Variety (Mar 1939)

RADIO SCREEN STAGE Published Weekly at 1B4 West 4Mh Street, New YorK, N. Y.. bjr Variety, Inc. Annual eubeorlptlon, 110. Slnsle coplee. 2S centa. Entered aa oecond-olass matter December it. 1906, at the Post OKIce at New York. N. Y., undir the act ot WArch ». ijVJ. ■ COPTBICHT, IBM, BY TARIETX, INC. • Al-t, ftlGHTB BESEByED, Vol. 133 No. 13 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1939 64 PAGES Half of Pittsburgh's Cafes May Fold Due to Inability to Pay for Lcenses Plttsl>urgh, lAay 7. Nltery biz here Is worst In years and present indications are that cates will be cut more than haU after May- 1. Applications for new booze li- censes in this district, which must be filed within next co\jple of weeks, are more than 50% less than they were at same time last year. Lot of the niterles have been un- able to raise the $640 necessary for new licenses. There's an additional $120 charge if a spot has music or entertainment. Operators of the smaller spots are complaining, and there's been some talk of organization to register pro- tests before the state legislature. They claiAi it's not fair to charge them, the same as the bigger places. Frisco Niterles Rap Sacramento, March 7. More than 95% of Sail Francisco's bai^s, cocktail lounges, night clubs aiid similar establishments face eradication under provisions of a proposed law now pending before the legislature. The bill, introduced by Senator John Phillips, provides that 'no retail liquor license for premises located within 1,500 feet of a pub- lic school, parochial school, chil- dren's playground, public library, church or hospital shall hereafter be Issued, renewed or transferred.' The measure is said to have been Introduced at the request of the Cali- fornia Congress of Parents and Teachers. Umbrella Man Paris, Feb: 2S. The latest dance here is the ' Chamberlaine. It's being done with an um- brella. FILMS TO SPACE LEGIT AS STRAWHAT B.O. AID Films may be used at <certain strawhat theatres this summer as a substitute for regular legit shows to hypo the boxoffice on normally slack nights. Idea was tried successfully last season at the Playhouse, Wood- stock, N. Y., and the thought is to extend it this summer to numsrous stock outfits througiiout the east. Venture is being pushed by How- ard. Lesser, who for the last 12 years operated various neighborhood pic- ture houses in Brooklyn. He tested the plan on Monday and Tuesday nights at the Woodstock spot last summer and rang up a higher take (Continued on page 61) Helping Daddy Marilyn Harp, 15-year old daugh- ter of Ernie Hare, is pinch-hitting for her dad on the Sachs furniture store program on WMCA, N. Y., Sun- days at 3 p.m. She is a student at . Flushing high school. Father is seriously ill in hospital and was to undergo operation yesterday ■ (Tues- day). In taking his place, Miss Hare keeps Intact the 20-year old partner- ship of Jones and Hare. Sbce B'way Cinemas Win Derive Benefit, Trade to Bally Fair Several major' circuits last week laid plans for giving ballyhoo break to the New York World's Fair on their theatre screens throughout the country. This will be done by means of special trailers and emphasis in newsreels controlled - by the parent producing - distributing companies. Result was that more-motion picture camera crews were active in shoot- ing the fair, grounds and buildings from every angle than at any time since the exposition was launched. Decision to give special publicity on cinema screen was made after film executives had cross-checked (Continued on page 61) CURIOUS simus NBC Red, Particularly, Loaded with Old Accounts That Stick to Entertain- ment Patterns Oddly Con- trasting with Other Nights on Networks CBS' NIGHT Network commercials as a whole may, from year to year, show a steady improvement in highpowered entertainment values, but Friday night on the NBC red (WEAF) con- tinues to live in a world by itself.. Were it not for -the inclusion this season of Guy Lombardo, the red's Friday evening schedule would rate as a museum piece of broadcasting. Critical listeners consider this night pretty much of a stage-wait. What goes on over the red between 8 and 10.30 p.m. of a Friday not only is a sharp letdown from Thursday night's parade of sock entertainment but a curious study in sponsor con- (Continued on page 62) Boston s Sedate Beacon Hill Houses Group Devoted to 'Significant' Plays All in the Family There's a repertoire company of legiiisrs playiii^ the town hall and church basement'circuit of northwestern PcAnsylvahia with a cast of 15—Mir. and Mrs. Henry F. Meyers and their 13 children, ranging in age from 12 to 29. Family does everything itself, from stage carpenter to ticket taker. WNYC to (me Toorists Home Town News; Tienp With Local Newspapers WNYC, New York City-owned transmitter, will serve home-town news to New York World Fair visi- tors this summer through tieups wtlh out-of-town newspapers. It has al- ready been arranged with one sheet in various cities throughout the coun- try to wire leading local items dally. These will be condensed into a daily news report, with each paper given credit It's tentatively titled 'Your Home Town News,' Non-Commercial BBC Embarrassed By Runaway Theatre Television London, Feb. 28. The popularity and success of the recent theatre television broadcast of the Boon-Dar.ahar prize fight has the British Broadcasting Corp. seri- ously embarrassed. It looks like the- atre television may do a runaway and BBC may not be able to recap ture its control. Shrewd private en- trepreneurs are out-stepping the BBC. As present tendencies go, BBC ap- pears to have b?en a jump behind the other fellows all the time, and the visio transmitter, of the non- commercial government radio web stands in immediate peril of becojn- ing merely a vassal of commercial interests. In a matter of days, situation has changed so violently that monopoly powers exercised by BBC look to have gone completely by the board; as far as television is concerned, sponsored radio is in, and the broad- casting unit has got to set about a complete readjustment of ideas. Big business, with its control of a heavy bankroll, jumped in and forced the issue; any attempt by the Govern- ment or- BBC to stem the tide may now result in wet feet. Here's just how the situation got out of hand. BBC, backed by Gov- ernment authority, until now held fast to its charter right of radio monopoly. Before vlsio, they had no serious competition; but coming of the latter raised new problems of theatre transmission, forcing to an issue the question of whether broad- casts must be held sacred for home use only, and not for commercial ex- ploitation. Olticial attitude re- mained firm, although visio manu- facturers, notably the Ostrer-financed Baird system, and Scophony, with which Oscar Deutsch and his back- ers are involved, proceeded with research for projecting programs on , theatre screens; both have reached a i high degree of technical perfection. Many Huddles Month after month of powwows took place last year,, involving Os- trers with BBC. Ihe Television Ad- visory Committee (govei-nment ap- pointed) and the Postmaster-Gen- eral, who is the state's overlord of radio. And they couldn't beat out a formula. Thealr.- side were will- ing to cooperate all along, helping BBC with its production side, but latter sheltered behind obvious copy- right and reproduction snags that were bound to arise. Gov't stood in the background supporting this re- sistance, fearing a powerful propa- ganda medium might slip out of its grasp. Fight Started It Then the Ostrers were really smart. The Boon-Danahar fight had been built up a:; one of the biggest events in British boxing in years; public interest was colossal, and BBC was desperately keen to get television rights because it came Tight slap in the middle of their big publicity campaign, and could be ex- pected tb sell more sets than any other possible program. Ostrers, representing both Gaumont-British theatres and Baird, offered Syd Hulls and John Harding, promoting the (Continued on page 2) Boston, March 7. Sedate Beacon Hill Is housing a little theatre group devoted to the production of 'significant,' timely In an antiquated little theatre called The Barn, the Ford Hall Fonim Players are now presenting a dramatic plea for socialized .medi- cine by Paul Slfton, Assistant Wages and Hours Administrator, and his wife. 'The Doctors' begin the 10th season for this group which has in- cubated Jeffrey I^rnn and Phillpi Boumeuf, among others. WUh the sponsorship of the Forum, which is > organized on the lines, of New York's . Town Hall, the Players were formed in. 1B29 under the direction of Charles Flato. Lilian Arnold, the present director, sue- ' ceeded him the following year and has guided the policy from the usual amateur predilection for classic re- vivals to plays of 'peace, labor and general contemporary t>roblems.' Local authors are also encouraged to submit originals. Members all work during the day and meet at night The director is a librarian, the business manager a lawyer. Players' eventual hope Is a permanent community theatre, play- ing professional repertory and filling a 'long-felt need' for Boston legit They believe that half-baked tryouts dumped on Boston have spured the public, but that a serious and sin- cere group could win support. Hanging Hurts A $25,000 damage suit was filed Friday (3) in the N.Y. supreme court by Boris Demltroff, wrestler and ac- tor, against Universal Pictures for personal injuries suffered while ap- pearing in a scene for Universal Newsreel last year. Plaintiff claims that he was sup- posed to be hanged in the scene, which was shot in N.Y. As a result Demitroff claims he suffered a neck infection. Vlie Horn 0$ Oumh 34 GIRLS andONEMAN Phil Spitalny and His All Girl Orchestra