The Third Man records had been sold in Britain, with the teen-aged Princess Margaret a reported fan. Following its release in the US in 1950 (see 1950 in music), ""The Third Man" Theme" spent 11 weeks at number one on "Billboard"s US Best Sellers in Stores chart, from 29 April to 8 July. The exposure made Anton Karas an international star, and the trailer for the film stated that "the famous musical score by Anton Karas" would have the audience "in a dither with his zither". Academy Awards British Academy Film Awards Cannes Film Festival Directors Guild of America National Board of Review
Archie Karas action for Karas mostly dried up due to his reputation and stakes. He turned to dice, for $100,000 per roll. Karas was allowed to make pass line and come bets of up to $300,000, but with no odds. Jack Binion capped Karas' buy bets on the 4 and 10 at $100,000. At one point, Binion raised Karas' 4 and 10 buy bet limit to $200,000. Karas quickly won $920,000 under these conditions; then Binion immediately lowered the limit back to $100,000. Karas said that he could quickly win $3 million on dice, while it would take days to weeks with