Variety (November 1957)

78 __ CHATTER yj&ttE£r Broadway Catholic Actors Guild’s grand ball and entertainment this Friday (8) at the Plaza. The Troupers, femme counter¬ part of the Friars, holding a fcock- tail party at the Empire Room of the Waldorf-Astoria Nov. 17. Jerry Beyer presented a one- night variety show last Friday (1) atsCarl Fischer Concert Hall, N.Y., as the first in a series of offerings aimed to spotlight new talent. Tommy Dorsey’s widow sold their 14-room, two-story Colonial house in Greenwich to Jack S. Parker, of Cincinnati, a General Electric veepee, for $90,000. National Travel Network Inc. has been authorized to conduct an en¬ tertainment business in New York, with capital stock of 200 shares, no par value. Rouben Mamoulian wound up a short Gotham stay and is heading for the Coast where he’ll direct Sam Goldwyn s screen version of “Porgy and Bess.” Billy Eckstine, indie producer Joseph Schaeffer, composer Igor Stravinsky and harpist Mildred Billing back from Europe Monday (4i on the S.S. Liberte. Burns Associates Inc. has been authorized to conduct a motion picture, television and radio pro¬ ductions business in New York. Capital stock is 200 shares, no par value. Becker & London were filing attorneys. - Industrial'st-showman Harry E. Gould, president of the new 42d St. Beth David Hospital, m the United Nations zone, at 321 East 42d St., hosting the Dedication Dinner next Sunday (10) at the Hotel Roosevelt. . Frank M. Folsom, chairman of the executive committee of the Radio Corp. of America, who was the official Vatican City ambassa¬ dor to the Atomic. Energy Con¬ ference in Vienna, has gone on to Rome on company business. He’s making that his base with detours into Germany, Spain, Switzerland and other RCA mar¬ kets. son prior to teeoff of pantomime Nov. 22. Yana, English thrush, teamed with Canadian singer Edmund Hockridge for vaude week at Glas¬ gow. Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, stag¬ ing “The Diary of Anne Frank,’’ by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Jack Short (he’s fathef of come¬ dian Jimmy Logan and brother-in- law of Ella Logan) recuperating after being hospitalized. Howard & Wyndham’s “Five- Past Eight’’ revue, wound at Al¬ hambra, Glasgow, -after 171 per¬ formances. Robert Wilson, Scot singer, team¬ ing with Bobby MacLeod, Scottish country danceband leader, for month's stint at Her Majesty’s, Carlisle. Minneacolis By Les Rees (Tel. Fr. 7-2609) Songstress Lily Pons here for concert. „ Edyth Bush Little Theatre open¬ ed this week with “Private Lives.” Suburban Lakevicw club had jazjz trumpeter Chet Baker and his quartet. Songstress Carmel Quinn con¬ tinuing at Hotel Radisson Flame Rohm. Annual Minneapolis Auto Show in the Auditorium Jan. 3-12 with Max Winter again producer. Exotic dancer Kelly Callahan, billed as “the little Dagmar from Chicago,” into Augie’s nitery. Minneapolis Symphony sched¬ uled nine late Sunday afternoon pop concerts with season tickets selling for $6. Black Watch Royal Highland Regimental band show pulled more than 10,000 payees into Minnesota U Williams’ Arena. Antal Dorati, Minneapolis Sym¬ phony conductor, to be guest con¬ ductor with Hungarian Philhar¬ monic orch next summer. Rome By Robert F. Hawkins (Foreign Press Club; Tel. 65 906) Roberto Rossellini here for few days before returning to India to finish his pic, “II Donatore di Terre.” Victor Mature heads back to the Coast after his current “No Time To Die,” Warwick production, for “Escort West,” with John Wayne, Viviane Romance here for start of her next film, “Secrets of the Night,” at Rome’s Cineeitta Stu¬ dios. . Franco Fabrizi and Anna . Maria Ferrero are to co-star, i Charles Fawcett; longtime Ro- jman thesp though a U. S. citizen, ; heads for Madrid, then Paris, leav¬ ing the Italian capital for good ! after many years in local show biz. MPEA-Rome staged another of its solid public relations efforts, to gether with Warner Bros., by screening “Pajama Game” in the original version for press and Em¬ bassy staffers. Yves Montand in brief Roman visit. Flew in from Paris at noon, recorded some songs from his local pic. “La Grabde Strada Azzurra,” then planed back to Paris same afternoon. Romy Schneider off to Ischia to start work on UFA-Herzog produc¬ tion of "Scampolo,” with Paul Hub- schmidt, Victor DeKowa, Gorg Thomalla. Alfred Weidemann di¬ rects for Rhombus-Herzog. In-artd-out-of-Rome: Claudette Colbert, Linda Christian, Merle Oberon, Peter Finch, Jayne Mans¬ field, Jules Dassin, Stanley Kram¬ er, Jack Lamont, Frank Melford, John Cron and Walter Chiari. Jayne Mansfield in marathon lensing stint with over 50 photogs during her local press, confab at Grand Hotel, which followed abundant footage over Italo televi¬ sion’s popular “Lascia o Radop- pia,” and other payoff p.r. stints. Pittsburgh Miami Beach By Lary Solloway (1755 Calais Dr.; Union 5-5389) Louis Prima and Keely Smith set for Xmas week in the Cafe Pompeii of Eden Roe. Dick Shawn got a season date from Lou Walters for the Casino de Paris. Belle Barth moving her earthy wares upbeaeh to the Bel Air ho¬ tel’s intimate’caie. Sallie Blair will be featured at tht Empress during the yearend holiday period. Lonni Sattin rejoins the Cotton Club show for the winter, with Cab Calloway again heading the revue. Charles < Chick i Harrison checked out as news director for WCPT • NBC- here to take up same post for new CBS affiliate in Peoria. Patsy Abbott took . over the former Little Club, in the Roney Plaza sector, and will run it as “Patsy’s Place” with herself fea¬ tured. By Hal V. Cohen Local dancer Bill Milie is In the Eddie Foy Jr.-Gretchen Wyler musical, “Rumple.” Yale Glee Club coming here Dec. 21 and Princeton Triangle Club on Jan. 2. Singer Harvey Bell recuperating at home of his sister after brain surgery at St. Francis Hospital. . George Heid to Sari Francisco for Golden Wedding of his older sister. Bill Putch brought his bride, Jean Stapleton, of “Bells Are Ring¬ ing,” here to meet his family and | friends. Variety Club’s annual banquet, ; honoring outgoing Chief Barker i Harry Kodinsky, skedded for - Nov. 24. ‘ Edward Roecker coming here i Sunday to entertain at dinner- : dance marking 40th anni of Beth , Shalom Synagogue. Twin Coaches hosting Liberace at Fenn-Sheraton Hotel luncheon tomorrow prior to his opening there Friday. Ireland Scotland By Gordon Irving (Glasgow: KELvin 1590) Tommy Morgan and Alec Finlay, Scot comics, sunning themselves on late vacation in Majorca. David Hughes, currently singing in Glasgow, inked for his first pan¬ to in London as Robin Hood. The Edories, dance trio, pacted for winter season at Gaiety Thea¬ tre. Ayr. Lirica Italians to Alhambra, Glasgow, for two-weeks' opera sea¬ : By Maxwell Sweeney | (22 Farney Pk: Dublin 684506) ) Rice Trio, musical act, heading !foi U.S. shortly. ( Flu scare clipped biz around 25% in Dublin. ! Luisillo and Spanish Dancers set [•for Olympia, Dublin, No. 18. Olympia Theatre director Stanley Illsley to N.Y. on extended biz trip. Paramount will lens “Petrov,” Russian spy story, on location at Slane, County Meath. Kevin M. Collins, Irish Times film critic, named Press Guy for Variety Club Tent 41. Louis Leritin, producer ’ with Studio Theatre, Dublin, to London to join English Stage Co. at Royal Court Theatre. Lord Rank warned in speech to j his Irish Cinemas subsid that unless i tax rebates are extended, the 3,500- [seat Dublin Theatre Royal may |drop its vaudfilm shows. Paris By Gene Moskowitz (28 Rue Huchette; Odeon 4944) Danny Kaye in for the beginning of shooting of “Me and the Colo¬ nel.” Cecil B. DeMille received Le¬ gion of Honor at a special cere¬ mony here Monday (28). In and out of city were Tyrone Power, Billy Wilder, Irwin Shaw and Joan Fontaine. David O. Selznick claims he will make his next pic in Paris next season. It will be “The Divine Sarah,”' based on the life of Sarah Ber nhar dt. Je nnif er Jones would star. Gallic producer Henri Berard paging Audrey Hepburn to star in the pic version of Francoise Sa¬ gan’s ’“In a Year, In a Month” which Jules Dassin is to, direct here next year. Ingrid Bergman winding her hit legit, “Tea and Sympathy.” She spends some time in Italy with hubby Roberto Rossellini before doing two pic chores in London and Paris, “I Thank a Fool” and “Kind Sir.” Gallic pix doing well here are “Pot-Bouille,” (reminiscent of “La Ronde” in quality and bedroom carryings-on), “Les Espions” (The Spies), H. G. Clouzot’s eerie thrill¬ er about espionage; and Rene Clair’s “Porte Des Lilas.” The late Louis Jouvet, whose name was added to the theatre he managed for a long time (the Athenee-Louis Jouvet), had his name removed because of plaints by his relatives and a special club not content with the calibre of fare there lately. Edith Piaf, Zizi Jeanmaire arid Line Renaud all would like to do the film version of the hit legit musical “Irma la Douce,’’ by Alex¬ andre Breffort and Marguerite Monnot It is a lowlife tale about a prostie with a heart of gold and her jealous procurer. Miss Renaud has the inside track because she and hubby Loulou Qaste ntfri the music rights. Boston By Guy Livingston (344 Little Bldg.; HAncoCk 6-8386) Eileen Rodgers inked for Hi-Way Casino. Joan and Stanley Kayne, com¬ edy act, back from USO European tour of military installations. Alfred J. Monohan, city editor, Boston Globe, elected prexy Boston Press Club. Harvard Dramatic Club present¬ ing “The Master Builder” at Agas¬ siz Theatre, Radcliffe, as its 103d production. Wilbur Theatre broke all money records with Edward G. Robinson in “Middle of the Night,” grossing $94,398 in three weeks. Boniface Stanley Blmstrub booked Louis Armstrong for his 1,700-seat nitery, opening Jan. 13. Tony Martin comes iri Nov. 15 for 10. days. John G. Moore, eastern division manager for Paramount, switched to Philadelphia; succeeded here by Edmund C. DeBerry from Cincin¬ nati. Leslie Caron and her six months old son flew in from Hollywood to join husband Peter Hall during run of “The Rope Dancers,” current at the Wilbur. He directed. * M Jack Haley and Ray Bolger, both ex-Bostonians, kick off United Fund Drive, heading a show which will include. J. Fred Coots, Lew Parker, Betty Kean and others, at Symphony Hall, Nov. 13. Beflin By Hans Hoehn (760264) Eddie Constantine had to post¬ pone his local Sportpalast engage¬ ment. The flu got him. . ■Berolina’s pic version of the American comedy, “Three Men on a Horse,” preemed at Zoo Palast. Paramount’s “War and Peace” still going strong at the Kurbel. Pic is now in ninth month at this house. CCC acquired film rights- of Colette, Audrey’s latest stage play, “Soledad.” Lilli Palmer and Carlos Thompson will play the leads, i Job Weening appointed director [general of A. J. Rank Films in. ! Germany, succeeding F. E. T. Rainbow, rep here for years. Metro; in a tieup. with Lyons Tea, launched publicity campaign fGr “Teahouse of August Moon,” latest to preem at the MGM Thea¬ tre. “Wing of Hope” is the title of a Gerrsan-American coproduction to be made next year. Producers are Carlton-Film (Munich) and U.S. King brothers. German director Gustaf Gruend- gens turns actor, this month, play¬ ing a role In John Osborne’s “The Entertainer,” at the Hamburg Ger¬ man Schauspielhaus, where he gen- Wedneeday, November 6, 1957 erally directs, Heinz Hilpert will direct this special production. German star Curd Juergens’ film for 20tfa-Fox “Duel in AHantic,” is set for release in Germany at Christmas. Director Dick Powell has'shot two different endings, and the public at initial showings will decide whiph one 1 ’will be used. Something very international in concert-loving Berlin: An Ameri¬ can pianist (Andor Foldes) with a German orch (Berlin Philharmon¬ ic) and a Japanese conductor (Tak- ashi Asahina) brought Hungarian (Bartok), German (Beethoven) and Italian (Respighi) music. Olympic. ski champ, Austria’s Toni Sailer, being groomed as star material. Village-horn Toni, with a leading role in “A Bit of Heaven,” now taking lessons from dialec¬ tician and grammarian. Film is be¬ ing .partly shot in palatial home of late Wilhelmina Anheuser-Busch (brewers, St. Louis family) Woods, on Starnberger Lake. Belgrade By Stojan Bralovic (8 Qhridska St.; 41232) “Sarajevo Assassination,” which caused the first World War, will be filmed next spring as a Italo-Yugo- slav co-production. Pic will be di¬ rected by Italian Antonio Pietran- gelli, Minneapolis Symphony scored a great success with its two concerts in Yugoslavia, one in Zagreb, the other here. Music crix of the two largest national newspapers had only flattering words for “this ex¬ cellent orchestra.” American music critic and com¬ mentator, Allen Hughes, here for two-week lecture tour of Yugoslav Composers, Institute-for Small Au¬ thor’s Rights and the Jazz Asso., of Yugoslavia, He will start his tour with telling about the start of jazz, its subsequent development and its relation to recent U.S. popular and classical music. The next Dubrovnik musical and artistic festival, will mark the cele¬ bration of 450th anni for the comedy writer, Marin Drzic. His. most popular comedy, “Dondo Maroje,” was played 300 times at the Belgrade National Theatre re¬ cently. In all performances of the eighth fest, 1,800 foreign and do¬ mestic artists took part. Vienna By Emil W. Maass (Grosse Schiffgasse 1 A; 356156) Vienna Ice Revue, “Sylvia” written by Will Petter with music by Robert Stolz, will open Dec. 15 in Fair Palace. Burg Kino reopened. It special¬ izes in films in driginal version, starting with J. Arthur Rank’s “The Spanish Gardener.” Joseph Krips directed in Kon- zerthaus Paul Creston’s “Second Syiffphony.” This work of American composer received good crix. Anatole Litvak preparing the film “The Journey” part of which plays in the Burgenland, Austria’s most eastern province. Salzburg Seminary at Leopold- skron will hold lectures on “Arts, Music and Theatre in America” starting from March 16. . Willi Forst’s music film, “City of My Dreams,” will he the first Aus -1 trian picture to present, besides the : light music, a serious modern com- j position, by Alfred Uhl. Volkstheatre obtained rights for German ianguage production of Tennessee Williams’ “Orpheus.”, Preem is slated for the early win¬ ter season. “A Pay as You see” system for tv sets was first installed in Gratz, capital of Styria. It*takejT 40c an hour, which must be deposited in the .machine. Australia By Eric Gorrick (Film House 251a Pitt St., -Sydney) “The Little Hut” (M-G) is a solid hit at Liberty, Sydney. Julian Rose, former topper of Commercial Advertising, is now in the public relations field. Elaine Fifield here to star in the Borovansky Ballet under the Jv C. Williamson banner. Great Sorcar, Hindu magician, currently playing New Zealand for J. C. Williamson Ltd. “Oklahoma” (RKO) winds up a smash run of 10 weeks at Regent, Sydney, for Hoyts.. Robert Graham, George Nacard and Joe Joel presently in Tokyo to looksee selling blueprint for Para¬ mount’s “10 Commandments;” “Around World in 80 Days” (UA) is a sellout at 930-seater Paris, .Sydney, for Hoyts on. eight shows per week policy. Gene Vincent is stopping over here to accept additional dance- hall dates. Vincent and Little Richard recently scored for Lee Gordon on his Stadium loop. I Hollywood Harry M. Warner elected veepee of Brandeis Camp Institute. Jeffrey Hunter seriously ill from complications following a flu at¬ tack. Silent film star .Helen Gibson reeuping at her VaHey home fol¬ lowing a slight stroke. O. N. (Bill) Srere, Chief Barker of Variety Tent 25, celebrated his silver anni yesterday. William Goetz planed to Paris to cast French players for “Me and the Colonel,” Tokyo By Dave Jampel (582056) MCA veepee T. J. McManus Jr. here to sell tv film product. The Takarazuka Girls’ Opera Troupe will perform in Paris for -the first time, playing the Aramora Theatre beginning Dec. 15. Sixty girls will make' the trek- Long delayed by technicalities, what is believed to be Asia’s first nightclub ice show opened at this city’s Copacabana on a handker¬ chief-size stage. A four man CBS “See It Now” crew filmed Marion Anderson's Seoul concert at the Wallenstein Bowl, and then kept the lenses on the contralto through Taipei, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Saigon and Manila. AU-night lines marked the sale of tickets for Berlin Philharmonic to open here late.. in November. Tickets ranged from 800 yen ($2.28) to 2,000 yen ($5,55) and totalled close to 10,000. John Huston and Eugene Frenke, director and producer here for 20th-Fox’s locationer, “Mr. Town¬ send Harris,” both expressed sur¬ prise that their last venture, “Hea¬ ven Knows, Mr. Allison” (20th), is not scheduled to be played in Japan. Vancouver Johnny Hayden, - singer-emcee from Britain, now working club dates here, heads for Jamaica next week for club dates there. Jack Eagle & Frank Man, swing trumpet,' comedy song duo now playing-the Cave Supper Club here, head for Australia mid-November to play the Tivoli in Sydney, and other bookings^ The Cellar here, claimed to be only nitery in Norm America with an unlisted phone number, on its jazz policy, brings in Lany Lewis Quartet for week starting Nov. 29. Actor John Emerson, back in circulation after a heart attack, starts a“Six-a-week 6:30 pm. deejay -series‘on CJOR here. Madrid By Ramsay Ames ( Castellano. Hilton; 272200) Teatro Madrid has Joaquin Gasa and his super Cuban revue, “Tropi- cana,” with music of Lecuona and Alguero. Italy’s Aldo Fabrizzi and Spain’s Jose Suarez will team up with Vic¬ tor McLaglen in “Los Italianos jEstan Locos” (The Italians Are Crazy). Juan de Orduna’s “El Ultimo Cuple, which stars Sara Montiel, has passed its sixthomonth at the Cine Rialto, and it’s still impossible to get seats< Paqciita Rico, vtfho recently fin¬ ished starring role in “Lavanderas de Portugal” (Laundresses of Por¬ tugal) in Pfris, goes immediately into “La Tirana” for Juan de Orduna. Chicago (Delaware 7-4984)' Lily Pons here last week to have a shoe style named after her by Sattini Shoe salon. Joan Collins in city over the past weekend for her new pic, “Stop¬ over Tokyo.” ' r . Paradise Ballroom, shuttered for several years, taken over by Nu- gent-Williams advertising art stu¬ dios. Equity’s Carl Stohn named act- ting chairman of publicity for Chi’s [newly formed ANTA chapter; mem¬ bership enrollment meeting set for January. . Jack Russell reelected prez of Artists Representatives Assn., with Charley Hogan and Associated Booking Corp.’s Fred Williamson getting renewal on veepee stripes. A1 Butler* pressagent for “My Fair Lady” here and one of vener- ables in his profession, being inter¬ viewed on Tony Weitzel’s WBBM show on his birthday tomorrow (ThursJ. ' - - Sam Levensdn came in for one day stand at Chez Paree last Friday (1) to help club celebrate its 25th anni. Boh Hope in for same pur¬ pose, sharing billing with Sophie Tucker, next Friday (11).