Variety (Mar 1936)

radio ] SCREEN T AG E Published Weekly at 154 West 4Cth St., NewvYork, N. Y., by. Variety, Inc. 'Annual subscription, $6. Single copies,. 16 cetita. Entered as eecond-clasB matter December 22, 1006, at the Post Office at New fork, N. T„ under tjie act pt March 3, 1879. COPYRIGHT, 1936, Br VARIETY,-INC, ALL BIGHTS RESERVED. %o\. 122 No. 2 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1936 64 PAGES floods in Pennsy and New England J Sectors Cause Big Theatre Loss Pittsburgh, March 24. ; The worst flood in Pittsburgh's ^0-year-old history will cost thea- tres, in the downtown area plenty, rit Wlil be impossible to. estimate the total until the. •wreckage has been cleared and some semblance of order • restpred to the .stricken districts. In Virtual ruins lay the.delude Loew's ; Penn; Warner Bros.'. Stanley and the .Harris Anius.fCo.'s Alvin. Battered also beyond recognition is. Shea- Hyde's Fulton, with the small-Wat Art Cinema likewise seriously dam- aged. The only, two first-run'sites Jn^the Golden Triangle to escape the Tftglng waters were the Warner and the Casino, where water reached paly the basement. •Sights in the theatre section as the flood reached its crest were enough to stagger the imagination. The Alvin wasn't even visible. At the Fulton, the balcony had been reached when the gushing torrents began to recede. The last row at the. Penn was six feet under water as the currents rushed through the lobby and buried the box-office. Chairs at the Stanley were uprooted •by the dozens and sent swirling out (Continued on page 18) COTTON-JAZZ CARNIVAL 'BLUES DADDY' Horizontal Plug St. Paul, March 24. 'Tiger* Gabrlsch, local heavy irt a recent, amateur boxing tournament, sported the most provoking ad seen here in years: Soles of his brograns were stenciled '620. Club* (nitery near here) and since the Tiger Was on the floor Ave times in one round it spelled good adver- tising for the sponsor. Southside Ministers Say Chi "Bank Nites' Now Hurt Collections • . Memphis, March 24... I : r$W. "the Cotton Carnival in May tps year, Handy Sq., in the Beale street (colored) sector of Memphis, , Will be the centre of a jazzique rev- *lry la special honor to W. C. Han- t' .ay, 'father of the blues.' The now almost blind colored composer is coming to Memphis irom New York in May, when his Beale. St. Blues,' 'Memphis Blues' jWd 'St. Louis.Blues'- will be signal- ized as a. civic celebration in con- nection with the Cotton Carnival. To Film Roxy's Life ^ Hollywood, March 24. Screenplay based >on life of Samuel Lionel Rothafel (Roxy) Is Being developed at Republic by Alexander Leftwlch. Leftwich joined Republic several weeks ago as production aide to Nat Jjevlne and has been working on «ory se cretly d uring that time. 'JOHNSTOWN FLOOD' AGAIN Los Angeles, March 24. Walter Kofeldt and Gilbert Hey- non. local -attorney, will seek to troug fl 00(Jg in Pennsylvania, as well «s other eastern states. New com- SL^'° Ul l, acqulre 1)rint of 'The ^hnstown Flood,' silent, from Larry Corn n ' of stan <iard Capital erai a Centaur Production of sev- date IT? f S0, and brl »ff Jt UP to OhI? ? C - Ude P^sent menace. olnal ^od occurred in 1889, Chicago, March 24* Bank night is now interfering with religion, According to 112 min- isters on the great colored south- side of .Chicago. All these shep- herds have entered a strong pro- test tp Balaban & Katz that the bank night drawings on Sundays have decimated attendance at the churches and as a result the collec- tions . have fallen off alarmingly. B&K has been asked to change the bank' drawing to some other night in the week but the circuit gave them..no satisfaction, it's reported. The ministers nave appealed to the city and are seeking an injunction against bank night at the B&K Regal. Last week the prize ac- cumulated to $1,200 there. It Is the top deluxe colored house in the world, Uncerftai Quality of Radio Versions Based oh Broad- way Musicals ■ Hurts Out- of-Town Patronage —' Showmen Explain Disap- pointing Box Office for 'jumbo' and 'Ziegfeld Follies- on That Logic DENTS REPUTATION Broadway musical show produ-. cers who a short time ago visualized grand possibilities in the idea of commercial radio serving as a new bankroll source have lately cooled off on the subject, due to the far from happy results obtained through radio versions of 'Ziegfeld Follies' and 'Jumbo.' Neither of these major musicals realized even a part of the direct financial returns and advertising benefits that were hoped for through radio deals. On top of that, other (Continued on page 19) 1ST RACKET STRIKE 'Numbers' Bookies Ask Boost of 25% Commi ion Easton, Pa., March 24. A new kind of a strike started at Coaldale, near here, last Week, when 'numbers' agents, demanding a bigger commission, organized and started picketing. As result of strike, the racket has been having some lean days in this town, which is full of miners, all union men. The bookies refused to sell any numbers on the old commission and picketed the streets to see to it that no one else sells them. There --are about 100 bookies in the town, it is estimated. They have been getting 33% commission, but it was reduced to 25% by the three .'banks' running the racket here. COAST'S GEISHA LINE Hollywood, March 24. Gait Bell, producer of 'The Drunk- ard,' now in third year at Theatre Mart here, has gone night club and taken long lease on the Hollywood Barn. Floor show will include Geisha girls in the line. ASCAP's Figures Show Music Biz Off 80% from H Washington, March 24. Statistical story of how com- posers' income has faded since the coming of radio and, decline of vaudeville and legit was given Con- gress last week in a brief on copy- right legislation filed by the Amer- ican Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Asserting that the piano, phono- (Contlnued on page 51) Windows for Sale London, March 24. With royal weddings, Jubi- lees, and the recent funeral procession following in rapid succession this town has de- veloped what seems to be a semi-permanent box-office — the processional route. Seats for the funeral pro- cession of the late King brought up to $125 in some cases, and windows were sell- ing at $l,0CO and over. Bookings are' already brisk along Ljie Coronation route for the procession to be held in the spring of ,1937. I Paris Correspondent After 10 Years Returns to Find N.Y. More like Paree Boomerang Los Angeles, March Femme patron" after sitting through Major Bowes No. 12 unit show at Orpheum, went to , box office and demanded her admission refunded, Said she had heard all the talent on the air and Couldn't understand why'she should . be obliged to pay for sitting through same show. Sen. Ashurst Likes Acting, Wears Taint Home to Show Mrs. Washington, March 24j Senator Henry F. Ashurst, of Arizona, who has defended the screen many. times, and always shown himself to be a friend of the industry in his official capacity, went even further last week. He turned actor. Carter Barron, Loew's local divi- sion manager, grabbed the Senator for the leading role in 'It Happened in Washington,' local version if Irving Yates' traveling picture- making troupe which is playing the Loew time. Film was made on the local Fox theatre stage with ama- teur juve talent and will be shown there next week. Senator got his script a week in advance and spent two whole days in rehearsal. When Yates called at his house to bring him to the theatre for the first 'take,' the Senator was still rehearsing. He (Continued on page 54) WHITE PATRONAGE UP Negro Singers, Cafes, Shows Patronized in Knoxville Knoxville, March 24. Color line is fading In these parts of the deep South In the show biz at least. Concerts here recently by George Matthews and Roland Hayes, both Negroes, drew packed audiences liberally sprinkled with \v.hl'te patronage. Otis Holly, soprano, attracted as many whites as those of her own race when she sang recently in Negro church., Negro cafes also get . white patronage, but mixing a la Harlem strictly taboo. Film house in col- ored neighborhood has heavy white patronage for Saturday midnight frolics, with university boys in lOud attendance. CARNIES OMEN PROSPERITY Chicago, March 24. Nation must be out of the 'red and on Its way to prosperity once more, because the carney boys, who know quicker than anybody else what the public's fund of ready cash in, have suddenly blossomed out and are hurriedly setting up schedules. By ROBERT STERItf They said that after id : years In Paris one finds the town, all changed. But Broadway is still, Broadway. It's swing stuff, now* Ten years { ago It was jazz. Before that it was ragtime. A difference? The boys and gals do open danc- ing 'now—when the floor's big enough. They shake it hard,, and do things w4th the feet and everything else. Ten years Ago they did- the Charleston. Everywhere you go, now, you find colored entertainers, on Broadway, 52nd street, everywhere,,* They used to be mostly in Harlem, but there were just as many,, And gust as good. The legit has changed. It's made - progress. As for the music shows, the main attractions, the £irls, are still in same shape as 10 years ago. And what a shape. The liquor situation has Improved a lot. Booze is cheaper and better. But a reminder of "the old days was in a place near Eighth; avenue after three a. m. Sunday "morning. The boss,, after peeping through the door, opened it furtively and said: 'Come on in quick,, and don't fool around over your drink. If anyone comes (Continued on page 51) I BREWERY'SVAUDE SHOW AT BOTTLE TOP ADMISH Lbs.- Angeles, March 24. Nightly floor show, amateur hour and dance staged free by Balboa Brewing Co. to persons presenting 24 bottle tops of Its product, .is proving tough opppsish for picture houses on the east side of town. Show is put on at the plant's dance hall, adjacent to brewery. Spot, which sells nothing but beer, has been drawing mobs for some time, and recently was enlarged to accommodate the bottle-top toting bunch. Entertainment runs around $1,500 weekfy, with amber fluid sales eas- ily topping this. Dance hall holds about 3,000. Brewery has plastered town with 24-sheets in its battle for patronage. 'Radio City' at Paris Expo Paris, March 24. A French 'Radio City' to be ready for the 1937 Exposition is the plan Georges Mandcl, minister of Posts and Telegraphs, Is busy pushing through. To be built at a cost of approxi- mately $050,000. Mandel's plan/calls for a building large enough to house all of the broadcasting stations in Paris and be equipped with artists studios, etc., fjlong the lines of Radio City and 1 the British Broad- casting House in London. It will be constructed on the Exposition grounds as a permanent building to> do service after the expo has closed, its doors.