Variety (Feb 1937)

Wednesday* February 24, 1937 LITERATI ■ ■•' ' . * : i VARIETY S& Bollo Ogden Dead' Rollo Ogden, 81, editor of the N. Y. Times since 1922, died in -his apart-, ment at the Algonquin Hotel in New York on Feb. 22. Death was caused by. pulmonary congestion, developed from.a severe cold he contracted two weeks ago. When Ogden joined the Times edi- torial staff in. May, 1920* he had already distinguished himself as edi- tor of the New York Evening Post. He became editor of the Times after the death of Charles Ransom Miller ■ in 1922. .. . . _ Born in 1856 at SanSXaEeTN. YT Ogden was the son of a Presbyterian mi ister. He studied for two years at the Andover Theological Semin- ary and continued is training at Union Theological Seminary in 18^79 and 1860. In 1880 he went to Cleve- land as assistant pastor of Old Stone Church. At the age of 31 he decided to become a' journalist and came to New York. He had four years of struggle to establish himself but in 1891 joined the editorial staff of the Post. Ogden is,the third of the major executives of the Times. to have died in the past two years, the others being Louis Wiley and Adolph Ochs. Ad Solicitors Organize ^Formation of the Newspaper Ad- vertising Guild of Philadelphia and Camden to organize solicitors and other workers in advertising depart- ments oh newspapers throughout the country was revealed . last. week. Charles P. Pblk, president of the Newspaper Guild of ..Philadelphia and. Camden organized the group meetings, which were held at Guild headquarters. Also active were Louis Hines, organizer for the. A. F. of L. and, Thomas McCarthy, chair- man of the Philadelphia Daily News Newspaper Guild unit. "• About 65 men and women have sighed up. since the first organiza- tion meeting, early in the mont>, and application for an A. F. of L. charter has been made. It is even- tually planned to merge with the Newspaper Guild. About 500 are eligible in Philadelphia and the or- ganization will include hot only so- licitors but all workers in the ad- vertising departments. D. C. Femmes' Shindig Female Washington correspondents will stage their annual stunt dinner, counterpart of the swanky Gridiron Club blowout, Monday tl) before a bejeweled audience headed by Mrs. Franklin D. . Roosevelt and a sprink- ling of grand dames from the diplo- matic corps. Besides women from official life, the distinguished guest list includes prominent businesswomen, including Margaret Bourke - White, photog- rapher; Dorothy Thompson, column- ist; Dorothy Kilgallen, reporter; Cor- nelia Otis. Skinner, monologist; An- .tonia Brico, director of the New York Women's Symphony, and Mar- cia Davenport, novelist.. President of. the club is Mary Hornaday of the Christian Science Monitor bureau. Woman Wants French Job For the first time in 100 years a woman has been nominated for the presidency of the important Societe de Gens de Lettres (Writers' Society) in France. Mme. Camille Marbo, author of 'La Station Voiiee' and 'Celle qui Defiat l'Amour;' has entered the race to suc- ceed Jean Vigriaud in the election to be held on March 22. Oddly enough her hat was thrown into the ring by another candidate for the office, Maurice Renard. Stating that she had been in the organization for 10 years and that she had taken more than an active part during the last eight, she feels confident that can handle the ifficult position. ^ UP Changes on Coast. William Gordon has been named > of the United Press bureau in : Angeles, succeeding Theon Wright, upped to a spot in the New York. office... . ther UP: changes include resig- nations of Doug Harkness as Spo- kane, Wash., bureau, manager to join the Visali Times-Delta, and Mel, Lord at Sacramento to become pub- lic relations counsel for the Cal. state board of equalization. Los Angeles Illustrated ily News and Evening News is expand- ing. E. Manchester Boddy, publisher, has increased the outfit's; space and plans to boost the mechanical de- partment. • i. Both papers have. increased circu^ lation lately, necessitating the en- largement. Best Sellers Best Sellers for the week ending Feb.. 20, as reported by the American News Co* Inc. Fiction 'Gone With the Wind' ($3:00) ..By Margaret Mitchell 'Drums Along the Mohawk' ($2.50) ........ ^ By W. D. Edmonds 'Late George Apley^ ($2.50) .....................By John Marquand 'Street of: Fishing Cat' ($2.50).......,............ . .By Jolan Foldes 'Yang and. YinV ($2.50) ....................... ...By Alice T. Hobart 'Sound of Running Feet' ($2.50) .. .. ...... .. . . .By Josephine Lawrence Non-Fiction . ■How to Win Friends' ($2.00)", •...». . . i>.. .."... .By Dale Carnegie 'An American Doctor's Odyssey' ($3.50)......By Dr. Victor,G. Heisfer 'Nine,Old Men'-($2.50) ..,.... .By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen 'Live Alone and Like If ($1.50) .......By Marjorie Hillis 'Lancer at Large' ($2.75) ... ... ..By Francis Yeats Brown 'The Hundred Years' ($3.00) . ..By Philip Guedella Cheaper Mailing—Maybe Authors would save money in at- tempting to peddle their output in the event Congress agrees to a bill offered last week by Senator Arthur Vanderiburg of Michigan. Amending the . present laws gov- erning classification of mail matter, Vandenberg's bill would authorize the Post Office to carry manuscripts at the third or fourth class rates in- stead of the present first-class fee of 3c an ounce. Charge for third class matter is l%c. for each two Ounces, while fourth-class stuff travels. at much .less, varying from 7c per pound to $7.74 for 70 pounds, according to distance. Despite impression to the contrary widely held in scribbling, circles, manuscripts must go at the 3c rate at present, except when accom- panied by proofs. This means- that, until the author's piece is accepted arid galley proofs are returned, first- class rate applies to every mailing. / —r- Ernest Marshall Dies Ernest Marshall, 70, London cor- respondent pf the New York Times from 1908. to 1924, died of a heart attack, in London oh Feb. 20. He had been suffering from a severe bronchial illness for several months. Since his retirement 13 years ago, Marshall had never been in good health, but continued to visit the places his London newspaper friends, frequented, and kept up his associa- tions. Born in Leeds, he first con- tributed articles to the Catholic. Times. Then he attracted the atten- tion of James Gordon Bennett and .became a staff member of the Paris edition of the N. Y. Herald. In 1900 he was sent to London to take charge of a hew bureau .created there by Bennett and remained for three or four years. Recalled to Paris, he was put in charge of the Herald. He had an attack of pneumonia in 1905 and never fully recovered. . After some free-lancing for British and: American newspapers, he made a trip to New York in 1908 and re- turned as London correspondent of the N. Y. Times,, with a commission to set up a liaison with other capitals, arid establish a Euvopean service. After the war he continued his work, but his precarious health forced him into retirement in 1924. Authors' Guild Get-together Squawks from members that there isri't enough social activity among writers in the east, brought the Au- thors' Guild to inaugurate a. test tea at the Algonquin hotel, N. Y, Thurs- day (18) with Fanny HUrst presi ing, and Dorothea Brande making the speech. About 100 authors showed up and affair will be held once monthly now because considered so successful: . Idea ; is to have one short talk and devote the rest of the afternoon to gossip and chatter. . Authors^ League is not a social organization, activities being pretty, much limited to business matters and offices hav- ing no space for chit-chat .Emerson Harris. Dead. Emerson P. Harris, 83, died at his home in . Franklinsville, N. Y., on February 17. He retired 20 years ago as a publisher of trade journals and founder in 1908 of the Harris- Dibble Co., brokerage firm which specializes in locati for publishers. Harris began is career.as a writer and representative of. engineering journals in 1878 and a broker in pub- lishin in New York City Ralph Steiner,:: photographer for. Life, is on the Coast to get a chrono- logical group of, pictures covering Walter Wanger's 'Castle in Spain.' He will sit in on. every phase of the film's production. So far he has lensed Clifford Odets, and Lewis Milestone, writer and. di- rector, in collaborative story confabs with Wanger. Newspaper Guild and Stern Philadelphia Newspaper Guild is Waiting, a" response from jr. David Stern, Record publisher, to a. letter demanding sweeping changes in his contract with the editorial em- ployees; Letter asks that the publisher ap- ily to the Guild when he needs to employ-men; that men making more thari $4,500 per year be put on a five-day week, same as other em- ployees; tiriie. .and one-third for hourly overtime, double time, on day off; no docking for sick leave; $50 minimum for reporters with five years experience;; $60 minimum for photogs with five years experience; $65 minimum for copyreaders, re- write' men and reporters used for rewrite; all other employees,. $22 minimum, one year's experience, $27.50 minimum, *' Letter was reprinted full on front page of the Philly Sunday Transcript; It throws back at the publisher all the preaching he has been doing for the past several years in his editorial columns. What, it is understood, ' : par- ticularly irksome, to Stern was the concluding paragraph: . . .the Guild congratulates the management on its markedly successful, year and hopes that the coming year will , see the Record's editorial employees having a greater share in the revenues of this great enterprise, which their, work has helped to build.' Pictorial Folds Mid-Week ictorial, which , was purchased several months ago from the N. Y, Times by . Monte Bourjaily, former general manager of: .the United Feature Syndicate, folds with the issue of Feb. 20. Temporary suspension was an- nounced, with Judge, humorous magazine bought by the same cor- poration, being offered to subscrib- ers as a substitute for refunds. Bour- jaily expects to revive . Pictorial in the near future. Mrs. FDR's Autobiog Set Publication of Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt's autobiography will, begirt in the April issue of the Ladies Home Journal. A literary reception in her honor, will be held by the editors this afternoon (24), In New York, in the Journal editorial offices. Receiv- ing, with Mrs. Roosevelt, are editors Bruce, Gould, D*»atrice Gould, Doro- thy Thompson and Alice Duer Miller. Number of prominent authors, ed- itors and .writers have been invited. • Fawcett Alumni William Gibbs, executive editor of Fawcett's Hollywood fan mags, has resigned.. Edward J. Smithson, assistant man- aging ed, has. stepped in to, handle until John Leroy Johnston succeeds Harry Hammond Beall aS manag- ing ed on March 1. Beall becomes as- sistant to. W. H. Fawcett, publisher. Gordon Fawcett • will become office manager in Hollywood. Two 'Low Companies' Mark Benney; who has just com- pleted three-year sentence for. burglary in England, will have his book 'Low Company' published here by Random: House under the title 'Angels in Undress,' Switch in title is due to the fact that a book with the same title was published here by Vanguard last week.. Author spent his youth in reform schools and prisons and his book is a frank description of the London underworld. Comes Milady Woman's "Digest, pocket-size mag, changes its name to Milady with the March issue;.''••-■Every issue of the magazine will henceforth be a. spe? cial number, first, dealing with. Ho}* lywood and titled 'Behind the Screen.' ' "Next number wjlf. be de- voted to: Working girls. Mag is ed- ited by 1 Hu ' Gernsback in. New York. Antl-Cut'Rate Bill Left to'the. jaw,, aimed at cut-rate book sellers, was delivered last week when Representative Bert Lord of N. Y. introduced a bill in Congress to prohibit sale of literature at prices less thari the original purchase price. Legislation to regulate the drug and department store sale of best- sellers at reduced prices stipulates a fine of not more than $500, or. a maximum jail sentence of one year for first offenders.. Second offenders would be fined and imprisoned. . Penalty- would- be—^imposed- on 'whoever shall ^deliver to any' indi- vidual any book pursuant to the sale thereof in. interstate commerce with- out exacting from such individual the full purchase price of such book.' Wilson Hicks to Life Wilson Hicks, executive -assistant in charge of the Associated Press news photo service, ill resign March 1 to become one of the edU tors of Life. Hicks is succeeded on the A.P. job by Edward Stanley, also an executive assistant to Kent Coop- er, general manager, of the associa- tion. . Stanley has heretofore been in charge of the A.P.'s membership de- partment. Before that he had ex- perience in the A.P.'s feature and foreign service, arid was news editor in Kansas City for the southwestern division before taking over the mem- bership job. Henry Powers Dead , Henry Powers, 79, one of the old- est active newspapermen in the United States, died at his home in Middletown, N. Y., On Feb. 19,, He had been in'-the business: 64 years. Powers began newspaper work* at; 15 arid never left it. He first served as a printer's apprentice and then as a reporter on a weekly in Groton. N. Y., his .home town! In 1898 he went to Miidletown, and, until his illness arid advancing, age forced Him to take an: indefinite leave of absence last summer, he covered hews in that yiciriity. Charles Richard McKenney Dbad Charles~Richard McKenney, early Minnesota newspaper editor and publisher, died in St. Paul Feb. 19, from injuries sustained in falling and breaking a hip a week before. He was 89 years old. •As a rhember of the Minriesota House of Representatives, he intro- duced the measure which prohibits; sale, of liquor Within two mites of the State Fair grounds. Busy Richard Carroll Richard Carroll, who . has a serial, .'Hell Bent,' currently in Liberty^ will have a novel, 'Mexican Gallop,! com- ing, out next month. Carroll, on the radio scripting staff of Lord & Thomas, has also sold a istory, 'The Lost Opera,' to Sol Lesser for a Bobby Breen picture. Conn. Correspondents' party Biennial gridiron dinner of the Laurel Club, organization of Con- necticut legislative correspondents, has been set for April 28 at the Hart- fordClub< Hartford, Conn. Only free ticket will be issued to Gov. Wilbur L. Cross. where he'has spent the past ten win- ters. His 25th novel, 'Crucible,' will be out next month. Translation of. Louis - Ferdinand Celine's second novel will be titled 'Death on the Installment Plan.' Constance. Phillips, author of Pho- topoems,' has gone to London with her husband for the^ coronation. Paul Coslowe out as radio ed of. the N. Y. Daily Workier.. Charies E.: Dexter, feature editor, moved oyer to Coslow's spot. . May Sarton's first volume of poems out this week. Author understudied -Eva ;Le-Gailienne : and founded-4he- Apprentice Theatre in N. Y. ■ Nettie S. Tillctt has edited a book titled 'How Writers Write' with chap- ters by Joseph Corirad, Harold Nich- olsori and Somerset Maugham. ' Willie Show Ethridge, wife of the general manager of the Louisville Courier-Journal and Times, has writ- ten her first riovel, 'As I- Live and Breathe.' Lynton Hudson has translated Zsolt Harsanyis 'Life and Loves of Franz Liszt.' Author is the founder of a Hungarian weekly,- Szinhazi Elet (Theatrical Life). Caridido Gaido, head of the Inter-- national Copyright Bureau of Cuba, is coming to N. Y- April 1, prepara- tory to a London tri for conferences on copyright laws. 'What Ho!', written as a Gary Cooper vehicle, for Major Pictures, is being issued in novel form by Min- toh-Balch in New York and Robert Hale, l td., in London. . Sonya Foss has succeeded Jerre Mangibne as head of the publicity at McBride's. Latter has gone to Wash- ington as editor of the Resettlement Administration Magazine. Eye Currie, daughter of Mine. Cur- rie, has just finished her mother's biography. Book will bfe sitnultane- oiisly published in se^en couotries, with Vinicerit She;ehan doing the Eng-: lish translation. Anna Roosevelt D'all Boettiger, daughter of President'Roosevelt and husband, of John Boettiger, publisher of Hearst's Seattle P6st-Intelligcncer ( is an associate editor of'that paper and will write a column for it. Andre Malroux, French novelist who has been leading the Interna- tional Air Squadrort in defense of Madrid, arrives here today (24) on the Paris. The 'Nation will - give a dinner for him and .for Louis Fischer on Feb. 26 in N. Y. Jock Muritb, stage manager on tour with 'Pride and Prejudice,' has Written several juve books and last week contracted; for two -more, . Random House will publish. Ar- thur Kober's new play 'Havlrig a Wonderful Time* and 'Brother Rat' by Johri Monks, Jr., and Fred Flnklehoffe. Robinson, Jeffers will have a new book of poetry but in the Fall titled 'Such Counsels You Gave Me.' Bernard De Voto has nearly fin- ished his new novel titled 'Mountain Time.' Harvey O'Connor is writing..The. Guggenheim6: The Making of American Dynasty.' J. P. McEyoy arid his new wife left last, week On. a World tour to be gone a year. Aubrey Graves In Denver . Aubrey Graves, former managing editor of the Fort Worth, Texas, Press, now has the same job on the Denver News. Both are Scripps- Hbward papers. He was formerly on the N. Y. World-Telegram. Mag on Rare Books Reading arid Collecting is a new monthly review, of rare aind recent books,'.edited arid published by Ben Abiramsbn ..in Chicago. H. B. Pettee Williarn J. Bennemari are asso- ci ..CHATTER Joseph C. Lincolr in Florida. Maysie Grieg back in N. Y. from Haiti. Arthur iterman winteri in California; . H. R. Knickerbocker for Europe again March 1. Whitfield Cook, stage manager, has a piece in the March issue of Story. Sale of Delineator to Pictorial Re- view has been formally, ratified by stockholders., Ralph Roeder and his wife,. Fania Mindell, have gone to Haiti, for vaca- tion. Pete Cross, formerly with Live- right, now heading Lyons & Lyons story dept. liyer La: Farge has finished a new novel titled 'The Enemy Gods.' Deals with Navajo Indians. Ben Ames Williams has left Bos- ton for a Vacation at Sea Island; Ga.. Studio Placements (Continued from page 21) Blystone. Robert Dudley. Frank Ras* mussen, 'Toast of New York.' RKO. : Russ Powell, 'The .Woman I Love,' RKO. . Isobal La Ma , Blanche Rose, Mitchell Imjraham, Jerry Tucker, Mary Ellen Purcell, 'Outcast of Poker Flats,' RKO. ruce Mitchell, Bud Jamlcson, 'Satisfaction Guaranteed.' RKO. Stanley v . Andrews, Roger Imhof, "H'^Iii Wide and F?infl c "»'nf!.' par. . Grady Sutton; Jcpri Tiixon. Avalon Boys, Albee Sisters, 'Turn "Off the Moon,'- Par. Jonathan Hale. Tn^my 'The Years. Are So Lonf.' Par. Mark Kellv, Clyde-. .Bn.ick scripting 'Cuckoo College.' Pnr. . Ted Koehler. lyrics: jerry Bergen; A.-Edward Sutherland, direct 'Artists nr^ Models/ Par, Nina Cam^ann. 'Night Kev.* Boyce de Gaw. Isabsl scripting 'Service Dc^Liixe.' U. Rdbert N. Lee, scrinting, : 'Armored Car,' U. . Adelq Commandini. Mone arid Like It.' U, ; Alan Mowbray. Kathari .. dor. 'As Good as Ma^ied/ . William Gat/?f>n. 'Prescrintion for. Romance'' and- 'Wimis Over Hono- lulu.' U. •Nan Grey, obert Wilcox: Lester ••Colo, rr-riftti ,; TT.ilton' ;Carr'uth,; di- rect. 'The Cop, . Gloria Holden. Gilbert ilmerv. Jo- -ieoh Schildkraut Barton MncLane, 'Robert Barrat. John T.itel. Donald Cris>v Ben V/eldon, The Story of ile . Zola.' WP. Jane Brvan, Michael Mark, 'Ma- . zurka,' WB. Aiin Ph<?ri 'Madcap Heiress/