Variety (January 1959)

258 LEGITIMATE Fifiy-third p^&RIETY 'Anniversary January 7, 1959 From ‘Damaged Goods’ to Elsie Ferguson [From BVay P. A. to Public Relations Counselor] By EDWARD L. BERNAYS In late 1913, aged 23, a year and by Marc Klaw, came in return and half after my graduation from said succinctly, “Please come in 'for an appointment tomorrow at Cornell University, I was still un¬ decided what career to pursue, but it didn’t seem Edward I*. Bemays 10:30 a.m.” I went to the New Amsterdam to worry me ’ Theatre on West 42d Street, home much. F o r ; of the “Ziegfeld Follies.” A Negro tunately, my • bodyguard stood in the theatre family was : lobby and passed on every caller, tactful. They He kept out cranks, beautiful wondered! women job-seekers and even newswhat I would ! papermen. Only a select few were do next, but admitted. . My pink letter was my they were ticket of admission to Mr. Klaw’s wise enough office. to realize that I Mr. Klaw looked mousy behind I had to find ‘his desk. His greying hair, parted my own way. ; in the middle, seemed to be pasted The theatre | slickly on his skull. His appearhad fascinated me during, my col I ance did not accord with what I lege years. Ithaca’s Grand Opera had expected a powerful theatre House was a one-night stand for : magnate to look like. His smile the best Broadway productions. I was pleasant’, his manner courteattended perfomiances of Otis i ous. He talked to me a few minSkinner, whom 1 ‘later worked lutes,, then came to the point and with, and many other stars. How j asked what I wanted to earn, did the actors and actresses get ' f was startled by his question; I their glamoF and glittering repu; had never sold my services. I tations? What made them tick?‘Knew he wanted an immediate anWhat went into their fame? What j swer, and since the most I had made one play a success and an: ever earned was $75 a week, . I other a failure? These were ques said, “Seventyfive dollars.” .“I’ll tions' that interested me. iput you on the payroll starting to t wac intrimiPd bv the sneed morrow,” he said. “You’ll do the with, which the theatre made an j pyblj^y ,;or Woman’ | Iy & protest and^form^ad Igfel ef ; opened, but was not a critical feet on the public opinion of Scan ; success» _ _ dinavia. I remembered that Schil ! Flacking for Elsie Ferguson \ ler’s “William Tell” made Years later, I learned why I had I was engaged be¬ erful plea for freedom in Ger :hepn hired “wh cause Elsie Ferguson was a very lege producttoiw of both t s ;SDecjaj person, a favorite of Marc plays m my undergradua e d 3 ■ Klaw. As a mark of his esteem Some backstage contacts. I made for ^er and t0. satisfy her ambiduring my college days heightened tion, I was engaged to do special this interest in the stage. An publicity for her beyond* and' above Ithaca stagehand, a wizened rough ; functions of the general press neck, became a friend. He told representative. Klaw. & Erlanger me with pride he was a member ; had a general press represenfaof the White Rats, a benevolent as tive; Clarence Hyde, who handled tions. These were basic publiciz¬ ing activities. The only permanent occupant of my loft was Jerome Eddy, a squat little man about 85 years old, who claimed to be the first theatrical pressagent in the United States. With great difficulty he mounted his high stool, and smoking one noisome stogie after another, wrote steadi’y for hours on manila copy paper. I never knew what he wrote. I believe he re¬ ceived a small pension. He . liked me and I liked, him. Every once in awhile, he worked his way down his high chair, came to my desk and charted for me the saga of show business. I was entranced to hear about showman¬ ship in the 1860s and ’70s, the ! hardships of the roads and one| night stands. Now, he said, we : were witnessing the complete ■ decadence and decay of the Amer¬ ican theatre. I looked at his an¬ cient teary eyes, and thought that ; old age was unduly pessimistic. I had no one to whom to report on what I was doing or was plan¬ ning to do. I had no set hours; I could come when I wanted, leave when I wanted. I. had no stenogra¬ pher or typist. It was only in after years that I realized why Marc Klawr had felt supervision was unnecessary. Ob¬ viously, he could judge my effec¬ tiveness by what appeared in the newspapers— news notes, photo¬ graphs, feature stories that could be identified as my work. Any producer, who knew the score could pretty much tell what his p.a. had planted: The yardstick wasn’t only a quantitative one. Competition on Broadway also en¬ tered into the evaluation— how many other plays there were, which new ones merited publicity, and so on. in London— Where Shows Run loo Long [WEST END LEGIT IN 1958] — By HAROLD MYERS London. The only thing seriously wrong with British legit is that there are too many long-running hits which are keeping new plays and new tal¬ ents out of London. An ironical situation if ever there was one. The odd thing about London’s theatre is that when a British audi¬ ence takes to a show it does so in a fabulous way. Take, for example, the Agatha Christie meller, “The Mousetrap,” the all-time champ which is now in its seventh year and still displaying house full signs with monotonous regularity. Then there is “The Boy Friend,” which, J on Jan. 14 will be entering its sixth West End year and is still packi ing them in. “Salad Days” is another example, which has been in resi; dence at the Vaudeville for four-and-a-half years and continues in the I big money. Then there is the offbeat hit like “At the Drop of a Hat,” I the two-man revue which is just completing its second,. West End year ■ at the Fortune. The success of this show in town has delayed its Broad; way opening under Alexander H. Cohen’s plan of launching the Nine j O’clock Theatre at the Bijou. j In addition to these veterans of the West End scene there are a numi ber of other productions which opened during the year and which show every prospect of remaining in residence for a long time ahead. Heading the list, of course, is “My Fair Lady” at Drury Lane, which has been a capacity attraction since its opening on April 30 and will remain so for another two, three or possibly four years. Advance bookings are already being taken well into I960 and the demand for ducats runs way ahead of supply. Indeed, not since Danny Kaye played a Royal Command vaudefshow some years ago, have ticket scalpers done such a thriving trade. Broadway Transplants l . Matinee Idols sociation thought of stageworkers. White Rat must someone of distinction. As a mark ; supervise me. of his respect for me, he let me ” ~ help him occasionally in the the their productions. But I saw him only once or twice, and he did not My office was a large loft on the second floor, as wide as the theaatre. I walked up three flights of . tre, facing 42d Street. Light steep wooden stairs to a high-railed ? slanted down through little winbalcony, and pulled at ropes that ; dc>ws high up near the ceiling and lifted and placed the scenery. Far spotlighted the dust above the high above the stage, I was stirred by desks against the wall and in rows the distant emotions of the. actors jn the middle 0f the room. It was or by the whirling rhythm and ute a stage setting for a Dickens movement of a musical comedy. story. I had to climb a four-foot For awhile after college I had .bookkeeper’s stool to sit at my edited Medical Review of Reviews, ; desk. and with its owner, a young man j I can remember quite distinctly of about my age, had helped pro j the three advance men who used duce the play, “Damaged Goods.” j my loft as Klaw & Erlanger headA great national debate on sex \ quarters before road tryouts and problems and how to deal with: road tours. I listened while they them had stemmed from that pro j made arrangements for posting Auction. This initial venture into billboards— giant 24-sheets, smalltheatrical promotion had been a er three-sheets and one-sheet and stimulating one. When a manu j window cards. I learned the script article dealing with the play ; mechanism of placing through thebefore its American production ! atncal advertising agencies the had arrived in our office, I had rec ! advertisements they wrote. I ognized its newsworthiness. I had ; learned about visits to drama enjoyed organizing the Medical ■ critics and editors and their reacReview of Reviews Sociological i Fund which had sponsored the in¬ itial production. I had found and publicized the constructive theme of the play'. I had had a keen sense of accomplishment when people flocked into the theatre af¬ ter I had exposed them to “Dam¬ aged Goods” through the mails, press and other media. I recog¬ nized that only the power of publicity and organization had enabled Richard Bennett, an ex¬ perienced actor, to put on a play he had not previously dared to do because of fear that it was too far ahead of the public. I knew that only the work of two obscure, in¬ experienced young editors had made the production possible. The theatrical climate of the time helped me. ’ This was the heyday of matinee idols. Donald Brian, star of “The Merry Widow,” and John Drew were idols of women; Anna Held an idol of men. Men regarded Elsie Ferguson as a symbol of feminine beauty; women identified themselves with her. They called her a long-stemmed American beauty. Her bearing was imperious. Her face was ex¬ pressionless, her manner cold, im¬ personal, with a beautiful passivity that seemed to promise violent emotion under provocation. She had just discovered a new hairdo, the “upsweep.”. Her silk-like long, blonde hair was combed up from the nape of her neck and back from her face. Young and old women copied her hairdo, eager to be identified with her. On my first day, I went over to the theatre and met her backstage. She had first appeared in a musi¬ cal comedy, a few years before in tights. Now she was a dramatic star. She was beautiful. She met (Continued on page 290) While Broadway musicals have not developed into an automatic hit on transference to London — there have been some notable fail¬ ures such as “Plain and Fancy,” “Fanny,” “Damn Yankees” and “Bells Are Ringing,” — there is still a big and profitable market for the kit imported tuner. Interesting case in point, for example, is “Where’s Charley?” in which Norman Wisdom plays the lead and which has been racking up hefty grosses since its opening early last year. “Simply Heavenly,” the all-colored show, which marked actor Laurence Har¬ vey’s debut into management (in association with Jack Hylton) how¬ ever, was an expensive failure. « “West Side Story,” the last major entry of the year, more than lived up to its advance buildup when it was preemed at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Dec. 12. The import was given a rousing reception, and press acclamation superior to that earned by “Fair Lady.” It’s a cinch to run and run. Taking the year as a whole, 1958 saw some interesting American imports. From a dramatic and artistic point of view, the two Eugene O’Neill entries were the most impressive. “The Iceman Cometh,” | which opened originally' at the Arts and was boldly transferred by : Emile, littler to the Winter Garden, scored an immediate critical tri: umph. Press acclaim, however, was not shared by the public and inadei quate support made this a regrettable b.o. failure. The second O’Neill play, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” is an emaciated version of the i Broadway hit, having been cut by approximately one hour. Neverthej less, it must still be considered a dramatic triumph and for its limit[ ed season should attract an adequate audience. Only the Public Likes It 1 ‘Damaged Goods’ Springboard Now I wondered if perhaps I could work with other plays and do for them what I had done with “Damaged Goods.” I decided to try to find comparable and, I hoped, equally exciting oppor¬ tunities. I had only a vague no¬ tion there were such people as pressagents. Whom should I get in touch with, and how? I typed a letter to theatre man¬ agers listed in the Rod Book, the telephone classified directory, sug¬ gesting that “the success of ‘Dam¬ aged Goods’ . . . possibly . . . makes you desire to employ the young man who publicized it.” A letter n strawberry pink paper, signed One Of the strange events of the past season was the press treat¬ ment of “Auntie Marne,” in which Bea Lillie plays the role created by Rosalind Russell. With one or two exceptions, it was “butchered” by the press and Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times went so far as to describe it as a “total disaster.” Happily for David Pelham, who is pre¬ senting "the comedy at the Adelphi, the nightly “house full” sign tells another verdict. Among the run of hits which have crowded the .West End scene are a wide variety of subjects: such as the offbeat comedy “Brouhaha”; Christopher Fry’s translation of Giraudoux’ “Duel of Angels,” starring Vivien Leigh, Ann Todd and Freda Jackson; the easy-to-understand T. S. Eliot drama, “The Elder Statesman”; Arthur Watkyn’s light¬ hearted comedy, “Not in the Book”; another Agatha Christie meller, “The Unexpected Guest”; a new musical, “Irma La Douce,” staged by Peter Brook; the Wolf Mankowitz musical “Expresso Bongo”; Jack Popplewell’s new comedy “A Day in the Life Of . . .” and the Broad¬ way import of "Tunnel of Love” in which the leads are now played by Brian Reece and Barbara Murray. Of the shows that opened towards the end of the year, main inter¬ est is focussed on a new British musical, a. Broadway import, a frothy British comedy and a tough realistic drama. The musical is “Chry¬ santhemum,” which introduces a new husband and wife team in Pa¬ tricia Kirkwood and Hubert Gregg. The latest entry from Broadway is “Two for the See-Saw,” starring Peter Finch and Gerry Jedd, the comedy is “The Grass is Greener,” which is notable mainly for an out¬ standing performance by Joan Greenwood, and the drama is “Hot Summer Night,” which treats intelligently with the color problem. Additionally, Robert Morley stars in his own adaptation of a French comedy, “Hook, Line and Sinker,” which is very much a star vehicle. ALFRED LUNT AND LYNN FONTANNE Three ‘First’ Hits Among last year’s new attractions was the fact that three of the hits were “first plays.” “Flowering Cherry,” with Ralph Richardson starred, ran successfully at the Hay market from the beginning of last year un¬ til December. It was the first work of a schoolmaster, Robert Bolt. The second was “The Party,” which became an outstanding starring vehi¬ cle for Charles Laughton” and Which continued as a big b.o. attraction until he had to bow out of the cast a few weeks ago. This was a first play by Jane Arden. The third new writer to click was Peter Shaffer, whose “Five Finger Exercise” has become firmly established as a hit at the Comedy. While 1958 may have witnessed a slackening off in the Angry Young Man mentality, it was a year in which offbeat and off-time incompre¬ hensible plays found West End settings and West End audiences. Real¬ ly bizarre pieces like “The Sport of My Mad Mother,” “A Resound¬ ing Tinkle,” “The Hole” and Samuel Beckett’s “End-Game” have be¬ gun a new cult. The long hair critics seem to go for them, but the pub¬ lic remains bewildered. Whatever their demerits might be, they at least have the virtue of stimulating discussion about the theatre. And in the final analysis that must be for the good of all involved in it. UNKNOWN PICKED FOR MEX ‘FAIR LADY’ LEAD; Mexico City, j The femme lead for the Spanish1 language version of “My Fair j Lady” has been won by Cristina j Rojas, a virtually unknown singer. ] Tall and blonde, 25-year-old Miss j Rojas studied at the National Con > servatory of Music and the Fine j Arts Opera Academy. Professional ! ly she has appeared in Palace of Fine Arts productions of Masse¬ net’s “Manon” and Puccini’s Ma¬ dame Butterfly” as well as on con¬ cert tours in the provinces. Producer Manolo Fabregas said his “find,” apart from a “pretty figure,” has a truly exceptional dramatic soprano voice. The youth¬ ful singer won out over 350 as¬ pirants for the role, many of them leading names, in Mexico’s show biz.