Variety (October 1958)

‘FREE SHOWS’ FLORIDA COME-ON Britain Asks U.S. Films Made There Carry Anglo-American Identification British producers have asked American companies making films in Britain to affix to their pictures the identifying title: This is a British-American co-production. The Americans, while not taking any rigid position on the question, take the view that such a prom-, inent identification was likely to hurt the chances of these pictures in the United States. In part, the British request is motivated by the desire to spot¬ light activity in the British studios. In part, too, it’s designed to elim¬ inate the American practice of sending coproductions, which rate as British quota films, into some countries as British pix and into others under the American flag. Some British producers, notably the Rank Organization, have long been unhappy seeing the limited British quota in certain countries in part taken up by coproductions which, under a tightened defini¬ tion. might not rate as purely "British.” One of the advantages the Americans have is that their earnings on such pictures can be remitted to the States, whereas the British producer must remit every¬ thing to Britain. American executives admit that, eventually, as a bargaining point, they may have to affix the copro¬ duction label. At the same time, they argue that it'd definitely be detrimental to the potential in the U.S. mart. "And that’s where the British want to make a dent, Isn’t it?” asked a foreign exec of one of the companies. Past experi¬ ence has shown that films identi¬ fied as British tend to do less than British pix which can be exhibited without that label. Japanese-Western Revue Blends Chinese <ha Cha With R&R in Bombay Bow Bombay, Sept. 30. Carroll Wallace, an American male who. appears on stage in the guise of a Sophie Tuckerisli J femme, is presenting here the first i Japanese-Western revue to visit India. The "Carroll Wallace Fol¬ lies” blend Oriental talent and (largely) Occidental music in a slick, fast-paced two-hour variety show. Performance ranges all the way from Awa Odori Nipponese cos¬ tume dance to rock ’n’ roll, and from Chinese cha cha cha “Sion Sion Toi Toi” to “OV Man River.” Artists, including the versatile Hayakawas (who provide the hot jazz band which plays on stage throughout the show), are all Ja¬ panese except for Filipino Tony Estrada and Singapore’s June Mok, both vocalists, and, of course, Wal¬ lace himself. Ike No Longhair Washington, Sept. 30. National Symphony Orches¬ tra, which is set for a South American tour next spring on State Dept, subsidy, has gone through the formality of pre¬ senting President Eisenhower with a cuffo box for the new season—with little hope that he will use it. Although the previous White House tenant, Harry S. Tru¬ man, was a music lover who heard the symphony often in Constitution Hall (and aided b.o. receipts by bringing in tourists wanting a look at him). President Eisenhower has at¬ tended only one concert in six years in office. Raise Issue Of U.S. Pix in Italy At ‘Red’ Theatres American film companies opera¬ ting abroad have never refused and for the moment do. not intend to refuse to serve any theatre be¬ cause its ownership may be Com¬ munist, a Motion Picture Export Assn, spokesman said this week.. He added that the lines of po¬ litical affiliation were not very clearly drawn in many places, “and, in any case, it’d be a tre¬ mendous job to do the checking.” Question has arisen in connec¬ tion with an issue in 'Italy where ANICA, the Italo producer-distrib organization, complained that U.S. companies were selling to Com¬ munist-dominated “cultural club” theatres in central-northern Italy, Variety’s Rome bureau reports that Yank members of MPEA in Italy have indicated they’d fight to prevent supply of U.S. product (Continued on page 14) F By LARY SOLLOWAY IT COULDN’T HAPPEN TO A RICHER GUY Cleveland, Sept. 30. Bob Hope kissed $100,000 good¬ bye wffien he invested it in Hope Metal Products Inc., of Cleveland, owned by his brother Ivor H. Hope. Assets of company, which filed an involuntary bankruptcy action, were sold Monday (29) at public auction. Ivor listed about 234 creditors, assets of $90,798, mostly in equip¬ ment, and liabilities 0 at $221,663. Bob Hope advanced his brother lOOG’s three years ago to help the ailing firm but could not help it from sinking. Miami Beach, Sept. 30. Miami Beach hotelmen, cur¬ rently engaged in their annual bid¬ ding battle for name attractions to fill out strongest possible lures for their cafes this winter, had their competitive headache com¬ pounded this week. This stems from disclosure that Morris Lans¬ burgh and his associates, operators of six large oceanfront inns, are in the process of setting up a series of one-nighters featuring the same top acts in the Deauville Hotel convention-auditorium on a for- guests-only policy, as a promo¬ tional gimmick to spark an upcom¬ ing national big-space ad campaign to draw clientele. The gimmick, obviously pat¬ terned on the Concord-Grossinger’s: format in the Catskills, will be a j costly one however, and not only j for the Lansburgh group. Some | rival hoteliers feel there will fol- ] low an inevitable revision of per-: former thinking in. terms of payoffs 1 for the standard one and two-week bookings. According to Lansburgh, the sum of $650,000 has been earmarked to budget the one-nighter plan. It is based on a $1-$1.50 per room charge-off on the overall rates for guests at the Deauville, Sans Souci, Casablanca, Sherry Frontenac, Ver¬ sailles and Crown hotels, for there will be no liquor or food served, with the auditorium seating ar¬ ranged theatre style to allow for the 4,000-odd audiences expected (Continued on page. 58) TV Better Buy Than Dailies’: Buick; Newspapers in Showdown Fight The Superior French Quote John Huston on the subject of film censorship: “I . don’t believe in any cen¬ sorship except that of good taste, and that holds true of Hollywood as much as for its audience. "I very mucii uphold the idea of the French theatre where, if an audience is of¬ fended by a play, they just tear up the seats.” Phono Famine ies Stereo Both here and abroad, the stereo bally is having a strong impact on j the consumer level despite the lack ’ of suitable phonograph machines on the market. At the present time, the phonograph manufacturing end is the big bottleneck in the stereo! picture, but it’s expected that the I phono distribution channels will be ! flowing at full volume in a few 5 weeks. RCA, which is accenting stereo heavily this fall, sparked its fall selling campaign with a meeting for its phono and disk dealers at the Barbizon-Plaza Hotel, N. Y., Monday (29), night. George Marek, RCA Victor disk v.p. and general manager, and other execs from the phono division and the Bruno dis¬ tribution company, made strong pitches to point up the dollar po¬ tential in the new stereo biz. Marek, who left for Japan by way of the Coast immediately after the meeting, said that stereo has caused a major stir in foreign disk circles abroad as well. He has re- (Continued on page 19) ASCAP Yielding ‘Secrets to BMI In Cleffer Suit _ j Broadcast Music Inc. now has a ele:* r anrf un r *hall f 'n"ad to , amine the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers’ performance cards. The final green- light was given in N. Y. Federal Court yesterday (Tues.) before Judge Gregory Noonan when' ASCAP attorneys consented, with- ! out argument, to a BMI motion ordering ASCAP to make its rec¬ ords available. I At the same time, BMI agreed. to make comparable information - from its files available to the 33 ASCAP songwriters who are the . plaintiffs in . the $150,000,000 anti¬ trust suit against BMI and the; major broadcast networks. ihe move to examine tue 220,000 ASCAP cards, on which the per¬ formance history of tunes in the ASCAP repertory is recorded, has been the subject of a long, hard- fought argument between ASCAP and BMI attorneys. ASCAP has claimed that to give BMI its cards would be to disclose private busi- (Continued on page 46) ' The fullscale television vs. news¬ paper media war, which has been threatened over the years, has finally erupted over the McCann- Erickson decision to spend most of the Buick advertising budget in television introducing the 1959 models. The television and newspaper battles are both old and new in that both mediums fight for adver¬ tising dollars. But, never has the warfare broken open over a deci¬ sion by' a manufacturer 'and an agency to spend their allocation in a particular manner. First signs of ’the current battle broke out last summer when Buick an¬ nounced that it was cutting its newspaper listing drastically. It was assumed by this, that the auto¬ mobile fi m was going to heavily accent television.- While the sparks flew, the fire wasn’t actually lit until this week and all because of two reports, one titled “Buick Advertising & Mer¬ chandising Report No. 2” and a second sludy, a cost comparison report completed by McCann- Erickson itself. McCann-Erickson, in attempting to determine how to get the most out of its advertising dollar, re¬ tained Advertest Research to com¬ plete a media study. The Advertest report showed that 59% of Buick shoppers said tv advertising stood out most strongly in their minds, as opposed to 12% for newspapers and 29% for magazines. The study struck another blow at newspaper (Continued on page 40) BRITAIN EXTENDING OPERA TO PROVINCES London, Sept. 30. London Coliseum will mount an opera season lasting from next April through to December, this will be presented by the Sadler’s Wells Opera Co. under a new plan designed to provide a better basis for touring opera and also a more stable future for the Wells. The scheme calls for the existing company to be enlarged to com¬ prise two choruses, two orchestras, two opera ballets and a pool of principal singers. The plan will ensure that the provinces get be¬ tween . 25 and 30 weeks of opera during the year, and also that the two companies get a full year’s employment U.S. Correspondents’ Fast Turnover in USSR; TV Blasts Vs. Yanks By IRVING R. LEVINE (Moscow correspondent, NBC) Moscow', Sept. 30. The radio and press corps in Moscow, a tight little island of 14 Americans, has undergone a sud¬ den change in faces because of transfers and expulsions. Various viruses have also added to the normal hazards of new's coverage in the Soviet capital. "Stringer” correspondents for the major networks have left Mos¬ cow for new assignments. Whitman Bassow, United Press correspon¬ dent who also-had done occasional broadcasts for ABC, departed to ac¬ cept a year’s fellowship at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. B. J. Cutler, corres¬ pondent for the N.Y. Herald Trib¬ une, received a transfer to Paris as reward for his Moscow services; Cutler had substituted for Daniel Schorr and Paul Niven, CBS, dur¬ ing their absences from Russia. Roy Essoyan. able Associated Press reporter, was expelled by"-the Rus¬ sians (the fifth American corres¬ pondent ordered out in the past (Continued on page 16)