Variety (Sep 1938)

• [SEP 2 8 1938. <9 RADIO SCREEN STAGE Published Weekly at 154 Wesr 46th Street, New York. N. I., by Variety. Inc. Annual subscription, $6 Single copies, 15 cents. Entered as second-class matter December 22, 1006, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y„ under the act of March 3, 1879. COPYBHiJUT. 1038, BY VARIETY, IMG. AIX RIGHTS RESERVED. Vol. 132 No. 3 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1938 64 PAGES STEPCHILDREN Suit and Cloak Showmanship Fashion creators in New York are currently adding a bit of pro- duction to their fashion shows. Background music through Muzak ,]units feed 11 dress houses in the garment district. One designer has" run a line into his factory to speed up production. .Dress makers claim they have always had to contend with fashion oglers who gather in knots to tell stories, renew old friendships, discuss weather, sports, and general palaver, while models are 'parading. Figure that piped-in music will intrude enough upon the conversations to make it tough and naturally force attention to the runways. Creators already taking the service are International Dress, Joseph . Halpert. & Co., Kalmann & Morris, Bonray Dance Frocks, Young America, Inc., Herbert & Cooper, Night Club Frocks and Lee Claire, Inc., among others. B way Legit Biz Shows Early Spurt; 'Hellzapoppin' Tests Cut-Rate Balcony Jump in theatre interest this early In the season is unmistakably shown id. the increase of agency ticket sales On Broadway late last week. Fact that there is a supposedly fixed limit on price's charged by brokers i- not the factor in improved attendance, According to the ticket men. There was activity in cut-rate sales also, that field having dropped off in the past several seasons, but now due to assume importance again. Ah experiment in cut rates was tried with 'Hellzapoppin,' at the 46th Street. Instead of using the mezza- nine for papering purposes to assure attendance, 350 tickets were alloted •to Leblarig's,' agency selling all of them. The paid balcony, even though at bargain rates, is credited with helping' a favorable audience reac- tion and the word went around about the many laughs in the revue. Satur- day evening, the show's third night, 150 mezzanine tickets were given the cut-rate spot and were sold in 20 minutes. Ole Qlsen and Chic Johnson, who top the cast of 'HeWzapoppin,' are named as the presenters of the show and own around 50%, it is under- stood. Lee. Shubert and Harry Kauf- man are also interested, although not mentioned in the billing. On open- ing night, Jack Cohn, of Columbia Pictures,-offered to buy in, \ but h:s Proffer was said to have been de- clined. The out-of-town buyers are flood- ing the town, and nitery and theatre biz is booming. There was an almost complete hiatus on mercantile buying this summer, so they're all piling in now in abnormal proportions. Cohan May Give In George M. Cohan may forget about his first and last Hollywood experience (Paramount) and sign for a Metro filmization of his ca- reer, built around most of the old Cohan songs. Jack Curtis, agenting the deal, is staying on in the east until Al Lichtman arrives. Cohan had cracl~ed, 'D^ you think J m a sucker!', when the idea of forking i n the film was fust broached. 'Disney Revue' Deal has been set for the produc tion of a 'Disney Revue' taking in all characters created by Walt Dis- ney, at the N. Y. World's Fair next year. Would be staged in a theatre which will be a highlight of Ch.'-- dren's World. Children's World concession, situ- ated at almost the entrance to -the midway, will include toyland dis- plays besides the Disney enterprise. KAUFMAN-HART CAVALCADE'S DOUBLES Particular effort is being made by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart to keep secret the names of players portraying famous theatrical figures in their forthcoming play, 'The Fab- ulous Invalid.' Understood the ac- tors won't even get program billing until after opening night. Idea is to hypo speculation among first-night- ers. All members of the cast have been cautioned by Kaufman not to discuss the show. Among those set to play noted stars of former days are Charles King as George M. Cohan, Marion Edwards as Maude Adams playing 'Peter Pan/ Amy Revere as Irene Castle, William Dorbin as Dudley Digges, Joy Hathaway as Helen Hayes, Bobbie Arnct as Edith Day playing the title part in 'Irene' and singing 'Alice Blue Gown'; Philip Trucx, son of Ernest Truex. playing his father, and Kay Duncan as Libby Holman. Miss Duncan, incidentally, understudied Miss Holman during last spring's tryout tour of 'You Never Know.' Sally Ward who did Sam Bernard's roles on tour will p'er- (Continued on page 19) HILLBILLIES 81, STILL OUTCASTS Station Manager Points Out Unfair Attitude Toward Hillbilly Entertainers, the Most Reliable Results- Getters in the Business— Nobody Loves 'Em DECLASSE By AL. S. FOSTER General Manager, Station WEW St. Louis, Sept. 27. Editor, Variety: I am writing to ask you What's go- ing to happen to the Hillbilly? Variety usually knows all, sees all, and has an. answer for everything. The position of the Hillbillies in the radio industry is most peculiar. It was the Hillbillies mail, in the old days, that convinced hard-headed merchandisers and advertisers that people really listened to radio. It is the Hillbilly any station manager can throw in on a hard spot any time and get results, and yet the poor Hillbilly is the social outcast in the radio industry and in most station manager's minds. Why is this? Hillbilly music must be all right. Your grandmother and my grand- mother, assuming that they were all Americans, sang it to your father and my father. She, in turn, heard it from her mother and possibly her grandmother. I haven't looked back any further, chronologically, than that. But those who have made a study of Hillbilly music tell me that it is real American music, popular since English-speaking people have been in "America—that it is the out- standing American folk music. I know from experience with vari- ous radio stations that, with Major (Continued on page 34) CAL-NEVA PLAN TO RIVAL SUN VALLEY, IDA. Reno, Sept. 27. Creation of an all-year playground that will rival Sun Valley, Idaho,, in the winter and outdistance it in the summer. is - contemplated by George Whittell, millionaire Califor- nia sportsman, and associates for the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. Right now pressure is being exerted on motion picture stars and Hollywood executives to take a hand in the venture and provide the spring- board. A year or so ago Whittell bought (Continued on page 19) War Scare Palaver Has Show Biz Checking Up on Itself All Over Rewrite—20 Yrs. Later Paris, Sept. 27. Irving Berlin and his party • have gone back to London. Berlin says if a war breaks out they will only have to change the name of the kaiser to Hitler and the old songs will be as good as new. LA'S DA, F1TIS, THROWS ONE AT WTNCHELL Hollywood, Sept. 27. Buron Fitts, district attorney, heard himself described as 'doing a Justice Crater' while , dining at the home of Mendel Silberberg, Colum- bia executive, Sunday night (25) and immediately notified John Swal- low of NBC that unless Walter Win- chell made a proper and- satisfactory retraction over the air next Sunday night he would file a slander action. Besides Fitts, who heard it over the radio, were Harry Cohn, Ben Kahane, Sam Briskin, Sol Lesser, Ida Koverman and nine Superior and Municipal Court judges, all din- ner guests. When Fitts heard the flash that he was reported to have boarded a ship for unknown destination Sat- urday he burned plenty. Immedi- ately he got in touch with NBC and local newspapers, all of which printed his intentions in the matter. Fitts said the only time he boarded a boat recenty was to raid a gam- bling ship and that this flash of Win- chell's has done him irrevocable in- jury. Hollywood, Sept. 27. The European situation has the picture producers plenty worried. If the crisis comes to a head the stu- dios see a loss of 30-40% of world revenues, which is the difference be- tween profit and loss' on heavy budget films. Long distance phones between the two coasts have been kept buzzing during the.past few days, with con- versations along line of further re- trenchment and waste elimination. Producers have been advised that in view of the critical situation, they must be prepared to cut costs to the bone and watch overheads closely. Nearly all majors have $1,000,000 pictures readying for production and, unless the foreign picture becomes too critical, schedules will not be al- tered. The situation as it affects French and English nationals in Hollywood is conjectural. Understood that around 100 Britishers in pictures here have been instructed by Lon- don to hold themselves in readiness for call home. Studios fe*»' " ' quate replacements can be n case of immediate withdrawn U. S. companies currently are ing around 100 pictures to quota requirements in England (Continued on page 63) JED HARRIS' BIX PIC WITH BURG. MEREDITH Burgess Meredith leaves today (Wednesday) for the Coast to do the lead in 'Spring Dance' on a one- picture commitment for Metro. As soon as that is completed he will re- turn to New York to play the lead in a screen adaptation of 'Young Man- With a Horn,' which Jed Harris will produce. Clifford Odets is also mentioned in the deal, which will be with American Pictures Corp. Script for 'Horn' is being written by John O'Hara from Dorothy Baker's saga of Bix Biederbecke, (Continued on page 8) 'The Hour of Charm' Phil Spitalny and his All Girl Orchestra on tour Fox, Detroit, Week Oet. 7 Lyric, Indianapolis, Week Oct. 14 Riverside, Milwaukee, Week Oet. Zl <