Variety (Jan 1934)

Tuesday, January 30, 1934 LITERATI VARIETY 57 Mailed StoriM Muff HaUiner 1>y syndicate columnlstB luid press associations of stories to member papers has its drawbacks. In a number of cases noted recently, dailies bave. catried articles which front page wire stories indicated, had been written anywhere from teii days to six Weeks preylously. A Washington syndicate, for instance, iised as his lead In one coiunin. a story about' the troublies of i Govr ernor in a U. S.. A. insular posses- 0ion, and predict'ed that , he would l^6ign shortly. By the time the iolumn appeaj^ed,. the Governor not only had retired but his successor had bieh appointed, with, the' latter development front-pagied a week be- fore.. Last week an upstate (M- daily printed in its sports section .a long AP. story, by-lined Glenn Babb/. which opened'with a sentence about the Wa.r Minister of :Japan, Geherai Araki, keeping himself in physical'trlin; by fencing. TPhe pre- vious day, the same paper'front- paged a Toklo dispatch stating that General Araki had resigned, due. to HI health froni.a long siege Of pneu- moniai and named his successor. Mowrer " Feted Paul Scott Mowrer,, who has been a correspondent In Paris for 25 years arid Is .considered far and. away the Vest in the ganie, wais guest of honor at two functions of the An- glo-American Press;: Ass'n of Paris —a dinner and a lunch-^n. the oc^ casion of his. departure for Chicago. Be is being replaced as Chicago Dally News bureau, chief by his brother, jBdgar. Ansell Mbwrer, who left the paper's Berlin ofllce when the German .jgovernment said It couldn't' protect, him - against repri- sals by Na,zis. Paul Scott drew a farewell party from . Bob ' Pell; U. government ipress expert, ho credited him with much of the work for CO-operation between c^vernments -and ,ne\^sr papers which is smoothing the path —to some extent—T<)f the reporter in Paris, and from Ed Taylor, hlis rival correspondent^ who works for the Chicago Tribune. ieking Best Sellers New TorH Tlmesr which sounds Out booksellers in key points throughout the country for best Seller ratings ftach week, got Itself Into an embarrassing position with Sinclair Xewls* "Work of Art,* third In demand In the south , a week before It was published. Embarrassment of the dally was covered tip by Doubleday, iDoran, book's publilsher, which, in paid space in the same newspaper, thanked It for Its 'anticipation.' Times' boner, printed, by the dally In good faith, again questions Querying of booksellers for best- seller listings. .It's a fact that book- sellers, to unload from under a large advance-order, will, refer to lt,as. a best-seller; There are many book buyers who ask for the latest best- seller,' .Irrespective of subject or author. . E. G. Huntineton's Death Ebenezer Cutler Huntington, 83, pioneer Minnesota newspaper pub- Usher, died in Los Angeles of pneu-^ monia, Sunday, Jan. 21, For 4B years Huntington owned and published the Wlndom (Minn.) Reporter, He had iseryed as presi- dent, of the Minnesota Editorial asr 6ociatlQn and was a member of the Minnesota State .Bar association. He had retired from active bu.^lness in X924, Uife'fi Little. Pleasures ; There's almost ii*ony or satire in the window display of the Wash- ington ..Square bookshop; in Green- wich Village: Entire window Is taken up by displayis.. of ''Ulysses,' as; published by Bahdom House, Twelye years ago .book was being printed; serially jn 'Little Review,' which had its office in this book- store; -Vice squad showed up sud- denly and found neither of the edi- tors, Jane Heap or Margaret Ander- son,' in. So they arrested Josephine HOrton, who owns thei bookshop, and dragged her to cotirt'. Book Was banned' 'from thia country, i^ow it's been okayed, and is . Mrs. Horton flaunting the book in everybody's faces! Best SeUers Elest Sellers for the week ending .Jan. 27, as repor American News Co., .Inc. Fieti 'Thin Man' ($2.(F0) ,., By Daishiell Hammett •Anthony Adverse' ($3.00) 'Sea Level' ($2.5(1) ...... 'Oil for Lamps; of China' <$2.50) 'Men Against the Sea' ($2.00) 'Mother; The' (.$2;60) .. ,. By Hcvvey Allen .......By Anne Parrish By Alice Tisdale Hobert By Nordhoff . & Hali i,.,.. k..... ,By Pearl S. Buck .•Life Begins at Forty* ($1.50) ..By Walter '100,000.000 Guinea Pigs' ($2,00)..By Arthur Kallet & F. ■'Timber Line* ($a.00) i.,....,.;.By 'Brazilian AdViertture* ($2.75) •Days Without End' ($2.60) I • « • .• • • ■• .ff * • • '< 'More Power to You' ($1.TB>..., B. Pitkin Schlink ifowler By Peter Fleming • By Eugene O'Neil .By Walter :p. Pltkln Albert Frizzell ies Albert Burnett Frizzell, 43, co- publisher of the Minneapolis Dally Star and prominent In. advertising buslnessi died at his home In Min- neapolis, Wednesday, Jan. 17. Death resulted from tsomplicatlons follow- ing an attack of pneumonia a year ago. , ; Bom In Minneapolis, Frizell en- tered the ad department of the Minneapolis Daily -News (now de- funct) in 1912* In 191$, he pur- chased, the It. .K« Lee ad agency In St. Paul and operated. it as the Frizzell Advertising. . Agency. In 1928; Frizzell bought Faring Stock and Home, which he combined with the Northwest Homestead, bperiat- Ing It until 1929, when he sold it to the Webb Publishing Go. of St. Paul. Survived by his widow a daughter. More Co-op Publishing Following the lead of the Equinox Oo-Operatlve Press and a number of other recently formed brganlza tlons of Its kind, another group of scribblers have: banded together to publish their own works co-opera- tively. Included in the group are William Carlos Williams, Charles Heznlkoif, Basil Bunting, Carl Rakosl, Louis ZSF6fsfty"1tnd^"G^ call their publishing venture the Objectivlsts Press, and began with three short volumes, one by Williams and two by Reznlkoft. Objectivlsts Press will not con line itself to the works o< the scribblers enrolled. If they lind something worthwhile on the out i'ide they will publish H, too. Mersey's Tough Luck Comeback effort 6f Harold Hersey, at .one time one of the foremost of the puljp mag publishers, was short- lived. Criterion A^agazine Publish- ing C<>-» which, under Heriaey's di- rection got out two mags. Screen Humor and 'Badlo Play, ' has gone into the hands .of a receiver,: the Irving Trust Co. .Earlier Hecsey string of mags, which totaled more than, a. half- dozen, also went out via the bahk- riiptoy courts a year or two aigo. The more recent: Hersey mags didn't last anywhere near as long, however. Sbrieen Humor, in par- ticular, did not even go into its second Issue; orgenthau Sells Pir^t ejicursioh of Frank. B. Gan- nett beyond thtf dally newspaper field is his Interest In the p^urchase of The American Agriculturist from Secretary Of the Treasury Henry MOrgehthau.. Jr. (3annett, Who heads the Gannett newspapers, is principal stockholder' of thie group, which has taken over the farm paper. . Morgeiithalu has held "The Ameri- can Agriculturist since 1921. Forced to relinquish it because of a law that the Secretary of the Treasury have no major Interest in private business undertakings.. in and Charity^' Latest activity of the Artists' and Writers': inner Club to raise addi- tional, funds >with which to feed needy scribblers and brusli-wlelders will take, tlie form' of a cocktail party and book auction. AflfaJr is to held tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon^ ia,t Cherry's, under aus- pices that assure its success. . Chairman Of the arrangements committee is Mrs. Wllliani Averell Harrlman, and she. has persuaded Hey wood i?roun. Marc Connelly, Donald Ogdeh Stewart and Alexan- der 'Woollcott to act as aiictioneers. A heap of autographed books , have been donated for auctioning, either by. the- authors thenaselves or i>y publishers. Admission to the affair, as well as proceeds from the auction. Is to go to the Dinner Club. laser's Venture A. L. Glaser has turned book pviblisher, having taken oyer 'Why -We Don't Like People,' by Dr. Don- ald A. Laird. Book was originally published by the n6w defunct Mo- hawk Press, the rights reverting to the author when Mohawk went Into bankruptcy. Author has since made a num- ber of revisions, with Glaseir pub lishlhg the volume In revised form. Plans of Glaser don't extend beyond the single book for thcrtlme being. Wheatley to G-B Dennis Wheatley, a newcomer in the writing field, is a .real'discov- ery, lip to a. year ago Wheatley was In the wine business, junlbi* partner In .an. Old-established firm in Mayfalr. His first ms-nuscrlpt, 'The Forbidden Territory,' Was sub- mitted to Hutchinsons, the publish- ers, a year a.go, and was immediate- ly accepted. S^nce then this firm hais published three motie. by him. Wheatley has now disposed Of his wine business and adopted writljng as a profession. At a party to celebrate the publication of his book 'Black August,' the fourth, over 100 of London's literary lumi- naries were present. Wheatley has just signed a conr tract With Gaumont-Brltlsh for original film scenarios, and goes to Africa soon to get material for a new book. Mag for the Blind iNew Moon, a iniaie in raised type for the blind, has been launched by the Braille Institute of America in Los Angeles. An improvement has been made In the method of read- ing the lines, although the method of printing does not depart fromi the type size, style or line spacing, fa- miliiar to American Moon readers in English Moon printing^ Titled Chatterer Newest British, blueblood to |ilt the coast, as correspondent on film material Is Lady Chaytor, whose calling card gives her home address as a castle In County Durham; She Is handling spot news for Al- lied Newspapers of £:ngland and will write sketches oii pictture per- sonalities for the London Daily Mail. is Majesty Moves ^,,.,^ glQW-ls__movln g his little ^ing away from the New Torker'^iCd Over to the America^. That gives the American's bp-ed page still another New Yorker regular, others including Ogden Nash, Frank Sul ll'ran and Simms Campbell, Soglow is going to think up a new cartoon character for cartoons for tbe New Yorker, It Is waderstood. Spoofing La Jolai Cal< That forthcoming book, 'Miad hatters Village', which .King Unloads, the middle of February, has a- gay time at the expense of one of the California literary colonies that abound in that State. JLocale of the novel Is pretty much determined .as La Jola, the literary communitiy near iSanta Barbara, Where' Mix Miller, among other litterateurs, dwells. BOok'is author Is nominally Mary Cavendish Gore, but said to be the pseudonym of one of the scribblers living at La Jolia. At least, a Mary Cavendish Gore, has jiever been known to have appeared In La Jola, and the author-of 'Madhatters Vil- lage' displays too much knowledge of the town and Its people to be a stranger. Another Arty Mag Morct of those little' or 'arty* mags, whose number Is becoming overwhelming. Lawrence C. Woodman putting out two of them. The Literary Arts, and The Anterl- can Scene. From Syracuse comes one called Avenue, sponsored by Leonard Brown. And March will see .the birth of still another, the Monthly Review, originating In Plainfleld, N. J. Maybe the Monthly Review doesn't belong with the others since the publishers promise to pay for material. Payment for material is about the .only, thing. thifB type, of publication d^sn't extend to. Other- wise, practically everything goes. No-Hard Liquor Taconia Times took radical stand in front pag" editorial announcing it will not accept hard liquor ad- vertlscn.ients. Newspaper men in Northwest claim this a.Oleyer olr- culation buildup with dry element. Later editions carried compliipen-' tary interviews from blue as Well as red noses on the stand to save the youth oif the country, paper still continues to carry beer and wine ads. SOOK BEVIEWS Creative Art's End 'Curient Issue of Creative Art Magazine Is Its last. Mag has been bought by the American Magazine of Art, which will take over some 9f the features of the former and its subscription list, scrapping everything else, Ineludlng the title. 'Take the 'Witness!' has no aoonei made its appearance, than the au- thors,: Alfred Coljn and Joe. Chls- liolm' have begun scrapping. There may be a law suit over .disputed division of royalties. 'The Doubleday, Doi-an editorial d.epartnient. increased by the addl tioh of Josiiaih Titzell. .Irvin S. Cobb's rep has been cinched at last. He has become the subject of a blog. Author is Fred G.. Neuman. Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, about the oiily publishers not to is sue a mystery. istory, no longer en joy that distinction. They have taken M.-Davis' 'The Hospital Mur- ders.' Gebrge WeUer takipg a round about ^^ay - passage home from Greece; Did new. novel while there. George E- Sokolsky;. who writes on the eaiiat for - the New York Times, doing a book for Doubleday^ Doran to be called^We Jews.' Maze de la. Roche,. who is possl bly Canada's foremost scribbler, has gone to England; ■Women's National Book Assocla tlbn meets today (Tuesday) at the Pennsylvania.' As befits- a. book like 'The Good Earth,' it will get a reprint by two book houses, simultaneously. Julian Messner claims the Evelyn Nesbit memiolrs now in his posses- sion were actually Written by her But either Steve Clow ,or Jack Lalt are suspected, or both. Christopher LaFarge, who is Oil ver LaFarge's. brotheri has. written his first hovel, and entirely in verse calls it 'Hbxsle Sells His Acres, and Coward-McCann will publish tloland Strasser and Mrs. Stras ser have gone back to the scribbler' native Austria. Doris Patee the new Juvenile bOok editor for Macmillan. An idea of what chance a first- novel has for publication: Out of 639 unsolicited scripts received by . CowardrMcCann last year, only one was accepted. Fontaine Fox's sister, Frances, has sold a novel to Stokes. She wiU lise thib pen name of Frances Renard. New Farrar- & Rlnehart offices so near to those of Doubleday^ Doran that it'is like a homecoming for John Farrar. ' J.' Jeftersoh Johes, the Lippincott' exec, has sailed on a script-hunting expedition. Irina Skariatina Will get a lunch from the Connecticut branch of the League of American Pen Women. Jennie Sworn Duryea will be her own publisher for her new novel, 'The Inner Voice.' George Novack, by far the youngr est looking exec In the book pub- lishing biz, has quit Dutton. Simon & Schuster will publish David Freedman and Eddie Cantor's 'Zlegfeld and His Follies' after the Satevepost gets through with it. They say Mack Kraike is doing six novels 6.t a time, or maybe the number Is twelve. Anyway, he's writing a lot of novels. •Vi P. Galverton back from that extended lecture tour and again no- ticeable in the local literary scene. First' act of Edison Smith upon his return: was to order eight pages for every issue of the Greenwich Villager, in place of the four pages the weekly has 'carried up till now. Patricia Kendall back from Lon- don and staying in town' for. the time being. ^ 2k>na .Gale has taken an .apart- nient uptown to' be hearer her daughter, who is at Columbia Uni- versity. Ellis Parker Butler's explanation of how lie .came to write 'Pigs In iPIgs'. Is nearly as funny as that comedy classic. Publication, of George Ross's 'Tipfl on Tables' has been held up because some' of. the establlshhients men- tioned by him haven't received their liquor license.^ ais yef, ' Orra Et. Mohnette,' prez L. A. library board, elected head , of the League of Wcstiern Writers, Iric* Shelia Graham.rN. Y. Eve. Journal -sfaff==wrltep,-=-l8=readyInf?=a-ibooki on nite cubs In post-repeal .compar.-: Ini^ them With London's nlterifes. Misa Graham hall.s frorn En^^lflnd. Norman H;. White, jr., ha.s Joined Century I'lay to liandle tho literati end. White w.is formorly mana^,'- ing editor of Suinll Mriynanl anfl has been a.s.soci.'it'-d witli IJ.avlrl li. Hampton for tlu" piist yt-ar. Reading Lamp Drama Some day there will be a new. classification for play.^, perhaps ailed readei's* These will be those plays that read even better than they play. In that classification would fall two current season plays published by Random House. 'Dark Tower,' . by Alexander Woollcott and George S. Kaufman, and 'Days Without End,' by Engone O'Neill, are both iiighly diverting pieces to read, although neither seehis to have meant much as Broa'iw stage fodder.: TowerV is .frank melodrama Iri a humiorous vein; It got a ^c.^y Nyeeks' run but cbuldn't make the grade. It reads amazingly better than it sounded, on the boards; -however. It has a lot of good, keen laughs that didn't seem to function across the footlights, aiiid.it has suspense., ihe detective story: element Is strong and interesting. Foi' theatre purposes it was, perhaps, overdone, but not at . all so between Covers. .O'Neill-is ne'west drama is in iEi diificult mood. But once niore . his command of dramatic language is gripping; O'J^eiU's plays, even his. Very finest, have always been easier to read . than watch a.cted out and .'Days .'Without End' Is no exception. It won't .prove'as popular as some of his other pieces but it wiU bring him ' a. hew clientele, people inter- ested In the religious ahgle, who ordinarily Wpuld not ffo for 'Nelll. Bedridden Hilarity Frank Scully wrote 'Fun in Bed' last year as an experiment but. Simon & Sohuster don?t.vHNelteve in experimehts. They've made it a regular assignment. 'More Fun In Bed' is just out and ought to prove as big a seller; as the original book, beyond the. fact that it will stimu- late sales on the first book. It's ia, bigger, and better fun in bed proposition. Still marked at $2 It has 238 pages as against 188 in the. first volume. Also more games and gags. Practically eV'Sry- body that is anybody is included among the. humorists who cOntrib>- utcd frpm Frank Sullivan -Eddie Cantor on down.. Only one trouble, with the bdok — ii'B a misnomer. Frank collected the various, humorous items, games and pictures , for the amusement of those who have to stay in bed, sick people. ' But it's just as much fun for those .wji^are hot in. bed. Ih fact, hospital ridden people ought to hide the thing when visitors come around or the visitors will do the reading, rather than any polite chatter. '.—^ 'Thin Man' a Thriller There's only one Dashiell .Ham.> mett. He writes ' detective istbries like nobody else and the. many ad- jectives of a complimentary nature that are thrown his way iare well deserved,; ,HlS newest book, "The Thin Man' (Knopf; $2) la perhaps Hammett'S best. Hammett. writes good yariis In a realistic . mannen Most important Is the fact thiat they're basically good thrillers; so that his addition of smart, down-to-earth conversa- tion mak^ it tha,t much better. No hokum about his detectives, they're tough, hard-boiled dicks. And they get their man. 'Thin Man,' beyond doing well as a book, ought to make a swell plc^ ture for Cosmopblitan. .Good Per Pies There seems to be the making of a good motion picture in 'Watch the Curves', by Richard Hoffman (Farrar & Rinehari, $2). to Work In on : the hew traniscontinental 'bus cycle, but it needs a new finish:. The autholr sends but a load of assorted paifisengers from. New York to Los Angeles in a share expenses limousine. The driver. starts to elope with the funds, but the hero catohes hlmt btiyci a used car and bosses the rest of the trip. Plenty of smart action until the close* When in . an elfort to get a smash finish it becomes rather foolish; Until then it's good reading about well-drawii. characters. |n Fishron Macaiiley is all set to meet the new angle of Russ literature. The recognition of the Soviet is barely set before but comes 'Cossack Girl' ($2). which is another story of a girl soldier In the Ku.sslan arriiy. Marina Yurloya served with a Cossack regi- ment on the eastern .front, winning ijificora tlon8-.forJ«-va|or._ a jid wj^ndlng ^ UP with, shell shock. jShe -sFas tfbf^' of the Battalion of Death, but eei-vcd . in an army of men. Said to be authenticated by docu- ments, but if it's part fiction it's still pretty good fiction, though these soldier stories are all pretty much alike,