Variety (October 1958)

Wednesday, October 8, 1958 Cuban Tropicana Sending 80-Person Unit to N.Y. For Travel Org’s Shindig Because next year'* world travel* convention of the American Soci- ! ety of Travel Agents will be held ; in Havana, the Tropicana nitery is t lending to New York its entire \ floorshow of 80, including a 20- ] piece native Cuban orchestra, to I. entertain the ASTA group Nov. 8 ' at the Waldorf-Astoria. New York ■! is the site of this year’s conclave; j last year the' travel agents con- I vened in Madrid; in 1956 they met j. in Chicago, and the year before | that in Lausanne, Switzerland. | Because of the multi-billion dol- i lar business that world tourism* is 1 today, the ASTAites get top VIP . treatment from hoteliers, restau- . rateurs, et al. The Tropicana, ; Havana, show will serve as a sort j of preview of the 1959 brand of ! hospitality the Cuban capital has ■ promised. Some 2,000 travel agents will come, in off-season, i.e., around “ this time, to New York and are billeted among the Commodore, : Roosevelt and Biltmore. Some - who are extending their stays are: ^ also at the Waldorf-Astoria. Benito Ruiz, head of the Cuban ; Tourist Bureau Commission, is es- ! corting the Tropicana show on its five-day visit to the U. S., climaxed by the Monday night (Nov. 3) gala. For the first time, other than Easter Sunday services, Radio City Music Hall is opening its doors to a Monday (3) morning semester, at which Gov. Averell Harriman will speak. This, incidentally, is tan¬ tamount' to “invading” opposing gubernatorial candidate Nelson Rockefeller’s domain, especially as ■the next day is Election. Randy Wood Continued from page 51 ago sparked the rest of the pic companies to enter into the disk : biz, said that the mutual exploita¬ tion values between the disk and pic industries has been fully estab¬ lished. He said that there is no ;doubt that hit .songs like Pat :Boone!s “April Love” and “Love : Letters in the Sand,” Debbie Rey¬ nolds’ “Tammy” and the flock of Elvis Presley pic songs have boosted the film b.o. substantially. ;As for the flock of film players jwho have recently made their bow j on wax, Wood believed that few of | them will make it on disks. The importance which the pic¬ ture makers give to disk exploita¬ tion is evidenced now by the fact jthat disk artists & repertoire men are asked to comment on the score |in the pre-production phase. For i instance, Wood was called in a ; month ahead of Par’s shooting of i“Mardi Gras” to go over the score jwith writers Paul Francis Webster ,;and Sammy Fain. The aim, Wood jsaid, is to come up with a pop song iwhich is exploitable on disks. Since jthe Hollywood tunesmiths are jaware of how important this is, |they cooperate fully in making the jnecessary changes in the score. Mabel Mercer’s OK Recital In G’wich Village at $4.60 Gus Schirmer Jr. has a keen eye for a cult. In bringing in Mabel Mer¬ cer for the kickoff of his “Monday Nights At Nine” diversions to the intime Cherry Lane Theatre in New York’s Greenwich Village, he also brought along the fans who’ve flocked to her chantoosing at east- side saloons (she’s doubling cur¬ rently from the R.S.V.P.) for the past several years. And at a flat $4.60 admission, sans booze, it’s a neat trick in any promoter’s book. Schirmer now has a double- barreled operation going for him at the Cherry Lane. With his clicko production of “The Boy Friend” on every night but Monday, the open night looks to be a full one if he can sustain the calibre of the Mabel Mercer “diversion.” Thrush will follow her bow (6) with per¬ formances on Oct. 13 and 20 and then “Monday Nights At Nine” will have to look to someone else to pull ’em in. Right now the series is in cap¬ able hands. It’s a tough assignment to hold down a stage for more than two hours with nothing more than a songbag, a staircase, a red velvet chair and a lectern for props and a piano and bass assist in the pit but Miss Mercer does it with ease. The repertoire has been pro¬ grammed with care and enough mood-changes to hold interest throughout. Most of the repertoire consists of chic little items from the pens of Alec Wilder, Bart Howard, Alex Fogarty and Cy Walter, which she’s popularized in cafes, but they all serve to showcase her stylized phrasing and dramatic warbling. Some are just hints of tunes but she puts enough body into it to get the message across. And w’hen she goes really dramatic as in a series of songs out of the Maxwell Anderson - Kurt Weill score for “Lost In The Stars,” she’s deeply moving. Rodgers & Hart, too, come off w r ell in her moody interpreta¬ tion of “Little Girl Blue.” It’s an arty musical exhibition and that dead end street (Com¬ merce) in the Village is the right setting for it. Gros. RAY ROMAINE j and CLAIRE "Delightfully^ ‘ Different" : NpwAppearing GEORG PALAST Hanover, Germany (Thanks to 5yd Fox Copenhagen flSCAP , Continued from page 51 — tors, took a few digs at fellow Coast director L. Wolfe Gilbert— which didn’t seem to go over with the attending body: Latter, who opened the conclave, emphasized that the membership should take the ASCAP elections seriously and scrutinize candidates as much as possible, following which he in- troed prexy Paul Cunningham, w’ho discussed the org’s jukebox prob¬ lem and distribution changes. Jack Bregman, chairman of the exec committee and member of the board, gave the exec committee report. HANKER FOR ANKA Tokyo, Sept. 30. Touring Canadian singer Paul Anka has received an offer to star in a Shochiku picture after his singing appearances ended here Sunday (28). The film would be called “Chimney Girl” and the bouncy balladeer would play a tourist aboard a Tokyo Bay excur¬ sion boat singing some songs and having romantic overtones with Japanese actress Yoshie Mizutani. Problem appears to be monetary, with Anka seeking dollar parent. pfnvvnyfvvvvfvil mi % OPEN AUDITION for RECORD CO. {* Saturday OCT. 11th 2:30-6 p.m. + at STEINWAY HALL (Third Floor) J 113 W. 57th Street, New York .* • SINGERS • VOCAL GROUPS jr • JAZZ ARTISTS • JAZZ GROUPS £ ONLY RHYTHM and BLUES POP ARTISTS i* bring any Tapes, Records, Pictures etc. ( . ***** * * * *.* ** P&tlEfr, VAUDEVILLE 65 SOOCHA RENAY The Dallas Morning News: DALLAS AFTER DARK byroNYzo^, Renay a Smash In Any Language Soocha Renay, about the nicest dish of Hungarian gou¬ lash to hit our town since Zsa Zsa Gabor, made her Century Room bow here Thursday night. Easily the most sophisticated entertainer to appear here since Liberace, Miss Renay could easily emerge as the surprise act of 1958. She combines a delightful flair for Continental humor with a pleasing delivery in a 45-min¬ ute presentation which hears the stamp of Anna Sosenko’s gift for perfection. La Sosenko, as you probably know, was the guiding genius behind Hildegarde’s climb to stardom. It appears safe to as¬ sume she will do equally as well with her most recent protege. Soocha, which probably means “Terrific” if spelled backwards in Hungarian, is a condensed ver¬ sion of the United Nations. She sings fluently in French, Italian, Spanish, German and English. Her material is almost entirely original and touches on such delicate subjects; as “L’amour in a Jaguar;” “Rock and Roll in Russia;” “Cowboy Infatuation in Budapest;” and “Calypso in China.” Only pop tunes offered during her well-paced stint were “Vo- lare,” and “Don’t Blame Me.” BLESSED WITH a marvelous sense of humor, the headliner kept the proceedings moving with delicious bits of nonsense between songs. Even some of the lines which were supposed to be comparatively serious, came out funny. The burlesqne on American adult westerns is especially hilarious and the discussion of the handicaps one meets while trying to pet in a foreign car. is a gasser. A piano-vocal duet with Joe Richman on a French interpre¬ tation of “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” provided one of the evening’s highlights. As for the Reichman band, it cut one of the toughest scores of the year in its usual expert fashion. In closing, we make the pre¬ diction that the Renay show will become one of the biggest box office draws of the season. Not since the aforementioned Lib- erce played the Adolphus has the room offered such a smart brand of entertainment. As for Miss Sosenko; who said lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same spot? Dallas Times Herald: RINGSIDE TABLE with DON SAFRAN Launching a New Star Into Orbit REVIEWING STAND: Con¬ sidering that the Air Force is in the midst of a convention in this city, it is only appropriate that the Adolphus Hotel launch its own version of a guided missile. And the new star is Soocha Renay, who comes packaged and custom - made by Anna Sosenko, who has previously lit the fuse to Hildegarde’s career. But Soocha is an original creation, patterned after nobody and off and winging to major stardom in her own Viennese manner. Soocha’s act is practically all special material, all clever, much of it sophisticated and humorous, and all in good taste. And Soocha herself is a magni¬ ficent interpreter of her mate¬ rial, with a comedienne’s tim¬ ing and all the glamour of a chanteuse. Her version of the “Interna¬ tional Rock ’n’ Roll,” done in seven languages is an hilarious and subdued takeoff. But so is her oriental version of calypso, which she explains may be dated in the U.S. but has just reached China. Soocha, in this country 0 seven years, will soon be the rage of it. She has the st$le» class, ma¬ terial and, not least of all, the tutor. If she isn’t the best new act of the year, she must be, at least, the second best. Joe Reichman’s orchestra did their duty with their customary zeal and skill. HARRY BLUM, Writer-Arranger SAMUEL LANGE, Couturier STANLEY GOODMAN, Attorney-Business Counsel Personal Manager: ANNA SOSENKO SOOCHA RENAY