chappell’s, and four Broadway players came over for the show. They are Shirl Con¬ way, Richard Derr, Joan Ho vis and Reed De Rouen. Rumors current in legit circles that “Plain and Fancy” is about to fold, are not confirmed, although on its present boxoffice perform¬ ance, it needs, to be subsidized. “Pipe Dream,” submitted last week Tor the Lord Chamberlain’s cen¬ sorship okay, is likely to be the next presentation at the Drury. Houseman Sees Shelley as Kate Shelley Winters is being sought to- play Katherine in “Taming of the Shrew” and another femme lead in a Bard revival this summer at the American Shakespeare Fes¬ tival Theatre & Academy at Strat¬ ford, Conn. The film actress is currently starring in “Hatful of Rairt,” at the Lyceum, N.Y., her first Broadway appearance since playing Ado Annie, the role created by Celeste Holm, in the original Broadway edition of “Ok¬ lahoma.” John Houseman, who will stage the Shakespeare revivals at Strat¬ ford this summer, arrived from Hollywood last week to begin prep¬ arations for the season. W T hether he and Miss Winters can get to¬ gether on the “Shrew” assignment presumably depends largely on choice of a suitable role for the actress’ other Shakespeare appear¬ ance. Set Up 1001) Fund Under New TG-ATS-CLT Pact A $100,000 fund to hypo touring legit activity is one of the major provisions in the renewal of the basic agreement between the The¬ atre Guild-American Theatre So¬ ciety and the Council of the Living Theatre. The two organizations, which teamed up in 1952 to boost subscription theatre-going, have extended their original three-year pact another five years, until May, 1960. The $100,000 will be raised from available funds, after administra¬ tive expenses, of the non-profit subscription operation. The coin will be used to encourage Broad¬ way- entries to tour and insure booking schedules in 17 major cities. There are now approximate¬ ly 87,000 TG-ATS subscribers guaranteeing nearly $ 2 , 000,000 an¬ nually in 650,000 pre-sold tickets. Incidentally, TG-ATS claims it’s unaffected by a stipulation in the recent Shubert-UBO consent de¬ cree enjoining the Shuberts from refusing to allow any out-of-town theatre to bid on a free competi¬ tive basis for local TG-ATS sub¬ scription seasons. The TG-ATS plan applies to shows, not thea¬ tres. In other words, the subscrip¬ tion is carried to whichever thea¬ tre a touring entry chooses to play. Columbus Stock Plans Columbus, March 6 . Playhouse-on-the-Green, profes¬ sional summer stock "tent theatre, is making plans for its second sea¬ son on a site adjoining radio station WRFD, about 10 miles north of the heart of downtown Columbus. Joseph K. Weaver, producer of the “theatre in the round,” said that this season will find the. pro¬ ductions opening their six-day week on 1 Monday, instead of Tuesday. Misleading Ad Boston, March G. Louis Cline, manager of the Colonial Theatre here, had “Bus Stop” on the marquee of theatre for the past few weeks heralding the engagement of the William Inge . comedy, which started yesterday (Mon.). He was kept busy, however, by out-of-towners who took the billing literally. In desperation, he finally put up a sign last week, read¬ ing, “This is not a bus stop, but the play ‘Bus Stop’ opens here March 5.” Parks Wants Out Of 3d ‘Teahouse’; He ‘Needs Rest’ Larry Parks, star of the third company of “Teahouse of the Au¬ gust Moon,” may leave the tourer within the next couple of weeks. He’s been negotiating with produc¬ ers Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse about either quitting the show altogether or taking a four- week vacation. He has explained he needs a rest. Lindsay and Crouse were in New Orleans last week for confabs with the actor, but no decision was reached. A factor in the situation is the problem of getting a name replacement on short notice, so the tour can be continued without a sizable drop in business. Parks has been on tour with the troupe since last September. It’s tenta¬ tively planned to continue the com¬ pany on the road through next fall, probably playing repeat engage¬ ments on the Coast this summer. The second “Teahouse” com¬ pany, currently in the 26th week of a Chicago run, is continuing there indefinitely, . ,with Eddie Bracken taking over the top role of Sakini next Monday (12), suc¬ ceeding Burgess Meredith, who is withdrawing. The original troupe, now in its 126th week at the Mar¬ tin Beck. N. Y., closes there March 24, and then tours the key eastern cities of Boston, Philadelphia. Washington, Baltimore, etc. Equity Moderates Get Voting Edge; Indie Ticket May Hinge on Ross Pic Publicist Authors Script for Off-B’way Val Coleman, feature writer in the United Artists homeoffice pub¬ licity department, has authored a play which is set for off-Broadway presentation shortly. Producer is Frank Britain, who was associate producer last year of the “Wanted” television series. The Coleman property, titled “Fire and Frozen Lakes,” is slated to go into rehearsal this month with Maurice Alevy as director. Latter staged William Saroyan’s “A Lost Child’s Fireflies” in Dallas in 1955. David Hooks will play the lead in “Lakes.” No theatre is mentioned for it. Coleman, who’s 25, joined UA last month. He previously worked on the San Francisco Call-Bulletin, was associated with the Circle-in- the-Square Theatre and was an actor and technical director with I the Antioch Shakespearean Festi¬ val in Yellow Springs, Ohio. ANNA WIMAN READYING THE BALL’FOR LONDON London, March 6 . Conchita Montes is due in Lon¬ don today <Tues.) for a starring role in an English version of “El Baile” i“The Ball”), to be pre¬ sented by Anna Deere Wiman. This will be Miss Wiman’s first solo ven¬ ture here, all her previous pro¬ ductions having been in association with other managements. She is a, daughter of the late Broadway producer, Dwight Deere Wiman. I The play, by Edgar Neville, has hjad over 1.200 performances in Spain and last month received the Fastenrath prize of the Royal Span¬ ish Academy as the best show to be written in the last five years. It has also been done on the Con¬ tinent and in various South Amer¬ ican cities. Production wilf be staged by Maurice Colbourne and a pre-Lon¬ don tour opens April 2 at Malvern. Cast includes Denis Price and Hugh Latimer. ‘Littlest Revue Set for Phoenix “The Littlest Revue," an inti¬ mate show with a cast of six. will be presented by the Phoenix Thea¬ tre. N.Y., as the season closer, fol¬ lowing the run of the upcoming re¬ vival of "A Month in the Country.” The song-and-dance piece will have music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by Ogden Nash and sketches by John Latouehe, Sheldon Harnick, Rob¬ ert Emmett and others. Paul Lnm- mers will direct and the cast will include Charlotte Rae, Joel Gray and Lee Goodman. “Month in the Country,” open¬ ing April 3 at the off-Broadway spot, is being staged by Michael Redgrave, and has a cast including Ula Hagen. Alexander Scourby, Luther Adler. Michael Strong. Mary Morris. Olga Bielinska, A1 Hedison, Stefan Gierasch, Wolf Barzell, Peggy Cass and Anne Hen¬ nessey. + A liberal and middle-of-the-road slate defeated the conservatives in the election of membership repre¬ sentatives to the nominating com¬ mittee in the Actors Equity quar¬ terly membership meeting last week at the Sheraton-Astor Hotel, N. Y. However, no matter what ticket is chosen by the committee, an op¬ position card will probably be en¬ tered in the union’s annual elec¬ tion in June. The action is expect¬ ed to pivot around Bill Ross, who was dropped as second vice-presi¬ dent from last year’s regular ticket and was subsequently put up for that purpose on a partial inde¬ pendent slate. He was defeated. If Ross, regarded as a liberal, is named on the regular ticket, then it’s almost a sure bet that the conservative element in the union will put up its own candidates. Conversely, if he’s not listed on the regular card, it’s likely that his supporters will ditto last year’s move. The upcoming election is the first to be held since the Equity- Chorus merger last year. Prior to the consolidation, the Equity nomi¬ nating committee comprised six membership reps and three coun¬ cil members. The membership lineup now takes in seven princi¬ pals and three chorusers, while the number of council members has been upped to five. Votes for the winning member¬ ship reps were as follows: Whit- ford Kane (451), Viveca Lindfors (416), Ell Wallach (413), Frank Sil- vera (410), Osceola Archer (408), William Prince (408) and Helen Gallagher (407). Those are the seven principals, while the three chorus members are Edward Beck- (Continued on page 58) Lou Wilson Eyes Stolz ‘Springtime’ for B’way With New Anglo Book Lou Wilson, ex-William Morris Agency and longtime with London legit producer Prince Liltlefr, may do Robert Stolfc’s operetta, “Frueh- ling Im Prater” (Springtime! in the Prater), which clicked on tlie Con¬ tinent four seasons ago, but which has been delayed for Anglo-Amer¬ ican production because of the li- bretto. Stolz has finally gotten i collaborator Ernst Marischka’s con- j sent to divorce latter’s book from j the score, and Wilson will try and ! get an American book writer to n o • n n • : match the Stolz music. Chappell’s for opring KUIl, iTlSCOjis publishing and while the score Book H’wood Turnabout has been widely recorded in Eu¬ rope, it has been mostly sung in German. Littler would do “Springtime” in England after the Broadway run. Stolz, who has been working in Vienna, still maintains a permanent Central Park West (N. Y. City) STANLEY BARNES AS JUDGE Man Who Made Shuberts Cry ‘Uncle Sam’ Appointed Washington, March 6 . The nomination of Stanley Barnes to be a U. S. Circuit Judge, in the 9th Circuit (California) was sent to the Senate yesterday (Mon.) by the White House. Barnes, a Californian, is Assistant Attorney General heading the Antitrust Division. Among recent consent decrees negotiated by his division have been the Shubert case over monopoly in legit theatres and bookings, and the Columbia Man¬ agement case, involving concert bookings. Barnes has been involved in complaints by indie exhibitors that the big motion picture antitrust decision was not being fully obeyed by the distributors. Barnes has disagreed with the stand taken by the Allied States Assn., and the Southern California Theatre Own¬ ers Assp San Francisco, March ! Local promoter Albert Rappa- port and art-theatre owner Maury Schwarz are bringing Hollywood’s Turnabout Theatre here for a five- month run starting May 15. Rap- paport has leased California Hall. near downtown Frisco, and will • apartment although, paradoxically, renovate it, install the necessary j on t he j n f re quent visit he made two stages for the Turnabout and j to Gotham last week, he and his put m 450 seats. I w jf e s t a yed at the St. Moritz Hotel, It’s also planned to use the hall j because their apartment was in for lectures. Schwarz is connected ; process of redecoration. They came only with the Turnabout aspect of. over ahead of schedule, finding the operation. , that they had to be back in Europe - j sooner than anticipated for conceit ATP AM Torino PirkpHnir engagements and for a film which AlrAiVI, Ixnps riCKeung | the same Marischka, who did the Boston Little Theatre i “Springtime” book, is producing _ , ,,, , „ ; with a Stolz score. Boston, March 6. j incidentally, the Stolz’s 17-year- Fine Arts Theatre, newly opened • 0 ld daughter Clarice, now in school little theatre group here, is being : in England, has just made her act- picketed by the Assn, of Theatrical mg debut and is due on the Vienna „ . , D ,,__ „ . stage this summer to play in Ger- Press Agents & Managers and the ^ as weU as in the English. stagehands’ union. It’s the first | _ ease of legit pieketing here in ‘FAREWELL EUGENE’ SET/ years. The pickets went into action last Thursday <1) with the opening by Lyric Productions of Jean Anouilh’s “Thieves’ Carnival.” The line was suspended, however, to permit the entry of Boston drama critics. Barry Frank, business manager of Lyric Productions, says that he’s offered to hire union men when gross reaches 50% of capacity, but the bid was rejected. Frank asserts the move by the unions is apparently a test drive to get all non-union legit spots in lire. The Cape has a number of non-union strawhatters and there are several around the Boston area. The unions are said to be trying to make a quota of 90% of the strawhatters this season. FOR B’WAY NEXT FALL. “Farewell, Farewell, Eugene,”^ by legit-tv actor and strawhat pro¬ ducer John Vari, is scheduled for Broadway production next fall by John C. Wilson, possibly with Bur¬ gess Meredith as stager. No one is set for the cast. The play was tried out last year at Theatre ’55, Dallas* where Ram¬ sey Burch took over the direction following the death of founder Margo Jones. TTie author, who • goes to the Coast shortly for a role in the Rocky Graziano pic- ture, “Someone Up There Likes j Me,” has operated the Hampton <N. H.) Playhouse for the last seven' summers.