Variety (Dec 1934)

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RADIO S C RE EN St A G;E Pubilahed Weekly at 1B4 We»t 46tb St., New rork, N. T., b7 Variety, Ina Annual miiMoii|>UDB, M. SlhgU copl*^^ Sintered aa Mcond-olan matter December 22, 1906. at the PoM Office at New York, :N'. T,, under the: act of March, t,' 1I7I.' OOPnUOHT, U84, BY VABIETZ, DTO. AIX . UGHT8 KESKKVim.^^ ^ . ' \. ^1. 117 No. 1 NEW YORK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18. 1934 64 PAGES V %omg H wo h the Discard; Broad A'ing It Hollywood, Deo. 17. ''Going Hollywood' Is strictly In ihe discard. Those of the picture nob, trying to be different, axe now Bolns British.' It's a pickup from be English colony and It's a bead- i^e for the regulars. Hollywood IBS a flock of authentic Britishers, tut the would-be mob, proficient In aislng eyebrows without having »een farther east than Canarsle, are beginning to give out broad a's. Phoney British accents around the Irown Derby are thicker than the (Continued on page 67) No Comparison Sally Rand at the Paradise restaurant, 5Tew Tork, does her balloon dance behind a spe- cially constructed screen. That's to prevent playful fire- men from Paducab trying to get a lighted cigar near the balloon, which is her principal garment. That makes Bally Rand the first act to work behind a screen since the Cherry Sisters. ELMER RICE ON REBOUND a. State Prison's Show with Mostly 'Holdover' Players Fort Madison, la., Dec. 17. Thousands hereabouts have ap- lled for reserved and other admls- lon tickets to the 'Frivols of 1934.' » be staged by termers at the Iowa tate pen during the latter part of ie month, three performances to bo ut on. PrLson's first show was staged LSt January, Its aiicccas V)elng such lat It was made an annual event, le cast working all yenr on produc- on and staging. Cast of last year will practically B intact, most of tliom, being under Jng contracts.' The same Is true ' ushers, stnpe crew and those In large of writing and readying the low. There will be a BO-nilnute of mln- rel first part and a six-act bill of ludevllle. According to prison of- Tialg the Innovation has more than stifled Its Introduction, giving the en something to work on and look rward to for the entire year. ^onsor for Bible? Chicago, Dec. 17. Both National ana Columbia webs B out In the field angling for the w Montgomery Ward ^program ilch will start shortly after the 3t of the year. NBC has a pro- im already auditioned and plat- rlzed, while CBS Is busily audl- mlnp. -BS presentation for the Mont- mery Ward account Is called 'The Lflng Bible' and Is set up so as hit thice periods every Sunday Jrniiiti, going on the air for 15 mutes at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 n. Sine .-iIho ims a biblical yarn ItinK for the comj)any, show elloil 't^on of Jesse.' Lord & ' irp agency Is handling the ac- Reported around Broadway that Elmer Rice is all set to Join hands with the Group Theatre, doing all future production with them and taking an active part in the com- pany's entire productional setup as a member. Rice recently announced that he was through with the 'commercial theatre,' but under-, standing is that he doesn't consider the Group Theatre as a commercial organization. Group is moving its production of 'Gold I^agle Guy' into the Belasco next week, which theatre is being rented them by Mrs. Elmer Rice, who owns It. Rice himself says nothing to it, he's just going to rent his house. But friends close to him say he may suddenly change his mind. BUTWIK Exclusive Representation Has Discouraged Idea Cr^tion and Spot Broad- casting Count Contrasts with Network Boom 8% OVER 1932 Jean Acker, Pic Extra Hollywood, Dec. 17. Joan AcUe-r, first wife of Rudolph Valentino, has returned to films. She played an extra In Columbia's 'Once a Gentleman.' NBC and Columbia will wind up 1934 with a combined gross oC ap- proximately 142,500,000 from the sale of network time. In 1983 the webs between tbem did 131,600,000 and in 1932, 139,600,000. The.Joint 1934 figures represent a bo ost of 36% over the tally for 1933 and" 8% over the Income for 1932, net- work broadcasting's previous rec- ord year. While 1934 saw the webs stag- ing a hefty comeback to pros- perity, the trend for national spot broadcasting has been slightly the other way. Like national newspa- per advertising, spot business has been about 20% oft as compared to 1933. Spot broadcasting has not suffered from a sparslty of ac- counts. To the contrary, this sea- son has seen more national ad- vertisers tied up with spot broad- casting than ever before. Where the rub lles.3s-the-fnct that the nu- merlcal Increase has failed to make up for the loss of'the big spot spen- ders of 1933. This season has seen no Life Saver, Beech-Nut Packing 'Chandu,' no Toddy 'Tarzan of the (Continued on page 62) Insurance < - liOhdon, Dee.. 17. :.. Hugh Sinclair, who played the ~ihEiIe lead .opposite Elisa- beth. Bergher In 'Escs.pe He Never,' and who Is dupllcatlner the^ role' In the fllmlzatlpni, la awaiting the arrival of the stork at his horns. His wife la yaierle Taylor.- Couple has taken out insur- ance against twins. OFFER FROM U Hollywoodj r»ec. 17. ■ Joe Breen, .fllindom's censor on production, is mulilhg an offer from Carl Ijaemmle, Sr., to h^d tJnlver- sal's story department. —Breein lavBald-tQ-heTlnterested-and will make a decision in a few days. His moVe from the Hays organiza- tion would be opposed becaiise pro- ducers feel hls .wprk ls npt yet Aut ished,. but Breen's story Judgment during the church' bi^slB: Is pre- sumed to have /made him a wel- come addition to fthy studio. Belief is that Breen will stick with the Hays office* a bit longer, although the U offer ia repprte'd very flattering. Moving Bill Holljrwood, Dec. 17. —€ost—of—bringing—the—-Marion- Davles bungalow from Metro to Its foundation at Warners totaled- $27,000. Another $16,000 will be niecesflary to get the building, back to§;ether again and redecPrate it. $1 A DRINK, $3 A PACK OF QGS. AND NO TOURISTS, KILLS NAZI NITE LIFE Mexico City, Dec. 17. All sighs point tb the ellmlilatloa, of the! Foreign Club, gay spot that was opened Just outside the city limits last summer by :Mexlcan atid American interests,. and the Casino de la Selva In Cnemavaca, about 90 miles from here, as E^mbllng' pitchetr. Bpth resorts were closed suddenly by orders of President Cardenas. Action, it is repotted, win be extendeil to all - gatntlllnff places throughout Mezleb Ini,: aiir other reform Wave th'6 new admin- istratlpn Is furthering. Governnient bias nixed pleas of ex-Foreign Club employees, about . <C6iiflnued on~pa^e 56) ~ B'way Sees Big New Year's Eye; $25 Per Berlin, Dec. 8. This once gay town's nlterles have the gold standard blues be- cause foreigners are: (a) not fiock- Ing in droves to Germany, and (b) if they do come they bring a shirt and a ten-dollar note, and the shirt Is the only thing they change. Reason Is the mark is too high for the foreigner's blood unless pro- vided with cheaper register marks before cnlcrliig the country. Nlter- les were getting along in good shape until a wave of frantic buy- ing of commodities set in. Then tlio coin went to the ."Stores and not tlie git;glc water spots. Never having been a cheap town. Berlin is more pxpcnslvo to l.-iy than any time since the Inflation. - IJetter class night spots continue to get some play, but there Isn't an^ cork- popping to speak of. The middle-class places continue to get the Saturday night family trade, which doesn't do much for the gross takings. Foreigners residing here rarely 50 to night clubs for the reason that they're too expensive. Cocktails average a dollar a copy. Still Alarm Fire Burlington, Vt., Dec. 17. Firemen were nonplussed while engaged in extinguish- ing a fire in the plant of a local radio station. They were told by chief announcer that vibra- tion from fire pumps was dis- turbing the program. A!inoiincer Insisted that re- gardless of fire thoy shouldn't ruin his broadcewL Any kind of bird to go with any kind of a bottle sets the customer back from $5 to $7.60, and the bottle is extra. Tickets for a show average $8 a pair. Taxis another $4, dinner (dry cover) at least j8, tuid the wine.., well, that's just an idea^ Hotcha spots like Giro's, \Quartler Latin, the Fden,' Adlon. or Espla- nade bars dent the b.r. plentyi: The; Kakadu I^ anPther one 6£ the same ilk, as Is Sand SoucI, particularly well named when It comes to total- ling the check. Hundreds of so-called *'lntlme" bars dot the West End, many of which aren't so "Intlme"; neither are they reasonable. Suckers seldom come to the small- er joints these days and when they do It's a case of 'company girls' and everyone In on the mooch. ^Amer- (Contlnued. on page 68) , - New Year's eve , reservations are coming in rather slowly, but €y<?ry- bbdy .expects a bull market In New York.■;■ ■■ • To encourage the goer-outers there'll be hone of that $16 and $26 . a head ptuff this year; TPp Is $10 a person for supper, and .favors. No mineral waiters, ginger ale or other, mixers . being ballyed; although bottled tablp waters will be su'p- plled, but fie idea is t.p liscourago any hlprtoting of hard stuff and to encotirage the wine card. As a gentle hint some of the spots In the $16-a-couple-andrup class will donate a bottle of virlhe on the house for each two reservations just IP 6tie 'eixi Into sticking to the vlnt-^- Hollywood, Dec, 17. No frowns or sour pans. aroiind the hotels or ;nlght clubs over thft coming New Year's festivities. For tlie flrat time In four ycaro r flll PPOt » report reservations that Indicate, ca- pacity business. 25 Singing Clerks dinclnnaltl, Dec. 17. .Depar ttire :ln local department store adYertlsing by Mabley & Ca- rew in hitting the air oyer WSAl, with morning choral blasts by 2S. of its employees during Christmas shopping period. Shots arP frbni 9:15 .to 9:30. ; . IVIassed singing; sandwiched with -■solos and mixed trios and quactets. Ohrlstmas carols exclusively. Cbm- bb directed by Richard : Sluke, of sponsor's staff. During the day small, groups- of the singers 'wiEind their way through, various depart- ments of the; store and do -thcil;. stuff to pep buying. • ^-