Variety (December 1950)

Wedhesday, December 6, 1950 P^IEff 63 HOWARD KYLE Howard Kyle, 89, veteran actor who had appeared with Helene Modjeska, Julia Marlowe and Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske, died in New York, Dec. 1. He had been an actor for more than 50 years, retiring about 10 years ago. He made his professional debut in 1884 in “Hamlet.V His first N. Y. George LeMaire (Conroy &), gen- enerally regarded as one of the top straightmen of his era. Survived by his wife, Sari; two daughters, Gloria, wife of, producer John Rogers, and Dione. A son, George and a brother, Sam, also survive. ] “Madame X' and “Rio Grande,” currently running on Broadway. McGuinness first went to Holly- I wood as a Fox script writer. He later became an executive with Metro^Goldwyn-Mayer. Surviving are his» wife, two sis- ters and a brother. SAMUEL GOLDSTEIN Samuel Goldstein, 56, president of Commonwealth Pictures and treasurer of Guaranteed Pictures, died in New York, Nov. 28, as a result of injuries sustained in the Long Island Railroad disaster. , LEW ROSENTHAL appearance was in 1887 as-Lucius [ Lew Rosenthal, 74, co-owner of ; 30 years with M. D. Sackett iiv “Virginius” at the Windsor the-: the Iowa theatre, Waterloo, la., l Cruaranteed and Commonwealth atre on the Bowery. ! died in that city Dec. 4, of a heart ’ He originated the role of David ailnaent. He began in show busi- Barrett in “Way Down East” and ' ness as a vaudeville performer .starred on tour in “Nathan Hale,” and was partnered with his wife “Rosemary” and “John Ermine of Mabel Riehm in the Rose and Yellowstone.” At the turn of. the j Severens comedy act which toured century he played in a revival of i vaude in the 1900’s. He later op- Sardou’s “Diplomacy,” with Rose ’ crated a hooking agency, anel Charles Coghlan. I During the past four years, Kyle appeared in “Anthony and Rosenthal had been operating the Cleopatra” arid “The Servant in I Iowa theatre in partnership with his nephew, Nathan Rosenthal. Wife and daughter survive. businessman and civic leader, had been one of the most infiuential figures in raising the stature of the Pittsburgh Symphony from an ob- scure place to one of the leading organizations of its kind in the country. WILLIAM PLATT William Platt, 66, a magician and escape artist known professionally as the Great EVerett, died in New York, Dec. 1 Merit Awards Continued from pace Z ample of consecutive, uninter- rupted effort since its World War II streamlining, the roster of top show biz names dwindled to scattered individual efforts when Camp Shows became dormant in 1946. VA spokesmen, are openly eager for the industry to carry Platt retired from active show business 10 years ago but donated [the entertainment ball for ho.spi- his services as a magician to en- Goldstein was. associated for i tertain service men during Worid War 11. IN MEMQRIAM Charles and Ann Stern MARK the House;” in “Joseph and His Biethren/’ under the direction of George C. Tyler, and with Chrystal Herne in “Polygamy.” He portrayed Castor with the Coburn Players in “Electra/’ Mo- WALTER R. IMMERMAN Walter R. Iinmerman, 59, vice- president and general manager of zart m “The Greater Love” in ! Balaban & Katz circuit, died of 1906, and the title role in Eyangelist” in 1907. a heart attack in Chicago, Dec. 3. Born in Chicago, Immerman was In 1910 he was The Voice in the an employee of the old LUbliner*^ production of “Mary Magdalene.” He impersonated Rrospero in “Cal- iban,” a masque founded on “The Trihz circuit when it was acquired by B&K over two decades ago. In 1928 he was manager of the Chi- IN MEMORY OF DAMON RUNYON PAUL SMALL Pictures, having begun his indus- try career in 1914 as clerk for Re- liance Films. He formed Guaran- teed Pictures with Sackett in 1918 and was associated with him until his death. talized vets Once more, now that VHCS is back i;, business. . There has been no recent ex- Surviving are hi$ wife, a sister vanipie of show biz cooperation as and a brother. impressive, for example, as the all- i oiit hospital productions, complete JOHN H. NIBLOCK ; I With entire casts, of“Ki.ss Me, John Horace (Nibs) Niblock, 53,1 Kate,” “South Pacific” and “De- assistant treasurer for the past 10 tective Story.” However, VA offi- years at the Royal Alexandra fhC" cials point ou*^ that smaller scale entertainment is constantly going Nov. 28,. while being operated, on oh where it counts most, in hospi- tor cancer ot the lung. ! tals off the beaten track. VHG- ° i Sliows has continucd tlic policy of iniee aaugnters. ' its predecessor, USO-Camp Shows, by concentrating its efforts lar.gely in the hinterlands. Hospitals near the centers of entertainment, such tfew York, Los Angelos, and t • . ■ *i j : 11 __ A ■ V ^ ^ C ■ NOTIS KOMNENOS Notis Komnenos, 52, former dis- trict manager of Skoiiras theatres .. ^ , _ . i il'New Jersey, died in Jersey City, i chiw^o, virtually take care of Surviving are his wife, three ! N. J., Dec. 3, after a heart attack. J themselve$. ^ children; mother, two sisters and | He had been with the chain ffii’ Most effective stints are fre- two .brothers,^onc of them Louis;22:yeare^^ prior tp leaving recently Iqucntlv the least pretentious, one Goldstein, Columbia Pictures, to form own trucking business. ' ^ •- . _ manager in Germany. CHARLES S. MORGAN, JR. “ Charles S. Morgan, Jr., 75, one- time Broadway producer, died Nov. 28 in Philadelphia. Morgan was closely identified for many years with Mask & Wig Club pro- i ductions of the Univ. of Penn, and j directed and participated in more ■ than 30 of the Wigger’s musicals. [ On Broadway, he was one of the producers of Victor Herbert’s ! “Sweethearts.” At times he had been director for the Princeton ; Triangle Club, the Mimes of the U. of Michigan and the Masquerad- lers of the U S. Naval Academy. A sister and two brothers sur- vive; Tempest” by Percy Mackaye, in celebrations of Shakespeare’s 300th anniversary in New York and Cam- bridge, Mass. Others of his outstanding roles were as Julius Caesar, Malvolio in “Twelfth Night;” the Rector in “Magda;” Jacques in “As You Like It,” and Sir Edward Mortimer in “Marie Stuart.?’ Kyle was a founder and an early recording secretary of , Actors Equity, from which he later with- drew to become secretary of the Actors Fidelity League. A member of The Players for 60 years, he was a life member of the Actors Fund of America and an Jionorary member of the Century Theatre Club. His wife, Amy Ureilla Hodges Kyle, survives. RUFUS LEMAIRE Rufus Lemaire, 55, Universal- International production executive, died in Cedars of Lebanon hospi- tal, Los Angeles, Dec. 2, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage on Wednesday night (28). He had viewed a picture at Leo Spitz’s i .m »' • a cago theatre there. From 1928 to 1930 he was . general manager of the circuit’s theatres in Detroit. For the past 20 years he handled the top post for the firm in Chica- go, and last year had been named a vice-president after the Para- mount divorcement decree. Immerman was on the board of directors of the LaRabida Sani- tarium, and was a member of the Variety Club of Illinois, of which he was Chief Barker in 1948. He was stricken in his auto while re- turning from his home in Mc- Henry, 111. to his apartment in j Chicago;. . j He leaves wife and two sons. A j brother, Elmer, chief of the per-1 sonnel division of the circuit, also! survives. MICHAEL FITZPATRICK Michael Fitzpatrick 87, former vauder and composer, died in Brooklyn, Dec. 3. He played the vaude circuits in an act with his brother, William, who died in 1941. Together they sang tunes composed by the former. Among the numbers composed by Fitzpatrick were “Daddy’s Mill,” “Who Tied the Can to the Old Dog’s Tail,” “You Give Me Your Love,” “Ham and Eggs,” lu luiiu own u ucKine ousines^. j vA spokesman pointed out. Recent “ ® ; series of dramatic readings by ^ ^ • ' Basil Rathbone and John Carfa- itADXr vnn , dine in a Vets’ Neuropsychiatric T T sof l^mspital built up such great in- J-. L. (Barney) Bainaid, 66, vet- fiiof rtafionfc tViomcaalx/nc terest that the patients them.selves vere soon making their own re- quests, Although VA was bogged down in its efforts to stimulate a .1950 eran newspaperman and former D. W. Griffith aissistarit director, died Dec. 4 in Pasadena, Cal. of a stroke. He left newspaper work to assist Griffith On “Birth of a Na-, tt ,, j . r, tion.” Later he was publicity di-1 edition of Take Hollywood to the rector for Thomas Ince Production.' Hospitals, the VHCS tour of top _______ 'flight ' filmites inaugurated as a wfimm R rRAMT i yearly feature in ’48, the celeb « r' tours of music greats have fared Wilbur B. Grant, 50, manager of, Carried on bv Artists ‘Vet- the Manor theatre. Prospect Park, Pa., died at his home in Manoa, erans’ Hospital Programs, group pa Nov. 28. .angelled by Jean Tennyson, a re- He was associated with the : cent recipient of a VA Merit Warner Bros, circuit for 25 years.300 top longhair: and Wife and two children survive, some pop-artists-:—are actively par- ticipating in the program. piTd-irvir w Hospital bookings for the music 'Corps are arranged along with their Eugene W. Kmc, 6Q, stage an ! professional tours and are one of fv«3 ’ “‘’’'I the most active aspects of the His last role v.-aS in '•The Groat recieational agenda. The Met, for example, sets up hospital Caruso” at Metro. SAM STOLL p.a.’s as a regular part of its tours. Recent troupers on the VA mu- sical circuit include Margaret Tru- WALTER L. MAIN Walter L. Main, 88, who at one time owned one of the top cir- Tuses, died in Geneva, O., Nov. 29. He began his career in 18'76 as a program boy with a one-wagon circus his father, William L., had joined. When his father lateY took over management of the show, MAUREEN RIO In sad. and loving memory my darling DEC. 11th, 1945 God has you in his keeping, I have you in my heart., MOTHER of Sam Stoll, 55, sales maimger oi nian, Andre Kostelanetz, Nelson i Paramount’s branch in Chicago, i Benny Goodman, Vivian ^ heart attack in that city i Chiesa, Leonard Warren and : last Nov, 29. His wife, Irene, survives. ‘■Mother’s Piayer.”,, f“The, newscaster at WFRP.: man, son. New York, Chimes of Trinity, which had gavannah Ga died Nov. 26 in Sa-' Father is owner of the I .■:* ‘ ® vannah. Survived by parents. I stein. theatre, _N.^ Y.-CSuh Robert H. Winston, 35, former assistant manager of R.K.O. thea- tres in N. Y., died Dec. 2 in N. Y. SUrvivied by sister Elizabeth, agent for longhair artists. Richard W. McLaughlin, 23, Yehudi Menuhin. Exciting aspect of the work is the accent on per- sonal contact with the hoys. Pianist Rudolph Serkin, for example, will gladly play for three or four pa- tients. ' home and complained of illness. I which had grown to 40 wagon out- Returning home, he was suddenly; fit, he became an advance agent, stricken and rushed to the hospi-• He later had his own show, tal. I Main survived three failures. Born in Fort Worth, he went to one financial, another caused by a InTiemoriam DAMON RUNYON m WHNU Kc, V "sKr IV youth where he j train wreck near Tyrone, started as an office-boy for Frank 1893, in which Bohn in 1913. was witlr the . killed, and Fhe third * tire whicn Shub^rt olfice for a while and destroyed his show. The later was associated v/nr Ed gradually became smaHer, becom- ing i truck oircus and wild west shdw in its declining years. He re- tired in 1937. He was a meniber of the Circus Saints and Sinners and the Circus Friends of America. His wire, Louise, died last year. JAMES ■ K. McGUINNlisS' James Kevin McGuinness, 57, producer of films, former m^a- zine and newspaper writer and a leader in the anti-Communist fac- tion in Hollywood, died after a heart attack in New York, Dec> 4. Before going to Hollywood In 1927, McGuinness was sports writer for the old New York Teje- gram* did the Sun Dial column for the New York Sun and wrote Jthe Talk of the Town column for The rose & West’s Mmstrels. He was a member of ASCAP since 1941. .was Davidow, who bookotl the S;inday night concerts , at the Winter Garden, N. Y. His major legit production was “EeMaire’s Affairs” which co-starred Sophie Tucker and Ted Lewis and had long runs on Broadway and Chicago. For a brief time, , LeMalre Worked in the William Morris Agency at a time when the office had a myriad of beginners in shb\y biz who later hit their stride on the Coast. Included Were produc- ers Bill Perlberg, Fred Kohimar and Lew Schreiber, latter now a.ssistant to 20th-Fox production chief Darryl F. Zanuck. LeMaire went to Hollywood in 1929 where he started with Co- lumbia Pietpres as a casting di- rector. He later held similar posi- FRANK F. CROOK Frank F. Crook, 48, Pawtucket, •R. I., industrialist, whose interests included part ownership of radio station WFCI, Providence-Paw- tucket, was killed in an automobile crash in North Attleboro, Mass., Dec. 1. ^ , Crook, confidante of U. S. Atty. Gen. J. Howard McGrath, was re- general manager, G. Leo Cronin, when the car crashed with a trail- er trucki killing both. men. Besides his wife, Crook leaves a daughter and two sisters. MAURICE SWERDLpW^ Maurice Swerdlow, 56, pianist and bandleader who was formerly with the bands of Paul Whiteman and Meyer DaviSi died DeC; 2 in Mt. Sinai hospital, Philadelphia. As a composer, Swerdlow au- thored “Fight, Temple* Fight” !•}] Temple University, and nuh.crous Jewish songs for Jewish sliow.s. He parents. BIRTHS Mr. and Mrs. Howard S. Cull- Nev/ York, Nov. 29. Hammer- (.Sublet to Co- lumbia Broadcasting), lessee of the , 'Alvin theatre, and a prominent George HamilL 60, studio tech- jggjj investor, nician, died on the Universai-In-‘ jyjj. an(j Mrs. Bill Burch, son, ternational lot Dec. li following a ' s^Q-bank. Cal., Nov. 27. Father - heart attack. ja radio producer. ! -Mr. riK'- Mrs. J. C. Rich' ; k -vm* tions with Metro. Warner Bros. [New Yorker. Paramount, 20th-Fox and Univer sal. An independent producer in re- cent years, he turned out such ^. am. ar. and Mr.s. Sidney Biokaw, . son. S inta Monica, Nov. 29. Father iis a .studio orchestra manager. ^ Mr and Mrs. Frederick Steiner, ' daugh(«n'. Hollywood, Nov. 30. H. Wavheji^:;. died yived )' Edw < • jcoiior:. V Wife a-d Moll scveer -ji-iie ar'P-' son.' ■A, daughter, Hollywood, Nov. . Mother is the former Margaret Tal- i Rchet; father is a producer-dir- ^ v.cKcr, 60, pro-: Paramount. iji ChiSiiigov Nov. 22. j survive. was pianist and arranger for,\\lute- ^ UAjiyw, man In 1922-’23, and \%as a Meyer _. Davis leader for 15 years. A .sis- " . - . • octor, died Nov. 29 in Davis ter survives. H. GARFIELD CORVv IN H. Garfield Corwin. 72, piam.st and bandleader, died in Riverhead, L. L, Pec. 4 . . Corwiu, R one-time pianist at N. Y. Strand theatre, had also com ducted own orch at the old Hotel Navarre, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Marcus, son. New York, Nov.'25. Father is art rif John Hoffman ^ director for Loew’s Theatres. ^ _ of John Hotiman,, jyjj.. and Mrs. J. P. Shanley. twin sons, New York, Nov. 27. Father is a drama reporter for the N. Y. Times. MARRIAGES • Mr * and Mrs. Patrick^ Wilmot, T iliiai r PC Brown tu Tomes ^^on, NeW York, Dec. I. FaUier is Lilhai. Lee -Brown to r mother is Brokaw., Boston,per 2 lU,- stall ‘y- announcer at WC,.t hen : ■ . Barbara Heilman to Alan V. *7 Iselln, Al'.any, Dec. 2. Bride daughter or Neil Hellm.aM. ih.'rid oi t Heilman Theatres; he’s employed i by the cil’cuit. ] ' PlayW El'eahor Goodrich to Robert Guil- - Mr. bert, Chicago, Nov, 30. He’s with | j^jangj ; . s He was a brother of the late' films as’“They Were Expendable, ThrSWt^^’JSrident irfaUer Thompson radio dept, °pUn*y lied' ,2*3® '^g'Ad^wJs * da^S &ov. .^6 ia Toledo, 0„ after a heart; P‘t^t?“otnerty mlire.sf it Piulh attack. Wright, a prominent Pittsburgh i burgh Playhouse. I PoW