Variety (Dec 1939)

RADIO Vol. 137 No. 2 "AniETY riil>ll;ih(>(l \Vor*kIy nt ir»l Wcat 4fill> Street, Now VorU, N. T,. by V:irlely, Inc. Annual subnci'lptlftn. $10. SinRlri copies 25 renti Biiluioil as beuond-clas;! nmllor t)occinl;ur IZ, 1^05, at lha I'uMt Ofdcs at New York, N. V., under lb<j act o£ MurcU 'i, 1379. COrVRlGlIT, 1939. UV VAltlETT, INC. ALL RIGHTS KK»KBVEI> NEW YORK, WEDNESDAy, DECEMBER 20, 1939 PRICE 25^ 48 PAGES CASH COME-ON BAD RADIO Bandleader Yen-Of the Moment-Is Another 'Oh Johnny Re-Discovery Because Orrin Tucker has lifted himself to major attention through a revival of 'Oh Johnny, Oh' other band leaders are suddenly bent on scanning the old catalogs for tuiies that they, too, might record to garner both the royalties and a rep lor bringing 'em back. Several of these leaders last week assigned their arrangers to dig around among the hits o( 20 to 30 years ago for numbers they could give a modern twist and spot on the other side of tlieir next platter releases. If this sudden Si?urt of intense in- terest in the dusty ones develops into a fad, it will mean hard going for IHiblishcrs who make a practice of scrambling for placement of their current tunes on the 'dog' side ot the phonograph records. U will also mean Uie breaks for disc recogni- tion will go more and more to llie firms wliose catalogs date from away back and are studded with old l\it.s. The latter publishing house.^ will be In a position to e.^ercise upon re- corders more strongly than ever the old bargaining device ot agreeing to lel one disc company have a certain old tune exclusively if in return a current release of 'dog' classilication is also given a break. 'The Blackout Stroll' London, Dec. 19. The latest dance here, com- posed by Tommy Connor, is called 'The Blackout Stroll.' 'Best' Selznick Agcy. Could DoWas HOOO Weekly, So Flynn Sues Los Angeles, Dec. 19. Errol Flynn is suing to break- his contract with Myron Selznick & Co., charging the agency wilh failure to ' render proper services in his behalf. Slale Labor Commission, before which the petition was filed, gave Seljnick until Jan. 20 to answer. Flynn claims that the best the agency could do for him was $4,000 a week. His current weekly salary ot .$5,000, he asserts, is the result of his own negotiations. His new con- tract calls for a boost to $0,000 a week, effective Aug. 17, 1940, for two years. In 1942 it jumps to $fi..'jOO, »nd the next year to $7,000, accord- ing to Flyiin's coniplainl. Traveling Acts Subject to 11/2% New Phifly Tax Philadelphia, Dec. 19. Traveling acts, bands, cii'Cus per- formers, opera singers, legit players, etc., playing Philly after Jan. 1 will have a slice taken out of their wages to pay the city's new income lax passed Friday (15). Under the levy, passed by City Council to make up an $18,000,000 deficit in the budget, residents and non-residents of the city will be taxed alike. The tax will be collected weekly at the .■iource. In other words, employers' agents will deduct the tax from the l)ay envelopes and turn the coin into the city coffers. A chorine making $40 a week will have to drop 60c into the municipal pot. Performers making $100 a week will have to pay $1.50 weekly, despite the fact that residents of other states have to pay taxes there besides..Another angle is that Phila- dolpliians working out-of-town are also forced to pay the new tax. A Philly agent booking a local resident in an out-of-town spot must deduct (Continued on page 32) T DEPLORE TREND Trade Observers Say Adver- tising Agencies Are Losing Perspective — Buying Lis- teners with Money Give- aways Called Unsound and Transitory HARTFORD CASE Penciled In 18 Years Ago Philadelphia. Dec. 19. Meyer Davis claims longest ad- vance booking of a dance date. On J^^c. 31, 1922, Mrs. Henry Brinlon i-oxc,_wealthy Philly dowager, heard "avis band at a swanky ball and penciled him to play at the com- of her granddaughter, «uth Porter, who was born a few fays before (1922). Next year, on Dec. 31, 1940-18 Of Bn M "r°»vis will lead a band TOakA.T'"!?"' as young Miss Porter BcUeL"l*o.5T * cala ball at the "cuevue-Stratford hotel. Leading network advertisers, with Lever Bros an emphatic case in point, have recently rejected pro- grams offered by advertising agen- cies which were primarily based on some money giveaway idea. These advertisers, in rejecting such pre- senations, have expressed the view- point that bank nights and other types of cash handouts cannot help but react unfavorably on both radio and the accounts in due time, and an unhealthy state is bound to result from the circumstance ot one ac- count bidding against another for listeners by the cash route. In the case of Lever Bros., usual- ly regarded as among the shrewd- est of sponsors, there is a decided distaste against anything that doesn't smack of straight and legitimate en- tertainment. This account believes that'the listener's primary interest in radio is the enterlalnment that he derives from it and that in the long (Continued on page 24) Rare de Reszke Disk To Be Sold Publicly The rarest operatic record in ex- istence, a Jean de Reszke, is being commercially released by the Inter- national Record Collectors Club ot Bridgeport, Conn. The double re- cording is Siegfried's 'Forging' song from 'Siegfried,' and 'O Paradiso' from 'Africana.' The tenor refused to record com- mercially, but these recordings are rcpressings from the collection of Lionel MapcLson, librarian of the Metropolitan, who experimented with recording in the wings of the opera house during actual performances in the closing years ot the last century. They consliUite the only known recordings of the lenor, who declined an offer of $500,000 from Victor since he declared 'Jean de Reszke will never be presei;ved on wax." De Reszke, born in 1850, was con- sidered the greatest tenor in the I world during the 19lh century. CRUISE SHIPS AT LOW LEVEL Holiday cruise business is virtu- ally at. a standstill. Only three lin- ers are definitely sailing at the end of the week, whereas last season be- tween Christmas and New Year's there were 40 such trips, and nearly every boat sailed with capacity pas- senger lists. For 30 ot last season's holiday cruises, entertainers were used. Only one of the current three will have a show for the vacationers, it being the Nieu Amsterdam, which will hug the coast to Miami and Havana. The Graf Spee incident in South American waters led to several can- cellations. Other two boats slated for the holiday trick are the Swedish liners Kungshohn and Osoljord. Latter had less than 100 passengers listed late last week, as against 600 last ycnr. Early this week the former listed 200 bookings, but half are said to be cruise agents. Last season the liner sailed with 500 passengers. In doubt of sailing is the Saturnia, Italian boat, while the English and French liners have naturally* can- ' celled all such trips, Joe Kennedy s Influence Seen In U. S. Resumption of British Prod. Stork Sweepstakes Standard Oil, outdoing the late John D. Rockefeller who gave away dimes, will pay $5 to all babies born Jan. 1, 1940. This is a stunt arranged by the Esse radio news programs to mark the two new 'babies' of Slandard, Esso and Esso Extra gas. Actuarial experts at the Metro- politan Insurance Co. gave Mar- schalk & Pratt agency the proper odds on which Standard will pay off special maternity cases, to wit: Twins, $200. TripleU, $750. Quadruplets, $4,000. Quintuplets, $25,000. Cohan Looks At Cohan in Cathohc U. s Wash. Show Washington, Dec. 19. George M. Cohan made special trip here last night (18) to get quite a kick out ot 'Yankee Doodle Boy,' presented by Catholic LT. Speech and Drama Department as a 'musical biography' ot college's, favorite thea- tre name. Cohan, who always visits school when he's in town, had con- ferred with authors, recalled little- known incidents from his life and supplied some 2;l of his son^s to be worked into the show. Book, written by Walter F. Kerr and Leo Brady, former a teacher and latter a graduate student at the school, carries Cohan from an infant sitting up in a trunk backstage in a vaudeville thealre in 1878, through 17 scenes to today. Central charac- ters are the 'Four Cohans." Also prominent is Sam H. Harris, his part- ner in the producing end. First act concentrates on the (Continued on page 45) A connection between the return ot Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy from London two weeks ago ^nd de- cision last week by RKO, Warner Bros., Paramount and Metro to re- sume English production is seen by the trade. Kennedy is understood to have returned with a recorhmenda- tion that American producers go for- ward in good faith with their quota commitments in England. He is said to have indicated that this may lead to a lowering ot the coin-freezing provisions now in force when rulings governing the amount of money per- mitted to be exported are revised in the spring. Kennedy is of the opinion that a reasonable effort by American com- panies to produce in England may very possibly result in production equal to the amount done in the United Kingdom before the war. It is not expected, however, that either the American or British companies will be able., to produce as many films as prior to the outbreak ot hostilities, leaving a bigger-than- ever market for American-made pictures. Increased income, ot course, will be virtually meaningless unless coin- removal restrictions are eased. That is why Kennedy, who aided in nego- tiating the money-exportation rul- ings, is anxious that the Americans show their 'good intentions'. He thinks the chance .they take now on investment in foreign production may pay big dividends eventually. Hitch in the English production, ot course, is that it is a chance. It's (Continued on page 32) 350-Pound Judge Doubles As Maestro of Burley Orchestra in St. Louis $2,000,000 in U. S. Taxes Paid on Thalberg Estate Hollywood, Dec. 19. Court records here disclosed Fed- eral taxes already paid on Irving Thalberg'.s estate approximated $2,- 000,000 with the state soon to be paid $90,000. Estate of $4,470,913 left to his fam- ily now has a market value of $2,579,094 according to latest ap- praisal. St. Louis, Dec. 19. Doubling as police magistrate in Venice, III., acro.ss the river, and baton-waver at the Garrick theatre, St. Louis burlesk. house, is a push- over for Frank Reidclbergor, who hasn't lost an ounce ot the 350 pounds of avoirdupois he lote.s around during the 10 years he has been doing the double turn. Past 40 years ot age, he's been a police mag-' istrate 15 years. He taught piano to youngsters in Venice for several years, between court sessions, and in 1929 became, leader at the Garrick. Reidclbcrger stuck through thick and thin with (Continued on page 47) Mrs. F.D.R. Commercial? Deal for a sponsored series on Columbia by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt is now being negotiated by CBS Artists Bureau. Several commercial possibilities are available to b.r. the talks, and Mrs, Roosevelt Is thought to be amenable to accepting.