Variety (Nov 1937)

Wednesday, November 17, 1937 LITERATI VARIETY t% Wsshlnffton Press Shuffles Numerous shifts in ranks of Wash- ington, newspapermen have the frat- ernity agog. Past few weeks have !een lar^e number of personnel switches, with more becoming effec- tive before year-end. One change of bosses which has attracted widespread attention'finds Frederick A. Storm, personal friend of President Roosevelt, pickmg up the typewriter again to represent • United press at the White House. Storm leaves employ of Carl Byoir, nublic felations counsel, and returns to the job which he held for first four years of the New Deal. He was brought to Washington from Al- bany by U. p. because of his intimacy with the Chief Executive, political figures around the ^President, and members of the first family. Storm's reentry to active press work was made possible by switch of Richard M. Harkness,. who has l)eeri covering the' Executive beat lor the press association for several months, from U.P. io the Philadel- phia Inquirer Bureaii. ■ Another ch0rfe ^'chanse which has ' more* than U)?|^ial interest is the resig- nation-of Jbseph AlBOp arid Robert Kintn^if from'the N. Y. Herald Trib- une Bureau. . They have taken ' !UR Wlumning "■Ior,. North Ameri- R. Baukhage, who continues to rep- resent N. A. N. A. "in spot news field. Alsop, a relatiy^e Ol,Mrs. Roose- velt, has been in Washington for more than a' year, covering the Sen- ate. Kintner Is a "financial expert. Staff men from New York will fill the bureau gaps. Newcomer to Washington ranks is Amory Lawrence, son of socially- prominent Massachusetts family. Joins the Boston Transcript Bureau, assisting Oliver McKee, correspon- dent for several years. Wanderlust got one Congressional legman when Duane Wilson, former U. PV' staffer, quit labor to journey to Hawaii. Used to cover the House for the press service. Pruning on local papers recently caused'several changes on the Wash- ington Times staff. Among those ousted in expense-chopping are Louis E. Whyte, veteran of many years at the Capitol, and Carlisle Bargeron, columnist, who scribbles for Nation's Business and at times has done stint for the Washington Post and Wash- ington Herald. Furlough after 50 years' service was awairded Gideon Lyon, associate editor and chief editorial writer for the Warshington Star. Place is not being filled at present, with several city staff aces beiiig given side-line job of.filling the editoyial columns. Death of K. Foster Murray, who has been one of. the towns most energetic legmen for more than a score of years, startled the press corps last week. In ill health lor past year, Murray committed suicide. Had represertted numerous papers, including • Norfc^ . Virginian - Pilot and Savannah Morning News. Eagrle Settlement Fails First efforts to settle the Brooklyn Eagle strike by mediation last week have fallen thrpugh. Situation is deadlocked at the present time. Two Eagle strikers, Harold Con- rad and Lee Elson, planed out to Hollywood last week (11) in attempt to raise coin from the picture colony and enlist the support of the Screen Actors Guild and Screen Writers Guild. Are also seeking support from the Coast locals of the News- paper Guild. Received ctiffo round trip tickets via .the United and American Airlines. One Eagle printer, George Miller, has refused to pass the picket line since the strike started. Works at strike headquarters for the Guilds- men. Ed Hughes and Charles Grutzner are on a trip to leading eastern cities to visit Guild locals and encourage payment of dues and assessments. - Ten Best Scenarios Random House will publish in book form the scenarios of the 10 pictures selected by Sid Skolsky as the year's best. Columnist-radio chatterer is asking his 'public' to send in their, choices, for a checkup with the tentative 10 he has picked, and a one-sentence reason for each listed. Also asking nominations for top acting performances of the year. New Sunday Supplement Parade will be the title of a new Sunday supplement to be issued in tab size roto form next year. Pub- lication expects to guarantee a cir- culation of 3,000,000 through 50 newspapers. Daniel E. Moran, president of '^lavure Service Corp. is handling. Ambidextrous Ed Bodin, literary agent for many pulpsters, also sells his own stuff. Using five pseudo- nyms, he is Dellomar in Sweet- heart Stories, Sylvion in Popu- lar Love, Rodellin in Western Romances and Chakra in Thrill- ing Mystery. First two, Dello- mar and Sylvion, are supposedly femme writers. Also keeps three names' In reserve lor emergencies. Mags receive letters comparing Bodin's per- sonal stable of authors! stating how much better or worse one is than the other, etc. In ad- dition, he often attacks himself. Under his own name he also does a monthly piece for Psy- chology Mag and a weekly stint for the Birmingham (Ala.) News-Age-Herald. Also supplies 13 pulp authors with plots monthly. Bodin began his quintupled writing career doing 'Advice to the Lovelorn' for a Philly paper in 1915. Mencken Lays Down Conditions Victorville (Calif.) Rodeo and H. L. Mencken are in coy correspond- ence through third parties over Menck as guest of honor next year when the Mojave Desert yesort stages its fifth annual non-pro rodeo. Menck says he'd be delighted with the, "honor and would gladly make the 3,000-mile trip if (1) he may bring his own brand of beer and (2) there's a church in the town. He also wants to bring his brother arid Doc Pearl, the Johns Hopkins bio- chemist, both members for 30 years of the Saturday Beer Club. More, he wants to be guaranteed a good notice in Variett. Cowboys said most of his pro- visions were okay, but that he'd have to handle the VARiEar muggs from his end, where they're softer. Mencken countered with further queries about the beer. Committee said he could bring his own brand, and anyway it wouldn't make much difference because the cowboys were past masters at burning over brands. Menck wanted to know if that meant they still had cattle rustlers around Victorville. The committee said they had plenty and for him not to bring a cowhide bag or he'd prob- ably find it was from a snaked steer and the sheriff would iriipound it. Negotiators feel the groundwork is far enough advanced now for the principals to move in and close. Principals are Menck arid Cal Gods- hall, postmaster of Victorville and prez and gen mgr of the Victorville Rodeo. H. L. Mencken, doing a one-time stand on the 'Columbia School of the Air' yesterday (Tuesday) over CBS, talked on 'The American Language.' Interviewer wanted to know about the Baltimorean's contributions to American slang, and the reply was that it wasn't anything as compared to 'those very resourceful fellows on VAItlElT.' Oil City Blizzard Sold The Blizzard, afternoon daily in Oil City, Pa., was sold last Wednes- day (10) to L. Parker Likely, of New York, and Richard H, Amberg, of East Orange, N. J. Likely is a for- mer staffer on St, Petersburg (Fla.) Tirties, Amberg was with the New- ark Ledger. Announcement of the switch said new owners planned no change in personnel or policy, A. C. Maclntyre, one of principal stockholders in the corporation which formerly owned the Blizzard, will continue as editor. C. F. Haider- man and Dr, H. A. Downs, both of Oil City, also held large chunks of stock. Paper was founded in 1822. Ij. a. News Guild's Demands Negotiating committee of Los An- geles Newspaper Guild presented de- mands for guild shop and $70 mini- mum weekly, salary for five-year editorial workers to the Illustrated Daily News and Evening News last week. Management promised to have a counter-proposal ready by to- day (17). LNG tops are understood to be considerably more interested in the Guild shop angle than in the mini- mum salary figu'-es, not expecting to get what they asked for and pro- pared to make an insistent drive for the other objective. Guild failed to make the Guild shop clause stick in the Herald-Express contract al- though winning many other conces- sions and biding its time on the Guild .shop angle. Inside Stuff on Odd J. Bryan 3d, one of the Satevepost editors, gives some Inside stuff on O, O. Mclntyre in the current SEP, titled 'Gallipolis Boy Makes Good.' Some of the controversial journalis- tic anecdota sound like Odd told his biographer on himself; some of It is common knowledge. The Satevepost piece (one-part) is a sort of a trailer for *A Book on O. O. Mclntyre,' which Is the col- umnist's official biography, and on Which Charles B. Driscoll, editor for McNaught Syndicate (which han- dles Mclntyre's scrivenlngs) has been working for several years. It's due for publication soon. Say Stern Stalls 'Eiu Rumblings being heard at the strongly-union Philly Record over what Guild execs term Publisher J. David Stern's 'stalling^ on confabs for an agreement with commercial departments of the sheet. CJuilds- men claim they have been trying to get together with the boss for several months, but he keeps put- ting them off. His latest move has been to deriiand a Labor Board election. Guilders maintain they have ad department sewed up tight. Editorial columns of the Record are strongly pro-labor. Strikes Hit Washington Radio scored a point against the press last week, when subscribers of the Washington Evening Star had to be notified through WRC-WMAL of the reason why they had not re- ceived their papers. Strike of rural carriers left coun- try subscribers riewsless, except for tune-ins on local stations, with How- ard P. Bailey, Star's news commen-, tator bringing latest fiashes on prog- ress of strike negotiations. Industry's face grew red, however, when technicians of station WOL staged their own strike, later in the week, giving local rags a chance to yah-yah at the silenced transmitter. Scouting for Novelists H, S. Latham, v.p, and editor of the Macmillan Company, spent last Friday (12) and Saturday at the •Bellevue - Stratford Hotel, Philly, conferring with authors whose books are published by the outfit and seek- ing new authors. He has held similar regional con- ferences throughout the country. In each case, advance publicity was sent out asking authors whose manu- scripts are completed, or started arid in definite form, to come in and see Latham, Shaffer Quits Trib for Fix ' George Shaffer, for 15 years Coast representative of the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, has joined the Warners publicity department in Hollywood. He will write features. LITERATI OBITS THIS WEEK Granville R, Safford, 69, news- paperman for more than 40 years, died at his home in Philadelphia last Wednesday (10) after an illness of several months. Born in Corfu, N. Y,, Safford began his newspaper career in Batavia, N. Y. and became managing editor there. He was as- sistant news editor of the Philadel- phia Inquirer at the time of his death and formerly news editor of the Philadelphia Record. J. Lindsay McKenna, 5G, news- paper and publicity man, died in New York Thursday (11) of a heart attack. He served on the now de- funct Philadelphia North American and the New York World, More re- cently he had been doing studio"pub- licity in Hollywood and radio press agenting, McKenna's father was ciiy editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger and later an editorial writer on the Philadelphia Record. Robert Wlhsmore, 61, financial writer, died in New York last Tues- day (9) following a long illness. Starting newspaper work on the Philadelphia Record, he went to the New Haven Union and then to the New York Journal of Finance. He later served as financial editor of the New York Times for about three years. Winsmore did free lance reporting for a time and then became a regular contributor to the- Saturday Evening Post. He also was associated with the Literary Digest as a financial writer. Joe Grafton (Morris Lipshutz), 24, radio editor of . the Philly Record, committed suicide by inhaling il- luminating gas in the kitchen of his apartment, Nov. 9, 1937. Married six month.s, Patrick R. (Reddy) Gallagher, 73, sports columnist on the Denver Post, died in a Denver hospital of pneu- Illiterate Printer Centreville, Miss,, Nov. 16,, Joe Lee, 23-year-old Negro, can't read or write, but he's a typesetting wizard, according to his boss, Charles G, Grubb, owner-editor of the Jefferson- ian, local weekly paper, Joe's been working as typesietter in Grubb's plant for five years and uses shape of characters as his guide in assembling type. Boy's only difficulty, says Grubb, is in dividing words properly at end of lines, follow- ing copy willynilly without deviation. Joe cari't even write his name, but has learned to spell Centreville and Missis- sippi, . monia contracted while covering a boxing match. Gallagher, a boxer and wrestler, fought the original Jack Dempsey (The Nonpareil) to a draw. He was associated with and toured the country with William Muldoon when the latter was world's heavyweight wrestler.- Landing in Denver in 1890, he stayed, and pro- moted sporting events since. When the Denver Morning Post was started in 1926 he was picked to write the fighting and wrestling column, and when that paper folded he continued ori the Evening Post. Funeral and burial were in Denver. Grocery Acts (Continued from page 1) mbmentuouS occasion. It may be only a two-by-four market, or it ipay be one of the elaborate chain stores with which the area is plentifully dottedrbut it's a gala event for the sponsors. Savoy Sells Deal Paul Savoy, Hollywood booking agent, and personal manager for Austin, gets the credit for swinging the trend to topnotch performers at salaries commensurate with what they dragged down in the 'good old days' when single acts had no dif-- ficulty getting $1,500 a week for playing the New York Palace, the Majestic in Chicago and other ace two-a-day stands. Savoy sold the management of the new market at 33 North Lake avenue in this somewhat ritzy town, ad- jacent^to Los Atvgeles, on the idea of dispensing with the three or four mediocre turns usually booked for occasions of this sort. He sold them on the idea of booking a name act, paying a regular vaude salary and limiting the appearance to two shows daily, afternoon and night, Austin has been playing dates in and around Hollywood for the past several years, including regular ap- pearances on the radiO; At first he balked at being the first name act to peddle his stuff with a background of cabbages, fruits and groceries. But the coin offered was tops, and with performance time set for one hour between 3:30-4:30 in the after- noon and from 8-9 at night, he capitulated, and this weekend the new vaude will be Inaugurated. New Carrot Circuit If the venture proves successful, from the market viewpoint, there's no limit to the amount of time that can be booked for recognized name acts in the greater L, A. area. There are hundreds of palatial public mar- kets in the district. Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and all of the towns within radius of 10-30 miles have them and an enterprising booker should have little difficulty keeping standard vaude turns- busy for many weeks each season, Austin booking is regulation in every respect. A standard vaiide booking contract was duly signatured by all parties concerned. Two per- formances each day at the stipulated hours and a pro-rata of the single's regular vaude wage leaves. no grounds for argument. Austin is thoroughly sold on the booking and sees no reason why he shouldn't play similar dates at other markets. From the standpoint of perform- ance it's probably going to be a little tough as the thousands of patrons who flock to these market openings and anniversaries are' constantly moving around, buying their meats, groceries, vegetables and., other foods. There'll be no plush seats and the audience will not be taxed a gate admish. But it's two-a-day vaude. The pay is tops and in lieu of anything better it serves to bring back at least a memory of the days that used to be. And in these lean days of the variety stage, that's something. CHATTER Blanche Knopf back from Europe. H. G. Wells has just completed his first American lectui'6 toun Eliott D, Odell appointed adver- tising director of Fawcett Publica- tions, Inc, Helen Deutsch has sold a story to Pictorial Review-Delineator, for the Dec, issue, 'Washington Correspondents,' a book due out tomorrow (18) is an analysis of the capital city muggs. Barrett Kiesling is scripting a tome for Johnson Publishing Co, on the fine art . of publicity as a means of livelihood. Newest issue of Photo-History, out yesterday (16), is titled 'War Is Here,' Mag is published by Modern Age Books, Inc, Muriel Babcock winged back to .New York from Hollywood last week to take an executive editorial spot with Street & Smith. Jose Rodriqufiz, musical director of KFI and formerly a newshawk on the L. A. Record, has added editorial writing on the Examiner to his radio chores. A. J. Croriin, who arrived here this week (15), will go to Hollywood at the end of the month to confer with MGM re filming of his book 'The Citadel.' John H. Connor, St. Paul Daily News scribbler since 1933, appoint- ed, last week to the job of deputy to Ed. L. Shave, director of the Minnesota Tourist Bureau. Spot pays $2,400 a year. Ruth Woterbury, editor of Photo- play and Movie Mirror, has arrived in New York from Hollywood on her semi-annual jaunt and will return In January. John LeRoy Johnston sits in during her absence from Holly- wood. Kamln Bookshop . In N. Y. is handling American distribution of Eric H. Rideout's book 'The Ameri- can Film.' Book was published in England and discusses picture in- dustry and producers. Heavily il- lustrated. Moishe Nadir, w.k. Yiddish novel- ist, will be feted at Mecca Temple next Sat. (20). Occasion is Nadir's new book titled 'The Incomplete Caravan.' Program includes Martha Graham, Blna Abtamowitz, Samuel Goldenburfc Kuft Kotch, Joseph BulOff, Luba Kadison, Al Harris, AmMia Babad, and Rosier, the cellist. Show Biz Methods (Continued from page 1) plays. Dreyfus formerly was a scenic designer for legit productions. Bergdorf-Goodman and other Fifth Ave. shops have in recent months given unusual • attention to proper lighting of the wax mannequins in their window displays. Bonwit-Tel- ler, however, leads the parade In the newest trend that the department storfes have borrowed from show business. Bonwit's windows are changed weekly, as Is the special lighting on the merchandise on dis- play, rather than the merchandise it- self. The window dressers of the vari- ous stores are now among the keen- est observers of the latest develop- ments in stage lighting and have adapted many of the tricks of the tirade to their own purposes. To all appearances the display men have learned which backgrounds will bast take colored lights as well as high- lighting, shadow, foreground, cross, .side over-head and inverted light- ing, using baby spot to excellent ad- vantage. The space to which the display boys are limited in window dressing does not permit use of olivettes, bunches or foot. Knowing that proper stage lighting plays an important part "in selling a show to an audience, the window decorators have found that an er- mine wrap looks twice as attractive with a steel blue or special lavender thrown on it. Special care is also given to the face of the wax mannequin wearing the wrap, the boys having learnsd that the bloodless beauty can take a surprise or DuBarry pink and add to the general attractiveness and make her look more life-like. Some of the display ai'tists have even gone in for. pin shots and split- gelatines in lighting figures, making it possible for the head, shoulders or waist of the figure to be caught with one color while the lower extremi- ties are flooded with a contrasting shade of the spectrum. Once again big business has bor- rowed bright touch of showmanship for the selling of merchandise.