Variety (July 1958)

Wednesday, July 30, 1958 Bolshoi Circus Does a Two4ct; By DAVE JAMPEL Tokyo, July 22. Boris Eder, president of the i Moscow State Bolshoi unit now 1 performing in Tokyo, told Vartety, 1 "This is not' the best part of our ■ circus. Honestly, it’s only an or¬ dinary program.” Eder explained that the entire Bolshoi Circus has over 5,000 artists of whom only some .50 are in the Tokyo unit. . He noted that other units; are now playing at the Brussels Fair and in Hungary, : Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and throughput Russia. , He said each program is individ- ually patterned to the taste of the; nation of the performances; In i Japan, Eder mentioned he was limited in scope because of a reg-I elation prohibiting import of! hooved animals. i Eder cited that a rep of the Russo Ministry, of Culture was now in the U. S; negotiating for a Bol¬ shoi Circus tour. He said, “We hope in a short time to be able to visit your- country and see with our own eyes your arts and sci¬ ences as Well as showing ours. We would also like to see your, artists in Moscow and Leningrad, but that depends on the cultural exchange i; program.” ; " He reported that the full circus ■. has about 2.500 animals including horses, lions, tigers, bears, hippos, ] elephants, sealions, monkeys,; ducks, dogs, llamas, zebras, birds.; and penguins. . S 1 Grads of Moscow Circus H.S. " ! Most Bolshoi Circus personnel are graduates of the Moscow Cir¬ cus High School which has 200 students and 50 grads each year! From there they, attend the Studio of Circus Sciences where their act is polished and prepared Svith cos¬ tumes, equipment, music, etc., all. supplied by the state. ~ , Candidates are culled by scout¬ ing factory and club circus and acrobatic exhibitions, from ama¬ teur ranks, from. athletic associa -1 tions and. from descendants of families with circus, backgrounds. Every particle of gear with the circus is. state-owned and when on tour, the artist ■-! has • all. expenses paid.- Eder said. “The artist only has to; work and improve.’’ Tliey are paid according! to classification, with bear trainer Ba lent in Filatov getting 250 rubles ($62.50) per show and an . acrobat averaging .80 or : 100 rubles ($25). Eder himself , draws 7,500 rubles ($1,875) per month plus a month¬ ly pension, of 1.500 rubles ($375);. since he is 64 and a circus veteran of over 48 years; . . Stanislavsky '& Animals , Eder said it is the style of the. Bolshoi CircUs not to strive for sensation,, like allowing an animal to threaten a trainer, but to let the performance speak for itself; This, he cited, is based on the Stanislavsky theory, “Like .arid lover the science in yourself, not yourself in the science.” “We, don’t try to get the audi¬ ence nervous,” he said. “The. pub¬ lic goes to the circus to take a rest, to admire and maybe envy the feats of well-developed ath¬ letes and to study! sciences.” He stressed that safety is the foremost consideration of the*B61- shoi Circus with all performers being protected by means designed : by the Institute 6f . Safety : of the Labor.! The aerial artists, for ex¬ ample, work with a net and a hook- on wire. • • •> , Eder mentioned that famed Bol¬ shoi clowri Konstantin Berman is at a great disadvantage in Tokyo because of the language barrier. He said, in Russia the. clown ex¬ changes patter and tells jokes. Berman is performing 75% below his potential as a result, Eder said., i - Pavlov Theory, Too. The veteran Eder, whose own specialty is animal training, said the Bolshoi Circus, cultivation of animals is based on the Pavlov: theory of conditioned and uncondi¬ tioned reflexes developed through i. (Continued on page 114) Variety Chorines* Jukebox Nix Cleveland, July 29;! Efforts by seven night club operators to have dancers per-! form to “hi-fi jukeboxes” col- : lapsed when chorus gals re¬ fused to perforin without live musicians. Also, Lee Repp, head of Cleveland . Federation of Musicians, strongly . pro¬ tested.; Twenty eight musicians Ayere involved. ! Repp did allow operators to . cut back to three-man units as a “summer economy” m o v e . that ends Oct. L • Frank Purcella KBros. and Purdy & Fain) Turns Old Conn. Nitery Into a Hall Seymour, Conn., July 29. Connecticut’s largest ; theatre- restaurant, the Actprs’ Colony Inn on Route 34 here, has closed as such. The nitery, with 650 capac¬ ity, has relinquished its liquor li¬ cense arid in future will be oper¬ ated as a hall-for-hire for meetings, bingo, parties, etc. ... For the past several years the club' has offered dancing: and en¬ tertainment—-usually a stripper and a comic—on Saturday nights only; Restaurant was an out¬ growth of cottages and tents oc¬ cupied by vacationing vaUdevil- iians in the 1920s. . It was noted for proscenium stage and dressing; room facilities. Nitery was started 32 years ago by Frank and Ray Purcella, ex- hoofers who worked both vaude and legit musicals under Purcella Bros. tag.. Frank also teamed with his wife as Purdy & Fain. An¬ other brother. Bill, was. one of the Six American Dancers, Ray and Bill, who later becariie golf pro at Highland Golf Club in nearby Shelton, are deceased. Frank will! continue as owner and operator of the building. Way Back When Variety’s New Act files show a Purcella Bros; review in issue of March 20, 1914. V i Purdy & Fain shows up at a New j York vaude house caught for issue; of Oct. 24, 1928. • •• . ' ] VAUDEVILLE [Bass. Eyeing $400,000,800 As N.E. ToHrism Jumps; Show Biz Sharing King Bros. Spaining Blackpool, Em*;., July 22. . The King Bros:, English singing trio currently in Bernard Dclfont’s “Show Time” at the North Pier Pavilion here, are pacted for a four weeks’ cabaret stint in Spain. Group are Set for two weeks at the . Emporium, Barcelona. They will do another two weeks in Madrid. Empire Reopening For Pre-Edinburgh Fest Run Edinburgh, July 29. The expected demise of No. 1 vaude here is not as near as. the pessimists feared. The Empire Theatre, city’s leading vaudery, which shuttered for an indefinite period July 14, will reopen Aug. 11 with two weeks of vaude shows. These will precede the Interna¬ tional. Festival bookings, which fill the. theatre for three weeks. Vaudery, owned by Moss’ Em¬ pires Ltd., has recently been en¬ countering poor attendances, mainly due to policy of skiffle and striptease layouts. It had not been expected that the house. . would reopen until after the Edinburgh Festival. Ore. State Fair’s Bill ". Portland, Ore., July 29. The Larry Allen Agency of San Francisco will again produce the stageshow at the Oregon State Fair for 10 days starting Labor Day. Jimmy Rogers has been set to headline the two-hour layout the first six days, with Vaughn. Monroe stepping in Jim last four days. The Sportsmen ‘and Dave Barry have been inked, with additional acts to fill/ /, This is the first year that a change of headliner midway will be tried. . - Boston, July 29. Tourist biz is getting big in Yankeeland. A take of. around $400,000,000 is expected in Massa¬ chusetts alone this summer, bet¬ tering the mark of -around $357,- 000;000 spent in the state by 3,- 500,000 million' tourists last year. To the six New England states, the year around tourist biz has meant a billion dollar industry. With hangup vacash weather, in¬ flux of tourists is climbing, and every reliable indicator shows that vacationing in Yankeeland is soar¬ ing-steadily and fast. With tourist attractions in spots like Salem, where nearly every house has a b. o. t in Lexington, Concord, Sturbridge Village, and the beach/spots, ranging from Old Orchard Tn Maine to the Cape, show biz efforts, from freak shows to niteries, are getting the biggest play in years from the incoming visitors. In Massachusetts for the record year, 1957, the state departinent of commerce estimated that for every $1 spent for promotion of the area tourists returned $80. The fig¬ ure for 1958 is expected to be dou¬ ble, $160 for every buck. / To nab the tourist dollars, Bos¬ ton department stores are staying open on Saturdays this summer for first time in 28 years. Night clubs dot the beachfront. at Salisbury where the two biggest, the Frolics, with name policy, and Bowery, semi-names, gear their, bills toward the tourists. Strawhat theatres and music tents, which are having their biggest ruri this summer with ideal weather, have mushroomed throughout the six- state area. Almost obliterated from the scene are the smaller circuses and carnivals, which spun through the New England territory early in the summer, each trying to beat the other to skim off the cream. Only one or two of the circuses and carnivals essay N. E; dates nowa¬ days. It’s Been “A GOOD DEAL” And We're So "GRATEFUL" to So Many for Making It Possible for Us to Commence Our (12th) Consecutive Year of Touring the World with Our m “SMART AFFAIRS” Revue , - I- ;'' - / <. (The "Ultra-Ultra" of Harlem Entertainment) Arid Especially to:— Pops Williams, Club Harlem, Atlantic City — Bill Miller, Major Piddle, Dunes Hotel, LasVegas —^ Morris. Lansburgh, Deauville Hotel, Miami Beach — The Village, San Francisco —■ Harry Wren; Australia and New Zealand — Harry Levine — Ken Blewitt — Frank Schiffman — Jack Goldman — Joe Glaser — Dick Boone .— Lillian Alpeit — Lt. John Chamberlain !-^- Bubber Fields — Variety Costumes, Inc. — American Guild of Variety Artists — American Federation of Musicians — The Members of the "Press" — and the many talented performers and musicians who have contributed to our efforts. LARRY STEELE Choreography by: LON FONTAINE • Production Asst.t LYLE SMITH Rood Mgr.: ELMER WATERS • Talent Reseateh: NANA STEELE Just concluded record breaking 16 weeks with the "SB" Edition ot the Deauville Hotol. Mioml Beach. Currently—CLUB HARLEM. Atlantic City with the "59" Edition. Sincerely, JlcWup £tezle Creator -i- Producer — Writer and. Director ITho man who picks np tha "tabs" for everything) •. / For Information Concerning the Future—Contact ■ . BILL MILLER, 3158 North Bay Road, Miami Beach, Fla. Phene Jefferson 1-1441 (The Mart Who Opened the Doors for Us in Many Class Rooms- When Others Said "It Couldn't Be Done' 1 ) WE SHALL ALWAYS BE GRATEFUL the Cast of "Smart Affairs"