Variety (March 1956)

73 We dnesday, March 2&> 1956 _ Literati Yes, Who He? Much interest in who is the N.Y. Times’ foreign editor now that Margaret Truman’s fiance, Clifton Daniel, has gotten so much pub¬ licity as “assistant to the foreign editor.” He’s Emanuel Freedman. Similar interest arose when Joe McCarthy was publicized as “the •junior senator from Wiscon¬ sin ” Seemingly many couldn’t recall that the senior senator was Alexander Wiley, then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations com¬ mittee. Time’s Peak Profit Operations of Time Inc', in 1955 produced net profit after taxes of $9 196,000 or $4.72 per share on common -stock outstanding, prexy Boy E. Larsen and board chairman Maurice T. Moore informed stock¬ holders Monday (26). These earn¬ ings, it was reported, stemmed from net revenues of $200,182,000 which; set a high water mark in the company’s 33-year history. Peak revenues represented a 12% gain over 1954’s $178,156,000. Likewise, the 1955 net profit com¬ fortably exceeded the 1954 take of $8,057,000, which amounted to $4.13 per share. Dividends during 1955 totalled $5,361,000 and were paid at the rate of $2.75 per share, as compared with $4,876,000 and $2.50 a share in 1954. Production costs and other expenses were THE LAKE By JEAN ANOUILH A4«pf«<l by lIUIAty HEILMAN THE CHALK OAKDEN •fty ENID SAGNOLD HO TIME FOB SEBGEAHTS •Sy IRA LEVIN JANES ly CAROLYN GREEN WILL SECCESS SPOIL BOCK HEHTEB? By GEORGE AXELROD INHERIT THE VINO By JEROME LAWRENCE -B ROBERT 1 LIE , DAMN YANKEES By GEORGE ABBOTT •B DOUGLASS WALLOP THE PAJAMA GAME By GEORGE ABBOTT 1 RICHARD BISSEli BOS STOP By WILLIAM INGE PLAIN AND FANCY By JOSEPH STEIN «. WILL GLICKMAN ir In Preparation THE GREAT SEBASTIANS By Howard Lindtay A Bvutl Croot* THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK By France! Goodrich A Albortfl acLeti THE PONDER HEART By Jonph Plefdi A Jerome Chodoro* A HATFUL OF RAIN By Mkhool Vincente Gone 12.95 eacli, at all bookileree .RANDOM HOUSE, N. Y, listed at $184,911,000 as against $166,901,000 in 1954. Rosy statement also disclosed that net advertising revenues for Time Inc. publications in 1955 es¬ tablished a new record. After de¬ ducting agency commissions and discounts, income topper $144,000,- 000 or a $$11,000,000 gain over 1954. It was said that a “substan¬ tial increase” in ad pages sold as well as higher rates was respon¬ sible for the hefty biz. Further attesting to Time Inc.’s excellent corporate health are its net current assets which totalled $50,374,000 at the year’s end. Fig¬ ure topped 1954’s tally by $1,394,- 000. Time shareholders were also told that the company expects to own the East Texas Pulp & Paper Co. outright fo 1 lowing purchase of the Houston Oil Co/s interest in the plant. Pulp outfit, organized and built jointly by Time and Houston, was completed early* last year. # Another facet pointing up"Time’s rising economy was disclosure that Life’s science series on “The World We Live In” had sold some 570,000 copies in book form. First offered last spring in a special .pre-publi¬ cation sale, book had mail distribu¬ tion of 520,000 copies in a regular ($9.95) edition and a deluxe ($11.95) version by publication date in mid- October. Bookstore . sales bv the year’s end added another 50,000 copies. Cuneo’s Settlement The striking midnight shift of Cuneo Eastern Press Inc. returned to work March 21 after Local 2, Bookbinders & Bindery Women’s Union (AFL-CIO), Philadelphia, approved a settlement. The mem¬ bers had been out a week. Wages were key issue. Distribution of sev¬ eral mags were held up. The company. prints more than 20 top national periodicals includ¬ ing Time, Life, Town & Country, Saturday Review, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeep¬ ing, House Beautiful and Field & Stream. Curtis' Earnings Curtis Publishing Co., Philadel¬ phia, reported higher operating in¬ come but lower earnings for 1955. Walter D. Fuller, chairman of the board, and Robert E. MacNeal, president, told .stockholders of long range plans to increase advertising revenue. Operating Income rose 3.7%, with $179,827,635 last year as com¬ pared with $173,366,020 in 1954. Net earnings dipped 9.6% to $4,080,789, equal to 40c a common share, compared with $4,516,683, or 52c a common share m 1954. Increases in combination and volume discounts and in advertis¬ ing and promotion expenditures raised advertising revenue about $6,000,000 more in 1955, the report stated. The gardually increasing benefits from the new program were apparent from the quarterly reports of earnings. First quarter earnings in 1955 dropped more than $920,000, whereas in the sec¬ ond auarter they were off $300,000. Third quarter was up $68,000 and in the fourth quarter up $718,000. Herb Lottman’s Spot Herbert R:* Lottman, son of the late George D. Lottman, noted Broadway publicist, has just been named to head an editorial office which the publishing house of Far¬ rar, Straus & Cudahy is opening in Paris. Lottman will screen manuscripts and see authors as well. He is married to a French girl and has resided in Paris while on a Full- bright fellowship. The Stage’s 75th Anni The Stage, British theatrical weekly, celebrated its 75th anni¬ versary with a Drury Lane recep¬ tion, but its plan to publish a sou¬ venir issue has been delayed by the current London printing dis¬ pute. The special number will come out when printing Condtions re¬ turn to normal. Canada’s Slap At U.g. Mags Canada’s new federal budget has a 20% tax on Canadian edi¬ tions of U.S. magazines that is ex¬ pected to slap hard, come‘Jan. 1, 1957, at such prominent Canadian editions 4s Reader’s Digest and Time, as well as scuttle plans for similar editions by Newsweek and McGraw-Hill. The tax is on advertising reve¬ nue and will affect, besides the aforementioned, Better.. Living, Family • Circle, EverySvomjan’sp LITERATI Parent’s Magazine, Woman’s Day and trade publications Canadian Office, Canadian Farm Chemicals, Cleaning & Laundry. The tax will apply on all advertising income, both Canadian and U.S., but will not interfere, with distribution. Finance Minister Walter Harris frankly declares the purpose of the tax was to boost all-Canadian magazines which, particularly since the “Canadian Edition” wave began a dozen years ago. have suffered lost advertising and circulation. Time’s Canadian edition has a circulation of about 165,000. Read¬ er’s Digest’s Canadian edition has about* a half million. Salutes Edinburgh Fest John Gordon, editor-in-chief of the Sunday Express, London, paid tribute at Edinburgh to the work done by. the Edinburgh . Interna¬ tional Festival. At press lunch at¬ tended by world scribes, he said it was “an enormous world success.” Last year 425 newspapermen came from 32 countries to the junket, and there were 27,000 overseas visitors, 12,000 of them from the U.S. Alan Pitt Robbins, secretary of the British Press Council, and a former news-editor of the London Times, paid tribute to two men linked with the start of the Festi¬ val—the late Sir John Falconer and the late James Murray Wat¬ son, editor of The Scotsman, Edin¬ burgh. Scribes were given details of the 1956 Festival and taken on a tour of Scot beauty and industrial spots. CHATTER Nancy Craig, formerly with American Broadcasting, n a m e d Home Service editor of House Beautiful mag. John and Jolita Rouson. hus¬ band-wife cartoonist team, touring Scotland and the Continent before returning to U.S. in May. The lead spread in Dance Mag¬ azine for April is a six-pager titled “Dancing in Musicals.” written by Oscar Hammerstein 2d. Sheila McNeil, wife of late Scot politician and writer Hector Mc¬ Neil, who died in N.Y. on literary trip, readying biog*on her husband. Eddie Cantor, in collaboration with Martin Abraham, advises on “How To Beat Nervous Tension” in April issue of Family Circle mag. Miami Beach Sun picked up Walter Kaner’s Long Island col¬ umn which appears thrice weekly in the L. I. Daily Press and L. I. Star-Journal. Saul Carson has a piece in this week’s The Nation, “Jamming The Airwaves,” a United Nations ar¬ ticle covering the British-Greek fracas in Cyprus. Beth Brown signed by Family Circle to do a series of stories on human relationships, the first in the April issue, titled "How To Live With Your Neighbor.” Fawcett Publications has taken over the rights of Joan Brandon’s “Art of Hypnotism” which will be published in June. It’s Miss Bran¬ don’s third book on the subject. Portrait of Toscy |. “Toscanini: an Intimate Portrait” by Samuel Chotzinoff (Knopf; $3.50), is a brief, largely anecdotal record of the menlorable associa¬ tion between the maestro and the author, who is NBC’s general music director for radio and tele¬ vision. First published in some¬ what different form as a four-part serial in Holiday magazine, and now a Book-of-the-Month CRib selection, this work principally concerns itself with the great con¬ ductor’s attitudes and theories in music, and with his behavior on the podium and off during his leadership of the NBC Symphony. Chotzinoff was active in the form¬ ation of this famous ensemble, and undertook many tours with the group. His personal friendship for Toscanini dates from 1926. In its way, each of the anecdotes in the book reveals its subject in a new light.' Perhaps the best yarn is an account of Toscanini’s reac¬ tion to a handsome young lady who apologized to him because she would miss his next performance of Beethoven's “Missa Solemnis.” It seems she had accepted an in¬ vitation to see “Hot-Cha” on the date in question. Toscanini under¬ stood perfectly. There was envy in his attitude. Thg maestro knew that “Hot-Cha” was Broadway’s top musical comedy at the mo¬ ment. “He was himself very fond of musical shows. He hoped that, some night he, too, would be in¬ vited to see ‘Hot-Cha.'’ *’ Down. SCULLY’S SCRAPBOOK By Frank Scully ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ m ♦ „ Palm Springs. Now that even the monthly mags have got over Ike’s “dramatic” statement that he was willing to run again, perhaps my public, which never really wakes up until the second act, would like to know how much more dramatically it was done the first time, four years ago. According to Jacqueline Cochran, the wife of Floyd Odium, who got in and out of RKO-Radio pix without getting scorched. Jackie had a lot to do with bringing Ike around to that first great decision. Up till now I didn’t remember that she was co-chairman of that meet¬ ing which Tex McCrary. Jinx Falkenburg and Jock Whitney pieced together at Madison Square Garden where the “I Like Ike” slogan was adopted. This obviously was a rally of amateurs and in order to get Madison Square Garden a little cheaper than the standard rate, they took the arena on a fight night and held their rally at 11 p.m. At" least this gave them a warmed-up house and a house staff also with its muscles flexed. •, Previously Jackie and - Jinx went to Texas to round up some Repo- crats, because Ike seemingly had been born in Texas. They corraled three trainloads, which shows how a pilot will fly to get a politi¬ cal effect. In those.days, seemingly, the railroads didn’t have as many wrecks as they do now, and this caravan of Texans, including some of their rangers on horseback, arrived in time to make quite a noise around Madison Square. Even so. the show as a show was n.s.g. but the place was packed to SRO. Not only that, but an enormous overflow milled around out¬ side the Garden. These may have been people, who disappointed with the card for the evening, had hoped to see a real fight among amateur politicians boxing for billing. Ike Sold by Newsreels? Even so, the amateurs had the forethought to line up a newsreel caimera. They got some convincing stuff on film. The film was de¬ veloped overnight and Jackie left the next day to fly it to Ike at his headquarters in Paris. His staff allotted her a half-hour for the purpose. A girl whose elbows had worked her up from an authentic poor white, a shoeless waif from Sawdust Road, to the first woman to fly a plane through the sound barrier, and in fact by 1938 to win the General Billy Mitchell Award as the American pilot who had made the greatest individual contribution in the previous year aviation, she was not one likely to be held Gown to that half-hour limitation. She knew Ike and seemingly talked to him for half-an-hour without a break. Then she showed him the film. He saw 10 minutes of it and suggested they put the whole show off till evening where he could take it out to the chateau for Mamie and his staff to see. This-was the film, apparently, that did it. According to Jackie, at the end of the picture Ike’s whole outlook had changed. Apparently from then on you could sell him anything. *“ Ike asked her to get in touch with a certain person on her return to New York and tell him to come over and see him immediately. She has never revealed this party's name, but when he returned to New York he assured them that Ike was ready to run and to give his all to the cause. They raised enough coin to win the primaries for him in New Hamp¬ shire and then on to Chicago and the national convention. Jackie, was not a delegate. For that matter, she wasn’t even at that time a Re¬ publican, for a delegation of Demos from Coachella Valley, where the Odiums have a big ranch and a private golf course, had called on her in the spring of 1952 to ask her to run for Congress on the Democratic ticket. But here she was, on the floor of the Republican convention hall. John Hertz had scooped up a badge as a deputy for her. She moved in and out of delegations and when the sweeping victory came on the first ballot, she asked Sherman Adams to arrange for her to be on the podium when Ike made his acceptance speech. How to Get “Invited” I often wondered how these things were done and now I know. You either have the brass to ask for it yourself, or get somebody else to ask for you. It is rare that the No. 1 Boy is conscious of your presence, much less reaches down and pulls you up so as to include you in the pictures reading from left to right. What tenpercenter, or for that matter., what fivepercenter could have the zeal and drive and success of these amateurs? Not only did they push this thing to a success, but all along the line they showed a perception and skill that old pros could only view open-mouthed. - In Jackie’s case she flew around the country, making speeches, rais¬ ing money and in one instance got a Walt Disney cartoon out of that organization cuffo after it was figured out if it were bought on a com¬ mercial basis the cost would be prohibitive. Jackie claims it was shown over tv more than any other campaign picture. It had an “Ike for President” marching song and showed the butcher, baker and candlestick maker and all their friends and voting relatives marching to Washington behind an elephant who was beating a drum. They didn’t forget Adlai Stevenson, for they had him riding a donkey in the opposite direction. This sort of wish-ful fillment of political propaganda, in retrospect, may seem more like reflecting public opinion at the time rather than leading 26.000,000 voters by the nose, for it is a pragmatic fact that the Democrats spent 10 years building up Ike and only 16 weeks build¬ ing up,Adlai, and even Einstein-could not have made 520 equal 16. Any way 1 ,‘Jackie .got to the Inaugural Ball and got a kiss from Mamie with-the’admonilfon/’ ,, .Whfen you start something,-'you certainly -see it through 'tb the finish.” , • •< • • •" <• ‘That!Ike' was no.t unmindful ofi what these, amateurs had -done to further his career, is illustrated by'the 1 'fact that when he cifiie to Palm Springs for a holiday in 1954 he made a visit-to ; t«he-Cochran- Odlum ranch. Floyd Odium was in the hospital in Albuquerqiie, en¬ joying, if that’s not too romantic a word, an operation for gallstones, double hernia and chronic appendicitis. On learning Ike was on his way to visit them, Odium sent Jackie hurrying back to California and arrived himself in time to greet the President. After Ike’s departure. Odium’s surgeon took the magnate to a bedroom and removed the stitches from tw'o incisions. A Femme for Vice Prez! Having read Alden Hatch’s tribute to Clare Boothe Luce, under the fetching title of “Ambassador Extraordinary,” in which he ele¬ vates her from the “rags” of Riverside Drive to the riches of Rocke¬ feller Center, with a pitch that people were talking of her as vice- presidential material. I’m wondering if Jackie Cochran wouldn’t have even better claims to be the first femme vice-president in history. Not since Lincoln have the Republicans come up with anybody who was born so poor and became so well known, not to say so rich, as Jacque¬ line Cochran. Meanwhile. Jackie Cochran is taking on an Indian for the Congres¬ sional seat in the 26th District, which runs 100 miles in almost any direction from Palm Springs. Were he a native Indian he wouldn’t have a chance, but he happens to be the son of a well-to-do Sikh family, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, with a PH. D. from the U. of California, Judge Dalip S. Saund. He is the only East Indian holding an elective office in the United States and for a livelihood he peddles fertilizer, so you see he’s already an expert. But Jackie is already miles ahead of him. She is hedge-hopping all over the district in her private plane. Floyd Odium is helping her with her speeches and Ike is in her corner. 4