Variety (Oct 1936)

Wednesday, October 7, 1936 P I C ¥ E S VARIETY H'WOOD ON Hock of Film Stars on Air Now With the big parade of picture stars on network radio programs getting under full steam last week, exhibitors now feel that their advance objections to the spread of the habit was fully justified. It was in anticipation of exactly what happened with air programs in the last 10 days that the campaign of exhibs was started months ago in an effort to curb radio-minded film artists. At the time^that- the first exhibitor associations in the" middle west took' action against the widespread use of picture-^stars on nation, wide - broadcasts, it was largely a fear that the habit might spread that prompted the Initial squawks.- Since then, exhlb organizations and individual theatre operators have come out against the practice. And their worst fears now ap- pear to have-been justified. One exhibitor leader yesterday said that nearly half of the leading players on really big network programs were from the .picture industry. Not only that, but radio artists, who heretofore have generally been recognized as being of and from radio; now plug the fact that they are in pictures or bally why they are. out in Hollywood. Practically all daita.for.the Hays office survey on radio "as it affects the picture business now has been, collected but the completed sur- vey is far from ready. Tabulation of factual material,, compilation of statistics and thorough.analysis has yet to be finished. Probably won't be available for several weeks. Agentitis Also Hits the Eastern Front; Pix Co. s Peeved at liters Eastern , talent departments of ma- jor companies are cracking-down on agents who have developed reputa- tions for juggling artists so that the film producer, originally interested, sometimes •. is left out in the cold. The picture executives are peeved at this two-timing. Several potentials have slipped through 1;heir hands by last-minute " switches in negotiations ■which often have witnessed the Hollywood prospects going- to rival companies.- -Understood that nearly all of the majors will make some pact which would place these agents on an un- fair, list,' There, are some 10 agents s in N. Y. city doing the bulk of place- ment of artists in pictures. Of this number -two or three are certain to get the cold-shoulder treatment. - No attempt will be made. to interfere with the ethical agent, but it n&w is known that at least two eastern .talent divisions will be backed to the limit in their new attitude toward unfair agency. practices by chief executives. . Alleged unfair tactics by the two or three agents has amounted to the old trick of pitting one major com- pany against another in bidding for services. .. The talent chiefs do not object to this, but they are irked by the steps pursued in carrying out the practice. Chief stunt is to. tell an artist , not to sign with a com- pany .after tests '..have been made and final/signature'is about to be put ori the. line. SCULLY'S HUSH LOVER' MAYBE CROSBY'S AT PAR '. Hollywood, Oct. 6. Frank Scully' is huddling with Paramount for purchase of his new book, 'Irish Lover,' as a possible film for Bing Crosby.- Novel is based on life of Chauncey Olcott and would give the crooner a chance to sing the old Irish ballads. Scully spent three years collecting data for book which will be off press in short time. .N. O. Ban on 'Ecstasy' • t New Orleans, Oct. 6. Ecstasy,' booked to open at the Strand here Thursday (1), has been cancelled. Opposition by several organiza- tions took their fight against showing of the film here to Mayor Maestri and Archbishop Hummel, and the management of the Strand agreed to withdraw the film without further controversy. BEGIS TOOMEY'S PLAY YEN Regis Toomey is in New York on pi!y Cash and als0 l00kin S for a stage •Actor got in last week from the M)ast and will stay around New *ork about ^ month# Pic Leads for Bway? . Hollywood, Oct. 6. Richard Dix planed to New York Oct. 3 to huddle with Don Carle Gil- lette regarding the lead- in 'In the Bag? legit play,- on Broadway. Producer also is angling with Warners to obtain Joan Blondell for the femme lead. MET ORIOLES HAVE PIX YEN Rosa Ponselle is so intent on mak- ing'a picture on the "Coast that she may forego any appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, N. Y., this sea- son. She's signed for opera, but the organization has been requested not to insist on a date, if she goes before the cameras. Diva has been out in Hollywood most of the past summer, reducing, studying and keeping in trim in gen- eral. She came east a short time to broadcast, visited the Edward John- son office at the Met and huddled with him on the matter. She'd like to do a drawing room comedy; plus some singing stanzas. Paul Lewis of Columbia Concerts is out on the Coast handling film contacts for Joseph Bentonelli and Angna Enters. Former tenor at Met- ropolitan Opera, . N. Y., is being tested by Republic. Several studios are eyeing .the dance mime. Benton- elli planes back directly. ATES AND 2 HOOFERS ROBBED ON HIGHWAY St. Louis, Oct. 6.. Roscoe Ates, film comedian, en route by automobile from Ft. Worth, Tex., to Dayton, O., reported to po- lice at Cape Girardeau, Mo., last week that he and two companions had been held up and robbed by two masked men on a highway near Forrest City, Ark. Ates asserted he was nicked for $180, while companions, Lora Lane and Janet Dickson, dancers, collec- tively lost $30 to the bandits. Wanger Nabs Logan Hollywood, Oct. 6. Joshua Logan, New York stage director, arrived here this week to join Walter Wanger's staff with a title" yet to be designated. Logan, organizer and first director of the University Players at Cape Cod, turned out Henry Fonda, Mar- garet Sullavan and James Stewart! HAS COAST DIZZY Talent's for Roosevelt, But Don't Tell Their Radio Sponsors — Used to - Be . Republican, But—- D. A.'S INTEREST SOME Hollywood, Oct. 6. Hollywood, normally about as in- terested in politics outside the gates of its' own . several studios,. which most of them consider a full-time job, as in the foreign grosses these days from Spain, is getting all hepped up over the November count. Industry being directed in the main by. pragmatists, the studios used to give three rousing., cheers and a trailer for the Republicans and let it go at that. . In those days that was good politics locally and nationally. Cali- fornia was Republican 9 to 1 and so it didn't hurt Louis B. Mayer or Joe Schenck to take turns at paying the party's bills and getting a nice pat for the payoff. - But when four years ago the Democrats took the play away from the G. O. P. and the Warners and Winnie Sheehan were on the right side and Mayer and Schenck on the wrong, it looked as if Hollywood would continue a house divided against itself and still stand. Since then state politics and in- terior politics in certain studios have tied the boys up like' a Christmas package. From being a 9 to 1 Re- publican state, California is now 9 to 7 Democratic. Warners can't cheer too loudly over this because they're tied in with Hearst, a life-long Democrat who has turned toward' Landon for his 1936 answer. , This has left Winnie - Sheehan practically.alone, among big produc- ers still rooting as. hard for Roose- velt now as he and Warners were in 1932. Sheehan has put Gabe Yorke in charge of the motion pic- ture, faction which favors Roosevelt, Yorke working under Sauter who was sent out by Farley, and both of them taking orders from'National Headquarters. Aside frofh getting long- lists of signatures amorig- those in the in- dustry pledging themselves to vote for the Prez, they're not doing much. Most of^ the .names sign under promise not to be pushed out front or made to go through any gratuit- ous song and dance stuff as part of their signatures.. Stars who play both pix and radio are particularly touchy about being exploited at this time politically. Their sponsors in the east are pro- Landon almost to a man and they don't want any more headaches from above than come inevitably in their day's work. They promise to vote Democratic, however, and to win as many others to doing the same thing as they can by moulh-to-moiith methods. Locally, the office of district at- torney is about the only thing the industry is concerned with this year. Incumbent Buron Fitts, is- running against Harlan Palmer, pub- lisher of the Hollywood Citizen- News. Palmer made no campaign in the primaries, even turning down the support of his own paper, and ran up a big vote, big enough to prevent Fitts from riding in on the primaries anyway. Phfl Huston Has Pair Of B'way Stage Offers Hollywood, Oct. 6. - Philip Huston is mulling a pair of "Broadway stage . offers. One is 'North Star,' new play by Austin Strong which John Golden will pro- duce. Other is a revival of 'Petri- fied Forest.' Meantime the actor; who will be seen in Radio's The Big Game,' is huddling with his studio regarding an' option lift. Extras Squawk at Santa Barbara Debs Usurping Their Ranks; Par Pics Kandels' If wood Chores Aben and Judith- Kandel - are en route to the Coast for writing as- signments at Columbia and War- ners, respectively, Mr. and Mrs. Kandel returned last week from England, where Kandel wrote the screen story for. 'Thunder , in the City,' starring Edward G. Robinson, for Atlantic Films. Mrs. Kandel was watching him work, At Columbia, Kandel starts imme- diately' on adaptation of his last sea- son novel, 'City of Conquest.' Mrs, Kandel,-at WB, has a similar assign- ment,, to adapt her own. last season play, 'Play,. Genius Play.' Piece was bankrolled by Meicvyn LeRoy. arid was short-lived,. with LeRoy now producing it as a film. U. S. MILITARY TABU FOR PIX Hollywood, Oct. 6. Strict clamp placed on use of army, navy and other military parapherna- lia by the U. S. • government has caused Metro to cupboard two stories, 'Anchor Man,'- dealing with the Navy, arid Talk to the Marines.' For- mer was intended for Wallace" Beery. - Army also balked on J, Walter 1 Ruben's plan to take long shots of massed planes at Mines Field' here for 'It'Can't Happen Here.' During recent National Air races it was noted . that no military maneuvers or battle formations Were revealed by either branch of the Government's aviation .as had been done at past events of a similar nature. Communistic Pix Not Necessarily Immoral/ Mich. C't Reverses Ban Detroit, Oct. G. Detroit police film censorship pow- ers do not include right to bar Com- munistic picture on ground they are immoral or indecent, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday (5), upholding right of Ida -W. Schuman, of the Detroit Cinema- Guild, to show Russian flicker, 'Maxim.' Miss Schuman got a permit a year ago, but it was revoked by Police Commissioner Heinrich A. Pickert through city ordinance on ground it was immoral, because it dealt with Communism and might excite class hatred. Pickert was upheld by Cir- cuit Judge Theo Richter last fall re- fusing writ of mandamus. Supreme Court decided Pickert exceeded his authority and ordered a writ issued, Supreme Court ruled 'ordinary sense of immorality does not include interpretation that a pic- ture is immoral because it supports Communism.' . Hollywood, Oct. 6. • Class wars, labor troubles and. whatnot beset. Director Frank Tuttle when he took his Paramount troupe, to Santa Barbara for location shots - on 'College Holiday:' Studio biggies' thought it would be right nice to' get classy atmosphere by hiring a flock of society damsels to provide atmosphere in shots made at the swank Biltmore hotel. ' However; trouble, started as soon, as the .cameras, began grinding.' Three-, extra gals . imported front Hollywood walked up.to.Tuttle and. told him it was just, a shade from nasty to hire, the rich, gals when so. many extras' in Hollywood were worried .about meals:, . . '. ' Tuttle argued that he wanted the McCoy in. atmosphere .and that \he society ladies provided it. When he ! Indicated he would continue with', his plan, the three extra girls told him they would, wall? out. and what's' more, they'd take the stars with- them. A hasty check of Jack Benny,' Mary Boland, George Burns and Grade Allen determined that the- extras were telling the truth, so the - society-legion, was given the air. Tuttle explained that he had left the extra casting up to an assistant.- He also said that he was-riot in fa- vor of letting people ?play at the picture business'-and that he thought, the society people had been hired.- •just to. 'fill in' because the scenes heeded a few more than had been brought .from Hollywood; ; The society girls were no end up- set about being crowded out of the picture and claimed they were en- titled to .continue because they were donating their salaries to charity,. 1 * - ■ BOLES AT $7,500 John Boles Is due for another per- sonal for Paranibtfht, going into, the" ■Minnesota, Minneapolis,""Friday 0?>.'' Salary is.$7,500, with : the.William Morris office •setting the deal. , Levene Back to WB Sam Levene, formerly in Three Men on a Horse,' Playhouse, N. Y., returned to Hollywood last week un- der contract to Metro. His first studio assignment was In the film version of 'Horse' for Warners. While waiting for the new contract he virtually sat on his. trunk. While east he lost 10 pounds wor- rying whether 'Horse/ as a picture, would click, friends say. Trade Slhrk fleelafered FOUNUI3D BY- 31 MB SIl.VEnMAN ruLtllHlifd Weekly by VAHIKTV, Inc. ;."" SI<1 Silverman. PreiilOenr 164 West.4(Uh Street, New Tork City INDEX Advance Production Chart 17 Bills 52 Chatter 60 Concert 59 Exploitation .„..;. ' 19 15 and 50 Years Ago. 52. Film Reviews 15 House Reviews : .50-51 Inside—Pictures ......... 27 Inside—Radio ;. 41 International Film News. . 12-13 Legitimate 53-57. Literati 58 Music ,.... .41-45 New Acts , 51 News from the Dailies.... 01 Nite Clubs.... 40 Obituary C2 Outdoors , 63 Pictures 2-32 Radio 33-43 Radio—Reports '.. 3ft Radio—New Business..... 42 Radio—Showmanship 42 Shorts : 15 Sports ......... 01 Times Square..!., 61 Units M Vaudeville 40-49