Tony Mastroianni Review Collection
Price Digs for Muted Sound of Music
Cleveland Press June 2, 1964
Musicarnival producer Johnny Price is digging a $12,000 cellar under the stage of his tent theater.
The basement might not be apparent on opening night Monday but some of its by products should be.
For one thing, the orchestra pit will be lowered another three feet. It's only four feet deep now and the effect hasn't always been pleasant for that part of the audience sitting immediately behind the orchestra.
PRICE PROMISES that the brasses won't be blasting people out of their seats this season.
There also will be a slightly smaller pit on the opposite side of the stage in which some of the larger props can be stored. Under the stage there will be room for quick costume changes.
This will decrease some, but not all, of that frantic traffic in the aisles, according to Price. Time for scene changes should be cut to a bare minimum.
THE OLD STAGE, which served Musicarnival for 10 years, rested on concrete pilings and a concrete center post. Block walls will support the new stage. Price is looking forward to the day when he can install the mechanism for a revolving stage.
Marty Ingels
A face full of freckles, a shock of unruly hair and a perpetually hoarse voice are the characteristics of a young man who makes it clear that he aspires to be a clown, not a cerebral comedian.
Marty Ingels, who appears in "Wild and Wonderful," arrived here yesterday to plug the movie.
"I don't want to play for the hipsters. I want to play for the Red Skelton audience," he said.
"I THOUGHT I was 20 years too late," he went on. "But look at Hollywood. There are no new clowns, no one to take over for Red Skelton or Jerry Lewis."
Ingels has made several movies but is probably best known for the TV series "I'm Dickens -- He's Fenster."
"It's a terrific kids' show " he opined. "Trouble is, it had a cigar company for a sponsor. But now they're discovering it's a success as a rerun 'cause the kids like it."
Ingels has a pilot for another show which he says cost ABC-TV $70,000 but which nobody has seen.
"I was so excited and then they decided not to show it to anyone.
"THE TROUBLE with this business is that when you're turned down for a $3000-a-week job they don't give you a consolation prize of $1000 "
Ingels arrived by train from New York yesterday. He won't fly anymore though he has in the past.
"I've had nothing but good experiences flying. So I figured it was a good time to quit."
Entertainment Notes: The film version of "My Fair Lady" will begin its reserved-seat engagement here at the Colony Theater Dec. 23. The movie will star Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.
