Posted 4:33 PM by Gene

In other news about the untruthfulness of numbers, as has been widely reported KERNGERSHWIN HAMMERSTEIN and ELVIS! Sillerman won't report the B. O. for their new two-hour-plus Carol Burnett monster-movie sketch. Plainly they're thinking this may not be the megasmash they boasted it would be; you can hear them grinding their teeth over Ben Brantley. We wonder why they're bothering; we suspect Branson East's B. O. numbers are as cooked as THE CONSPIRACY's -- more so, as they may not account for all the discounts from tourista groups and last-minute buyers at TKTS. Most likely such secrecy won't do any good since as this story notes the MIKE RIEDELS will sniff the numbers down -- and with their added snide commentary they could make this damage-control activity look even worse than it is.

Some industry watchers carry their concerns one step further: They worry that without the business angle provided by the weekly receipts, legit coverage overall might become more marginalized, relegated to websites and the occasional article aimed at a dedicated fringe, as is now the case with opera and ballet.

Isn't that what follows it now?