Variety (January 1959)

KABIO-TEUillSIOS 64 Ptant&r Wednesday, January 14, 1959 John Aaron In Havana ; Continued from page 43 j in or out of Havana but the mobile ; equipment of the rebels. There began a harrowing experi¬ ence that lasted for nearly 48 hours. Food was hard to come by; for 30 hours there was a diet that consisted largely of coffee, eggs and bread. But the hunger pangs of inner man were virtually for¬ gotten in the new awareness of personal safety. The biggest gripe of Aaron and his fellow Americans was that the U.S. Embassy could not be con¬ tacted. Neither the Ambassador nor any of the secretaries-clerks were available at any time in this period, if only to give a word of encouragement or advice. Aaron did manage to get phone-cleared to one official, whose capacity was vague to him, to seek information on what ships might be due in port that could take on passengers in Havana. There was a report of the Italia and the Nassau being due (and Aa -on believes they came in later, unless the ships bypassed Havana under instructions). The Embassy man thought the Homeric might be the best bet. This was a Greek bottom under Panamanian charter, Aaron was told; but the Homeric bypassed Havana. There was a report of the Mauretania bein the vicinity; but with no confir¬ mation. On New Year’s Day, Aaron man¬ aged to sneak over to the Embassy. The producer is known for his gentle manner, but this time there was fire in his eyes. This state was not calculated to abate when he. saw a big sign posted on the Em¬ bassy’s doors. It read: “Closed — New' Year’s Day.” Aaron and Amer¬ icans all over the world, including newspapermen everywhere, wonder to this day, out loud and in print, about the how-dome of an Ambas¬ sador or his staff being unavailable to assist helpless Americans while a host nation is in revolt. Do-It-Yourself Redcaps After two days of agony, ar¬ rangements had somehow been made to recruit a ferry into serv¬ ice. This would take about 500 (ca¬ pacity of ferry, 250) to Key West. Sailing had been set for 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 2. At this ppint, al¬ though no cooperation from the U.S. military had been available to civilians before, a few cars of the U.S. Air Force pulled up at the Havana Riviera. The hellbent-formainland Americans were jampacked into them. For some rea¬ son — Aaron guesses it was a mili¬ tary one having to do with inter¬ national pacts under certain con¬ ditions, meaning emergencies such as internal revolutions — the auto convoys stopped about a quartermile from the ferry slip. Passengers had to lug their baggage this dis¬ tance. (Aaron was advised by friendly ' hotel personnel to take along only what was absolutely necessary; this he did, and when interviewed in his office in New York last week, he was awaiting the baggage he had left behind, but without any fears that it would not come and, now secure with his family, not caring about it). Arrival at the ferry slip was only the first phrase, as it turned out. Although there are numerous entry gates at the wharf, only one of them was open. There began a four-hour travail because each passenger was required to fill out papers in voluminous detail. Every¬ thing was “as usual” — customs clearances, name, date of birth, country of origin, ad infinitum. Aaron & Troupe wondered -why a lot of this work could not have been done in advance, and carried out by the Embassy under a blanket document covering all passengers. ‘$15, Please’ Moreover, no one could step onto the ferry until he had paid $15 cash on the barrelhead — which meant that those suddenly caught short of cash had to scramble around among their fellow passen¬ gers to raise the money. It oc¬ curred to Aaron and his companions-in-distress that the Embassy, had it been on the job, could have cut quickly to the chase by becom¬ ing responsible for the whole v bill in a single credit certification, with the travelers charged for same pending their return to U. S. soil. (One couple, according to Aaron, nfanaged to arrange passage on a plane by “fast conversation” com¬ mandeering; the pilot demanded payment, but Aaron said the couple paid nothing, on the assumption that the plane was from the mili¬ tary; but that military or not, told Aaron they would never pay the bill, being incensed at the whole business.) The* ferry set sail at. 9 o’clock Sleeping accommodations were either the deck or -a few lounge chairs, but the latter were quickly occupied by passengers fast on the trigger. Aaron and his family slept on the deck. The producer had found out that the ferry had 12 staterooms. When he applied at the bursar’s for one of them, -he was informecTthat, unfortunately, the Embassy had contracted for them. Aaron said he never knew whether any Embassy officials were on board; to his knowledge, no one entered or left the staterooms while he was aboard. To the Mainland The boat arrived at Key West about 111-2 hours later, at 8:30 on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 3. He stayed at a hotel there until Monday, rented a car to drive up to Miami, and then used his prior reservation from there to entrain for New York, where he arrived Tuesday, Jan: 6. He did not con¬ sider himself “secure” until his family finally entered their home" ; in Clifton, N. J., that afternoon. In war, holocausts, disaster and revolution, there are credits and discredits. The discredits in Aaron’s book: The avarice of some of the rebel soldiers who demanded ex¬ orbitant “tips” for services; the selfishness of some Americans, no¬ tably of the male gender, who fought among themselves (fisticuffs included) to get. loaded first into cars, onto the ferry, and who even grabbed food and dug their hands* into creamy cakes at the hotel, ap¬ parently figuring this was to be their last supper; foremost dis¬ credit, the American Embassy. (After this interview was written the White House announced the resignation of Ambassador Earl E. T. Smith— Ed’s Note,) No. 1: Havana Riviera The credits: First and far and away foremost, the Havana Riviera, which did everything humanly pos¬ sible to alleviate the plight of the guests. One evening, they spread whatever they could before the guests, with linens and tableware spotless, and even included spar¬ kling ashtrays. Aaron said that the hotel’s information on the revolu¬ tion was better than anything he could extract out of the Embassy official during his only phone-talk. He particularly pointed out Luis Leiva, reservations manager of the hotel, who gave him this note to the manager of . the hotel in Key West: “Will you please help my personal^ friend Mr. Aaron, upon arrival to your hotel. Thanks.” Another was Alfonso Alvarez, the Havana Riviera’s transportation man whose poshy business “card bears this billing: “English speak¬ ing driver. Air conditioned Cadil¬ lac. All services available. Car No. 20.” 'The “English speaking driver” performed many services for Aaron and others during the* height of the changeover in government. Aaron kept his receipted hotel bill. This showed that the Havana Riviera voluntarily knocked a full day off the rate, as a courtesy ges¬ ture. The hotel also agreed to take checks when cash was not available at departure. Right Chips, Wrong Hotel A couple of leavening highlights: The hotel agreed, after a brief study of the situation, to accept casino chips in the amount of $170 from one guest in lieu of cash or check. The gu.est dug into his pocket to come up with the chips and placed them on the desk in front of the friendly clerk. The clerk saw immediately that the chips were marked with the brand of the Nacional Hotel, and of course would not take them, not knowing whether the Nacional would accept them from the Ha¬ vana Riviera. The man got 'awfully irate, but the clerk stood his ground. On the morning of Friday, Jan. 2, Aaron’s daughter, Lynn, 11going-on-12, turned to him and said, “Daddy, my allowance was due yesterday.” Aaron “pays off” his daughter on the first of the month. In the midst of such rou¬ tine business ' as a revolution, . it had slipped his mind. Four CBS-TV programs and a similar number of NBC-TV offerings won 1958 Christopher Awards. Prizes are for excellence in tv program¬ ming for family viewing. CBS-TV Awards were: producer David Susskind, director Bob Mul¬ ligan and writer Ludi Claire fqr “Bridge of San Luis Rey,” on duPont Show of Month”; producer Burton Benjamin, writer Norman Borisoff, film editor Robert Collinson and composer Paul Creston, for “Re¬ volt in Hungary” on “The Twentieth Century”; producer Jacqueline Babbib, exec producer Robert Ei Costello, director Robert Corrigan and writer Jerome Coopersmith, for “SSN-571, The Nautilus” on Arm¬ strong Circle Theatre”; producer Lowell Thomas Jr., director Jean Philipe Carson and writers Lowell Thomas Jr. and Prosper Buranelli for “Alaska” on “High Adventure With Lowell Thomas.” NBC-TV Awards were: producer-director Bob Banner, music di¬ rector Harry Zimmerman and writers Bob Wells, Johnny Bradford and Arnold Peyser for “Dinah Shore Chevy Show”; producer-director David Lowe and writer Lou Hazam for “MD International” on “March of Medicine”; exec producer Mildred Freed Alberg, producer-director George Schaefer and writer James Costigan for “Little Moon of Al¬ ban” on "Hallmark Hall of Fame”; producer Alvin Cooperman, di¬ rector Richard Morris and writer Jean Holloway for “The Wild Swans” on “Shirley Temple Storybook.” British-born Marc Brandel, tv playwright who’s been working in the States for several years, and his wife, actress Ruda Michel, went to London at year’s end. They’ll remain there until April and then hope to get a house in Italy for a few months’ residence. He’s doing sev¬ eral tv scripts for a series titled “The Four Just Men” for showing in the U.S. On New Year’s Day he started work on a theatrical film di¬ rected by Robert Helpmann themed on an “Around the World in Five Ballets” idea and calling for locations in Madrid, Paris and probably Moscow. Brandel writes of London that “it is very gay, bright, expen¬ sive and full of Americans with beards.” Three dramatic shows of Britisn Broadcasting Corp. have been slated by National Educational Television for its network in 1959. Dicken’s “David Copperfield” will be unspooled as a serial in 13 halfhour installments for use by high school literature classes. The other shows — Shakespeare’s “Henry V” and Ibsen’s “Master Builders” — will be beamed as one-timers. All are on film. Principal new series on tap for NET in ’59 is “Search For America,” a skein of 33 half-hour programs focussing on foreign relations, edu¬ cation in the U.S., the national economy, crime and delinquency. Par¬ ticipants in “Search” include, poet-educator Mark Van Doren, anthro¬ pologist Margaret Meade, psychiatrist Erich Fromm, theologian Rein¬ hold Niebuhr, and Arkansas Gazette editor Harry Ashmore. Series is produced by Educational Television and Radio Center in Ann Afcbor. Mich. ~ Series of seminars tagged “World of Ideas” preems on CBS-TV Sunday, Jan. 18 from 3:30 to 4 p.m. with Dr. Charles Frankel, Colum¬ bia Univ. philosophy prof, as emcee. Program will be in nature of an open discussion between individuals of different persuasions. Each week group of 48 invited guests will meet the emcee and take part in what is described as tv’s first adult discussion-audience participation program. Fred Freed will produce this CBS Public Affairs program. Craig Fisher is associate producer and Vern Diamond wilf direct. CBS-TV Is continuing its penetrating looksees into the juvenile delinquency problems with a special two-part edition of “The Twen¬ tieth Century” series Sunday, Jan. 18 and Sunday, Jan. 25. Tagged “The Delinquents,” it will be a filmed documentary of the coast-tocoast situation among problem teeners. Two-part study will be pro¬ duced, written and directed by Stephen Fleischman, CBS News cor¬ respondent, with Walter Cronkite narrating. Red Skelton, for the first time In his eight years on CBS-TV, takes his tv series on location later this .month to film a program in Miami Beach. Program will be aired later Jit the season '‘and will be filmed during Skelton’s two-weeks personal appearance at Fontainebleau Ho¬ tel beginning Jan. 20. . ' Fordhmn U„ Yeshiva U. and IthaCa College have .eaejxliid separata talks with representatives of the Academy of Television Arts Sci¬ ences about the distinct possibility of supplying the acreage necessary for a television library. .Latest was with Fordham, which is getting ground In the soon-to-be-built Lincoln Center for Performing Arttf. ATAS is prepared to seek network or foundation coin to finance the building itself and the supply of books and other video source material.