Variety (Sep 1933)

Tuesday, September 26, 1933 PICTURES VARIETY Inside Stuff on Sime s By Epes W. Sarg^t, {Chit) rdbabaly It was written on the Preserved Tablets, as the pious Moslem puts.it,'that Sime Silverman should' ijeconie one of the butstaiid^ Ing figures in the- aimusement 'busir ness.. His. love for the theatre' and his firmness of purpose makes. the inevitable . conclusion that, he woiild have achieved his spnie fashion.. Biit .gretthig bade to prig- : Inal sources, it wag a tiff between Ijei' and a tipster <'<?ncern Avliivb ijoddod. in chance that seed -which into VAniEa'Y., It. may seem a far cry from George Graham Rice's Maxim-Gay tipgter concern to the paper In whicb this - is printed; but it was the first linlt -forged »n t^'^:^>'«>" r\f ovpnta, and the direct step toward tlils publica- tion., Blakeley . Hail, then owner of the' N. Y;;'Morning Telegraph,' served notice on Rice that he could not insert in his Maxini-Gay adver.tis- -Ing the .name of any winner not contained-Ih his letter of advice to bettors, filed in the early morning before the race. Rice, a lavish ad yertiser, blustered, but the thing had .become a scandal and Hall was adamant. In retaliation. Rice took Leander, Richardson, dramatic critic, away from the 'Telegraph' as the "nucleus of a staff and.f bv ••'.ed IDally America.* iniie G^ts Job A column of vaudeville' criticism was necessary to flght a similar de- partment which at that time was a sales feature^ of the' 'Telefifraph.' Rtchardspn's secretary Joe (Joshua) JjOwc vJoZo) now liondbn represen- tative of Vabiett, offered the posi- tion to his friund, Sime Silverman. For years Sime had been, intense- ly interested in the stage ancl n.ore particularly in vaudeville. He made his home in. the Wilhemina apart- ments* Seventh avenue at 116th street. New York, because Alan -Dale, then the niost feared critic in America, was a tenant of the floor . above. It was a walk-tip apal'tment and some kudos to be on the lower floor.^ It did not hurt any that the building was owned and operated by Geor e Huber, also owner of the dime museum in 14th street. ' 'Sime jumped at the chance and as .'The Man in the Third Row' he made his bow .as a. vaudeville re- ^-—-viewer.-. His- pepiod-of--glbr-y—Vk=as brief.. .Hall made, pe^ce with Rice, bbught the paper and suppressed it. Sime was out. of a job,, but he had. enjoyed his briiRf printer's: ihic ex-' perloKce and would never be. the Same again; He got his next impetus from the same 'Morning Telegraph,' but a coupl^ of years;had'inferv^ried. -He was engaged to' .write under the , offlbe signature of Robert SDear, Which' was used, by Karl Decker,^ Algernoh St. jphn Brenon or Avho ever had the" vaud svlUe jpb until Sam McKee broke through: to use his own name. The cards were stacked against the recruit from the start., William Eugene Lewi., for years the editor, had leased the paper frotn Mrs, 13. H. Thomas and was i.ni' control While the paper was still under Blakeley Hall's managcmcht, Lewis had put oh h.'j advcfUslpg solicitor, B. C. Ilirt, who. had been a mid -^=^-::w:es t-4=)i ea t re-;na nagciiFa n d=\vJ^^ •staked Alfred Henry Loav is.iiTHl his brpthors in their early days. irhe Loses Job. It was ITari's pjaii]t that he could not, got ads if the crjiicisnis ra:i wild, hut under Hall and under Walter H. Turner, who folloWKid him. it was felt that the paper sales induced by the Criticisms, were more important llian the revenue froni full control, his first move waT to rule that ahjt act willing to pay for a Christmiis Issile advertisement was a 'good act* arid not to be ad- versely commiented :upon. Sime he&rd the rule, but it didn't mean a thing tp him. Hart rayed khd Xewls frothed a, coyple of Weeks and then an especially' tart comr: ttierit on Radford and Winchester, a.team of knockabouts, bro.ught the, cari'cellatiori of their Sunday ad and Sime's job, alriiost simultaneously Lewis threw in the. excellent a.d- vice that he (Sime) 'would, never get anywhere under .such a;policy,' Sime retorted, that he felt that he could and intimated that he would presently prove it, Lewis' derisive sridrts. only made him "the more de- termined, The;idea for a trade paper had been mulling around in his head ft>r a long tiriie, for shortly thereafter, he- discussed the idea and he had it all schemed out, even to the green paper cover, for newsstand distinc- tion, jandth^ej^ter^ flourish of the initial letter of tlie title. The SOME»BEST Taking Week-Ends by AirphiK Popular in America, Some More So in Foreign Terri- tory<r-U.S. Femmes Who Feature Continental Main Stephahi, Playwright, Added tQ Par Story Bd Frederick Stephani Is swinging to "^^aramount as i .member of its editoriail.. board at tlie studio, an added fourth member. Jeff. Lazarus ners Don't Mean ii Thing I is chairmaii of the board. gy " i» . 1I -A- playwright and stage director, on tne l^oncment—i-u-1 ^^^^ stephanl's, pieces were dorip l^itsch Sole Directorial In- in Germany. He bias been a story . . ■? • scoiit for Warner Bros, Stance —Ke;|iton, Fair- banks, Sr.,^Not Foirgptteh ' —Chai>lin, of Course plan dragged a little*, but.presently he was able to promote ^1,500 frohi his father-In-law, George Freeman this widpw, Hattie , F. Silverman's father,- ?L Syracuse alderman):. Modest Start He took a two-room suit^' in the Knickerbocker theatre, put In his brptlier-in-law, Charles Freeman, as business manager, hired a typist and with this writer brought out the first issue on Dec. 16, 19.03. Acr ton Davies, the critic of the N. Y Evening 'Sun' wrote an article for the first issue. There was a little advertising, but the bulk of the .sheet,"barring a.'page; of. criticisms arid some editorial bpmriient, he wfbte himself. He even then had the nose for news to which he later owed the greater portion of his success. The office boy was John J. Q'Con nor. Jolinny was an. usher in the Percy Williams Alhambra vvlio by his alertness had won Sime's notice He pvlt It to him whether he wanted to continue earning a:round $12 (in- cluding tips) as- an usher or work for less, money and an opportunity JPhnny came down. In a few weeks he was sent on the road as circula- tion man and Lester Rose was. put in as office boy.- At the same time Al Greason, whom he had met on the 'Telegraph,' was added to the staff arid the late Joe Raymond given a job hvtstling ads.. VARiETT .met A^ith a most flatter irig receptiPn,'but it -was not Inime diately profitable and coUectionfi were tough. -The actors would give the ads, but^hey hung, oft payment to see whether the .paper wPuld fail At first It was written In the Eng lish- language,-and-the-paper - never really bit into the busi.riess until isime changed his policy apd: wrote as a majprif y" of the actors' of that day spoked It; was their own Ian guage, and they felt that he was one of them. It .was not that ime co.iild not write spod English, but that most variety actors of the day did not speak it. When he sa\v. .what a hit the new style, was rriak-^ i he not only" encouraged his growing staff to follow the style; but" he developed it into a literary tech- nique. Some few years later a writer suggested to Albert Borle, manag- ing editor of the 'Clipper,' that it might he a good idea to pitch in and fight Variett. ' Boriie .wrote back that he did not believe in-men,tIon- irig his rival as the 'Clipper' 'was known in hundred.^ of towns where VARiijTV never'')iad been heard, of. In. 1922, Sime/bought the 'Clippori and after running it long enough =to-a SH u i=e^ Ivi nr.«frl f-^=tha t^^^ not even a faint .spark of life in. the 'shoot, folded it up. Tlie net result of hl."3 purcha.'-o. was the acquisition of a complete file of the /Clipper" giving; probably the only cori.socutive liLstory of the stage for the paft 50 years or .rtpre. And ail because Blakeky Hall, ,\vouUt not let Maxim-Gay advertise •l(in.n->.«li6t Avlhnt-'s' whon they had LANGUAGE ANGLE Build Sirecial DeLuxe Hut on MGM Lot for Mob Of Dave Selznick Aides There are some picture stars .n . Hollywood, Sept the U. S, very popular here, who j,^^.^ Selznick Is having erected are even more popular abroad. ^^.^ p^^^^^^j ^^^^^^ g^^^j^j^-^ There exist about a dozen actors k^-y building adjacent to his bun who outdraw themselves abroad, ^^^^^ - ^ - -whose^lm»-wiirbring-in-moPe-eas|i.i__^l^^^ rom European and other world ^avg g, private dining room for trade, ihan from the b.6. count-up ggigni^jj ^nd his staff, which in at home. eluded.George CUkor, director; Ben Mostprbriiinentls Jearinette Mac- Hecht, 6. H. P. Garrett,-Benn Levy, Donald, with Buster Keatori a close Allen :^lvkir P. J; WolfsPn and secorid. Keatori has pretty nearly Wells Root, writers;. Jerry Sack collapsed in the IT. S. as a drawing helm and Ph.l Siff^ .assista,nts; arid card. In Eu;*ope: and South Amier- Hal Kern, cuttier, lea,, however, they still form queues Thiis staff will, have four secre- to see his pictures. Miss MacDon- I taries to do the mechariicai chores, ald*s extra strength abroad is ac- [so as to speak, credited to the fact that she's most prominent as a. singer arid there- ^ i iv» • fore could co.itiriue to impress InAlr Uavia •inn lIlTIA abroad, where the English language \ JttCIi IIUAIC OUU 1/IAlU has hurt so many XJ. S. actors who merely talked. Now, with the return of the m-a .ical era here, arid with mor^ musicals being turned out from these shores, it's possible this may b3 reversed Ramon Novarro is another with considerable foreign pull, though spotty, while the Sr. Fairbanks is another who can, tPday, count niore cash accruing abroad on films than at home. Europe hasp't forgotten its heroes. It never does. In the 'CJ. you have to contiriue showing what Hbllywbod, Sept. 25. ^ Yen of motiori picture personal- ities to travel irifeognito by air be- tween , here atid the east has the. air officials and their .'s In a Quanr, dary. Pferhaps the. speedy sched- ules which .pi^evail enables thei jceleb. to spend a week-erid with a friend in some east^rriL spot arid be back on the job Moriday without ariyone being the wiser; especially .the chat- terers who firid^ this klrid; p£ topic food for their sheets. Ruses which are used to do: this undercover traveling would give a- Sherlocic Hblriies ii run for, his moriey. '.These celebs, -wili .call the ticket offlcie and prdeir psisgage un- dex a fictitious i^anie," and then .to furtiher tiieir purpose have the dricfit- seiit to a :phPriey address which a friend is istandirig in for the deliv- ery. Last-Minute Dash With the ticket in tow these pub- liolty dodgers will wait till tjie last minute and then make 'a mad dask fc-t the'.airpiQirt.. -^tarjoFity-^iE-th«-r-tises-ar-e-MC4» ful, although many, of the jiirotB, having excellent misiriorles, recog- nize the stars and radio the info to the destination point without the cargo getting^ Wise. - "Two. femriae players now. uslng^ the air exclusively for trivel, althpugh for biz reasons only, have .seyeirai alia9es and the same nuniber o? pbPney addresses Zl,b to avoid the ballyhoo which for-years has fol- lowed, the arrival and .departure of celebs by train and is rapidly flnd- iiip its place at the air terminals. Starr's Divorce Suits .Oklahoriia City, divorce suit.s Involving screen and' arena istar$ filed in Ka.y county- district court at Newkirk-, abandonnient involved in each case. Jack 'Hart' Hoxle i$ asking, a dlr vorce from Marion Hoxie;. married in Santa Ana, Cailf., in 1921. Mrs. Juarilta Webt-;r wpuld be It^'takesr 'ThdV PartiaiYy,'"explain^ I separated from W. B. Weber, Whorn the recent announcement of Fair- banks, that, he would make his films abroad henceforth. . Same thing Is not quite true of City. Mrs. Weber Is pixIe Starr, Mary Pickford, who still can draw cowgirl extraordinary she married in Goldf Colo:,^ fri 1928. Both plaintiffs .f;.ave their residence as 101 Ranch,.near PPrica Roth plaintifCs are on the road with Cbl. Zack Btlller's 101 Show at present. at hpme and never reached the heights abroad of some, others be cause .riot sophisticated or Cbriti hental enough Charles Chaplin is probably the biggest money riiaker of all Ameri- HANLINE OFF WB, TO .METRO cans abroad, but that is equally Maurice Hanline has a new berth true of him in the U. S. His last on the Metro writing staff picture, 'Citj Lights,' seemed to | He left Warners a few weeks ago. prove that Chaplin is stronger at 1 < mCf how-iyer, since he insisted oh -v.eny,-hlgh. rentals, .arith the . result i go^e -universally accepted. Past the . picture was passed up pona- Ug^j. helped her a lot due to pletely in Japan and other coring dubbing by Metro in several Euro- tries. If a European can completely pg^n countries. It's the language pass up a star, he must be on the barrier that has annoyed thus far. the aOs. Wlion Lrwis came into .«f^nL. t),eir cli'^nts' tft:4ir:f tip.'. Wane. . The foreign stars in the U. S,, of course, like Marlene I?letrich,. Mau-. ric4 .Chevalie-; .arid. Lilian Harvey can be figured pn to garner at least ;as. large a harvest outside the American, bo'indaries . as within them. Not true of Greta Garbo or Ronald Colriian, however,, because of the amazing strength both have at home. Colman is ptc'->ably the biggest individual draw from the U. S. in England, but falls down in othet spots.- George Arliss is an Interesting case in controversial statistics. Al- .riiost universally respected, his name alone is not enough to com- mand box office anywhere. In hif; home country, England,, he if .^al^ ^"ays=eulogIzed,H>ut-his=-film3^draw= the soicctive audiences only. Same thing is true, of course, in the C &». also. 1 Jlarie Drossier, Wallace JJeery, roddie Cantor and a few others like that have recently been riiaking ter- rific strides abroad. In Denmark. England, Italy and .Sj)ain, for In^ stance, ^liss Dressier will outdraw, p'-'norally si)eaklng, even Carbo. IJvjt Mi.is Dressier has not" yet be- Stars of';the Arin Harding, Con- stance Beririett, Kay jF'rancIs ;ilk are a ri o t h e r:. ciiripus cpntradiction 'i'hey're the most sophisticated la- dies of the U. I screen. They are quite frequently .in forelgji roles; they frequently • (in their films) gp to andi play ai:pund the Coritlnent But the Continent, or for that mat- ter, other cprners of the. world; knows them. riot. "They- dph't iae long 'from a Cpntinental stand point. A Continental, IpPking at Connie Beririett or .Ann Harding imriiediately classifies the gals as Americans. He won't accept them speaking foreign languages, he doesn't understand, and doesn't want to Understand their English Another Interesting exception is Ernst Lubltsch, the director, who has-persona U-d raw ing=i^P0Wer^^Hi-^^ iilms are very, veo^ strong in the U. S. almost constaimy, but he oc casionally turns out a lemon as 'Trouble- in Paradise,' which got nice comment frorii the critics but ho. biz. Abroad the fiihi did well as 'well as any other Lubitsch film indicating that should. Lubitsch lo.so hi.s hold on the AmericanVimagina- tion ho U\'in j^till retain it in other foriK't's of the world. m% WHITE 'SCANDALS' FOR WINTER RELEASE Geptge White yniW leave for the Coast in about two weeks to., pre- pare for the first of. .his .'Scaridalaf shows which he will ini Ipt tppx. There, may be one a year for five years. Fox wants .White to; start hfs first by Nov, 1 at the'latest, for release shortly after the first pf the year. Producing as a unit. White^Js -^o have, full charge of the 'coriVeVsion of-.his 'Scandals' revues to the screen; Iricluding direction, story' matter, talent, etc. StuAters Form Troupe Hollywood, Sept. 25. Asserting that shooting of stunt sequences is a special branch of film. making, Hubert Dlitz, stunter, and Ernie Crockett and Al Kicklin, cainerameri, have formed the Studio -Chase—Troupe,^- -~ ... —;— z— - Organization will have a dozeA tunt men on call, as well as eqUip- riient. They say they can even film an uriderwater chase if necessary* Exhib on Wheeb Goes To Screenlfsss Spots P.ittsbui'gh, Earl.Rceseri former nianager of. the 'Oameraphone' for Warner Brothers, arid before that with the. Harris Amusement Co., has become an indie exhibltot with a motorized theatre. Roeser has acquired a truck with piprtable sourid equip-. ment and is .gunning around for. date."? In. private, horhes|, clu and sma,ll parties. > - Jn addltlprt, the. exhlb-onrwheels plans to :nake.. regular stops at a fiocfc.bf small outlying,cbriimunities where there are no theatres, setting Up in town -halls and tents, DOEpTHY DEII TO PAE Paramount has given a term pa-r per to Dorothy pell, singer, frorii legit. No date set for her coast departur . Miss Dell is the. second' to be picked gp by Par as the result of N'ew^ Yfirk testing by Oscar Sorliti and Eddie,- Blatt. First Wa^ Lanny Ros.'j, from radi