Variety (Dec 1934)

RADIO SCREEN STAGE Vol. 117 No. 2 Publlibtd WnUf at lli W«*t Mtb Bf,, Naw Tork^ N. 7.; br Vartnyr Tno, Annual .aubaoriDtton, t6> SlncU ceplM, II orata. 4nter«d M M««na-o1*w nAtUr D*eemb«r Kt tb* Poit OSle* at New Tork, _N/T., under tb* act !0f March ■.1BT|. • c(>rinii6HTi .1984, 'bx '.VAiUBTi, nio, \i aiX' MOHTsViiMiawKo/:.,-- • ■ r. ■ NEW YORK. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1934 56 PAGES to Electric Home and Farm Author- ,lty, one of the numerous NRA- oreated government bureaus, la the . latest avenue of approach to the public treasury taken by the dls- lOiples ot television-by-Federal-sub- aidy. With minimum estimates of .the amount of capital required to .launch a televisloh Industry placed at around |2bOi06d.6ob and with bis .business indifferent to the urgings .of television advocates, hope of any .progress siaems to lie -with Uncle ;i6am and how much of that 1200,- ■000,000 will go to start the boys It Is being urged that to stlmu- Jate a new Industry at this time •would fit in with the purposes of recovery. While the government .has yet to reveal any attitude jone way or the other on tele- vision subsidy, certalit dievelop- •ments suggest the probable lines ~ television must take if and when . gretting started. Costs are estt- inated to be triple that of radio both •on sending and receiving. Televisloh will be limited to local eoihmuhitles if the englheerlhg ex- fterlence to <late is any gauge. In other wbr.ds, sight programs can be broadcast only within a limited geogralphical radius. Efforts to transmit from New York to iCam- ^en, N. J., a distance of 90 miles, are reported as having convinced (Continued oh page 50) ROOSEVET NEW YEAR PARTY'S MUSIC Requests from the White House for the: annual j^ew Year's party pec. 29 lists 'Home on the Range,' the President's favorite song, as the first 'must.' Second request num- ber Is 'The Contlnentiil.' - The party this year in honor of Franklin D. Jr., and John Roose- velt, will.Include the following on the dancie program; 'You're the a-g.v_Wlrtnw WnUa.' 'Any thing Goes,' 'Two Clgariets in the Dark/ 'Alabama,' •Flirtation Walk,', 'June In January,' 'Earful of Music,' 'You and the Night and Music' 'Blue- Danube Waltz' and 'Stay As Sweet As You Arc;' Meyer pavis, pla yi ng tlie engage- ihent, hSLs cpmpose^'HarvardlSliae'' In honor of the Roosevelt boys to be performed Immediately preceding the supper intermlssiort. 'End of a Perfect Day' is the' finale. Hotcha Out WEVD, New York airing series of programs from 135th Street Y.M. C.A. on negro life In Harlem. In- stead of hotcha, series to present the more cultural ahd educational as- pects of the district. James Weldon Johnson,, of Flsk University, opened the series pk Deo. 19. Ne*t Will be D?. Cteorge Haynes on Deo. £9.. . Jiist Trying San Antbhlo, Dec. 24. Showless nlterieai:; here are glying, the trade some semb- lance of floor entertainment with a local couple doing ball- room numbers. They oblige when called on by ork lefider, which occurs every time,-they show up. ■ ■ <3al Is, a pro, but male half of the team !«. a 60-year-6ld business man who takes , his dajiclhg seriously and thrives oh the applause garnered. A few berries Invariably mixed with the applause . re ho handi- ; cap.' PROPOSISH Hollywood, Dec, 24. Universai's offer: to . Joseph' I JBrfljJi_to bec ome scenario chief has been rejected by the keeper of the morality seal for the; Hays organ- ization. Decision was inade after Breen had been In telephonic com- munication with Ha.ys and other producer association officials in the east. Also understood he got a nibble from Metro. Induiatry's purity leader: admitted that the Laemmle offer was a flat t terlng one, but that he had .been disahaded from accep|tlng on the premise that he could hot be spared at this time. Breeh's contract with the Hays organization runs till March, 1936. U.S.t.'s Fix Course; Capra, MacDonald, ell Proiffing Hollywood, bee. 24. Motion picture activities at the University Of Southern California during the winter quarter opening Jan. 7 will include four evening classes In clnehia activities. . Staff will Include Frank Capra, director; J. Parrell McDonald, actor, and Arthur J^ Campbell, cameraman. In addition to lectures, students will participate in actual produc- tion of an experimental sound pic- ture.: ■■■ McDonald will conduct a course in aotlngi Oampbell ph blnematogra- Divorces Totaled 84 in '33 and 81 in 32'-^-One Bust- Up Over Cards NO DIRT Hollywood, Dec. 24. The local picture bunch ifor 1934 is below the film colphy divorce, record of previous years. There were 60 . divorces granted to people in pictures this year, and there are^ some 20,000 employed by fllms. In Hollywood. The colony's divorce list In raat years Wa« '31, 90; '32, 81; '38, 84. ; ; And unlike some previous years, there was no dirt connected with the 1934 divorce crop, as heard In the . courts. Those who abrogated their^mjarrrage^arraagements were: Irene Behtley, who severed the knot with George Kent in Mexico; Louise A. Bradbury divorced her cowboy star. Bob Steele; Chloe jRuby quit Harry Ruby; Kay Fran- (Continued on page 2) The Cherfys Chirp Chicago, Dec; 20. Editor Varibtt: We saw in your paper of Dec. l{i-a most insulting article written on the Cherry Sisters, saying that wo played behind screens. . This is false and vicious. And now we will state right here that we, the Cherry Sisters, have never played on any stage , in all of our stage career behind nets or screens and never saw anyone who did.' " And why shbuld we," when we give one of the best and cleanest acts that ever appeared on any stage? But we have been persecuted by some ■' - unprincipled booking agents and managers and -J—PJ<tnv«i wVin nro ii hwnrfhy of the name of man. And the. connecting of our pure name with that . Rand woman (Sally) is another in- sult. .. ' We hope other papers and periodicals will take notice. FBr ill the future any pub- lisher who, deigns to connect our name with screens or nets on any stage, or any other falsehood, will be taken care of through the courts.. Patience has ceased to be a virtue.with us any longer. , . ■Addie iinii Efjie Oherry, (The Cherry Sisters.) This letter came In written on two sheets of stationery; . one from the Hotel Burton, the other from the Hotel Marlon. The girls must be playing a route of writing deslu. 'Carriage Trade,' In on the Cuff A Blizzarid : Broadway is seeing its great- est restaurant revival. of all times. All are primed for the same purpose-—to reincarnate \ the spirit of the now. time-hon- ored and historic Jack's, Shan- ley'fi, Rector's, Churchill's, Rel- senweber's and kindred 'lobster palaces.' • Since all these famous old New York landmarks are now history, each new operator, no matter how many arei already, open, opines that none has yet grasped the true atmosphere of yesteryear, a:nd so they pile on. 8-FL 'SCRAPER Hollywood, Dec. 24. Metro, working on the theory that Grade. A-milk only comes from contented cows and that dlscon- tented writers can't turn out „what it takes in. the present cubby holes in which scribblers are housed, Is drawing up plans for a six or eight- story building- in. which the scrlbs win be located. If there's a 'quake the first one down Is a sissy. Currently scribblers are. scattered over the studio In various buildings, with the offices accorded the writ- ers a traditional burn among writ- ers on the lot.. Site for the new building and Its modernized offices not yet picked. Y.M.C.A. Out in Open —-Fo r Birth Contro l With Radio Series Young Men's Christian Asspcla-^ tion comes out openly for birth con- trol In a new series of radio lectures oyer WEVD, New York. Two years ago the station started same Idea, but let it die put after a time. New series on Friday nights at 8:45 o'clock. Dr. Marie Pichel War- ner, a director of Margaret Sanger's clinic, was the first to hand out the palaver (21).. Y.W.C.A. attitude not reported! Stir Becomes Theatre Ottawa, Dec. 24. The Government has authorized the transformation of an outmoded prison at Winnipeg Into, a theatre, no leM. ■ At least one of thO 80-odd frea shows weekly broadcast before in- vited audiences In Net^ York City has developed what the theatre world would call a 'carriage trade,! That means limousine-transported patronage in top hats, evening clothes and ermine wraps. Such a turnout is a weekly phenomena of the gratis show, at the RKO Center theatre. Radio ,Clty, every- Sunday night at i p. m. for the General Motors Symphony series. ': This is probably the classiest broadcast series' in radio history. Guest stars and conductors embrace the entire roster of the concert world. Just what effect the free shows with 8,000 cufCo music-lovers. in the audience weekly may be hav- ing on the Carnegie hall. appear- ances, of the same personalities may be a separate story. ' Me^anwhile even the nilghty Ar- luro Toiscanninl himself is ten- tatlyely-llned^p for the next 13- "week~series which follows the cur-' rent baker's • dozen just after the first of the year. Guest'stars to date havie included Richard Crooks, Grace Moore, Albert Spalding, Geraldine Farrar, Jose Iturbl, Jascha Heifetz, Harold Bauer and Lily Pons. Sched- uled for future Sundays to sing or play before the soup-and-fish free audiences a,re Ducrezia Bprl, Yehudl (Continued-on-page- 65) -• - NEW ORLEANS GAME Old Gold is flgurihg oh an Indie hookup to carry the Tulahe-Temple football game from New Orleans on New Year's Day. Proposed broad- cast calls for tying In 12 stations through the south and south At- lantic.- If the cig account looks to the webs for assistance In clearing these spots it will probably find itself: stymied by two situations. One In- volves an auto broadcast over some 80 CBS stations, scheduled to run from 2:30 to 6:15 p. m. EST, that day, and tne other (s the P&sadeBft^ Rose Bowl game (Alabama-Stan- ford), which NBC has arranged to feed, to practically all its affiliates except those on the basic blue (WJZ). Ih either case the New Or- leans game would overlap for east- ern outlets. : . Nash has a similar marathon pro- gram Xmas Day. Using Boston Screens To Find Dr. Bigelow . Boston, Dec . 24. The screen is being used as aa aid in locating Dr. George H. Bige- low, missing director of the Massa- chusetts General Hospital, Boston. Special trailers showing In Boston theatres list complete deiscrlption of the noted doctor, who has been mysteriously missing from bis horn* nearly three weeks.