Variety (May 1938)

52 VARIETY XITERATI Wednesday, May 18, 193 World-Telesram's Censa.rshlp Repeated instances o| editorial de- letions from featured writers and columnists of the N, Y. World-Tele- gram when views of the writers -were in conflict \yith those of the manager meni .have caused considerable eye- brow lifting among the literati. Both Weslbrobk Pegler and Heywood Broiin were each out- one day last week. Pegler's .piece on Catholics in' Spani was pidkcd up by the New Re-, public. General Hugh Johnson has also run into the blue pencil for his piece on John L. Lewis, \yhich was dropped.' Raymond Clapper' and Dorothy Dunbar Bromley'are other World-Telly writers who have eri omitted or cut recently. One Wortinan cartoon disappeared after the first W-T edition^, and Rollin Kirby, ,who drew a cartoon under management orders which he. was out of sympathy wjth, wrote letters of apology to his friends, in regard to it. Current issue of the Nation give? Roy HoVvard a freedom • of opinion sermon in connection with the dele- tions. Dorothy Duribai- rorrtley is leav- fng the Telly to work for the N. Y. Post, where she will do, a more gen? eral stint than her W-T piece, here- tofore restricted to tlie woman's page. ,j' Eleanor Roosevelt, also a orld- Teily columnist, whose stuff is copy read by United "Features, Seems so far io be getting by at the drld- Telcgram. Hollywood Guild Tickets. Spurning ultimatum of Newspaper Guild, publisher Harlan Palmer dis- charged entire editorial staff of . Hol- lywood Citizen ;Ncws on Monday. Newsmen posted pickets tit plant ,■ Guild had demanded reinstatement of three- discliargcd ^Itorial workers. Retraction Tops ps'toh, ay 17. Boston Glo , one of the country's most genteel sheets, outdid Itself today when it pub- lished a' page 1 retraction of a statement published injts "Tuesi day editions, quoting a six- year-qld girl as.saying, she liked England 'bloody well.' Sylvia Cavanaugh, the young- ster,- returned .last, week alone on the Queen; Mary, and was reported in a New York dis- patch as praising England in those, terms. Her parents squawked, and the. Globe bent backwards the next day to sayr 'Actuaily, little Miss Cava- naugh, a well-bred child who does not use slang, English or American, said that she liked England 'very well' 'An error in transmi from New York was responsi- ble for the substitution of the word 'bloody' for very. The .Globe, Hot intending to' place Words in the little girl's mouth, is pleased to correct the error.' $2S,*O0 for iKCst Subscriptions Time, Inc., >aid $25,000 in cash for. the name, good will and exclusive rights to . the ' 250,000. ' uncancelled Literary Digest subscriptions. .This is 10 cents per subscription. Petition by the Digest officials to Fe'deral Judge Robert P. Patterson for. per- mission to. carry but the deal was signed, by Judge Pat rson last vyeek (13) .'authorizing the tiransaciion. Under the agreement Funk i Waghalls cancelis debts totalling $105,388 owed to them by the Digest. Also agree to refrain, from using the name or one similar to, it In the fu- ture. Tiiiie is given the right to. use the Digest title-or a. similar one and the agreement-indicates it may .somer time in the future publish a mag un- der that title. The hew oAvners.have agreed to stand the cost of issuing additional copies of Its May 23 is- sue to the Digest's uncancelled sub- scribers. ; Digest, besides turning over its subscription list, ill also furnish Time with the list of school teachers who in the past have sold copies of the Digest to pupils for school work. In the petition to reorganize under 77B last February, the Digest's of- ficials' schedule placed a book value of $408,040 on its total subscription list and subscription accounts re- ceivable after collection expenses at $60,000. The schedule fixed $89,883 as the book value for good will and live subscription list. For .its part in the agreement. Funk Si Wagnalls cancels its debts and will receive about $25,000, or half the receivable accounts. Knickerbocker Press.. Bpkat also recommended that the .paper be^ oi:- dered to post in conspicuous-places notices .stating that alleged 'unfair labor practices* ill cease. He dismissed discrimination corn- plaints filed by the "rri-City Guild in the cases of John T. Andrews, Rich-, ard Vl.. Jackson, iss Jo Leonard and Ray A; , 'editorial em- ployes Knickerbocker -News carried, in an inconspicuous spot, a bi-ief AP. story on Bokat's ruling. Hearst's 'Times Union, which made a-deal tinder which it siirrendered the afternoon to the Gannett merged paper and entered the morning field, with Hearst. junking hi Rochester pub- lication to give Gannett. free sway there, printed a longer account of the examiner's recommendations. Guilders , had squaked that neitheir paper used a line on the complaint until hearings, started in. Albany, and that thiey played down adverse tes- timony. '. - Chicago ijewspaper Guild, headed by Don Stevens; last niglit at spe^ eial meeting voted to prepare , plans against both :Hearst Morning Heir. aid-Examiner and Evening American following, allegations of wholesale firing of employees in past weelcs; Unique Pnbllshing Fir Derrydale Press conducts one of swanki t publishing businesses in the trade. Announcements of lists are made only twice a year , and the catalogue of publications sells for $2.50. New books are kept ■ secret, imtil publication time to keep oiie; deaiet'-'from cornering the market. Authors' royalties on. books, limited as a rule to 1,000 copies, come to; about $1.25 a book,, as the average price of bbo': is $12.50. These are higher royalties than the average -novel pays as 2,000 copies sold at $2, which is a fair sale, nets the author only $4 About40% of Derrydale's list since it went into the business 11 years ago is sold out. Firm specializes in li itions of de liixe sporting books, one of the most recent being Charles Phair's work .on. 'Atlantic Salmon Fishing,', which retails at $250. Stated that there is a cohsideriable Hollywood inr' tercstin the firm's products, many of. the liicture colony going in for this type ol! conspicuous consumption. Eugene V. Connett III, fcfrmer h^t manufacturer, is president of the firm. Needless to add, there is no fr list for newspaper reviewers. Joseph :s Fights C.I.O. Joseph Leviris,, the country's num- ber one professional atheist, presi- dent of the Fieefhinkcrs of Amer- ica,' and the subject of , a "book, Joseph, Lewis's Fight Against God,' is'presently -engaged; in a fight with the CiO, Book and Magazihe Guild; Lewis is. the- chief . stockholder' in Eugenics Publishing Co." and. has been ':draggcd- before the Labor Board on several occasions. Union recently won an election by 20-7. Negotiations-are now proceeding and a perferential shopi, contract is ex- pected to be closed shortly.' Guild ' recently - closed -(its 15th. contract) with Vi Ing Press estab- lishing a guild shop.. Minimums of $21 weekly for clerical workers and $30 for professional employees are among the terms of the contract which set hours; vacations, etc. Guild now has about half its 90a menibers covered by contracts.. 'M«ti'r-New Style . San Francisco, May 17. Now it can be told: When ■ Newspaper Guild strike seemed Inevitable a; few weeks ' ago, yrofd sbread ail over town that Chronicle was going to hire strikebreakers and board them in the building. iStbry started when, someone; saw load, of; mattresses being' delivered at Fifth aiid: Mission, not knowing that a mattress company had rented, unused part of Chronicle Building. Praise for Fulll'zer Prizes icago Daily News noted a "Pu- lit Prize'Postscripf on its book page last week.' Piece stated an .'im- pression seems to have been created that scarcely a paper Jn the Chicago region- considered America's major -literary awards worthy of mention.' It was furtlier remarked that 'it Is particularly unfortimate that, this year's awards were given slight stiace in the Middle'West because lor'the first time in several years the selec tions are' almost aboye criticism.'- Names of winners were then listed 'for those still in . darkness.' Cowles SiKn .Kube Goidberr Rube Goldberg is doipg - a new page of comics for Sunday. Car- toonist has-reverted to 'inventions' whicli originally brought him to the fore. Page is being handled iy the Register-Tribune Syndicate of- Des Moines, operated by the Cowles Brothers. Laitter also publish ' the magazine Look and newspapers and own radio ^stations. Goldberg series will start June 19, Syndicate has: assigned'.three men to the road to sell the new cartoons, they having sold 15 papers in the first-t\yo weeks. Colin Miller is.in New York as contact man to the art ist. Colorado Writers* CoolereDC* Ninth National riters' Confer- ence under the auspices of the Uni- versity of Colorado at Boulder is set for July 25 to Aug. 12. Edward Dav- ison is director. Leaders include Carl Sandburg, Paul Horgan, Eiik Barnouw, Etmer Rice, . Paul Engle, Douglass Bemcnt, Hcrvey Allen and Eric Knight Boston Globe*s Ter Newspaper Guild of Boston re- newed contract with Boston Globe, bringing in maintenance department for the-first time. Globe contract calls for highest severance pay . in Hub; Discharged' employes (except for gross neglect ot duty) will get sever ance pay .of two week's after six months' Service—up to 20 weeks after 20 years oi- more employment.- Some of the. initiia.'.salaries agreed upon: ,rc-write, desk men arid editorial writers, $55; reporters, pho.^ togs, editorial and commercial ar- tists, $25 for beginners,, up to $50 after six years. Fi-ye-day, 40-hour week generally in effect for alt workers. Albany Gnlld Case TrI-City Newspaper Guild won a (partial) victory over Giihnetfs Knickerbocker News when Trial Examiner George Bokat recom- mended to the NLRB that the Al- bany daily be directed to reinstate, willr back pay, Austiii'J. Scannell, city editor, and Heiiry E. Christmah and Joiiin Wanhope, feature writers, all chopped from the payroll on July 1. mi, at the time of tlie Albany vcning '' ■'' merger with the Fine Arts Pushers ect Wri rs' Committee to seek sup^ port for a Federal Bureau. of Eine Arts has been formed. Conference has been called for May 22 at Penn- sylvania Hotel; N, Y., to discuss the ColTec-Pepper Bill. First action taken by writers as a group to-get behind the proposed Federal- Arts Bill. Contmlttee Includes ellington .Roe, chairman: Jenny Balloux, Nora Benjamin, Malcolm, Cowley,' Henry Hart Marjorie iFischer, George Scldcs and Donald Ogdcn cAvart. Book Chlsellnr Press 'departments of publishing houses state that the number of re quests from radio stations for reviev/ copies of books are on the increase. These,, in addition to the usual list of applicants which include, minis ters,' teachers ('for desk reference') and others help swell the list of re- quests, 'which come in some cases to as many as £00. Houses are tightening up and send books principally to the 60 to 200 bona fide reviewers. Each Week for, Rarals Each Week, Inc., which publishes Town, a 18-page tab size newsprint magazine feature supplement, which is intended lor country weeklies, is how a year . old. At pl-esent it has a subscription list of nearly 200 small town papers, and a guaranteed weekly circulation of 375,000. Her- bert L Seeiy is president -of Each Week> Inc., which publishes Town In Rochester, N. Y. Robert L. John- son; management consultant, has re- cehtly been retained land has taken an interest in the publicatio>j. Lawyer's Suit vs. Judfe Judge Magazihe, Inc., was sued last week in ^N, Y. supreme court by Edgar A. Chapman, attorney, for le- gal, services reiidered Monte Bour- jaily, the mag's 6wnec iand publisher. Chapman wants a total of $3,502 for advising Boiirjaily in the latter's purchase of oiitstandirig capital stock the corpbration in 1936.' LITERATI OBITS THIS WEEK Don Skene,. 46/ sports writer, lor-, eign correspondent and author, died oh May 16 at the N. Y. Hospital lol- lowing- an illness of several months. Between 1927 and 1931 he was oh the sports stilt of the N. Y. Herald Tribune. He -was the author of 'Red Tiger,' a fighting story, published in 1933. Valentine. S. MeCUtchy, 80, former publisher of "The Sacramento Bee,'; and secretary and manager of the old Pacific Associated'-Press Iroih 1894 to 1900 died in-San Francisco on May 15. He was the son of the paper's founder and -was iri- later years interested in the exclusion ot the, Japanese from California. . He sold his newspaper interest in 1922. David John DeWlit. 24, fiction writer, was dr'owned in the surf hear Santa Monica, May li. He had written « nurhber of short stories and had a novel accepted lor pub- lication shoirtly before his death. Surviving is his inother; Frank B. Lladefman, 89, author and authority on American Indian history, died May 12 in Santa Bar- bara. He was a . iresident of Flat Lake, Montana, where he had been a trapper, stockman, assayer, editor, member of the state legislature and writer. Surviving are his widow «id daughter, Verne, society editor of the Santa Biarbara News-Preiss.' CHATTER Membership meeting N. Y. News, paper Guild tomorrbW-, (19). Martha Foley returning Irom hec vacation trip to England next month. Edna St Vincent Millay back to her Berkshire hotne from New York visit. Helen i^ipmpson, executive "sec- retary of the Book and Magazine Guild is the niece of Kathleen and Charles G. Noriris. Stuart Rose, contact .man for Sat- urday Evening Pos't, comes., over from' Philly several times a weelc tb meet- agents, and authors, Stirling.Bowert, lor 10.years drama critic lor the Wall Street Journal, has resigned, that-post in order to devote his tUne to writing fiction. Gene .Fowler, on leave from Selznick> International slUdi , has gone to Chpyenne, Wyo., to gather materibl lor his next book, a tale of-earjiy cattlcm.cn. Ed Streeter, author,of tlte famous wartt letter book titled 'Dere Mabel' has just closed a deal witii Simon jc .Schuster to do a humorous book' on commuting. Gluyas Wil- liams will collaborate. Orson Welles, Munro Leaf, and Matthew Josephson are the speak- ers for American Booksellers next monthly luhciieoh at Essex House, . N. Y.; May 24. Irita Van Doren ill be chairman. The editorial. staff of Direction, with John Hyde Preston,' Thomas Cochran, Harriet Bissel and M. Tjar Harris, has moved to parieii. Conn. N. Y. office in charge of the business manager, . Richard.' Merrifleld, wiio used to be of S. .it S.' Popular mag. American Script Writers Guild,' Inc.,.has-been .chartered by the Sec.^ retairy of State: at Albany to .conduct a printing and publishing-busiiiess. Directors are Mary-Derieux, Michael Young and Meis H. Avram. Each holds one share, capital stock being $20;000ii par value being $100. Harold Cireenwald was the filing attorney. Mechanized Vaud (Continued from page 1) Fair to Aid Legit ity Edi r's Status Expulsion of'Jaco)j Mogelever, city editor of the Newark Ledger from the Newark Newspaper Guild was upheld by the Newark Court ';0f Errbrs and Appeals, highest court in New ..Jersey last week (11). It is the first ;New Jersey case'in which an ckpulsibn from a imi ii has been up- held by the courts. Mogelever was ordered to resign In 1936 when Ledier unit members thousht his infercsls as city editor lay more with the imanagemcht than Gu.ld piembers. Court ordcred him. to pay costs of $500 and over $100 fbr pri ting expenses, In addill n to his ottbrncy's-fees. Literati Bankruptcies Robert M. Sylvester, who covers Broadway for the N. Y. Daily News, filed a voluntary petition in bank- ruptcy in N. Y. federal court last week, fixing his unpaid debts at $1,227. Creditors include San Rafael hotel; $786; Weber & Heilbroner, 1. aiid Herman Shumlln. $135. Thr-;e employees of the Peeksklll (N. Y;) Press 'Union have asked the New York federal coul't to declare the paper's owner. Wiltluir News- papers, Inc., a bahlcrupt. Petitioner.'! allege the corporation insolvent and that.it ov/es them salaries totalling $2,568, How To Be Popular David Redstone has been fired by Standard Magazines for the second, time. He was' previously let put last summer, but the Book and Magazine Guild took the case to the National Labor Relations Board in N. Y.. and Redstone was reinstated after pre- liminary hearings. Since that time he has been -variousi.v shunted to dif- ferent jobs, at one lime holding down probably the higliest paid envelope sealer's weekly salary in New York, $45. Prior: to his first firing, he was engaged iii editorial work. ' Redstone was let out lastwceic (13), according to the Guild, for 'hot. co- operating and'for taking on one oc- casion one hbiir' and 25. minutes -lor lunch,' Case goes to the NLRB again shortly; ( (Continued Irom page 47). house which oirlginally served the Bard in London. In Chicago, it was spotted in the English Village (Mer- rie England) with six performance.s daily. Later, the company was moved to McVickers and went on a regular legit schedule, a tour to the Coast following. . Eqalty Drops Meredith Plan During his incuml>ehcy as head of Equity, Burgess Meredith started a movement designed for show busi- ness to be limelighted.at the fair but plan^ were dropped when showmen declared the idea could not be suc- cessfully carried out They ba.sed their opinion on the history of post expositions and. added that-Broadway would stand on its;.own. Meredith said recently that 'the Shake.spearean project at the New York lair would find him interested individually. Understood that he will be associated with Kenneth Tliomson, of the Screen Actors Guild, and Thomas Wood Stevens, lormerly of the Good- man 'theatre, Chicago, ■\yho 'was among those in back of the Globe theatre at that fair. Some time ago there were plans to revive show business ivi San 'Fran- cisco during the Golden Gate expo- sition, which wiU.be concurrent with New York's fair. Number of shovv- mert were said to have been proposi- tioned on the Coast as.signment. If there is show'activity there, it wrill be in the city proijcr, not at the fair grounds.-. Comparatively few shows have toured to. the Coast. Irom. New York in recent - seasons, -but'several managers are counting on sending plays there during (jolden Gate expo. and Boy Friends (singing mixed quartet), Bobby Pincus and Ruth Foster (comic-dancers) and the Olympic Trio (roller-skating trip) went off well in view of the mechan- ical ciiangeover. Only once did sound effects-blast, biit that was credited to theatre's dated equipment. Lighting was occasionally spotty and screen billing of acts (names flashed across full back curtain) incomplete.' Prints did not arrive'in time for. preem, hence, only three -were biiled. Plain tinseled drop, backgrounded for last three acts. 'aestro B. A. Rolfe, vet vaude and film showman, envisions a policy sans stagehands and Tiiusicians in number heretofore. required. • Also savings on haulage lor props, scenery, etc. A sound engineer and extra boothman are needed^, how- ever. Idea Is for smaller type" houses and not class A he says, not compete where live music, found at larger houses. In large cities gag would be zoned to avoid competition., ..House- selected, for break-in was none too good, but having a vaudeville license and. its proximity to Times Square made it the best selection, as a showcase.' It has been eigiit years since vaude trod the boards of the Hamilton, once part of the Keith lamily time that kept acts within city limits for a year. Before the public showing at the Ham, Vaude-Vision was tried out in private at the Brooklyn Strand 10 days' ago. Although having no deal with the American Federation of usicians, Roife states that he anticipates no trouble. Union is riot expecled to step in on the. premise that no i\iat- ter how little work of a sort created In making these vaude- ' sound tracks,.it is better than n MieHIGAN, DETROIT (Continued from page 45) Scilcr boys, who've appeared here in PKt, not only sock on rockers. ' the swing session, but also got in some swell taps and comedy in, the •duo^pot 'Tomifny Tfciil's Punch and Judy show has added more punch to the. oldtime stufT. and it's topped by a smash Big Apple by a ma- rionette, manipulated in -full vieV/-. The Manhattanites. two males an fcmmc, are shanpy harmonizcr.'!; Femme's especially adopt as a woman-getting-dressed. ^ Eduard Werner's house orcliestra tivertures. a musical cruise to t)ie South Seas, is a hohe.v. 'cin.ii-well handled by Merle Clark, organist Nice crowd on hand at earlv e.i' ning show Friday (13).