Variety (Nov 1938)

VARIETY UTERATI WedneadajTt November 23, 193jr Scribblers' Peeve Growingr Increasing peeve of scribblers against pay-on-publlcatlon mags. Which has long grown out o£ the murmur class, may crystallize this winter into concrete action against those publishers who won't pay ou acceptan'ce. Most of the complaints prefer that the Authors League take the action, as the sole iiational writers' organi- zation. Should the league fail to do so, some of the leaders plan to work out a campaign wherein they hope to enlist every scribbler contribbing to the pay-on-publication mags. Idea is to ask for pay on accept- ance of material—or else! *Or else' would in all likelihood be a boycott, shutting off all material, it is hoped, from the periodicals. Peeve against the pay-on-publica- tion mags was brought to a head by recent bankruptcies of two mag chains, with numerous scribblers left holding the bag. As has frequently happened in cases of the sort, com- parative small claims of authors left them out in the cold when assets, if any, were liquidated. Pay - on - publication has always irked writers because of the uncer- tainties involved. With the mortal- ity rate high among new periodicals, many new ones that pay on publica- tion fold before contribbers can col- lect. Acceptance of a stpry or article does not indicate wben, or even if, it will be Used, and scribbler, with- out receiving pay for the piece, must remove it from the market. Not infrequently an, 'accepted' piece is returned a year or more later, by which time it may be dated or has diminished in value. Lesser pulps not the only ones that pay on publication. Many class mags Iiursu6 the same policy and with scribblers of Established reputations. "While some writers hold that the pay-on-publication 'mags should at least pay an advance on material ac- cepted, majority wianl payment on acceptance and are determined to force the universal adoption; of that policy soon. They point out that the printers, paper companies and dis- tributing, agencies get their's^hiut the scribbler is still the patsy. ^ Postal Cot to Benefit Bool: Biz All sorts of Ijfeneftts are seen by thosE in the bbofc bip thfe result of President Jloosevplt's action in cut- ting book mailing ipost to that of mags; Morris. L. £mstt counsel for the National Committee to Abolish Postal Discrimination Against Books, goes/so far as to predict the mail rate cut will 'revolutionize' the book in- dustry. Group which set .about seeking the mail rate cut for books got startling- ly quick results. jOrganized only a few weeks ago, ah4 enrolling liot onHy: leaders in tl^e publishing biz, but notables from all walks of life, committee went to work directly on the President for t^e desired action Pjrevlous bitermitten attemp^ts ovev a long period failed, Under the ,oId postal rate it cost three cents to send- a- i^g from New York to the. Coast, with. that for a book being 26c. New postal rate for bool^ is one and a half cents a pound. Because majority of book publishing is in the east, old postal rate worked a hardship. . Pointed out. by Ernst that around half the country's population lives too distant from bookshops or li- braries to: conveniently buy or bor- row boolts in person., Sees lowered postal rate'an incentive to increased book-buying and'borrowing. Publishers are confident of an im- mediate increase in book sales, and are making plans accordingly. Radio World Sold Radio World, Whose publication has been halted because of the continued illness of its publisher, H. B. Hen nessy, has been Isold to James E. Bryan and Edward L. Moore. New owners resume publication .in Janu ary, with mag to get a hew format and additional features. Bryan will be prez and treasurer of the new publishing company, with Moore as vice prez and publisher Latter will also edit. with timeliness of the book, prompted Time to undertake an ex' ploitation campaign in New York and other nearby points. Reasoned that, like the Nutmeg, Time now also has something to offer a non-Con necticut resident. Reason for parts of 'Our Battle' going Into a small dally away frOm New York is that Van Loon, who has his home in Greenwich, recently was made a member of the news- paper's board of directors. Gives his paper a build-up, at the same time fetching good advance publicity for his book. Editor of Time is Wythe Williams, former foreign cor- respondent. Book Auction to Aid Refugees Host of literary notables will spon- sor a Book Aucti(\n Dinner at the Hotel Plaza, New York, Dec. 8 for the benefit of the Joint Distribution Conimittee and the American Com- mittee for Christian German Refu- gees, A number of valuable manu- scripts will be auctioned oft at the affair, including one each from the world-famous exiles, Prof. Albert Einstein and Dr. Thiomas Mann. Ein- stein's manuscript will be the orig- inal of the article, 'Anti-Semitism,' to appear in next week's Collier's. That by Mann is ah essay on Richard Wagner's 'Nibelungen Ring.' Among other manuscripts to be offered is that of Clifford Odet's new play, 'Rocket to the Moon,* which the Group Theatre now has in rehearsal, and an inscribed copy of Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town.' Included on the committee for the Book Auction Dinner, which is headed by Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach, are Bennett Cerf,. Gabriel Wells, Col. E. Marton Drake, William Rbsen- wald, Benjamin W. Huebsch, Robert L. Ripley, Alfred A. Goldsmith, Clif- ton Fadiman. Retracts on Hearst. New York Post last week printed a retraction of a. statement it . had made in an editorial to the effect that W. R. Hearst 'signed a $400,000- a-yCar contract some -years ago to provide the Nazi press, with.his news services.' Boxed under the. heading, 'a correction,' the retra>ction stated, 'The Post can find no evidence that the present business of International News" Service with the German newspapers is any larger than it normally was for many years past; that is, about $35,000 a year.' Post's original editorial had made the $40d,000-a-y,ear contract charge in connection with an assertion that the Hearst papers were pursuing a policy in support of Chariiberlain arid the Munich agreement. and of the dictatorships. Since then. Hearst, in press and radio addresses, has scored the Nazis for the Jewish oppression. Reading Plus a Shave Electric shavers as an accelerator for book sales is the Wea behind a new book-selling organization, Em- pire Publications, headed by Paul Guttentag and William Weinbrot. Pair have made ah arrangement with Reynal & Hitchcock whereby they get sales rights to the reprints issued by its variotis subsidiaries^, including Blue Ribbon Books, Triangle, Burt and Halcyon House. Operating plan of Empire Publi- cations is to throw in an electric shaver with every two-book sale, the whole to go . at a special price. To make the 'deal* even more attractive, the books and premium will be made available in three payihents. , . Not the first time that books have figured in a 'deal,' but never before with ah electric shaver. NEW Pi^RIODICALS Almanac and Guide, published by the Almanac and Guide Co., an affili- ate of Bruns Publications. Latter, which is headed by V. S. Fox, pub- lishes World Astrology. Almanac and Guide will be Issued by the World Astrology editorial staff. Digest mags, which continue in a steady stream, will be further .n- creased around February by two new ones from the publishing house of Dagobert D. Runes. Proposed new digests will cover specialized fields, those of photography and popular medicine. Runes has formed the Eureka and Synopsis Publishing Corps. ' Hie purpose. Titles and editorial staffs for the two digests hot set as yet. Runes now publishes two digests, The American Lady and Current Digest, Also has another monthly, Better English. College Years first serious mag by and for the college student. Pub- lishers a couple of Yale men, Henry B. Sargent and Richard M. Weiss- man, with former as business man- ager and Weissman as editor. Asso- ciate editors are Oscar Haac, Beverly Stocking and Mary E. Wickham, also in college. Publication office in New York, although much of the work on the new periodical will be done in New Haven, Conn. College Years will appear quarterly. Twice a Year, combination book and mag, will make its initial ap- pearance this week. Published and edited by Dorothy Norman, publica- tion, in the format of a book, will carry pieces on the arts and civil liberties. Distribution will be via bookshops and 'probably newsstands. As indicated by title, wiU be pub- lished twice a year. Couple of femmes named Miriam B. Hydeman and Donna B. Lipp- mann. and reputedly new to the pub- lishing biz, making preparations to get out a new mag. .Girls prefer to say nothing about it at present, but understood proposed periodical will have a sports angle. Business tag under which .the mag will be spon- sorfed is L. H. Publishing Co. Tops is a mag fbr the glorification of the Negro race, spohspred by the newly-formed Phame Publishing Co. Editor is Fanny Ellsworth, who's also head of PhaYne, a private project. Regularly, she edits two of the El- tinge Warner periodicals, and also serves the Newsstand Fiction Unit mags in an advisory capacity. Tops will, • in each issue, recount the achievements of those members of the colored race, who have reached, or who are reaching, tops in their pro- fessions. Frequency of publication of Tops not decided upon. Will be deterniined by reaction to initial issue. • Walter White consulting edi- tor. Small Daily Goes Cosmopolitan Like the Connecticut Nutmeg, the Greenwich Time; published in the same state, is tempting readers be- yond the locality iji which it's pub- lished. laire held out by Time, published in Greenwich, Is publication of advance chapters, of Hendrik- Willem van Loon's new book, 'Our Battle,' char- acterized as the author's personal answer to Hitler's 'My Battle.' Pub- lication o^ 'Our Battle' in Time, which began last week, precedes its appearance in book form. Simon & Schuster has the book skedded for next week.. Prominence of Van Loon, together DeVoto Edits Twain Works Job of editing unpublished mate- rial of Mark Twain, held by his es- tate, has proved so big a task, Ber- nard De Voto, who has the assign- ment, is obliged to take up his resi- dence in Cambridge, Mass. Great quantity of original manuscript, cor- respondence arid documents bearing o4 the whole period of Twain's life and literary activities has been taken from storage and placed in Widener Library, Harvard University, for De Voto's detailed examination. Press of work has obliged De Voto to ask to be relieved as one of the judges' in the Harper Prize Novel Contest., Carl Van Doren will re place him, serving with Louis Brom field and Josephine Johnson. Booksellers Boycott Nazis Joining the Nazi boycott, members of the Booksellers Guild of America have taken pledges not to deal with any booksellers or publishers of Germany, or to purchase any transla- tions of the works of Nazi writers. Many books now on lists of Ameri- can publishers will be affected, most of all the Nazi bible. Hitler's 'My Battle,' which has .}>een published here in an English translation. Liquidate Sovereign House Liquidation of Sovereign House, bankrupt N. Y. book-publishing firm, was voted upon at meeting of credi- tors. Stanley K. Oldden, appointed receiver at. a previous creditors' meeting, Was named trustee. Oldden to begin disposal of assets this week, with likelihood, creditors will re- ceive aroiuid-lOc on the dollar.^^^ Offer of settlement made by . rep- resentative of Arthur'J. Burks, head of Sovereign House, has been tur.ned down by creditors because cash guar- antee failed to come through. In- debtedness said to be pomewhat over $10,000. Women Group's Award '.Natiorial Federation of Press Women will give four cash prizes of $50 each for best signed feature, ar- ticle, editorials,, columns and news stories, respectively, published be- tween now and nex" April 1. Competition open to all regularly employed newspaperwomen in North or South America, who are members of any women's press club. Only one article can be subniitted by an entrant. Winners will be made kriown at a dinner to be held by the National Federation of Press Women .Time 26 at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, N. Y. Colophon Back to Old Setups As the result of its subscribers' plebiscite, The Colophon, the book- men's quarterly, goes back : to its original form with the first issue of the new year. As was the policy when it began publication around eight years ago, mag will include ex- amples of original graphic arts. At $15 for four issues, it's probably the highest priced periodical in the country, limited to 2,500 subscribers. Keats-Slielley Contest American poets will be invited to aid in the enlarging of the poetry library of the Keats-Shelley Me- morial House in Rome by participa- tion in a poetry contest. Partici- pants will pay a $2 entry fee. Pee is to go to the library fund, and name of every one participatinjf will be Inscribed in a souvenir volume to be kept at the shrine in Rome. Contest closes next Aug. 4'. Directing the poetry contest is Mrs. Alice Hunt Bartlett, chairman of the American section of the Poetry So- ciety of Great Britain. Society made the Keats-Shelley Memorial House possible. Pitt Scribes May Go Politics Two Pittsburgh sportswriters are mentioned prominently for Pennsyl- vania boxing commissioncrship. They are Harvey Boyle, sports editor of morning Post-Gazette, and Regis Welsh, boxing writer on after- noon Press, with odds favoring the former. Change imminent since incoming Republican administration is hardly likely to reappoint present Democratic incumbent, Dr. W. T. McClelland. Boyle is said to have potent po- litical backing for post and chances are additionally fortified by fact he served as boxing commissioner for decade up until G.O.P.'s loss of Pennsylvania for the first time in 1932. Post pays $5,000 a year. Boys would- be allowed to keep their present newspaper jobs. Merge 2 Boating Mags Publishers of Motor Boat have ac quired Power Boating, mag pub-- lished In Cleveland, and will com- bine the two. Next issue of the com- bined periodicals will be called Motor Boat With Which Is Com- bined Power Boating. Title will be shortened later, though retaining both names. ' All properties of Power Boating being moyed to New York; Cleve- land office wiU be closed. Editorial staff of Motor Boat will serve the combined periodicals, with Gerald T. White, editor, and E. S., Nelson, chief aide. Judge Goes .International Changes .on . Judge, under its pres- ent directing head, Harry Newman, continue, with the hunior monthly now in a new large size approximat- ing that of Esquire. Also now to .be dated a month ahead of publication, and to make that possible current issue is a November-December com- bination. Aiming pt Anglo-American cov- erage Judge now lists British sales price jointly with that of the Amier- fcan. Only other mags to do that are a few lrit€rnationally-circulated femme fashion periodicals. Team for Dickens 'Carol* Garden City Publishing Co,, the Doubleday, Doran affiliate, and John C. Winston Co. have gotten together on simultaneous publications of a new .edition of Charles Dickens' *A Christmas Carol,' with a foreword by Lionel Barrymore. Regular edition will be published by Garden City, with a de luxe boxed edition to be issued by Winston. Ex- cept for some embellishments, two are identical, with both containing illustrations in color by Everett Shinn. Joint working arrangement is first for both book firms. Split Parents' Mag Parents' Magazine, one of three na- tional class mags publishing special editions for Metropolitan New York, will give those special sections a sep- arate identity. N. Y. edition, which for four years has been bound into the mag proper, will be known as the New York Mother. Unlike principal part of mag, New York Mother will be news, rather than features. Will list, among other things, film and istage attractions for children. Revive Detroit Sat. Night Detroit Saturday Night, which sus- pended publication some months ago, has resumed. New publisher is Fred A. Moore, veteran newspaperman. Frederick A. Moore, Jr., is business manager. Resurrected version is patterned pretty much after the old. Glenn F. Jenkins, who edited the old Detroit Saturday Night, re- ported at work on a new mag. In- land Empire, which he will both pub- lish and edit. LITERATI OBITS THIS WEEK Robert T. Ball, 64, co-owner, edi- tor and publisher of the Loveland (Colo.) Daily Reporter-Herald, died at his Loveland home after' an illness of two years. Funeral and burial were in Loveland. He is survived by five children. W. J. Dozier, 69, for 14 years edi- tor of Douglas County Citizen, Doug- lasville, Ga., died Thursday (17) of heart attack. Well known in Georgia editorial circles, he moved to Doug- lasville 15 years ago from Kentucky. Burial was in Stanford, Ky. Wife, two sons survive. CHATTER Paul Walkas to Chicago, where his mother is ill. Mortimer H. Cobb has joined Cue as an associate editor. Hector Bolitho gets over tomorrow (24) for a lecture tour. Louis S. Friedland and Elmer Mar- tin Norman have formed a new literary agency. Pearl Buck and her husband, Rich- ard Walsh, the publisher, feted bv the P.E.N. club. ' Irving Stone in from the Coast for conferences with his publisher Houghton, Mifflin. ' Franklin E. Jordan is the new edi- tor of Gateway Magazine, the Boston amusements giveaway, Francis Harrington and King Whitney, both with the mag You, upped to vice-presidents. After 15 years downtown, Penton Publishing Co. has moved to the midtown publishing sector. The Almanac and Guide Co., Inc., has been chartered to publish astrol- ogical almanacs; ets,, in New York. Robert Leland Crowell, head of the publishing house bearing his name, weds Ruth Brown Shurtleff Dec. 23. Eugene Sheffer's serious operation In Boston a success and he's due to become active again with King Fea- tures very soon. Rumor persists In Philly that Moe Annenberg^ publisher of the Inquirer (morning), will enter the field in that city with an evening sheet. George Seibel, former drama and book critic of Pittsburgh Sun-Tele- graph, has submitted a novel to a couple of New York publishers. Second volume of William Mur- rell's 'History of American Graphic Humor' to appear on Nov. 29,. Cov- ers the period from 1865 to the pres- ent, Lorna Parrel, editor of The Wom- an, digest mag for femmes, inaugu- rates a regular Hollywood Fashion Pre-Vue section : in the December issue. British publishing rights to 'With Malice Toward Some' have actually been sold. Book is the biggest slap at the British since the Revolution- ary War. Editors Press Service, Inc., New York, has increased its capital stock from $3,500 to $63,500, according to papers filed in Albany by Robert H. Montgomery. David Parry, son of Florence Fisher Parry, Pittsburgh Press columnist, has joined United Artists advertising department under Lynn Farnol in New York. Concert Trust (Continued from page 39) tivities. While such action would probably have little effect on the regular winter concerts it would completely block the summer sea- son in Hollywood Bowl, including all opera, ballet and concerts with guest stars. ... '-- -I Wiriter season normally operates at a loss, but the summer series in the Bowl cleans up. a handsome profit. It is to avoid closing the whole setup and putting the musi- cians .involved out of work that AOMA ha^ offered the management a way out., While on the Coast recently, Leo Fischer; AGMA executive-secretary, had several long huddles with Joseph N. Wel>er, American Federation of Musicians president. What they de- cided was not revealed, but they are believed to have reached some agreement in regard to Menuhln's refusal to join AGMA and his public attack on the organization. Part of the Menuhin statement, printed in paid-for space in the Los Angeles symphony orchestra program, said of AGMA unionism, 'It' is just as if you demanded that husbands' arid, wives had union cards and. regulations to govern their priv- ileges and duties together; or as if the poets' and prophets of old, or Christ arid the Apostles had been forced to get union cards and be submitted to^blind union discipline.' AGMA's negotiations with the Metropolitan Opera Assn., of N. Y., are expected to be resumed within a few days. Principal matter for negotiation wIH be the disputed 'Clause 12,' which gives the manage- ment a 'franchise' on all outside ar- tistic activities of its singers. Met and AGMA reached a preliminary agreement last spring, with the pro- viso that the matter of 'Clause 12' would be considered further this fall. Resumption of negotiations has awaited the return to New York of the AGMA negotiating committee, including Lawrence Tibbett, Ezio Pinza and Lauritz Melchoir.