Variety (December 1954)

Wedne*d*y, December 29 , 1954 LITERATI 53 Literati First Int i Pres* Ball The proximity 1 to Xmas militated against the first international Press Ball, under the auspices of the Foreign Press Assn., which un- dSubfedly was a sellout but <1) saw many voids at certain tables, indicating seat sales but not oc- cupied due no doubt (2) to the oc- cupational pressure and general letdown that comes with the Christ- mas week's final lap. Victor Borge headed a slick show; the Waldorf’s Claude C. Philippe did a tophole job with an international culinary roundup for the Press Ball; and the four-way charity auspices undoubtedly bene- fited beaucoup as result. They were the Free Milk Fund For Babies (Mrs. William Randolph Hearst’s longtime pet charity), the United Nations’ Children’s Fund, the N.Y. Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund, and the N.Y. Joumal-Amer- ican Christmas Veteran Fund. N. Y. Newsmen Off Base Two New York newsmen, roam- ing off their metropolitan area beat, have come up with a hit tome dealing with the old west. Co-au- thored by Paul Sann, executive editor of the N. Y. Post, and James Horan, assistant city editor of the N. Y. Journal-American, “Pictorial History of the Wild West” (Crown) is set for a second printing after the first order of 20.000 sold out over the Christmas holiday. Cary Cooper, an old hand in de- picting western characters, is lend- ing his support for the i)Ook via endorsements, an unusual activity for Cooper. Crown and United Artists received the okay from Cooper's lawyer, I. H. Prinzmetal, to use Cooper’s picture in cooper- ative advertising plugging the book and "Vera Cruz.” the Hecht-Lan- caster production being released by UA. Steve Allen’s Book Steve Allen, quondam disk jock- ey, panelist, midnight conferencier, radio-tv humorist, songwriter and et ceteras, joins the show biz book parade. He’s whipped up a flock of short stories which Henry Holt & Co. will publish. Carlton Cole, who agented the Hy Gardner’s “Cham- pagne Before Breakfast,” also a Holt publication, handled this deal. Aldrich’s 'Mn. A* There can never be too much authoritative material in print ancut a great star. Richard Aid- rich has added to stage lore with his new book, “Gertrude Lawrence as Mrs. A” (Greystone; $4.95). Un- derstandably, Aldrich. has created an idyll. When a partner in a mar- riage dissolved by untimely death writes his memoirs, few could or would deny his point of view. As Aldrich points out. Miss Law- rence was one of life’s “givers.” She touched many lives; but often her relationships with people who felt very close to her were, her husband believes, extensions of her stage self rather than manifes- tations of the lady's inner heart. Consequently, some may not find the Gertrude Lawrence they knew, and perhaps loved, in these pages. Most readers, however, will be held by Aldrich’s fine, flowing style, and by his captivating report on his mother, who was slow to appreciate her famous daughter- in-law, but who finally became a devoted Lawrence fan. Aldrich’s account of New England matriarch learning V ARiETY-ese provides an hdarious passage in his book. I his volume is a worthy suc- cessor to Miss Lawrence’s autobi- ography “A Star Danced.” It is beautifully produced and hand- somely illustrated. Virtually all proper names are correctly en- tered save that of Robert Flemyng, it r * ls consistently misspelled. Unfortunately, there is no index. Down. Soots’ Canada Issue the. Weekly Scotsman, E< nrgh will shortly be flown aci tne Atlantic, reprinted in Toroi and distributed throughout Can f n n< * the ,U. S. It will be on i » o?, da same da y that it’s s in Scotland. Journal is now owned by ] inomson, managing director Scotsman Publications, Edinbui A 10 controls Canadian newspaf in Vancouver, Toronto, etc. p ml t * ls aimed at the exiled Sc arket, a vast one in Canada. Ackland’s Frustration Rodney Ackland has had tl professionally produ * h ' le in his teens but he one overpowering passion in ] anfnK-° me a film director. In ioinHv 08 ’ ‘‘ Ce Holoid Mistre Jointly authored with film ci Elspeth Grant, (Allan Wingate, London; $2.30), Ackland describes with commendable frankness how he never quite achieved his goal. But he’s apparently never lost his enthusiasm for discussing The Art of the Cinema (always in caps), which is a recurrent theme throughout the 250-odd pages of the book. This can be more than irritating, although the lively style of the two writers, plus a full measure of in- teresting incidents, offers some compensation. As a story of a man who wasn’t quite satisfied with the success he had attained in one field of show business, the book is a stimulating example. Myro. Largest Browsery Kroch’s & Brentano’s new Chi- cago bookstore is the largest browsery in the world <45,000 square feet). Store’s got every- thing from a rare book department to a paper book division. Paper- backs are located in the “super- market section”—with shopping wagons thrown in. Setup represents $500,000 out- lay. While the official launching takes place on Jan. 22, the picka- bookery is in operation now. Jules Archer’s Redbook MCA’s Revue Productions bought the tv rights to Jules Arch- er’s short story, “Magic Fella Skin,” as part of the vidfilm series, “Soldiers of Fortune.” and Archer that same day sold Redbook a story, “Ladies Man”; both deals via the Lenniger agency. Satevepost ‘Treasury’ “The Saturday Evening Post Treasury” (Simon & Schuster; $7.50) is an impressive 550-page tome, a selection of outstanding stories, articles and pix in the mag- azine since way back in 1728. Selected from the complete files by Ro a r Butterfield and the Sat- evepoi editors, the book contains a wealth of reading matter from Ben i ranklin’s humor to William Faulkner’s gloom, with an amazing lineup of writers—Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London, F. Scott Fitz- gerald, Joseph Hergesheimer, Irvin S. Cobb, down to Clarence Buding- ton Kelland ant} Mary Roberts Rinehart, to mention just a few. It’s an astonishing two-century panorama of American life and literary taste. Bron. Paris Publishing Statistics The Syndicat of French Editors has released a study on publishing conditions, and general consensus has it that on both levels, interior and international, France has forged ahead this past year. About 600 editors published 130,000,000 copies of 10,017 books, and the gross sales came to 28.000,000 francs ($84,000,000). Of this sum, $18,000,000 came from literary ex- ports, and 35,000 tons of paper were utilized in all. About 214 new pub houses opened during the year, and there were 30 bankruptcies and five liquidations. France is fourth in publishing, following England, West Germany and the U. S. with 18,257; 13.913 and 12.050, respec- tively. Biggest importers of Gallic books are Belgium and Luxem- bourg, followed by Canada, Switz- erland, South America and Israel. Translations into foreign lingos have risen this year, with over 2,000 works put into various tongues. Obverse is true of foreign works being imported, which have fallen off somewhat the last few years. Report concludes that publish- ing is in stable form in France, with a slight fall in fiction com- pensated for by a rise in special classical and technical editions. Chas. Dickens Collection A collection of 324 letters writ- ten by Charles Dickens, many of which reveal the author’s lifelong interest in the theatre, has been turned over to the Free Library of Philadelphia by Mrs. Katharine K. ; Benoliel. as a memorial to her hus-' band, chemical corporation head , D. Jacques Benoliel, killed in plane crash Aug. 30. Included are 85 letters to Mark Lemon, one of the founders and an editor of Punch. The Benoliel items added to three other collec- I tions already in the Free Library . will give it one of the most exten- j sive collections of Dickensiana in the U. Career of Texas Jack “Buckskin and Satin” by Her- schel C. Logan (Stackpole; $3.95)),! is billed as "the true drama of Texas Jack Omohundro of the Old ; West, and his celebrated wife, ; Mile. Morlacchi, the Toast of the i East, premiere danseuse, origina- tor of the cancan in America.” In most respects, Logan’s book lives up to this extravagant prom- ise. The career of Texas Jack, Confederate scout, partner of Buf- falo Bill, quondam actor, and hero of dime novels, is fully traced; and his hitherto somewhat slighted ro- mance with Josephine Morlacchi. Italian dancer who acted with Jack and Buffalo Bill, is properly re- corded. Logan’s style makes for difficult reading, but his lack of literary facility is more than balanced by his enthusiasm for his subjects. The book fills a niche in lore of the frontier stage. It is well put together, with many illustrations and a useful index and chronology. Down. CHATTER Bill Early is the new Coast edi- tor of Picturescripts. Neville Brand is writing an au- tobiographical novel. Mildred and Gordon sold serial rights for thein novel, “The Talk- ing Bug,” to American magazine. George W. Joel, head of Dial Press, denies that h^’s bringing out a book by Pinky Lee titled, “Otto, the Bashful Pup.” Andre Fontaine in Hollywood, to look over the film situation for La Monde, Paris daily, df which he is foreign editor. Johnny Weissmuller is writing “Let’s Start From Scratch,” the story of his experiences with film chimps, for a national magazine. The Buteman, weekly journal published at Rothesay, Scotland, celebrating 100th anni under femme editor Mrs. J. M. Steven- son. Pressagent Gunther Law’rence begins a weekly music column, tagged “Musical Discords,” for the Brooklyn Daily, Coney Island, N.Y., area publication, next week. Virginia Bird’s article on Rose- mary Clooney, titled. "Hollywood’s Favorite Songbird,” appears in the Jan. 1 issue of the Saturday Eve- ning Post. Miss Bird is wife of Pete Martin, Post’s chief Holly- wood feature writer. James Hilton, who died Dec. 20 in Beverly Hills of cancer, willed $25,000 to Adele Barricklow, his longtime secretary, and left $500 a month to his first wife and to his father, but did not mention his second wife who divorced him in 1945. World Publishing will bring out Clifton Fadiman’s “Party of One.” an anthology of his writings in Holiday, in April. Same firm will publish the N. Y. Times’ education editor Benjamin Fine’s firsthand report on juvenile delinquency, “1,000,000 Delinquents.” The N. Y. Publicists Guild is holding an open meeting at the Hotel Warwick, N. Y., Jan. 6, with magazine editors as guesters. Speakers will include William Ar- thur, managing editor of Look; Charles Rice, associate ed, This Week, and Thomas Prideau, asso- ciate ed, Life mag. Max Ehrlich’s new novel, “First Train To Babylon,” will be pub- lished in the fall by Harper & Bros. Originally scheduled for Harper’s spring list, the novel, a suspense and love story, was held over when it was also bought by Ladies Home Journal. Journal will publish it earlier, in condensed version. The Bristol (N. H.) Enterprise, a weekly, has been sold by Bow- doin Plumer to Mr. and Mrs. Ed- ward J. Bennett of Canaan N.H., former co-editors and publishers of the Canaan Reporter and Enfield Advocate. Bennett was formerly with Newsweek, while before her marriage Mrs. Bennett w’as on For- tune’s staff. Harry J. O’Donnell, executive as- sistant and press secretary to Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, will handle up- state public relations for the N. Y. Republican State Committee after Jan. 1. He will serve as the com- mittee’s press representative dur- ing the forthcoming session of the Legislature. Herb Hartig hat written a humorous piece on What Every Writer Should Know * * * one of the many byline pieces in the 49 th Anniversary IS umber of t^K-RlETY OVT NEXT W EEK | SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK j +♦+♦♦0*0*4****** By Frank Scully »♦♦♦**♦♦»»♦♦♦♦♦$ Hollywood. It turns out that Thomas Costain’s version of “The Silver Chalice” is not a search, not La Quete du Saint Graal, but the story of the hiding of it by those who rightfully have it and treasure it above life itself. To Hollywood this is a much more dramatic twist. In the vulgate it is known as the “wienie,” a word St. Jerome, who translated the Bible from the original tongues into the people’s Latin, would have loved. It is the chase which keeps a picture moving. Some persons have the object. Others want it In the Warner presentation of Victor Saville’s production, as in 20th’s version of “The Robe,” the chase follows formula, except that in both instances good people have the wienie and Roman heavies are on the hunt for it, either to destroy it or somehow neutralize its mystical repercussions. Produced in Cinemascope and Wamercolor and starring Virginia Mayo, Pier Angeli and Jack Palance and introducing Paul Newman, Saville’s production and direction of “The Silver Chalipe” rides the crest of a renaissance in religion and ancient history. Though looking like gold when seen on altars, all chalices actually are silver. The gold is only a plating because tradition and canon law require that the chalice itself be of silver in conformance with the cup used at the Last Supper. Frazer, Martin, Rhys, Mannhardt and other researchers in folklore have sought to show parallels between the Holy Grail and the Adonis legend, the Tammuz legend, and indeed of similar legends all over the world. They have attempted to show that a food-providing self- acting talisman is not exclusively a Christian belief. This does not, contrary to their possible intentions, make the silver chalice a myth anymore than the presence of uranium in Africa, the Carpathians and Brazil makes uranium in Utah a myth. The distinction between the silver chalice and others is that Chris- tianity believes the chalice contains food for the soul, not the body, and is not a self-acting talisman but the result of a miracle of the Mass which alters bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ in conformance with His statement at the Last Supper. That the chalice was lost and was sought for centuries has been the source of p library of literature in the last 1000 years. Costain added nothing but a fictional version of its origin and the hunt of pagans to destroy it. Tom Costain himself is a bit of a miracle. It is part of contemporary folklore, not found in Sumner’s “Folkways” or Frazer’s “The Golden Bough,” that editors are editors because they can’t write. So they become parasites on other people’s bad grammar. Costain was an old Saturday Evening Post editor. By breaking away from copyreading to writing and turning out one bestseller after another, he has chipped huge chunks off that myth. In this he followed Francis Perry Elliott, who was one of Harper’s editors and whose job it was to keep Mark Twain’s English within bounds. Elliott too believed editors were editors because they couldn’t write. But his wife became desperately ill and he had to quit his desk and take her from New York tp Denver in the hope of saving her lifje. After she died he found in her trunk packets of papers neatly tied with red ribbon and labeled “Frank’s Plots.” Bitter with grief, he turned to writing as a sublimation. The first plot developed into “The Haunted Pajamas,” one of the most hilarious comedies of 50 years ago. After that he vfrote “Lend Me Your Name,” “Pals First” and other hits. This opened the way for the Costains of our era. Costaln’s Contribution “The Silver Chalice,” though highest praised of all Costain’s novels, and in the picture version likely to be one of Warner’s top grossers, is in no sense an original story. Stories dealing with this subject flow mainly down one of two streams. They either deal with the subject as (1) romance or (2) history. Costain has tried to merge these two and that’s what makes it an interesting picture. The romance stream has its source of course in Malory’s Arthurian tales of the Knights of the Round Table. In the search for the Holy Grail, Malory established the grail as the chalice or cup used by the Saviour at the Last Supper and subsequently believed to have caught the blood which flowed from Christ’s wounds as He was crucified. It thus became the original relic of the Christian religion and its value was literally priceless. That the Romans wanted to find it and destroy it could easily be understbod. In the end it turned out that an empire stood or fell around this relic. Other legends revolve around Gawain and Galahad, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.' Perceval wrote a story called “Didot,” consid- ered by many to be the most logical history of the relic. According to Perceval, Christ when imprisoned gave the chalice to Joseph, and the chase was on. In Perceval, whose source was probably Fecamp or Lucca (or both), the grail was of gold and set with precious stones. It reflected a light so bright it extinguished candles. / Another version was that it was not a cup but a precious stone brought to earth by angels and guarded by the Grail King and his tem- plars, or knights. No man supposedly would die within eight days of seeing it, which certainly fortified the king's knights in battles lasting less than a week. It’s tie-in with Christianity was that its life was re- newed every Good Friday by a dove from heaven. In Christianity, the dove is a symbol of the Holy Ghost. Chalice of Antioch Now In N. Y. Prof.-Eisen, former curator of the California Academy of Science, is credited with having found the Chalice of Antioch, which is now at the Cloisters in New York. But of course this, though a rare and prized objet d’art, is not the original silver chalice as used at the Last Supper and around which Costain’s story evolves. That the search for chalices and the belief that they were made of solid gold did not end with the Middle Ages, came to me only last summer. On our ranch at Desert Springs we have a little chapel. One Sunday the padre told us that in 1928 he was preaching in Dusseldorf, Germany, and after Mass a man came to see him to present to him a battered old chalice a friend had given to him. This friend, back in 1916, then in the Prussian army, pillaged a French church, and as his part in the loot got the chalice. He assumed it was solid gold and went through hell trying to keep it hidden from his superior officers j till the war was over. He dreamt of all the uses he could make of that gold. When, however, the was over, he tried to melt it down and found that it was only gold-plated over a hard silver alloy. So he tossed it aside as a war souvenir that had not paid off any more than the war itself had. , In time his conscience began to bother him and in order to get rid of the accusing finer he gave the banged-up old chalice to a friend, who gave it to our padre, Father Patrick Henry Linneman. Father Linne- ^ man took it to a Dusseldorf goldsmith and asked if it could be restored. It was of the Empire period. The jeweler said it would take so much work to restore its beautifully simple design that he could make two copies cheaper. But the padre said he’d rather have the original re- stored. It took months but when completed no expert could detect the | reparations. Such restaurations tnust be pretty discouraging to the forces of evil. These forces have to perpetually face the fact that for all the chalicbs the smash or steal they haven’t a chance of destroying the ■ spiritual force behind these vessels. | It’s a nice thought for Christmas to go with a nice Christmas picture.