Variety (January 1961)

4 MIS(ELUXY Fifty-fifth Z^&RIETY Anniversary January 4, 1961 Love Those Critics! A Producer Looks At Dramatic Criticism Lawrence Langner By LAWRENCE LANGNER ♦ This :s not a subject which I pai ih :;:<u !\ care to discuss. It v.as ch< 't o for me. One of the main rea'c.-ns I have survived for over 45 years as a producer in the American theatre is be¬ cause I never argue with the critics. I do my job and they do tlnir^. They are. in X e \v Y o r k City, the 3 b f t a c I e t o pia >w right's success. YV1 :y jnake the going harder by arguing wr.h them? They have the right to their opinions and are paid to ex¬ press them, and I have the rigid to mine. The producer who wi-he* to continue producing will do well to remember that the critics always have the last word. If you think this is a cowardly fctiitude, why don't we quasrel v. :'h the hazards at the Ia~t round of a golf game? If we can't take the hazards in our stride, we shouldn't play golf. On the ether hand, let us not minimize the power of the dram -dc, critic. If lie he sadistic, or a mu dr: j alec, or a dullard, or a haler of the j theatre, he can do far more harm than merely destroy a iew plays. , actors, directors, etc. If attached to a great newspaper, he can actually j afiect tiie cultural life and pro— ! perity of a great city in a way the casual reader never dreams of. Let us consider what happened j recently with the closing of all the : theatres in New York City by i he ■ actors’ strike. Not only were the: theatres affected, but also the res¬ taurants, the hotels, the vi-its to the museums, art galleries and all i the other cultural activities of the ; Community. Had this continued for a long period, New York City would have been reduced to the cultural level pf a huge village. This is what is happening in some of the other large cities of the United States, •Where the closing of theatres has been due not to strikes, but to the Continued savage attacks upon plays and players by critics who j dislike the theatre and show this \ by their readiness to highlight all j they dislike about a piay, and to ! play down what they like. j We in the theatre can always! frecognize this kind of critic — they j Usually headline their hatreds! The j theatrical producers are quick to ; learn the habitat of such critics, j #md when they come to book their plays on tour, they usually try to [ *void playing such cities. As a ; direct result, the theatres do not \ book enough good plays to survive, j fcnd soon begin to book motion > pictures, or are torn down and I turned into parking lots. I know (Continued on page 43) .You Name It Vienna. Latest one on Herbert von Karajan: The conductor and director of the Vienna State Opera jumps into a taxi, sits down, but doesn't say a word. Asks the taxi driver: “Air¬ field? Western or Southern Railroad station?” Answers Karajan: “Take your choice, I h a v e engagements everyw here.” At Last— London Building Hotels By DICK RICHARDS j London. ; The words "No Room At The Inn” are seared on the soul of every frustrated character here who has ever been landed with the trliky task of trying. at short notice, to hook an hotel room for a visiting fireman. London is the world's biggest city but lags worst I of all in new hotels for the thou* , sands who pour in weekly. It's good ! news, therefore, that the hotel situ ; at ion is stirring -somewhat. Any new place for the weary traveller to lay his head is welcome. j The Hotel Corp. of America lias moved in with the Carlton Tow er, ■ .hut about to open its doors in Bel ’ tiravia, which can now give May ; fair a Hint or two at the art of be i ing London’s most swagger area. ’ The Carlton Tower is London’s' first ; skyscraper caravanserai, with 18 ; floors, though they only admit to : 17 on account of the superstitious. 'Continued on page 49) 1 PAUL ANKA Extends Season’s Greetings to all of his friends on SIX CONTI¬ NENTS — NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, EUROPE, ASIA, AFRItUA. and AUSTRALIA. PEAKEASY, CIRCA' 1961 _Bv ABEL GREEN _ The ultra refinement of the Pro¬ hibition Era's speakeasy which, for a time, evolved into the postpra*dial bottle dubs -illegal after¬ hour boozing; utilizing a “liquor locker” gimmick1 sees its ultra¬ modern refinement in the presentday key clubs. Strictly a snob appeal, paying SI. 35 'Since hiked to SI. 50) a copy for a drink — same price for any drink, whether Pepsi or cham¬ pagne, cognac or Scotch — the “membership” gag is paying off across the country. The Gaslight Club started It as big business, in Chicago, and now 'Continuer on page 51) ‘Variety’ and the Years Ahead As a new political administration takes hold In American af¬ fairs, global diplomacy will have a perhaps more direct bearing on global show business. Cultural exchanges between East and West undoubtedly will be accelerated, at least in theory If not In practice. The new First Lady’s declaration of active support for the Lively Arts augurs that Washington may be more of a show biz dateline than it has in the past eight years. White House enthusiasm for the theatre and its people. If materializing, will be part of a new frontier of the performing arts. More to the point of prophecy, electronics and mechaniza¬ tion seem likely to create a natural evolution— the revitalization of “round” actors. The hunger for in-person thespianism is vivid on Broadway and “the road,” both of which are far from being invalids despite the unimpressive status of the past season’s entries. Admitted, there is a deficiency of creative art5stry, perhaps perverted by a curious brand of boxoffiee support that favors either the lavish (musical) or the lascivious i. drama). As the electronic platform for the lively arts extends itself, so will the world markets. Syndication of taped videntertainment already is a constantly flowing commodity from Down Under to far below the Rio Grande, from the Far East to the Western European markets. I It is because of this that the still No. 1 citadel of global mass entertainment— Hollywood . is already beginning its renaissance. Whatever inroads nationalistic film production has made on Hollywood’s heretofore dominance of motion picture markets— and there have been severe encroachments, from Hong Kong to the Via Veneto— America's film capital is hitting its stride anew on two fronts. One is the constantly expanding telefilm produc¬ tion, of a calibre and quantity as to amortize the overheads; and the other is the new high powered if numerically fewer brand of features. Whether all self-nominated blockbusters are worthy of hardticket admission scales is a merchandising problem. Some pix nowadays deliberately a mire to the imprimatur and stature of “hardticket” entry without an eye to the mere realistic massrelease phase. As for Variety, on its 55th anniversary, it has been the inter ■ prefer, the handmaiden, often the conscience of an ever-exciting, constantly-shifting, aiway-adventuresome business there is no business like. To maintain this detached, sideline vantage point, and to report objectively from it, will be pur continuing goals. The By-Liners In This Issue Harry S. Ackerman . Ned Alvord . Eric Ambler . Edward Anthony .... Norman Anthony . . . Pat Ballard . Robert Baral . Gaston Bell . Burton Benjamin . Edward L. Be mays . Claude Binyon . Jim Bishop . Guy Bolton . Roger Bower . Rev. Malcolm Boyd _ Eugene Burr . John Bryam . . Ptfknfrr Trad* Mark Registered FOUNDED 1905 By SLME SILVERMAN Published Weekly by VARIETY, INC. Syd Silverman, President 1M W. 46th St., New York 36. N. Y. JUdson 2-2700 Hollywood 28 B404 Sunset Boulevard HOUywood 9-1141 Washington 4 1*01 National Pres-s Building STerling 3-5445 Chicago 11 400 No. Michigan Ave. DElaware 7-1934 London 5.W.1 49 Ct. James's Street. Piccadilly _ HYde Park 4561-2-3 _ SUBSCRIPTION Annual $15 Foreign S16 i Single Copies 35 Cents : < ABEL GREEN. Editor Vol. 221 c^g^>,2° No. 6 ; Foreign . ..173 ! Legit . . . . 257 j Music . . 207 j Obits . . 290 Pictures . . 5 j Radio . . 86 Television . . 86 Vaede . . 237 DAILY VARIETY (Published in Hull} wood by Daily Variety, Ltd.) $15 a Year $20 Foreign Eddie Cantor . Carroll Carroll _ Bennett A. Cerf Maurice Chevalier . , Arthur Christiansen , Lester Cohen ..... Walter Crcnkite . . Charles Dale . Stanton Delaplar.e Thomas Del Vecchii Louis Derman .... Howard Dietz .... Nat X. Dorfman . . D. G. Dubbelt . Forrest Duke . Phil Dunning . Max Eisen . Nid Ember . Morris L. Ernst . Larston D. Farrar . Earle Ferris . Herman Finkelstein . . . Alan M. Fishburn . Harold Flender . Fid Ford . Lewis Freedman . . . Charles von Fremd . Hy Gardner Ira Gershwin 98 L. Wolfe Gilbert _ . . . . 207 .242 2K3 Benedict Gimbel Jr . . 97 A1 Morgan . . 16 17 Rube L. Goldberg . , 25 George Morris . . . . 47 212 . 260 . 3 121 Samuel Goldwyn . . 16 Harold Myers . . 3 40 David Gordon . . 89 Louis Nizer . . . . . . 12 41 Max Gordon . . 242 Col. Barnev Oldfield . . . . . 32 210 Trudy Goth . . 210 George S. Oppenheimer. . . 17 257 H. Carleton Greene . . . . . 105 Jess Oppenheimer . . 90 258 Stanley Green . . 211 Ernie Pereira . 123 91 Hazel Guild . . . . . . 241 Roberta Peters . 212 267 Werner S. Haas . . 36 Hamel F. Pilpel . 5 23 Albert Hackett . . 7 Jack Pitman . 268 14 Robert F. Hawkins . . 175 Ernie Player . . 210 257 Peter Lind Hayes ...... . 17 Theodore Pratt . 32 3 S’ockton He]fTrich . . 88 Tom Prvor . . . 9 26 Burnet Hershey . . 33 Milton Raison . 264 94 Harry Hershfidd . . 31 John Reich . 265 260 Hans Hoehn . . . . . 3 Dick Richards . 239 43 Theodore Hoffman . . 259 Francis Robinson . 210 n 5 4.T 6 Donald B. Hyatt . . 126 Henry C. Rogers . 88 89 Charles L. Isaacs . . 92 Will Roland . . . . 94 8 Eric Johnston . . 17 Stanley Rothenberg . . . . 2n8 8 Richard Joseph . . 242 18 95 Milt Josefsberg . . 58 Norman B. Rydge . 173 37 Frank Kane . . 129 Robert Saudek . 99 262 Jackie Kannon . . 243 Stuart Schulberg . 15 237 Hal Kanter . . 12 Sherwood Schwartz . 97 10 Nicholas E. Keesely . . . . 95 Walter D. Scott . . 129 88 Arthur Kober . 6 Frank Scully . 241 238 Irv Kupcinet . . 240 Jack S. Seidman . . 5 26 Sam Kurtzman . 86 Arnold Shaw . . 2U9 267 Lawrence Langner . . 4 Henry Sherek . . 261 87 Joseph Lapid . . 173 Michael M. Sillerman , . , 125 16 Joe Laurie Jr . . 240 William Small . . 91 4 William C. Lengel 25 H. Allen Smith . 24 8 F. Andrew Leslie . . 266 Joe Smith . 238 288 Sam Levenson . 98 Pete Smith . 7 176 Joseph E. Levine . 9 Bernard Sobel . 265 238 Meyer Levin . . 11 Howard Snyder . 100 258 Evelvn Levison . . 174 Ben Laurence Sokolove . . 31 264 Irving R. Levine . 91 Sigmund Spaeth . 210 175 David Levy . . 100 Raymond Stanley . 174 15 Ike Levy . . . 260 A1 Stillman . 10 11 Jerry Lewis . 41 Garv Stindt . 89 97 Lester Lewis _ ..... , 113 Robert Stolz . 89 208 Max Liebnian . 86 Dimitri Tiomkin . . 207 86 Alan Lipscott . . 87 Terry Turner . 13 261 Art Long Jr . . 240 Gerard Willem van Loon , 266 239 Ted Mack . . .. 92 Jerry Wald ... . 9 32 Mannie Manheim. . .. 90 Glenn E. Wallichs . 211 259 George R. Marek . ..236 Jim Walsh . 236 26 Emil W. Maas . ..174 Hugh Wedlock . 100 130 Arthur L. Maver . .. 23 Herman G. Weinberg . ... , 12 3 William R. McAndrewu . . .109 Francis M. Winikus _ 45 13 Tom McAvitv . . . . 129 Thyra Samter Winslow . . 99 93 Prof. John McCabe . .. 9 Carl H. Winston . . . . 100 261 Bob McFadden . . . .241 Philip Wittenberg . 261 211 Here Mclntvre . . . . 1 Max E. Youngstein . 7 241 George Mezoefi . .. 37 Darryl F. Zanuck . . 6 208 George Middleton . .. 3 Maurice Zolotow . . 18 16 George H. Mitchell . .. 41 Emil Zubryn . . . . 3 Those First Night B’way Turncoats By NAT DORFMAN On the whole, First Nighters ara an enthusiastic audience, but almost completely untrustworthy. Give them a show they just adore or dislike) and their ecstacy (or displeasure) will linger only as long as it takes for the reviews to come hot off the presses. Once they have absorbed critical dictum in type, they do a faster flip than a trained seal. The show* they enjoyed only a few hours back is suddenly a dreary exercise, and the show they frowned upon suddenly be¬ comes' the brightest rigadoon since the advent of a first baby to grand¬ parents. The same . holds for per¬ formances and direction. It's really extraordinary to witness the mental contortions of the premiere pur¬ veyors who retreat to their altered opinions as if they never held a contrary view’ in the first place. I have handled upwards of 300 Broadway shows over the decades — possibly a record — and have sat in on hundreds of other first nights, and I have seen the turn¬ coats in action. They vary front friends of the author, the producer, scenic designer, director and actor* to the merchants who supply the materials for the costumes. They're all of a breed and they feel their status will somehow be impaired if they are in error. And since the critics are their gods, they live by their judgment.. It isn’t a relishing sight to see nice, well intentioned people eat their words. But how their stomachs can digest their reversals — all in one night — is something for psychia¬ trists to ponder. First nighters are a breed unto themselves. The curtain has barely descended when they swim backstage to handshake and kiss every-, one in sight including the stage¬ hands. Deceit in some instances begins here for not everybody thinks the show is a hit — or hopes it isn’t! But you can't tell it from the gushing. Later they gather at Sardi's or other inns along the Broadway canyons to discuss the play either in praise or dispraise. The negative 'Continued on page 56)