Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-29
Asseeiaisd Press Staff Writer.

Assoeiafed Press Staff Writer.
NEW YORK.
The coast-to-coast summer
theater season, now nearly
over, will long be remembered
as the season of tents, TV stars
and Tallulah.
That's the winning trio
which stands out in taking
stock of straw hat circuit
events since early June. Labor
Day means sign-of for most
summer thespic activities, al
though some theaters won't
wind up for weeks and the
New Hope, Pa, show place is
out to set a record by staying
open until Thanksgiving.
Trade circles regard the 1854
summer session as one OF the
most successful in years. BY
midseason there had been SUI
ficient upbeat activity to set
the pattern, and although
there have been some soft
spots it seems safe to assert
summer theater is stronger
than ever.
The standout sensation has
been Tallulah Bankhead, al
though she had plenty Of COM
petition from two boxoffice
newcomers: Margaret Truman
and Heiress Gloria Vanderbilt.
Fabulous Guarantee
Miss Bankhead has been
gathering a reported weekly
guarantee Of $1,000, fabulous
for the summer circuit, and
setting new crowd records
everywhere on her Eastern
Seaboard tour in Dear
Charles" Miss B. is bringing
her show to Broadway Septem-
Der Is.
Collectively, the greatest
performer impact has been
provided by a number of play
ers who made their reputa-
tions in television. Imogene
Coca, Faye Emerson and Pa
tricia Benoit were among TV
stars who registered rural tri-
umphs.
There have also been several
interesting trends In the type
of show offered vacationing
spectators. Howard Hoyt, a
New York agent and packager
of shows for the road. saw con-
tinuing evidence of a trend to
more musical shows in place
Of straight drama. Five years
ago, he says, only about 10 per
cent of the bucolic menu was
musical. Today it has jumped
to about Is per cent.
Only Four Foiled
Most noticeable trend of all,
he reports, is the increasing
popularity of shows under
tents instead of in regular the
aters or civic auditoriums.
Altogether about 800 sum-
mer theaters tried their luck
around the Nation, and Actors
Equity reported that of the al
barns it did business with, only
four called it quits.
Many houses have reported
this their best summer.
The biggest theater success
of all was scored at the Jones
Beach outdoor auditorium by
Guy Lombardo's extravangaza
Arabian Nights" Crossing
$750,000. it has paid off the
production cost of 5000, 000-
an investment that Maestro
Lombardo didn't think would
be cleaned up until next sea-
son. The run has been ex-
tended beyond Labor Day un-
til September II, by which
time about 100000 visitors will
have witnessed the spectacle.
Broadway Notes
Exactly q week after her re-
turn from a three-month sick.
leave, veteran Coincidence
Josephine Hull has again
dropped out of her star role
in 1.-THE Solid Gold Cadillac"
and will be out until a couple
of new broken ribs mend. She
hurt herself in a mixup with
g table in her home.
Movie projects are taking
both John Forsythe and David
Wayne away from "Teahouse
of the August Moon" for 8 to
10 week stints starting in mid
September.
Another big Hollywood
name has finally decided to
bow on Broadway in Deem
Der. Jennifer Jones has
signed to star in Portrait of
a Lady," a new script by Will
liam Archibald about a girl
from Albany, N. Y, who goes
off to live it up in Europe.
There was q reverse last
week on the theater pro-
ducer's usual technique Of tax 7
ing theater to the audience.