Variety (Aug 1932)

HMiJWOOD ISCREEN-STAGE^RADIO BROADmY PubllBhed Weehir at 111 W«at <6Ui St. New Toric br Variety. Inc. Annual nibacrlpttoii; |<. Sln«l« coplM. It ceiilB. Biitered tM aeeoDd-olaaa'oAitter Dectmber 22,- 1^06, at the Pqa> 0m<;e at New Yoi^ic.'N. T.. under (b* .act of Jfarcli t. - ISTf. ■ . COPTEIOH^. m8,.By VApiETy. INC. ALI.JRIOHTp nESERYED . 1V0L. 107. No. 12 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1932 56 PAGES^ ]■ Moscow, Aug. 10. . A 4-day Jubileo will ba staged In ■Leningrad, begrlnnlne . Sept 12 In celebration ot tbe lOOth «nniyersary joc the AlentQdrovaky theatre^ Since Its openinis . in St.- Peterflbuiwr in 1832, the theatre won ;for itself a reputation . em one of; the . world's |»est. After the revolutjlc^n the Soviet government cbang4»^ Itp name to State Academic. Theatre:, Pl^Dr^a. ipike the MoQfiowi^-jf^j^pVil^ealir^ i,*, xnade cetialiji^i^^iillitfi^^^ jtbrm to the. ineW ifineB, but its'ar- tistic spirit remained practically :vntouched. . . Theatrical ahd; cultural leaders ot Ithe whole nati(^n:i^U:be,present.at ,!the celebratlott/An^ several hundred 'itorelgn theatre people; writers, etc. bave been invited.- ; ' The tentative program worked oUt calls ^or the showing of striking jexcerpts from 'Prince Pozharsky,' .the play which marked the opening, of the theatre lOfli years ago. For ifcontrast there will be portions of Soviet plays - such as 'Armed Train.' >- i .-(0<niiUAied dh page'47) ALMOST MMci^ MAN OF JACK CURLEY Jack Curley, sports promoter, iiearly became a circus man, but mad? a quick decision deellning the jK>st. He was Informed by the .french line that, a consignment of lioraes and wild animals awaited ills disposal. It w:a3 the first Curley knew about it, and inquiry dls ■closing the shipment came from Jeff Dickson, fellow sports promoter In X»arls. • Curley reached Dickson by trans- atlantic phone and asked what It was all about. Dickson explained tie had come upon a corking outfit at Marseilles and figured that. It vrould be okay for Madison Square Carden. Curley replied that he Icnew nothing about lions aiid tigers 4nd didn't care to learn. Whereupon Sicksoii suggested that the cargo T»e returned. The animals never le£t the liner. it was the same menagerie that Dickson exhibited in .Paris,' where he discovered his end of the gate ;wa3 not enough to take care of the ibeasts* appetites. To forget the headache he evidently; figured on slipping the show to Curley, y Cafe Men Cross Fingers In Planning New Clubs Due to the market's behavior, and Wth .their fingers crpssed, cafe en- trepreneurs are ogling the coupon- «lipping;trade for the fall and plan- ■ing.'^some new ultra rendezvous in ' the east part of town. • Qdite a few class weekend sup- per clubs for the winter are also fceing planned to follow up on the ftlayfair and Pierrette ventures. Swish, You're Out Atlantic City, Aug. 29. Guess who'» here? A former ^eiqple Impersonatbr! He's the bouncer at a night dub and he's bounclnff all -around: F. I. was formerly well .known ih TaudevUle. T . Los Angelep, Aug. 29, Vaude acts laying off here are grabbing ti few. days' vacation with frep boai^d and room: at Caliente, wbefe ;jtliey. aia£e a yelicarsed. 'im- promptu' entertainment" for tour- ists. ' Resort has discovered that with gambling oir, tourists taking ad- vantage of come-on |1 lunch look for entertainment for the buck lay- out Acts working lii al fresco dining spot keep customers at tables, ne- cessitating spending of additional money for drinks. Cost to Caliente for acts is clean linen, the hctel end being prac tlcally nil. 'Better Times' Ballyhoo, Bot (hily $30 in 3 NH^ Minneapolis, Aug. 29. Minneapolis' needy vaude per- formers staged a. free show in the open air pavilion at Lake Harriet, one of the' city's leading parks, tak- ing up collections ea^h'of the three nights. Show opened with a cOupie sing- ing an original song composed by one of the performers entitled "We Don't Care Because in Our Hearts There's Prosperity.' Total audience collections for the three nights amounted to slightly more than |30: Of this amount, a third went to the 'Showmen's Ben- efit Association,' local organization of vaudeville performers. When they got through with the costs there was less than $1 per person to be distributed among the 18 per- formers for three nights' work. Among . the acta was Charles Johnson, 62, colored dancer, for- nterly of Johnson and Dean. Whether the proposed tour of Minnesota and Iowa towns will be launched is in doubt. Chicago Public £vent Etdom -Under' Newspaper Spon- sorship-r—Good S^iowman- •hip Manifested hy ■ Press —Pageants, Fei^tivalii and O.ther Joumalistically- Prbiiiptecl Events Draw Huge .Gates-^ In- terests, Especially Legit, Do Nothing STAGE UNTOUCHABLES Chicago, Aug. 29. ^ Chi'caflo's uraateat showmen work for newspapers. . Easily the biflgest attractions staged hers in the past liS months have been produced by the Chicag6 Tribune' and its evening competi- tor, tlie . Chicago; 'News.' Two Trib' ' events played, to approxi- mately .° 154,0tlO' paid, admiesions. Three 'News'-sponSofed affairs, in the same period, played to around 127,000 paid admissions.' These events were prcmoted witli these big crowds and grosses ob- tained during a year when show business in Chicago was starving and the legitimate stage, in partic- ular, v.'os suffering from lack of in- genuity, exploitation and the very qualities of showmanship so mark- edly exemplified by the two news- papers. . Of course, the dailies have cer- tain obvious advantages In that un- stinted publicity In their own col- umns is poisslble. 'Tribune' also' has WGN and the 'News' WMAQ, ra- dio stations, to fire from the ether end. Tet the contrast between the imagination, resourcefulness and shov^pianiiness of the newspaper (Continued on page 65) APPROVED PK GOSSIP TO CURB RADIO DlRr on _4- Window Grosses Haberdashery shop,In Times Square Is tryiner to:stjlmuIatjB- buying by quotiniT jxo^ses. of; the Broadway film .tb^tres.: Store's angle Is that boK offlces reflect a - return- to prosperity, and even though some , of the .figures mean red-to a theatre^ the .passing public may figure H's'big •anyhow* " - . . ' Shop'has a board'out front' ..whete 'idiUr-Qan see; It rea^Is: - 'Depression, eht I^obk at tbe estimates for. lasj week front leading Broadway -.theatres.' It then lis£s the dB,pitol, Pisra- tnpunt. Strand,- Rosy,; Mayfair, Palace and,' for good measure, Minsky's' Bepubllc. AH ■ Chicago, Aug. St. ' - On • basis of the handful of events now open and operating, tHe 199S Century of Frogreisa ^xposltloii toaght to be ah eiipehslve form 'of amusement ' It costs a couple |.4.7<^ to enter the grounds and .visit the few- iipots available 16 months':be« forie the Fair opftns. '^Is budget* at* follows for two persons: ' . 'Orounds . ,BU8 . . . flku of srci0nce.: ' Ptr. bearbern replica, AlU^atoir'.Fanh. V. Midget blimp..,..,;. * .Mld>vay xldes. . i... ' Adinit'al '.Pj^rd Sh'lp.,'... . ■ lilnbolh dif^play.. > •.»• t,., • ^»*«. .60 .30 t30 .SO .30 ,B0 .60 The Commissioner Of. Interna,! Revenue at Washington has rcr versed the Treasury. Department, of which his bureau Is a part and negated the regulations covering the new admissions tax by ruling that newspaper people entering theatres in pursuit of reportorlal duties shall not pay tax. This may start a con- troversy in tax circles, but the rul- ing appears to have been the result of careful consideration on the part of (he chief tax comnilssioner. The favorable ruling came as the (Continued on page 46) -Total' . •.,.*. •>.'f"* .J4.70. Buildings are strewn ^lohg the narrpw- strip 'o.f: lakefront for. 10 miles ;tn%king; tlie bus .mandatotr* It'^ a specially constructed xubber- heck" with .seats' 'rliniiihg; parallel with' the roa^. ' Buses carry aibout 70 passengers' per Ioa.d. Nothing is free except" 'Hie ' I'raneportatiop building at the ;,extreme'^ endj of -tb6 grounds. This building is' Indoth^ plete. - '•• ■ • , . . -..r . Relies at^Two^itir' Lincoln display.is a log enclosure' which costs 26 cents per' person tQ .(Continued ptv.pa|^ 46^) . ' Hollywood, Aug. 29. StudioSi now realizing value of the air for picture personnel exploita- tion, are supplying a dally news let- ter to around 90 Independent sta- tions, with material for local air picture gossip. Back of the scheme Is also the Intention to halt peddling from here of harmful dlrt-gosslp material that was being syndicated by free lancers who 'were not worrying too much about the truth of the stufC sent out. Radio Pictures st£urted the free news service as on adjunct to its 'Hollywood on the Air.' Paramount tias since followed suit, with Metro preparing to In&titute a similar scheme^. - Oil on the Sidt Baltimore, Aug. 20. Haying demolished th» former burley ^tand, ilie Folly, Hon kichols, operator ot the burlesque Gayety here, is putting up a gas station on that corner. Will operate the gas and oil busi- «• • u x nf ness in conjunction with hurley at ^dtlOW in JtSarnS at 25C the Gayety and straight film at the 'Embassy. Also planning to start his cabaret again later this fall. Eclipse as Opposition Dennis, Mass., Aug. 29. Raymond Moore, manager of tlie Cape PlayhouAe. legit, announced that t»ecause of the sun's eclipse Wednesday (31) the starting time of the matinee will be advanced. Idea Is to give people time to view the air spectacle, which Is a new,; kind of opposition. MM SHALL NOT PASS, BUT UQUOR TRUCK OK Malvern, la., Aug. 20, ^ The milk price war hereabouts is' causig no end of trouble for rum^ runners. A number of delicfite eitr nations have arisen^ and ironed out. Farm strike pickets, stopping all vehicles headed for Sioux City, car- rying rfillk; or produee; or suspected of hauling *' ifrodiice,' Introduced themselves 'to "a" t-Uriher' when they stopped hie car. '' "I've got; a'load of booze/' was bis reply to"plckets who stopped his: machine' through' the simple eicpe« dient of' laying a spike studded plank aerosd the road. 'VeriCylhg the statement, the' pickets allowed hln> to. pass, ■ ' With $20 Grosses High ... Tacoma,.Aug. 29, Show p.epple, vaudevlliians, inan-: agers, carpi boys, etc., are already arriving. here seeking Jobs in big fruit and vegetable, garden tr&cts awaiting, the opening of the Puyall- up Fair.. Some of the jahowmen are cashing in big giving performances in barns and warehouses 'with the grand blowolf a hoc-down dance. Admis- sion charge runs to 25 cents with orders taken on those farmers with- out the jingle. Some grosses are as high as 120.