Variety (Nov 1936)

Wednesday:,. Novembf^r 4, 1936 LITE it A ¥ I VARIETY S.' ft S. Wins Iiifrlneeinent Suit Lawrence Stallings JaLst , week ap- peared as a iViti>es9 for Simon & Schuster in • &n injunction /suit broiight against, the publishers for alleged infrihgeiheht. It was chiefly on Stallings' Expert testimony that N, Y. Suprein^ie Court Judge Philip jr. McCook ^>to^e4.,the case out of court . Sheldon/ W. Cheney, author and critic of 'jplays, formulated a piim in 1929 io get out a volume of 15 tp 20 fs^iplioUs plays. He submitted his plan, in'writing io Shnon. & Schuster; Firirt rejefbted it after some cbhsi r erationiw The plan, if published ih book iqTmi \f/as to be titled 'ijramai a GoWeA Tfeasuryi' In 1935: S. & S. got out a volume alpng the Same .lines which they called 'A Treasury of the Tiieatre.' Chehey brought ac- tion for $25^000, , inj unction' >nd accounting,, oh the dlaim: that . Se S, had lifted his id6a. Howevier, experts; including Stall- ings, expreissed the opi ion that the Cheney plan and the book bore little similarity. The Court ' ^reed that the idea of getting up a colleC- . tion ofj or anthology of plays or } lyHcs was an old one, daiting back to - Palfiiraye'^ 'Golden Treaisury' pub- lished iii 1861V -Judge McCobk ruled the plaintiff's rights, if any, in iplan had heen transferred to another publisher; Lohgmain's, ..Green, .before :the. .commencement of the suit; ' Nude" Photo Siilt. CiaiminS that the publicatioh ojt a. photo' in .a fan magazine shbwing ^lier lirthemUde'had caused her hus- band .to ref use to live with her, Sally Miller, night .cluia performer, filed suit for ^0,000 ih N. • Y. supreme court Monday (2). The defendants tiamed in the action are, Anthony J. ^nd Nick Briino, phptpgraphers, db- :irig business under the trade name of Bruno of Hollywood; Max iR. Reeise and Maurice TuTetj editors of Mpvi^ Humor, and the Ujitem Publi.* cations. Inc. . , , Miss Miller avers that while ishe was performing in Cleveland^ last February she consented to pose for Bruno ros. at request of her' theti. employer, She claims the March , ■ . bf : theViinaga-. carried picture in ah. ad .without;, her consent. As a re- sult, she says,, she has beeh held "up to ridicule . and. her husband has de- serted, her. The defendants claim she posed for the photo with the understandinig that she; would re- ceive wide i>ublicity.'' inearst Ups Baltb Watres! The Hearst sheets in Baltirnc ,. afternoon Newsf-Post and Sunday Aiherican,A have established niihl- miim yage scale for, all editorial employees. Scale ' tninimum , is $30. weekly,' well • • above ■ .Newrspa^ Guild: mihimiim, and when put into, effect .considerably swelled papers' Weekly pay roll;. New nii imum ef-^ fected. salary increases for many, of the men; since district coverers on police stations al>d hospital beats were only r*iaking around $20 in many instances; and soime of {'.le photogs; around $25. Quite ■ .obvious. th-t the Seattle strike ..prompted the sudden pay. up- page on the Hearst Baltp properties. Would appeiar an ^ armorirtg on the part of Hearist to prevent any simi-. lor •walkput in Baltimore^ Balto chqpter of the Guild includes ih its r^jinbership only aboUt 15%; of all r'S'Tibie Hearstmen. Now It Can Be Tald ... Lpndph, John Drinkwater never knew : that $40,000 slipped through his ifingers when he wrote; that: iography,. bt Carl Laemnile several years back.. Uncle Carl,; stbry now .,comes put, cabled the London office of Universal, asking thetn to negotiate ;swith H.. G. Wells, Enfiil Ludwig or Drinkwater: to do his life. Would pay to ^50,000, he said, . ynsuccessful with Weils and Liidwig, the: London office con- tacted Drink water's literary agent, Broke the ice with ah offer of $5,000. . Agent ihied. •Well, .we've got the money-tb spend,' said the U. office. 'Make it $10,000,' 'Yes, j think Drinkwater will do itfoi- $10,000,' said the agent, he did. . Life to Time for Thpugh Time, .,'purchased .the. magaiine iife, ;the. subscription lists went.ito Judge.. All that^ i'ime , ed was. thei title, will cpnr ti ife's unekpired subscr 1 It will , expand irbrh .32; to 48 .pages; startihg' with xiekt month's; issue. Judge will also taike .pver George Jea^ii, Nathan. as drama ',. .tb- gether With several .bther feiatOres, including Kyle Crichtph, Don: Her- rold, the .Stop, ind Go Service and' Are You Sure?' Mbst of. Life's staff has.been taken, over by . the new pic- ture magazine as .part of the ^deal.. Tirne, Inc., .is uhderstopd to have paid $150,000 for the mag ih order to .vise . the titlCj, which is something of a record.;. It had previously. con- sidered'purchase of the. title Parade, a small Cleveland, mag; Guild^s Badlb Plug Newspaper Giiild gbt its Arst air- in j;';. from-the'editb.rial rpoms b£ a melropplitah daily last week , wheh llal Styles, rpying .reporter for KMTR; stalked through various de- partments, of' the Holly wood G i tizeni^ News and Wound Up at the desk pt .Rbger jbhnson; political ed .of' the. sheet and' head of the Lbs; .Angeles .Guild chapter.; . Jolinispn. sketched the progress of the organized craft; of which most of the C-N itoiial wbrketsare ,• ;Juflgfe'^-Hairl?h .'J'almer, ;publisher, gave his" c6nS($ht :tb the.broadcast. ■ .'Hearst. iFoes:. . Hearst newspaper^ execs in Lbs Angeles :and San ' Francisco; ai-e; hurned red, white and -blue .stickers that are being widely, cir-. culated bearing the leiJend, 'I Don't Read Hearst' Stickeirs beat signature of: 'The Leaguii Agiaihst yellow JpUriial- ism,' uniph labbl shpwing they Were>prihted iri San. Francisco. Loutsyille pally Ctolts ,• V^iy Herald-Post, eve- / sitspehded publicatiori , after filing .of .a vpluntary in bankruptcy. Cptinsel-ior creditors said he hoptsd the company woidd be reorganized and publicatipifi resumed. Big: TqWh's Debut ii-st issue of Big , hew monthly, described On its cover as a 'new and exciting magazine,' and 'The Magiazine of New York,' fails to substs^tiate its . prpmisesr :. Berlin Printing Co. is tiriderstbbd^ tb have ah inteirest .though this is denied:by thie editor, Eli Sailk. Theb>> dore Granlk 'is managing editor and Harjty Hershfield, how on the Coast, is. titled editorial director. Latter has a piece on the bainquet racket which doesn't prove anything m.uch and is Supposed to be an ekppsie, Mag is published , by the Big .TbwhV. Corp., of which Granik is pres. and sec'y, Ira. Ci Walsey, yice-pres, and sec'y. imes* Booli;^ , Seventy-four publishing houses and nearly 150 author^ will; particl- piate ini the N, Y. 'Times National Book Fair at Rpckefeller Center, N, Y., which opens torabrrow (5). Fair Will last until Noy. 19. There will be' an" aft§rno.ph prb- grani devoted to' a discussion of plays Nov. 9, John. Mason Brown, will be chairman :and the speakers include Lee Simonson, Emylyn 'Wil- liams, Burns Mantle, Cornelia Otis Skinner and Ernst Toller.: ' United Effort , Euigehe Lyons is (editing a bbbk how in. the process of: being written by. foreign correspondertts,.; which will be titled,:'We Cbyer the World,' Among the contributbrs are Hallett Abend, Negley Farsbn, George Seldes; Wi iam A. Chamberlin, Randall Gbuld, Jack Starr-Hunt, James Mills ahd Junius Wood-. Gth.ers expected: tp turn in pieces to the book, -Which Harcotirt .Brace will publish /next - sprih Mpwrer, Wythe Williams, Linton Wells; Wiebb Miller and Mai-y .Knight. Wanted, Union Reporters ; Reporters and photbgraphers from, newspapers, and news, service's . are refused; admittance tp"Ni. Y. meet- ings ;;bfstri ing seamen and to strike headquarters unless thfey hbl.i! hiem- bershi the Newspaper Guild: : A. statement .was issued by Joseph. Curran, .chairman bt the strike cPm-' jhi.ttee, explai ing that .this position' had ;be;eri'taken following the unahi- hipus■ •v.pte>of a seamferi-s-meeting at Which l,OpO were pi'eseht. rit.. Ceiiis.orsiiI|^: .No American, newspapeiis for 'Oct, 1^, .17 ." :w'ere. ijable at .the large, internatibttai newsstands - in Lbndbh. These were the issiiies irt Which Mrs.' Siihpsph's divbrce 'suit was reported. .■'. ',' iFour pages of the Time mag iSjsUe of Oct .26 were ripped put before tt .was placed on 4iale in England. The bffending article was titled 'ih- hPcents Abroad.* Advertising: Agency Magr Advertisi Agency, a new and elaborate mag;azihe devoted exclus- ively tp ad firms arid their doings was distributed tb.5,0Q0 Pffices and natiPnil advertisers last month by 'Western Union meissengers. It's a Fbrtune size bppk, -with a caiuloid- spiral irig, allo'wing it to open flat, has. heavy, coated paper and ■mbrie than 150 pages of Which, nearly. half ■ are . advertisements, many . of them-in'^plor,\ Editors are John Allen Murphy, formerly of Printers' Ink, and-Rich^: ard Webster, who have wprked- bn the idea forrhore; than year> E; Raynor, formerly of IladiP Digest and D. ft Bell and Li F* McClurieV • w h o publish ; Popular Homecraft are dhiefly.' Interested parties and owners' of the ^Lg'ehcy Publishing jCo. Mag will appear, every twb months, cost $2 per single copy, $10 per year. Subscriptiohs^ tp agency nien $5, tb editors and those in publishing fields, $7.50. The rates for the first issue were . $250 pie^ page and will go . tp $350 for. the next issue. The mag . is -a fiirst class job bf graphic art and follows' the general tr^bnd bf mags to be ieither very big or very small. This is a big one,: but dpesn't seem to be bulky despite its Weight. It's packed with pictures, stories, color information and .mate.-' rial which bught, certai to- be of interest tb the trade; Fi-lcerWar. Otf^'Wind^ New Yprk departntfeht stbres last week ehgaged in the first book pri'ce cutting war of' cbhsequehcb sihcis the NRA went out; The battle Was bver Margaret MitbheU's best seller,: 'Gone With the Wind,' listed at'$3, :which sold for as Ibw as 86 cents at phe point last Thursday (29), the day of the. heaviest sales.. Sale, bf bpbk by drug store chains at a rate apparently started things oft. Customers biiyihg the book in department stores . Com- plained about the price, which was followed by cutting back and forth with quotations shifting downwards With a rapidity remiriisceni of Stpck Exchange, prices of Oct. i29, 1929. fliacy's devoted a special counter to the book.' Sales there - are estimated to have been between 3,500 and 4,000 on. the. day. of the greatest sale. More than 1,000 . copies Were sold at Stern Bros, on the same day4 Books cost the dealers abbut $1.60 per copy, dbpending on the quantity purchased; The stores themselves deplore the price wars, as- they Ipse nibney on every bbbk. The author, however, cohti to receive heir, royalty of 45c. per copy. The price war./eased up considerably at the beginning bf the week, but book was ;, still selling below cost in . several stbres; S. C. Newsylew Folds' NeWsvieW, Inc.,. published, in Go- lumbi , S. G,, and South Carolina's v,:;ekly news magazine fashioned after Time, has folded/ Pub- lisher Malcombie Ainsworth' . first announced a temporary suspension of. publication several weeks agb after mag's failure to command ex* pected ambu'nt of adveirtising. Newsvievy, although only several months, old, had' a wide circuliatioh thrpughput bpth South and North Carblina. Idea was to expand tP- other nearby states if mag idea clicked. FaWCett East • After several weeks on the Coast conferring : Hairry Hammond Beall, - is new western manager, ^rid managing editor, W. H. Fawcett .publisher: of F^iWcett Publiciatiohs, Inc,, is back in New York. He. flew .-East t^ 'persohaily s^ vise rebrgarti?ation.s ■ ;hia New .York and. Greenwich offices. Best Sellers the Week endfnir Ott, 31, as reported by the American News Co.* 'Gbrie With the Wind' ($3.00.),........,,;..,.:.By Margaret Mitchell. 'Drums Along -the Mohawk' ($2.50) .. ,,,,........ ;By Wy Edrnonds 'Great Laujghter, ($2.50) ...,...».. .\. . . ... .By nni Hiirst 'White Bannei:^s' ($2:50> . I^oyd Gi Douglas 'Golden Wedding' :($?;50) . . .,. ... .*By Anne Parrish :^A :Prayei: for My Sbh' ($2;50) ......; ;. i.. V> ., .By Hugh Walpble _ ., Nbn-Fictionx' 'An American . Dbctbr's bdySsey' ($3.50T Bir Doctor Vidtor (3; Heiser ; ive AIpne and Like It' ($1,50).. ;Marjorie Hilli^^ :-Aro.iind the World , in 11 Years' ,ichard '& John Abbe ^Bian the Un'icnbwh' ($3.50) , v......... ;. i. . >: By Alexis Garrell ! 'Wake Up and LiVe'. ($1.75); ;.. .. . .,.. .V;. .By: Dprpthea Brande; "French Quarter* ($3,00l;^ iv. , i. i. .;v ;> ;v. . .^ By Hierbert Asburyv SalcS Chattier -■Word puizzie rcr riSi ffiiyi Parleys .(Gjprttinued, fiorh page 3) ket or ready to id fpr the! Entire iihe-up .bf stars With various .majbr prbducihg cbmpanies, the spphspred programs using ahy . film , celebs would be . limited to ight at, the most. Just how this, would affect bther. ir adyeftisers apd ad. agehr cies, unable to offer ahy :many picture; satellites; now lobrhs as the- network's vheadache, Understanding with picture dustry leaders is tbat th^ Fbrd. pl^n bf. securing the full list of r»layers frpm brie .cbmpany is. still beirifei cpn-- Sidered by Metro; with .'the prpjc^ having; its gbbd arid bad pbints. jprbbably no deal ith Ford •Will be- cpnsumniated yhUl-after the re^ suits :bf the Hays parley ,with the radio netwprk (ixecutives. Phyllis Behtley on a lecture lour in. the nUdwest. . .Christopher Mbrley to gp on a ^iec- ture ■ tour, this xnonth, ' . Coronet new; mag, ■: its first issue of 300,000- copies. John T. Whitaker's book, 'And Fear Came,' : deals with his neWS' paper experiences. : Arthur Rpbb doing Marlen: Pew's column, 'StLop Talk at Thirty,' at Editor .and Publisher. ■ Ei M. Delafield's : Visit the Soviets', ■will, be . .compbsed :;at the N. Y.. Times' Bppk'Fair. ?; Mike' Goldf back ' L. A. from Sah Friahciscpi writing a book- about th$ Pacific- Cbast water froht^ ;. Clharles Gordon haj^takeh an bp-o- tibtt on the dramatij? fight5 to. E^ P, O'Donhell's novel, 'Green Margins.' Hugh Walpple,' whbse hew novel, 'A Prayei; fbr My Son^* is just out here from Finglahd . fpr a lectUr.is tpur, Monsighor.John. J; Burke, , edir tor of the Catholic World, from 1904 to 1922i died in ..Washingtpn, D. C, Oct. 30; Jack Lait, Jr., upped from reader to writer at 20th Century-Fox. De- veloping original' idea fpr .Gene Markey tinit. ' Rachel Field, Dorothy Aid is arid Marjorie Barrb'ws Will-be judges of the Child Life Poetry cpntest It closes Dec. 31. Jack Sanford, under contract to Paramount, is really Julian Shapiro, erstwhile advance-guard novelist who wrote 'The Water Wheel.' .. , .Associated Press will have 50,000 nien thrpughbut the cbuntry cover- ing the election, the larjgest numv ber ever to cover a single eyent. Father of Kurt Dosmer, now with U.P. i Vienna, died in Germany. Dpsmer couldn't attend funer.ial be- cause; he isn't'popiilar with Hitler. ' Kay 'Maule, daughter of Double- day's editor, Harry E. Maule, has been placed • in charge-, of a new trac"; promotibh department ; to ebntact booksellers^. ^ ^ N. Y. TiHies, which reviewed James T. Farrell'S npviel, 'A World I Never; Made,' refuses to accept ad- vertising on the book on the grounds that it is tob . frank; Temporarily titled 'Fpxygrarns,' new 20th-^Fox studip hpuse organ, has made. its initial- appearance. Sheet tabloid in. size, is being.edited'by Nat Dyches and *Doc' Bishop. Theatre Workshop* a hew quar- terly of the film, and theatre arts, published by. the Pepple's Theatre, Inc. . (nPn-prpfit), made its first ap- pearance : with October issue, .Sales of the incIaiV Lewis novel, ?It Can't Happen Here,' jumped con- si<ier.ably following the opening of the: Federal Theatre - production. Novel had previously been selling only .1,000 copies .a week^ McNaUght Syndicate is marketing riew features for newspapers, a diaily one-column dog story by Albert Pay- son TerhUne under general label, 'Calling All Dogs,' Series is being; .lUustratbd,: by . Wilfrid Brohson; liver Saylbr; editor-irifchief of the N. Y.vPbst, has bben recuperat- ing from a minor operation and has been- out. of the office , abput three Weeks, Harry Nason; managinjg edji tor;- 'is'chores .during his ilir ness. . Raindbm Hou.se will pU the Ruby-Kalniar 'Song Book,' a collec- tion of ^ parpdies with a short article accompanying each song. Pi -will be written by Grbucho- Marx, Bob Benchley, Marc Connelly; Nunally Johnson, Ben Hecht, Moss .Hart and Irving Berli C. R; Rbsejhberry, asso- ciate editor and miisic of the Ithaca Journal, has been made mo- tion; picturb and drama editor of the Albany Evening News and The Knickerbocker ■ Piress, taking the .pHce made vacant' by the; recent desft.' of William H. Haskell. Vislut the U. . to See first-hand what a ' election looks like is Andre Geraud, political pundit ' ph the Paris L'Echp, who scribbles -Uh-^,. der the nom-de-plUme bf 'Pertinax/' 'Perti ' is the Paris correspondent oh Eurbpean political: coverage fbr; thb Ballimbre Sun. ' * FriedricH'. ■Wolf, -atttho'r ,pf 'Sailbrs of Cattaro,* ancl an exiled German playwright is in Leningrad working on original scenario for LinfilrtT stu- dib. Collaborating with him is: Her^ bert Rappapprt, longtime assistant to- German director, G. W. Pabst Rap- papprt last: year directed Los An- geles prpduction of 'Sailbrs bf Cat- taro.' (Continued from page 3) li - Jessel ; topped^theijtrboth . singing "Eddie . Cantor,, who was the cnly importaht absentee. 1'-.. ' J[essel pulled a Touple of fast'ones by '. introducing sucb sterling; 100% American patriots. as Slrpone •'- Simon ^nd Freddie Lbhsdale, thpugh he coulJ have topped eyen that by * trpducinig Sonja Henie and have come but with the right answer be- cause she's becpmin-j an: American , citizen. But Jessel didn't know that and why should he since' it's news up to this minute? Mrs. Berlin's Strong: Click But he came through with flying " cplors when he sent Irving Berli .next-torcloslhg arid closed on ths. Mrs. She made a 20-word speec that topped anythmg fpr. sincerity and appeal of the whole campaign. It was her party and .shb looked as if it had been an ordeal to go through with it, but when her husband ' *,d her to the platfbrm the peasantry all but' cracked the rafter with ap- plause.- She didn't say much. All she sai was: 'I'm ilad ypu%: aU happy and feql ' as I do and will do every thing I. can' to rie-elect Presiderit Roosevelt'^ No 'greait preSiderit' stuff, no 'r .an of the people' routine. After that the elec-. "pn Was over and the committee an-; .ounced a. victory, ball fbr next Fri-:. day at the sam*" piece and same hbur. The belief that this would be the dirtiest .election In ages, with the picture industry showing: to what iiew lows propaganda cPuld go;didn't- quite come off. Even the two 'shbrts .:^etrp niade for the Republicans never, were re- leased. Just before the jlrvirig Ber- lin party, producers onl the Culver City lot held a poll and brily one producer voted for a; change: Washington and that- the boys; j sist, wasn't Louis B,. Mayer. :It cer- tainly wasn't William Anthony Mc- Guire, George Ciikor, Joe Mankic- wicz, Wopdy Van Dyke or Grpuchp Marx; because, they were all at the Roosevelt rally. Maybe it was some guy Hearst left behind^ when he left M-C} arid took his Cosmopolitan Prb- ductionS to 'Warners. The rest of the. studios were took busy to hbld even straw votes, a result it ,vwaS the .quietest el .ce picturbs : begari .tb concei-n'' themselves '[ ith . the; personnel ;«»! governments. I£ 'Dracula's Daugh-^ ter' couldn't scare thern, how, the arjgued,. coiild Laridon's speeches? Besides,; they had; those 52 pictures ' to clear by-Christmas. ThOLC double .; featrires have everybody worked .<i.o hard they hayen't time to think how bad oft they are under :a Democratic adniinistratt Or any other, for that matter. In its employes plenty,of opportunity: to vote in this electipn* with' the picture business dbriiiriJiritiy Roosevelt, V all major film offices in N. Y., ekccpting Para- mount arid United Artists, closed down yesterday (Tuesday) fbr the entire day. This included the Hays pfftce. Par and UA remained open until 1 p.rii. Very few Laridpri supporters hav* declared themselves aipuhd' N» .V/ film offices.