Variety (Dec 1928)

Wednesday, December 5, 1928 P ICY fJ ft E S VARIETY 23 LITERATI Lesson or Holler?. ^ The Al Barnes Circus, Charles • Cook and James Van Sbyke were fined ?2,600 and costs by Justice Walsh in the Supreme Court of Cal- -ary Alberta, Canada, last w6ek, after an action for damages brought by the Calgary Herald was heard. Suit was started by the newspaper, which contended that it had been furnished with and. published a fraudulent news article. The action arose as a result of a oublicity stunt pulled by the Barnes people a year ago last June, when vkn Shyke, who represented hlin- self as assistant to Charles Cook, general manager of the Barnes show, sent a wire to the newspaper stating that the company wag^ plan- ning to expend a large sum for the building of a picture studio-in Cal- gary.. As tire dispatch arrived jUst af press time the newspaper had no time to check up on the yarn. The paper later, had to publish a denial of the story to protect its readers from a probable stock selling cam- paign. In handing, down his decision Jus- tice Walsh stated the Evidence showed that Van Shyke had written the article in the local, telegraph office on a regular press telegraph form and had secured a messengeir boy to deliver it to the newspaper offlce, creating the Imprpssion that it had come over, the wire from an, out-of-town source. As Cook's name waa signed to the article and he later refused' to give the paper's cOrresponclent a follpw-up story 6l verify the dispatch sent by Van Shyke, tiie. justice stated that lie was convinced of the deliberate character of this fraud perpetrated oh the .newspapei\ Rowland Field's. Announcement Engagement bf Rowland Field, dramatic editor and critic of the iSrboklyn iDaily "rimes, to Dorothy Adelaide .Hbwland, Yonkers, N. T., was announced today (Wednesday) at a luncheon at the Hotel Ambas- sador, New York. Young Field's mother, Mrs. T. Mortimer Lloyd, Brooklyn Heights, is poetess uiider the name of Anne Lloyd. Her "Antiques and Amber" is being brought out this week by Derrydale iPress.v There is No Substitute for STAGE'BAND ENTERTAINMENT Known aa th« "PAUL ASH POLICY" PARAMOUNT THEATRE BROOKLYN Indefinitely •EXCLUSIVEW COLUMBIA RECOBPINO AKTIST" .Telegraph's Sports Staff . Extent of the Morning^ Telcr graph's (New York) determination to build itself into a sports daily may be judged by the staff sb far assembled, for this purpose. At present the Telegraph's sport per- sonnel reads: Richards Vidmer and Jim Hirrlsbn, from the Nevj- York Times;, Bob Harrbn, formerly of New York Post; Joe Gordon, from New York American; , Westbrook Pegler, from Chicagb 'I'ribune; Dick Williams and Ben Hecht, the latter tiie playwright and scenarist. Hecht will cover fights for the psiper. He Was supposed to have started last week but went to Chicago-for the opening bf his ^'Front Page" in that city NoVi 25. Ring Lardner will also ' probably - do plenty of sport stuff for- the Tielegraph, becoming an. active member of the staff Mon- day.- ■ Whitney Bolton will have charge of the dramatic desk and Wlllard Keefe will do a daily theatrical col- umn. Another member who Is likely to get stagie attractions is Martha Ostenso, authoress. Head staff ar- tist- is Jean Pastoret, previously with Liberty. "Fleet" Phelps, who moved in with the new regime, is news editor. Paper claims a gain in circulation since dropping a good deal of its show stuff. the very first issue of the publica- tion had one • of her own short stories, easily the worst of the poor ones in the lot. , Another, .case Is quite similar, with the come-on also a woman, putting up her own money that her short stories might see print. Deal was engineered by a publishing house which has not less than four, publications, under way at Any one time. . Idea is to capitalize on the fiction .fad of the moment, with the publicatipn to cease as soon as the demand for that particular type oC fiction dropsi- The feminine would-be author had dispatched a short story to the offices of the publishing house. via her secretary in person. The pub- lisher, unaccustomed to receiving contributions in this way, Inauired o£ the secretary as to her mistress' .standing, etc., and got enough in- formation to convince him she Avould make a good angel. He arranged an interview with the ambitious authoress and out- lined a project whereby he woiild publish her stuff If she consented to put up the money for a new mag: The existence of his other publica- tions convinced her sbe could make money on the investment as well as realize,her fond hopes of seeing her stories in print. She agreed, and the n^ag^ was decided upon as a Western story type, although the woman never wrote stuff of that sort. After two issues, in one of AVhlch the woman had published a supposedly Western story, upon ad- vice of the publisher, her grown children stepped in and had the mbnetary contributions stopped. Not always do these angeled pub - llcatibns suffer such a fate. A cer^ tain weekly, now a tremendous money-maker. Is adding ^ couple of' millions to those already pbs- sessed by Its angel. from Chicago who tells them that particular maga7,iiH» has forwai-dod on the material submitted to it, with the advice it i.s not quite up to sUmdard and wowliln't ho revise,the work,Ko th;it it i-an be published, lie tolls tht> author wluit his fee is for the revision and the writer usually sonds'along the money, fig- uring it is worth it in view of the manuscript's practical acceptance by the magay,ine. Magazine then rejoi-Ls the story, with the author out tho ui9ney. for liie i'ovi.slou.wlueh is usually worth- less, or worse. ■ his assistants too well. Anthony M. Kud, former .asst., now edits Ad- venture; William Corcoran, an- other, handles Everybody,;aiid A. H. liittiier, a third, is makint? pood as oditor of the Argosy AH Stoi-y. Too bud editors can,'t bo .jiold like ball pluyvrs. Macfadcjen's School for Boys. Bernan: Maefadden,, who r.uns the New York (Iraphlc, .lias a military school. Ills educational .''eat is In Tennessee and called Ca.stle llipight.- Military School. Ownership came to light when Ciastle Hoisht.s wrote a liprthern military school seeking a football date for a post-season game in New Yoi-k. The two institutions couldn't- get together and the game is off. Castle Heights wa.nted the' cbntost for publicity purposor It luis con- nected with Kt. John's of lUooklyn and,plays there this Pat«irday. Publishing Angels Magazine publishing now hais as much angeling as shbw business. Would-be publishers 'with ideas and no money have discbvered . that finances can be secured for this purpose by playing on the ambi- tions of litertary tyros commanding money. . One such ,person thought he could cash In on the resemblance of the nibnicker. He met In a socal way the wife of a wealthy Park avenue- ite who had written some short stories but never succeeded in hav- ing them published. To her he broached the idea of a fiction mag with the lady as editor and cOn tributor, providing she Could: per suade her husband to put up the cash. She got hubby to do so, and FANCHON and MARCO PRESENT WILL KING in "CHICKENS A LA KING" A BOX-OFFICE TONIC Golden on Nathan John Golden* under the Irdpres- sion that George Jean Nathan nurses a special grudge against him, protested jat an open meeting of the Authors' League of America against the critic writing a piece on the American theatre for the new. iEncyclopedia Brltannlca. Gblden , Is alleged to have said that he opposed Nathan's contribution because he, knew he would be slighted or panned. "Fiction Committee'* Flop The Hearst "Fiction Committee, high-piower experiment Inaugurated some three years ago, has been abandoned. Prof. Burton, English professor, was engaged to head a detached unit which would select serial fiction and have other ma- terial written to order' for use of the string of dailies and syndi- cates. It was a costly investment. Last week, the fiction department ^yaa returned to the syndicates and Bradley Kelly placed in charge. The policy of having novels writ- ten to order will be continued, as these have proven better circula- tion puller than even the best sell- ers with a few. exceptions, notably "Flaming Youth" and "Bad Girl." .Winchell Syndicated ; Over 100 papers are iisinti- Wal ter Winclu ll's . dramatic reviews and column daily, . syndicated through the Central Press Associa- tion. This niakes vVinchell tiie sole dramatic critic whose stuff is syn dicated day by day, the others like Burns Mantle, Percy 'Ham- mond et al., rewi'iting their stuff in a news letter for week-end use once a week. "Winchoirs noticefi In the"Graphic' are dovetailed with his dally col umn that day, both being used to getlier a.s part of the service. Con tral Pre.=;s ha.s 108 papers; buying Winchell. Book on Uotta Crabt-ee ''Troupeiis Of . the Oohl Coast," or 'The Uise of I^-otta Cra'.Uivc.'" by , \)iist,ance . Konrke, is a ivw- Uar- oo.urt, HracC iJi Co. publicatiiHi. Book traces the iutc I.otta. Crabtree's- oa- eer in the gold camp-' of the sierras, the vai i«ny .hails and; gam- bling saloons of San Francisco. Miss Crabtroc died : a few years, inb in Boston . leavinir a large fortune; , ■ Sinjin Ervine's Books St. ,Joh)i Krvine. guest, ilramatic ritic of the New '^Tork. World, has had three :books puiilisheil the past, year. They are "Fom- One Act i'Ma'ys," "The Moiintain,"' . short stories, and "How to Write a Play." To date. Sinjin has, 23 books to lus credit-^ilve novels, 1'2 playi^; one lK)0k of shoi-t stories, two on poli- tics, one book of ess.'iys and two on theatre craft. ' on/es Mrs. Whiffen's Book "Keeping off the Shelf" i.s the title of the autobiography of Mrs Thomas Whiffen, publi.shod by E P. Button. Mrs. Whiffen, 84-year- old actress, last apii)cared In "Just Fancy," musical produced last sea- son, and has managed to keep off the shelf for at least 83 years. Mrs, Whiffen came to this side with her husband, Thomas Whiffen, a singer. In 1868 and has been trouping here ever since. Her memoirs are rich in anecdotes of those early days. Small Time Gypper Postal authorities a,re investigat- ing a nevv stunt designed to mulct money from writers. Scheme Is worked from Chicago, from which point the easy money guy operates an office In a Pennsylvania city bearing the name of a' supposed magazine. This pulSlieatloh sends out announcements it is seeking ma- terial and will pay fancy prices. Result is a large flood of manu- scripts. Authors next hear of the fellow Dooley's Explanations Eddie Dobley, former Dartrnouth quarterback, : and now on the sport staff of the New York Siin, Is the author of a series of gridiron arti- cles appearing In Sport Story Mag- azine, a Street & Smith publica- tion. Stories are written around Dooley's football experiences at Hanover, giving his explanation for the choice of certain plays against Yale, widely criticized at tlie time by newspaper experts. While at the New Hampshire In- stitution, Dooley showed consider- able talent for writing, being known aa Dartmiouth's' "poet laureate." In addition to his newspaper work, Dooley has done some gridiron coaching around New York. Well Trained Eds Harry Maule, editor of Stories, Frontier and West, Short trains skoLras brothers flmBAJ^JTADOR ST, I.OUIS. /v\ci DORIS WHITMORE World's Youngest Prima Donna T9e Dancer and Violinist Now with FANCHON and MARCO'S "UP IN THE AIR" IDEA COMINO EAHT 8HOKTI.Y! BABE MORRIS Queen of Tap Dancers PertHnml i>irpr,tlon FANCHON unil MAKCO Featured in "ARTISTS" Idea Touring WeKt CottHt_Theatrei» MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN! STILL FEATURE ORGANIST AT PUBLIX OLYMPIA, MIAMI (wi red) HAVE YOU SEEN GENE DID QUIET (?) WELL AT^HE PARAMCmNI, NE^^ WEEK OF^ IT'S A PLEASURE! Much obliged, HYMIE SCHALLMANN, and the rest who helped! DEC. 2