Variety (May 1935)

74 TARIETY 1IMES SQUARE Wednesda7, May 8, 1935 East Abraham Schrler, musician, and James Artenuto In police lineup Wednesday (1) charged with re- ceiving 167,000 feet of motion pic- ture film stolen from the, duPont works In Jersey Inst March 2. Newsreel containing an attack on present administration by Gov. Tal- madge, of Georgia, viewed by Pres- ident and guests at a private show- ing in White House, evoked a hearty laugh from chief exec and friends. Betty Fiirness planed In from Coast. Law stepped In and removed 22 pickets from front of Star theatre, burley house In Brooklyn. Musi- cians and stagehands are striking. Show at Hippodrome to raise funds for Jewish refugees from Germany, gros.sed $6,000. Herbert Witherspoon tells the Music Week lunchers that opera has ceased to be a society fad and must gain the support of the mass- es to survive. Sue Hastings' marionettes to travel. Will go to the London Pal- ladium for two weeks with possibly other English dates to follow. Palisades Park bought by Nick- ola.s M. Schenck at a sheriff's sale f6r $150,000. Sale- to satisfy two mortgages held by Mr.s. Schenck and Clarence Hand, each for $250,- 000. iianH made a larger bid but was disqualified since he could not proffer the required certified check. James T. Powers, .Tames Kirk- wood. Zila Johaan and Francis Conlon among the. leads in support of George M. Cohan in the Players' production of 'Baldpate.' "Three pupils of the Professional Children's School ran the benefit at the Biltmore Sunday (5). The eld- est is 16. John Golden lending his new plays to the Play Troupe. Port Washington (L. I.) little theatre, for trvouts. First will be 'Salt Water.' Some sort of record last week when the Post Office department barred the malls to 412 suspected of being connected with the Sweeps. Private schools combine in selec- tion of a program to be shown at the- Friends' seminary May 17 as a sample of approved child programs. Management of Riviera theatre Working with the committee. Court of Appeals tosses convic- tion of nudist gymnasts while anti- nudity bill tfwalts signature. Holds that nudists do not 'openly out- rage, public decency' as charfeed. Backwash of the Oxford theatre, Brooklyn, picketing Is the suspen- sion of two American Legion posts, the M. P. operatprs post and the John Philip Sousa post. Both per- mitted Its members to picket In •uniform. Stir in Equity when a circular called the members to parade May 1, joining the labor union turnout. Officers denied complicity and an- nounced members must not turn cut as an Equity contingent. Equity council last week sus- pended Raymond Bond, Billy New- ell, Michael Whalen and Lela Bliss for appearing In 'Kitty Dooley' in Los Angeles with non-Equity mem- bra; News From the Dailies This department contains rewritten theatrical news items as published during the weel( in tht daily papers of. New Yorl(, Chicago, San Francisco, Hollywood and London. Variety takes no credit for these news items; each has been rewritten from a daily paper. bers. They will be given until May 28 to reply. City Investing Co. filed suit against the Astor-Bljou-Morosco Theatres Co. to foreclose an out- standing mortgage of $1,000,000 on two adjoining plots at B'way and 45th. Mortgage had been reduced from $1,250,000. Bobby Sanford will resume shows aboard the Buccaneer In conjunc- tion with the Hudson River Day Line. Starts June 1. That send-a-dlmo chain-letter scheme is getting into New York and worrying the post office. Fights between competing red caps in the bus terminals mussing up Times Sq. One stabbing. Peggy Strickland, singer, to sue for a divorce from L. Hyler Connell. Says they, like each other too much to get along together. Richard Rohman, newspaper man, has written 'The Power of the Press,' based on the Newspaper Guild. Title was used back in '91 on anotlier play. Last performance of 'Green Pas- tures' electrically transcribed for Rowland Stebbins. Added one- eighth to the pay checks in accord- ance with Equity rule. Actors' Forum, Equity insurgents, offers 10 candidates for Equity elec- tion May 27. Medicinal mud deposits discovered at Atlantic City and the Playground will go in for cures in a big way. Ample deposit. Columbia professorette declares she can determine a person's orator- ical ability through the facial con- tours. Suit of Harry Paaternack, ticket broker, against Jimmy Durante for $96.35 tossed out of Municipal court Thursday (2) when Pasternack failed to appear. State agents raided Newark sa- loons last week because they were selling whiskey at a nickel a glass. Gave 16 drinks to the pint. Owners proved they made a profit of 66% on perfectly legal liquor. Just a lit- tle young. Theatre Alliance has Issued a prospectus. Names Elmer Rice as producer of some of its works. Players Club spring revival set into the National theatre starting May 27. Edwina Booth arrived in town en route to London In search of medi- cal advice from physicians more familiar with African diseases. According to the dallies, Irving Bressler called up the sheriff when his show boat at Point Pleasant, N. J., was raided. Wanted to know what had happened to the protec- tion he had paid for. Had been op- erating as the Club Royale. Atlantic City moralists making a heavy drive against dog racing. Us- ing repirints about pup chases in Miami and elsewhere to prove the Playground will go to the dogs in a double' sense if they let the pooches stay. Hedgerow Players using a trans- ^iiiiiiiiNliiHtii,iinniiiiiiin)iiiiiii|itiiiiitiiitiMiiiii.ii,iiiiiiii iiitiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiilinJUiiiliiitiiiM) iiiiiiiniiiiiiiiuiiliiiiiiiiiitiiiiiuiiiitiiiMiii New York Theatres iiiruimnnininin 4t>% ■reiCT CLAUDETTE COLBERT In ' TMVATE WOBI .D3" On Stage i—Mark HelUnser, Gladys Clod and others Starts Friday Sean Wm. nARLOW • FOWEIX In "RECKLESS" CAPITOL tnv fii J I'.M, ZND SMASH WEEK! •'★★★•^r'—'I'll" News j\MES CAGNEY In "G-MEN" PARAMOUNT^™"^ SQUABK DIETRICH in "The Devil Is a Woman" Fri.—SIAE WEST In "Coin" to Town" RIVOLI NOW 3rd BIG WEEK VICTOR HUGO'S "LES MISERABLES" Produced by Darryl Zanuck, with Fredrlc March nnd Clias. I,au?Iiton RADIO CITY ROCKEFELLER MUSIC HALL NOEL COWARD in The SCOUNDREL Written and produced by Ben Hceht and Cliirles MacArlliur A Paramount Release ON THE STAGE . . . "Contours" In tlirce scene produced by Ltonldolf." AM OAT 25c to 2 35c to 7 ANT SEAT ★ * % ★"—News "LADDIE" riun a Ble stage Show ;tli Avt.prty V Show Value soih et.' ^ ot the Nation latlon of a German version of 'An American Tragedy.' Jasper Deeter says it's better than the local prod- uct. Suminer theatres planning fash- ion shows between acts to jazz biz this season. Mannequin school staging with its pupils. Police gathered in 19 men and women picketing the offlces of the American Mercury. In sympathy with the seven office workers on strike because two were fired. 'Trenton-Gayety Corp., purchases Gayety theatre, Trenton, under foreclosure by a Newark building ai)d loan. Moss Hart and Cole Porter wire from Cape Town they have com- pleted the musical comedy they have been writing for Harris and Gordon. Will be called 'Jubilee' un- less someone changes his mind. Guy Robertson flew to his mother In Denver following the Saturday night performance of 'Great Waltz.' Back in the cast Monday. Greta Grandtedt getting a Mexi- can divorce from Ramon Ramos, ork leader In the Rainbow Room, Radio City. Tunnels and ramps in Rockefel- "■ler Center opened to the public last week. To facilitate passage between the buildings and to care for truck deliveries. Katharine Hepburn to quit pic- tures for a few weeks in summer stock at Saybrook, Conn. It's her summer home. Fritz Krelsler to South America on the Zep. Will give concert at each stop. Business manager of the Meyer- hold theatre, Moscow, and his as- sistant flred from jobs and forbid- den to take any other theatre posi- tions. Outcome of the row over the ousting of 200 whose seats were required for visiting diplo- mats. Theatre Alliance selects a board of advisers who will piclc the mem- bers,of the apprentice group. Wants about 50 promising amateurs to study with the professional element. Covers the country. Including Gll- mor Brown of Pasadena Players, state university heads and little theatres. Robert Henderson shipped 43 ac- tors to Milwaukee Saturday (4) for his drama festival. National Shakespearean Studio formed In N. T. to be headed by Alexandra Carlisle. Katharine Cor- nell, Eva Le Gallienne and others on the advisory board. Jumping frogs the attraction on the Central Park Mall May IB. Cu- rator DIttmars will import 200 from Louisiana and assign them to va- rious civic bodies. Jack Dempsey may referee. Hal Roach will make one two- reeler In N. Y, next month with winners of a contest featured by Loew theatres and Daily Mirror. Tom Weatherly takes Percy Waxman'3 'March of Time' skit for his revue, 'Standing Room Only.* Originally done for the Dutch Treat club. Westchester Bettor Homes ex- hibit under approval of Federal Housing, laboriously explains that model home and other pifts are --t a lottery but 'just door prizes.' Following a recent Invasion from Cape Cod, Eddie Dowling has hired two town criers for 'Thumbs Up." One will bawl out the show at Har- mon for the N. Y, C. travelers. The other is at Manhattan Terminal. Jimmie Durante finally signatures that 'Jumbo' contract with Billy Rose and Rose also positively ties up the Hippodrome. Messenger for lace importers stuck up on Broadway at 42d street, Saturday noon, and relieved of two grand. Gertrude Stein sailing for France Saturday (4) after' a six months' stay here, declared that American youth 'best understands' her ideas. Reports from Parl.s state that Feodor Challapin, Russian tenor, has improved from recent attack, but is still not completely out of danger. Jose Iturbi, Spanish conductor- pianist, departed for European va- cation. Gatti-Casazza, retired Mot opera Impresario, arrived in Naples Sat- urday (4) to begin retirement on his native heath. Berlin will suffer a paucity of theatres when, on May 12, ostensi- bly for renovation, five of city's en- tertainment places are to be closed, during the hot spell. Unusual con- dition, as same theatres have been known to remain open during June and July. Attributed to eco- nomic conditions and Nazi ban on foreign plays. Radio preachers denounced by Bishop Adna Leonard at New Eng- land Methodist Conference in Low- ell, Mass. Hotel Barblzon, N. Y., has ob- tained a $250,000 bank loan. Mile. Gillette, performer of the pendulum leap with the Barnum- Ringling circus, escaped death but tached to her ankles snapped and whole weight was placed on re- maining; strand after completing jump. Accident happened at fare- well show Saturday night (4) at the Garden. Earl Carroll took 75 of his 'Scrap Book' chorus to back him up in his appeal to the Supreme Court to Is- sue a permanent injunction against the Scene Painters Union boycott. Justice Shientag seemed to appre- ciate the visit, but said that had no bearing on the legal aspects of the case. It's Carroll's contention that 160 will be thrown out of work" If ho cannot get scenery for his pro- duction. Union says he must first pay for the last scenery he got, which Carroll contends he Is not re- sponsible for. Judge refused ap- pl'ication. Elsie Janls visited Mayor La Guardia and sold him some tickets for the 77th.Div. boxing bouts. Gertie and Benny Kolmonovlty enter suit in Brooklyn court, against S. P. Mogelewsky and the World Clothing Exchange for furniture promised as part of a radio promo- tion; They were married last year and Mogelewsky bought the groom a suit and gave the bride $10 with which to rent a wedding gown, but he allegedly reneged over furniture promised oyer the air. Unidentified former grand opera singer was a guest at a recent op- portunity night staged by Gimbel Brothers for its staff. Liked the voice of the third prize winner, Bei;nard R. Glass, salesman, and has offered him two years voice schooling. Glass used to sing for the late Joseph Rosenblatt. Theodore Hodgman, assignee for Royal Amplitone Co., flies suit against the usual defendants in a $15,000,000 action for alleged In- fringement of sound patents. Also includes ASCAP and MPPA, in ad- dition to picture and electric con- cerns. Suit In N. Y. U. S. District Court. Mrs. Maria Piastre, wife of the concert master of the N. Y. Phil- harmonic, who died at a party April 30, was poisoned, according to the report of the city toxicologlst. Po- lice decline to say it was suicide, but point out she was recently treated for an attempted suicide by gas poisoning. She was estranged from her husband. Three N. Y. companies experi- menting 'With metal cased pianos. Said not to affect tonal quality. Walter Huston quits 'Dodsworth' and'show folds 10 days ahead of sked. NRA Codlsts up against it. N. Y. manufacturer wants to demonstrate 'invisible panties' on live models. Question is if they are Invisible, what's the use? If not invisible does the phrase come under the head of misbranding. 'The Old Maid' draws the Pulitzer 1935 award as forecast. 'Now in November' gets the novel ticltet. 42nd St. Ass'n causes arrest of five sandwich men In Times Sq. section. Polly Adler pleaded guilty to dis- orderly house charge Monday (6). Will take sentence on that, evading film charge. Gov. Smith comes to the aid of James W. Blake, part author of 'Sidewalks of N. Y.' Sent hi to the hospital. Coast Return of $25,000 to Mary Pick- ford, invested in a suburban de- velopment promotion of Bayly Brothers, ordered in L. A. Superior court ruling. Monica Bannister, actress, di- vorced after New Year's day wed- ding in Tijuana, Mexico. Paintings valued by mother o'f Elissa Landi at $26,000 and by in- surance appraisers at $5,000 stolen from the Landl home in West Los Angeles. Grant Withers told L. A. police he was beaten up by Joe Benjamin former lightweight boxer. Fe^ weeks ago ' Benjamin took a poke at Fred Perry, tenpls champ. Bank acting as guardian of Jackie Cooper, paid government $3,277 deficiency tax on Juvo ac- tor's 1932 income returji. Gouverneur Morris, novelist, jailed in L. A. suburb on suspicion of drunk driving, after colliding with car driven by Ralph Farnirmr Mary Pickford laughed off reports that she and Buddy Rogers would be married after they were found together at a country club near Santa Cruz, Cal. Grant Withers -sued in L. A. Su- perior Court by William W"cllman on $3,840 promissory note. Judgment for $1,450 given Lon Young against wife of Roy Chans- lor, screen writer, in washup of cafe imbroglio in which Young figured at receivitig end of a thrown cock- tail glass. Fred Keating paid $50 fine for L. A. co-ed convicted of handing out anti-war handbills. Phillips H. Lord (Seth Parker) denied in Los Angeles that his re- cent SOS call was a hoax for pub- licity purposes. Petition in bankruptcy filed In Los Angeles by E. A. Du Pont, film director; liabilities listed at $44,676 and $100 in assets. Margot Graham, film actress, re- ported loss of $1,500 sable. Otto Klemperer, conductor-refu- gee from Germany, instructs attor- ney in L. A. to draw up first nat- uralization papers. Former wife of Tim Whelan, film director, caused his arrest in L. A. on asserted delinquency of $5,000 alimony arrears. Reno court upheld Latvian di- vorce of Max Relnhardt. Los Angele."! Trafllo Association trots out new set of figures to bol- ster its boast that Intersection of Wilshlre boulevard and Western avenue is busiest corner in the world. Average of 109,313 vehicles pass in a 16-hour period. Nat Pendleton complained to dis- trict attorney that ho was swindled out of $700 'oy a braced roulette wheel. Max Mai-x, agent, named In warrant. Gertie. Messlnger, film actress, divorced from David Sharpe, tum- bler. Charles Ray divorced in L. A. on a cruelty charge. Married 20 years ago. Mrs. A. H. Woods advised in Los Angeles that she had been be- queathed $250,000 in the will of F. J. GodSol, her cousin and organizer of the Goldwyn Pictures Corp., who died recently in Switzerland. Midwest Court ruled against a motion to quash the warrant for the arrest ot Will M. Hough, playwright and songwriter, on a charge of wife and child abandonment. Hough, now in custody in California, will be re- turned to Chicago on complaint of his wife, Isabel Lamon Hough. Frank Prince, whose legal name is Prlnz, and who is warbler with the Ben Bcrnie band, was divorced by Mrs. Elinor Raub Prince in Chi- cago on grounds of desertion. Clyde Osterberg of the Motion Picture Operators' Union foiled at- tempted assassination last week. Gunmen beat him, flred two shots which missed and then fied. Texas Centennial in '36 Dallas, May 7. Gov. James Allred today (Tues- day) signed the $3,000,000 Texas Centennial bill giving Dallas an expo in 1936. Sonie $1,200,000, plus indefinite aid from a $500,000 fund covers the expo; rest goes to his- toric pub celebration. Bill asking at least $3,000,000 U. S. aid will be.Introduced in Con- gress tomorrow (Wed.) morning, Walter Cllne, expo director, said. Fair now has available approxi- mately $1,500,000 of its own $3,- 500,000 Dallas city money plus state money. Going Places (Continued from page 73) in Renaissance legend—to haunt a mystery picture called 'The Florcntin Dagger.' Miss Lindsay, who—whenever people in the film exclaim at her like- ness to Lucrezia, pants, glon-ers, then narrows her eyelids in conscien- tious effort to reflect the femme fatale—is always photographed with a sinister black cat and wears a hat with a peak descending down her brow, and a black satin dress collared severely high at her throat, for menace. It must be rather discouraging to Miss Lindsay, therefore, to notice that she Just can't seem to scare a' fly. But that's what comrf of playing fine forthright young women so long—It leaves one with a pernicious aura of virtue. , Rafaelo Ottlano, as an Italian innkeeper's wife, has a finely chiselled profile, much more apt to conjure up Lucrezia Borgia than Miss Lindsay's—If Lucrezia simply has to be conjured up. Florence Fair hides behind a mask for the duration of the picture, and so she, too, Is more threatening than poor Miss Lindsay, as is Elb , ^ Malyon oia well, for Miss Malyon, again, at least slinks around i" sufCered' severe' wrenching of her J trailing black garments with suspicious veils over hor fare, and i"-' fntire body when one of wires at- j photographed from crooked-making angles.