Variety (November 1950)

MISCELLANY P^ISfr Wednesday, November 15, 1950 Paris, Nov. 14. > Ericli Von Stroheim is now hard at work oh his memoirs with the i help of his wife, Denise Vernac. There is. an understanding that if ■ he does not finish it, his wife will | carry it on to completion. Von Stroheim, robust at 65, already de- tailed his last , rites. The gypsy . violinists of plush nitery Monseig- nelir are to play the “Requiem” of Stirliiz at the final fadeout. The book w'lll start in 1909,^ with arrival of young Stroheim in Amer- ica with an English vocabulary of a ^ few ofT-color words and his trail, to \Hollywood through the various ' jobs of railroad worker, bank clerk, flypaper salesman, deputy sheriff, diyer, captain in the Mexican army, i swimming instructor and finally the beginning of his phenomenal sci'een career as an assistant di- rector. There he was to become the scourge of producers, the fav- orite of film crix and the symbol of the pic colony at that time, Stroheim has completed two sec- tions which concern him the most. • The first details his being brushed : off by Hollywood biggies after his . so-called masterpiece “Greed” picii that has the distinction pf being one of the biggest film boxoffice duds ever made. ; Von Stroheim shot the film bn location in San Francisco, hiring' whole blocks, razing' walls where necessary and shooting thousands of feet of film. His producer put < up a neon sign on Broadway list- ing the cost of the film as it passed the $1,000,000 mark. The S in Stroheim became a dollar 'sign. The finished pic was seven hours long, the studio, dismayed at its unrelenting sordidness and realism, cut it down to two hours. The original version has never been shown. A few years later. Von': Stroheim renounced direction and exiled himself to France where he has played in numerous pix. He returned to Hollywood from time to time for a pic, and notably for the recent “Sunset Boulevard.” The other completed section of his life w'ork recounts his meeting i with lys present wife. Von Stro- ■ heim is thinking of calling the book “My Life and Loves.” Cantor’s 1-Man Show Nets lOCr for Heart Fund St. Louis,. Nov. 14. The St. Louis Heart Assn, cof- fers were enriched by $10,000 due tc the one-night stand of Eddie Cantor in his bne-nian show at the Henry:. W. Kiel (Municipal) Audi- torium Friday (10). Cantor drew a paying mob of 3,000 and the house was scaled from $2 to $4. Crix tossed raves for his versatile entertainment. :',si Orson Welles’ Bob Hope’s Benefit Stints Prior to Next Video Show .Bob Hope has been signed for two appearances prior to his Nov. 26 NBC telecast. He’ll do a benefit show for the Catholic Charities, in Boston Nov. 21, and will appear at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti- tute Field House NoV. 24, at a bene- fit for the late Mayor John J. Ahearn Memorial Fund. Troupe will comprise Marilyn Maxwell, Jimmy Wakely, Judy Kelly, Hi- Hatters and Les Brown Orch. Voii Stroheim Details How 5-Yr. Limit Snafus His American Passport Paris. Editor, Variety: l am a citizen of the U. S. A. and 1 a former resident of California. I am living at present in Paris, France, compelled to do so by pro- fessional circumstances. My legal address though has been and still is 307 N. Bristol Ave., Brentwood Park, West Los Angeles. I beg of you to take cognizance of my case for justice’s sake and do whatever you can to have part C of section 404 of the Nationality Act of 1940 repealed as quickly as possible during the next session* Section 404, which is now in force, reads as follows: A person who has become a national by natu- ralization shall lose his nationality by “residing continuously for five years in any other foreign state, etc.” According to the interpretation of the Passport Division of the State Department, I have resided in France continuously for five years beginning December, 1945, and ending December, 1950. The truth of the matter is that I lived in France from December, 1945, to October, 1946. From October, 1946, to March, 1947, I worked over four months in Italy. From March, 1947, to July, 1948, I was again in France, but from that date until (Continued on page 70) n/15 NAME Gift Subscription Enclosed find check or m.o. for $....... Send Variety for one year. two years... -ADDRESS ........».■. CITY. . . . ; . . ..... ZONE.... STATE; .. ... Indicate if gift card desired □ NAME • • • • « • t i ADDRESS ^ ^ 0 p 0 ^ ^ ^ ^ O O O 0 f • • • • t •• f 9 • • # 0 • • 4 • • • 4 ’9 CITY ........ . ZONE,... STATE........ One Year—$10.00.. Two Years—$18.00 Canada and Foreign—$l' Additional per Yeqr P’^IETY Ine. 154 West 46th Street New York 19, N. Y. WILL MAHONEY THE INIMITABLE . Just retuined from a gratifying- and delightful tour of Great Britain. Currently. i .Brotvsing. j Represented by ASSOCIATED BOOKING CORP. Schnozzle’s 1-Man Show in Court As The presence of Jimmy Durante in N. Y. supreme court last week turned the trial of Walter C. (“Hats”) McKay against Dave Bar- bour, Peggy Lee, Capitol Songs, Capitol Recerds, Decca, RCA, et al. into a stage as the plaintiff, a 72- year-old itinerant minstrel literally played for a one-man audience, in the person of. the Schnoz. To “Hats” McKay, even though Du- rante was an opposition witness, the comedian’s obvious receptive- ness made it something.- tanta- mount to a “command perform- ance.” Durante actually was Miss Lee’s witness,., as she wanted the star to testify for her husband, Barbour, and herself that the “laughing song” idea was a vener- able one in show business. Justice Isidor Wasservogel, pre- siding, suggested to plantiff Mc- Kay’s attorney, Julian T. Abeles, (Continued on page 62) Dinah, Benny, Jones Hypo Command Variety Show Before British Royalty London, Nov. 14, Biggest Anglo-American lineup ever to appear in the variety Com- mand Performance cafne to a fine climax following a disappointing start. Adopting the U. S. radio warmup technique, Tommy Trin- der came on before the arrival of the Royal Family to put the audi- ence in a more receptive mood than usual, and. succeeded in elim- inating the wait-and-see reaction. The first major success was scored by Grade Fields, whose spekb act gave a boost to the'sag- ging first half. The second stanza bounced into life with the “Touch and Go” ensemble followed by a short and snappy act by singer Donald Peers, who gave way to Jack Benny and Dinah Shore. Benny walked on to a power-' ful ovation and pulled some lei- surely gags with sock effect before introducing Miss Shore, s'hb scored with four numbers, including “Mali About the House” and (Continued on page 16) 2401] London Bid REPEAT ROYAL FILM SHOW IS FLOPPEROO Glasgow, Nov. 7. First replica of London’s Royal 1 Film Performance held here I proved a flop. Held , in Green’s Playhouse, largest cinema (4,312 seats) in Europe, it attracted a j large and distinguished audience, but the show was extremely disap- i pointing. ! Stageshow’, produced by Ben ^ Lyon, proved that film stars are ^ more at home- before the studio , lights than the theatre footlights. ; Show lineup included Irene Dunne, Margaret Lockwood, Ben Lyon, Bebe Daniels, Jack Hawkins, An- HollyM'-pod, Nov. 14. All-time world's record salary for • a single entertainer for a single : , „ /*.rr,i tv/t . n i .n o i • . date-$240.000 for 12 weeks- has j ® : been okred to Danny Kaye by the “®Th7 we aK“ of 4 000 paid members ' of audience criticized Frankfurt, Nov. 7. Orson Welles, whose “Third Man” was a , top grosser in west Germany this year, overnight has fallen into such disfavor that 20th- Fox’s business here has been tem- porarily jeopardized as well as operations pf Republic and London Films. Awkward situation for the three distributors stems from art interview the star gave the Paris newspaper, France Dimanche, after return from a tour through Ger- inany. Welles hit the Germans wliere it hurts them most—their nation- alistic pride. In the interview, widely quoted in the German press, the star told the French paper a story pf an alleged nightclub inci- dent that he . witnessed in Ger- many. He claimed the orchestra played Nazi songs and the audience stood up to give the Nazi salute. Actor also asserted that he knocked out a tooth of a German who slapped a woman when she pro- tested the music. Following publication of the story in the German press, attend- ance dropped sharply in houses playing his films. Involved in the slump were the recently released “Prince of Foxes” (20th), “Mac- beth” (Rep) and “Third Man” (Lon- don Film. Small demonstrations mushroomed in theatres, and some exhibitors either voluntarily or under public pressure yanked the pix from their screens. German exhibs’ association de- clared that it is “against Orson Welles,” Some of the organiza- tion’s members started cancelling “Prince” dates and also boycotted other 20th-Fox pictures. ’ This, in turn, prompted 20th-Fox’s German manager, Robert Kreier, to issue a statement that Welles has no con- tract with his company. Exec also pointed but that his company ex- pressed “disturbance over the ac- tor’s statements.” Kreier told Variety that the in- cident forced an indefinite post- ponement of the screening of “The Black Rose,” another 20th-Fox Welles starrer, in which Tyrone Power is also starred. Picture originally was scheduled for Janu- ary release. He added that maga- zines refused to take “Rose” ad- vertising. copy. Republic reported “Macbeth” doing poor business. London Film, however, came off fairly well since “Third Man” had already played off most of its dates. Meanwhile, Munich and Berlin niteries erected signs proclaiming “off limits to Orson Welles.” At a Duesseldorf night spot patrons be- labored the bandleader with liquor glasses and food when the orches- tra struck up the “Third Man Theme.” In Berlin an association of young actors changed its name from . “Orson” to “Orion.” Disk and sheet music sales of “Third Man Theme” were also hard hit. ; tonnial event in Et«l.-.nd, is a sig-, ^ expensive seats were in view nal honor bestowed on only one 1 j ^„ember of British Royal I other American name, Mary Mar -1 A ^1 f^^Hily being present. Show was tiri. will liGK i to Louqoh to oo : ' ‘here. i there. Offer to Kaye provides for two I performances daily, six day.s a week, during June, • uly and Au- gust of 1951. He would not play matinees, a condition which also applied when he last played the Palladium. At that time, he also (Continued on page 71) N.Y. Replicas of Paris’ 8, ’S? tish Cinematograph Trade Bene- volent Fund. Louis V audable, bossman of Maxim’s, famed Paris eatery, flies into New York on Friday (17) with Maurice Gaiu'ere. head of the nitery bearing liis narrie. .They’ll survey the idea of a New York counterpart of the French Maxim’s, with Carrere possibly to fun a sup- per room, after the regular dining hours, possibly calling it Chez Carrere, after his own Paris nitery. The war outlook and national economic conditions will govern the Parisians’ New York adven- ture. If it goes through, another idea is to import Albert, famed headwaiter of Chez Maxim’s, to greet the Yank globetrotters whom he has gotten to know over the years. JessePs ’Show Business Hall of Fame’ Proposal George Jessel, who emcees to- morrow’s (Thurs.) night dinner of the Picture Pioneers, which honors Spyros Skpuras as “the showman Of the year,” did a CBS-TV sliint on “This Is Show Business” Sunday (19) as a means to spark a “Show Business Hall of Farhe.” He recre- ated the eulogy which he delivered at the bier of Al Jolson, as a means of dramatizing the idea. Jessel feels certain he will get Lee Shubert’s approval for a dis- play in Shubert Alley/and among his own nominations for the “Show Business Hall of Fame” are Jolson, George M, Cohan, Sam II. Harris, Charles Frohman, John Barrymore, David Belasco,’ Saiii Bernard, Vic- tor Herbert, William Collier and George Gershwin. These would be added to from time to time. Meantime sundry proposals for Al Jbl.'^pn Memorials continue apace. Mrs. Bugs Baer wais sparking one for the Heart Fund; Harry Hershfield has a similar idea for Interfaith in Action, and the ABC network plans an annual memorial! program, emceed either by Walter i Winchell or Drew Pearson. I Mrs. Bugs Baer Dies Of Heart Ailment; Noted For Heart Fund Efforts Mrs. Louise Baer, married 19 years to the Hearst-syndicated humorist Arthur (Bugs) Baer, and a prominent show business figure in her own right because of her brave fight and her dedication to the Heart Fund, finally succumbed to a heart c.ilment early Tuesday morning (14). She was about 42 and familiar to many prominents in all walks, from show business to press-radio and the laity, be4 cause of her dedication to the cause of the Heart Assn. A victim of a lingering heart ail- ment which dates .back to her childhood in Lafayette, Ind., where she had been stricken with rheu- matic fever, she had been more seriously ailing since 1946, This didn’t impair her literally big- hearted efforts on behalf of the Heart Fund, which Won for her the “Golden Heart Award” from the American Heart Assn, at its San Francisco convention in June, and in 1949 won her recognition as “Sweetest Woman of the Year” from a N. Y, Citizens Committee in appreciation for her yeoman work in the Heart Fund. Despite the obvious limitations of “borrowed time,” Mrs. Baer ex- pended her physical reserve to the Heart Fund notables like . (Continue