Variety (Dec 1934)

fjriiesday* I>cccmbeir 18,. 19S4 VARmrr in ^^ By^ CECELIA ACER v V ■ aehe Fo"'^!®'^ :***^ come back ft^ IloHywopd, thia tlnie,' from 'The. Mighty Barnum' and 'The Gail of the Wild' ,with Ipvo in hla heart for a , producer. . For two producers, ■ Darryi Zanucli'8 the mart wlto did thlia thing t6 Fowiiar. Zanuok's the -man who spplled 'hini, Fowler ad- mits. Admits! ; He's ; shoutlrt* it. ;^/Zisinupk'i exclaimed Mr,; Fowien groping for- the: highest ■ praise: 'Zanuck's a ^reat city edltorl' V Fowler's become so mellowed as a result of his recent exposure to Zahuck, he regards ev^ Hollywood ■ with a; kindly eye. -You can get to 'bi ian bid ishrew, panning : HpUy- : wood/ hP reallzesj 'no better than a; common scold.' If you say a slnr cPre thing about HoUywpodi .tliey' say you're siipwlng. pff. Better to let it lay.' ^'owler had madeVup his ; mind to be ji good boy,. It wa,s his . d^ufifhter'a 14th birthday. ;:When Fowler used to hate Holly.i^ wWood • and despise producers; It went like this: 'I work; like heU on "a book for a year; .1 get hell rapped out of me by the:. llteratl< I make nothing.^:- But I go to Hollywood, and . in six .weeks. I' make more than I'do put of four books, I hate the system-^lt's true. pf the whole world. A'giiy Invents a bolt, and he's, sklp- ' ping .about on a yacht. When guys get dough for Mother Goose stories that istlnk. the system's wrong. . I com't help lt> : I; hate the system ■ where a guy wrlte3\*^Maggle's Draw- ers' . iand goes to* live In perfumed pagodas,' Which is why Fowler Is noted for;burning up at. the fellows who pay him, that Ib.a until he got ta knoW Zamick. I^Whiln VW Get It, IMI knpwl'^ '^It used to be'Fowler's experience W^th prpducers, that they'd sit in sfory cPnfprences with their heads, it^'their hands muttering, '.'When you ge:t it, I'll know/. 'Oh, yes,' roared Fowler, 'I'll know/ Oh, sure, sure. Til, knpw." Zanuck's not like that. He never .says, 'When you get .it, I!ll knpw.' He- tosses you a million ideas. He works harder than you do, . Ho's co nstru ctive , he contrib utes to _a story. When you/ come but of a conference with him you've gpt fiomcthlng to do.' . Writers with putslde reputiatlons, .wlap, go to HoUywPod pn picture jobs and then belittle' the wheel- horses assigned to ;work with them, ittiO'ke a great milstake, says FoWler. No writer's so smart he can learii how to write a| picture script the first, time; . He heeds all the help he can get. " He's no better, than thpse wheel-horses for the Job. Hell; he's not: half as good. - Maybe he'll get good, but he's hot good in thie be- ginning. Writing fpr pictures Is a definite ability. Experience helps ^etf-gfet- lt,: It y oU-eet:^it-at-all7-efty8- Fowlor. •And thertfs'ahotiier^ thing. Writ- ers come out to Hollywood, dazzled by the $1,600 salaries—think then will last forever. The writers them- selves are foole.d by the glitter. So maybe in six weeks they're flhished, , left flat: on their patios. Not Fow- ler. He livies like a.'boverty stricken ; stooge. ' No perfumed pagodas for him; he might get to llkb it. „ . fDo-^you mind- if--I- babble?' he ,: aisked; 'Writers are tetrible. Like a iPt of old, flshwives.' Jealous. Al- ways, knocking; the other writers. There's no ppeh forum; on; .Hecht arid MacArthur In . HPliywobd. Ih- sliead of praylhfe to God iliat they succeed, those writers In Hollywood can't see how Important; it Is for their own saked that :H,echt and MacArthur succeed, Why,? Why to; give the writers a break In hianV • dllng' their stuflE. Hecht and Mac- Arthur's success means a break for • ;Us. all/;.; ..;■;.; It's pretty hard for. a wrltei: to Iretaln his flayor in pictures, was Fowler's next comment. Too many p^cple to please. 'You canit please eyoryphe,' he 'said. 'A man's lucky , If<^he can please his owri wife/ Per- spnally, he; admits, he shPuld ; never have gotten froni behind the plow. The second producer^Fowler's got love in his heart for is' Walter ■ Wanger.' Jean 'bixbh. to';;!! . Hollywood, Dec. 17. Joan pixpn, from legit, has been Platied under contract bjr Uhiversal. Procrastinittion Hollywood, Dec, IT. Al Klein \ras asked how Ions he. had been In Hollywopd. ; ;. Two years,' a.nswered Klelh. ; T. haven't seen you in any ' pictures,' ; rethorked i the paU 'What have~you been doing?' ■ '\ 'Dickering,' saidi kleln,; ; ; Hollywood, ppb. 17. ; The Marquis Henri de la Falalse, husband of Constance Bennett, has started cutting a. first assembly of the 30j6D0 feet of jungle film hiaide in Technicolor In the jungle of Indo-Chlha. : ~ it was this, his second pictorial yeniure Ih the Asiatie wilds as; an thdependent producer, which landed him in:,a Paris hospital with t^rpp- ical fever and has; hid-.him re- cuperating', ever slhce at / Palm Springs. the picturiei titled 'Klloh' (mean- ing tiger), deals with tile tribal life of a remote people ,dogged by the terror of the; striped killer. . The Marauls had the, cooperation of th'e French colonial government and the native rajah. Film is the/flrist all Technicolor product to be brought out pit the Jungle; Cutting Is ex- pected to, take several weeks, iit General Service Studios, with ;no release;yet-seti' Crawford Hollywood, Dec. 11. Completing sieiven years ,at M^tro, Joan CraWtord ' WQA; iElvjefit' ft hew term contract by the iitudio lost week. New ticket : has y'^ly op- tions..'' , ■ During her stay at M^tro,, Miss Crawford hd? UPt made a picture off the lot, ■. :.' :: Reed M Ncliiiig toad Air Canard r ' ; HoUyWbbd; bee. 17, J. Ti Reed, assistant to producpr Benjamin Glazer tki:, Pa,raiiiount, left Frlda;y (14) for the east, where he will supervise the production of. several song and musical numbers for Parambunt's 'Big iBroadcast of 1936/;' ;'. Carlos Q&rdel and Jessica Dra- gonette. have; already; been signed by. Paran^ouht to be filmed and Bpundtracked in the east, with each cpntributing :pne or more numbers; ThPre is a chance that Rped; will sign other artists fpr^ recording's awhile In New York, aiid hP may hop to Europe to pick up filmed numbers by Richard Tauber in Paris befPre returning; to the studio. ess m to StHit at Glad^R^^^ iFrce Air SkolMrs In thp ; radio section of this- issue, on. pagp 44, appears a list of the 8© free; radio; shb'ws which, dlstjrlhutp;; 65,0,PP;Irbp; 'ducats to' deiadhPad auditors every week. ■..■:■.■"■■ ■' ■ This;;includes only the New York commercial broadcasts, which cover 66 frPe broadcasts "on NBC,. 14 oh CBS Xnd U ■ oh wdR. ''•■ ■ ' ^ AUCE BRADY VEERING TOWARD LEGIT AGAIN Hollywood, Dec. 17^ Lure of the stage seems to have won out in Alice Brady's dilemma whether to remain 'in Hollywopd for proffered picture assignments or to return east for legit bids. : Actress has indicated that she Is on the verge of leaving for New Yor k to conside r off ers from the Theatre Guild' there and the D'etrbit Theatre Guild, her apparent pref- erence being for Chester Ersklne's 'be Luxe,' the Louis Bromfleld-John Mearson play. Miss Brady has ap- peared ih eight pictured here within the past 18 months, ■ CALLS IT MURDER Irene Fi^ankUrt Wants New Inquiry In Jarnagin Death ; Hollywood, Dec. 17.. Irene Franklin has made a hew request of the district attorney's of- -flc o th a^t t ihvosfetgato th e—death- of her husband, Jerry Jarnagin, songwriter and her accompanist, as a . murder. Case ■ was listed as suicide in previous investigation. Miss Franklin, now in pictures and occasipnal stage appearances here, promises to supply hew evi- dence pointing to murder. Haley Shares /Nymph* '.. Tops with' Alice Faye Hollywood, Dec. 17. Jack Haley will be tops in 'Nymph Errant,' Fox musical to be produced by Buddy De Sylva. Alice Faye will bo in th e other comerr with; Mitchell and Durant also in. dole Porter will write the music. Fox Siisns Guizar Tito Gulzar, radlQ. singer, has been signed by Fox for one picture, with options running to seven years. He's due on the Coast Feb. 26. Gulzar's broadc:ists for Brlllo over the CBS network, due to end May 26, will be made from Hollywood. CANTOR BACK IN FEB. , Eddie Cantor returns to,the States the first week In February, under plans, to take up radio broadcasting. He will probably go west in May to do his next for sam Goldwyn. .. Latest title for the picture Is 'Waiting At the Church/ which may fee iclianged.-,^'; KAUFMAN WEAKENING (liNHOU:YW(M)DNlXim ■ Hollywood, Dec. 17. : George ' S, Kaufman is getting ready to - faU , for HoUywbpd colh and has asked Zeppo Marx, now agenting, to; whip 'up a writing deal for him at ohe of the studios, Kaufman recently turned down a proposition from Irving Thalberg to write the Marx Bros, story with Mori^le Rysklnd, Kqiufman. prefer-- ring to-stay, in New York and work Valentino's Set at 1^^^ Endbg of Litigation ; ; ; Los Angeles, Dec. 17, Long litigation between heirs, of the Rudolph Valentino estate and S. George Ullman, former executor, over' the latter's proper compensa- .tion has been terminated by. Su- perior Court order instructing Ull- man to returh $26,849 fp the estate. Refund represents the difEerehce between $16,000 allpwed. by . Judge Walton J. Wood fo'r , Ullman's ser- vices, and 122,300 in asseicted -un-; authorized fees and $11,313 in in- terest debited to the former . ex- (Bcutor. , ...'.. Nominal value of the Valentino properties is sei at $251,253 in the settlement agreement , authorized by the court. _ '_ on a play. HEPBURN WANTS REVENGE Would Do B'way, Play To Prove It to HerMlf ; Hollywood, Dec. 17, With the stajrUng date o f 'Qu ality Street,' Katharlhe HPpburn's next at Radio, still in the air and Miss Hep- burh now in* New York, possibilities are that she will get tpgether there with Arthur Hopkins fPr the pro- duptlon: of 'Pride and Prejudices' on Broadway, Still smarting from the failure, of .'The Lake' and critical lambasting. Miss Hepburn is Itchng for another New York play.. . ; U Releases Asther Hollywood, DeCt 1_7^_ Universal has ^ released Nils Asther from, a three picture con- tract. : It's by. mutual consent. Asther,: who is in Europe, was due to report here Saturday (16). CHAPUN TO STAR MISS GODDARD IN HIS 2D ; ' • Hollywood, Dec, 17. Bio wore pf Central's three. rln(f. bally for dress extras was held Tuesday (11) at the Carthay Clrcl* theatre when over 600 men and women paraded for the final ellmi* ' hatiPh,"; ThPse whP gained recog- ; hltlon aa eligible for . the . coveted $16 calls will know , how they ma,d« out. sbme time this week with th* local Chamber of Commerce doingr the counting.; It Is expected that few will be eliminated. ; ■ ; _ : ; Despite the parade, studio casters still insist that there are leits than 200 people, meh and women, who can be relied upon to fill the .bill when cl^ss dress sets need extraa having pomplete wardrobes. Result of the confusion in the. minds ot assistant directors and casters may result in the overthrowing of tixo. 'no request' rule, which has been In . force since the -new' Central re-'\ glme. Assistants aiid casting ofilcea claim they will have to resort to re- questing people . in order to keep themselves off the spot in selecting : people, who despite Central's okay, are not qualified or have not suf- ficient wardrobe to fill the "6111, "Tlpoft to the affair was that one house, which rents men's formal at- tire, a,veraged ^400 per night on the rentals to men. \Checkup of local. stores shows that the 1,600 . extras spent close: ;to- $80,000, outfitting themselves for. the first ' call,., A great nunnber of those attending ad- mitted they had hocked themselves to get the scenery. Most of them clafmed they had charged or hought the cipthes in the $1 down stores,. Final performance was m.c'd by Ben Bard. .An prganlst furnished incidental music, appropriately oyertured with Elgar's. 'Land of Hope ahd Glory/ . ; Hollywood, I>ec. 17. Chai-les Chaplin is planning ,to produce a feature starring Paulette Goddard under title of "Personal Reasons,' as soon as he cpmpletes his present picture. .; . Comedian Is figuring oh directing thie picture himself when it feces be- jCore the cameras, and how has a writer developing a treatment of his original story, with the;, writer working under cover on the proposi- tion.^— ——— -— SET MAURICE SCHWARTZ Playing Waltz King in Metro Story ,,;' Biiilt on Strauss ,.;. Hollywood,: Dec. 10. . David O. Selznick has assigned Joe Manklewicz to write the screeh play of Gottfried Relnhardt's orig- inal based on the ' life of Johann Strauss. Metro is slated to put Maurice Schwartz,. ex-Yiddish Art Theatre Star, in the title part Pf the picture when it Is ready for production early next year. Player has been on the company payroll on term ticket' for several. months without getting a nod from the various pro- ducers on the lot. Old College Chum Hollywood, Dec. 17, . Police are looking for a genial chap who has nicked several male name players with old 'college chum' 'racket. Gimmick, while not new to other parts of the country, Is a new one for here. ' Con man, representing hlntself as a former army filer and a West Pointer, impressed the suclcers by his knowledge pf their college life and by mentioning Intimately friends o^ theirs whllp at school. Vanity, of the players halted them from turn- ing the racketeer down and seem- ingly gloried in meeting an old pal of Bob's or Jlni's, as the case may be. ■■ . ■^./■ ■ ■'■■^ '■ His line of Introduption to an ex- Prliiceton man now -wearing grease paint was that he remembered the latter well wheU ,-I came down with: the Army polo team.' - The fact that lie could tell of small ihcidents at, college that only an intimate .would know, cinched the friendship and ;the con man was hosted for two days at the actor's home. Finally he,; g,pl. the actor to on- dorse a check and when he left that night he also decamped with an overcoat; Next day when, reporting the; Incident. to tlie police the sucker learned the cops had been looking for the chap, who had victimized several other college graduate actors the same way.' Same gag, but with a little- differ- ent routine, is being worked by a con man in Arizona who telegraphs that ho Is Btrandc.d In that state and In collect telegrams tells how he remembered the victim at college, etc. This chap is. supposed to have collected several hundred this way in $10 and $25 nicks. Police believe that the gag is a co-ppei'.atlv^e proposition with sev- eral in on the scheme, having pot their dope on the, past "of the former collcKo boys fron^'. old class books and from Ujographical. dope,sent out by studipi publicity offices. MG Eyes Wynne Gibson, as Star Hopes Holljrwood, Dec. 17; ' - Metro is talking term deals with both WynhP Gibson and Evelyn - Venable with a view of building both Into starring ^ personalities. "Miss Venable recently walked" but of her Paramohnt contract. :, Trade Mark Registered • FOUNDED SILVBRMAM Fnblished Weekly by; vilBiETt. Inc. Sid Silverman, >re6tdeiit 164 West 46lh Street. New Torlt City . SUBSCRIPTION Annual..... . ..♦«• Foreign,...,, :>7 Single Copies.. ,........,'.. .It Cente Vol. 117 Np.l Merry Christmas. INDEX Bills . Burlesque ;...,....; Chatter Exploitation ... 16 and 60 Years Ago. Film Reviews........ Foreign Film News:. ., . 50 ... 63 ...60-61 ... 21 ... 48 ...12-13 ■ 17 Foreign Show News.. House Reviews;... InsIde-^Legrit ..;...,.,,, Inside—Pictures ,,,.... i InsIde-r-Radlo ; .,,,,... ', Inside—•Vaiude .. . .,,. Legitimate Literati ... Music .. i... 4 . /l^; New Acts,,, ..i... ... News from the Dallies. NIte Clubs.. ......... Obituary :,,.,,.,..,;. ... Outdoors ..........,,.. Pictures .;.....;,...... RadlP. ....,.. ,. ',..,. Radio—Chatter ........ Radlp—New Business.. Radlo^^Repbrtg .,. . . . Radio—Showmanship Units .............. Vaudicvllle .,;.. '. .. ■ Women ' .. ', .■.. .. 66 . 16 . 62 . ' 20 .' 44 . 49 .61-55 ,46-47 . 48 . 69 .45-47 . 62 63 . 2-33 .34-44 . ;42 . 33 . 4i 38 .- . 48 .48-50 .'• 58