Variety (Nov 1939)

Wednesday, November 1, 1939 CONCERTS--UTERATI VARIETY 4S L iterati N. Y. News' Salute to Deuell The New York Daily Ne\ys yester- ciay (Tuesday) ran this lead editorial: 'The News has a rule not to print'obituary editorials. Because it is difficult to judge fairly a per:>on who has jgst died. And however you judge him, it is tra- ditional that you should say noth- ing about him except good. 'But we want to .say that in .he case of Harvey Deuell, our managing editor, who died Sun- day afternoon, there wa.s ah al- most unanimous feeling through- out this organization ot grief and affection for him as a friend and of respect for him as a crafts- man.' One of the highest paid newspaper execs in the country, Deuell, 49, died gf a heart attack near Tcaneck, N. J., while driving to ihe office of his paper. He began his newspaper ca- reer on the old Denver Republican, became city editor ot the Chicago Tribune in 1919, and subsequently editor of Liberty Magazine. When Liberty was acquired by Bernarr Macfadden, Deuell came to N. Y. as c.e. of the News, later becoming assistant m.e. and subscquentliy m.e. upon the resignation of Frank J. Hause. His widow, the former Henrietta E. G. Kinley, was <i war correspond- ent before her marriage, using the name Peggy Hjjll. His home was .in Cornwall-on-the- Hudson, where a funeral service will be held this (Wed.) afternoon. Swanson, Aear Vpped Two prominent book writers who still stick to the newspaper biz as their basic activity are skedded for promotions which will -aise them to tops in their craft. Neil Swanson is to be upped shortly to managing edi- torship of the Baltimore Evening Sun, and Herbert Agar becomes ed- itor-in-chief of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Jouriial around the first of the year. S\.anspn, a.ssistant m.e. of the Sun, has penned a number l> historical novels, some of them in the best- seller class. He succeeds J. Edwin Murphy, m.e. of the Sun for nearly 20 years. Agar is a Pulitzer Prize-winner for his book, 'The People's Choice," and has authored many other volumes. He's been associate editor of the Courier-Journal. LITERATI OBITS ' Charles J. Fox, 66, former pub- lisher of the Police Gazette and .son of nichard K. Fox, founder of the ■ mag, died Oct. 25 in Pasadena, Cal. , Martin F. Moore, 83, vet newspa- | perman, died Oct. 28 in New York. ! Had served the United Press and N.Y. Sun, and had been a cable ed- itor for the LafTan News Bureau. Ethel Wheeler Brown, 51, novelist and short story writer, and wife of Constantine Brown, foreign editor of the Washington Star, died Oct. 29 at Port Royal, Va. J. W. Johnson, 85, retired Ohio newspaper publisher and writer, died in Circleville. O., Oct. 15. He was a past president oi the Buck- eye Press Association. Until three years ago he conducted'a column in the Chicago Journal of Commerce, 'As J. W. J. Sees Life.' Ballet Reviews BALLET RUSSE (DEVIL'S HOLIDAY) liv ' I enls and can appreciate their ftrnce and picluresquene.s.s. All the tl;inrfs are graphic and most of them have a fairly clear story. Some are com- ; paratively violent and scveiril ha,ve ; touches of sly wit. One i.s a \ (ical I offering by the entire group, with I some laughable pantomime. The IfiilW-t )n ' nmlrtK n WnvK-UYM. ToiiimuHlnl. imi»ilf by 'ruminiiHiiii ri'uiii Kifinvs )iy t'liKunliil, t-hnntuKi-upliy l,y Krc^Iprlck ..Aalicon, BcciU'ry nml viisluMios by KuKonB iiprniuii, coniiucU'ii i.y Kfrciii j settings are simple, but eHoctivt in Kurl!!. Proilm-eil hy Jliillft jIUMSis ile .Mnnle | (h» nrionlsil mnrlo nf Mnclxi^ :(rb>; pii^Henlfit by Hurok,. lU .Metni' by 'Kampf Suit Sets Precedent The ruling of the U. S. Supreme Court that the Houghton MlfTIin Co. owns a valid American copyright to Adolf Hitler's book, 'Mein Kampf,' Is significant in that it establishes a precedent for the protection in this country of literary works of state- less persons. Ironically, it will aid many of those very persons who were forced to flee Germany because of differences with the Fuehrer's ideology. The finding of the" high court re- sulted from the action of Stackpole Sons in publishing concurrently with Houghton Mifflin an American edi- tion of the Hitler work. Argued by Stackpole it was free to. do so be- cause Hitler's German publishers had described the Fuehrer as 'state- less' at the time of the U. S. copy- right application. A lower court, in granting a tem- porary injunction against Stackpole, mentioned the imfairne.ss of lack of copyright protection for stateless scribblers residing in the IT. S., and held it to be contrary to American tradition. Tbe Talkinir Book Advertising men William Adams and John A. Drake have worked out .a new idea in books which they call The Talking Book. Calls for a pho- nograph record to supplement book- reading matter, the whole providing a see-and-hear ot garnering Action and fact. Pair have organized the Talking- Book Corp. of America to promote their new combo reading affair, but for the time being will market their Talking Books throuah Doubleday Doran's affiliate, the Carden City Publishing Co. Starter will be a talking book for juves to~be called 'Mother Goose Pa- rade.' Book proper was done by Charlotte Steiner, with the sound accompaniment written by Carolyii Adams, and sung and recited by Alice Remscn. Syndicates Comics Mac Evidence of the growth of the comics mags is that the sponsors of these pubs are now offering their comics strips to the newspapers. It was not so long ago that the new.s- tapers ■ were offering their comics strips to the mags. Syndicate has been formed by Vincent S. Fox, head ot Fox Publi- cations, which has a host of the comics mags. Fox will .syndicate the chief ot his strips to the papers. Seek German Type Boycott Handbills have been sent to ad- vertising agencies and other large u.sers of printing, requesting them not to specify German type faces in their orders. Circulars were drawn up by the (graphic Arts Forum, group ot prominent names in print- ing advertising, art and publishing. On the handbills is a list of Nazi- made type faces. Opposite each name is an American-made lace or faces that correspond in appearance and use to the German. Most or- derers of printing didn't know the faces they were specifying were made in the Reich and there has been a sharp detour from them since the information went out. Tburber's 'La.sl Flower* Harper will issue a new James Thurber book , on Nov. 15, but it won't be the one previously an- nounced for that date. Publishing house had already manufactured Thurber's 'Fables for Our Time' when the author phoned and said he had written a new book, 'The Last Flower.' It is a story about the last man, the last woman and the last flower in the world. Publishers agreed to replace the other Thurber work on the schedule. Po.stal's Fact Crime Magr Postal Publications enters the fact crime mag field with the conversion of Complete Detective Cases from a fiction pulp. First issue of the new. slick goes on the stands this week as a bi-monthly. It s expected to go monthly early next year. Editor of Complete Detective Cases is Gene Fornshell. He's been on the rewrite' staff of the N.Y, .Journal American, and has been turning out tact crime stuff for various pubs for the past 10 years. Rivkin, Spieeelcass Chores Two Hollywood scenarists are cur- rently brushing up writing chores in New York. Allen Rivkin is putting the finish- ing touches to 'Wooden Empire,' coming down from his Vermont farm to .set spring publication ot the book. Leonard Spiegelgass is bang- ing out a serial contracted for by Good Housekeeping mag. Grey's Pos.t-Moelem Works With a new novel, 'Western Union.' published almost simultaneous with his death. Zane Grey also left a number of other completed and re- vised manu.scripts for publication. In his la.st letter to his publisher. Harper, Grey arranged the publica- tion of three of these novels, 'Thirty Thousand On the Hoof,' 'The Young George. Washington' and 'The Fi on- lier Wife' Exiles' Literary Reiufree With so many literary exiles from totalitarian lands in the U. S., a pub- 'lishlng corhpany has been formed in New York to bring out the literary crealTohs pt these emigres exclusive- ly. Company has appropriately been named Exiles Press and has lined up an ambitious schedule. First books to be put out under the new imprint will be 'Farewell to Walden,' by Florence Becker, and 'Some Poems of Rimbaud,' by Ar- thur Rimbaud. Books will be paper* bound and will sell at a nominal orice. New Zanesvllle Daily New daily, the News, has begun publication in Zanesville, O. Pub- lisher is Earl J. Jones and James Alexander is managing editor. News is to appear evenings and Sundays. Zanesville, city ot less than 40,000 population, has two other papers, the Times-Recorder, morning, and Sig- nal, evening. Both are published by the Zanesville Publishing Co., head- ed by W. O. Litlick. CHATTER Palee Publishing Co. formed Louis Payne. O. E. Schoeffler is Esquire's new fashion editor. John Rhode, whose 'Elm Tree Murder' has just appeared, is really Cecil Street. Barnwell Elliott has set up .m or- ganization to publish books on ten- nis subjects. Henry F. Kern, Jr.. the scribbler, takes Janet C. Mackenzie as his bride next month. Crowell-Collicr Publishing Co. will suspend its Country Home mag with the December issue. Thomas IJreicr, who edits Vaga- bond Magazine, has gone to his win- ter place at Snell Isle, Fla. Bruce Bliven, Jr., ^has been nam<;d ah . editorial writer on the New York Post. He's son of the associate editor of the New Rspublic mag. Present status of television will be told by Philip Kerby, ot NBC, in his book, "The Victory of Television,' which Harper brings out this month. Jean Hugard's 'Modern Magic Manual' appears soon, the officers and members of the. Society of American Magicians having giv^sn it their okay. Walt Disney closed deal with King Features to deliver a half-page Don- ald Duck cpmic on Sundays in ad- dition to the daily strip. New lay- out starts Dec. 10. Bernard Smith, who's with Knopf, will have a book published by Doubleday, and Philip Van Doren Smith, of Simon and Schuster, is doing a volume for Modern Library. Gil Babbit, former press agent of WPEN, Philadelphia, now writing /the go.ssip-column in the Philly Rec- ord under the stock byline of Cecil Pennyteather James J. Keeney. The Belleville (III.) Daily Ad- vocate, which has had Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain among its contributors, last week celebrated its 100th anniversary of publication with a 128-page edition. P.E.N. Club gave its first dinner ot the season last night (Tuesday) in N. Y. with C. S. Forester, Julian Green, Anne Green, Ida A. R. Wylie, B. W. Hucbsch and Bessie Bealty among the litterateurs who spoke. Alex Murphree, San Antonio newspaperman, has been named publicity director of city ot San Antonio. Replaces John Babcock. who resigned to become city editor of the Au.stin (Texas) Daily Tribune. Esquire's music editor, Carleton Smith, off on a South American jaunt in search of old Inca and Aztec folk-lore. .Smith has a fine collec- tion of Caucasion and Lapp folk songs that he made on a 40,000 trip around thr Soviet Union. N. Y. Newspaper Women's Club will hold another lecture course on various a.spects of newspaper work starting tonight (Wednesday) with a number of prominent new.spaper workers as lecturers. • Cour.se will be held in the club's headquarters. First lecturer is Hugh Baillic, prez ot United Press. Dollum Uuera llouxe, .N'. V., Out. JU, "iV: (up. rrlncli>alR:. Alpxnndni. OBnilova,. NHlbiille Krii».«iv.skii, Tiiiiiinii (^Hiitli*. Siiimn .^oiiien- ftfr. l'*r**loi-|fi Kr'iinklin, ^Hil-IK-h, .Mtu'c i'lMt'utr, .Kubui'l Irwin,. .AIi'XhikIci* <jOU<rnvltch. l^D.icmble; Mlloa. Flolat, I.iUH-:i. T.o.ln- novii, Viillfin, Gr:intxt.v:(, Ci-b.y.iinvn, .N'livi- kova, KorJlnRkR, ' Kelvi>ov..'ka; J1 iKhtower, Klbi;rldKC, Mluflnva. lt4iH5iitii, WIIHhiuh, ..irurpiivu: MllIP; MU-hc) K:Ui'li:il'ftfr, .'<i'-hii- ln.^ IJprrpoff, Th<imnj4 Annniii-. 0»i'i.« \"ol- kiiir. Coilkiii, JlPlsky, KiiklK'h. l)ii'k>.<.ii, Olb II, Slecle, Suirbiirk, .MIKfii. (CAPRICCIO ESPAGNOL) the oriental mode ot design. Devi Dja dances a number of . the featured parts. She also hsmdles the artistic and busine.<:s airiinge- ments ot the troupe. At the Sunday evening (29) performance the house was nearly tuU and attendance has been excellent tor other perform- ances to date. Company, which numbers about 30, including the native' orchestra, is comparatively expensive to troupe, but is guaran- teed at least some break becau.se it is booked on a subscription basis by Columbia Concerts Corp.- If shrewd- ly handled, it should draw fairly profitable extra attendance. Hobc. Ttalk-t tn nh«i ROPne, by T.fOliblu M;iy.sinP. inusit: by Uliii:iky-Kur^'akofr. .-Ii'ti (-iiKi'ii I'liy by .M.iM.^lne In f*,ill!ilMM'iilli,n wlili Ai-K,'iili- nUn, srciiPVy unit c«)flluini:t* by .Marbiiii, .An- ai-iiU. rondiH-li-iI by ICrrf-ii) Kurt-/,. 1'i->><lii«-ei1 by llalb'L HII..IHA Oc .Miinlp t'alln: |,i'>.)'t.|il»,l by's. Jliirok, Hi .SfetntplUan <iiicra Jlousc, .v. Y.. ivt. L>7. 'au; Jil.Mil l.iii. rriiii.liial..:; .M bi Sbivriii»ka, .\lc-Minrtra D.inlbiva, i.eoi)l<l« Mtt!>.siile, .<Midi'«a Kglov- sky. KiiROinble: MMch. Mui-ra. VMutal, I'baiiil*-, .Si\;irpuva, Novlkova, Kniiii-H, . Uniub-nko. ItoRiujn, GvanC/.ttva. MlHdovn, ytflezmiva. Kiurrrl, Ortova; .Mm. .'^i?nw.iiii(T, .Vriiioiir, Cnilkln. nPl-esoff. Db-kSdn; t;lbyf,i) Knlt-bH- lorr, SlrelP. '/.orlll-b. Volkotr, KoklO'h, Ji'wiii, .SUrbuck, .Milton. New Ballet Group To Vie As Concert Rival toNBCCBS For its ninth American sea.son, the Ballet Russe is offering.six new bal- lets, ..t>vp of which it t^rcsented Thursday (26) andJFriday' (2T). Cur- rent engagement at the Metropolitan Opera House, N. Y., is slated to con- tinue through mid-November, after which the troupe will embark on its nationwide trek. Last Thursday's premiere, already postponed two weeks, almo.st didn't come off at all. Several of the prih- cipal dancers were caught in Europe by the war and had been unable to get passage to. the U. S. However, the last members finally arrived on' the Rotterdam the morning of the opening, had a rehearsal that after- noon and managed to get the curtain up on time tor the preem—something ot an achievement itself. Under the circumstances, the wonder isn't that the two new ballets, 'Devil's Holiday' and 'Capriccio Espagnol,' are .some- what rough, but that they could be presented at all. Both need moi'e rehearsal, but both are surprisingly smooth, considering everything. Devil's Holiday' is the longer The Ballet Theatre, new terp group, is laying'plans to buck NBC and Cps concert bookings through^ put the U. S. Stand ot four to six weeks in New York, .set to. .start ' about Jan. 4, will be made in a legit hou$e, as yet unbooked. Date will tee off the group. Six-week tour of the country will follow the N. Y. engagement^ In- stead of sticking to small towns which NBC and CBS bookings never hit. Ballet Theatre will confine iUself to metropolitan centers, battling the major' bookers on their owji ground. Other indie concert organizations, such- as-Ballet Caravan, manage to arrange profitable engagements only by cultivating the sticks. Plan ot Alexander Kahn, managing director of the new organization, is to set up his own ticket-selling and promotional organization in those towns where TIBC and CBS reps won't handle his group. Kahn is a former Boston newspaper editor and rhore elaborate and likely to be the . was for years a Parisian opera im- Babbit replaced niore popular of the two. To Vin- I presario. His assisUnt is Richard cenza Tommasini's development of; pjcasant, who last year managed the Paganmis 'Carnival in Venice, it I Mordkin ballet, which the new.-or- iels a simple little ballet story, with,: U,o *»t,o„ -„ _ . a wealth of lively color and striking ^f^^^'P^ haf. taken over in part, costumes. There is some excellent \ " addition, placed under con- pantomime and the dancing is al- i tract eight well known choreograph ready nearly up to the Monte Carlo standard. Alexandra Danilova, one of the veterans ot the troupe, dances charmingly as the girl, with Frederic Franklin brilliant as the l>oy, Marc Platoff .scoring as the devil and Nathalie Krassovska as a gyp.sy laS.s. 'Capriccio Espagnol' is an even simpler piece, offering a less graphic story than 'Holiday' and less spec- tacular dancing scope. Mia Sla- vanska and Leonide Massinc, in black wigs and colorful costumes, highlight this Spanish-slyle dance, the final moments of which mount to i „, ri»-:i t> . r..-^,,. t , - an arousing pilch. !^'"*'" °'p"'' ^ - ^"6*"^, V Busine.ss at both the first two bills I'"f. the Ballet Caravan, and .lo.se was considerably more than capacity I Fernandez, who has done legit and of the ample Met and. from indica-1 film dunce staging, tion.s, the Monle Carlo should aK»in The new troupe consists of .50 In score a hefty boxoffice success. The ] the principal group, plus a .specinl only ballet troupe that ha.s been able ■ ^,n\\. ni 20 Negroes and another of 12 to retain the traditional air of K'am-! e_„,,.„i, ,>np,(»trc our that pnce surrounded the old , ^P«»'sh dancers. Russian ballet, the company seems | headed for an even more successful tour than in previous sea.soiis. It-" pcrsonnel is at least count to former years and its reputation has been steadily growing. Hobc. ers in its elTorts to break in on the. principal ballet, the Sol Hurok-NBC- bookcd Ballet Russe de MonLe Carlo. No other ballet, including the Monte Carlo, has ever had more than three choreographers. The B.illet Theatre's ballet directors include Mikhail Mordkin; Michel Fokine. lor-- merly ot the Monte Carlo; Adolph Bohn, ot the San Francisco Opera; Antony 'Tudor, ot the Sadler's Wells Opera House, London; Andree How- ard, of the London ballet; Agitrs de Bali and Java Dancers I .■ f-|,i-rl(iry «(■ nnll.vi. <lafi«-*-s. fi-nL'fi hit' Ilnivi lija, Willi (,*iiin.'bin n-tivc dir-bcwl ra; ilhcrlid by .V. I'ii-ill.i: |.i,»>iii-d bl- i-i.liii,i. biK (''.nrt-i'iM i-iiip.; lit iiip-tiuild 111..1111V, 1 local, orchestra. DrI. 1'" NEW PERIODICALS United Stales Navy Magazine, to be.publi.shcd by Joseph Gilbert. In- tended as the naval counterpart: to the mag. Our Arhiy. Publication headquarters, in New York. Everywoman's Magazine, monthly pub tor femmes, to sell for 3c. Dis- tribution will be via retail eslablish- mente, the mag's sponsors eschew- ing Ihe regular mag outlets. Mmlcal Key, fortnightly mag on musie Publisher is Neil Fromer Harrison, wilh publication office in New York. Symph to Give 6 Concerts At the H'wood Pantages v. Hollywood, Oct, 31. Philharmonic Symphony orchestra Currently in the second year of its closed a deal for six concerts at the j wo'rl'd tour, this troupe from Bali Pantages theatre, Hollywood, in ad- dition to its regular schedule at the auditorium in' downtown Los An- geles Hollywood dales are Jan. 25-26 and ' Feb. 8-9-22-23. Leopold Slokow.ski I conducts the opener. St. L. Symph to Tour St. Loui!!, Oct. 31. Eighteen cities in nine midwest states will be visited by the St. Louis symph diiring its 60th .season that gets under way Friday (3). Vladimir Golschmann is back for his ninth con.secutive jear as baton- waver. New M'kee Unit Would Replace WPA Symph Milwaukee, Oct. 31. Milwaukee's already uncertain fii- i lure a.s to a symphony orcheslra was I f urther clouded Wednesday (25) by an announcement that a new organi- . zation had been formed to ba(k a This group would call itself the Milwaukee Com- munity Concert Association and its , orchestra prissumably would take I the place of the federally backed linit lhat played last summer in local parks. Plans include the sale of 150.000 and Java last week opened its fir.st U. S. appearance. Outfit has played through Asia and Africa and had I ' extensive dates through Europe, but '■ cancelled them when war broke out tickets al $1 each, engagement ot a there. It's slated to return home i nationally known director, 10 con- somelime next .spring. , ccrls in the winter and 10 in the Striking thing about the company | summer and tree programs In is the commercial aspect of its 1 schools. This would call for an out-. "' lay of $140,000. dancing. It's scarcely calculated to I appeal to the general public, but it I should be a definite click with fol- lowers- ot the dance, and not alone for its novelty. Dances are surpris- ingly ea.sy tor western people to understand, much, more so. tor in- stance, than the ullra-stylixcd and traditional Chinese dance.s. In-addi- tion, after a tew moments, the .•■'pec- lalor grows accustomed to the movo- Mcantime, the county board, through its WPA committee, i.s .still pondering support to the Wiscon.sin I Federal Symph., which has played ' th? last few years under direction of t Dr. Sigfrid Prager. The Govtrn- ' ment demands all such projects have local sponsorship.