Variety (Sep 1935)

'^^TeiAnesdaf, SejptemBer 25, 19S5 ILITERATI VARIETY 75 Kellinoer Quitting 'Mirror' Mark Helllnger bfis tendered hie, reBJgnatlon to the' NeW' York Mirror (tab) as of Dec. 21. Contract has not expired but Helllnger, a staff niembex* for Ave years, has tp-Hen advantage of a triree months' ca'n- . Station .c]lajasfi.._eJAdvs.:fiUt<l, {Mi'A - Helllnger) 'wIU continue with the paper as . beduty edltcr. ...Mftve probably .terminates Hel>. llnger's dally columning chores after iO years. Fe has not an- ...^o\inc£& futurft Rlg,na.-. , Kelllhser has •wrltte;! a couple of books, musical shows and currently has .a play under way In collabora- tion with George Jessel. Sam H. Har/ifl. m-xy pr.p<'-ujce.„Be?J.dea. wWr-h , there were his original screen yarns> 13 cdminercrai " Veeks; on -the "air,- Bome vaude dates and a world tour for King Features. He may try sleeping for a chahge.. Rewrite Amateur Cinema League has Is- sued a second edition of Its 'Making Better Movies,' which Incorporates much useful material not available at the time the first book was writ- ton a couple of years ago. Moat of the additional material relates to eound pictures, bringing the book down to the riionient. Intended chiefly for use of Guild- members, who receive a copy on joining. Done by Arthur L. Gale, editor of 'Movie Makers,' and Russell Hol- slang, with the assistance of James W. Moore, the league's club- editor, and Frederick G. Beach, it's techni- cian. Growing use of J.6 nim. sound cameras' by iamateurs necessitated the revision. Like the earlier vol- ume, this adition Is wfltten In so simple a fashion that' anyone can understand it." CoVers both the ban—: dling; of thie camera arid the writing and production of continuities. L. L. & S. Joihs Nelson Reorganization of Liothi^, iLee & Shephard, the Boston bopk pub- lishing firm, something more than a year-ago, with plans for an ex- pansion of its activities;, has hot worked out a.i hoped. Company now has effected a joint working agreement with Thomas Nelson & Sons, the New York pub Usher, by which the organtzaltibn Will ,be moved to New York and operated Jointly y/lth NelsOn. With the move, most of the execs, with the exception, of Charles B, Flem- ing, the Lothrop, Lee & Shepard head, arie out. Among those to go are Luclle Gulliver, editorial dlrec tor, and Edward Jervis and Ber- tram K. Little.' Tasks of the let ,outs will be taken over by thpsie similarly placed at Nelson. Although, under a. joint, working arrangement. Imprints of the two concerns will continue to.be used. Kelly Goes to Fil Mark Kelly, long the sports editor of the Los Angeles Examiner, re- turns from New York to the Coast after witnessing the Baer-Louls fight to join the 20th Century-Fox writing staff. Kelly resigned from the Examiner a couple of wepks ago after a mutual agreement to scrap a contract that Btlll had a year to go. Though oft the Examiner, Kelly wired a story on the fight to- that paper as a courtesy gesture. Hoffman Publications Bankrupt Hoffman Publications, Inc., - which issues a number of mags, has filed a petition In bankruptcy. Petition lists'liabilities of $28,501, -arid as sets of ?875.. . . , Hoffman..P.ub.Hcatl,ohs not to .be confused with Liricoin Hoffman Publications. " Malpney Reacquires N. Y. Press Joseph A. Maioney, f ormer: business manager of the New York*' Press; the sports and amusement weekly, back as the mag's new owner. Has acquired full interest in the mag which was founded abPut ten years ago by 0», P. Howard. . No changes contemplated by Mo- loney for the presient. Daily News' Ad-Jump New York Dally News is $500,000 ahead, to date In paid ^advertising over the first three-quarters last year, when the tab earned net profits of $4,500,000,' Understood that .$1,000,000 was split between seven executives in the form bonuses in 1934, Tab soft pedalled the Baer-Louls fight ^because of the Hearst Milk Fund promotion background. How ever, .ja color roto with Sunday'] edition carried a full page plctur. of th e-'boxers; •id^d-'bpinff-Id tjp-.:thfe arlem circrulatlori.'"*-'' - - Radio atid Books Paris, Sept. 16. In an attempt to find out whether radlp Is'hurting book ^ sales; Ipcal_. author%^ _§pcietx, sent out a questionnaire. Of the answers 94% said they'd.: Father, read a.. book than listen to the raldlo;. Asked . whether they could reiad: liter- . ..Bctjira .ftRd ,Ilsteji..tij .thft rRdlp at the same^'time, 32% replied yes; 30% said they liked to ■ have extracts of bpbks retid in-^. to their mike, and 61.5% said their own works oyer the mike; 2?% eald that th'e radio stl lated.them to buy books. Teddy Roosevelt,.,Jr., Joins D. 0. Place that the late Walter Hines Page occupied in Dpubleday, Doran, then Doubleday, Page. Is to filled now by Col. Theodore. Ropsevelt. Roosevelt has. bought into the book publishing concern and \irill be ac-; tlve In the organlzatlpn. Friendship between the Rooser velts and poubledays, which ultir mately led..to the business associa- tion, goes back many years. Senior Theodore Roosevelt and F. N. Dou- bleday were friends arid neighbors, and the ex-Presldent laid the cor- nerstone; of the company's Garden City, L. I., plant. High position of Page, who served his country as an Ambassador, gav« the book firm prestige.. Expected that Col. Theodore Roosevelt's con- nection with the coiripany will do as riiuch. Ethiopia Qufckte What la believed to be the first book on Ethiopia published since the rumpus started Is 'Black Cargo,' by Julius Klein, vet Chicago news- paper man, and Major C. Court Treatt, former British Intelligence .xfflioej:.—... •— ~— Book was conceived three weeks ago and came off the Lincoln Print- ing Co.'" resses In-Chlaaga. last week. — • •••'Os{jorn«'«-State Job- • William S. Osborne, city editor for some time of the Schenectady, N. Y., Union Star, haa been appointed director of publicity for the WPA in; Kew. • Yorl£'^St^''outslSr'b^ metropolis.- His pfllce will be In Albany, but be win continue to live In Schenec- tady. Best SeUers idea Current Controversy, new con- troversial monthly, makes its debut today (Wednesday) with the Octo- ber issue. It's committed to the policy of printing 'both sides' of any given argument. Thus the editorial gamut runs from Ludwig Lewlsohn and Ernest Boyd on both sides of the religious question, to Bernard Sobel and David Carb, an- tagonists on dramatic criticism. In between are others arrayed on ppl- tlcs, economics, literature, etc. K. R. Pub. Corp. Is A. J. Rubleri and Mai-tin Kamirt; Bradshaw Thutston, ad mgr.; and an editprial board of 16. N. Y. U.' io .Course New York Univiersltyj which rje- cently announced a course In mo- tion picture writing. 111 add a course In radio writing \o Its cur- riculum. Course will be conducted .by Bernard Blatt, pioneer radio scrib- bler,; Among those who will lecture as part of the course are Courtenay Savage, head of continuity at CBS; Robert Saldwell, continuity head for the J. Walter Thompson agency, and Alonzo Deen Cole. rosby Defends New Deal Percy Crosby, has dpne It again. Creator of 'Sklppy' every so often takes to scribbling on some sub- ject far removed from his cartopn creation, publishing the work him- self. Now, from his home at McLean, Va., Crosby has published his own "Defense of the Administration Against the Charges of the Rus- sian Ambassador." It's a slight pamphlet, selling for lOc. Vyalsh Off Photoplay Wililarii T. Walsh, managing edl- tqt of Piiotoplaiy, is out. Ruth Waterbury, editor, who suc- ceedeid Kathryn Daugherty .When mag went under the MacFadden banner, has not yet picked a suci cesspr. French Paper Now Semi-.Weekly Courrier des' Etats-Unis, French language newspaper published in New York, which .has been a .daily, seml-wceklV and weekly in the more than 100 years of Its exlst- .erice, has gone frpni -weekly to semi- weekly again. At the same time the price has been reduced from Ime to a nickel a copy^ Semlrweekly publication reputed- ly a feeler pn the resumption of daily publication. ly^^rd Bill Hart's New Tome William S. Hart', first literary effort In some, time is 'The Law pn korseback'^ a,nd 16 , other short stories, puljlished last week by Tlmes-iMirrof company.' Yarns of the old west carry a frontispiece by James Mpntgomery VlsLge and pen and ink illustrations by.John Russell Fulton. Changes Its Mind Oh Ads Most if not all those publications which start out with a refusal of advertising copy on one grotind or another Invariably..come arpund tp Inviting the advertiser's dbll'ar. Latest is Polity, the mag of lib- eral opinion. After a no-advertis- irig eairt ■ 'for"iveifIr t\Vb •.yeai'sr the periodical "^ni MbV sell" Space. Chatter Theodore Dreiser 64. Peter Freuchen to Denmark. H. L. Mencken was 66 years old this month. Putriam's bringing out 'The Soviet Theatre,' by P., A. Markpy. No cuss words In Jim Tally's ne-w book about a palookia fighter. Hector. Bolltho doing a blog of Marie Tempest; the English actress. Mlchellne Keating hack from the Coast, and started on a new novel. Caroline Miller has gone back to ,G^rgla after a. short stay In town. ^arty Berg, the former sports wrlterj now editing the Police Gaz- ette. Max Miller home again In San Diego after that Ice-arid-snow ad- venture. Claire Myers SpotswOpd used to sell books before she tried; writing them herself. ook firm of Albert & Charles Bonl will move uptown from lower Fifth avenue shortly. Helen Simpson has made her own dramatization of her novel, 'Sara- band for Dead Lovers.' Isldor Schneider's new novel, 'From the Kingdom of Necessity,' Is largely autoblojgraphlcal. Philip Andrews has quit Esquire, the mag for men, to join Mademoi- selle, the mag fof feriimes.. llss Perry, former editor of the Atlantic Monthly, hat written his reminiscences, calling It 'And Gladly Teach.' ' George Brltf s blog of Frank A. Munsey, the newspaper publisher, called 'Forty Millions,' will appear Oct. 17. Capt. Billy Fawcett In N. Y. for a week (Including the fight) and thence to Hollywood on his film fan riiag biz, J. C. Furnas, the scribbling man, back ttom Russia, and most eriir phatically won't write a book about the country. Aben Kandel back from the coast, bringing with him the completed manuscript pf his new novel, 'City for Conquest.' ^ary Ellen Chase in from Eng- land after a year abroad. Will de- Uyer a, new novel to her publisher^ and grab a boat back again. Frederick Arnold Kummer,. mys- tery and humor novelist, has penned i libretto for an operetta, which he has submitted to Max Gordon. . Dutton . publishing a blog of Joseph C!onrad written by his wife, Jessie George Conrad, and called 'Joseph Conrad. and His Circle.' Barry .Benefleld,. one of the edi- tors at Reynal & Hitchcocjf,. has given his o-wn firm his new npvel, 'Valiant Is the Word for Carrie,' to publish. , Irving Deakln, assistant to Jake Wlik in- the Eastern story depart- ment pf Warner Bros., ha:s wrltteri a i>ook called 'To the Ballot!' which Dodge will publish. Although Clara Weatherwax's original script of 'Marching! March- ing!' won her the New Masses-John Day prize novel contest, she had to revise the work before it could be published. Estimated at the Farrar & Rine- hart offices that tiie new Hervey Allen novel will be ready for pub- lication In June 26, 1937. In other words, exactly four years after the publication of 'Anthony Adverse.' Forthcoming blog pf; John Bee J, the American scribbled, burled fn the Kremlin, to be called 'One of Us: The Story of John Reed,' will be done In a new fashion. WIH,com- prise iilhograt>h8 by t^yn^ Wdvd, y/iih a harratr-vfe by'Granville Hicks. Best Seller* fop the week ending Sept. 21, at repoi^ted by the American News Co., Inc. -..■.Tr77=^_.i...... ■;.,...f:4^.^,^ .:._.:..„ ..i... •Vein of Iron' ($2.50) ...rBy Ellen Glasgow 'Hones ln; the: Horn' ($2,50) ....^. ...,Br H. L. p&yis 'Europa' (;!.76) ......... .......w.;-.,.By Robert Brlffault. ■Lucy Gayheart' ($2.00) .By WiUa Cather : TfLIr As. the.Moop' f$2..O0:) ,. * •.• -By.Temple Bailey •Green Light' ($2.50) .........By Lloyd C. Dpijglass iction 'North to the Orient' ($2.50) ........ .'.By Anne Mprrpw Lindbergh 'Mary, Queen of Scotland, and the Isles' ($3.50)... .By Stefan Zwelg . .IJCiag^ Lehr and the Gilded Cage' ($3.00)..By Elizabeth Drexei..Lehr-, •Lire With Father'' ($2.00) m .... . By Clarence Day 'Asyliim' ($2.00) .... ; .^By Wintam Seabrook- 'WOman's Best Years' ($2.50) .\.........By W. Berari Wolfe, M. D.. Book Reviews ing Switches Reversing his 'Sorel artd Son' mo- tif i Warwick Deeping turns to. the glorification of mother love In "The Golden Cross' (Knopf; $2),. though the love of Rebecca Slopp for her Karl expends Itself at the cost of the two older brother^ of the object of her affections; They are chucked out of doors and left to shift for themselves. Even when young Karl turns out to be the sort of dra- matist who exists only In books and becomes possessed of a, considerable fortune In royalties, a few hundred dollars Is all that they acquire through the stretc'.i of years.. Both of their characters are self centered and. unlovelyi but they are kin. In the end the old lady dies and .he marries her maid and personal conipanion, as practised readers kn^w he would almost from her entrance Into the story. Lohgwlnd- ed and seldom exciting, but It Is the sort of yarn Deeping followers have come to expect and welcome. It is not another Sorrel. ore Depression Add one more to the depression series. Gladys Tafaer has evolved 'Tomorrow May Be Fair' (Cpward; McCahn, $2), tied to a hero whose Income has dwindled to $90 a month and who yearns for the wife of an-r other man. That's what the de- pression does. Interminable conversations, draw- ings of mildly lunatic persons and a final frustration which- leaves the reader hung up make for the sort of book some people dote on. Ques- tioned If there are enough .to be profitable. Story Is too close tp the present to be entertaining to most persons. It will retfd better 10 years from now. Village (iosslp Sholom Asch Is the ace living Yiddish writer; his son, Nathan, has written a number of books 'In English^ Nathan, however* never- really reached any kind of top rat- ing. His new book, "The Valley' (Macmlllan; $2.50), cbmes the near- est to bringing him there. •Valley' Is an Interesting boolc with a 'different' technique. It Is actuiaily a series of short stories strung together Into one consistent tale. It is Asch's Impression of a small neighborhood as gathered. from village gossip. Reminds of 'Wlneburg, Ohio' and 'Spppn River,' except that it Is more stand-Pfiaqh. Both Anderson and Masters glv« the reader the feeling they are right alongside; Asch seems to be calmly sitting on the sidelines looking dfi. . Not for flhns. . Well lotted Plenty of plot to 'Public Sweet- heart, No. 1' (Farrar & Rlnehart;' $2>. but It never gets away from Doi-a Maty, virho holds It tense and constantly moving. Accurate at- mosphere and, while It has many salty situations, It's not the delib- erate smut that many writers achieve without being Interesting. This Is the stpry of Violet Ches- ter, a dancer who ends her first- person story on her fifth, marriage. The first sees the groom rushing away In the belief he Is being two-" timed on the wedding nlglit/ Then she marries a fat playboy whose ambitions outrun . hia. 'capacities; she hitches to a physician who is killed In an auto accident^ the di- rector who makes her a silent star, and finally, as the story closes, the big. musical comedy producer who provided her with a start. Varied story is told with craft- manship that gets and holds atten- tion. Dawdles There's a strong, .often moving story in 'The GSinkgo Tree' (Farrar & Rinehart; ■$2.50), but Cora Jar- rett is a bit irritating In' her slow-; ness in telling and also the layout.' She starts off with the return to America of her hero, runs along for 32 pages and then spends the next 235 In going back to his diaper days and bringing the history down dpw/i to-date. She takes anothei*' 100 pages to fini.sh~ofr~the yarn, There'.s red meat In this story of the' youth who puts aside his own love to give paternity to his father's bastard,;but.it Is clouded over with labored Intro.speetipn, retrospection and soul probings. That puts her In the literati clas.s, but It's a bore, to those who like their stories told ■-swiftly.' Not fo'rfho 'pfftacnt-day. screen.' -' Peaceful Recommended to those .with high blood pressure Is. Frances Wood- house's 'Country Holiday' (Futnain; $2), which can be read by anyone without a rising temperature. It's the story oif Jlmmle Drew, a young' English physician,. who goes to the country to fall In lOve with a country girl. Majde -timid by bis lack oi: stature, he loses her to his associate ' In a' medlcdl prdotlce. After a while she dies, so the iatory presently stops. Index Is that three of the 256 pages are given tp a dls-^ cusslon as tp whether> earthworms are conscious of paii/ -when they are spaded up In tlie garden. Fleas- ant enough style, but not enough material to hold the Interest of ttie average reader, ^o picture. Good Acttort Roland Pertwee'bas the knack of. writing an action story :that hus- tles right along without getting to sound like a western. Most of the action in i;o\xr Winds' (Little, Brown & C0.J.,$2), lies in the Eng- lish castle froiti jKrhich the book takes title, but It ^ is an English background for. an American-told' stpry. No one Is apt to doze over- this ri^Ital with Its. fast mounting sus- pense, . but It nev«r gets hyjsterlcal In.'an effort to hypo things. Seems to be picture material. Omnibus of Crime Georgette Beyer brings a new quality of humor to'her wh6dunlt scribbling In 'Merely Murder' (Crime Club; $2).- It's a good book pf light fiction, being equally suc- cessful In Its, humorous chStfacterr Izatlons as In its murder plptting.> Could, film. Rex Stout, In his second Nero Wolfe chiller, 'The League of Frightened Men' (Farrar & Rlne- hart; $2), continues his healthy istrlde to the top ranks. It's fine reading and a definite cut above the usual, diesplte the fact that the Central character resembles Octavus Roy Cohen's detective jlm Hanvey a . bit too closely. Good film mate- rial. E. Phillips Oppenhelm doesn't change much through the years. In his newest book, 'The Battle of Basinghall St.' (Little-Brown; $2)„ he's still plotting dir? political plots and,political maneuvers. For them as likes Oppenhelm it': right In llne< Not for films. Harriet Ashbrook, who handled Coward-McCann publicity In be- tween writing books, has a new Spike Tracy yarn, 'A-Most Immoral Murder' (Coward-McCann; $2). Tracy is ptlU an aniufiiig dick i^nd the story la handled In a pleasantly light fashion. Makes nice readinft^ but materlaT'ls d bit'too Involvea.' for fil Ing. • • " ■ ■- ■