Variety (February 1959)

2 MISCELLANY Wednesday, -February 4, 1959 : Stockholders Back Company Setup London, Feb. 3. After a week of intense activity* which collared frontpage headlines daily in the national press* the annual stockholders meeting of the Granada Group and a subsequent extraordinary session to approve special resolutions turned out a great fizzle. The threatened ma¬ jor rumpus over the company’s finai yfo* agreement with another tv programming company didn’t develop. And its proposals to is¬ sue a number of shares at par to executive directors and executives were accepted at a crowded stock¬ holders meeting last Friday (30) with an overwhelming vote in sup¬ port of the board. Affairs of the Granada Group began to receive- prominence in the press when the prelim financial statement was published late in- December. A one-line reference- in Sidney L, Bernstein’s statement to stockholders that a programming arrangement with another- com¬ pany was terminable in 1960 was widely picked up by financial col¬ umnists who assumed that this ex¬ plained away the reason for Gran¬ ada’s -profits of under $3,000,000 for its entire group (including the tv network, a chain of theatres and stores) while other tv companies: were making as much as $15,000,-. 000 a year. _ The sequel to that publicity came last week, when a number of important developments took place. One was the decision by some MP’s to raise the question in the House of Commons as an al¬ leged breach of the Television Act. (Continued on page 22) SERIESOFTRUSTS UNDER DEMHIE WILL Los Angeles, Feb. 3. Cecilia DeMille Harper, daugh¬ ter of Cecil B. DeMille, was left one-half of all late producer’s se¬ curities and all real estate except a ranch, under terms of the DeMille will filed for ^ probate last week, Although estate will run into many m illion s, the petition merely stated in legal double-talk that real prop¬ erty was in excess of $10,000, and personal property in excess of same amount. DeMille left nothing to his widow,. Mrs. Constance DeMille, saying she had been amply pro¬ vided for, but the will noted her "devotions loyalty and cooperation” and tiie "great material contribu¬ tion she has made to our success.’’ Daughter and her husband, Joseph Harper, of the book publishing family, were named as executors of will, which made 17 individual bequests totaling $40,000, largest of which was $10,000 bequeathed to Julia ihy, who has.appeared in all producer^ pix. Balance of estate was divided into four trusts. One was set up for DeMille’s three adopted children, Katherine DeMille .Quinn, and John and Bichard DeMille. Other 'three for his grandchildren* For $125,000 Nitery Bow Hollywood, Feb. 3. George Bums has been offered $125,000 to star at the Sahara Ho¬ tel in Las Vegas for four weeks in June. It would he his cafe debut Comedian has long nixed such bids, but is seriously considering the Vegas offer. He would appear solo, sans the services of Grade Allen, his wife and partner who retired last year. 2 Songbirds of Different Feathers Bock Together Washington, Feb. 3. Hostess Perle Mesta, whose so¬ cial-diplomatic activities were once set to music by Irving Berlin ("Call Me'Madam”), opened her Washington mansion two days in* a row to honor such diverse musical personsdlties as Maria CaHas and Johnnie Ray. ' Mine. Callas (who confessed she’s getting sensitive - about. publicity I on her temperament) was here to- sing “H Pirata” Thursday (29) at a Constitution Hall sellout under Pa¬ trick Hayes sponsorship, in her sec¬ ond Washington appearance for him this season. Bay was in town as headliner at Lee Zelger’s Casino Royal nitery. Mrs, Mesta, who’s home-based here when not travelling the world, gave an elegant dinner (pheasant en plumage, etc.) for the Italian ambassador and other VIP’s be¬ fore the Callas performance. Afterward, she, Elsa Maxwell and other Callas enthusiasts were guests, along with the diva herself, at a post-performance party given (Continued on gage 70) BELAFONTE FOUNDATION HELPS SNUBBED TEXAN' Austin, Feb. 3. Barbara "Smith, Negro songstress who emerged from race-conscious East Texas to become recognized fpr vocal ability at U. of Texas, left campus lari; week to' pursue her career in New York with aid of Harry Belafonte Foundation funds. Miri Smith, a dramatic soprapo from Pittsburg, ,Texas, a timber town, was in news nationally two' years ago when she was booted from lead role of Dido in Univer¬ sity opera, "Dido and Aeneas,” after East Texan legislators com¬ plained to University officials.lBela- folite sent a wire, of sympathy to her at-that time, saying there were people "in the comer.” Shying from publicity, Miss Smith went on to -become candi¬ date last Week for bachelor of mu- (Continued on page 20) i 2/4 Subscription, Order Form Enclosed find check for $ □ One Year Please send VARIETY for □ Two Years P Three Years To (Please Print Name) Street City...... . Zone.... State... Remoter Subscription Rotes One Year—$15.00 Two Years—$28.00 Three Years—$39.00 Canada and Foreign—$1 Additional Per Year 154 West 46th Street New York 36. N. Y. BETTY MADIGAN Now on DAVE GARROWAY TV "TODAY” Show Alsb Currently Four Weeks COFACABANA New York Starts Feb. 10th Five Weeks, COTILLION ROOM : HOTEL PIERS® Evansville, Feb; 3. * : Drama and Pageantry are bustin' out all Over but' in the - Lincoln country as - the 150th anniversary of his birth is approached, Feb. 12. In Evansville, Ind.—the city nearest to Abe’s boyhood’home—a full-scale musical drama is being readied for a three-day, five-per¬ formance run. Theme of the musi¬ cal is Young Abe’s life around 1825. Called "Sunday’s Child,” it is an Original 'offering by two Evans¬ ville women, Mrs. Zayne Hauck, who wrote the book, and Mrs. Joanne Slater Levi, the lyrics and music. . Casting Is complete and rehearsals held nightly in the noW- dark Majestic Theatre, a Loew’s house now active only during holi¬ days and for special road-show films. Boxoffice prices - for "Child” are scaled to $3.65. The musical recounts Lincoln’s courtin' days and follows the mi¬ gration of tiie Lincoln family from their native Kentucky, through In¬ diana and into Illinois. The entire score of .show-music, from ballads to ballet, is steeped in a rural folk* flavor. Minas Christian, conductor of Evansville Philharmonic, will baton in the Majestic pit . Mrs. Levi,, a- native New-Yorker* is a Barnard College and' Julliard' alumna and the daughter of film publicist. Bill Slater. ^ ALament For The Bellylaff Legit Musieals Too ‘literate* — r Where Are THe Funny Comics and Dames of Yore? By NAT DORFMAN " Fun has generally, gone out of the musical comedy ^theatre. -The golden era of the clown has been displaced by humorous austerity.. A snicker, or at most a gentle guffaw, is- being parcelled out in place of the outrageous bellylaugh. To judg$ by the output, about the last thing the modem impresario gives thought to is the comic. Nor, following the managerial pattern, is comedy- the concern of the li¬ brettist. At any rate, he shuns it Fop May Be Out Front; MomU Be id Hie Wings Washington, Feb. 3. ... A Congressional son, age 12, is turning show biz pro. Bruce Thompson, son* of Wyo¬ ming Republican Bep. and Mrs. Keith Thompson, will play the boy’s'role;'in the Emlyn Williams adaptation of: Iyan* TurgenevV"A Month in the Country,” when it is produced by the .Arena Stage here for four weeks starting Feb. 10. It’ll mark Bruce's first legit per¬ formance, although, he has previ¬ ously »been on - local television shows.. Of Maria Callas’ Opera fey Robert j. landby I t was Maria Callas & Co. (her own conductor, tenor and bass from Italy) when an opera from :the long-ago, Vincenzo* Bellini’s "H Pirata,” was presented concert- style by the American Opera So¬ ciety at Carnegie Hall, N.Y. The occasion last Tuesday (27) had a special excitement because it was the Greek-American soprano’s only Manhattan appearance since she was fired from the Met Opera by Rudolf Bing. Mostly tiie event drew audience cheers and reasonably good, if somewbat reluctant, critiques. This could be said about Callas in “Pirata” as about Callas in the same composer’s “Norma” when she first debuted at the Met: The build-up and the advance sale al¬ most had to make the actual per- tContinued on page 70) London, Feb. 3. James. Mason has jnriruefed his London lawyer to issue writs claiming damages for alleged libel against, jthe Daily Sketch, Beaver- brook Newspapers and the East Anglian daily Times. The actions arise oiit of publication of* State¬ ments which have already .lieen the subject of proceedings, in America, where the actor is claim¬ ing more than $3,300,000 for defa¬ mation of character. . David * Jacobs, Mason’s London legal rep, states that the writs al¬ ready have been issued and served. The actor js [due here shortly for two film commitments.' * v Award to Durante : -. <.§tfston, 'Feb.'* 3. Jimmy Durante nabs the first an¬ nual Humanitarian Citation of Bos¬ ton Cinema Lodge, B’nai B’nth, at a luncheon at the Bradford Hotel Feb. .16. Durante will be in for a. return date at Blinstrub’s, South Boston nitery. Nat Lewis Store Folding Nat Lewis, .probably the oldest and best known Broadway theatri¬ cal haberdashery, ’is going out of business. There wiH be a liquida¬ tion'sale first. Decision is a reluctant; one by Mollie Lewis, widow of the foun¬ der. Store was literally a land¬ mark of the show biz scene for 40 years and its passing will be a wrench to. nostalgia-. Newspaper strike crimped Christmas: trade and landlord wanted a rent .in¬ crease. COMEDIE FRANCAISE REPERTORY FILMING France’s Comedie’ Francaise will make one film a year taken from the plays in. Its repertoire. It’s al¬ ready done "Le Bourgeois Gentil- homme”**ahd has started work on a second classic, "Le Manage del Figaro” by Beaumarchais. j . It’s figured these films will enjqy j a %gf .audience in U.S. colleges. In his publifr Works. JWto nfidriff, which laughter Is'supposed to vio^ fently shake, has been stilled by so-called "literate” plots, mild sa¬ tiric - thrusts, meaningful ballets and gorgeous trappings. Hollow, however, is the echo of the am¬ phitheatre to paroxysms of yofcs. Verboten, we must assume, is any¬ thing that induces unrestrained. ... mirth, the kind* that brings joyous - ; tears to the eyes. Happily, it was not always so. *.; The producers of yesteryear’s ex¬ travaganzas never got.started un- less they had a comic in harness. - Neither would they contemplate a production that didn’t fairly bristle ; with gags and funny situations.. This was their ace-in-the-hole and unless you coqld guarantee laughs.,, in *a musical comedy (and ah op- / eretta, to - some extent as welD ‘ you were risking audiences’ dis¬ pleasure and bpxoffice apathy. ;; ; No doubt of it, the comic was • the real star and the big money ; earner. And while it is patently. ; true that a good deal of'the com- edy. was corny in those halcyon, days, a. lot of .it was hilariously ;; f unny , indeed. Emblazoning the ' marquees - of yesterday’s' theatre - were such inimitables as Willie . Collier, Raymond Hitchcock, Sant . Bernard; W. C. Fields, Louis Mann, Willie Howard, Jack Pearl, George p LeMaire Jimmy Hussey, the Marx Bros. Leon Errol, WiH Rogers, Bert Williams, Fannie Brice, Eddie Foy, Frank Tinney, Clark & McCul¬ lough, Eddie Cantor, Frank Fay, Lou Holtz, Montgomery & Stone, • to name a scant few. They were the giants, the .theatre (Continued on page 221 ' 1ST ANffl UNVEILING AT MANIE SACKS GRAVE Philadelphia, Feb. 3. Ceremonies marking the first An- . niversary of the death of former NBC vice president Manie Sacks . ; were held Sunday (Feb. 1) at the* Roosevelt Memorial Park. One of the outstanding figures in the en¬ tertainment world. Sacks was f the friend of hundreds of Stars. <- Tire unveiling of his tombstone- Sunday was attended by members of the immediate family and Gen- > era! David Sarnoff, Publisher Wal* ter Annenberg and other personal t friends. The Congregation Beth Israel,'of which Sacks was a former pre&vv dent, will hold special service* . Friday evening (6) at the Green*- briar Club, temporary quarters of .= the synagog. John B. (Jack) Kelly will dedicate a bronze memorial tablet, which will later become a permanent memorial in the chapel_ of the Temple. The Philadelphia Inquirer,, in its..;, syndicated Sunday. magazine "To-l day,” ran a page tribute to Sacks , '-called "Legacy of Affection.” £ * DAILY VARIETY (Published In Hollywood, by Daily Variety. LtdJ , 815 a year. $20 Foreign.