Variety (Dec 1946)

SCREEN RADIO VOL. 164 No. 13 ^fM''*.!rii?^!l/'>*-IJ street, Now York.IS. N, T.. By Variety, Inc. Annual gubsctiptlon, |1C. Sinsle coi,ie», 26 cents. .leTed «• :«ecotoa-clas» matter December 22, 1805, at the Post OBioe at New York, n; Y., under the act o£ MaicJi 3. 1879 ■ ■ : ■ COPSRIflHX, MM, nx VARIEXy, INC. ALL, RIGHTS RESERVED. NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1946 ~ PRICE 25 CENTS BASEBALL'S OK TO TELEVISION Army Survey Alkalizes Sour Taste Of GI's in Gripes on Fix 'Lemons' Washington, Dec. 3. . Survey ol films being sent over- sea« "by tl)« Army Motion Picture Service discloses tliat GI gripes about tli« best pix not reaching-them are , without foundation. Fact is, th» Army MPS buys four picturM a week for its theatres in ■thi» country and at bases all over the world. It takes just about every- tliing good which comes down tlie ■ pike, but in order to fill its quota of over 200 features per year, tlie Serv- ice is forced to buy plenty of bloop- • ers-i-just as neighborhood exhibitors in a. similar , position have to do. ■ One other thing pointed out here . at MPS headquarters is that the film tastes of young men in uniform and away from home will frequently : differ sharply from the normal civil- ian preference—especially since the average civilian picture theatregoer • is a woman. Hence, the soldier may think a lemon is being palmed oPi on him when he is getting the best from the point of view of continental V.S. as a whole. V.ApjETi- recently reported what the GI overseas thinks about the pic- tures being sent to him. , Now it gives the other, half of the situation (Continued on page 54) Hollywood Flayer Adds To Latin Grace at Mex Prez's Inauguration By PEGGY LeBOUTILMER Mexico City, Dec. 3. Altliough most Mexican festivity IS disconcertingly spontaneous, the elegant gala surrounding the inaug- uration of Licenciado Miguel Ale- man as president of the Republic of Mexico was organized with North American efficiency plus Latin grace plus Hollywood production. Of the »18 guests especially invited by the Mexican government from the USA. Hollyv;ood was represented in a high- tttlutin manner with neaily 30 top names, , 20th-century-Fox outranks .Wj^other studios with its delegation and RKp is a close runnor-up along, with Metro, Paramount and Colum- bia. The Skomases, L. B. Mayer, N. (Couthuied on page 54) MONTYSmnONBIOG DUE FOR M-G LENSING p Hollywood, Dec. 3. , courageous comeback of Monty ■MfWon, the Chicago While Sox P.jxcher wlio is continuing his base-' ^".career despite the ioss ot his ,"gi«_leg in an accidehli will be. nimed by Metro, from a story by Douglas Morrow. _Stvatton was cripplc^d several o^ears ago in a hunting accident arilf his prime as a Sox pitcher as.e. of 25. He learned to run r« artificial log and became «" outstanding pitcher in the Texas :J^.eague, Now his ambition is to re- win to, the majors. V : - intL-?. tlie picture as an I m?? sei-viccmcn who lost "Wbs m thfe late war. Cugie's Casa Cugat Ideas Chicago, Dec. 3. Xavier Cugat is negotiating a deal here with the Congress hotel which may result in the start of the mae- stro's oft-repeated plans for a string of Casa Cugat niteries in principal key cities. His talks with the Con- gress maivagement involve construc- tion of a new room to be operated under his name and the installation of similar ideas by others of the Hilton chain. Apparently" it'.s Cugat's idea to use hi.s band as the b.o. lure in each spot at certain intervals throughout the year, [^f-, ; . French Chanteurs Figured to Hypo Biz in N. Y. Cafes New York cafes afe getting set for an invasion .o£ French singers. . Al- ready booked, around town ai-e Jean Sablon, wlio goes into the Versailles, Lucionne Boyer, down for Cafe Society Uptown; Charles Trenct, re- peating at the Embassy; Rene Paul (ne Pittier). set for the Copacabana, and a flock of .Gallic principals im- ported by Lou Walters'for the Latin Quarter. Latter group will open at the Broadway spot al'ter they wind up at tlie Latin Quarter, Palm Island. Fla. One major reason for the series of importations is tlie attempt to get the United Nations', delegate trade, many of whom hianker for entertain- ment in a tongue that they under.' stand. Many of the' secretariat are more at home with French since French is the classic language of diplomatic parleys. Most of these performers have achieved a rep on their home soil,; and_ it's . expected, that , many will, Ihit ^e.se cafes if bnly for nostalgic reasonSi ,; However, the more important angle fen- the - operator :is the fact tliat there aren't enough headTiners to take care of all cafes that would l!i<e to have tlicm. They feel that since there have hoen no importa- tions during the war, the Gauls will provide a , handy peg for. exploita- tion and could conceivably create the draw of the top U. S. talent. Performers of the class of Sablon, Mile. Bo,ver and Trenet have already, established their pulling power. But the others, despite the fact that they must prove themselves in N. Y, cafes, will be v.-orlh their! weight at the b.p, for the extra trade they bring in. Quite a Parlay Jerusalem, Dec, 3. Tyrone Guthrie. British theatrical producer, i.'! flying to Palestine next month to .stage a play for Habimah theatre in Tol AviVi . Tlie six-foot, six-inch Ii-lshman will put on "Oedipu,«:*' in a now He- brew vcr.-iion by Chernia\'sky. ILL 3 N. Y. CLUBS SELLVIDE!) RIGHTS Pointing up the big league base- ball owners' contention that tele- vision ■will, not hurt their gate receipts, exclusive video rights to the 77 home games of both the N. Y. Giants and Yankees were sold this week to complete the commercial video pattern for N. Y, baseball. Yankee games went to DuMont, with NBC signing a. similar deal for the Giants. Brooklyn plum had already been seized by CBS, with board: chairman William S. Paley personally handling the • deal that gave the web rights to Dodger home games on a three-year contract. Col. Larry S. MacPhaii is'reported to have asked $30,000-$40,000 from DuMont for the Yankee games, with the price to be boosted to $80,000 if DUMont succeeds in getting a sponsor. Terms' between NBC and the Giants have not yet been . Set, with Giants' prexy Horace Stonehain deciding to wait and see whether NBC would televise the games on a sustaining or commercial basis,. CBS execs have declined to state the terms of their contract with the Dodger.s. It's understood, however, that tlie web has already made over- tures to Ford Motors and the J. (Continued on page'34):.: . . James Mason Thinb Brit Films &r In Bidding for the World Market RKO PAYING 20G FOR 'SUSIE' IN CANTOR PIC RKO is paying publishers Sha- piro-Bernstein $20,000 for the un- limited use of the song, "If You Knew Su.«iie," in the sooh-to-be-pro- duced picture of the same title star- rinj Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis. Cantor'himself will produce tVic film for release by RKO. Film company closed the deal for the tune, which is closely associated with Cantor's , career' in the theatre, last week. Price is not by any means a record, but it is unusually high as synchronization rights go. : Record Pix Divvy Washington. Dec. 3. Picture dividends broke ail rec-. ords in September, according to De- partment of Commerce figures re- leased last week. The month's melon to the stockholders was a ter- rific $.9,300,000,^ two and one-half times the $3,877,000 figure for Sep- tember, 1945. Also unequalled was the stock- holders' gravy for the entire third quarter of ..the year—$12,800,000, more than twice the $5,200,000 for the same three months of la.st year. ■ An idea of just how terrific the dividends are running is the fact that $30,255,000 was paid out in the first nine month.s of 1946, double, the dividends for the same period of 1945. For all of 1945. tire dividends amounted to only $23,665,000, or well below the 1946 nine months' total. Burbank to B'way And Back for Wm, Price If 'Wm. and Mary' Clicks Paradox of, "William Loves Mary," the Norman Krasna : play which Rodgers & Hammerstein are pro- ducing under a pre-production deal with Warner- Bros,, is that William Price, the male lead,, who was once fired by WB. may wind up again under the Burbank banner, if the play's a Click. Show is due on Broadway Feb. 3. The author and Jo,shua Logan, stager, are due from Hollywood in mid-December for preliminai-y .re- hearsal.s. Jeri'y Wald, WB: producer,, who will probably film the play, is also coming east for the preem, his first N. 'iT. holiday in ydars, "V^fald just .firiished five, pix at. WB: this year and is'taking air extended vaca- tion. . . ■ James Mason, English film star; in ' the U. S. on his first visit, denied any intention- of making American fdm commitments during a planned five weeks' stay in, this country. In spite of recurrent rumors that the piu pose of his trip was to sign a two-picture pact with one of this major comr pajiies. Mason reiterated he intended to remain "a free man for a while.": Mason voiced his opinions on sub.- jects ranging from American film fans to the business methods of ttie J. Arthur Rank organization. He dwelt at some length on British film production, stating that English films sliould remain primarily English in- , .stead of attempting to pitch to a world . markSt. Saying that Briti.sfi film producers should stick to sim- ple, straightforward suB^jects, M.xsim averred that they- couldn't hope'*to appioximate American Success in tlie making of lavi.* large-scale musi- cals. He cited, as evidence, the bad reviews received by "London Town.'' mii.^ical produced by Wesley Rugglos with a east: of English musical com- , edy and vaudeville stars afid musi- cians! : Mason also said that BrilLsh films, are by far the most ponular picture fare with English audi«ncc's, in spite of the apparently .widespread tContinued on page S4) CATS (Civilian Actress Technicians) To Replace USO-Camp Shows for GIs As part of the Army program to make the fll: in the, European theatre of operations self-sustaining as far a.s stage entertainment, is concerned. Special. Services is augmenting & women's group to work in conjunc- tion with tlie,occupation soldier. Pro- gram is neces,<!ary at this time as the ETO will' be deprived 6f USO- GamP;Show imits after Jan. 1, and is seeidng to train regular Army personnel in that area to stage en- tertainment for servicemen. Pcmmes are slated to become an integral part of this .setup vvith the Civilian Actress Technician pro- gram. Dorothy 'Vcrnbn, a formoi: Y. actress and agent, who ha.s been in the ETO for three years as an entertainer, rptuiiicd last week to New York to recruit 22 CATS- Who will sign to go to Europe and | thesp as' well' as help teach. .;,the GI fundamentals iti staging and pro-: due; ion of shows. CATS sigh for a yoa,r at an an-^ nual salary of $5,000, of which, it's claimed, it's possible to save $4,000, Rent for the year IS'$185, and ,niealk cost 25c. each. The Government provides most essential :se'rvices, which include medical and dental care, as well as costumes and travel. In additiohi a liber_l leave, policy i,s in effect, . which enables CATS to participate in the Army travel pro- gram. Consequently, Mis,s 'Vernon thinks the proposition is .a good break for a young actress with the nCce.'jsary qualifications. Program entails the use of 50 CATS, There are currently 38 in Europe, and Miss 'Vernon plan.s to IContinued on page 54) , Rank:s 'Anti-Negro' (?) And Pro-Soviet Films K.O.'d for U.S. Market Differences in British and Amer- ican social and political ideologies, which have pix acceptable in out;. country but not the other have put the kibosh on two of J. Arthur Rank'.s most promising films-^-so .;far , as the Yank market is concerned. The films, "Men of Two World.'-" and' "Adventure For, 'I'\*0." were orig- inally slated for distribution in the U. S. by Universal., but second thoughts by U's execs haye -brouylit. about a nix for the duo on the ground that their controversial nature would . stir a tempest that might hurt pther Briti.sh product. Clamp on "Men oif Two Worlds" followecf pri-vfate : screening of tfie. ■ film for Mr.s.:Eleanor;I{(josevelt. rc^ps of the National Assh. for the; Ad- vaiiccmcnt'' of Colored fCoplo. and spQkesmqn. for. other anti-racial dis^ (Continued on page 53) BIG XMAS SHOPPING NO HELP TO CAFE BIZ Exactly, a year ago the postwar spending peak was reached and now, pre-Xmas, business finds the bistros ■ booming in spots and not ,sq , bullish in others. ■ On' the whole it's not "New Year's- eve-cvery-iiight, as was the. wartime custom, and it's gotten so that wait" cr.s are cordial and cabbies inordi- nately civil. "That the spending buck is still there, however, is evidenced by the probable record business the shoji.s are doing (at record inflation- ary pricesj, leaving more than a little o\;cr for the cafesi