Variety (Mar 1939)

60 VARIETY UTERATI Wednesday, March 8, 1939 N. T. Times' Fair Sapplenent The New York Times Issued an Impressive World's Fair supplement, iti color, Included in Sunday's (5) regular edition. : 'It contained 76 pases of special articles by. ^. G. Wells, whose 'World of Tomorrow' IcO the section; Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, Henry Ford, David Sarnoff, Frances Perkins, James Thurlow Adams, William Allen White, Robert Moses, Harry Emerson Fodsick, Brooks Atkinson and a flock of other personalities in the arts and indu.s- trics. Supplement included consid- erable advertiising. The daily has also scheduled two other supple- ments to be published April 30, in- cluding a complete guide to the fair and the metropolis: The Times has announced that the Issue was in excess of 1,000,000 cop- ies and that orders for 400,000 more could not be filled because it was mechanically impossible to fill so large a demand. New Long; Island Paper The Nassau Daily Journal, Long Island Daily, began publication last week. It's being published out of Hempstead by Harold Forbes, for- mer publisher of the Flushing (It I.) North Shore Journal, who sold out last year to S. I. Newhouse. New- house has since merged the Journal with the Long Island Star, which he also acquired last year. He's also the controller of the Long Island Press, Jamaica. The Journal, a six-day daily, has a circulation arrangement with the Press and the Star-Journal, in Long Island City. Copies of the Press will be circulated with the new daily in south and north Nassau county, and in the North Shore area copies of the Star-Journal will be inserted in the new sheet. Only other daily in Nassau Is the Nassau Star-Review, the result some time ago ol a merger of the Nassau Star, of Lynbrook, and the Nassau Review, of Rockville Center. Stemming Adversity Seeing an opportunity to turn an adverse notice to profit, Bennett Cerf, the Random House head, hold- ing a readers' contest in connection with Clifton Fadiman's review of William Harlan Hale's novel, 'Han- nibal Hooker; His Death and Adven- tures,' in the New Yorker. In his review Fadiman said: 'I am convinced that Mr. Hale has not one talent but a score of turbulent tal- ents. I'd like to read anything he might write after he has - settled down, and I'd also be honestly glad to hear from those who know ex- actly what 'Hannibal Hooker' is about.'- For the 10 best letters in 300 words or less explaining 'Hannibal .Hooker' to Fadiman, Cerf will give a copy of any book from Random's list priced up to $5. Closing date is March 24. New Book on Films Pitman Publishing Co. is publish- ing a new book annual devoted to films, and fashioned after Bums Mantle's 'Best Plays.' Volume, edited by Frank Vreeland, former play and picture crick, and now .film flack, will carry the general title of 'Fore- most Films,' with the first of the series to be called 'Foremost Films of 1938.' Volume will cover best of the do- mestic and foreign productions ex- hibited here, and will also carry a survey of events and trends, on the international film situation. ' Foreign ^ub-Unioh Agree Book and Magazine Guild, publish- ing industry affiliate of the United Office and Professional Workers of America, has signed a union contract with the Foreign Policy Association, which publishes books and pamphlets on foreign affairs. Pact covers all regular employes and four temporary employes of the publishing house, provides for salary increases, establishment of seniority rights, ^1-a-week minimum wage and. office committee for adjustment of personnel questions.. N. T. Woman Hay Be Revived Persistent report, although uncon- firmed, is that the mag. The New York Woman< is to be revived. Periodical, which had a pretentious, if fairly brief, existence, had legal trouble for an aftermath, with those interested in the revival reputedly endeavoring to clear all angles be- fore resuming. Origihally back of the Mag were a number of advertising execs, but these disclaim any connection with those allegedly working for the mag's resumption. Smytb-SmKh Combine Book-publishing plans of Hilton Smyth ° have undergone a change. Mag publisher, who intended adding books to his output under imprint of Living Age Books, has Instead formed a partnership with Harrison Smith,. Because of similarity of names of the two, new firm will be known by their fii:st names as Harri- son-Hilton Books. Publishing house, which has Smith as prez; Smyth as treasurer, and Ruth Norden, sec, will be quartered with the Smyth mags in N. Y, New Sunday Supplement New Sunday newspaper supple- ment. Vision, being prepared by the Publication Corp. Forty dailies in all parts of the country have already been signed to carry the supplement, to start probably early In the summer. . Vision will be tabloid in roto- gravure, and will be at least 50% pictures. . Charles A. Kinsolving is editor. Head of the corp. is Daniel A. Moran, Jr. Wlnohell's $100,00* Libel Salt A suit for $100,000 damages was filed in the N. Y. federal court last week against Walter Wincheil and the Daily Mirror, Inc.,' by Maude Peabody, wife of. Eddie Peabody, vaudevlUian, for libel. Mrs. Pea- body objects to an item in the Dec. 5,1938 issue of the Mirror anent their marital relations. She is asking $S0,- 000 . damages and- $50,000 for maliciousness. .Ungerlelder Denies Judge Deal' Denial has been made by Samuel Ungerlelder, through his attorney, 1. M. Tobias, that Ungerlelder is in the market for Judge, monthly humor mag. Judge has been r<>- ported for sale and a deal was said to have been talked between Harry Newman, the publisher, Ungerlelder, Henry Caplan and others. NEW PEBIOpicALS Toar Health, companion mag to Your Life and Your Personality, to be published soon by Wilfred J. Funk in association with Douglas L. Lurton. Will be digest-size, like the others, but will use only original, material. Lurton editing, as he does the other two. Fantastic Adventnres, one of two new mags being readied by' Ziff- Davis Publishing Co., Chicago, to appear March 21, dated May. Sci- ence fiction pulp, being edited by B. G. Davis, with Raymond A. Palmer as m. e. Tour and Travel Digest to preem next month. V. Lucille Gett Is pub- lisher and editor. Not a digest, de- spite title, and will carry original pieces on tour and travel. Bi- monthly as a starter. Win, monthly . digest, has been brought out for the first time. It will be devoted entirely to contests, with the mag handing out $5,000 a month to winners. Foto-Cratt, mag for' photogs, preems March 25 9s newest link in chain of periodicals gotten out by Hugo Gernsback. He's also editing, with Joseph H. Kraus as m.e. Pub- lication monthly. LITEBATI OBITS THIS WEEK Charles B. Molesphlnl, 66, former real estate editor of the N, Y. Amer- ican and of the N. Y. Evening Post, died last week of a heart attack while attending a dinner of the Eve- ning Post Alumni Association' in N. Y. Molesphini was treasurer of the organization. Son and daughter sur- vive. Edward Flicker, 69, publisher of the Bridgeport (Conn.) Post, Tele- gram and Sunday Post, died March 1. He was general manager of the' Cincinnati Inquirer for 30 years be- fore going to Bridgeport Survived by his widow, son, two daughters and a brother. Selden C. Smltb, 65, Coast man- ager of Gim> & Co., publishers, died Feb. 26 in Berkeley, CaU following a long Illness. Survived by his widow, two daughters and two sons. Henry Rising, 70, for 45 years edi- tor, of the Spokane (Wash.) Chroni- cle, died Sunday. Born in Iowa, he joined the staff of the Chronicle in 1893 and a year later became editor. Was made vlce-prez of the publish- ing company few years later, and in 1923 became head of the firm. Berlah Brown, 82, and regarded as dean of Pacific Northwest news- papermen, died Friday in Seattle after a long illness. Death followed by a few days that of a brother, James H. Brown, also a newspaper- man. Third brother, Ashmun Brown, a Washington, D. C, news- paper columnist. In his 60 years as a newspaperman Beriah Brown was associate editor of the Se5tUg_Post- Intelligencer, and owned a number of papers In the state of Washington. Thomas A. O'Hagan, 84, prose writer and poet and former news- paperman, died Thursday at his home in Toronto. Began newspaper work on the Duluth (Minn.) Daily Tribune, and edited the old Chicago New World from 1902 to 1913. Authored a dozen books, including a study of Shakespeare. James B. Clendenin, 41, editor of the Huntington (W. Va.) Herald-Dis- patch, died Saturday of pneumonia. Native of St Louis, Clendenin served on newspapers in that city, Washing- ton and Beaver Falls, Pa., before coming to Huntington in 1922. CHATTER Anthony Thorne going to England. iJorothy Canfleld Fisher to Miami. Ralph Bates gets back from Mexi- co soon. . Park Press formed by Joseph Woldorff. Harry Scherman and Bennett Cerf to Nassau. Dashiell Hammett has completed a new novel. No title as yet. Egon Steinberg now repping for- eifni T>ublishers and authors. Rafael Sabatihi back to England, and at work on a new novel. Robert Brosterman workmg out a new Anglo-Jewish publishing idea. Gregory Vance off on a world toui", during whfch he plans to do a novel. Joseph F. Dinneen, of the Boston Globe, rushing a biog of the new Pope for McBride. James M. Kahn, the N. Y. Sun sports scrivener, has a piece In the current Baseball Stories.. . Your Personality, which was launched , as a quarterly' in January, goes monthly with the next^issue. On -his way .back to the Coast Lloyd C. Douglas stopped In Chicago to sign for a lecture tour .next season. W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood here, latter for publica- tion of his novel, 'Goodbye to Ber- lin.' Muriel Lee Elsasser, ad exec, has formed Larwood Publishers in N.Y. to get out books on specialized sub- jects. Walter Wincheil sent out 531 copies of John L Spivak's .new book, 'Secret Armies,' and at his own ex- pense! Dalton Trumbo's third published novel, 'Johnny Got His Gun,' has been bought by Lippincott He's an RKO scenario writer. . Elizabeth Marion, whose first novel, 'The Day Will Come,' appears soon, is but 22, and did the book while holding down a WPA job. Frank Gilman Fowler, who does those Satevepost short stories under the name of Borden Chase, has filed a petition in bankruptcy. Richard F. Dempewolff, of the editorial staff of the Fawcctt mags, will wed Rita Fitzpatrick, who is on the Newsweek editorial staff. Helen Wayne Rauh, Pittsburgh radio and little theatre actress, signed by Sun-'Ielegraph, Hearst sheet, to do a weekly column on charm. Title of the forthcoming whodunit by Margaret Armstrong, 'Red Flash,' changed to 'Murder in Stained Glass.' Booksellers thought it was a dog' story. Alumnae of Randolph-Macon Woman's College, of which Pearl S- Buck is a grad, will give the Nobel Prize Winner in literature a feed today (Wed.). Dick Fortune named assistant to Kaspar Monahan, Pittsburgh Press dramatic editor, with Bill White as- signed to make up page in future. Fortune formerly on rewrite. Little, Brown issues next, week book on the theatre, 'The Changing World in Plays and Theatre,' by Anita Block, formerly foreign play reader for the Theatre Guild, Regional Networks Testify TMAT Contract (Continued from page 57) lists seven out-of-town theatres as being on the tmfair list: Mosque, Empire and Shubert Newark; Globe, Atlantic City; Hudson, Union City, N, J.; Shubert' and Trocadero, Phila- delphia, and also Halley's ticket office in that city. Managers listed as unfair: Fred Ayer, Jack Under, Izzy Hirst and J. Krimsky. Next general meeting will be held Thursday (9) when two by-laws adopted by the board will be sub- mitted for approval. One prohibits any member, such as a general man- ager or company manager, from negotiating a basic contract with any union on behalf of an employer, nor may any member sit on a labor board or committee of any associa- tion of employers, ' This regulation will rule out sev- eral members who have been acting on the managerial labor committee. The other by-law rules out members signaturing applications of persons working in the same organization or for the same employer. Also,, no member of the 'membership commit- tee shall sign any applications. (Continued from page 43) ger of 'WBTM, Danville, has no con- trac's, no regular wires, no compul- sion to take any programs, and sim- ply divvies receipts among the five member stations. For a "while the outlets were linked, but this was given up except for special oc- casions. Each station put up $100 at the outset three years ago. Empire State Network is virtually out of business and was used only during the recent State political campaign, Harold E. Smith, one of four incorporators, relatedi Promo- ters each bought 25 shares at $20. In order to have a New York City out- let, WHN was tied in with the up- state local plants, getting 20% com- mission on any sales. The members sold their time to the web at 30% of the card rate and donated two free hours each weekly. The Texas Quality Network fol- lows the same pattern as the Virginia outfit, although it maintains regu- lar lines. According to Martin Cam- obeli, general manager of 'WFAA, Dallas, it is a cooperative sales outfit rather than aii' operating chain and presently has only one regular sus- taining program. Also unincorporated, Inter-Clty has a more detailed tyjpe of organiza- tion,- William Weisman, v.p. of WMCA, the key outlet sUted. Line costs are shared proportionately by most of the members of the group, although- WPRO, Providence, and WOL, Washington—being' connected with national combos—are relieved of the burden when they are used for distribution of commercials. With WMCA serving primarily as the business-getter, "TniSEX., Boston, pays the bulk of the cost to New England; WIP pays for line between ' New York and Philadelphia; WCBM, Bal- timore pays for the link of Philly, and the others kick in toward the expense assumed by these units. In practice. 'WIMCA gets a commis- sion oh all timie sales, made at the customary card rates, on the .af- filiated outlets and in return allows the others to take any of its sus- tainers. The commission varies in some cases being as much as 65%, but the profit is only 10 or 15% be- cause WMCA pays salesmen, agen- cies, etc., out of its cut. Members of the group, with excep- tion of WPRO and WOL, are obli- gated to clear unsold time whenever WMCA asks for it for a commercial program, although as general policy the others are permitted to turn down Inter-City sponsored programs whenever any important local events interfere. The stations swap sustain- ers, with any other at liberty to ob- tain a sponsor without sharing the receipts. Trendle on Stand Most Important installment of the week came from George W. Trendle, president of King-Trendle Broadcast- ing Corp. of Detroit which owns WXYZ and leases WASH-WOOD at Grand Rapids and runs the Michigan Radio Network of nine stations. More formally organized than most State chains, though operations are limited. Network has free time on member stations, and in turn pays the wire costs. Time sold only in a block on the transmitters out in the State, with WXYZ at liberty to run on its own, although technically obligated to provide sustaining service. Unique agreements with the other outlets exertpt the Detroit station from the requirements of feeding sustalners during the 6 p.m.-midnight span If it is carrying local commercials. In practice, Jrendle emphasized, the key station does serve the affiliates even if it is not operating with them. Until last year King-Trendle never was able to peddle all of the free time on all stations, but in 1938 two of the affiliates got a return when the free time was used up. 'WBCM, Bay City, received $6,033, and WIBM, Flint, $2,895. Network revenues were $203,557. Some departures from the contract, such as the arrange- ments for airing Detroit ball games, with each affiliate getting part of $18,000 under a distinct deal. Telling of WXYZ's own Opera- tions, Trendle related that he and his partner sunk $300,000 of their own money in the enterprise after leav- ing CBS seven years back, and have been fully repaid, primarily because of the success of 'Ranger' and 'Green Hornet' programs. Last year King- Trendle spent $71,810 on talent out of their own revenues. Trendle esti- mated whole talent bill hit $200,000. Programs Explained Arrangements for airing the 'Ranger' and 'Hornet' programs over other networks puzzled the probers for a while, but eventually, with the aid of H. Allen Campbell, general manager, the details were unraveled! Under deal with NBC the progrS' is taken off the line In Chicago when it is fed to the West Coast and both NBC and King-Trendle peddle the discs to other subscribers. With NBC selling stipulated secondary markets. Kihg-Trcndle gets 50% of the rev- enue received from this source, it pays no royalty to NBC on the sales of recordinijs made ilself to stations: In the. major markets, buying the platters at a fixed rate. Agreement that neither King-Trendle nor NBC will compete with the other in ped- dling the platlersi Relations with Mutual likewise-are rather unusual. With some WXYZ' programs being fed . to MBS, the originating station gets 'a 'talent fee' for either sustalners or commercials which the youngest national chain takes. The' Michigan web has little dupliv cation, Lynn C. Smeby, engineer, testified. Day audience within the % millivolt contour is 3,574,856 of whom 9% can pick signals; night au< dience, without material duplication, is 2,558,792. McCIatchy End Operations of the California Radiai^ System produced a slight profit last'' year after a major loss before Hearst. Radio gave up its part in the ven< ture, G. C. Hamilton,' general rhan« ager of the McCIatchy radio enter- prises, related.'. Lost in 1937 was' around-$56,000; last year the group operated In the black to the extent of an $8,000 profit. Relating that the net worth of the McCIatchy newspapers, parent cor- poration which controls the radio properties, was shown by books at $4.500,000i Hamilton conceded the actual value is in the vicinity of $8,-° 000,000 to $9,000,000. None of the stations are compelled by McCIatchy to take any commercial programs, he declared.' The affiliates pay vari- ous wire costs and pay flat fees for being members of the combo. They are paid actual card rMes for sale of their time. Running out of witnesses, the Com- mish adjourned the hearings a day early last week, and expects to finish the network phase of the inquiry in. short order this week. Miscellaneous. groups, educators, etc., come on next as the proceeding goes into its fifth month, with the end still problem- atical. McNinch Blast (Contined from Page 45) News editorially pxaised him for his stand.) With Industi-y observers siding- overwhelmingly with Craven, vet- eran newspaper reporters were un- able to recall a comparable outburst of temper. Considerable'amazement ', was expressed at the way in which the McNinch statement was dis- tributed to virtually every newspa-. per office, particularly since the FCC almost never sends handouts around by messenger. Press corps members could not think of a case where, dur- ing a family feud, government fa- cilities—paper, mimeograph and em- ployers—were used to make the pub- lic aware of personal differences. Belief that the flare-up will have a distinct effect in Congress was based largely on the. fact that Mc-- NInch earlier took to the microphone to roast Commissioner George Henry Payne, with whom he has had many differences. Less than a month ago the chairman castigated Payne for assertedly feeding material, to Stan- ley High for latter's Satevepost piece, although High and Payne both have denied emphatically there was any contact Although often they are on opposite sides of the fence, Payne and Craven frequently have dis- agreed with McNinch. They fought his proposal to remove civil service protection from all attorneys, the suinmary discharge of Hampson Gary, general counsel, and the later. firings of David G. Arnold, chief ex- aminer; Melvin H. Dalberg, depuW chief examiner, and G. Franklm Wisner, press chief. As a result of the two recent Mc- Ninch rages, speculation was lively about the President's reaction, espe- cially if Congress drops the reorgani- sation idea, which seems likely. Talk was heard that the explosions prove McNinch will not tolerate any ques- tioning of his policies or actions, a point used by Congressional oppo- nents of the scheme to prune tne agency to three members.