Variety (Sep 1933)

VAKIETY PICT Royal Chaplain Says HoDywood's Oke kt Goes to Bed Too Early Hollywood, Sept. 11. ,. Unusual for Hollywood visitors from Europe, the Rev. Baillie, Dean of Windsor,' is'spending a w^ek iii the picture capitol. Dean admits 'he likes the place, the people, pic- tures and actors. Unlike his com- patriot, gloomy Dean Inge, of St. Paul's, the cferic thinks that every- thing is pretty much all right, not only here in Hollywood but throughout the world. Forewarned that Hollywood was 'a pretty hot spot, he suffered a surprise when discovering that pic- ture people generally are 'extraor- dinarily well behaved.' 10 b.'clock Yawns 'T discovered that Hollywood is an.early to bed town. Several pic- ture, people who are friends of mine start yawning at 10 in the evening. Most go to bed itop early. In iion- dpn, we get the impression that Hollywood is. an extremely formal place. I have found it quite the opposite,' declared the Dean. The De^n didn't mince words when asked if he was a picture fan. ■ 'i prefer the theatre,* he said, •because of its greater intimacy with the players.' Most of his time here was ^ent .at Fox, which has the largest Eng- lish* contingent of players. Cafifornia Test Case On j^ency Retainers Hollywood, Sept. 11. Constitutianallty of the Califor- 'nia. private employment agency law, which has been worrying agents on the Coast, will be at- tacked in an appeal to be filed in Superior Court on 'the decision of -Municipal Judge Dockweiler grant- ing State Labor Commissioner MacDonald judgment against Chas. M. , BIan«h£ird,i agent, and the Royal Indemnity Company, a bond- ing firm. ApiJeal will be based on the. con- tention that the ruling that agent who accepts advance fees for pub- Ifcity or other services has taken Ushers Hi Hat Mgrs. Birmingham, Sept. 11. The Birmingham Theatre Employees Association was formed here last week and elaborate club,quarters are be- ing constructed for the ushers on the fifth floor of the Ala- bama building, Everyone connected with the Wilby theatres will be eligible for loafing on the nice soft seats except the managers. All the managers will get will be a carpet to sit on, as usual. Irving Leer's Wife Asking for Too Much Sugar Marital woes of Irving Lesser, manager oif the Roxy, T^Tew York,- and the Fox,' Brooklyn, are aired in the $100 alimony claim, and $1,000 counsel fees by Mrs. Helen Lesser, former show girl,-who is suing for separate maintenance. Justic'c Alvln Untermyer held, for the hus- band and denied her any financial relief but, upon petition of her at- torney for a re-hearing, another argument on ^irnqny. and counsel fees comes up tbmorrow (13) before him. Seemingly Justice Untermyer be- lieved Lesser's answering affidavits that his wife's illnesses, countless hospital and doctor bills, were caused by her predilections for over- imbibing. Papers are markedly de- ployment - for an actor, is uncon-, stitutlonal. Suit brought by the Labor Commissioner claimed that four actors had advanced Blanchard $lt)0 each when signing artists' contracts with him, and that he failed to provide employment. PIGSEL SNOBTS AT 'ESCAPE' Hollywood, Sept. 11. With Irylng Pichel not, liking 'Es- cape to Paradise,*^ his two-plctuire deal with Radio Is temporarily off. Now ^being tested for heavy In Metro's 'Viva Villa.' lEEOrS LEGIT YEN Mervyn. LeRoy* Warner director, in the. east on a vacation, leaves In 10 days to return to Coast. Wants to take a fling at a, Broad- way show at some later time, when possible. INDEX Bills El Burlesque 63 Chatter .59-62 Editorial 62 Exploitation 19 Fil m Reviews ».... 17 Foreign News • 19 House Reviews 14-15 Inside—Legit 62 Inside—Music 52 Inside—Pictures 23 Inside—Radio 40 Inside Vaudc 52 Legitimate 53-55 Letter List 63 Literati 56 Music 45-4G New Act-s .'»«... *.«r • 1 •.. • -48 -"'^Ws from ll)e Dailies.... 5S Oblt„ary 63 Outdoo^-g G3 Pictures .....^ 2-37 Iladio \S 38-45 Radio Reports .\ 40 Talking Shorts , .V 17 Times Square .... I 57 VaudevWle \ 47-50 WILL MAHONEY This week, RKO Theatre, Toronto Archie Bell in the! Cleveland 'Plain Dealer' said: "After careful consideration I'd pick Will Ma- honey on the new bill at Loew's State as the funniest chap In town; in fact, he's one of the funniest in the country." Direction RALPH G. FARNUM Roosev.elt Hotel Hollywood, Cal. BICYCLING BETTY COMPSON Week's Booking Includes Six Houses Daily—Five Minute' Shows' Detroit. Sept. 11, Herschel Stuart Is experimenting with the bicycling of screen star personal appearances, first one is Betty Compson. Playing the star for a full-week .he is putting her in six houses every day during this current week. Making a five min. appearance 'n each house. Twice dally In five houses and once in the other house. ' All' hotises are nabe with the exception of the iState and Fisher and include also the Riviera, Sastown, Ramotia and Birmingham. Guest star appearance will be a weekly event with' Lew Cody ap- pearing next week. Haines at Large Hollywood, Sept. 11. William Haines, who has made only .one picture at Metro during jtro during |v . C *!■ I P " "- .ri ii tft berts •wili exercise their option with Septen^r 12, 1933 Uing ii jfinne j^f?^^ MfT" ) tions^rl on yviel An^More Not Enongh ! Hollywood, Sept. 31. Centrist,! Casting office had bifTfe'st placement for August in flive years last month, with 37,832 getting jobs, despite the holler there was not enough work-for extras. For first week September placements ran 13,000. Two fletsi one at Warners and other ColumK^ bla, had to be postponed on a.c'if count of Inability to get dress .ai^jf othet peoplfe to fill studio re^iulr«^ ments. Monday (11)-cohtiniiied be big, with 1,700 placed.. Stop Borrowing Studio Costumes, Sez Warner; It Doesn't Help NRA Hollywood, Sept. 11. Chiseling , by studio execs an l actors in the matter of wardrobes for personal or costume parties will have to cease. That's, a warning from Jack Warner who, in the capacity of state chairman of the NRA, Informed all studios that to help the blue eagle cause they must cease permitting' their people to \)orrow wardrobes from studios. Purpose of the recovery act, he pointed out. Is to iget monesf into circulation and costumes can be rented from establishments operat- ing for that purpose. Number of studios have recently been complaining about executives, stars and directors taking up paijt of their time by hiiving costum^ remade and fitted for parties. Coi-; tume dances have been quite tlic thing of. late along the coast, ms^ti ing the situation that much m^ijie acute. lEtollywood, SeDt. .11... ;,RibbIng bigwrlters who w;lll be- feve 'anythlS they read on Inter- ce comlwinlcatlon slips has ac had - sul t^ peak In certain udioTthi^ soi* ,of ttie scribblers 1th scanf Benigei; of humor, havljig een bittqft ofte», are beginning to »'e wary i»f a-ny order that comes to them p thatiform. Jokestefs usually wait until Satp urday Jiterhpoa when the tpp execff h|ve leftj'for the week-end and tWlr' victims cannot cheCK back. -..Tierefore. it communique thn* looks stfe-vfry stlti must, be, parrle^l, out by/fhe ribbon jiast In case tftie exec, -wliose hfiime^^s typet\^ritten ict the bottbtn, jreally; issued "It. Recent Instancjf is a Writer at Warners who refeived a message from one of the jjtudlo heads tell"- Ing him to read;'The Wandering Jew,' a n^ere ittmphlet of 1,20.0 pages, 'Bring ^ a sympathetc treatment on thi^ the comrtiunlcfir. tlon read, 'with E;award G. Robin- son In mind for ,the title part. I can see..another;.'Tiger Shark' iix this one.' , .Writer tried Vainly to get In tdiiph with the (fexec whose name wa$ at the bottom of the missive* but failed to connect. Studio head, \ylid' was in Saiii; Prancisco, heard of , It and loh^Vdlatanced every writer on the. payroll to learn what eJ^ch was worlifng on oyer the. •vyeek-end. -V Par's 'ClatterW? Paramount is interested In doing 'Lady Chatterleyjs Lover* this sea- son and has put out a feeler on ob - jtalnlng rights. Novel created a stir ja few years ago iand In its brlglnal, edition was banned, with publica- tions later on afier getting cleaned ■up- .:,:U Stage and film Tights are held py, Jaclc Llnder, with whom par has been In contact. .;In effecting a deal •much depends oa^ whether the Shii- the theatre man merely pointing out by court records and cancelled checks that he' had been suffering numerous annoyances because of his wife's tempestuous outbreaks. Disorderly These included an incident' at the Fox, Bi:ooklyn, where she allegedly tore up theatre statements, result- ing in her arrest and conviction, for disorderly conduct, with sentence suspended, at the husband's request. This didn't deter her subsequent phone calls and allegedly Insulting niessages -left at his plao^ of busl- .ness. They were married Oct. 20, 1921. May 9, 1931, wife alleges he w'alked out cold on their St. Moritz hotel apartment In New York. She sets forth that he voluntarily gave her $75 a week and paid hospital bills, etc., for a time, but later cut the cash to $26 and lapsed at times. Through his attorney, David Oreenstein,, Lesser details how, when he first married her, his In- come was around $18,000 In 1924; that it is nothing like the $9,000 or so she alleges today; that his stiring of Long Island theatres forced him Into bankruptcy; that he isn't man- aging director but merely house manager at the Broadway Roxy and Brooklyn Fox houses; that her doctor studiously fails to state that it Is for nervous disorders. Induced by self-indulgences, that he's treat- ing her; that he doesn't add that her own sister committed her to Belle- vue for acute alcoholism, etc. dropped by 8t>. dio. When signing contract year ago Haines took drop from $1,750 to $1,500, Colman in Spain Madrid, Sept. 1. Ronald Colman Is here visiting with "Rex Smith, American news- paperman. No mention of when he's going back to New York or. Hollywood. FAB BUYS TWO Two new stories have been pur- chasied by Par for filming this sea- son. .They" are *Rumba,' original by Guy Endore, and 'Andrew's Har- vest,' novel, by John Evan's. M-a IIKES HABTEA SLEEPEB Hollywood, Sept: 11. Metro lifts Its option next Aveek ot) Martha Sleeper. Ingenue has been on the lot about a year. Lionel Barrymore doesn't waflt a legit play. So he informed CWsby Gaige, who wanted the actor for an European script he's producing, 'A Hat„,a Glove-, a Mantle'. Gaige has begun negotiations with Paul Muni. Muni's Qn the coast for a picture, but reftdy to come back within a month, ie says. Landlady Sues Hynier For Damages to House Los Angeles, "jSept. 11. Charging that a house leased to Warren Hymer during 1932 had been damaged, Mary J. Woqd has brought suit for $2,000 against the actor In Municipal court Landlady specifies In her com plaint that furnishings were ruined by spilled liquor anid clgaret burns and that furniture was thrown Into the swimniing pool. Also that springs of beds and davenport had been damaged by being jumped on the stage. Optiop expires Oct. i. - FLINN UNOPPOSED AMPA Will F0ed Retiri Home, Prez SAILINGS Sept. 19 (London to New York) John McCormack .Europa). Sept. 14 (New York to Ix)ndon) Henry Hall (Bercnparia). Sopt. 13' (New York to Paris) Jacqueline Francel, Marcel 'Vallec, Jo.shic Fujiwara (Lafayette). Sept. 1<) (Los AiiKOjes to New York), George C. Pi'att (Fenn.^yl vania). Sept. 9 (New York to Paniima) Jack llapptiport (Santa Maria). Sept. 9 (New York to Paris) Dorothy Gi.sh (Pari.s). Relatives Must Have It to Get By Casting Corporation to Ban Favoraifir, Fineg*^ ling and Nepotism Hollywood, Sept. 11. Bookers and employees of the Central Casting corporation will no longer place relatives and depend- ents in extra jobs at the major stu- dios. Neither will they take care of the girl friend, or her friend, political requests and personal fa- vors to studio execs and'employees who want .some of their dependents or favored ones given mob work in the studio, wl ich keeps the regular registered and needy extras out of employment. This move was taken last week by Dave Allen, head of the office upon orders from Fred Beetson, president of the C. C. C. It is fig- ured that some 100 were affected b'y the order that was given out. V At a meeting.of the Producers Association to % held shortly re- quests will be ttidv of the body to Issue a slmllarorder In their stu- dios to the casers that no special requests are tcbe made for people from the centil office tind that If they have d^Jhdent relati.ves and others who at depriving the regu- larly register^ extras df work their studio activit must Immediately be curtailed. The mov(e«ik*n by Beetson with respect tol'he ce .tral office was after varia charges were hurled to the effjithat a good percentage of the e«a, jobs given out were being flljf'by relatives of employ- ees of tMiofflce and *<? a means to favor fitfo casters and executives. t New officers will be elected by the AMPA Thursday (15). No op- position names .have been put up against the list picked by the nom- inating committee so that the en- tire slate will go in as picked. That will make John G, FUnn president; Rutgers Neilson vice-president; Paul Benjamin, treasurer, and Al Sheripan, secretary^ Board of directors will consist ol Hal Home, Marvin Klrsch, Charles Elnfeld, Paul Gulick, Gabe Yorke Ed Finney and William Ferguson while Kelcy Allen will be named J trustss- fer.^tti'ree years. TuesdayTol^) arrangint a testlmoniall dinner at the Pari Central for »Har Home, retirlni •president. Writ^Pacts OK Difficulties co] izatlpn And for tract involved with. Rodgers-Hi Lane hdve been the Sorig Writer! concerned. ^» Negotiations c6d\^ l^l^eted L. Wolfe Gilbert. llywood, Sept. 9. .cerning synchron |of publishing con ■Metro's cdvenant >t and Adanison '•ettied as far ^ Association i throug i; A<iela Rogeis tf.;^*'^^'^ Adela Rogers St John H^?l!h^ recently writing a book on Long- Island, will go cn Pat's writing staff in Hollywood. Novelist's sfervlcG?'' .are Avantfcd first on atIaptation_ of a Kupert Hughes' sitory, 'Mi.si,,Faiio'.<? B.iby is Stolen,' Eugene "Vlalter will coll laborafe. MABION DAVIES HI Holly^vood, Sept. 13. , Illness of Marion Davies cause Metro to tcmpornrJIy {nJJ ofL..'aoir> Hollywood.' ; r*t Date of resumption jncorii \ o