Variety (Sep 1938)

STAGE WRIETY PRICE 15ft Vol. 131 No. 13 Published Weekly at 164 Wear 46tb Street, New York. N. T„ by Variety. Ino. Annual subscription. $6 Single copies, 15 cema. Kolered a* second-class, matter December 22, 1905, at the Post Office at New Tork, N. Y„ under the act of Uarcb 1, 1879. COPYHIUHT. IBM. Ill VAKIRTV. INC ALL RIGHTS KKSEKVKD. NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1938 56 PAGES NEWSPAPERS HURTING B.O. NAZIS' RADIO PROPAGANDA INTO U. S. That Germany is making strong, tfiorts to propagandize American radio listeners and German-born resident* of the U. S. on a regular basis is seen in new program sched- ule" especially designed for North America. Written in both English ind'. German, monthly booklet of programs'has established a regular mailing list for its Nordamerika Program in U. S. ., perito-Haus des Rundfunks (Berlin Broadcasting; House) issues the 36- booklet .which includes every program of the Deutscher Rurz- wjlenfender (German short-wave Hatlon). Listing include 'news' in English and German, economic re- views, fireside chats of German youth, soldier evenings, rafts of brass: bands and military, marches, wind pictures of Germany today, etc Much is later translated into German. Book Is believed to be only one of its kind coming to U. S, from I foreign country. Free mail in the U. S. makes it possible for the matter to come through regular channels. Same is Mt so with European countries where mails are watched and pos- sible propa nda eliminated. How- ever, understood that programs are also printed in other languages for two column, dual-tongued pamphlet, which Includes 'inspirational' pic- tures of Nazi gatherings, scenery, * (Continued on page 53) Pluggers Also Give Lessons in How To Do 'Lambeth Walk' Taking It Seriously Sam Rosoff, the subway con- tractor, was on the jury during a performance of 'Night of Jan- uary 16th' recently at the. Spa summer theatre, Saratoga: None of the jury is supposed to talk, being recruited from the audience, but' Rosoff asked one'witness (an actor) to repeat his testimony. Rodgers-Hart's Four Concurrent Musicals in'38-9 Professional men at Mills Music, jMVN, Y., are doubling as. terps in- Jjhtttors. It's in connection with Tambeth Walk,' the British song hit »w dance craze. Mills holds the African rights to the . tunc. Ballroom teams, as well as vocal- sis and band leaders, keep popping jj^ith the request that the staff men them how to do the corkney ■Nt. Jack Mills, head of the pub- ™tog firm, is hoping that the Jflce lands solidly with the older ^jent before the kids start shagging j|*jj<Mhe Harlemites merge it with Airing Debbie's Life Society family program is being 2™* lor a sponsored spot this fall, ff!* O'Brien, 18-year-old deb, and ^ mother, Mrs. Esmond O'Brien, registerites. are in the skit, is Henry Dagand's. ^Mild be a iseries dramatizing the a-. 0 ' a debbie from childhood jj^h extensive schooling and on fj**, eventual coming out. Edmund U^ng, the film director and au- *111 script. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart look to have four concurrent musi- cals on the boards this season. It's something of a record for musical stage productions, although there have been instances of prolific dramatists gathering royalties on as many, or more, straight plays during the same season. Their 'I'd Rather Be Right' re- sumes with the return of George M. Cohan, and 'I Married An Angel' is still current on Broadway. The new George Abbott musical, The Boys from Syracuse,' based on Shakes- peare's 'Comedy of Errors,' is slated to open shortly, and right thereafter Rodgers and Hart will have a new Beatrice Lillie-Charles Butterworth musical, via Harry Kaufman (Shu- bert) production. This book will be based on a Robert L. Ripley's 'Od- dities' libretto idea. Rodgers and Hart at one other time, in. the heyday of Broadway mu- sical oomedy successes, had . four shows running simultaneously on and off Broadway, viz, 'Dearest Enemy,' 'The Girl Friend,' the sec- ond 'Garrick Gaieties' and 'Betsy,' the latter a flop. The songsmiths like to consider the ill-fated Billy Rose Fifth Ave. Club as a fifth score, since they wrote a special set of tunes, but that was a nitery venture and hot legit. Apropos 'Boys from Syracuse. Lor- enz Hart points out that they've au- thored 30 stage shows and many pic- tures, but this is the first lime he's writing for his brother, Teddy Hart, who is co-prominent in the Abbott show with Jimmy Savo. SEE SPA GAMBLING BAN EXITING'39 TURF MEET Saratoga. Sept. fi. ■ From Inside racing sources it is stated that unless this resort per- mits gambling next August the race meet may not be held. In that event there will be longer meetings at the New York tracks. Season of 15 days is figured to be the limit here next summer, anyhow, because of the New York World's Fair. . Understood, however, that the leg- islature would have to first pass a bill to eliminate the Spa from the race circuit. Without the horsey month, tew night clubs would at- tempt to operate. IN THE SHOW BIZ Midwest Capital eynotes How the Big Newspapers' Promotional Shows Drain the Boxofficea—'Theatres Can't Stop It, So They're Trying to Tie-In with These Record Turnouts in Some Way SPORTS, , SHOWS Chicago, Sept, 6. Crowd-pulling promotions by newspapers, which formerly was an occasional stunt and which received the full co-operation of the theatres, have now become part of a well- planned, well-organized and well- publicized schedule on the part of the dailies and are attracting .the public in such large numbers that they have become a real threat and headache to theatres throughout the nation. Entrance of newspapers into the sports and show biz promotion an- gles has reached such proportions in the past year or so. that the the- atres are looking: upon these stunts as real competition, and are how considering ways and means of re- ducing the damage that these stunts are doing to the theatres' box-of- fice. Chicago area is a prime example of the broad advance made by news- papers into, show biz" field. Crowds (Continued on page 21) A Dummy Jazzes Up A City Festival; St. L Can't Get 'Charlie McC St. Louis. Sept. 6. Because the Music Corp. of Amer- ica could not deliver Edgar Bergen and 'Charlie McCarthy' to the St. Louis Festival Assn., which planned a three-day entertainment and cele- bration in the $7,000,000 Municipal Auditorium following the annual Veiled Prophet parade and ball here next month, the fate of the plan is hanging in the balance. The idea ot having Bergen and McCarthy, Dorothy Lamour. Bobby Brceh and other headliners of the screen and radio make p.a.'s originated about six weeks ago when Mayor Bernard JF.. Dickmann'thought it-would bo a good one to attract natives from the ! hinterlands. I Last fall the mayor sponsored a i street dancing and singing festival ! in Memorial Plaza in the downtown I istrict following the parade which ! is patterned after the Mardi Gras in j New Orleans. Some 75.000 partiei- 1 patcd in the event and it was so i ' (Continued on page !">> $2,000,000 in Film Money Spoken About to Renew Bway-Pix Accord Preparedness Des olnes, Sept 6. anagement of the Grand here pulled a - unique ballyhoo stunt when it showed 'Birth of a Baby.' Invited expectant mothers as its guests, with nurses and an ambulance in attendance. Mae West Back On B'way During Fair; Own Pix Co. The New York World's Fair sea- son will draw Mae West back to Broadway legit, according to insid- ers. She's reported due to appear in a play, 'The World's Worst Woman'. As for the writers, a number have participated, with the star having considerable to do with the author- ing. She similarly figured in the scripting of most of the shows in which she appeared, including 'Sex,' which ran for months until they backed up the patrol wagon. Hollywood, Sept. 6. Louis Lurie, .San Francisco financier, is. discussing with Mae •West the formation of a new produc- tion company for her pictures with around $3,000,000 working capital to be tossed into a pool by Lurie and a Frisco business group. Outfit would bear her name and star her in four pictures annually. Meantime she embarks on a Coast p.a. tour late this month, opening Sept. 26 at the Golden Gate in Frisco. Louis Prima is coming west to join the act. Five weeks' booking ar- ranged by William Morris office. Attempt will be made at the American Theatre Council conven- tion next week to bring about re- vision of the Dramatists Guild minimum basic igreement. Plan la to have some outside referee an- nounce a fund of $2,000,000 of film coin for Broadway production on condition the Guild will make con- cessions in the agreement. Herbert Bayard Swope has" already been suggested as the referee. From what the juild has learned, the idea is. that with a $2,000,000 production fund in the offing, pro- ponents of the plan hope to place the dramatists in the spot of having to make concessions in the contract or appear to be acting selfishly against the interests of the theatre as a whole. Understood the $2,000,000 has tentatively been offered by Samuel Goldwyn, who hopes to use Broad- way as a school for talent and story material. Walter Wanger and David O. Selznick are named as co- operating. " Guild had at first declined to par- ticipate in the convention, but last (Continued on page 54) WINCHELL WOULD NOW LIKE 'BLESSED EVENT' Walter Winchell is flirting with Darryl Zanuck for a third 20th-Fox film, this time more or less straight comedy-drama, sans music. Win- chell's idea is a revival of the Man- uel Seff-Forrest Wilson play, 'Blessed Event,'' which Warners filmed in 1932 with Lee Tracy doing the cinematic counterpart of Winchell. There's a role also there for a crooner-maestro,, which could again enlist Ben Berriie as co-star with the columnist. Winchcll-Bcrnie did two musicals for 20th last year and the year be- fore at $75,000 and $50,000 each, re- spectively. Present negoti talking stage. ED. SULLIVAN In New York Daily News Aug. 31, 1938, Says— Finest stage show is at the Paramount. Phil Spitalny s all- girl band and choir Just concluded third week