Variety (April 1957)

% MISCEIAAIW p%WETr Desi Arnaz Latest From Hollywood To Class Up Desert Sand Dane By FRANK SCULLY ♦ Palm Springs, April 2. With Liberace’s charity $20 cover charge at the Chi Chi Big Top Ball enfceed by his golfing pal Phil Harris as his opposition, Desi Arnaz opened his new $350,- 000 hotel and golf course at Indian Wells to 200 free loaders Friday night (29). ' Press bunch of 60 was flown from L. A. to Palm Springs airport where a car awaited them on a windswept field.' There a battery of helicopters* transported them in twos and, thre*es to Indian Wells, 15 miles east of here. Carrot-topped Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz greet¬ ed the guests as they stepped out of tlie helicopters. Electric golf carts ferried from the landing field to the hotel. ~ There a new gimmick greeted their eyes—a sunken bar. The glasses behind the barkeep were on a level with the dance floor. A barfly could pass out and even the Secret Service would never know It. Hotel has 42 rooms, each with tv set, all year air-conditioned and private porch. Top suites rum to $60 a night. All guests have golf¬ ing privileges. Though hotel is billed as Desi Arnaz’s, he actually was only in charge for the opening as he has leased it to the Western Hills hotel chain from Texas. Phil Harris was announced as in with Arnaz when project was ! (Continued on page 94) Parisian Pageantry To Greet Queen and Prince Paris, April 2. Paris is preening for.the vi?it of Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edin¬ burgh, from April 8 to 11. Besides the State protocol, show biz will also be repped in the welcome via many musicians, a boy’s choir of 150 and a multitude of dress extras costumed in the regalia of various historical periods of French-Eng- lish relationships. The only public appearance of the Queen and he^ Prince Consort will be a trip down the Seine Tues. (9) which should "be a veritable "tourist, as well as home ogler’s, treat. ^ The banks of the Seine will be lined with feverish activity) and the Queen and her Consort will be enthroned so as not to miss any of it. The Garde Rqpublicain will regale ^hem with "music and fan¬ fare, and then uniforms of all¬ phases of Gallic and Anglo history will pass in review on the quays. Film companies are resigned to losing their extras for this event. Pont Neuf will restage its me¬ dieval carny spirit with . jugglers and montebanks, etc., and there will be dancing along the Seine. It looks to be quite a show as well as a political event. This will get simultaneous French and English video coverage. Drive-In Menu ■ Drive-in operators apparent-, ly do not take, seriously the advice of Bob O’Donnell, head. of-the interstate State Circuit of Texas, to remember that they are theatremen and not restaurateurs. For example, here’s an ozon- £r ad that appeared recently in the Atlanta Journal: • “Friday Night Special— Shrimp. Adult Plate, 75c (6 large Shrimp). French Fries, Bread and Sauce. Children’s Plate 60c (4 Large Shrimp).” Only mention of the picture playing at the driVe-in was the following: “Enjoy Our Giant Double Feature on Screen.” Torture, Temples & Tiaras Top Ripley’s Odditorium In Return to Broadway The Ripley Believe It Or Not ex¬ hibits are no strangers to New York. The show which is having its latest, reincarnation at the ex¬ hibit hall in the Astor Bldg., has many pieces which were previously displayed on Broadway years ago on the site now occupied by a clothing store. However, the late Robert Ripley is making a new impact on Broad¬ way. Not only have a new genera¬ tion of youngsters come into being since its last Stem tenure, but there’s an increasing awareness of the name. There’s a Ripley cloth¬ ing store (no relation to the” Ripley Odditorium) now being constructed in the nearby Paramount Bldg. The present exhibit is impre- sarioed jointly by the John Arthur Exhibitions and Walter Reade Jr. Latter is head of a chain of thea¬ tres in New York and New Jersey. The major purpose of the new Broadway museum is to amaze. There are lotsa odd pieces in this collection. But the most astound¬ ing are the items aimed particu¬ larly for the Charles Addams trade. Weird torture objects such as an iron maiden, flash, pincers, iron belt, eye spikes, finger crusher, spiked cradle and other relics of (Continued on page 24) Better Longhair Circuit Eyed by European Mgrs. Paris, April 2. Some 78 s European managers, from-all over the Continent and Britain, will converge in Copen¬ hagen the end of this month in an attempt to Coordinate, for the first time, the longhair booking system in Europe. Heretofore the haphazard book¬ ings have created overlaps and shortages. A more scientific stag¬ gering pf dates* is expected to provp a convenience and economic benev¬ olence both to the patrons and the artists. 4/3 Subscription Order Form Enclosed find check for $ Please send VABIETY for To ... (Pleas* Print Name) Street ...... City...Zone.... State... Regular Subscription Rates One Year—$10.00 Two Years—$18.00 Canada and Foreign^-$l Additional Per Year UfiRlETY Inc. 154 West 46* Street Hew York 36. N. Y. The Jody (Marie) Sings’ Hollywood) ; Aprir"2. : Marie MacDonald, one-time band singer with Tommy Dorsey and , Charlie - Barnet before she entered films, has cut an independent, al¬ bum of standards which dvill be of¬ fered for major release. It’s tagged “The Body Sings.” Hal Borne aranged and conduct¬ ed the session. He’s also working on a nitery act she hopes to break in in Las Vegas shortly. LP is be¬ ing aimed at a release to tie in with the nitery date; Asks, ‘Who Dat?’ ] Film industry works hard and : long to nab rights and clearances for biographical pictures but when it comes time to selling same the original subject often ~is all but forgotten. :As it’s noted on the dis¬ tribution end, the lives of many in¬ dividuals make for: interesting pic¬ ture material but very few persons are sufficiently known for any kind of campaign to be built around their identities. Warners, in selling “Spirit of St. Louis,” gave only small, light- face print to the fact that the pic¬ ture was about aviation’s Colum¬ bus, Col. Charles A. ‘Lindbergh. In “Fear Strikes Out,” Paramount has neglected to mention that this is a b’opic on baseball player Jimmy Piersall. The reason was simple enough. Piersall is hardly known outside the field of- sports and to use his name would have led to the further information that he played baseball.’ And a large segment of the general public isn’t interested in baseball or players. Par, in taking this approach, wasn’t being dishonest. For in the picture Piersall is first a young man with mental roadblocks and his role of, ball player is secondary. Same company has a picture on the late Mayor James J. Walker of New York. Oldsters may be shocked at this but Walker is not a meaningful name to many of to¬ day's theatre-going generation un¬ less itVon a Scotch label. As a result, Par, in peddling this adaptation of “Beau James,” is not going too heavy on the connection between the film and the real-life Jimmy Walker. Metro, in “Love Me or Leave Me,” had a boxoffice click with a film about Ruth Etting and Martin (The Gimp) Snyder, But the singer and her racketeer boy¬ friend were ancient and unstudied history to much of the modern population. So no underlining of film’s. prototypes in the sales campaign. More biopix are on the way— on Joe E. Lewis, Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante, to name a few. Selling these >vill require plenty of skullpractice. Lewis dates w back some years . but he’s a top name on the nitery circuit and has (Continued on page 95) BID UP 'DAY OF INFAMY' Much Producer Interest in Tale Of Pearl Harbor' Sunday Hollywood, April 2. Hecht - Hill - Lancaster, 20th-Fox and Columbia are all bidding for film rights to Walter Lord’s “Day pf Infamy,”" just published by Henry Holt. It's , a factual story re¬ creating Pearl Harbor, by Lord Who also wrote “A fright to Re¬ member’” Film companies began bidding after Teading galley proofs. The writer is 'repped by the William Morris agency. Kcaj Ynneb’s Debut Hollywood, April 2. Jack Benny, noted violin virtuoso who occasionally appears on radio and tv/ will make his debut with the L. A. Philharmonic April 23, at a benefit sponsored by the Women’s Guild of the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. Concert is expected to raise $100,000 for hospital’s free bed care fund. Also guesting with the Philhar¬ monic will be Dorothy Kirsten, with Alfred Wallenstein conduct¬ ing. Benny appeared last year un- jder Wallenstein’s baton at benefits with the N. Y. Philharmonic and I the Philadelphia Orchestra. W^dnekdayj April 3, 1957 * Selznick Separately Ordered ‘More Commercial Treatment'—Italian Director Probable -—- ———•+ —— Irish ‘Ham’ Rome*. March 26. Dublin, April 2, • ' .While Dublin's Lord Mayor Robert Briscoe is on his cur¬ rent U. S. tour, his deputy, Lor- can Bourke,. is catching the ; spotlight her$, He’s been playing a leadroleina revival of Dion Boucicaiilt’s “The Col¬ leen; Bawn.” He sheds the mayoral ehain each night for • an oldtime postman’s c’othes, whipping back into regalia-af¬ ter the show to' catch up on formal appearances. Deputy Lord Mayor Bourke is a longtime show 'biz- perr sonality, also controlling a stage lighting outfit, theatrical costumes and a terpery. He’s also father-in-law of BBC’s quiz and panel emcee Eamonn Andrews. Ts Refusal to Testify Moral Turpitude?’ Scott’s Attorney Asks Top Court Washington, April 2. Another echo of the “Unfriendly 10” and the 1947 Hollywood hear¬ ings by the House Un-American Activities Committee has found its way to the U. S. Supreme Court. Adrian Scott is back, asking that Court hear his suit for damages against RKO which fired him for his refusal' to testify before the House Committee in October 1947 and his subsequent conviction for contempt of Congress in June 1950. Scott is appealing from the 9th Circuit Court ruling of last Janu¬ ary that RKO had a right to dis¬ charge him under the moral tur¬ pitude section of his contract with the studio. Question .raised in the brief by Scott’s attorney, Robert Kenny is: “May a Court of Appeals hold that such refusal (to testify) constitutes moral, turpitude as a matter of law, and thus justify the plaintiff’s dis¬ charge under a contract of employ¬ ment?” * . Hope Among: Show Biz Figures Aboard S.S. U.S. Heavy show biz quota, headed by Bob Hope, sailed yesterday (Tues.) tor Europe on the S.S. United States. He's eh route to Paris where his Tolda Productions is rolling “Trouble in Paris” April 15 for United Artists release. Other cast members include Fernandel, Anita Ekberg and Martha Hyer. Also sailing are Nate J. Blum- berg, boafd chairman of Univer¬ sal Pictures; Bernard Luber, direc¬ tor of Ardleigh Films of Lopdon; Mr; and Mrs. Alphone Hustrei, high wire act who’ll tour Europe; Berl Senofsky, concert violinist, and Thomas Scherman, conductor of the Little Orchestra Society. Silence from the principals, John Huston and David O. Selz¬ nick, in the dispute .avef* “A Fare¬ well to Arms,” has not prevented a flurry of reports from circulating here over .Italy’s most sensational story of the year. This, of course, concerns^ the. sudden departure of Huston as director of the Ernest Hemingway story. Shooting began at- Misurina March 23; as- scheduled, with An¬ drew Marton, second unit director, in charge. Selznick stated he was negotiating with several American directors but,to date he has not come forth with' any name. At the moment, the choice appears to be - between 'three Italian * ;r <*£tors. Vittorio DeSica, who is cosC&^Wng with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones, has first choice but" he has two other directorial and. three other acting commitments which he may be unable to postpone, Alessandro Blasetti has been asked by Selznick to supervise.the battle, sequenced while the overall job may fall to Pietro Germi, winner of this year’s Silver .Ribbon, for “The Railroader.” Huston arrived to begin shooting on March 20 and brought with him the script on. which he and Ben Hecht had worked for eight weeks in an effort to remain as faithful as possible to the Hemingway story. Unknpwn to them, Selznick had ordered another “more com¬ mercial script,” in" which the Jen¬ nifer 'Jones role was augmented, this from three Italian writers, Cesare Zavattini, Pierpaolo Paso¬ lini and Leopoldo Trieste. Huston Informed Via Memo When Huston came on the scene, Selznick was off in Udine to make arrangements for the shooting at Misurina. He found the new script with a'long, memo from Selznick at his hotel room In Cortina d’Am¬ pezzo. It is reported that after he read the first page of said memo, he ordered his bags packed. He left without further, communica¬ tion and came to Rome,, arriving March 22. Then he.Conferred with his attorney in Hollywood by phone. He has refused to make any statement. Hecht meanwhile insists that he - is out of 'the picture, that he com¬ pleted the script and that there had been no sign of disagreement at that time. He Is living at Vejo, some 15 miles from here where he is working on his 79th film script, “Aphrodite/’ which will be made by Robert Hagglag’s Dear Films in Italy next Summer. Hudson’s flight to Hollywood had nothing to do with the Huston- Selznick break because it had been scheduled in advance to allow him to do retakes and to be on hand for the Academy Awards event. He will return next week in time to (Continued on page 95) SUBSCRIPTION Annual, 610; Foreign, 611; Single Copies, 29 Cents ABEL GREEN, Editor DAILY VARIETY • (Published. In Hollywood by Daily Variety. Ltd.) .$15 a year. $20 Foreign.