Variety (Oct 1937)

RADIO Published Weekly at 154 West 46th Street, New Tork, N, T., by Variety, Inc. Annual subscription, $0. SlnRlA copies, 15 cenls. Entered aa second-class matter December 22, 1906, at the Post Oltlce at New York, N. Y., under the act of March S, 1879. COPYRIGHT, 1037, BT VARIETY, INC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Vol. 128 No. 4 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1937 64 PAGES SQUAWKS AGAIN ort l^Dgliii;. BmBailey [XHIBS MM Cvctts (or Repurchase by Family J|J STARS ON ! The Ringling family is reported readying- to assume the control and jnanagement' of the Ringling Broth- ers-Barnum. & Bailey circus, also other big tops of the American Cir- cus'Corp. Shows have been under the direction of Samuel W. Gum- p'^rtz, for several years, he .having supplanted the late John Ringling, but whether Gumpertz will remain in the set-up after this season, is not indicated. If he leaves there will 1)6 a number, of changes in the staff. . The shows have been in receiver- t{iip»" having been over-financed when the other circuses were bought and.'some •<vere scrapped. It was the elder Ringling's idea to eliminate competition and in so doing bor- rowed, large sums from Prudence Bonds of Brooklyn/ in which group (jrumpertz has been prominent. The |>ahfc" actually has been the owner of the' outfits, Gumpertz being their Representative. ' Just prioY to John Ringling's death last: December it was reported that he. planned to re- sume as head of the outfit. The. profits earned by the big tops operated this year and last by Gum- S'ertz wh6 toured with, the Ringling, ; & B. show all the distance, ac- count for the expected return of the properties to the circus family. Big ehow is reported having made a profit of over $2,000,000, while the Barnes-Sells-Floto outfit is estimated earning over $500,000. Widow of Richard Ringling is now wed' to a lawyer, and the widow of Charles Ringling, who has been as- sociated with Gumpertz, are under- stood to h£i,ve decided that as the en- terprises are in a position to pay oft on the notes held by Prudence, they should step in and take control. That any of the heirs have received coin, from the shows since the re- ceivership, is doubtful and that is the reason why they are stepping in • Gumpertz and the elder Ringling 1were believed to be intimate ovier a'lorig stretch of years. After the financial debacle they differed on any. number of occasions and finally » dispute in Madison Square Garden ended in a rift that was never ■ (Continued on page 62) IREE DRINK GAME PLAYED VIA RADIO ' Fargo, N. D., Oct. 5. WDAY has developed an air ver- 6lon of bingo or screeno, with free drmks going to the winners. Stunt Is being worked With a twice weekly program which the station clears from its studios in behalf of a local cocktail spot, Le Chateau. • Titles of the tunes which the 15- mmute program will broadcast are passed out to the lounge's customers and the.radio set is tuned into the station. Every so often during the airing an alarm clock rings at the miKe. Person holding the title being Played at that moment is free to order drinks fot the entire party at n»3 table. Enterprise Newest bright idea in mid- town New York is the mugg gag, whereby a central distribu- ting bureau in Times Square sells photographs of celebs and execs at 10c a copy. Rabid autografhounds, after lamping the first-nighters en- tering theatres, niteries, etc., scram pronto to the central bu- reau, pay a dime for a photo, and at the intermission or the break of the shows, the hounds are there with picture and pen in hand for the autograf. Reno Victimized By Overdose Of Adv.; It s Dead By CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, Jr. Reno, Oct. 5. Too much adverse publicity has clipped Reno's wings. Town's dead. Florida cops the big divorce play. Only a few straggling notables in Nevada this fall. Some still pretend they'll be Renovated, and go instead to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Arkansas, devoid of publicity-scav- engers. But Reno still is discreetly full of topnotch tax dodgers. Nevada's lax tax laws responsible. Like Florida, it has no income nor inheritance taxes. .Unlike Florida, it has no tax on bonds or securities bought within the state. Cash sunk into the ground is still untaxed by the Fed- eral government. Thus some of America's biggest names are turning 'miners.' While niteries and joints go beg- ging, big housing boom is on the make. Once deserted spots on city's outskirts now boast dozens of new homes. Rubber-tired baby carriages (Continued on page 59) Sunday a Dominant Day for Film Players on Ra- dio Commercials^—Studios Minimize Danger to Box Offices—State That the Cooperation Between Pix and Air Should React to B. O. Benefit USUAL PROS, CONS Bridsh War Office Tells 'Em What to Do London, Oct. 5. with a view to being helpful, Os- car Deutsch asked the War Office what precautions he would need to take in building the new Odeon in Leicester Square so as to render it safe against bomb attacks by enemy raiders. They told him he might do it by building a roof of solid reinforced concrete 24 ft. thick, surmounted by a layer of hard earth another 12 ft. thick. Picture names • on the air against picture names on theatre screens were put to a more effective test Sunday (3) when an unusual flock of playeirs featured the day's broad- casting. Complaints were made by theatre men that business for the day was off, notably in the evening. While operators are seldom able to accurately indicate reasons for a drop in attendance except when it's the pictures themselves, the feeling expressed is' that with such strong air shows mi put on this past Sun- day (3), it is'unquestionably becom- ing harder to draw people away from their homes. In theatre circles it is stressed that picture or other shows must try to vie with the gratis entertainment of quality and name draught that is be- ing put on the air, but incurring greater concern than In the past is the question of whether the indus- try itself should contribute so un- restrictedly to this form of competi- tion by permitting stars to go before mikes. This question ponders wheth- er or not contracts should enforce clauses forbidding any star or fea- tured player from going on the air. Having accomplished little more than the assurance that filni people and scenes from pictures will be more effectively presented, thus to help them on the air rather than hurt, the radio competition commit- tee of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners.of America, headed by Wal- ,ter Vincent, may be further pressed for gction. This committee has never really fought the appearance of stars on the air, as was expected of it by theatre owners throughout the coun- try. For a long time operators have complained of radio shows on Sun- (Continued on page 25) GRIDDERS' BIG APPLE Columbia, S. C, Oct. 5. Football fans, accustomed to marching cadet corps, band music and singing of alma maters as cut- and-dried entertainment between halves, were treated to something new Saturday (2) when hordes of students, obeying commands of a caller, using the field p.a. system, did the Big Apple whileGeorgia Tech Yellowjackets and South Caro- lina U. Gamecocks rested from their gridiron chores. HoUywood Finger-Printing Urged By U. S. Police to Curb Crime Three R's with Suds Detroit, Oct. 5. School bell in suburban Gar- den City this fall will summon about 150 kids to the town's /little red saloon." State liquor board last week okayed use of the Square Deal Club's tavern to care for the overfiow of school kids in the subtirb, provided a curtain or partition, cuts off the bar from remainder of nite spot, and provided no liquor's sold dur- ing school hours. Saloon will be used until school board has time to build an addition to the present school. Par Sets Lehar As Supervisor On luxembourg Vienna, Oct. 5. Franz Lehar, composer of 'Merry Widow' and other Viennese operet- tas, finally has given in and accepted an offer from Adolph Zukor of Par- amount to personally direct and su- pervise the production of his 'Count of Luxembourg.' Lehar: will proceed to the U. S. early in 1938. An extensive concei t tour will introduce him to Ameri- can audiences. 'Luxembourg' ia one of Lehar's best operettas. It had its world pre- miere in the Theatre an der Wien, under Karczag management, Lehar is re-orchestrating most of the songs, adapting them to the since increased and changed orchestras of pre-war days. Mulling Films on Lives Of Gershwin and Sousa Two Hollywood studios are mull- ing the idea of cinematic biogra- phies on George Gershwin. They arc RKO and Warner Bros. RKO presumably first thought of it. It might be considered the late jazz composer's 'home' lot. Washington, Oct. 5, In convention here, the Interna- tional 'Association for Identification, headed ■ by J. Edgar Hoover, ad- mitted' that Hollywood is being used extensively as a hide-out for every sort, of grifter and criminal. To this end, on Saturday (2), a resolu- tion was adopted to have a commit- tee confer with the WiU H. Hays organization in order to. urge that every member of the film industry, and every person applying for such employment bp finger-printed. [A similar, resolution was passed in Baltimore Monday (4) at the con- venton of the Internatonal Ass'n of Chiefs of Police]. It is claimied by the lAI, that Hollywood is over-run with crimi- nals of every sort, particularly thosa specializing in blackmail, shake- downs, badger games, . and kid- napping threats. Also that 90% of missing small-towji girls are to be. found in Hollywood, trying to break into the picture Industry. Thus, in establishing a finger- print policy for the picture indus- try, the lAI feels that it will ac- complish a twofola purpose. The runaway girls can be found and identified. and, since squeeze artists must be connected with the business In order to establish contacts with stars and executives, they can bo apprehended when making applica- tion, before they can work. For some years, Hollywood has tried to keep floaters and un- desirables from its doors, but tha methods used have not been com- pletely successful. In spite of all that could be done, many have crept in, until now, accordii;ig to the lAI conditions have become so bad that something more drastic must ba done. However, even they will admit (Continued on page 15) Hollywood. Oct. 5. All story material on John Philip Sousa, together with the musical compositions of the bandmaster, have been offered for sale to the studios by Mrs. Sousa, the widow, who is dealing through the Stanley Bergerman agency here. Terms arc being talked by Ber- german currently for a ma.ior studio production of Sousa's 'Marching Along,' with the cooperation of the United States Marine Corps. COHAN-HARRIS STAGE SET COSTS $100,000 'I'd Rather Be Right,' which Sam II. Harris will present, with George M. Cohan starred, lines up as the most expensive one-set musical ever contrived. Estimated that the show will represent an outlay of $100,000. One of the largest items is the elec- trical department, devices for which will be unseen. Special switchboards have been in- stalled to handle approximately 200 lamps. There is ia maze of cable.s back state, the amount of wire foot- age said to be seven miles or ap- proximately 40,000 feet. The lighting was installed under the direction of Abe Feder, who was engaged at the instance of the book authors, George Kaufman and Moss Hart. He at- tracted attfention last season with the lighting of 'Dr. Faustus,' a WPA production in N, Y. 'Right' production goes to Boston Thursday (7) for final rehearsals, , being .slated to open there next Mon- ' day. Tentative debut on Broadwjy I at Ihc Music Box is Oct, 26,