Variety (August 1959)

FILMS VIDEO MUSIC STAGE ,VOL. 215 No. 10 KIETY Published Weekly at 154 West 46th Street, New York 36. N- Y-» by Variety, Inc, Annual subscription, 313. Singla copies, S3 cents. Second Class -Postage at New York, N. Y. © COPYRIGHT 1959 JBY VARIETY, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1959 PRICE 35# 80 PAGES NEGRO ACTS DOMINATE VAUDE Actor Residuals Hit $19,000,000 ‘RACE’ IHEATflES TV Getting Cheesecake-Conscious Residuals to actors from telefilm programs sin^their inception. 111”Ilf * fl IP TUIP* ArfOlfl Oo P^AllllPni'C fTf|* In December of 1953 have passed the $10,000,000 mark; according .. nl K Ini IL I llylr n^dlll Uu I l UUUvvIu jJCA w|l UtJ Uv fli.. *■«. *1 fl OOrt lidl IW U. . ^ .1* ' ■* . - ™ J '_■'1 __ i TT11_1 _ , ^ : Hollywood, Aug. 4; Residuals to actors from telefilm programs since their inception. In December of 1953 have passed the $10,000,000 mark* according to .the Screen Actors Guild. : . Collections passed over the hump to $10,260,252.97 with the.June ! residuals, which hit an alltime monthly high of $499,211.25! By way of comparison, May collections totaled $315,879. Figures do not include xesidual payments. for tv' commercials, which : are paid directly to the actors,, nor payments to. thesps for post-’48 features released to television. Sinatra Cracks Own Record in A. C.; I30G Lure (18 Sho\#at 509 Club Atlantic City, A.ug. 4. +■ Frank Sinatra drew an estimated 10,000 into the. 500 Club as he played 18 shows in an eight-day appearance; which ended Saturday (1). Club’s gross, based on admis¬ sion, dining and drink take, was estimated at more than $130,000. . Based on a straight $5 admission fee, which all paid before entering' Vermillion Room, where singer performed, a minimum $50,000 was racked from this source. Policy of straight $7 minimum which, in this Instance, didn’t mean too much, was asked. Most checks run over this ; for an estimated $8 average! Thus; more than $80,000 more went into the tills, pushing returns well past ; the $130,000 figure —, probably 1 closer to $150,000. : Vermillion Room was set up to •eat 650 for Sinatra. It was a sell¬ out with ropes up all week. Many demanding seats never made it. Based on 18 shows, .11,700 could have been cared for, and it is. be- Precocious Critic Judy Teichmann, 17-year-old daughter of playwright How¬ ard Teichmann, is vacationing in Europe this summer with a student group. While in Paris, she and the others attended a performance of the celebrated nudey show, “Folies Bergere." In a letter to her parents she commented, “You never saw r so many, flat-chested women in your life.’' By JOE COHEN The- Negro vauders are getting ! a prime batch of names this, year and look forward to one of . the best seasons in years. The pros¬ perity that seems destined for the Negro houses also seems to be carrying over to the more general¬ ized situations inasmuch • as the RKO circuit has slated one show . in its Cincinnati house, and the Riviera, Detroit, has booked Pearl Bailey for one week on a reserved seat basis.. j The Negro vaude house, to all _ ; intents and purposes, is the only “ vaudeville left in the U. S. outside i of New York where the Radio City Music. Hall, a presentation house. ' and the Roxy, currently on a name act policy, are the only regu¬ lar theatres- with stageshows. The Apollo, for. most weeks of the year, is the only non-Broadway theatre in the U. S. with a variety Safe to Look Healthy When Cary Grant visited Cleveland recently on behalf of Metro’s “North By North¬ west," he took note of the great suntan sported by Frank Murphy, Loew’s Theatres zone manager. Said Murphy: “In the past when- a theatreman displayed a suntan, it was thought he was neglecting his. business. Now that we operate drive-ins, it’s okay." Gypsy’Earning $23,000 a Week - Hollywood, Aug. 4. Sex, all but eradicated from tele¬ vision by the western, seems at last to be making a comeback. As production plans for the new season shape; up, more and more producers are creating running parts for the gals, whether In the western, adventure or mystery field. Moreover, they’re pinpoint¬ ing the “gals for sex’s sake" angle, or as one western producer fig¬ ured it, “We’ll put her in low-cut dungarees." List of femmes with set leads in the new lineup Is impressive. There’s Arlene Howell, the ex- Miss U.S.A., with a lead in “Bour¬ bon Street Beal" at Warners, while the studio’s two other , new entries, in the hour field also stress gals, Dorothy Provine has a run¬ ning costar role in “The Alaskans" while Connie Stevens dittoes ia “Hawaiian Eye." Among the westerns. Anna Lisa MOOBritTV Sets by End of ’59 London, Aug. 4. theatre in the U. S. . with a variety | “Gypsy" is. earning what’s be-j Among the westerns. Anna Lisa show. At intervals, it is joined by i lieved to be the largest weekly ; gets a bigger slice of the pie the Howard, Washington and the | operating profit in Broadway legit; this year in “Black Saddle.” The Tivoli and Regal ..Theatres,. Chi-;history. The Ethel Merman-starrer ' “Johnr.y Ringo" series will have cago. j is: clearing nearly $23,000 a. week : not one. but two love interests. This list is soon to be joined by • on its steady sellout gross of $82,-i; Karen Sharpe opposite Don Dur- the Fenway, Boston, which will be i 900, also believed to be a record ; ante and young Joan Harding dit- usjng both Negro and ofay head- ■ take for a regular-run Main Stem toes with Mark Goddard. Judl liners starting in October. ... (production. :.Meredith has a running role as The Negro houses have been ' Assuming that capacity attend- Earl Holliman’s vis-a-vis in “Hotel ' able to survive with live policies j ance will continue, the David Mer-; de Paroe,” another of the new more readily than the paleface ] rick-Leland Hayward presentation westerns. outlets because of their ability to j should recover its production cost Topper among the westerns is . use disk names with greater fre- during its 21st week in New York, (Continued on page 52) ] qiiency than the white counter-' next Oct. 5-10. That’s based on -■ ■ parts, While only a few rock ’n’ ; operating income alone and repre- Value of tv set sales in Britain ro n names have been able to nab 'sehts an unusually fast 'pr rnp A'par 5 first siv rrmntnc ic ■ . .. ■ .. , . .. . . lieved more were. 500 Club also ’ any kind of boxoffice in other situ- ] since the musical, also had special guests, writers, etc., estimated be double the J958 who were in on cuffo basic t figure for the some period. Over ■ r ° b jt* 1.000,000 sets, were made, which is thC unprecedented for the Jan.-June: (Continued on page 78) spell, and their retail worth comes ' ~ ^ to around $196,000,000, including |V> I ! 1 . «' • sales tax. lllSK JOCKeyS jurying Some manufacturers are. mow I m 1 ... , n - • anticipating that the total of sets As.Substitute Parents 1“™'" &!&» Blasted at Church Meet 2; Framingham. Mass., Aug. 4. I-the year’s end the number of sets Radio and tv need a shakeup— licensed will be over 10,000,000. disk jocks are serving as substi- ‘ a figure, suggesting that if . the lute parents—-the public is allow- i Purchasing graph continues to Disk Jockeys Serving As ‘Substitute Parents’ Blasted at Church Meet Framingham, Mass., Aug. 4. (Continued on page 66) Westmghoiise’s $5,500,000 CBS ; Scissors Applied To top-budgeted productions in Broad- D* way history, was capitalized at DarflOl S DdlZdC l!C $420,000, including 20^o overcall. * Tirn/i i imr r , >• • J The cost of producing the Arthur |H V LHIU AlIUM? Laurents (book), Jule Styne A „ , . . . , . . T 5 (music) and Stephen Sondheim * t lyrics) adaptation of the Gypsy ; ^l 11 fr ° m . Rose Lee bookj “Gypsy: A Memoir," ■ Please, Mr, Balzac, the Avas $435,981. However, a $19,525. Bngl . tte Ba . rd ? I t .J?^ e ri5 hen Z et * operating profit on a sixrweek i ?,” a ^ in ?„ ln 1 s * at „ e bour Philadelphia tryout run and a ^°* Tie 4 slot. Exact date of sliow- . $2,500 music royalty reduced the I ln f TT ?®? n 1 been decided ’ cost of opening the presentation in { s cei ? sors reportedly used J New York to $413,957. That’s shown f 11 th f. s H r S*cal skill of Dr. Osier, i in a June 27 accounting, which t0 eliminate severa* striptease ^ pa ? ing I also covers., the show’s first eliminate several striptease concepts^ , of b enteriainmOTt b 'ori e tv ‘ he market Wll a ?MCK°^■saturatjon-- and production costs for its. third ^^i^Lato^^dn m.ink Pomt b ysomo time in. 1961. positions” in the communications may need to be supplanted,* a Cath- 11T A ..1 J IICCD Dl ©lie priest told a.Protestant aud at fVOUKl jpCCfl UuJlV I 1 a workshop session of the Eastern n v l 1 J* Christian Social Action Institute fOT lHIlk66 AUfllCDl here last week. n r * f . Rev. John J. Grant, associate ed- Kiif’ if c TlinlflnilAhf itor of The Pilot, official newspa- DUl 11 ^ 1,1 F IUI,,<lUt per of the Catholic Diocese of Bos- . A .new problem has crop uymiuuta - fl ._ nnn • I- ° tUVCIi. II1C MIUW S show the., same-■■■angle of increase an estimated. $5,o00,000 in. time (Continued on pa^e _....-IT __anr) . nrn'rfiiflt nn Ancfe fnr Hr. WohM Speed USSR Pix For Yankee Audiences; But It’s ‘Diplomatic’ Issue lavish CBS political spread during the 1960 Presidential conventions. A_ t 1 * .1 Bankioller bought coverage of UTBy illuyCUU Up flDDu both the Democratic convention p IT • l n i beginning on July 11 in Los. An- 10Y USlDg AXC Oil TatrOI geles, the Republican convention n. « • n, • w starting July 25 in Chicago, a pre- JiriDDlIlfif JUlDDer-Wl convention show on July. 10 and rr T ; . rr P IT • l n . kock aiso urged the flagj tor Using Axe on rntron j tion ’ s programmers to be s o « . n • wf spot the ' film in a late ho .«npp^ Menominee, W is., Aug. 4. newspaper promotibn. It cost Eugene McWilliams, opef-j French flicker relates st scenes from “Please, Mr. Balzac." : Resultant job is looked upon as a handsome piece of censorial sur¬ gery in view of the fact that it doesn’t interfere with story line.' Continuity Acceptance* . at 30 Rock also urged the flagship sta¬ tion’s programmers to be sure and spot the film in a late hour adult period and. above all, to exercise ; good judgment in, on-the-air and itor of The' PilS 'rffidSl PUl 11 5 I/ipiUIlIdUt ISSUt; the Nov. 8 election return coverage Tf ^nominee ms Aug. 4. ; newspaper promotibm A new problem ka S cropped up |-»11 on GBS-TV. *«“? » f * ton, lashed out at disk jocks: as not m connection-/with implementation Westmghouse, which underwrote Bvers Carnival Shows $250 for LI 'in °an only serving as substitute parents, of the Soviet-Amcrican film agrees 1 video coverage of the conventions l on an intbm ? cated 'francs SalesISSe^ 2 'tv but also clergymen and spiritual ment. This time it’s the question of in ’52 and ’56, will be carrying the Sn ,vho leaned on the stale * alTxvilffrv *a 5^ V advisers to youth. TV record show editing., (key political show on both CBS aid ripped the^few Sterns of ^ rtooneVin i 1 e jocks came m for their lamps too. It isn’t something the major ; Radio and CBS : TV. parel left on McWilliams’ exotic total sponsorfhip baMs rather than ■ ^ ss ai 1 bd for companies ares eager to talk about Sunday afternoon (July 11) pre-j dancer wife. Candy,, after she fin-, break it up into participations, assuming the role of psychologist, since they re concerned with the j convention coverage by CBS-TV j ished her striptease performance. WNBQ-TV NBC’s o&o In Chi- histonan sociologist and religious Russian reaction. However, it’s a will be a half-hour long. In addi- The incident occurred at the lo- cago, also ha? “Please Mr Balzac" ^ e Hfl ing k S VleW !l s mtel ‘ ‘f a ? tbat 1 several of the Yanks dis- tion, Westinghouse will be bank-] cal Dunn County Fair. The McWil-j on the agenda and inallprobnbii- .• because they are tnbs feel that, in order for the So- rolling nine other half-hours be-{liams show with its six girls, in-' Ity will follow' suggestions laid Infantile." I tContinued: on page 78) t (Continued on pag» 79) ^ * (Continued on page 79 ) i down by tlw ^^bVcensorl