Variety (Oct 1936)

RADIO SCREEN T AGE Published- Weekly nt 154 WeBt 4fith St.. New York, N. Y., by Variety. Inc. ApnuaJ subscription, JG. Single copies. 15 cents. Entered aa eecona-clasu matter December 22, 1906, at tbe Host OITIce at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3. 11179. COrYRIGHT, 1030,'BT VARIETX. INC. AIX RIGHTS RESERVED Vol. 124. No. 4 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1936 64 PAGES Heafcrs, Et aL, A Tough Racket The demise Pf vaudeville, the rowth of anti-ev.erything' societies and reformers,? .coupled with the in- difference of •a;Mase public, have all conspired to end the once lucrative Business of booking notorious and newspaper-famed .characters for stage appearances. Sam Burger, erst; while king of-/this stepchild end of show biz, admits the foregoing is the reason he has forsaken his original entry into show business. . . Gone are the rosy days of the old . Hammerstein Victoria when an ex- onerated criminal, a newspaper- made personality, or anything, with sufficient ballyhoo' could pack a the- atre. Scandalous" divorces today . mean little at the box office. The public has become too smart, is Burger's lament, to fall for- the .phoney' glamour surrounding tabloid personages; Event, of a'.man biting a dog or the Statue of Liberty sudden- ly deciding to take a stroll would . hardly be enough to get a rise these' .. days. • ' Blue noses, purity leagues and lo- cal constabulary have added the fin- . ishihg touches. Censors, officials and the clergy have thumbed down any venture that smacks of sex, crime or scandal. Sweeties of erased torpe- ' does, widows made so by G-men, eriminal juries, parents of wayward children, et al., are too often nixed to., make the-biz profitable. : Dames (Continued on' page 59) Tothe ll;K^Emes It's Just a News Story, No Air Race^ound Globe That three-Way news reporter race around the wprid may be that to the N. Y. World-Teljegram. and the N. Y. Journal, but .the N.^Y; Times, the • third \ paper -represented, doesn't think it's a race, - The-Times, in fact, trying hard to, make believe the other papers- aren't involved. - Story back of which is a polite though, nonetheless definite peeve. .'Leo- Kieran, Times reporter, dreamt up the whole thing. That was about a- year ago and it took the paper about, six months to make Plans,- after the .notion was okayed by the Times managing editor, Ed- Win James. .Set in all details, the Worth American Newspaper Al- liance, was called in and set to syn- dicate the thing, a story written an- nouncing it and sent out to NANA Papers for release on Sept. 24, trip (Continued on page 62) Academic OK (or Sound? • ' Greenville,, S. C, Oct. 6. • The English department' at The Citadel, Military College of S. C„ has recordings made of : English spoken by its st'udes 'before and Wer' taking course. ri?^ ea is to determ ' ne whether Charleston atmosphere has any flarvard' efiect <> n l in g° o f the Cadets. Male Lure Taking a lead from Minsky's, in reverse, Delos Chappel, pro- ducer of 'Daughters of Atreus,* will' try to lure the girls by; having male members of the . company specially fitted with' , costumes that will emphasize the male physique. Chappell's -idea is to use bared shoulders and upper arms for the boys that have, muscles to show. Muscular legs call'for abbreviated leg trappings. Hefty . chests mean less adornment on that section. Those in the scrawny class will get padded effects. There are 30 males in the company. Ticket brokers have made buys for eight Broadway legit attractions so far, but not all the shows con- cerned are new. When 'Victoria Regina' and 'Idiot's Delight' resumed, after summer lay-offs, the agency deals were renewed with both. Same applies to the 'Follies,' although jn revised form. There has been a buy on 'On Your Toes' since early jn its run. Of the new shows with buys, 'Re- flected Glory' is the livest. Brokers also made a deal for 'Night Must Fall,' which turned in a fairly strong first week. 'Love From a Stranger,' its opposed thriller from London, was given a six week buy by the agencies, despite the fact that it drew a weak press. D'Oyly Carte Gilbert and Sullivan troupe from London is also on a buy basis for the revivals. Attrac- tion has been drawing so strongly that the brokers changed their minds after" waiting until the troupe opened. Testing Road Prospects Of Play in New York '" Maurice Barber, who produced 'Love oh the Dole,' last season', is giving the play a three-week test in subway circuit around New York. If it seems to have any kind of pull, he'll send it out on the .road, con- centrating especially in Canada. Barber has started negotiations with Mary Ellis for the lead in 'The Cigar Smoker,' play by the late Marie Jenney Howe and Rose Young. Piece has to do with George Sande, and Miss Ellis would handle that role if deal goes through. Three Major News Services? $3,000,000 From Radio in '36—Survey Shows 125% Dollar ' Volume Increase . in Year—At Least ' One News; Sponsor' oh Every Station WOR'S $385,01)0 Furnishing news for broadcasting purposes has become million dollar business. It is estimated that the three major news services catering to radio will jointly do better- than $3,000,000 for 1936.' As for the-said of news to commercials and the time involved in "broadcasting such programs,. indications are that the revenue derived from such sources by radio stations this year will ex- ceed' $15,000,000. Survey, jnade recently by a major ad agency disclosed that the dollar volume on news programs bought by local and national commercials during the first eight months of'this year was almost 125% over what it had' been for the parallel period of 1935. The probe was- conducted pre- liminary to approaching a major na- tional advertiser on a campaign that would entail the use of from two to three news periods a day on some 130 stations. - • Findings by the agency showed that while oil companies topped the list of newscast bahkrollers, the most consistent local buyers of that prod- uct were department stores. Survey revealed that the use of three quar- (Continued on page 62) SAX ON WAY OUT-DAVIS Msyer Davis, dance band impre- sario, opines that the sax is fast giv- ing way to brass as the No. 1 instru- ment in the field of dansapation. T1)C vogue for emphasizing rhythm has, in Davis' opinion, turn-ed the tables on the saxophone. In most cases, finds Davis, the sax's reed is not quick enough to provide the instantaneous response necessary for giving 'lift' to a rhythm. Because of this handicap, it is hard to get a reed section to execute at all times a similar degree of 'lift,' with the re- sult that there is a sort of logy un- dercurrent which robs the orchestral performance of the important ele- ment of precision. This saxophone fault, he. contends, places an .addi- tional burden on other Instruments, particularly the brass. . • Davis describes the Innovation of swing as a relief rather than a cure for the ailing interest in dance music One Firm's Record Biz Juitips 9 !*• King's CnQice\bn/Pix London, Oct. r<5; King Edward is Maintaining the family tradition as a mo- tion picture enthusiast 7 and, during his 1 , holiday stay -?t • Bal- onoral, Scotland, has command- ed special vlewings . of recejnt ^pictures in the -theatre which ' has been put lip-ihEide -the xoyal residence. ( -- • • 'Mr. Deeds' Goesr-tp. ^own,' - (Col.),;'As You Like It'-<20thV , .Fox), .;My Man':Qpdfrey' • 0).- •• and 'Our Relations'.' 4MGM). "are among .'the pictures shipped to Balmoral for..His Majesty's, approval; . Tacoma, Oct. 6, America's first arid only State the- atre will open in the near future here. Washington State theatre, founded by Rockefeller Founda- tion of N. -Y., the . Washington Department or Public Instruction and the Repertory'Playhouse, will present a road show production^pf Shakespeare's farce, 'Comedy^eif Er- rors,' in some of the i0 major cities pf the. state, which will Serve a3 centers for theatregoers and students from surrounding communities. Performances in this' district are planned for November and Decem- ber, exact dates to. be announced later. ..'-".' State Theatre is unique in America, and has few counterparts elsewhere in the world in that it is a division of the State Department -of Education.' Its activities are directed by an ad- ministrative committee appointed by this board. Only stage productions of-top cali- ber will be produced*, featuring good casts, settings, costumes and light- ing. Grant from. the Rockefeller Foundation is assisting the Slate Theatre in preliminary experiments, but it will operate on' a self-sustain- ing basis, it is claimed. Another Farewell Tour For Lauder, Maybe-But on Air •London, Oct. 6. Before sailing for' hPme, William Morria, Jr., visited Sir 'Harry Lauder in Perth, and the result is that the Scotchman may go over to the U. S. this season. ; \ This time Lauder's American en- gagements may be on the radio In- stead of the usual 'farewell tour' in theatres. William Morris office has an air deal for him, If he cares to go over and accept.' « . An extraordinary renaissance in the phonograph-business, almost ap- proaching the parity of the so-called good old pre-radio days, is seen by Eli.Oberstein, RCA-Victor recording chief,, who cites the company's-busi- ness has been 300% oyep. last Sep- tember. TJhe Victor record business has always been the standard-bearer of the -industry. ^ ,';:' Last .Spring: Victor upped 100%; this past slimmer $he ratio increased to 200% • and, this .past month the new: peak. was\ reached;. Victor is selling 'i;220,0Qd records a month, of which 0O.%„ are the cheaper releases, the .Blue Bird/brand,, at 25c, which is aSc,ribed.;to. be a salient .factor in the ..geaerat ■improvement' m the record biwinesj?. -. Tb.e remaining 40% is. divided; between! the popular 'blacjc iafe^-yiptor record at 75c and the te^-searcla8.sies,-'M?hich are $1 to $2.50.. VictorreoVseaT business, witti its cream of the crop pi the world's immortal vocal.and instrumentalists, has stood up. always through all sorts of conditions. To further'break down the figures, 700,000-cheap diiikB at 25c and 400,- 000 pops (75e) and red-sealers, has been the ratio , this' past month. In November Victor anticipates 300,00a red-seal sales, alone, as part of the pre-holiday rush, and up to 1,000,000 records a month in the pop classifi- cations, , The'' basic whyfore of this im? '■ proved ratio'finds its answer in two (Continued on page G3) AIR AGENCY MANNED BY GERMAN REFUGEES Talent agency manned entirely by refugees from Nazi Germany has been set up in Manhattan by Gustav Nedow, ex-German publisher. Out* fit works only in radio, under name of Germahia Broadcast, but may hit the concert field in time. Currently it has nine programs, on New York foreign language airers, one of thenl sponsored by Alka-Seltzer. Program production for Teutonic broadcasts is a new wrinkle not (Continued on page 62) Stompiri' at the Polls "■' Philadelphia, Oct. 0. Now It's' swing music in politics. Instead of traditional brass bands, local Democratic nabobs are signing leading, dance crews to'Seep crowds in rhythfil at political. rallies. Red Gresh, well known here after long' engagement at Pierre's Roof, will bring 15 men to -ally, at Academy of Music Oct. 15 and Jimmy Lunceford with 18 men will toot for colored pow-wplv Qct, 23. Wan signaturing number of others for rallies. Ideas is brainchild of Philly's Deputy Controller Joe Kelly, local Democratic campaign manager and former scribe. Since he's only 34, maybe he knows what awing is.