Variety (February 1959)

VOL. 213 No. 10 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1959 80 PAGES / FILMS FACE CRISIS Mas Fade on Casino Circuit His Rest of Caribe Betting on Itself -Th gambling idonej that pre- Viously. went into the casinos in Havana Is expected to be spread around the Caribbean area. Clif¬ ford Jones, operator of the Tliun-, derbird. Las Vegas, who is now partnered with Jake Xqzloff (ex- New Frontier in Vegas operator), now has a full-scale operation in Port-au-iPrince, Haiti. He is open¬ ing another (Netherlands Antil¬ les) casino in Aruba, and has also t one'into Condado Beach, Puerto ico.- Other casinos are contem¬ plated. Jones had been a major partner in the Havana. Hilton When the Nevada; 'State Gaming Comission decreed that all Las Vegasites with gamblMg' interests in Cuba make a choice. Jones subsequently sold odtr but is using that coin to es¬ tablish other casinos in the area. v'The Haiti operation, which has been open since Dec. 26, is using a combination of native and name talent. They have had Corinne Calvet. .and are now negotiating for LIlo, Jacqueline Francoise, Es- telita, and othefh They have ai surrounding native show, so that they can get both tourist and local patronage. As a summer adjunct to the International Casino in Port- au-Princb, they are planning an¬ other gaming salon in Kenscoff, (Continued on page 70). Unwelcome Import From California: Wife Gets 50% of Ex-Husband Poll Tax Rings *Bell’ Houston, Feh. 3:*' Poll tax receipts were .worth their weight in theatre^tfckets Thursday (29) when the Metro¬ politan Theatre offered free admission to any woman show¬ ing a poll tax receipt at the boxoffice Window. The offer was good daring the matinee and was with¬ drawn at 5 p.m. The offers was made to see “Bell, Book /and Candle" (Col) by the Interstate Theatre Circuit to stimulate interes t in the payment of .poll taxes. "1 BBC’s Strong U.S. 20th’sLeopokl-LQeb Pic - Seen Riling Authorities At Scene of Old Grime Though it plans to open Richard Zanuck’s “Compulsion" in New York and some other keys during JEaster Week, 20th-Fox for the mo- saent has no intention of returning the “scene of the crime,” he. •Chicago. /“We may open npar Chicago," Charles Einfeld, 20th ad-pub v.p., said. He gave no direct explanation, though reference was made by SSanuck himself of some “complica¬ tions.” v 1 One of. the reasons why 20tn doesn’t have any intention of springing “Compulsion" on Chi¬ cago just yet is that the State’s At¬ torney’s, office doesn't come out too well in the film, which is based on the Meyer Levin novel and deals with the* Leopold-Loeb “thrill" murder -of a-little-hoy in the twen¬ ties. There’s a. feeling that, what with Chicago’s police censor still in the saddle, “Compulsion" would stand - a ’ godd chance of being tagged with a “pink" slip,,which would deprive it of’ potential audi¬ ence, ♦ • - Also, some at 20th wonder just how much interest there is in the ease in Chicago, which has prob¬ ably .heard more about this whole question than any other city in the (Continued on page 18) London, Feh. 8. •The Songwriters* Guild of (Treat Britain is hotting up its “hate cam¬ paign” against the BBC because of its alleged pro-American bias In the handling of pop music. The Guild’s general secretary, Vic Knight, In¬ sists: “We say that the BBC’s Di¬ rector-General should tell fete-offi¬ cials to make the BRITISH Broadcasting Corporation—or give up their jobs.” ~ Countering the BBC’s claim that there is a persistent demand for American pop" music, the Guild claims that this is a direct conse¬ quence of the persistent plugging which the BBC has given it. The latest Bulletin of the Guild hacks up its accusations with facts and figures, which sneer at the (Continued on page 20) - HARLAN’S HOMO PIC, ‘3DSEX/INN.Y.B0W “The Third Sex,” a German film revolving around the theme of homosexuality, has, been booked into' the .Plaza .Theatre, N. Y., to follow “Black Orchid.” Picture probably will open in March. “Third‘^Sex," directed by Veit [ (“Jew-Suess’’) Harlan* is being re¬ leased . by Have Bfcetz, who ac¬ quired it for $87,000 on a flat deal from a group headed by Ilya Lo- pert. Latter reportedly bought the picture for $35,000 but had to sell it when-he became a United Art¬ ists employee, Dietz said last” week he planned to release the Harlan film in both SubtitteJ. and dubbed versions. Pic¬ ture deals with a boy—a potential homosexual—who Is pushed into a (Continued on page 22) Fighting desperately for its own survival as a mass entertainment medium, the American motion pic¬ ture ^industry- is turning .out fea¬ tures' dealing with subject matter distasteful to the censoriously in¬ clined. • One foreseeable result of the marked increase in “Adult" product and dare-to-say-it plots may be the greatest battle in film! history between the producers and the bluenoses. Indeed it is argued that this colli- sion-in-the-making may be the first true battle, since Hollywood has previously hedged and trimmed to appease the native censoring men-; tality. However there was, until recent seasons, no doubt .of the film, as such, dominating pop en¬ tertainment. Today the constant presence of television (more and more also a film-fed medium) to¬ gether with an inflationary econ¬ omy puts producers on a spot never before known—the stark survival need for more and differ¬ ent avenues of appeal to ticket- buyers. ' In the immediate past (1950- 1958) censorship has usually hit— and sometimes has' exclusively meant—the foreign film, French or Italian. For this-reason the Ameri- (Continued on page 70) See TV Exports At 50% in 5 Years Hollywood, Feb. 3. An optimistic Appraisal of the potential of the foreign television market coupled with a warning that a far greater degree of pro¬ gramming exchange is necessary liighlighted the first forum on. glo¬ bal television here last week Academy of Television -Arts & Sciences sponsored the event, with such execs as Screen Gems’ Ralph Cohn, Warner Bros.* Rod' Erick¬ son, NBC International’s Al Stern,. Cuba’s Goar Mestre and Japan’s Michio Ito participating. Both Stern and Cohn warned that the U.S. must devote more of its airtime to foreign product in the future if U.S. syndicators ex¬ pect to continue reaping rewards from'the foreign market. Cohn added the observation that more : foreign production would also help, stating however that the tat ent now producing telefilms aboard are responsible far the lack of success of such series.; ‘ **The key to programs being made outside the U.S.,” Cohn sald> “is not necessarily where they’re being made but by whom they are made. When ihqy are made by professionals and by showmen who knew the market for which they are being made, as was (Continued on page 541 Osterman’s Nifty Mickey Rooney’s “The Last Mile” .reminds show biz vets of the classic crack made about the play, when it first hit ' Broadway, by the late Jackie - Osterman, Milton B e r 1 e * s young vaude rival, in a guest column in Variety: - “At the end all the charac-^ ters are dead and the ushers take all the bows.” Senate to Tee Off OnJukeboxProbe; 0.0. of Key Cities Washington, Feb. 3 The Senate Rackets Committee, after a two-month delay, opens a full-scale probe of alleged under¬ world influences in the jukebox in¬ dustry this Friday (6). Hearings are slated to. start with an overall look at the national picture and general methods used by labor hoodlums in getting a slice of the jukebox coin. After that, the com¬ mittee will focus attention on op¬ erations in particular cities,, start¬ ing with New York on Tuesday and followed by Chicago, Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles. In a brief curtain-raiser last December, the rackets group heard Fifth Amendment claims from Michigan hoodlum Frank Camraa- (Continued on page 15) AGVA,AFM‘RIG SHOW’ FOR HAWAII STATEHOOD Honolulu, Feh. 3. The American Guild of Variety Artists and the American Federa¬ tion of Musicians will push state¬ hood for Hawaii in a February or March stageshow for Congressmen in Constitution Hall, Washington, D. C. Lorrin P. Thurston, chairman of the Hawaii Statehood Commission, says Jackie Bright, AGVA national administrative secretary, is plan¬ ning a “gigantic” show to help spur action on Hawaii’s bid to become the 50th state. “We shall never rest until Ha¬ waii becomes the 50th state,” Bright wrote in a letter to Thurs¬ ton. “AGVA feels Hawaii deserves statehood, not because we have pur members of ottr mtioa who live in Hawaii* but because the Hawaiian' has proved bjfrtsefcf to be a great [credit and a great .citizen of tit United States.” The unlde 2s Itamg up mass statehood- petitions through its £raneh Office s . V- The New York Supreme Court, In a precedent-making decision, has upheld California’s community property law In a divorce .action taken in New York State. Ruling is seen of considerable importance to showfolk. Baling, by Justiee Irving Saypol, held that Marion Lane, In obtain¬ ing a divorce from composer Bur¬ ton Lane, retained a right to 50% of their joint funds which they brought to N. Y. when, they moved here from California in 1955. Mrs. Lane also is entitled to half of the . “ineome. earnings, gains, ASCAP payments, license -fCes, royalties, profits” etc. accruing to Lape on any of his compositions written while the Lanes still lived in Cali¬ fornia. This is separate and apart from alimony to which Mrs. Lane Is en¬ titled under the divorce decision. Lane has written the music for such properties as “Finian’s Rain¬ bow," “Babes on Broadway,” “Du- barry Was a Lady," “Artists and Models” and has collaborated with lyricists such as Ira Gershwin, Alan Jay Lerner, Frank Loesser, E. V. Harburg, etc. If a film is finally made of “Finian,” for instance, Mrs. Lane would participate in the proceeds to Lane inasmuch as the (Continued-on page 22) Mpls. Catholic Yo&b For More Discrimination Id Pops; Pain N.Y. Teener Minneapolis, Feb. 3. The $250 prize by the local Catholic Youth Center, sparked by Rev. Joseph L. Baglio, to 14-year- old lyricist Jane Elizabeth Kling- man, of New York, for her song, “The Bells," is part of a national campaign to emphasize “discrim¬ inate" selection of disks, pop songs, singers and disk jockeys. Pro songsmith Sidney Lippman set the tune to Miss Klingman’s lyric which Contract, a Catholic Action movement of high school students here, is publishing. Bing Crosby was the judge in the con¬ test. Hildegarde, whose hometown is Minneapolis, introduced the song at a communion brunch at the local Hotel Raddisson, attended by some 3,000 teenagers. Miss Klingman is a freshman at the Immaculate Conception branch of * Cathedral High School, New York. Marylyn Steele, Minneapolis, $3$0; Mary Kay Dontbugh, St. Paul, $75; Fran Rusctaoo, Minne¬ apolis, $50; Edward Bourn, Flush¬ ing, N. Y. r $25, were the runners- Vp In the "discriminating" national song competition. The amateur songsmithing con¬ tort is part of the campaign to fetake teenagers aware of “proper” pop song material and their In¬ terpreters and promoters.