Variety (Jan 1939)

Wednesday, January 18, 1939 UTERATI VARiETV 53 Hearst Fortifle* QftKoSaaXion John Malloy, managing editor ot three Hearst newspapers in Boston, has joined the Hearst general man- agement board under Joseph V. Con- nolly and wiU act as editorial assist- ant to Connolly. Latter is sailing soon for an extended vacation in Eu- rope with his family, and while abroad will make preparations to strengthen the International News Service in case of war. Connolly on his return from Eu- rope may be shifted by W. R. Hearst to a more formidable position in the liquidation and realignment of. Hearst properties. He may act as co- administrator with Judge Clarence J, Shearn and occupy a more important position in the business management of Hearst's affairs, as the direct rep- resentative of the publisher. Shearn's appointment, it is understood, came about through mutual agreement be- tween Hearst and various banks in- terested in the financial future of the properties. Malloy, in that event, is slated to, step into Connolly's shoes as manager of Hearst newspapers and King Fea- tures Syndicate, according to insiders. Annenberg—First Person Philadelphia was treated to a unique supplement distributed Sun- day (15) with the Philly Inquirer by its publisher, M. L. Annenberg. Twelve-page tabloid roto section was called- 'A Great Newspaper Is Re- b6rn,' and the sub-title was 'The Story of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Its Amazing Revitali^ation Un- der the Magic Touch of a Dynamic Publisher—^M. L. Annenberg.' Front cover carried a picture of the In.- qulrer building, and the back con-, tained a portrait of -Annenberg. Section first went into a general exposition of 'What Makes a News- paper Succeed.', Jt then delved into the history.of the Inquirer, leading up to its- purchase by Annenberg. It pointed out that when Annenberg acquired the paper in July, 1936^ its circulation was 280,093, • while its morning competitor,, th-; Record, had 328,222. In November, 1938, it claimed,, the Inquirer had 345,422 daily average circulation, while the Record had slipped to 204,000.. From there the story launched into a biography of Annenberg. It men- tioned charges hurled at jiim prior to last November's election that Annen- berg was a 'circulation gangster and that he personally organized and di- rected in Chicago a private army of hoodlums, whose tactics were pre- sumed to have laid the groundwork for what happened in gang-ridden Chicago during the dizzy Prohibition era,' Charges were all denied, An- nenberg claiming to have been in Milwaukee at this time. Selbel on Pitt Bench George Seibel, for years drama critic of the Pittsburgh Sun-Tele- graph, on Monday (16) was named magistrate of Morals Court in that city by Mayor Scully, succeeding Al- bert D, Brandon, who died last week of pneumonia. Of late Seibel has been a regular feature on station KQV in Pittsburgh, doing book and theatre reviews. .He was dropped from the Hearst paper couple of years ago in sweeping economy move, Karl Krug, columnist and re- viewer, moving into his slot. Seibel served on Pittsburgh's first Morals Efficiency Commission under late Mayor Magee 27 years ago, that body hiving been responsible for elimination of city's segregated vice district. Appointment as Morals Court justice came as a surprise, since he had previously been men- tioned as the next hea^ of (Tamegie Library in Northside district. • Guild, P.E.N. Go Social Authors' Guild holds a tea today (Wednesday) at the Park Lane, New York, proceeds to go to the organiza- tion's charity fund. Guests of honor will be Mary Margaret McBride, John Erskine, Elmer Rice and George Seldes. Monthly dinner of the P.E.N. Club, of which Dorothy Thompson is prez, took place last night ^Tuesday) at the Hotel Algonquin, New York. Principal speaker was Phyllis Bent- ley. Guests of honor were Ferdi- nand Bruckner and Oscar Maria Graf, representing newly formed (3erman-American Writers Associa- tion. Group is headed by Thomas Mann. Ken Goes Weekly Arrangements completed, by Ken to turn \yeekly. Inside-stuff mag, now published bi-monthly, to shift early in April. Present fo'rmat and price (25c) to continue, but thereH be some changes Inside. Arnold Gingrich See Eaffle-Goild Pact Newspaper Guild negotiators with Frank D. Schroth, publisher of the Brooklyn (N. Y.> Eagle, have recom- mended acceptance of revised terms offered the Guild's Eagle unit A certainty that the ■unit will accept Schroth grants Guild shop, guar- antees an 80% payroll for a year and in the event, of any layoffs will drop a non-union staff member for every Guildsman given notice. Settlement made amid aura of good feeling, in sharp contrast to start of negitiations between publisher and Guild, when Guild unit was informed it . would have to take a deep cut and fast. Accompanied by threat that paper would fold in short order un- less Guild complied. Carl W. Jones' Hobby Carl W. Jones, publisher of the Minneapolis Journal, is a bug on magico. So much so that when he comes to New York he's been known to leave important gatherings and browse around the shops that sell magic tricks and' the like. Jones has. privately printed a X,000-copy limited edition, $12.50 re- tail, a treatise on modern magic called 'Greater Magic,' by John Northern HiUiard, pioneer magico, which is edited by Jones and Jean fiugard. Intro by Howard "Thur- ston. Edition is practically sold out and publisher Jones has just broken even, which is more than he bar- gained pn when first essaying this venture. N. Y. Mirror's Fla. Edition Daily Mirror will publish a Florida edition for a six weeks' period start- ing next Tuesday (24), idea being to supply J a New York newspaper to winter'vacationists each morning at brealcfast time. Papers will .be sent by plane each night at 11 p.m., due in Miami at 8 a. m. Miami special will be priced at 10c per copy. After the one-star edition is run, the front and back pages of the tab will b^ replated for the Floridian service. Sporting events, racing in particular, will be featured. In that department Fred Keats and Ken Kling will be pn the ground, latter having arrived at the resort last week. Selig Adler, city editor of the Mirror, will be sent south to set the deal. Pathfinder's New ControlleVs Control of the Pathfinder Publish- ing Co., which gets out the national news mag. The Pathfinder, acquired by James L. Bray and Victor Whit- lock. Both from the United States News. Bray, former publisher of the News, assumed presidency of Path- finder Publishing Co. a few months ago. Whitlock recently resigned exec post with the News to take control of The Pathfinder. Bray continues as prez of The Pathfinder. Whitlock to serve as publisher. Book Output Drops Book output in 1S39 is expected to see a sharp drop. Quantity of most of the spring lists below that for the corresponding period in 1938. At least one extreme case is Lip- pincott Firm's output for the first six months of 1939 will be 30 vol- umes af the maximum. During sim- ilar period last year house issued 55. Reasons for the drop are many, from lack of good manuscripts to con- centration on smaller list. Marshall's London Switch Howard Marshall, radio commen- tator and newspaperman, has re- isigned from the London Daily Tele- graph to join the Daily Mail as a special writer on topics of natioilal interest Marshall has also been a writer on football, cricket and box- ing and has done much investiga- tion of social problems for BBC. He has been heard in America in talks on English affairs over NBC. Ex-Muffg American Mercury, taken over this week by Lawrence T. Spivak, its treasurer and general manager, from Paul Palmer, will have Eugene Lyons as its new editor in place of Palmer. Policy of mag will not be altered. Lyons, author of 'Assignment in Utopia' and others, was at one time Varieiy mugg in Moscow. LITERATI OBITS THIS WEEK William Aspenwall Bradley, 60, au- thor, editor and literary adviser, died Jan. 10 in Paris. He had been a na- tive of Hartford and was once con- nected with the Boston Herald, American Magazine, Delineator, Yale University Press and the .Macmillan Co. A Chevalier of the French Le- ^iph of Honor, he was the author of several works on arts 'ahd aVtiists as well as editor of publications in this country and France. Theodore Bodenwein, 74, publisher of the New London (Conn.) Day, died in a New London hospital Jan., 12 of heart disease and uremic poisoning. He had been for- mer secretary of the State of Con- necticut and a charter member and director of the Associated Press. Widow and two children by^a ifor- mer marriage survive, George R. Keoester, founder and publisher of The Columbia Record, (Columbia, S. C, and The Greenville (S. C.) Piedmont died here recently at 68. At the time of his death he was' editor and publisher of The Greenville County Observer, a weekly. CHATTER Clare Leighton over from England. Autobiog of Arthur Train due next month. S. Van Zandt has joined Woman's Day, the mag. W. Somerset Maugham In N. Y. and may go to the Coast. Erna Fergusson gets into town next week from New Mexico. Albert F. Noerr getting his Mer- cury Magazine Co. started. Alan Villiers getting set for a new Indian Ocean sea adventure. Psychology Book Enterprises or- ganized by Kurt Bernheimer. British edition arranged for Ray MillhoUand's 'The Splinter Fleet.' Martin H. Schwartz has gotten his Transatlantic Press Service started. Eric Ambler, who does those spy thrillers, docks the end of the week. Marian Sims has begun a new novel at her home in Charlotte, N, C. Walter Zendt lights out for the Carolinas early next month to finish, a novel. Alfred A. Knopf said to be groom- ing Raymond Chandler as another Dashiiell Hammett. James A. Hyland has novelized his play, 'Burnt Gold,' and now negotiat- ing for publication. Upton Close, whose real name is Joseph Washington Hall, married his agent, Bernice Meek. Jacket on Bess Streeter Aldrich's new novel, 'Song of Years,' has a painting by her son, James. CSeorge Rector has signed with Prentice-Hall to do a book, 'Dining in New Ybrk With Rector.' Lewis Giannett.the New York Her- ald Tribune daily book crick, about again after his auto accident Maurice Hindus back in N. Y. after eight months in Europe, with part of the manuscript of a new book. Arthur D. Howden Smith in Hollywood trying to sell his novel, 'Porto Bello Gold,* to the studios. D. Minard Shaw elected vice prez of the. publishing, company which gets out the mag. Congratulations. Article on N. Y.'s Mayor LaGuar- dia by George Britt of N. Y. World- Telegram, skedded. shortly by- Col- lier's. ^ Steve Fisher sold two mag stories, ''Love Is on the Corner' to Country Home, and 'Daylight' to .Cosmo- politan. Viking Press to reissue Stefan Zweig's play, 'Jereniiah,' which The- atre Guild Will present. Play first published here in 1922. Carl Van Doren agreeable to a German translation of his 'Benjamin Franklin,' but only on condition it be published outside the Reich. Fourth book by Paul Wellman, staff member of Kansas City Star, a novel, 'Jubal Troop,' sold to Carrick & Evans for spring publication. Ralph. Harris, forced to quit the book publishing biz about two years ago because of illness, has.recovered and has formed the Consolidated Book Co. J. Jeffrey Roche, New York news- paperman and son of the late Arthur Somers Roche, honeymooning in Florida with his bride, the former Margaret. Flook. Katharine Haviland-Taylor, the novelist, has done a number of sil- houettes to illustrate Horace Gard- ner's forthcoming book, 'Happy Birthday to You.' Helen Worden, of the N. Y. World- Telegram, has delivered the manu- script of her N. Y. guide book, 'Here Is New York,' to her publisher, Doubleday, Doran, John Steinbeck's new novel, 'Grapes of Wrath,' to which he has just put the finishing touches, runs to 200,000 words, more than twice as long as his longest previous novel. Foreign department of Curtis Brown sold translation rights to Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca' in Denmark, Sv/eden, Finland, Poland, France, Holland, Hungary, Czecho- slovakia and Spain, Herman G. Weinberg translating a novel, 'Zwi.schenlandung in Zermaf by the Swiss refugee writer, Stefan Brockhoff, now in N. Y. Novel set for simultaneous spring publication here and in Switzerland, Nitery Reviews Arcadia-Inteniattonal (Continued from page 42) Russian, Vera Niva, in costume, who canaries later. Major trouble is in the house public address system. Vanderbilt Boys, who have a strong finale, follow* but deserve a better spot^ The two dance acts fol- low in second appearances, Lads must pep the beginning of their tum, which consists of hoofing. Must also work on the routine to get more variety and to get it jibing better. Nevertheless, just youngsters, they show plenty of possibility, do their strongman stuff well and exhib a couple of breath-takers. Clem Williams, since his last ap- pearaince at the Arcadia, has tossed out his 14-man jive outfit for 11 riieces of sweetness. It's all to the better, too. Elmer Hoffman, who warbles with the crew, is good and should improve. Herb. Russian Kretchma, N. Y. VOGUE ROOM (CLEVELAND) Nastxa Poliakova, Misha Vzd^n- offt.Darid Birse, Marusia Saua, Her- mine Michel, Claudia Capellova, Senia Karavaeff, Michel Michon, Serge Ignateiiko, Volodio Kotot? or- chestra. Situated at 14th street and 2d ave- nue, the Russian Kretchma has been going along for years as a vodka boite, drawing a nice middle-class audience. Not pretending to the chi-chi aura of a Maisonette Russe, as does the ultra St. Regis hotel, the Russian Kretchma (means 'hut' or 'inn* in the native tongue) is an in- time spot capably presided over by Peter Nemiroff, with everything in the best White-Russian tradition, in- cl'iding songs, dances and exagger- ated folklore of the pre-USSR days. There's a wide assortment of song- and-dance specialists, most of whom are by no means kids, so far as -face value goes, but who seemingly arc a heritage of a fast dwindling corpr of talent.. Nastia Poliakova is indeed a venerable songstress of gypsy airs, but she's burdened with the 'billing of being (or having been) the 'great- est Russian gypsy singer.'' Her yes- ter-year- glory is still vivid, despite her matriarchal appearance, but since some of the other Russian peasant 'maidens' are above, the in- genue brackets, it's something the caviar customers don't'wax captious with. I ' Senia Karavaeff is the .sparkplug of the show with tireless hock dancing besides pacing the' show in general .as m.c.. and' conferencier, Michel Michon is a dicky singer, and the rest of the galaxy of kn.ife-throwlhg dancers, singers and native dancers are in like pattern. Claudia Ca- pellova does the featured terping. Misha Uzdanoff is the dagger danc- ing specialist who spears throw money-T-of the folding type exclu- .sively, by the very nature of the feat—as extra income. . Volodia Katov, with a versatile combo of strings, swings and salons for the hoofing and show with equal dexterity, ' HOTEL NEW YORKER Cleveland, Jan. 14. Sammy Watkins^ Orch .(8), Mur- Uth Sisters (3), Sigrid Bagnie, Doe Jifarcus, Pritikin & Mason. Since the Statler's Terrace Room dropped its fiQor shows, the HoUen- den is now the only hostelry here boasting of flesh revues—and capi- talizmg plenty. In.stead of lelting down, its smartly intimate Vogue Room is building up units with a heftier cor^edy kick, adding hew acts every week, Thi.-; opera gets most of its show*- mimship and laughs from 'Doc' Ar- thur Marcus. They tag him the 'Mad Magician' and his type of madness is especially infectious. His mugging is more effective than his sl'ck card tricks, which he puts acrocs with a sizzling line of nonsensical chatter. Favorite stunt is to get half-a- dozcn customers out on fioor to help him in rabbit-itt-casserole or card- picking-duck feats and then heckle thsm with double-talk, Rapid-fire 'ferWeroo with a Bronx accent has been throwing sophisticates into hysterics. He slings it so expertly that even a convention of magicians went a trifie haywire when he began pulling torn cards out Of «irss with a lead of nutty adjectives to confuse them. Murtah Sisters, replacing Terry Lawlor, have another rib-ticklintg act of clever horseplay. Three gals start out singing 'This .Can't Be Love* seriously, but wind up hoking it with mu.'^ing. Trio virtually stretch mouths oat of shape when dramatiz- ing 'Ferdinand the Bull* and a coyple of, other ditties. Sigrid Bagnie, winsome brunet kicks a pair of sweet imderpinnings in some flashy high steps. She gives shbw- good balance. Pritikin and Mason, g'uitar-and-vocal duo, fill iii the interludes nicely. Sammy Wat- kins, who£>e orch is an' institution here, may be kept through March. Pulleiu , Paul Sydelt and Spotty, Lyda Sue, Duval, Mafk Plant, Helen Myers, Jimmy Dorsey' Orch. One good Dorsey deserves an- other, Ralph Hitz must have figured, so saxaphone-maestro . Jimmy has been .brought in to follow his brother-maestro, Tommy Dorsey, trombone virtuoso and exponent of sweet-swingo. As another stunt in the Hitzian style of showmanship, the 'band of the week', is a cute way of hypoing the Sundays when, under the musician union's new six-day regulations, Jimmy Dorsey drops out and Russ Morgan or some other name dombo fills in for that evening. "Per usual, the Terrace Room of the Hotel New Yorker has assembled a neat little floor show headed by Paul Sydell and 'Spotty,' his uncannily tutored terrier. It's perhaps the No. 1. trained pooch turn of its kind. Lyda Sue, recently back from Paris, where she was featured with Pierre Sandrini's Bal Tabarin revues, manifests anew why this supple dan- cer clicks" Oh both sides of the pond. She's a svelte acro-dancer, nifty for close-up work on a cafe fioor, and possessed of personal charm that further enhances her terp talents. Mark Plant m.c's ahd barytones ballads in nice style and Duval, fea- turing legerdermain with gay streamers and silken kerchiefs, is another effective sight interlude. He has a femme aide, and later, also, a male assistant But Duval's the turn principally. He essays to 'expose' how one trick might be done, but in so doing further confounds his auditors. / Helen Myers, long at the Rainbow Room« pianologs for the relief inter- ludes. Dorsey has a new songstress from Texas, Ella Mae Morse, who alternates vocally with Bob Eberle, Abel. Unit Revimts Rudy Vallee (Continued frqm page 40) like Rudy Vallee shorld. inject so much barroom stuff before a family theatre audience, particularly when he must realize that his stage unit is tops in the way of entertainment without resorting to decidedly off- edlor ga.gs in the hope of garnering an additional laff. Vallee unit mak- ing its theatre debut after a long and highly successful run at the Cocoanut Grove here, scored a de- cisive hit from a capaqi^ audience,, but by the same token, the crooner left many a Dad taste among his au- ditors. Cleaned up, as it Should be for theatre audiences, the Vallee stage show easily takes rank with the best the house his had to offer in many a moon. Crooner has surroimded bfm- self with a talent-packed company and does plenty himself to win fur- ther admirers. Band, in full stage bencitth a silken canopy with golden back-drapes, opens with the Maine drinking song,, with Vallee singing the refrain, *'et- ting the .show off tb smart start First act is Mirth and Mack, couple of highly proficient male dancers, who infect considerable comedy in their offering, but who .ihar an otherwise excellent turn by use of 'hell' and thumh-to-nose gestures. Scab Waring, sound impersonator, clicks solidly, but again the act suf- fers from iinnecessary injection of barroom hilarity. Waring's airplane finish is a darb. Vallee at this point makes his first solo appearance, do- ing a bit of recitationuto music, tell- ing of the trials'of the personal es-" cort slave. Bob Neller, ventriloquist. Is par- ticularly talented, and no lip move- ments on his part are discernible during his lehgthy turn. Some fa."- "ing between the dimuny and Vallee, introduced as 'one-punch Rudy,' but all in good=fun. Caryl Gould, fetching and talented songstress, ,crpens with 'Umbrella Man' and tops it off with a ballad that sends her off to ringing ap- plause. Then Vallep does a conrr-talk number, 'Mad Dogs and En'»li.'}bmen.*, which would have been a terrific bit excepting for'a few decidedly off- color fags introduced. Vic Hyde, billed as a one-man band, is a wiz at manipulation of more than one instrument and clinaxes by playing three comets .simul- taneously, then going into a hi?a"ious dance while playing the trumpets. He injects a vein of innocuous com- edy all through his ofitering and wows. Mirth and Mack return for series of impressions of film and Stage names, and then band serves as bock- ground while Vallee. does his T»ew number, 'Where To?', the semi-soino- quy of a cab driver. Fjnale'-. i» abrupt with entire company on for a brief bow as curtain'f{tlI$."*£a'iL'rt.'