Variety (March 1959)

Wednesday, March 18, 1959 yjntiEfrr umouni 89 Torch Bearers in Real Life? Second-Season-in-Row Flareup Costs Fred Miller Theatre in Milwaukee Another Man. Dir. Robert W. Dowling Now an 'Advisor For Infant D.C. Cultural Center -—.- r -♦- Milwaukee, March 17. For the second season in a row a mid-season departure of its managing director has afflicted the arena-style, 346-seat Fred Mil¬ ler theatre here. Where last year it was Mary John who exited, currently it’s Edward Mangum who has vamoosed, with a .$ 2,700 cash settlement of contract in hand. A. difference between the two blowups is that last spring the bookings were terminated, where¬ as it is now promised that the pre¬ sently scheduled 20 weeks will be completed. As successor to Man- gum, Ray Boyle takes over. He was in town, hired by Mangum to direct and act in. “The Rain¬ maker”, opening next. Monday (23) with Meg Mundy as star. It’s number six of the two-week productions, with four more plays, and' stars, to follow. House has been paying its guests $1,000 weekly. Exit of Mangum received prom¬ inent space in the Milwaukee dailies, as was the case a year ago with Miss John. The resident company of seven (Equity* re¬ quires six) has been changed by three actors who left with Man¬ gum. They were Mary Kara, Gerda Eckhardt and Howard Claney, the onetime radio an¬ nouncer. Remaining actors in the permanent corps are Albert Ackel, Kenneth Hamilton, George ’O’Hal- loran, Henry Oliver. The Miller has been grossing .around $5,000 weekly, against a capacity potential at $3.50 top of around $7,000. Heavy snows this winter were an economic liability, one performance being cancelled for that reason. Operated as a non-profit or¬ ganization by Drama Inc: The $110,000 house has a board of 28, but the ruling committee of seven is apparently the abrasive factor. The dominant majority of four on the committee includes William J. Feldstein, a dress manufacturer; (Continued on page 94) Mpls. Now Slated to Get Its 5 Promised Shows In ‘Girls/ ‘Seesaw/ ‘Stairs’ Minneapolis, March 17. If present underlines materialize, the A.T.S.-Theatre Guild will de¬ liver the five shows promised to the 4,500 season subscribers. The three needed to complete the schedule are understood to be en- route here (although contracts .haven't been signed). They are “Girls in Room 509,” due April 13; “Two for the Seesaw,” due April 20, and “Dark at the Top of the Stairs,” set for May 4. “Look Back in Anger” and “Warm Peninsula” have already appeared both last month when the local legit season belatedly started. They were presented as subscrip¬ tion season offerings, to help the A.T.S.-Guild with its commitment.. Present indications, aside from the subscription quintet, no tour¬ ing shows will play this season, thereby repeating last season’s pattern. ‘Nun’ Has 40-50G Reserve; 135G for Film Rights Income from the sale of the “Requiem for a Nun” film rights to 20th-Fox for $135,000 is expect¬ ed to put the William Faulkner play in the black. The Theatre Guild and Myers & Fleischmann presentation of the drama folded March 7, after six weeks at the Golden Theatre, N. Y. The ven¬ ture was capitalized, at $75,000, with provision, for 20% overcalL It’s understood that the produc¬ tion, which costarred Ruth Ford and her husband, Zachary Scott, closed with a reserve of $40,000- $50,000. ,r 0n the basis of the reg¬ ular 60-40 split of film income be¬ tween the author and the manage¬ ment, the latter’s share, less 10% commissions, is $48,600. However, j Miss Ford, for Whom Faulkner wrote the play, shares.. in that ] revenue. ! “Requiem” is announced for a nationwide tour next season. i Name Council Reps For Equity Election Group The council of Actors Equity has named its representatives for the nominating committee to select candidates in the upcoming annual election. Another 10 members will be elected to the committee at the f union’s membership meeting in (New York next Friday (20). Those j selected by the council are re- | garded as belonging to the moder¬ ate element in the union. The council reps chosen are Dor¬ othy Sands, John Effrat, Jean Stapleton, Ralph Lowe and Charles Blackwell, the latter chairman. A move is underway in the union to change the present regulations so that ■ the election of the nominat¬ ing committee be determined by a referendum of the entire member¬ ship. A proposal for such action was recently defeated at a council meeting. Bus-Truck ‘Abner Returns $20,000 Backers of the bus-and-truck company of “Li’l Abner” have been repaid $20,000 on their $110,000 investment. The Lee Guber, Frank Ford and Shelly Gross production actually involves a financial outlay of $130,000, of which $20,000 rep¬ resents bond money put up by Broadway Theatre Alliance, book¬ er of the touring musical. The cost of producing the show, exclusive of the bond money, ran to around $85,000. Besides the coin returned to the backers, ■ the production also has a cash reserve of $25,000. The average weekly operating nut for the usual split weeks played by the tuner is around $19,000, excluding theatre share. The musical, which has been touring since last Oct. 2, moves April 27 to the Coast for seven weeks on a guarantee deal. Inci¬ dentally, the acquisition of the touring rights to the musical in¬ volved a minimum $50,000 royalty guarantee to the management of the original Broadway presenta- i tion. The New York company moved to Las Vegas for a nitery booking and then began touring earlier this season, but folded after several weeks on the road. Guber, Ford and Gross also run several .musial tents and some properties from those operations have been rented to the “Abner” bus-and-truck company at less cost ‘than would be required if rented by the company from regular out¬ lets. $18 Mil. Legit-Concert House Due in Montreal j Montreal, March 17. First definite proof that Montreal will have, at long last, an impor¬ tant concert hall became evident last week when plans and scale models of the proposed $18,000,000 Place des Arts were made public. Located in midtown Montreal, the center will be made up of a con¬ cert hall; a 1,250-seat theatre; a smaller concert hall seating 500; a shopping row with restaurants, etc., and a two-level parking- ga¬ rage all set in a landscaped plaza. The 3,100-seat concert hall will be the first unit erected at an esti¬ mated cost of $8,500,000. Five mil- ; lion of this amount has already been pledged by the provincial gov¬ ernment and the City of Montreal and the balance, it is hoped, will be made up by public subscription via a campaign which starts in May. Theresa Helburn, co-administra¬ tor of the Theatre Guild, recently entered Doctors Hospital, N. Y., following an attack brought on by a heart ailment Her condition is reoortedly improved. ■ Prior to entering the hospital, ; Miss Helburn- was signed by Little, Brown & Co., of Boston, to write 1 her autobiography. Now Stage Managers To Ask Houseboard Billing A bid to get houseboard credit for stage managers will be made by Actors Equity at its next meet¬ ing with the League of N. Y. Thea¬ tres. A membership request for such listings on the signboards in front of the theatre had originally been referred to the union’s Stage Managers Committee! At present, Equity’s houseboard requirement pertains solely to principals in the cast. However, in some cases, stage managers are also getting credit. Guild & Schary Buy Out Bellamy Ante in‘Sunrise’ The Theatre Guild and Dore Schary, producers of “Sunrise at Campobello,” are paying Ralph Bellamy, the show’s star, $24,000 for his 3% interest in the net pro¬ fits on the production. The first of two equal payments to Bellamy was made last Feb. 15. He’s to get the remaining $12,000 next May 30. Bellamy has also extended his contract with the , production through Jan. 31, 1960. The film rights to the play, writ¬ ten by Schary, are being sold for $500,000 to % Schary Productions, Inc., a corporation controlled by Schary and financed by Warner Bros. The deal calls for the pay¬ ment to be made in installments. Schary will also be paid for writ¬ ing the film adaptation and produc¬ ing the picture. He and members of the Roosevelt family (the play covers a period in the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt) will share in profits on the film, but the legit production’s involvement will be limited to the usual 40% .of the price paid for the picture rights. “Sunrise,” currently in i:s 60th week at the Cort Theatre, N. Y., had a net profit of $72,028 as of Jan. 31 -accounting. The Broadway company had actually . earned more than double that amount, but $84,844 was dropped on the touring company, which folded earlier this season. The profit divvy, thus far, totals $25,000 split evenly between the investors and the management. That represents a return of a little more than 11% to the backers on their $110,000 investment. Cbi Press Gres Spread To ‘Raism’ B’way Preem; Play Has Local Angles While the midwest press rarely reports Broadway events, the Gotham opening last week of “A Raisin in the Sun” received exten¬ sive coverage by the Chicago pa¬ pers. The morning after the open¬ ing (12), the Chicago Tribune ran capsules of the notices in Gotham’s morning press. Evening and Fri¬ day morning editions also carried the three afternoon reviews. The Sun-Times, which rarely runs syndicated reviews, published Jack Gaver’s rave for the UPI wire, with a six-column headline. Local gossip columnists also found the favorable New York reviews good grist for their, mills. The unusual attention was be¬ cause “Raisin” has local-show- makes-good status, having been. written hy Chicago-born Lorraine Hansberry and underwritten and j produced by locals, or former lo¬ cals. Also, the play has a Chicago- setting and, for once, it tried out here, giving the Windy City critics a chance to call the shots ahead of the New York pundits. REPAY FINAL $25,000 ON‘WARM PENINSULA’ “Warm Peninsula” has complet¬ ed repayment of its $75,000 invest¬ ment with a recent $25,000 dis¬ tribution. The Joe Masteroff com¬ edy* which began a lengthy pre- Broadway tryout, last Oct 29, is currently in Chicago, and is due to open., in : New York next season after a summer layoff. ~ Manning Gurian is producer of the play; which stars his wife, Julie |Harris. ATP AM’s Annual Budget Was $75,227 Last Year The cbst of running the Assn, of Theatrical Pressagents & Managers last year was $75,227. Of that amount, $40,924 represented sala¬ ries. The figures were divulged in the union’s recent financial re¬ port Jor the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 1958. Average monthly expenses were $6,269, representing $69 more than the monthly budgetary allotment. Other yearly expenses included $7,- 771, dues to affiliated organiza¬ tions; $3,960, telegraph and tele¬ phone; $3,244, office expenses; $2,- 988, counsel fees; $2,400, rent, and $2,016, travel and entertainment. Brokers Ask Out On Ticket Rules Elimination of the restricted premium charge on theatre tick¬ ets sold by Broadway brokers and an easing of restrictions on the sale of legit tickets ‘through pack¬ age plans are the crux of two bills presented for consideration last week by the State Senate Com¬ mittee on General Laws at a pub¬ lic hearing in New York. The bills are sponsored by Senator Joseph F. Periconi, Bronx Republican, and Assemblyman Alfred A. Lama, Brooklyn Democrat. Jesse A. Moss, counsel for the N.Y. Ticket Brokers, Inc., an asso¬ ciation of 32 brokers, urged a one- year suspension of the present $1.25 maximum premium charge. The argument is that in the case of hit shows, it would eliminate the practice of scalping by some brokers and result in a levelling out of prices. Moss said there are about 80 licensed brokers in the city, responsible for an estimated 50% of the legit tickets sold. Louis A. Lotito, president of the League of N;Y. Theatres, spoke in favor of lifting the restriction on th(T sale of tickets by out-of-town packagers. License Commissioner Bernard J. O’Connell asserts such sale is illegal since the firms are not residents of New 4 York and can’t obtain the license* needed to peddle. . pasteboards. James F. Reilly, executive director of the League, said that previous license commissioners had not interpreted the law in the same way. Ralph Bellamy, president of Ac¬ tors Equity, has come out against the proposed elimination of a re- | stricted premium charge of hro- 1 kers, but endorses the package tour biB. Bellamy has also indi¬ cated that Equity, in its next con¬ tract negotiations with the League, may pitch for the establishment of a systejn by which the disposition of house seats can be policed so as to avoid the possibility of some of the choice locations falling into the hands of sealpers. I A Ticket Code Enforcement Au¬ thority had been formed by Equi- Jty and the League, but has been become inactive, as has a code es- eablished between the League and the N.Y. Ticket Brokers, Inc. Report TIP Deal Looms For Hudson Theatre, N. Y. A deal is understood to be in the works for the sale of the NBC- j- owned Hudson Theatre, N. Y., to Theatrical Interests Plan, Inc., a legit investment-production firm. The former legit house was pur¬ chased by NBC in 1940 from a syndicate that included author-pro¬ ducers Howard Lindsay and Rus¬ sel Crouse, producer Leland Hay¬ ward, actor-producer Leland Hay¬ ward, actor-producer Elliott Nugent and financier Howard Cullman, at a reported price of $595,000. NBC is reportedly asking $850,- 000 for the 1,017-seater, which fronts on W. 44th St., and extends through to 45th St., with ample access to the backstage. A London production of Otis Bigelow's “The Peacock Season/’ formerly titled “The Mariner Method,” is planned for next sum¬ mer by Victor Payne-Jennings. Washington, March. 17. Progress report on Washington’s proposed Cultural Center (after the first six months): the trustees have held their first meeting and the White House has done an about- face on Robert Dowling. Following the tilted eyebrows when President Eisenhower failed to name Dowling, a prominent Democrat, to the Center’s board of trustees (the group charged with raising between $15,000,000 and $25,000,000 to build the national center for performing arts), the President appointed Dowling chair¬ man of the Cultural Center’s Ad¬ visory Committee. This committee will offer advice on the design and use of the center. Congress authorized the Cultural Center to be built on a 9.4-acre site overlooking the Potomac River last Sept. 2, giving five years to raise the millions needed to build it. Trustees weren’t named until late January- With culture seem¬ ing to be. in Washington, a many postponed thing, trustees didnJt- hold their first meeting until Fri¬ day (13). Present law provides that if enough money isn’t found to con¬ struct the center by Sept. 2, 1963, what has been contributed will go to the Smithsonian Institution for an art museum. At the first session of trustees, two members, Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-Ark.) and Rep. Frank Thompson Jr. (D-N. J.), offered to introduce a bill provid¬ ing that if not sufficient funds are raised, all money will be returned to the donors at deadline time. Some prospective contributors, it was explained, have objected to their money going for any purpose other than to build the Cultural Center. L. Corrin Strong, wealthy Wash¬ ingtonian, former U. S. Ambassa¬ dor to Norway and a trustee, agreed to take the leadership in the fund-raising effort saying he intended to d} little else in the next few years. Trustees plan to meet again dur¬ ing ApriL . Off to Buffalo Bat Ask First If Ballets Africains’ Belles Most Be Sheatbed * Buffalo, March 17. Inquiry Jor Luben Vichey’s Na¬ tional Concerts of “Les Ballets Africains,” whether the troupe could show in Buffalo “without interference” with its bare bosom scenes brought reply from Mayor Sedita stating it could show here on a “take your own chances” basis. The statement came after a dis¬ cussion by the Mayor with city and county law enforcement officials who agreed that they knew nothing about the performance, were in no position to approve cr disapprove and that because there was no cen¬ sor here the show would have te chance it with the law. (This is another “publicity - stunt ” priming of local inter - est in the native dancers, ap¬ parently designed to exploit recent compulsory brassiering of some of the girls tn certain scenes. See “Variety last issue, page one. — Ed) Where Didn’t They Wire? Syracuse, March 17. Mayor Anthony Henninger says the City of Syracuse cannot censor or approve a theatrical perform¬ ance without first seeing it. That’s the gist of his reply to a publicity : request of Luben Vichy of “Les Ballet Africans,” African dance revue. i Henninger answered: “I have no information on ‘Les Ballet Afri¬ cans.’ We are unable to answer your query as to its presentability in the City of Syracuse.” Play London ‘Mousetrap’ As Prison ‘Inside Job’ London, March IT. A West End theatrical company took their play to Wormwood Scrubs prison on Sunday night (15). The* show was Agatha Christie’s melodrama, “The Mousetrap.” The prisoners brought off an “in¬ side job” by boilding the complete set, trom desists provided by pro¬ ducer Peter Saunders.