Variety (September 1957)

72 LEGITIMATE | Legit Bits es Continued from paxe 70. rick, plans a London production of ;Fosse has replaced Anna Sokolow “The Long-Winged Bird,” by as chereographer and musical Frederic Wakeman. stager. : Jerome Chodorov is slated to do| Gerald Friedman planes to Enga revise of “The Duchess and the} land today ¢(Wed.) to stage the LonSmugs,” the Pamela Frankau-|don production of “Bells Are RingEthel Borden dramatization of the| ing.” He assisted Jerome Robbins Jatter’'s novel, “A Wreath for the!on the staging of the original Enemy,” and Saint Subber intends | Broadway edition of the musical. to produce it on Broadway. Elsa Walden has withdrawn as Chodorov is also being paged by : assistant stage manager of the origRobert Whitehead (for the Pro-{inal Broadway company of “Tunnel ducers Theatre) to do a new drama-|of Love” to act in the Coast pro-| tization of “Howe & Hummel,” the; duction. Richard H. Rovere book previously | adapted by Howard Teichmann and j tions announces that the planned held under option, at various times | Broadway presentation of “The by several different managements. | Strongest,” by G. F. Reidenbaugh, A wusical edition of Jame Aus-{has. been deferred in favor of a ten’s “Pride and Prejudice,” with} London edition. book and lyrics by Robert Gold-| As a ballyhoo gimmick for the man and tunes by Glenn Paxton,!porothy and Michael Blankfort may be produced on Broadway next | whodunit, Monique,” audiences will be asked to sign an “agree spring by borscht belt hotelman George Gilbert.Both adaptors are | ment” not to reveal the outcome of in tv. the yarn. The stunt was concocted Marshall Ear] will be partnered { by pressagent George Ross and with Milton Baron in the produc-! producer Shepard Traube, tion of Max Wilk’s comedy, “The Dania Krupska, succeeding John Brass. Section.” Heawood as choreographer of A musical version of “The Shanghai Gesture,” the old John Colton hit, is planned as a Broadway production by Robert Payne, with book by the producer, lyrics by Arnold Sundgaard and music by Dai K. Lee. ; : Stuart Vaughn will stage Paul! “Look Homeward, Angel. Shyre’s adaptation of Sean;. Berthold Brecht’s “Mother CourQ’Casey’s autoblographical volume, | age,” being adapted by Mare Blitz“I Knock at the Door.” stein, using the Paul Dessau score, Jack Warner will understudy | will be produced on broadway nex Eddie Foy Jr., the star, in “Rum-|spring by Stuart Scheftel, with his ple.” The deal was set by his | Slm-legit actress-wife, Geraldine agent, Harry Bestry. Fitzgerald as star and Orsen The Academy of the American Welles as stager. Shakespeare Festival will offer a{. Barry Jones will be costarred : in “The Cave Dwellers,” playing program of instructions and train-}* e webets, ing in Shakespeare acting for pro-| the role relinquished by Bobby ‘fessionals at its New York studio. La the musical numbers for the show. ‘Canadian actress Frances Hyland, recently costarred as Ophelia 'm the Stratford (Ont.) Shakespeare Festival production of “Hamlet,” will make her Broadway debut in ; Jack Klugman ‘hag succeeded Albert H. Rosen is company manager for “Mask and Gown,” with J oseph Wiseman in one of the ; ++ {three parts in the embattled tryFeter Pe ioe aetna and hie out, “The Saturday Night Kid,” for ducers. j which Warren Enters has already laced George Keathley as Victor Wolfson has completed a ates The management was to new meller, “A Murder in the Family,” adapted from “Tapage stager. €|where the play is having a shakeNocturne,” by Mare-Gilbert Sau-| Gown run, Pwhether to go ahead vajon. . with the scheduled opening next Joy Thomson will be partnered/ Wednesday (2) at the Morosco, with Leo Kerz and Leonard Lesley'!y y, in. the off-Broadway production of “Clerembard.” The York Theatre, a former film house on the upper east side of Manhattan, is being converted as an off-Broadway legiter, to be titled the York Playhouse. The new lessee, Warner LeRoy, is the son No-Backer Rule Continued from page 69 controversial rule a. part of its of Hollywood director-producer! agreement with the League, the. Mervyn LeRoy and was assistant to; Local 802 board has. exceeded its Garson Kanin last season on the | authority and specifically violated staging of “Hole in the Head” and “Small War on Murray Hill.” He|the League-Local 802 agreement plans to rave | the 2og-seater ready became known, Davis has addressor opening in mid-November. Joe . Pisacane is general manager of the ed another appeal to AFM presi project, with Ben Kornzweig and Frank Goodman pressagents. “French Hat’ will be the title of the projected musical version of “Camille,” to be produced by Jerry Lynn, with book by John Mitchell, lyrics by Lil Mattis and music by Lor Crane. Joe Roth is company manager and Robert Paschal stage manager } of “ Ock a e Door.” musicals; On the other hand, he is f » . . 1 . , Peter Matz, Noel Coward’s pian-| set ag contractor for the upcoming ist and arranger, will provide SPe-' tuner. “ umple,” but is not an incial musical arrangements for the | vestor init . off-Broadway production of “Con-! . . yversation Piece.” According to Davis, the new ta “The Day the Money Stopped,” | bu would actually be without pracMaxwell Anderson’s dramatization! tical force, since it would not afof the Brandon Gill bestseller, will | fect investments made by his wife be produced by Stanley Gilkey and;or other member of. his family, or the Producers Theatre, by arrange-|lawyer or other designated agent. ment with the Playwrights Co. The! He’s opposing the union's action en show will be staged by Harold; principle and to avoid needless Clurman and is aimed for presen| complications in operating his legit tation this fall. +11 atone {investment syndicate, but figures incent J. Donehue wilt direct ihe could be just as active as a Dore Schary’s play, “Sunrise at! show backer and contractor even if Campobello,” to be produced by.4) 1 sre to stand the author and the Theatre Guild. /€ Tule were to stand. Metopera choreographer Zach-!. When the governing board of ary Solov will stage the dances for! Local 802 was considering the conthe upcoming mubSical, “The Cap-: troversial rule, Guy Lombardo and ain’s Paradise.” Victor Borge were among those Frank Loesser will write the!who appeared to argue against it. book, lyrics and score for “Green-|The former pointed out that strict willow,” the musical version of the! application of the proposed edict B. J. Chute novel, and he will also; would have prevented him from be associated with Robert A. Wil-| conducting his. own band at his Tey in the production. taken over; OWE, Production of “Show Boat” e evelove has taken Overithe last two summers at the Ma Be Beata ager of he incoming irine Amphitheatre, Jones Beach, ceived no reply, Pending a decision by the AFM ‘board, Davis cannot take the matter to court, since he has not exhausted his legal rights, as provided by law. Meanwhile, he has a ranged in incoming or scheduled new shows, although not in any ceeding Mare Daniels, and Bob | THEATRE MAID Borge made a somewhat similar [point ‘in noting that the tabu ; would have affected. his perform‘ance in his own one-man show {Comedy in Music.” Finally, Davis PERSONAL THEATRE MAID | DRESSER ** EXPERT PRESSER COLORED ** CALE AFTER SIX ACademy 2-7570 ‘bid him from owning any stock in U.S. Lines as long as his bands ‘ca and other ships. Laurence & Richards Produc-!: “Carefree Heart," will also stage: ‘on the local end. decide last night (Tues.) in Philly,. {Stratford community effort. ‘Festival, which ended its. season -atre, was the most successful to the parent union’s order. Since dent James CGC. Petrillo, but has re-}| ‘Night” and -costarring Christopher number of investments already ar :has noted that the rule would for-. |‘ work on the United States, Ameri-. Washington, ‘Sept. 24. The Arena Stage will. open Oct.; 22 for its second season at its present location. The initial. show ‘will be the G. B. Shaw comedy, “The Dortor’s Dilemma,” with John O'Shaughnessy directing. The “second bill will be a new ‘script, ““Answered the Flute," by| '|Sam Robins, to be followed about Christmas time by the. Fred F. Finklehoffe-John. Monks Jr. comedy, “Brother Rat.” Zelda Fichandler is manager-director of the Arena. Straiford Fest =———= Continued from page 69 See tire ‘performing company wasn’t much more than $150. Although Morton Gottlieb, general manager, negotiated a $100 minimum with Equity, nobody in the troupe got less than $125, students excepted. There were 57 im the company, including. musicians, among the 323 on the payroll. The effectiveness of Frank Goodman’s national promotion is seen ‘in an estimated 50% draw from} outside the Connecticut area, which was handled by Don Glenn Special tours and student trips, under ‘command ‘of Helen Menken, came from as far as California and Texas. The housing service staff had to provide overnight accommodations for almost 200..weekly. It’s figured that 250 came daily-via New. Haven Railroad, which delayed its 11:23. out of New Haven until the afterthe-show crowd arrived for the return trip to New York. . With Joseph Verner Reed ouf as president, Lawrence Langner, the founder of -ASFT. (and the man credited with bringing in Hepbur this year),. and Lincoln Kirstein headed fhe operation. It’s. consid-| ered a.sure bet that the 1958 sea-| son will start earlier and finish later. There isn’t much fo be done in altering the scale, currently $4.80 top. . -Obviously an important revenue source would tbe a restaurant on the theatre property, which has been fought strenuously by nefghboring eateries. The sale of food at present is for the benefit of a ‘Ditto in Stratford, Ont. * _ Stratford, Ont., Sept. 24. . The fifth Stratford Shakespeare Sept. 7 in the new permanent thedate. Total gross was $600,376 for the combined operation, including drama, longhair music and .jazz and films. "Total attendance was about. 181,000. . The drama season, offering revivals of “Hamlet”. and “Twelfth Plummer, Siobhan McKenna, Douglas. Campbell and Frances Hyland, grossed $553,248, with about 160,000 attendance. Classic and pop music ‘grossed $42,880 with. about 15,000 attendance, and films drew $6,248 on .6,000. attendance. . Gross and attendance totals the|.— previous seasons were 1953 (drama only), $206,000 on68,600; 1954 (drama only), $392,000 on 125,155; 1955 (drama and music), $453,682 (including $421,000 from drama) on 140,790, and 1956 (drama and music), $455,486 (including $402,449 from drama) on 137,716. ‘Hub Opera House. ==aeen Continued from page 69 that the ‘foundations of the struc ture are in good condition. | Meanwhile, Sol Hurok, in town last week to arrange putting the ‘Royal Ballet into the Loew’s State Theatre, 3,500-seat picture house putting the Royal Ballet into the State. -That’s fine, but the State is a film house and not always available. We are taking the Boston Garden for ‘the Black Watch and that is all right for that show, but what will happen when I bring over: the Old Vic company from next season?” England er 4,000. .Fewer seats, he said, would be wneconomical, and more would be too.much. “People want said. | was resumed. to be able to see and hear,” he: 3 __Wednesilay, ‘September 25, 1957 ‘Dilemma’ Season Opener |U.S.MAY.TAX-EXEMPT (Edacator, Now 72, Gives At Arena Stage in Wash.| NON-PROFIT MUSICALS _ Washington, Sept,-24. Legislation to exempt musical Shows produced by non-profit civic groups from the 10%admissions tax may be. recommended by the Internal Revenue Service to the next session of Congress, opening in January. The Revenue. agency recently ‘exempted the N. Y. City Center stand of “Carousel” from the bite. Exemption came about through ‘School, N. ¥, Mason continues his the joint efforts of Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Mason, D. C. at ‘torney, -who called on the Internal Revenue Service to argue that mu jsicals are as much entitled to the exemption as: are “concerts” by non-profit grours. Apparently no provision is to @ recommended by* | Mielziner to Speak At straight plays done by non-profit outfits. — _ EPAULETS -FOR ASTON N. ¥ World-Telegram’s Drama _ Critie Job Now Officially His Frank Aston, who has.been serving temporarily as drama eritic of the N.Y. World-Telegram & .Sun, has been given the assignment permanently, succeeding Tom Donnelly. A veteran writer and editor ‘for the Ser{pps-Howard papers and formerly legit reviewer*for the chain’s. Cincinnati Post, he has for} = ‘the last 11 years been editor of the Scripps-Howard News, a house organ. . Donnelley has returned to -his former. spot as legit eritic for the Washington Daily: News,. another S-H paper. He had the Broadway reviewing assignment for the W-T for the 1956-57 season. ‘Yankees’ Profit | Continued from ‘pa ge $9 views in London,-but business has spurted since a. popular young British dancer; Elizabeth Seal, took over as star. The original Broadway produc tion, now running on a two-for-one boxoffice come-on, has managed to break even for the last few weeks, primarily because of author and director royalty. cuts. The musical, “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant,” Has a book by Wallop and George Abbott, who also di rected, with songs by Richard Adler and the late Jerry Ross. It opened May 5, 1955, at the 46th Street. .Theatre, N,Y., and Adelphi, NY. The screen rights to the musical were bought by: Warners for a guarantee-plus-bonuses for a total price of $500,000. That deal was| ‘made after it appeared that the baseball factor would not be is now at the ruinous. Previously, the .aceepted theory in the trade was that baseere. inevitably boxoffice! ball yarns w poison. Consorship Continued from page 69 ler play-on an admission-free. basis. Later, when the court issued a temporary order preventing interference witH the show, admission There was criticism of ; Ronde” by a local parish priest, ‘| but the strawhat completed the balance of the summer season without further official trouble. " May Have Ramifications.A court ruling on the Buzzards possibly have ramifications in Boston, where official censorship of the stage has long been a serious concern to producers of touring Broadway shows, particularly tryouts, If the Suffolk County. court sustains: the argument that theatre licensing is a prior infringement fore unconstitutional, jt could conceivably knock ‘out the Boston censorship setup. " The effect of that might be to make the determination. of “ob o | scénity” in the theatre in Boston '. Hurok said Hub-has need for an}! aud with one hall seating 3,500 a matter of court procedure, in contrast to the present setup, under which a single individual deswhat is or is not objectionable on the force .of law.—Ed, ‘based on Douglass Wallop’s novel, “La|Colonial House and Janet Blair | Hedda Hopper, . » Bay theatre license issue. could on freedom of speech and is there ignated as official censor, decides the stage, with the verdict having — * In to Stage Yearning It's a little late, but former high‘School principal Gabriel Richard lason, 72, will: finally become a professional. actor. next -week as Tardiveau, the befuddled. .bookkeeper in “The Italian Straw Hat,” opening .Monday (30) at the offBroadway Fourth Street Theatre, N.Y, The educator was. bitten by the sfage bug during: his college days, appearing in over 40 student . shows. . ae Although he has retired as principal of the Abraham Lincoln High teaching-.career, conducfing course in philosophy-at Brooklyn College and the Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences. He has authored two ‘books, “Great American Liberals” aud a novel, “Above Destiny.” Boston Theatre Confab ‘Boston, Sept. 24. The sixth annual convention of .|the New England Thegtre Confer ence opens Oct. 5 at Northeastern U. with Broadway produéer-design | er Jo Mielziner delivering the main address.. Mielziner will be presented ,with ‘the NETC award for .“outstanding creative achiévement. in the theatre.” _. oe Other awards and. special. citae tions will be given to New England theatre groups. .. og «: _ |. Chi Lyric Opera meee Continued trom, page a) the 1957 Lyric cast.includes Renata Tebaldi, Jussi Bjoerling, Eleanor Steber, Boris Christoff, Giulietta -Simionato, Mario -Del Monaco, Tito Gobbi, Eileen Farrell, | Anita Cerquetti, Anna Moffo, Leo pold Simoneau, Brian Sullivan, | Ettore. Bastianini, Walter Berry, | Carlo ‘ Badioli, Mariano Carusc, ‘Aldo Protti, Claramae Turner, and William Wilderman: Conductors. will be Tulio Serafin and Georg Solti.. . ~ 2 “Carol Fox, gerieral manager of the Lyric, estimated in a--recent teleyision interview that the total cost for the 29 performances this fall would top-$800,000: She gauged the deficit at slightly over $200,000 and reiterated her yearly thesis that “you ¢an't cut corners in grand opera.” Otherwise, she ‘Said, it isn’t grand. . “Though the opera is well at tended here,” Miss Fox observed, “we can’t charge -enough at the boxoffice to meet costs.” The. Lyric is scaled from -$8~for individual. tickets, from $2 to $4 lawer than either the Met or the San Francisco prices, Ever with 10093 sellout it can’t break: even. Sergeants a Continued from page 8 = Martin Tahse and Walter Williams, of the Evans ‘office and Edgar Kneedler, Jane Delsonand Humphrey Douilens,. of Alliance, were also here for the tour break-in, Lighting up the local rialto recalled other days when Charlie Rosskam’s Chicago Stock Co, spanned the summer at nearby Lake-mont Park before blanketing the eastern seaboard from September to May. Scenic designer Paul Mor‘rison’s father operated the old .was Janet Lafferty, a stagestruck local high school girl, ‘The éld Mishler Theatre long ago spawned _ “Sergeants” is in Youngstown tonight -(Tues.) and tomorrow (Wed.), with a big advance -reported for the closing half of the week in Dayton. There are -normal stands. This troupe will aiso hit Ruston, La.; Columbus, Ind.; Lawrence, Kan.; Midland, Texas; Yakima, Wash.; Aberdeen, S. D., and Burlington, Vt., en route to. a tentative return to Broadway next June, . _ Thé route is not all one nighters, but includes -week stands. in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Winnipeg and Atlanta, plus two dozen splitweek dates. This company is ‘traveling ‘by bus and truck. Meanwhile the regular touring production is traveling by. rail and playing the regular key-city engagements, as booked hy the Indepen‘dent. Booking Office,. which has taken over the function of the ‘United Booking Office, disbanded by Government anti-trust-order.