Variety (Sep 1933)

S4 VARIETY Tuesday, September 19, 1933 OBITUARY MARTIN HERMAN Martlh Herman, 6Q, • prominent, iii legit show biiiainess for SfO years, died in New York of heart failure Sept.' Iffi He had apparently been in thie best of health the previous day. ' . '■ , ■ .. He was a .brother of Al. H. Woods, and became associated Vith him in' 1905 as producer and gen , eral inanager^ Woods attained fame as a manager, Herman eluding the limelight but as a tea,m they were highly: prosperous until the. road tours were no longer profitable, A few^ 3f thj stars who have ap- peared under their managenient are John and Liionel Barrymore, Dustin Farnum, Claudette , Colbert, Ann Harding, Katharine Cornell, the late Barney Bernard, the late Xiouis Mann, and Florence Reed. No one Broadway ~ produce]^ diieyeloped. as mlich talent for Hollywood as did the Woods office. Its walls are studded with noted professional faces, iiny number of players who were virutally unknown until com- iii grateful' appreciation of the many thpugjitful pretsiontt of sympathy ahd. condolence recffived froni our friends in the. profession fol' lowing death my father, Samuel Elkeles. PERCY ELlCELES Sumner, Arch S.elwyn, Morris Gest, Sam Forrest, Walter. Moore,' Rich- ard . Herndon, W. D; Weinberger, Arthur Hopkins, Leo Donnelly, p. H. Sulllvanj: Jr., and Ja<k -Pulaski WALLY HELStON Wally Helston (Walter IHa), 60, died suddenly of. a heart at- tack Sept. 1 the Casino theatre at Wildwpod, N, J. He came from England in 1892 and .worked with his sister Kitty, known as 'The Hfelstons, English Top Boot , pknc- ers.' Later on^5 worked with his other sisters, Grussie^ a:nd Dolly, known ,as 'The .Helston Trio.' In later years he and his wife were known as 'Wally and Xiottie Hel- ston.' For'the past twelve years he has been' manager for Hunt's The-j a.tres in Wtldwoodv N- J.—I Survived by his widow, Lottie; one sister, and tw;o bifothers. He was a Shriher, an "EXk. ahd mem- ber'of the Knights of Pythias. Funeral services were held in Wildwood and interniient in Greieh- wood Cemetery, Philadelphia', Pa. In|r under Woods' management,, Not. only did Woods and Hen](\an de- velop talent but* they eiicourage'd .authors. After a long Ifst'pf melo- dramas they were just- as success- ful wl^h farces, such as 'Getting Gertie's Garter,'. 'Up in Mabel's Room.' in addition were the then lioted dialect 'Potash and Perlmut- X&f comedies. Albert Herman was of the three "way cdtnbination Sullivan, Cpn- sidihe and Woods, he assuming the latter name. 'Sam H. Harris was also in the combination when melo- drama was native to the. Bowery.- When Woods, went pn his own, •Marty', Herman ^joined with him. In the .early, days they produced such thrillers as .,'Queen 'of the Whit^ Slaves,' 'Secret,Service Mah,* 'Chinatown Chiirlle,' 'The ' Gtfeat Express Robbery.' In their iiriine they presented such highly polished mellers as 'The ShiEinghai Gesture/ JThe Green Hat,' and 'The Trial of Mary. Dugan,' latter probably tlielr' most profitable venture. During the war-.came the noted ' 'Friendly En- emies' and the line of bedroom farce:|,«. The prolific Owen Davis supplied most of the melodramas for the Woods office, which produced more than 300. attractipns; As inahy as six companies of. a, Wpods Brpadr way Success toured* simultaneously. It was Herman" who attended to the vast detail, involved, the. bookr ings,. actors contracts, . engaging of the many people connected ■with the shows, contracting for scenery and cpstunies and always driving a bar- gain in which his ke^n mind kept the upper hand. While. theatre- goers did hot know him, hordes of actors came' in' frequent contact with Herman and all showmen re- spected, his ability. 1 .......^ '.Among newspaper men |Marty'. •Herman was one of the best liked, men on Broadway. With them he ■wias always liberal and he was a news source that kept reporters In the dramatic' departments dropping Into his office, continuously. ' He could be rough and .often -Vvas but the 'boys' came back for more. His sense of humor wa;s unfailing,' one side of his charac.ler that kept l^lm a bachelor. When he failed to appear at his office last Thursday (16)'hii3 secrcr tary telcphyncd the Alr^e apart- ments on East 67th street, , the manager entering and finding him lifeless. His friend, Dr. Philip W. ransmah, ivas summoned and said that Herman passed away of heart failure while asleep. Funeral services were- conducted Sunday (17) at the Riverside Mem o r i a 1 Chapel which was ==oammed--Avlth=the^-mosWEeprcsent^- tive theatrical, gathering in years, There Were eulogiea by Rabbi Dr, Stephen Wise and Loney Haskell, latter,, acting for the Jewish The atrlcal Guild. Remains were taken to Fresh Pond for cremation, fol- lowing his wish expressed to Dr, Grausmah. Among the honorary pallbearers were George M» Cohan, Malcolm DUDLEY S. HUMPHREY Dudley S. Munaphrey, .81, former- ly of Ak.ron, .widely .known in the amusement .field in..Ohip.. and thje midwest, dled^ Thursday,. Septehiber; 7,. at his home in Cleveland.'- He, haid been \iil all sumiher;. He was the ■. founder. Euclid Beach .Park,- In. Cleveland, one of. the , .laxge;Bt • midwest jBiipusemient centers, With $li ,borrowed frpm a CPusin he -stja-rted Selling 1: 'pop, corn, .busine;ss .which.. eventually brought him this' title of 'pop corn king.' He was past president of the National . Association ' Amuse-!- nient Parks ' of'"America. Burial iii tiighlahd Park cem- etery, Cleveland. A. LEO FLYNN A.-^ Leo Flynn, 53, who has been business manager for James K. Hackett, Otis Skinner and others, died' in .Brentwood, I^. J., Sept. ris. His .body was found in the woods near his honne after he failed, to- return home ifrom a'walk. Autopsy revealed an acute, kidney , ailment aggravated> by exposure.... His last activity was as- manager of 'The Vags^bond King' about three years a'go; ^tnce then he -has been living = with his "wife at the home of :a -former eniploye.- His widow survives; -. He -wa;s a member of the Players and of the Theatrical-Press Repre- sentatives of America. . . FRANK, X. BREYMAIER Frank X. Breymalerj who at one time or other had. operated half a dozen Schenectady theatres, as well as two in Amsterdam, died In ^Schenectady, N., T., recently, fol- lowing a long illness. Deceased was widely known . among travelihg show folks, hiaving played all kinds of atttactlons at. his-houses. In recent, years he had beeii most active in the picture theatre bpier ating field. JAMES L, BUTT James L. Butt, 50,. newspaper man and .legit manager, died of splhal nxeningltls. at .the University p£ Gallfornia hospital, 'San Francis CP, Wednesday (13). He "Vl'-as on the Chicago 'Daily News'' in the old ittecht-McArtiiUr days,, and latier was staff corre- spondent for the sheet in Shangha and Pekini: Returning to. America, he press- lagentesd- sind Tnanaged several shows. CHARLES POTSDAM Charles Potsdam,'5.8, died In.. New York Sept. 14', after an illness of five years. He was well known in managerial circles having handled the Aineri- can theatfe when under Loew cohr trol and later olficiatinglh a .'similar capacity at the Greeley Square. He was at the latter, house when com. pelled by sickness to retire. Survived by his.wife. LOUIS M. GLACKENS Louis M. Glacicens, 67,: led in =New-=Tork^SeptiHlOr^He'w^^^ the .first cartoonists to take up art imation for the sc 3 Survived by his and brother. ARTHUR ROP£S Arthur Ropes, 73, who under the pen name Of Adrian Ross ■wrote the lyrics for 'Merry Widow" and other I operettas, died in Lcidon Sept. 11 Among his more important con trib.utlons wer« the lyrics for 'Thd Dollar Princess', 'Mons'cur Beau caire'i 'Morocco , Bo inu' 'The Naughty PrIncoEs' and 'Lilac Tiine' He found time In between to write a number of books, ch efly his- torical. ALFRED SUTRO ,., Alfred Sutrp, 70, author of mope than ^0 plays, died in London Sept. 11. His last dramatic ofCering here was' 'John Gladye's Honor,' done In 1928; His first hit: wais 'The Walls pf Jericho* In 1904, but his first stago 'work was 10 years earlier when he aided George Meredith In adapting 'The Egoist' in 1894. LOU MAGNOLIA Lou. Magnolia, 64,: died Sept. 16, in the Rockaway Beach hospital, Queens. Death was caused' by a cancerous condition pf ■ the throat^ iie was a widely known fight, .referee and trainer, land. had been engaged 'for many of the big. figlits of recent years. survived by his Widow, two sons and a dauE^hter. Following husband by' less than half a year, Mrs. Rose. Mooser, widow ■ of Samuel Mooser, passed away at " her San Frahclsco home last Wednesday (13). She was. 86. Mrs. lyibosier was the mother of George iSBlobser, p.a. .with MGM, and Hartie and; Miniiie Mooser, who op- erate room ,in San - Franr cli^co. Mdther of Paul Le Vere, Reed and Le''Vere, died at her^ son's home in New York, Sept. 5. interment- In Calvary cemetery. Mother,. 89, of David Warfleld, died In San Francisco Sept, 18. Sur- vived by two sons and two daugh- ters. Fathei* of Percy Ellceles died Sept. 13 after a prolonged illness.'' Rates Going Up (CphtinUed from page'31) on a quarter hour basis. WEEI operates ^pn 1,000 watts and is pwned by the Bdlspn Electric Cp. of that city. Bpbst here means that the . cost of the 20 . stations on the red network, of which'^ WEEI is a member, goes frpm $6,230.to $6,380. Revised ratb card gives WJR $500 for the hour, $312 the half hour, and $196 fpr ,16 minutes. DetrPit outlet, indie , owned, was previpusly sold'by the hetw'orlc at $340 ah hPur. This additional $160 win refiect it- self m the new level for the 17 out- lets, that make up the . blue link. Makes the new total cost $4,780. In the Instances of WFAA- WBAP, WSB and WSM the nudge upward for each, is from $190 to $300 on the hour. New half hour rate' is $188 tind for IC minutes $118. Each of these outlets shoots 60,006 watts, with the first part of the southwest sUpplementarles and the other two Included in the south central group. NBC avers that this latest batch of " rate revisions shouldn't be treated as boosts. It prefers to have them regarded, as adjustments. Practically all the old levels, it ex- plains, date back to 1927 and that It was ,time that changes were made for those stations where the differ- ences as to ppwep Increases, oyer this period, have been so marked as to be totally out of .proportion to the network rates asked for them. CBS has also gone in for a rate boosting campaign. For a stjarter it's putting Into efCect Oct. is a tilt on the asking pricie of four sta- tions which It either owns: outright or holds . a partnership interest. They are WABC,. N. Y.; WGAIT, Philly; WSJV, Washington, and .WCCO, Minneapolis. Changes have WAfeC goingf from $800 to $950 an hour in the eVenIng, WCAU from $400 to $450, WSJV from $175 "to $200 and WCCO from $300. tp $360. IncreaisSs lyith T€!gard to Philly, New York and Washing- ton will from Oct. 16 on make the cost of the 22 stations on the basic network $5,600. Cost here pre- -vlously^had-been-$6,3T5;--Undcr-the rate card revision the. northwest^ ern group, of •which Minneapolis is a member, shifts from a total ccst of $935 to $985, In a letter sent clients advising them of the rate changes, the net- work points out that the boosts, averaging^ about 16%, are ^out- weighed' by the fact that these stations have had their power in- crea'scd by an average pf 600% since the old rate went Into effect- During this time WABC ha^ gone from 6,000 to 50,000 watts, WCAXJ from 10,000 to 50,000 watts, WSJV from 260 to 10,000 watts an.d WCCO from 6,000 to 60,000 watts. Whll9 in 1920 the commercial, further ex- plains the network, paid at the rate of 69c per thousand radio homes within the measurecl listening areas of the Cpluinbia basic network,, the new unit cost, even With the in- crease, comes to 38c ;per thousand family sets. Producers Code .(Gphtlhued frpm page 36) ment over that. Lahr-Balleyi-Sims combo.. On. the subject of Lahr, the Thoihpspn agency , aVers that the ungh-ungh-ungh comedian' was mbre than adequate. They go strict- ly by, sales. They held up over the summer jdnd If the. C&S air show did ho damage, it can't be .counted aigainst Lahr,' et al. Seemingly the sponsors and the agency discount anything and everything as regards the momentum of this peak hour—It ratel tops when Cantor was: head- liner—carrying It ^long for a spell. DUrante's nonsense, with his unv finlshed - symphony a nd the broad hokumesque pt^lnky^ink-lnky-dink piahbloigy 'went for. wpw Returns.. The In-personal -audience on the coast,. simulating the same Idea as in New York, likewise was Unroa'ir- ioUs about Miss Etting's songalogy.' Her 'Just a Yfear Ago Tonight' was among the pip renditions. C&S' frank merchandisinjg was through, the. niedium^of a cut-rate •d^ted- coffee' offer celebrating the 4th anniversary of the product all through the month of September. Hearst on Bankers .W. R. Heiirst pfobahly won't be Invited to address the nbxt conven- tion of the American Bankers' As- sociation as result of his NBC chain address Saturday at 11.-11:16 p.m. from KFI, Los Angeles,' across the entire network on the subject of 'Inflation, Deflation and Reflation.' ' Publisher was convincingly within his element as he burst thd bubble of the popular bugaboo^fear now per- vading America as regards that ole debbil inflation. Hearst miinimized its dire effect^ and in actuality advo- cated' a mild Inflation, Which he called reflation, to bring' national prosperity up to the halcyon 1928 par daysv . He went after the bankers In no hedging terms to telling about their selfish fears on the subjept, for the rieason that the greater-eivaluated dollar of 1932 .which they lent out may not have the sanie'-vallue when they get it back in late '33 or '34, but he dismissed this selfish money- lending fear as being something not for the general good of the entire American, public. All in all, Hearst made, a good Impression all around. He certainly sounded foreign to the popular cpnceptlons of Hearst and. his fiouted 'yellow journalism,.' Fred Allen's Nifty Comedy One of the champ comedy shows oh the air Is Fred Allen's clever tomfoolery for benefit of Hellman's mayonnaise's gross Sales. It's- tip- top class show that Insults nobody's Intelligence yet enjoys the happy faculty of not being over the cran- iums of the boobies. It's in toto a generally appealing show with the stuttering Roy Atwell, the smooth straiightlne Portland Hoffa, Jack Smart, the Smart Ferde Grofe or- chestral accompaniment, the Song- smiths, et al., dovetailing Into a corking presentation. As president of Titanic Pictures, the" studio nohsensery as purveyed by Allen Is probably the liriipre rap- pealing to the sheW-wise. The bit with Baby Leroy is one example. Clever manner of kiddingly get- ting over the ad plug is tops, along with the best in that school of humorous .merchandizing. '. Beer Program Better Realigned Liebmanri's beer half- hour Saturday night is for th6 bet- ter. The overplus of the gurgle-- gurgle biz to get over, the pouring Of beer Is a:bSent. Colorful. Central Park Casino for Eddy Duchln*s music, in place of Jack Denny last 'week at the equally swank Waldorf- Astoria, is an ultra bacltgrouhd. Ray Perkins is cleverly Introduced for his stUnt. Louis A. Witten sounds better than he did before. About the Only concern should be to get those dialectic maitres d'hotel to enunciate clearer and with the same pep- and gustp as when they're two- fingering a party to a table behind the potted palms. .^W:ithi=Per-kinsr--4)oc-Slg-=Spaethr the Tune Detective, is out. (Continued from page 3i) on in detern>inlng. the minimum sal- ary due them. For Class 'A' stal tipn, based on an advertising card rate of . $400 and-oyer per evening hbur, the cede sets a minimum of $16 per sustaining performance and $26 per conrtmorclal broadcast. Class 'B*^ station is described as one asking $200 to $406 for a night time round- of the clock aiid with these the mini, mum salary for the performer would be $16 on a, commercial program and $10 sustaining. Rated lowest in the classifications is the Class *Ij" stations,-whose rate card, asks for $100 and under for an evening hour with ' the nxlnlnium .wages here tabbed »X $10., commercial and $^ sustaining, ' Fpr the live class of show a per- forniance..including rehearsals is to Qonstltute no niore than 3% hours. According , to thp cede, overtime would be paid at the rate of half pay for each three hours. Half pay angle ■would also , apply to repeat pei-forntiances on the- air and these are to be liniited to within 12 hours pf the origihal broadcasts. BPG code would also have the an- nouncers and others connected •with ift .station's personnel barred from i n king: p apt^a-^^tetor s .in u pi -oigi^aTn." For 'extras,' describe.d here as: per-, sons bthev-tftah"artists engaged for sound effects and , similar services, the minimum wa.ge -tvould be $6 per performance, it's okay for a per- fqrnier for personal publicity to dp a free .bit, under the BPG's agree- ment, . on stations coming under Class 'C and; 'D.' but the outlets in .the higher brackets avIU have to pay or else. Recording .wage -iset..-up as outlined in the cpde makes ,it ,$16 per . master. for a sustaining show and $2& for a commercial assignment. Code would limit these recordings to a single broadcast by any one statiorij Whetheir. used for sustaining or com- mercial purposes. A,ctprs doubling on either live or recorded programs "would, under the BPp set of regulations^ collect bne- h^l'f the minlmuni wage for each part dbiibled. A performer called to the studio for a broadcast, or to a dresc; . rehearsal 'would have to be paid whether used or otherwise. Commissions for booking of per- formers, ptpduction men or extra^, IS linilted by the code to 10%. Cusr toma.ry cut. at NBC ahd Columbia is 20%, while, the indle agents now hiaklng It a practice of collecting what the traffic win bear.. . Chairman of the BPG's code com.* mittee Is Major J. Andrew White, head pf American Broadcasting Sys- tem, InCi, recbrded prbgram makers. Other firms represented in the group are (Cha,rles) Wlnhlhger, McNamara & Culbertsori,. Osbocne & Souvalne, Allied Productions, Broshen Enter-, prises. Leading. Attractions, Inci, Joyce A. Vertchamp, Georgia Bac* kus (News Events, Inc.), Pete Daw- sbn-jesse Butcher, Inc., R. A, Wachsman and George Mack. LETTERS When SendlDB for Mail to VARIETY AddKesB Moll Clerk. POSTCARDS. ADVERTISING or CIRCULAR LETTERS WILL NOT PE ADVERTISED LETTJBRS ADVERTISED IN ONE ISSUE ONLY B.oiaen E Crowley D ■Dorsey Grant H C Gorrlck Eric Horner S C Hunter Pat Isler Arthur t-aMarr Frederick Lee Poggy Mithet; Frank A Reed. Florence Roberts Jack Sullivan . Harry CHICAGO LETTER LIST Barton: Ben. Fantps Jim Haig Roy Hines H Jamison J L Lucas Alfred Purl. Randall. Fred Shetwood Sherry A DOROTHEA ANTEL ,926 W. 72d St.. New Tork City My New Asflortihent of GREETINV CARDS Is Now Ready. 21 neaatlful CARDS and FOLDERS. Boxed, rost- prilO. for One Dollar I SECURITY SALESMEN—Prominent flnnn- :lnl house dcalrea cupoble reprcs-otitntlves. Kx- P.orloiu'c _unneccssnry. Ful lest ro- opcratlrtii; -^IfcJlIolTf—oiifwrtiiiniy" ■ for~"T)cFm able coniioctlon.' Apply-0:30 to 10:30 A. M., Suite Z'iTii, 120 Broodwny, New York. S T I T U T I O N INTERNATIONAL! A# snow Shoes for the S^^g^ and Street FOLK»S 5HOESBOP-l$S2 BROADWA.Y