Variety (Sep 1933)

TaeBday, September 26, 1933 LITERATI VARIETY 57 Newsmen NRA Pretty certain now that there'll be some sort ot national newspaper- men's organization. Started off to be a union and may still be, but more likely that it'll be tsalled a guild. One certainty,, however, is that an organization o£ considerable .Btrength . has been stai'ted. ■ AU began with a meeting in, New Torik a week ago to .form the New Tork Guild of, Newspajpermen and Women. About 250 turned out and about 100 more Indicated by letter .that"they would be there if not on assighmehts. Newark followed, suit, immediately: and sfeveral: other clti^; throughout the country, Until to date, there are fifteen that have indicated' definite . to join up. . Committee^ was .formed in New irprlc to get/ihe thing movlngi Coiii- stitutfon and bijr^laiws^ill be. drawn up within the next ten days or. so, with , definite formatipn and decision of form, .and matter at .that time, Gommittee is headed by John Kioran, Jr., o£ the. 'Times,' as chair^ niah. Other^. are .Heywood. Brouni Scrlpps-^Howard; Morris. Watson, Associated Press; Jos. Lilly, 'World-TC'elegram'; Ed Angly, 'Her- ald Tribune'; Frank Emery, 'Brook- lyn , Eagle,' and :-Doris Pleesioh, 'Daily News.', Miss Fleesbn is as-- aighed to Washington,for her paper temporarily, so; may have to iglve .up. ■her berth or arippint a ^pfoxy;. .If giving up,, ahother woman wIU re- place; her.' First tiling the committee did was to go to Washington,, all seven of theih, to begin action there on be- half of newspaper folks in regard to the NRA code movement. Pro" test -lyas ehtei-ed against the i)ub- llshers' code,, with testimony from all of them sepaiyitely. and some .. other_jwltnuessea.i.brought. aion&r .a^^^ to the faults of the code and the possible rectifications. Ijast union was th6 Press Wheel- meh, which had a first-class saloon' on Spruce street. Jt dfegenorated into the Blue Pencil'Club of . we .boysi That was 30 year's ago. Double Chip Before .turning to scribbling/ Michellne Keating, daughter of the late M. J, Xeatlng, dramatic critic Of the liohdon, England, 'Times',- and the New York 'Sun', and of Caroline Erwin, who was starred yearis ago by Augustin J?aly ..and Charles Prohman, followed th6 foot- steps of both parents. She placed bits in 'Ladies of the EvenirigV arid La,ugh, eiownj Laugh% both pro- ductions: of her godfather; Dayld Belascd, and later was a 'Daily Mirror* and King Feiatures. Syndi- cate, reporter* Alfred H, kiniB' Will publish--her he^-novel,. ^Bachelor's Heyday', early in .October. . It's the youthifut scribe!s third tome. Her first, 'Faihe', published at thie age of eighteen,;-was featured as the work of a. literary prodigy and made the best seller lists. She had hard luok with her: secondj. 'City Wise',, which was issued by Long ■ Smith, on the very day that Ray Long vanished. . the South Seas, leaving his 'bfiice'in turmpll. jvaf-to' Bloch Samuel I. :Friedman,. who has printed books in English on Jewish topics i?or .others, has an extensive program lined up as a publisher on his owni tJnder the imprint of the Anglo-Hebrew Publishing Co., Friedmiah will get out at least two books a month for an extended pe riddi all iii English and on. matters Jewish. Starts off with a volume called 'One Hundred True Stories of AmericanrJewish Jjife/. by Isa doro SclTdean. ' Heretofore, practically the sole concern regularly publishing books In English on Strictly Jewish 'sub Jects has been the feloch Publishing Co. The Friedman company iis tak . ing book.Tlength manuscripts' on a royalty basis only. Frowns] for Skippy Putnam's Is not 'distributing the new Percy Crosby book> 'Always Belittlin',' which the Skippy creator Is publishing hirtiself, as he has done for his two previous books., Under stood that sales of the previous book, the sole one. to be distributed by Putnam's, did not warrant the publishing house continuing the ar tangement. Crosby turned publisher with his first i)ook because, as he admitted, no publishing house would take' It. The cartoonist was too outspoken In ma!riy of .the Ijoplcs he touched upon. Crosby not only published .. the. book but jdistfibuted it. himself, arid by me«(n5N)f contests arid other fexpioitation stunts put it. across. .Always Hopeful. Isaac Goldberg, who can't-remain Inactive for long, has gotten atarted on a new monthly literary sheet, somiethirig after the. fashion of the 'American Spectator.' Assdclated with him this time Is Henry T, Schnittkindi and the two working out of Boston; Title of the sheet is •'Panorama.' Not the fli-st publica tion to be so titled, but the • first by Goldberg, anyhow. Line-up of names for .the .flrs.t is sue Includes Benjamin de Casseres Havelock .Ellis, Barrett II, Clark, Paul Eldridge, B. A< otkiri and Dr. Abraham Mydrson. Lou .Goldberg's Novel' 'Bank Prfesldent'' (Macaiiley), first of the . Lou Goldberg novels to be published, though siecohd written, was rushed out In .View of its tiine- iincss :Of theme. Stoify deals with the hysterical banking picnic which ended in a debacle of ruin arid troiuble tfs depression, dug its .'teeth into the. tissue .' of Amfericah finanieing. Although thie novel clearly. builds Itself around: banking ..iristitutidns and ..characters not dlfflcult for the layman to Identify, It develops in- terest as . a, work of -fiction . by the manner in which it presents a saga of. finance and, to th^ average per- son, with or without limited knowl- edge of the banking creed, will of- fer good reading. For tfajiflcriptlpn to .fljm 'Bank President' suggests material thiat should compel OOnsIderation. Here's Clow Again. Joe Burten, .one of the fix'st of the sexv; mag. put)lishers, making ;a comeback, and with Steve Clow. Burten gettirig. out a trio of new mags, -with Clow editing one Of them. This one is 'New York Life,' patterned after the old. 'Brpaldway Brevities' In form and content. Other two a-po 'Razz]berries' and 'Squawkles.' Wayne Sabboth editing Razzberries,' with Burteri' person ally handling the editorial reins for 'Squawkies.' Old Ramer Review mags gotten out by Burten were among the pio- neers of the sexy, mags, at the time when the newsdealers used to keep them out of sight for fear of a pinch. Year Books Organiie Mutual-aid orgPtnizatlon of the various, ends of. the publishing business, prompted, by the code's, has extended even to- the publish- ers of year books. This briinch has formed the National Publishers of Year Books, aimed to eliminate the usual Ills. Formation of the. association re veals year-book publishing to be a no small enterprise. Nuriiber^ of publishers getting out year books compares favorably- with those Is suing volumes at more frequent in tervals. present head of . the Na- tional Publishers of Year Bbpks IS Arthur N. Jareti Liberal Having .cut Its. singlercopy price sometime - ago from twenty-five to flffeeri ccrits, to meet d<?pressiori PoriditlonSi,... !Macfadden's. .'True. Story' mae^ is. iiow offering a year's subscription for . one dollar,, with 'Secrets', a book pontaining ■. ttlne short stories, thro^'n- In as a pre mJum. Same proppsltiori ma^le' for 'Physical 0ulture'i' -which, -was the first ..link in Macfadden's chain - of pubiicatlons. Best Sellers Best Sellers for the week ending $ept^ 23, American News Co.] Inc. Fiction 'Anthony Adverse' ($3.00)' 'The Farm' ($2.50) . •No Second Spring' ($2.50) Two Black. Sheep* ($2,50) . .'Alaster of .Jalna': ($2,50) 'Miss Bishop' ($?,00) ... I « « • « • « •. • ■ -'• « •.'• •.•-< .. . By Horvey Allen ,By Louis Broinfield ... i......By Janet Beith ... ,.. <.,. .By Warwick Deeping ,.... t,...... .By Maze D.e la Roche .. ..... .:. . By Bess Streeter Aldrich NoriiFiction • '100,000,000 Guinea Pigs' ($2.00) . ;By.Arthur Kallett & F. J. Schlink •Crime of. :3uba' .($3.00) ...., i........ r. ......... .By Carleton Beals 'Marie Antoinette' ($3.50)............ i...... ^........ -By Stefan .Zweig 'Life Begins at Forty.'. ($1.5aj ...... ...By Walter B. Pitkin 'Twenty Years a- rowirig' ($2;56) .;... .ny,Maurice P'S"llvvan- rches'of the Years' ($2.75). ..By Halliday .Sutherland petails Macauley'is mid-morith duo inr eludes 'Front Porch,' by Regiriald Wright Kauffman, whiph.is, for. its greater l.erigth, much, better literary material than Macauley usually pulps but. One pf tiipse three-gen- eration stories, laid in a iPennsyl- Vania town. It is a real study in small-town life that IS told with an- aipparerit simplicity that makes fpr th most pt reader interest. It should, fliid, a; place beyond, the cir- culatiiig .iibrarles;. But it includes a gory chapter In the delivery room of a maternity hospital that omits not a . single gynecologicai detail. Graphic, but not of a. piece with the. remainder of the fabric. It's, the furthest north in the present trend toward childbirth . yarns. . Sitting right lip. on top of the. pole Itself. Other number' Is 'Rose Gay, Wanted,' by Alex Campbell. It's the stpi*y !pf a boy -who.ihelps his sister flee from the consequences of a murder she had done. In the' flight there develops an ; Incestuous love whleh . is - treated with the saving grace of delicacy. Not as important as. tiie' 'Porch,' but of interest. Local International Jean Bordeaux,! of (ileridale, Cal, sends In the prospectus and one is sue of the monthly pamphlet of the Toastmasters' International, formed in the YjViCA to promote Interest, in public speaking. Clubs hold regular banquets with after-dinner speech- es, .which are criticized from a pre- sumably helpful angle. Hopefully called the International, though the membership is, as yet, cpnfiried to li clubs in. California and'one up in Seattle. Ideia is to spread the gps- peU through the organization- and make things easier for those who have to lend .their ears to po&t- mocha. chatterers. Might be more, efficient to teach tliem not to talk, but the , mil- lenium is isfill some . years distant and that's asking .too.much. Kronshage; jrnst H. Kronshage, .^formerly editor-inrchief. and dir.amatic critic on the . Milwaukee 'Free Press' and in re.cent yekrs editorial Writer on the .Wisconsin 'News* whex'e he also wrote drama reviews in tiie past as 'First igh,ter.\ .died in that city fol- io-wing an illness, of a month. Mr. .Kronshage. -was at all. tim^a keenly interested . in the ..stage'arid in 1907 helped in the organization of the Pabst Eriglish. Stock com- pany as. well as licing-Iristruniental in. the .fprmation of the. Modern Players, also at the Pabst; -in 1917. In addition tb his editorial duties, Mr. . Kronshage wrote a daily .col- umn called 'Around the .Tbw.ri';. Interment Avas at Boscobel, Wis- consin. Surviving are ills widjj'w, three-- daughters a.nd a .brPther; Canadian Short Story Writers In co-operatiori; -with all. the other newspapers in largvs centers across CaTiada;--the Winnipeg'-'Pree TPress' Is running a daily contest for short stories \yritteri by- Cahad.'an'-writers, with a daily prize tp tlie winner. "The prizes i. money and judging of the contests is done by Lady Willi son i.t. Toronto; the latter a noted Cariadian writer arid critic. Each night. for an- indefinite period, in. each large' Can. news paper, is appearing a .winriing short story of not .inore thari a. 1,000 wdrds; the same- yairn. appearing simultaneously in all papers, with a phptogi'aph and pcrii^nail sketch of the author. So far,, niost" of the •winners have been women; married Women; whp seenl-. to be the pi- oneers riiore tha'h the inert in the Short story, field in Canada, Horace Liverighi Dead Horace LIveright, 49, pubiisher and theatrical producer, died in Niew York Sept. .24 of pneumonia.! FOi'mcr head of BonI & LIveright, and . later of the cornpany bearing his nan-.e, the publisher was one of the first to seek freedom ..f-orii the sel£-assuriied censorship of the vice society, and had won niany no table victories.. .Livcright's firm publishied many notable . literary, works, including O'Neill's plays, Dreiser's novels and Van Loon's 'Story of Mankind.' Under'. * . sponsprship Liveright had at diie time" the most complete, list of better. America^ri. authors exr. istinig. He was the first to publish feiigene b'.f^eiii, Sherwood / Anderr son,- Hendrik WiUem . Van Loon; He was the first to publish Robln- sPn .J.efters,. ,claimed by some to be the. finest American .poet .of today. Jacob Wasserman, one-of the: finest. Of Gerrifiany's-■writers, was rfirst pub-" lished in the li. S. by Liveright. Branching' into stage production, Liveright produced 'Firebrand,' 'American Tragedy' and' racula,' then went on to pictures wliere he wPrked foi" Pathe and Paramount. He returned to New York about a year ago and had been idle since. He was about tP .step back into Liverlght's by virtue of stock he held In. that. firm, when the bank- ruptcy occurred" a- cpiiple -months back. Liverlght's, during the" heights,- was famous for its lavish teas, aiid salons,, .an alifnost daily ioccurence ■with the . crcam of the . literary and. social ivorlds almost aly ay • pres^ erit. ..:The firm iat. pne- tirne -wag quoted as worth m^lh^^ dollars. , ijiverlght Is . survived his h:other, twa,.brothers, two Sisters and two children by; his first' mar- riage-, -- His ■; second - marriage,^ to iBIise Bartlett, actress, was not ft happy one. Ohe-Act Play Contest Through the Little Theatre and neiwspapers in Winnipeg, Cari.i is announced a one-act play contest, bbth French and English; each having a prize of $100, with second prizes of $50. Contest is Sponsored and Jnbney put upi by Martha Allan, directress of the .Montreal Little Theatre; idea being to encourage play writing amongst, the Canuck's, one of whom the entrees must be. Contest closes Dec. 1 this year. Manuscripts to be sent to Miss Allan at the Montreal Little Theatre. U nexpected ittlo Bro-^yn is going outside its announced ll'ist with tlic publication ...MJKiiiLJCfljiewLby^j^^ l?idn't expect the book arid,; -when they got it, figured it too good to. hold ovoi' for spring publication. ■ It'll, appear Nov. 24. Xowtpn had intended to take a trip arouiid the world but Instead fooled his pub- lishers by tripping arourid a llbr'arj'. Therein be .a spocl.il llri;iited and "autographed edition, on rag. paper and specially bound outside the reg- ular torn!?. Hustling. Hitler Alfred A. Knopf doing a urry j(jb . .dri thp. publication. of -The Brown Bodi: of the Hitler Terror,' Which exits "Thijrs.ijay (28); Re.a- sbh .for. the rush job :Was two- fold, start Of the Reichstag fire trial,, about which the lidbk treats, and prior - publication to - Hitler's 'Mv Battle,''whlc?i is listed for early In October. "The Crown Book* wa.s prig'lrially .published in. England, wlicre it proved = sensational.. Skolsky to Coast id. Skolsky, .'Daily News' road- s-way coluihriist, goes. . Hoirywood completely ■within t^wo weeks. Di- minutive scribbler has dei-ed to thei Coast scrib- ble about picture folks, asslgn- riient to -be a permanent one. He's beeri bn .the Coast chatter- riting, previously but . - for short - spells. Move •will help ■ unsnarl the 'News' C O 1 u ni n i s t situation somewhat, paper,/havirig besides Skolsky Ed Sullivah and .John .Chapman on Broadway columns at present. Ghost .Revives ilurfnG-.M.'tnc.alL ^.whbse.^.^.BoQn.d. iviancall Publlshirif^'. Corp, gave Up the ghost some time ago, I.s. getting i-cady to ro-ont'or the publishing biz as the Mancall Book Co. iMan- .call has' sot himself up In a new Ideation nearer the heart of the book ,industry - and is now mblllng over .Scripts preparatory to getting out hi-s first li.st. -No fiction, with most pf the books running to tech- nical - stuff. Maybe a Chance Walter W. Leggitt, New "Tork and -Washington newspaperman, , is in St, Paul this week putting out feel- ers for a Minnesota newspap He is negotiating for the pur- chase of "irhc. Organized i-'armer,* Until recently editecl by F. H, Shoe- maker, how Minnesota congress- man-at-largc. The plant in owned by_ the estate oC th e l ate Ttcd A. Sclu-rf of Red AVirig. lonist Mag -PrG.sont disturbance iii (Ivrmnny giving ri.SG to many now publica- tions pertaining to Jewish matters. Latest is a weekly new.^papi'r to bear th*; title of the 'Pro-Palostino Herald.* Aaron Ben Ellas will pub li.sh. it. The sheet, as . the title in- dicates 'ill. be prd-ZIonist. Leaves .Old Hprine Westbrppk Pegler, goes over- to ^ Scripps-Howard about Nov.. 1, wiith his contract on the 'Chicagp. Trlb- une; .Syndicate* oyer at that. time. He .started with . Scripps-Hpwaird as a kid, making, the mdVe now some^yhat In. a sentiniental. tone. Plus,, of course, niore money. Bcripps-Howard being accused aroun'd town of raiding other papers, -with just as many folks saying Hearst lis raiding Scripps- Howard. That comes., through Scrlpps-Hb^\yard losing Alice Hughes to Hearst a .'couple weeks ago. imon-.& Schuateri -who now sign tlieir letters 'HomewreckerS-to-the Wholesjile Trade and Public Erte mlies ,bf Ennui' have put. out what they; think is "the newest step In their iidmer Wrecking series. It's ISnap. Judgment,' a- photo-recogniz- ing'game and. retails at $1. It will probably sell some copies a'nd make, a bit . of mpney but. Isn't lllte- ly to grow into the fad the pub- llsheris -would wish. Used once It .hepomes no^ good 'a. second time—-not so good lor a dollar. And nOt top dissimilar from past brain teasers tp excite much. Despite whlchi'there's some amuse^ ment In the game for pnce-overs. - Imps'!: Too Good Second number of 'Eiropa* is off the presses. Quarterly still looks better than it is and makes a pleasant flash. TPd. finely done, too hlghbrpw and too secluded ih aji- peal,- to-g.ct ■vpry far from a sales standpoint, although quite likely the. publiishers .haven't any dreams of garnering big sales, ariyway; . some big names Iii this second issue, including MU.ssplini, Herriot, Pix'andello and Sam Putnam. Beau- tiful phptdgrajphy and. an expert print job help; Publicity Value \vd publications are selling smartly in: the midwest.: One is the reprint of. 'Adventures of Baron Muridlihaufjen,' due tp the click , of the Jack Pearl act bri. the ctheri Second is a mag of photos called 'Selected •Snapshot.s from the Streets of Paris',': which latter is the fcmhie bait cpricesslon at the World's Fair; Two Ideas •hri.innolc. Siicri has .set himself uj / j ii til with"' ide'iK Tor mags, Ili.s first v.ill be the 'Hobby Mafrazinc,* to be i.s.sued uhdijr the name of the Ainerlcari Hobby Mag- azine I'ublushing Co. a, couple of new Scribe Has $15—News Louis Schaff«.M',-uowspai).(;z'inaii, 2-15 ICast 21.'?t .stroot, N, Y., adniithvhim .soir broke to the extent of $1,62 $15 assets. ■\ Chatter Marshall Hunt, the 'Dally News' many-worded sports writer, does most Of his traveling by plane around the inajor leagues in cover- ing the New York ball clubs. Turner Catledge recently, has been by-llhing .the tworcolumn' article' from "Washington in the editorial section of the Sunday New York 'Tiriies', a. feature orlglnrted by- Arthur Krpcki head of the paper's Washington bureau^ Sophie .TreadwpU and Isaac Mar-, cossdn.ln from Europe on the Waish- Ington. Rita Welman due. back in .New York this week after a summer of Wetftpprt. Gilbert Gabriel iputting the finish- ing; touches to a new i^ovel, which he will call 'Great Fortune.' After all this time, Henry Hart has written his first novel. Calls It 'The Big One,' and John Day gets it. .. Earlfi McCausland has gone from 'Parents* .Magazine'^, .to Butterlck. Publvcb.. ;'"•"■•"■■.' 'Americana,' the mag, phservihg its . first anriiveraary with art 'All- .. (CPntlntiea On page. 68) MEET FAY DELROY AND:— "Tou'll probably .recognize thlnly-vciled - characters.!' ' Walter. Winchell, "DAII-Tr MlBKOB" "tip -and down tl)e 'escalator, of .Brond'-way . - lame. ■•■.Racy ' chronicle. Maximum, ot speed. Hlnlnium 'of reticence. At. the height ot career. Fay .Delroy has everything. inc)ud-< Ing an illegitimate daughter. Into the di.rcard, Bho trlofi everything. In- cluding rcjuvetintlon.,, A dramatic cilihax—to ■ be saved ^fpr the, cua- tomerH." TAsle- pellj "JIEBALD TRinCNB" Ilflt of-llffhts. love aiid .laugh- ter. All the Uro.'Klway char.aclei-s—r .stirring stage molHcr—ilitughter.-who =;r«»BMnl)l<>fl=Her.=Odil=talc^ta.=tcU.r=JA-» deed.''.' Charlr..'} A. Wdfjner, BOOK.S, ."DAII/Y .MIIUlOB'? "THE FATE OF FAY DELROY" By JOHN WIL5TACH .-lutiior "Under Cover Man" En $2— tAII Bookstores aouuiny, rabllHliert Now York