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No man to bother about such a little thing as an audience, overstuffed Tenor Mario Lanza was up to his jowls in trouble again. After scathing reviews at the first two stops of a five-city singing tour in Germany, ex-G.I. Lanza went over the hill. Twenty minutes after curtain time for a concert in Hamburg, Agent Kurt Collien told 2,200 impatient fans that their boy was sick, provoked a small riot. Mindful of the Lanza record for skipping dates, some 300 Hamburgers then marched off to his hotel, got steered away by 100 club-wielding cops. When Agent Collien next day chewed out his client for beering it up in Hamburg nightspots, Lanza huffed off to Rome, canceled his remaining concerts. Collien later hinted to the press that Lanza, hungry for a movie contract, did not want to spoil his chances by another bad review. But bad press was what he got. Commented West Berlin's Der Abend: "Rarely has the boundless self-conceit of a star been so clearly demonstrated."
The will of the late Showman Mike (Around the World in 80 Days) Todd, formally valued in a Manhattan court at "over $20,000," divides an expected $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 between the producer's Actress-Widow Elizabeth Taylor (who receives half the estate in trust) and his son Mike Jr.
The will of Watch King Arde Bulova, who died March 19 at 69, left an estimated $10 million to $15 million to charity and kinsfolk, cut off Bulova's Rumanian-born blonde widow Ileana, 30, who vehemently denies an estrangement, with $25,000 and freedom from all debts owed his estate.
Major General (ret.) Harry Vaughan, onetime military aide to Harry Truman, moved a step closer to tacking eight more medals on his broad chest. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill (still to pass both House and Senate) allowing Old Crony Vaughan to accept eight foreign decorations, among them France's Legion of Honor, Guatemala's Mérito Militar First Class ("in behalf of personal merits"). Also to benefit from the bill: ex-President Truman, who can collect his Liberian Centennial Medal, Admiral Arthur Radford and General Matthew Ridgway, each to get nine awards, and Admiral Robert B. Carney, a ten-decoration winner.
* U.S. record holder: Life with Father, 3,213 performances.