Variety (Apr 1939)

S6 VARIETY LEGITIMATE Wednesday, April 19, 1939 NEW LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS MAY DOOM FEDERAL THEATRE PR( mRRlED AN ANGEL' PLAGIARISM CLAIM Congressional Committee ^proves One Bill Putting 'White Collar' Projects Under Local Sponsorship —F.D.R, Would Prevent Relief bisruption Washington, April 18.. The final curtain for Govemment- -Bubsidized drama is In the olfing this week, witti Congress about to make radical dianges in the Federal relief system. With general disapproval of federal Theatre Project productions giving an added stimulus, legislators are - preparing to adopt measures which would mean inevitable curtail- ment, if not complete abolition, of the attempts to provide temporary Jobs for out-of-work actors, stageliands, musicians and other groups. Presi- dent Roosevelt is seeking to prevent disruption of the 'white collar relief ventures, but with only scant hope of success. The veritable death kneU for FTP was soimded last week by a special Senate Unemployment Relief Com- mittee. It recommended passage of a bill sponsored by Senator James Byrnes, Democrat, of South Carolina, tinder ^irhich the art, theatre, music and writer projects Would I>e con- tinued only if sponsored by local agencies. Purpose of the Byrnes plan is to Bliift part of the expense of relief on the cities, counties and states, be- sides providing decentralized control and cutting the administrative costs now met by the Federal Government His formiUa requires local agencies to put up one-third of the total out- lay with the National Treasury pay- ■iag other two-thhrds of the cost of reUef activities. In the case' of the white-collar projects, the sponsoratiip obli^tion would be. shifted to-the local authorities, who- in the past have shown slight concern about the plight of theatre and music people ETP Iiooks Doomed Despite Administration insistence that relief for the white collar class- es must continue, there appears Utile likel ihood 'Congress will perpetuate the FTP. For in addition to the threat in the Bjrrhes bill, there is-an even more hostile move underway, The House Appropriations committee, which currentiy is investigating the way the Works Progress Administra' tion has been run, seems likely to approve a biU offered by Representa- tive Clifton A. Woodrum, Democrat, -of 'Virginia, which would bring more radical revision of the relief system. His scheme proposes direct Federal allotments to the states for aid of the jobless and almost complete scrapping of the made-work theory, During, recent months Woodrum has grown sternly critical of FTP, re- cently . condemning ihiportaUon of the 'Swing Mikado' production to New 'STovk and reflecting belief the reliefers' drama has a reddish tinge By the end of June, it is generally conceded. Congress will have framed the new relief scheme; and there is little President Roosevelt can do to stop the sweeping alterations in the system which lias been in eSect since July, 1935. Sentiment of a majority of lawmakers in both chambers is host ile to ward the WPA as such, with the FTP particularly unpopular and having only a half-dozen defenders, Stock venture planned by Al Wa^tafl for Bermuda this 'spring and faU has been set aside until next year. Pos^Mnement was necessi- tated by the faUure of the Utile theatre- group in Hamilton to go throu^ with its plan to build a new playhouse.' Wagstafl figured on taking down a company ' of youngs Broadway pro- fessionals to play, a spring and au- tumn season, returning to New York for replacements during the sum- mer. Pending completion of a town hall in Hamilton, Wagstaft will con- duct a strawhat season at Ridgefleld, Conn., this summer, in association with Philip Carr and Alfred W. Lea- man. Charles Atkin will direct lost Coloiiy' Startmg Third Season July CharloMe, N. C, April 18. The third summer season of Paul Green's 'Lost Colony' wUl begin a 12-week run at the outdoor'Water- side' theatre, Manteo, July 1. Plan ivas produced originally as part of the 350th anniversary celebration of -the founding of the first English colonies, and the Birth of 'Virginia 'Dare, the first English child born on American soil. More than 175,- 000 persons saw it during Its past two seasons. The cast of ISO performers will in elude most of the original players. Of this nu iiber, the majority of the actors areAiaUve islanders and fish ermen- wl jb have never seen a the- atrieai production in their lives. En. tir^ production is a non-^profit ven- ture sponsored by various state his- torical societies .and groups devoted to popularizing the history and lor . of .IjToWh Carolipa. . „ „ -. Bermoda Stock Off PROMOTDIG PRO-AM STOCKCOINPHILLY PhUadelphia, April 18. Plans are being made for a stock company, part professional and part Utile theatre, to take over the .Wal- nut Sti'eet theatre here next season. LesUe SpiUer, of New ITork, will produce and six Equity members wUl be imported as the nucleus for the group. Remainder of the casts wiU be made up from auditions of Utile theatre members. Idea was hatched,and is now be- ing pushed by Mrs. Mildred Byram Fishbum, onetime monologist and now mother of several sons in show biz. She is attempting to line up a flock of sociaUte and business names to act as an advisory board and put up $100 each to. get the thing under way. She is seeking as principal sponsor Mrs. Edward ISok, to whose late husband the theatre will be dedicated. Bok, editor of the Ladies Home Journal, suggested a similar scheme many years ago. Plans are for a 10-week season of five plays running two w,eeks each. Two weeks of each month the group wiU be in the house and the other two weeks it wiU be In New York rehearsing. Scale will b« $1 top. Subscriptions for two persons for the five plays will be $10, Confab of the axpeoted sponsors wlU be held at tha theatre on Sun- day (23). Current Road Shows (Week AT April 17) 'Brown Danabe* (Fay Wray)— Nixon, Pittsburgh. D'Oyly Carte Opera—Colonial, Boston. <Freneh WHhont Teara* (Elissa Landi)—Plymouth, Boston. •Hamlef—'Henry IV* (Maurice Evansy-^hubert Boston, .1 Harried An Angel' (Dennis King, 'Vera Zorina)—Grand, Chicago. •Klas <Iw B«ya Goodbye'—Ameri- can, St Louis. 'Kiss the Boys Goodbya*—Melba, Dallas (17-18); Shrine Auditorium, Otdahoma City (19); Convention HaU, Tulsa (20); Arcadia, Wichita (21-22). •Knlokerbocker HoUday* (Walter Huston)—Hartman, Columbus (17- 19); Cox, Cincinnati (20-22). Lnnt-Fentanne Repertory — Eng- lish, Indianapolis (17-19); Hartman, Columbus (20-22). 'Mother* (Alia Nazimova)—Na- tion^ Washington, 'Mrs. Moonlleht'—Montclair, Mont- clair, N. J. IHy Dear Children' (John Barry- more)—Bijou, KnoxviUe (17); Bijou, Chattanooga (18); Erlanger, At- lanta (19); Temple, Birmingham (20) ; Ryman Auditorium, Nashville (21) ; Auditorium, Memphis (22). 'Oar Town' (Frank Craven)— Biltmore, Los Angeles. 'Onr Town' (EUdie Dowling)— BushneU Auditorium, Hartford (19); Shubert New Haven (20-22). 'Skylark' (Gertrude Lawrence)— Ford's, Baltimore. 'Tobaoeo Bead'-Parkway Madi- son, Wis. (17-18); Fond dii Lac, Wis. (20); Gateway, Kenosha, Wis. (21); Mars, Lafayette, Wis. (22). Torohbearers' (Alison Skip worth) —Maplewood, Maplewood, N. J. 'What a Life'—Erlanger, Chicago. 'Whtteoaks' (Ethel Barrymore)— Auditorium, Tacoma (17); Royal Vic- toria, Victoria, B. C. (19); Strand, 'Vancouver (20-22). •Women'—Opera House, Boston, Leo Sarkadi has filed suit In N. Y. federal court against Dwlght Deere Wiman, claiming the plagiarism of his original drama. The Angel,' In 'I Married ian Angel,' now .at the Shu- bert theatre, N. Y. Plaintiff claims that the show is based on a play by John 'Vaszary, but that It has a sub- stantial portion of the plot of his play. He seeks the usual injunction, accounting of profits, and damages. Metro owns the picture rights, hav- ing purchased them from Vaszary, but Is not named in this action. Burleigh Be-Slgns Pittsburgh, April 18. Pittsburgh Playhouse, local com- munity theatre, has signatured Fred- erick Burleigh as director again for 1939-40, marking his third year in that post Season closes here May 6 with end of 'Meet My Sister's' run, and will show en increase of almost 70% In gross take over '37-3B, Bur- leigh's first 'year here. Equity's Retrenchnent Begins With 3 letoitts; Means 8G Annusd Saving Equity Is paring down expenses, particularly in its New York, head- quarters. At least three, memlsers of the staff wiU retire at the order of the council. Those to go are Robert T. Haines, Harry Lane and James O'Neill. Understood the latter two "are to receive small pensions because o( their long service, y/bUe Haines' tenure is comparatively recent They will not be "replaced. Saving to the association Is estimated at around $8,000 annually. Action followed the recommenda- tions of a committee on economy and. efficiency. For the past two years Equity has been pondering on ways and means , of reducing the operation nut after spending coin on an effi- ciency expert's opinion. No decision was made, however, but the neces- sity of economy was crystalized this sees'>n, when it was annouh'ced that the Screen Actors Guild would dis- continue the annual per capita tax to Equity in order to keep its own association out of an operation defi- cit It was known that Equity had a sizable profit during the past year, but more than half came from SAG. Fearing that the margin would be too thin without that revenue, the association deemed it time to fore- stall possible depletion of the assets, most, important being the 47th street buUding wher^ it is quartered.' Ijat- ter wUl be sold. It's recognized that Equity's membership will hot in- crease and.that it.ha8>declinedr what with radio and other divisions hav- ing their own unions. $12,BM Saving on Glllmore . .When Frank Glllmore withdrew as president, Equity saved a salary of $12,500. Arthur Byron accepted tiie post without pay and, inasmuch as he is not called on to devote all bis tline to the association, an assistant waS~ appointed, Haines getting the assignment. He has really been aide to Paul Dulzell, executive secretary and treasurer, who is actively han- dUng the affairs of Equity. Hahies was long in vaudeviUe and legit, has acted on the executive committee and devoted considerable time to the WPA end of the membership. His duties, along with those of Lane's and O'Neill's, wiU be divided among Dulzell, William Mohr and Charles Mantla. O'Neill has been with Equity for 20 years, Lane's con- nection being almost as long. Latier has handled the alien and summer stock divisions, along with other de pertments, and both, too, we're actors. Suddenness with which their jobs were taken away was something, of a surprise. It was expected they would remain with Equity as long as they desired, through being familiar with the association's regulations and acquaintance, with.the membership. Hie committee which recommend ed the letouts .consisted of Walter Greaza, Mary Morris, Fidward Field- ing, Malda Reade, Franklyn Fox, George Heller and Ben Lackland. For B.O. Laurels The batUe of the two colored Mikados' on Broadway now will be heightened, WPA's 'Swing* version having been taken over from the Government by Bernhardt Ulrioh, of Chicago. He will move It May 1 from the New Yorker (formerly the Gallo) to the 44th Street, virtually across the street from Michael Todd's 'Hot' version, which opened at the Broadhurst after the relief show was brought in from the Loop, Todd, who is also front Chicago, has his show, which cost consider- ably more to produce, at $3.30 top, while the 'Swing' outfit, under com- mercial management is reported having decided on $2.20 top. As a WPA-er that show was $1.10. Frank Fey's vaudeville show at the 44th Street is mentioned moving to the St James. Though it has been operating in the red, the Fay outfit plans sticking tmtil the World's Fair opens, at which time show business expects a prosperous spring period to develop. Two other bidders for the 'Swing' show included Todd, who proposed to send it on tour and thereby elim- inate it as oompetish to his 'Hot' version. Harry Mintum, who put on the WPA-er, handled ibfi deal for the Federal end. From Washington it was stated the' actors selected the manager they preferred, although it is known that the company had no alternative of staying on the reUef payroll. Rules stipulate they must accept private employment If the pay is higher than WPA's, or else. Washington end alao absolved Minturn from favoring Ulrich over Todd, an administrator being quoted saying: 'He has been loyal and fair and never forgotten that he was a WPA official in his actions.' Min- turn queried Equity in regards to salary guarantee and a bond was filed with the association's- Chicago representative. Stated tiiere that Minturn would be associated in the presentation at the 44th Street, but denied that he was 'on the payroU' of Ulrich and Melvin B. Ericson, who are partners. KIGHTT ROYALTIES STYMIE HOLMES Taylor Holmes has virtually abian- doned the idea of doing 'I'd Rather Be Right' on the Coast Understood the reason is that Rodgers and Hart arc asking 13% authorship royalties, which the potential backers consider too steep. Holmes . succeeded George M. Cohan in the lead role of the- musical during the recent tour, but the show closed a couple of weeks thereafter. Fleischer on Mend Sidney B. Fleischer, attorney and film sales negotiator for the Dramatists Guild, is recuperating satisfactorily from an appendectomy he underwent Sunday (16). He has been active for some ihonths .in drafting a plan for picture sales under tiie minimum basic agree- ment, but his absence is expected to delay the matter only a f£w days. Fleischer only about a week ago recovered from a severe attack of flu. French-America Reciprocity Plan Put to Guild Henri Bernstehi, Paris playwright currently in New York, will atiend the Dramatists- Guild, council meet* Ing today (Wednesday) as represen* tative of the French Dramatists' So< oiety. He is also a Guild member. It's expected that he will submit • plan for a reciprocal membership agreement between the two organ-' izations. Groups are already friendlyi but have no formal working agree* ment Not known just what form tho Bernstein plan will take, but it ii assumed it wlU be somewhat along the lines of the agreement now in operation between Actors Equity and British Equity, by which any mem- ber of either group must join the other it working in that field; Eng- lish playwrights, a more or less in- active and non-inclusive group, has no such arrangement with the Dra- matists GuUd. Another matter which Bernstein may bring to the councU's attention concerns copyright. French play- ' wrlght is believed to favor. quick ratification of the Berne copyright convention by the U. S. and- hopes to persuade the Guild to back such action by the present Congress. Rati- fication has been blocked In the past by various author, publisher, radio and film interests on the groimd that it would extend greater protection in the U. S. to foreign writens than to American ones. Various interests Involved In U. S. copyright have been endeavoring for about a year to work out a do- mestic copyright law, with the idea that ratification of the Berne con- vention would foUow. Long seriea of conferences has been held by the International Committee for Intel- lectual Cooperation, sponsored by Columbia U. with the backing of the Rockef^er Foundation. Bernstein, who Is also a represen- tative of the French government for the opening of the New York World't Fair, plans to sail May S for Paris. FIVE FTP SUPERVISORS WALK PLANK ON COAST Loi Angeles, April 18. Five Federal llieatre Project su- pervisors were lopped off the pajrroll by Alexander Ifef twlch, new director for Southern California, in keeping with his policiT of retrenchment Dismissed were Mary Virghila Farmer, Max Pofiack, Louis Raper, Chalmers Day aiid S. X. Gay. All had been with the Project three years. 'Stream,' Days' Stop The Flashing Stream,' Imported from London, opened to mild press at the Biltmore, N. Y. Business after the debut indicated only a slim chance and the drama went off Saturday (15) after playing one week. THE FLASHING STREAM Opened April 10, '39. London Import was generally: panned. Mantle (News) called It 'a bit of a disappointment' Loekridge (Son) wrote that It was a 'sensi- tive and Intense drama, bnrled under words.' Anderson (Joor-- nal) described It as 'fabrleated and empty of emotion.' Variety (Ibee) predicted, 'Limited en- gagement probable.' 'The Happiest Days' was even a faster flop, although touted favor- ably. Opened at the Vanderbilt and drew doubUul notices. Stopped Saturday (15) after seven perform- ances, which grossed less than $3,000. THE HAPPIEST DATS Opened April 11, '39. Tragic drama was greeted sympathetl- cally, but wasn't regarded as likely entertainment. Atkinson (Times) said it 'deserves the at- tention of playgoers who do not dlstlngalsh the theatre from life.' Brown (Post) cracked that It was a 'drab chronicle, drably- told.' Watis (Herald Tribnne) consid- ered It a tovohlDp and poignant lUtle 'play of genolne almpllolty and feellnc.'