Variety (Sep 1939)

WedneMlaf, Seploniher 27, 1939 LITERATI VARIETY 5.1 Gassner's '26 Best Plays' ' Book publishers' lists made up for the fall contain more than the aver- age number of tomes on the theatre and allied arts. Besides many published plays, from various pviblishers, Crown Publishers will' bring out '20 Best Plays of the Modern American The- atre,' edited by. John Gassner. Jo- seph Wood Krutch has written The American Drama Since 1916,' an in- formal . history, which Random House will publish. Burns Mantle's annual, 'The Best Plays of 1938-39,' will be sponsored, as usual, by Dodd, Mead. 'Foirty-FiviE Minutes Past Eight,' by Ward Morehouse, N. Y. Sun, drama crick, an account of numer- ous personalities in the theatre, is to be published by the Dial Press. The 11th volume of C. D. Odell's 'Annals of the New York Stage,' covering the period from 1879 to 1882, will bear the imprint of the Columbia University Press. Odell is the Columbia drama prof. A study of recent plays, 'Today in American ■ Drama,' by Frank Hur- burt. O'Hara, is to be published by the U. of Chicago Pre.ss. Crown Publishers is also to bring out Ber- nard Sobel's 'The Theatre Encylo- pedia,' which, among » store of info, will include the synopses of nearly 1,000 plays. Harcourt, Brace will spon.sor a his- tory of American jazz entitled 'Jazz- men,' written by Frederick Ramsey, Jr., and Charles Edward Smith. And 'America at the Movies,' a discussion of the influence of the films, by Mar- garet Thorp, js to be published by Yale University Press. Hillniaii Tops Collier's War Staff Staff for Collier's European. war coverage to be headed by William ' Hillman, and to include W. B. Court- ney and Frank Gervasi. Courtney, ■who sailed from N. Y. last week, will make his headquarters in Ger- many for the time being, and Ger- vasi will cover the Allied side. Hill- man will be in general charge of Collier's foreign service, with head- quarters in London. Trio has had long foreign news- paper experience, Hillman is a for- mer general European news ' man- ager for International News Service; Courtney, an associate ed of Col- lier's for some years, covered the Ethiopia, Spain and China conflicts lor that mag. and Gcrva.<;i has been' with the As,sociated Press, Universal Service and INS abroad. In addition to the three. Collier's has also arranged for a series of pieces by Winston Churchill. Charles Wertenbaker, former ed- itor of the press section and more' recently on the war de,«k of Time, mag, will go to Europe to cover the conflict for the mag in a couple of weeks. He will have a roving as- signment, but will concenlrale prin- cipally in England and France. Cooperative Newspaper A cooperative newjspaper has been launched in Fitchburg, Mass. It s the Fitchburg Star, a Iwice-weckly, and represents Ihe culmination of an idea by Hugh V. Knox, vet newspaper- man. Some time ago Knox had occasion to do a new pieceron-the-c«oper.ative movement of the Finnish colony in Fitchburg. Got the idea that a newS' paper might be operated on the same basis and sounded out opinion. Suf- ficient enthusiasm was -exhibited to enable him to get the project under way. Under the conditions of the co- operative pnper, stockholders and ad- vertisers will share profits equally. Stockholders have only one vote each, regardless of the nimiber «f shares held. mentator. Most of the features of Scribner's will go into The Com- mentator starting with the Novem- ber issue. At the same time The Commentator will take on a large- sized format. Francis R. Bellamy, former ex- iecutive editor of The New Yorker, will be editorial director and gen- eral manager of the combined mags, with Harrison Smith and Joseph Hilton Smyth, and Lowell Thomas as advisory editors. Smith and Smyth operate a number of period- icals of their own. Thomas has been an advisory editor of The Commen- tator since that mag's inception. None of the staff of Scribner's goes along in the purchase, Harlan Logan and his aides haying found jobs elsewhere. Brazil's English LaDguaper Brazil has its fir.sf English-lan- gauge newspaper, "The News, pub- lication of which has been begun in. Rio de Janeiro by Ralph Ross, an American. New daily is a tab. Ross) who's had extensive newspsper experience in the U.S., was last with La Nacion, Spanish-language paper, in Buenos Aires. NEW PERIODICALS Future FkUon, fantasy story mag, is being prepared by Blue Ribbon Magazines. Will be a companion periodical, to .<»me publisher's Sci- ence Fiction. Louis Silberkleit edit- ing. The Voice for Homan Rlehls. lib- eral monthly in tab newspaper form. Sponsored by The Committee, of Catholics for Human Rights, with its chief object to fight anti-Semitism. South Seas Stories will be added to the Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. chain in November. Type of mag indi- cated by the title. Jerry K. Wester- feld editing. LI'TERATI OBITS Waller Leach, 60, managing editor of the Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Sunday Courier, died Sept. 18. Beginning newspaper work on the old Brook- lyn (N.Y.) Times, he . went to Poughkeepsie as a reporter on the iStar. He later became city editor of the Poughkeepsie Enterprise and was city editor of the Sunday Courier before rising to m.e. George F. Delacorte, 22, .^on of George T. Delacorte, Jr., head of the Dell Publishing Co., was killed Sept. 16 in Hartsville, S. C, by a hit-run driver while on a bicycle lour of the South. Younger Delacorte had been employed by his father as editor of a number of humorous mags issued by Dell. H. Howard Gould, 56, prominent Boston newspaperman, died Sept. 18. Entered newspaper work after serving for a time with Little, Brown & Co., book publi.sher.s and had been city editor of the Boston Traveler, managing editor of the Record and assistant Sunday editor of the Herald. Joseph Hawley Chapin, 69. art edi- tor of Scribner's Magazine for years, died Friday (22) at his home in Westport, Conn. 'Escape LKcralure* With non-fiction virtually a minus quantity on their fall and winter li.sls, publishers are looking for a swing back to the imaginary happy- ending stuff very soon. Ever since the Munich pact, mo.sl stories turned out have been serious work.s with a factual basis. It is deemed almost time now, with the world .<;o tur- moiled, tor a return to 'escape liter- ature.' Tracing the cycle, joiibs declare that before the first Europejm war fiction was by far the big thing. After the war. non-fiction began to catch up and held an even pace with the lighter .stuff, while in the pa.st year there has been comparatively little in the Cinderella vein. Takes Over S(:ribner Mag Assets of Scribner's Magazine, which suspended last May, have been acquired by Charles S. Paysion, owner and publisher of The Com- War On Co-op .Conlinued from page 3_ all distrib.s. The exchange booker becomes of increasing importance, also, because of the efTorls he must now make to get the best dates on available product, keep film on re lease moving without delay so that revenue is moved more rapidly, and try to get exhibs on his company's books to agree to the maximum time. Among contract terms of dis- tribs are agreements that a picture is to play two to four days, or per- haps five to seven. The number of days the fUm eventually gets ).■: something that's decided when it is ready to be dated. A greater will- ingness.on the part of both dislrib and exhib to deal. as confreres for the best benefit of both is among the hopes virtually everyone in the industry nourishes at the present time. Producer-distributors having their own theatres are in a somewhat safer position than others because they can sti-ctch a point plenty when it comes to digging for more revenue, whether it is the theatre that gets the most of it or the distributor. Paramount is in an exceedingly promising position in this respect, having three times as many thea- tres in its vast exhibition .setup as any of the others. Metro, 20ih.-Fox RKO and Warner Bro.v are the others with theatres of their own. CBATTEB William C. Lengel back at office j after some illness. Miriam Lundy, the columnist, has done a book on 'Writing Up the News.' Julian Street pacted by Appleton- Ceiitury for three books, t\yo of them fiction. Lewis Lodin the new editor of the American Gentleman, succeeding B. F. Bingham. Dana Chambers, who authors those Jim Steele whodunits, is really Albert Leffingwell. New stuff on Houdini in John Wilstach's piece on ;Original-In-And- Outer' in. October Coronet. ' . Harrison Smith and Joseph Smyth now publishing fiction, too, under their Harrison-Hilton imprint. Ingrid and ' Paul d'Aulaire, the book collabers, home in N.Y. after an extended European journey. Benny Bartlett doing a series on moppet activities in Hollywood for the Boy Scout mag, Boy's Life. A. B. Cunningham, the whodunit scribbler, used to do a bit of preach- ing. His dad was a Baptist sermon- ist. Maurice Hindus reports his pres- ent whereabouts as Finland, having managed to safely quit the war zone. \ ■ William A. H. Bimie, assistant edi- tor of the American Magazine, a newlywed. Bride is the former Jean Whittlesey. Florence Ryerson and Colin Clem- ents sold the book rights to their stage play, 'June Mad,' to Samuel French, Inc. James Agee, the Fortune staff writer, has done a book on his re- cent Alabama trek, and has placed it with Harper's. Florence Ward, who does the 'First Nightcr' program on the radio, will have a novel, 'Dalesacres,' published by Dutton soon. Sterling North, literary crick of the. Chicago Daily News, will have a novel, 'Seven Against the Years,' published next month. Elaine Sterne Carrington, the ra- dio author, will have a volume of her short stories- brought out this winter by Julian Messner. Although editor for Knopf, Ber- nard r^. Smith is having his book, 'Forces in American Criticism,' pub- lished by Harcourt. Brace. Took Sholem Asch nearly 30 years (o prepare 'The Nazarene.' which Putnam's bringis out soon. He's had a number of novels published be- tween. George Palmer Putnam, now set as a Ixjok publisher in Holl; vood, to bring out 'An Apple a Day,' a novel about the picture colony, by Howard Wilson. Noel Coward trying his hand at fiction, having completed seven short stories which his American pub- lisher, Doublcday, will put within book covers. Burton Stevenson, who's edited 'The Home Book of Verse' and 'Home Book of Quotations,* has writ- ten a whodunit which Dodd, Mead will publish. Memoirs of Frederic William Wile, former newspaper correspondent and now radio commentator, appear Oct. 2 imder the title of 'News Is Where You Find It.' To mark the 25th anni of the es- tablishment of his book-publishing house, Alfred A. Knopf is establish- ing three literary fellowships to aid talented book scribblers. Biog b<x>klet .about Somer.set Maugham is being prepared by his American publi.shcr, Doublcday Doran. Will contain a critical ap- preciation by Richard Aldington. Lincoln O'Brien, executive editor and a director of the Boston Tran- script, has stepped out. Alden B. Hoag,' Transcript managing editor, has been named O'Brien's successor. Jo Ranson, radio ed of Brooklyn Eagle, and Dick Dorrance, of WOR press department, sold American Mercury a piece tagged 'You Can't Sing That!', dealing with radio's ef- forts to clear, up Tin Pat. Alley tunes. Thomas G. Ford, vet newspaper- man and former city editor of the Knickerbocker Press (Albany), has been promoted from assistant di- rector to director of information in the up.slate N. Y. WPA. He suc- ceeds the late William B. Osborne. After more than three-quarters of | a century as mag publishers. Street; Si Smith is putting its name onto one i of its pub.s us an in'.csrai part of the j periodical's title.. Publishers chang- ing the title of its Crime Busters Magazine to Street & Smith Mystery , Magazine. ' j; M. West, Sr., Houston oil man ! and rancher, ha.s purchased the A us- j tin (Texas) Dispatch and will take over its direction on Oct. 1. He plans to reorganize the .start and change Hie niame of the paper to Football By Dick Fishell Ready or not, here it is! The 1939 inter-collegiale gridiron campaign bids fair to be one of the most spec- tacular seasons the game has ever known. There are few standouts in tn the nation and many a so-called underdog will rise on his hind le^s to upset the prognosticators much too often. Here are our first week's se- lections comprising the outstanding games of the country: Manbattao-Holy Cro.s8 The Kelly greens of Manhattan are progressing nicely under Ihe tutelage of Herb Kopf,. but they do not have the all-around power and ability of the Crusaders.. The Cross lost Osmanski but ia veteran line paced by Cahill's pitching arm, spells vic- tory. Georgetown-Temple Pop Warner has said farewell to Temple and so has his doubfe "wing- portant. Dr. Jack Sutherland has taken his departure. Wa.shinglon never "lived up to expectations'last fall, but they have many veterans back, they're playing in their own back yard and that will make the difference. It's the Washington Huskies, . Texas Christian—V. C. I;. A. Initials don't have too much in the way of material. Texas Christian has lost Davey O'Brien, I. B. Hale and Ki Aldrich, but. Dutch Meyer is depending on the tossin.s! arm of Jack Odle to keep the Hornfrogs at the top of the heap. Texas Chris- tian by one touchdown. OregoiH^Sontbero California The Rose Bowl' champions are aiming to repeat, with a good, tough Oregon eleven attempting to make it difficult. Southern Cal has more Probable Football Winners And Proper Odds (September 30) By DICK FISHELL GAMES WINNER ODDS Manhatian—Holy Cross Holy Cross VI. Georgetown—Temple Temple 5/9 NTD—Colgate .CoI«aU 8/5 Vandcrbilt^Ricc ...Rice 2/1 Mississippi—L. S. U L. S. U 7/S Clemson—Tulane Tolane 2/1 Nebraska—Indiana ...Indiana 8/5 Texas Christian—€. C. U Texas Christian 1/5 Purdue—Notre Dame ...Notre Dame 2/1 PiUsburgh—Washington Washington 8/5 Oregon—U. S. C. C. S. C. SlUnfOTd-Oregon SUle 2/1 .Stanford Even I the Austin Daily Tribune. back system. Fred Swan, ihe ,new mentor, will utilize his manpower to better advantage in a more modern offensive play. Georgetown is the favorite here, but the loss of its one- man ball club in Joe Mellendeck is more than a serious setback. Here's one of the first upsets of the year with Temple on top. NTU-Colgale This is where we came in as these two clubs hammered each other at the close of last season in New York, and the 'I'iolets were fortunate in ekeing out a. win. This game's at Hamilton, and the Violets are never at their best on the road. NYC has good aerial game but the Red Raiders have more individual talent and should win this dedicatory game in their new stadium. . Vanderbill-Rlcc Vandy's fair but Rice is touted as the big gun of the South. The com- bination of Lain and Cordill will pro- vide enough scoring to make it happy days for Rice. Mis.sissippi-L.S.U. Mississippi went to town la.st fall while Louisiana collapsed at the seams. Internal di.ssension and the political blowup (lidn't help L.S.U.'s campaign and that is still a qvicstion mark. Mississippi minus Parker Hall, is 50% less effective, therefore L.S.U. .should have enough lo squeeze out a victory. Clemson-Tulane Little Clemson is nobody's pu.sh- ovcr. They slapped down many of the big boys la.st fall. But the ele- ment of surprise is gone. Tulane, one of the best in the south, is ready and able and they'll sUrt their sea- son on the right foot. Nebraska—India na The Corn Hiiskers of Nebraska are always strong defensively. They've proven their ability against a run- ning attack but they're definitely vulnerable from an attack in the air. Bo McMillan has a razzle-dazzle aerial game and that's the method he'll use to beat Nebraska. Purdue—Notre Dame Here's the standout game of the nation, with both clubs featuring a talented backfield array. It's the S-men of the Irish versus the B-meh ot Purdue. Brown, Brock and Boy- lene of the Boilermakers are a clas.sy set of ball carriers. Sheridan, Sag- gau, Stevenson and Sitko are the touchdown kids from South Bend. It's clo.se all the way but you've got to stick with Notre Dame, because it is Notre Dame. PIttAborgh—WaKhlngloo The Panthers have lo.>-t 10 of their starting tesn^ of 1938, but, more im- manpower, better coaching and should step off with a victory. Stanford-Oregon State Stanford is being touted on the Coast as a dark horse in the Rose Bowl derby, but the inUaler of Ihe season, with Oregon State, should give a pretty good line on the In- dians' chances since the Oregoniahs are nobody's slouches. Stanford is the choice. FCC Report .Continued Irom page 34_ into the split of ihe gross, with some hints the regulators feel the chain companies are Scroogeish in dealings with the affiliates. Substantial earn- ings on relatively small investments may boomerang against the webs, causing the Commish to decide (hat certain practices must be eliminated in order to spread the revenues more widely and equitably. Even though the FCC does not po.sse.ss au- thority to fix rates and dictate terms of contracts. Investigating ILscll Important aspect of the report l.s the position the Commish occupies in making the study. To the mind of many individuals, it's . c.se of the FCC investigating itself and a situa- tion it is largely responsible for. Thus there are crossed fingers on the part ot Commish critics who expect the report will contain a high per- centage of buck-passing. .While the regulators are attempting to find out whether past policies have serious short-comings and how the law should be changed, they decidedly are on the defensive. This may react to the disadvantage of the industry and occasion some tough recommenda- tions to Congress in an attempt to disclaim responsibility and cover up the regulators' own failures. Whether the industry will have any chance to offer rebuttal is uncer- 1 tain. Before the full COmmish gets around to weighing the-committee's proposed report, argument may be I held, although there is no agreement I to that effect Parties reserved their ' rights lo file brief.s challenging stale- I n.ents of fact and conclusions that may be found in the committee's tome, as well as arguing against rcc- I ommendations which .nay .be pro- posed. Unlike other recent legislu- I live hearings, the lespondcnts did not ask the- privilege of submitting comments on their own testimony, pointing to what they think were the more important bits of evidence, for. consideration of the committee.