Variety (Apr 1937)

1 66 VARIETY LITERATI Wedne9da^y, April 7, 1937 Post-Gazette Guild Contract Paul Block, publishier of mbrning iPoiit-Gazette, and Pittisburgh News- paper Guild; signed a year's contract over week-end governing wages and ■working conditions. Agreement pro- •vides five-day, 40-hour week and salary scale rating to: a $50 weekly minimum for reporters ^yith five' years' experience. Copy readers with same annount of experience get $55 minimum, $50 for three years or less. Other clauses provide tegular va- cations With pay; overtime adjust- ments apd dismissal compensation ranging to 24 weeks' salary for em^ plpyes who have served the pub- lisher 15 years: Guild's efforts, however, to obtain a closed shop Were unsuccessful' and contract specifies that its benefits will be ap- plied to all itorial. employees 'ir- respective of whether or not they to'e members of the Guild.' / Of the three Pittsburgh dailies, Post-Gazette's unit is by far the strongest in the Guild, with a 97% membership of editorial staff. NewspaperwQinen New York Newspaperwoman's Club awarded four prizes for pro- fessional achievement iat its 15th an- nual party in New York last week. Prize winners were Doris Fleeson of the N. Y. Daily News, who won $100 for her coverage of the 1936 Repub- lican convention; Emily Genauer of the N. Y. WorW-Telegram; $100 for the cdrisistently best column in a specialized womaris' .field. Anne O'Hare McCprmick, of the N- Y. Times, $50 for the best feature story, an article on Hitler; and Dorothy Thompson of the N.,.Y. Herald Tri bune, $50 for the most distinguished column of opinion, for her piece on the Hauptinann execution. Honorable, mention also was given Dorothy .Kilgallen and Dorothy Dun- bat Bromley. Presentations Were -made by Jim Barrett. More than 60 New York women writers, column ' ists and reporters were entered in 'the contest, the' first of its kind to be sponsored by the club.' ■tJpton Slhclalr's New Book Upton Sinclair . has issued a new noyel titled *N6 Passarant' CThey Shall Not Pass'), which is the story of the battle of Madrid and a num- ber of ,'American boys who join .the Ihtbrnational Brigade . against the Fascists, li has been published in pamphlet form tp sell at a quarter, Sinclair putting it out.himself. Au thor-publisher states that he turned 'down an offer fi-orn a publishing house to put it out for $2, preferring to-take the chance of running into personal debt, because of - the 'work emsrgency.* .•Author is offering some foreign lahjguage rights without, rdyalty, as his answer to Mussolini, 'who has banned iny books, and;- to Hitler who has burned them.' Best Sellers Best Sellers for the week endins April 3, American News Oo^ Inc^ Fiction •Gone With the Wind' ($3.p0) .............. ,By Margaret Mitchell ♦Druiiis Along the Mohawk' ($2.50) ....... .>,... .By W. D. Edmonds 'Paradise' ($2.50) ; • • ... . • .... .^By Esther Forbes •We Are Not Alone'-($2.00)... ........... i .. ,By Jairies Hilton •Of Mice and Men' ($2.00) .,».. w. ^. •..., . .By John Steinbeck The Theatre' ($2.50) . . .^. . . .By W. Somerset Maugham •How to Win Friends' ($2.00) .....By Dale Carnegi •American Doctor*s Odyssey' ($3.50).;..,. .\ By Dr.. Victor G. Heiser •Nine Old Men' ($2.50)..... By Drew Pearson and Hobert S; Allen 'Here's to Crime' ($2.75) ....>.;........ -By Courtney Ryley Cooper 'tareers After Forty' ($1.50) ................. v.By Walter B. Pitkin •Present Indicative' ($3.00) ...... i.....;..... .. .By Noel Cpward . T. Worid-Telly Looks Set "The lengthy hegotiatiPns. between the N. Y. World-Telegram manage- ment and the Newspaper Guild unit of the paper were cphtinue4 yester-. day (6) and almost concluded, It is expected that a 'contract will be signed today (Wednesday). This action followed a' unit meeting on Monday (5), wben the unit accepted the mainagement's offer of a 5% pay increase instead of the 10%. request- ed. It passed a resolution regretting the omission of the Guild shop clause and declared ■ that this must 3e the obiect.of negotiations for re- newal. A resolution was also passed declaring that the Guild opposed the dischai'^e of staff members to econo- mize -for t>ay increases.. This action was taken as the result of a state- ment by Lee B. Wood, executive editor, Who ilecliared that pay rises might be followed by a ,but in staff. Compulsory arbitriatioh . which haid been proposed by the management was dropped yesterday after, the unit had voted overwhelmingly against it. Guild will have seven Scripps- Howard papers signed Up, despite the fact that last November Roy Howard expressed dissatisfaction at--his then lone signed contract a^nd declared that he .would not renew it;^^ Thit was the Clevelawi Pfess^ Newspaper .Guild now has .7,500 members in 80 Guilds. 'There is sqmie talk, of organizing 'Heairst fGuild units on a national scale, similar, to the orjganization of .ScrippsrJIoward units. Spot-N(^wslnr Lolly Beginning yesterday (April 6) Hearst, newspapers are running Lou ella Parsons*. Un,iversal Syndicate column as spot news. Understood that this was on orders from Hearst, who did not want it tp be a day . ahead in the Los An- geles Examiner, fearing other. corre- spondents have been picking up her . stuff in the early editions and wir- ing it east, beating her own column into .the eastern spots. Instead of having, her copy ready for two o'clock'(]loast time deadline, as in the past; it is now cleared from Los An- geles at noon. Wisinr Up Al Fresco' Open air free library conducted each veek-day in Pershing Square, Los Angeles, by the public' libriary of that city, is distributing'around 200 books and' maigazines daily, for • perusal only in the park;-. Open' air : branch is open from 10 a.m.. to 3 p.m. Park loungers are permitted to draw any book or magazine pii 'file, with the ■ proYiso they are hot to, be taken from the grounds, excepting by perr sons' who hold regular library cards. Pershing Square is the Los; Angel'Js Open' Forum and thousands igrab off the 'benches for. a daily mulling' of 'events. ,Park fronts on four streets in "downtown L. A. and its benches are rarely .unoccupied. Isl-aei's Trppical Material jToseph israels, II, just back from . British Giiianay is writing a series of articles on that\couhtry and South America, stressing the fact that it is. the /last frontier for. youth of today. In his . stories,. Israels. 'will compare this regibiii as rugged pountry with the frontier i)erlod;i'n American his- tory. He .^dlsb lhay broadcast por- tions pf data Collected. ' Israels, is president' of Publicity Asidtfiates. Johnson's Spot Unsettled Erskine Johnson, who has been do ing freelance writing fpr NEA and writing a column for the Los Arir geles Daily News, titled.'Hollywood Diary,' has been signed by Hearst. His column in the L. A. News at- tracted the attention of Jack Lait; who tried it out in the Daily Mirror for two' Weeks , after which Hearst ordered Jphnsoh signed. It is not yet decided which New York. Hearst 'paper Johnson Will write for, and the .column will not run until a suitable name is found, as L. .A. News controls caption 'Holr lywood Diary.' . Harrison Carroll is currency doing the Hollywood column in the Daily Mirror. George Fischer, film chatterer on the Mutual network, will conduct the Hollywood Diary column in the L. A, Evening.'News. Erskine Johnr son left .the sheet to do a- similar job on the L. A.. Examiner.. Claims. Breach of Coiitrjact Farrar & Rinehart is suing the Literary Guild of America for $1QO.OOO for alleged breach of con- tract. Simultaneously the publishers aire suing for a preliminary injunc- tion, to restrain the Guild from dis- tributing.F. & R. books to non-Guild members; Publiishers cliaim that the Guild has violated its agreement not to sell Fi & R. books to persons who are'nbt regular, subscribers to' the Guild and hence has damaged the repiitatipri which the piiblishers have, built up pf .hpt cutting .priceis on.; their bopks;. Firm charges that Guild's special editions were offered to the. retail trade ih competition with the. regu- lar editions and seriously interfered with, bookstore sales. It also states that the situation became so serious that many bookstores have threat- ened to hfndle no more F. & R, books \yhich are Literary Guild se- lections. Literary Guild states (hat-they be- lieve no orders haye been taken which are not subscriptions and. de- clare they are satisfied to let the courts decide the issue. . Long; Island Press Strike ' Staff members of the Long- Island (Jamaiica, N. Y.) Daily Press walked out Monday (5), after a strike vote had, been taken, last Week, and the. strijke authorized by the Representa- tive Assembly in New York. The Press , unit, numbers 66 oUt of the 68 members of the staff and is the largest unit on the history of the Cruild to go pri strike. S. i. New- house, publisher of the Staten Is- land Advance, and of the Newark Ledger is the majority stpckholder of the Press. The first striike in the Guild's history in 1934 was also "at the Press. Facing the strike, the management offered general'pay raises,' sbme as high as $l(i! per week; but the^ unit iinanimbusty reaffirmed its strike vote. Average wag;es on" the paper, exclusive of editors are $25 per week. It is the pnly daily in New Yprk on the six-day week. . Seek Lower Postaare Rate Authprs' X'eague is backing a bill, introduced by Senatpr Arthur H. Vandenburg, prpviding that manu- scripts may be carried in the mails as third or fourth-class matter. Present cost pf shipping a full length novel to a publisher by mail runs to about $1.50, and dbuble for the round trip. Cost is considerable when script is sent to .several pub- lishers. Change in status of classification would reduce cost to. about 38 cents. . Guild .Contract in Columbus Columbus Newspaper Guild signed a contract for thie Coliiihbus. Citizen' unit .With the publishers of the Scripps-Howard paper last Wednes day (31). Minimums of $25 a week for beginners and $40 a week for re- porters With three yeairs' experience, a 40-hour week, time off for pver- time and dismissal np'tice ^of one week for every year with the paper are. included in the terms of the coh", tract. No preferential or closed shop is provided. Accused of Anti-Sovietism Joint book by 16 foreign corre spondents has been attacked prior to publicatibh by Western Writers Congress, ..pn the grpunds that the editpr, Eugeiie Lyons, and one pf the contributors, William Henry Chamberli , have an 'ainti-Sbviet bias.' Lyons' own chapter will, how- ever, deal with Persia and much of the material in the book will be anti-Fascist. Protestors sent copies of their kick to critics but . gpt no results except suggestion that they wait until a book appears before. razzing it sight unseen. Suesest Guild Clubhouse Newspaper Guild is considering establishing of a clubhouse in IiTew York to centralize activities and pro- vide a meeting place fpr members. A house committee of three was ap- ppinted by the Executive Cdminittee last week to investigate feasibility of the . Members oif the. cbm- inittee are Art Miller of the N. .Y, Jpiirhal, Barney MuUady pf the dity News, aind Vilas J. Bpyle pf the N. Y. Post. " ' No clubhouse yfili be possible be- fore next fall, because both national and local guilds have leases .oi> their, offices until then. To Show Prize News. Phbtoa Life, the illustrated miag, will feature series of prize camera shots of ace.- hewispaper and syndicate phbtographs ' New York qity, - gether with names of shutter-snap- pers. Bill Warnecke, of World- Telegram, tabbed for No. 1 spot, with Sam Schulman, oldest active N. Y. cameraman, of International News Photos, running a close second. Toungr. Barred from Nippon A. Morgan Young, for 15 years editpr of the Kobe Chronicle, Eng- lish daily, has .been denied; permis- sion to re-enter Japan as the corre- spondent of the Manchester Guard- ian or in any other capacity. Home. Office peeved because Young was giveh to calling a spade a spade in his editorials bh Japan. Power of Press Margaret Mitchell's,, plea for the papers ih Atlanta to print, pieces saying that: she had nothing to do with the casting of 'Gone With the Wind' woi-ked out bkay. Follpwing publicatipi> of her re- quest by 'Ipcal sheets, npveliist even received a number bf letters applP^ gizing fpr having bpthered her. Talks on Civil Liberties Rpger Baldwin, director of > the Civil. Liberties Union, will be. the featured speaker at an open meeting of ° the Book and Magazine Guild to- night (T) at ' the Manhattan Opera house, N. Y, . He will discuss ivil tiiberties Under Fascism* especially in relation to publishing. . Haegard is Rochester M; E. Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat and Chronicle gets' new managing ied, fourth in little over three years, in shift bf William Haggard, 38, ta the job, from assistant to M. V. At wood, associate editor of the Gannett news- papers. Charles A» S. Freeman goes from sheet to Haggard's post, in the central office. Haggard, fprmerly m.e. on Washington Post, and bne- time news ed of old N. Morning World. Frank Lonegan joins D. & C. cppy desk from miiakeup on Buffalb Times. Mrs. iCookman -Named MiE; Ladies' Home Journal has ao- pointed Mrs. Mary Copkman as N. Y. managing editor.' Annpuncement was made by Bruce Gould and Beatrice B. Gould, editors, last Week; Mrs. Cookman joined the staff of the mag last September after re-, si ing froni the position of divi- sional, advertising mgr. of the Abra-' ham & Straus dept. store in Brook- lyn, -where , she had been for seven years. Guitd'$i News-Weekly Drive taff^-members of publications in the. news-weekly field have formed- a joint, cpuhcil tP stimulate. N. Y; Kewspaper Guild and tb study sal- ary standards for a model cbntract.- Membership includes Staffs pf Tbie Literary Digest, News-Week, ime and Schipiastic. Fprtune is already well organized and efforts will be rnade shortly by the Cuild to organize: writers on the 'March of Time* newsreel istaff. LITERATI DEATHS "rHIS WEEK Volney P. Walsh,.33, former sports editor of the Denver News and Pittsburgh, baseball, writer, died'at his home in Denver. From 1920 to 1032 he was bn the News, the last five years as spoirts editor. In 1932 he. Went to the Pittsburgh • Press as a baseball . writer, returning to Den- ver last May, when his health broke. Walsh was a member of the Denver Press Clvb and the Natipnal Base- ball Writiers' As'spciatiPii. , He is survived, by his mpther, Mrs. Lou Deli Walsh, of'Denyer. Talcott W: Powell, 36, fbrmerly editor of the . Indianap.blis Times, died on. April 4, in . Greenwich, Conn., following,an-operatipn fpr a ruptured appendix. He was . born in Lansdowne, Pa., and graduated from Wesleyan Uni- versity. His first .daily newspaper- work was with the New York Sun, after which he joined the. New-York Tribune in 1922, remaining with the Herald Tribune until 1925. that year, he became ' general manager of the Middletbwn (N. Y.) Times- Herald. Two years' later he rieturned td New Yprk and joined the Tele- gram, becbihing assistant' executive editor of the World-Telegram in 1931., In that year: .he wrotb a series on veterans' relief, which was cited by the Pulitzer Cbmmittee in award- ing a gold medal to "his newspaper for the 'most meritorious public service.' 1933, he Avas appointed 'editor of the Indianapolis Times and remained the'ire .until July, 1935, when he left to go to the Caribbean ta -write books and articles for Cosmppolitan and- other magazines. He ■was the author pf'Tattered Ban-- ners' published in 1932 and was writing another book which was nearly finished. He is survived by his widPw, twP children, his parents and a brpther. His father. Dr. Lynian P. PpWell, 'conducted the funeral services yes- terday; . Fred Fuller 66, editor of th^ Philadelphi vehing Bulletin since 1921, April 2, in Sbuthern Pi of a heart attack. He began his newspaper career oh the Haverhill (Mass.) Gazette, and became editor in 1889i. In 1907 he went to the Boston Herald as an editorial writer and in 190(9 be- came editpr. Two years latei" he joined the Bulletin as an editorial writer. In 1930, Mr. Shedd was presi- dent pf American Spciety bf News- paper Editprs, serving three pne year tenns. His wife and three ions survive him. CHATTER Bill McCJleery bf the A.P. has apne' to the Cbast. Helen Keller left San franciscp last week for Japan. Giirdon Sunmons appointed real estate editor of the NiY. Pbst. Carrie itacbbs Bond leaving HoUy- wbod for spring in Monte Carlo. Arthur Hays Siilzburger due back in N.Y, next week; from Europe^ ' Bbake Carter, starts a cplumn for the Dally Mirror next week (12). Travis Hpke, has gbne . tb South Carolina fbr a. tw^> weeks vacation. Guild :.Gayeti'es, frolic of Phllly hewspapienhen, will be held at'Penn A..C on, May 5. Cartoonists Guild to hold its first anniversairy ball Friday (9) at Web- ster Hall. Tommy ill southern stickis with string of - own fea- tures and comics. Nat Ferber's new bne. for Farrar St. Rinehart called 'Exclusive 'Stbry,' a l.OiOO-page autpbiog. Hehry Harrison to publish an anthology titled 'Contemporary American Men Poets' next month. 'The' People Against Norfolk,' novel by daVi^ Lamsbn, has been taken by Scribner's; for publicatipn. Mprtpn Tivbmpspn's first, an expose of seven newspapermen around the rim, of a cbpy desk,. called. Hell Boxi, J. iP; McEvby doing aidded scenes. in .Chi of 'Shanghai Summer,* hbVel he started, in Hollywood last fall- . Jim Tully's latest., written in si -weeks, is. a . novel on the- salvation racket called 'Half. Sister of. the Lord.' , Charlotte Seitli , p.a. for Simon & Schuster,: sailing (14)' for; a six weeks' trip tb France,. Austiia and Soviet Riissia. Isidor . Feinstein,. itorlsd Writer for the N. Y;Post, has written a book oh the Supreme Court titled ,!The Court Disposes' due out this month (20). Albert McCleery, editor of the 'West of Broadway' department for Staige mag,, has gone on a trip to cover 20 .of - the ?nost prpmiheht little .theatreis. .. Michael Fessier, prbducer at Metro, has sold two ficfiph yarns. , Scrib- ner's will publish 'I Can't Keep My Mbuth Shut,' and Esqjiire has taken 'SPb StPry.' - rl'^'. . Max Eastman an4,AC^arjlie Chapli being apprbached by Nyra^.publishers tp dp a big-time iifcjV.6f-:thiEi cpmic. Jim TuUy and Mphfe Bllie did pre- vious book-length portraits of Chap- lin. Janet Riesenfeld, who is doing 'I Lived My Life at 21' for Bennett. Cerf, goes under billing of Raquel Jlojas, a Spanish dancer,; when not Icnown as Hugo Riesenifeld's daugh- ter. Herbert Easton, once a. lieutenant in British Nayy and charged with in- citing cannibals on Solpmbn Islands to rebellion and presumably killed, writing his story under title pf 'Etonee' in Frisco. Adelaide Kerr, fashion editpr bf the .A.p., .has . gone to. London to cover the Corona tipn.. Sigrid Arne, Washington feature writer, has mbved up. to New York to cover her bierth- while she is away. American Newspaper Publishers' Association'will hold its 51st annual convention in New York April 20-24. Members of. the. Associated Press will convene for a one-day session on the 19th and elect directors. Walter Pitkin's latest effort to con- sole those aged 40 and mbre. is titled 'Careers After Forty.' For material on such personalities he cites Gruy Kibbe, Marie Dressier, .May. Robspn, Will Rogers,. Carl Laemmle. Frank Russell and Samuels Hinds. Counter proposals of the Phila-, delphia Ledger managemeht to de- mahds. pf Newspaper Guild were voted, , down at unit, meetirig last Wednesday. Negotiators were in- structed to press for ori inal: re-? quests. New Yprk City Guide, in process of preparation by the Federal Writers'. Project is nearing com- pletion, but no puijlisher has been given the contract, as yet. At least a dozen New Ybrk publishers are interested in haying the book'but ho . decision who will pUbliish is expectied for some time. . Random House will publish 'Miss Quis,"^ the Ward Morehp^se. play, late this mpnth. Firm will alsp pub- lish.Arthur Kober's play 'Having a; Wonderfill: Time,' with an -introduc- tion by Marc Connelly^ and 'the Amazing Dr; Clitterhouse,' by Barr.e. Lyndon, Albert Deanev in charge of foreign publicity for Paramount, is trying tp cash in oh the radio pop build-up pf spelling bees with a book pn the subject, just issued by-Stbkes. En titled 'Spelling Bees,' bobk. has number of lists and variati how to conduct the contest. J