Variety (Dec 1939)

VARIETY PICTURES We«liiefi<l«y, Decrihber 20, 10;i9 'Complete Rehabilitation' Is Bioff's Argument, Fighting III. Extradition 4- I Chicago, Dec. 19. j Exliadilion hearing? on William Bloff, film labor leader, now in Cali- fornia, in the Illinois state capital at Springfield, were heard today (Tues- day ), and ended in Governor Henry Horner's aides taking the case under Advisement, Decision is due Jan. 10. Assistant state attorney general A. B. Dennis sat in at the Spring- field review, perfonalty represent- ing Gov. Horner, who was not present. In fighting 0)* extradition claims, tc serve .the . remainder of ..a six- month term for pandering, on which he was convicted in 1922, State Sena- tor Abe Maroviti, representing Bioff, claimed "that anti-American Federa- tion of Labor organizations were working' for the extradition; that Bioff is now 'completely rehabili- tated and therefore does not need punishment,' Besides, .it was argued, Bioff thought that the case had been reversed long ago. Marovitz asks that the Gov. refuse to signature any order to bring Bioff back from California to serve re- mainder of the sentence. Meanwhile, the Slate Attorney's office last week put up a stiff protest to. the Los Angeles police' departr ment for releasing Bioff. In a.vigor- ous wire to L.A, chief of police A. C. Hohman, the Stale Attorney's office corjiplained that the first'word they heard of Bioff's release was from news dispatches. Telegram read as follows: 'According to press reports Bioff discharged. We did not reque.st his release, See our letter Nov. 25, enclosing warrant as your authority to hold him until governor's war- rant issued. Attorney MaroVitz on behalf of Bioff requested a hearing before the Illinois governor. Case set for Dec. 19. This caused the de- lay. Please appirehend Bioff and hold him as a fugitive until both gov- ernors have acted or until this office notifies you otherwise. Letter fol- lows.' To this wire L.A. Chief Hohmann telegraphed in replay that 'Bioff case dismissed Dec. 12, Court figured you had ample time to be here. Subject's attorney will produce him when your governor issues extradition papers. Our district attorney will not issue another fugitive complaint until Ihen.' Letter with which the State's at- torney's office followed up its wire read in part: 'We were much surprised that Bioff was discharged by the court in your it city. We assumed, of course, that M you were aware Bioff was fighting K extradition and consequently there r would be a delay in obtaining a gov ernor's warrant In this ca.se the ac- tion taken was unusual. Before the Governor of Illinois had passed on the papers Attorney Abe Marovitz requested a hearing before our Gov. ernor and notified us he was object ing to Governor Horner issuing his requisition upon the California gov ernor for a governor's warrant. We do not know what look place in your court, but we believe the judge was imposed upon. Certainly he would not have discharged Bioff had he un derstood that Bioff himself caused . the delay." Letter goes on to request that the Bioff case be reinstated on the Coast, and al.so asked info as to whether Marovitz appeared in court and when he had told the court about the Illi- nois situation. HOW IT'S DONE Carneeie Foimdalion Getting Fix I.owdown lor Tome Hollywood, Dec. 19. Carnegie Foundation's .unofficial investigation of the film industry has been extended six more months uri- der supervision of Leo C. Rosten, di- rector of the Motion Picture Re- search Project. jpian is to publi.sh the finding.s in a series of books during 1940 in an effort to show the inside workings, of picture production. Just for Us Hollywood, Dec, 19, Smallost and most expensive single bill film house in the coun- try opened Simday tl7) in con- nection with the new swank re- sort at Auowhead Springs. The- atre scots 130 at 75c.admission. Thornton Sargent supervises the house under Fox-West Coast operation. 20TH'S WORLD SALES CONV. INHIOOD $7,500,000 B.R. One of the more important .film financing deals since outbreak of the European ,war and the resultant un certainty of foreign .markets was consummated during the past we^k Joy- Edward Small. Producer swung" a bank loan through the Guaranty Trust Co., of New 'Vork, for financing totaling about $7,500,000. Coin is to flnat.:about 10 pix which Small will make for United Artists release dur- ing the next 18 months. Approximate starling dates on films to complete his commitments to United Artists for the 1939-40 sea- son were set by Small this week. They will follow completion of 'My Son, My Son,' which is now in pro- duction. Additional pix will be 'Kit Carson* and 'South of Pago Pago,' which the Small office declares would go into production immediately after the first of the year; 'Son of Monte Cristo,' set to get the giin on March 1; 'Valentino,' film biog of the star, starting May 1; 'Two Years Before the Mast,' which will be made dur- ing the summer, according to Small. Small delivered 'Man in the Iron Mask' early in August. jlollywood, Dec. 19. Owing to war conditions, 20th-Foy plans to abandon its sales conven- tions abroad next spring and com- bine them into one general gathering to be held in the U. S. Site for the confab has no( been picked, but Hol- lywood is the likely choice. Sidney R. Kent explained that it would be inipo.ssible to hold regional conventions in London, Paris or other European capitals under cur. rent circumstances. TOBACCO BOOM IN KY. MEANS MUCH FOR 6.0. L. A. to N. Y. Frank Borzage LiOUise Campbell Sam Coslow Edward Ellis Ruth Gordon John Halliday Sir Cedric Hardwicke Hal Home W. Ray Johnstoii Charles Lamont ^Melchior Lengyel Horace McMahoi\ Ann Parenteau R, A. Porter Sydney Towell Frank Tuttle Herman Wobber Edgar Allan Woolf Herbert Yates N. Y. to L. A. Shirley Booth Claudette Colbert Rouben Mamolian Ralph Morgan Thomas G. Rockwell Ann Rutherford •Louisville, Dec. 19. Chant of tobacco auctioneers opened Louisville tobacco market, and city merchants, as well as farm ers of .Kentucky, Indiana and "ten- nessee, stand to reap a golden har vest from the weed. Prices are a.bout as high as last year, with more than 600,000 pounds of bright burley on the fioor of one warehouse. Top prices were not as high as last year, but quality superior. John Singhiser, official auctioneer at a local wareho^i.se, and now airing on the Lucky Strike show, drew special interest of a Board of Trade delegation, selling the first baskets as guest auctioneer. Wi.llianL E, Morrow, Board _of Trade secretary, who led the deiega lion, estimated that in next eight weeks a probable $50,000,000 worth of burley will be disposed of in Ken lucky markets. 'It will make a merry Christmas for thousands of rural homes in Kentucky,' he said, 'and will contribute generously to volume of biz done by Kentucky re- tailers and wholesalers in months to come. It will provide means of em- ployment for 7.500 work;rs in Louis- ville tobacco faclorie.s, and will ac- count for almo.st a third of the total cash income of Kentucky farms and War s UDcertainty Will Probably Stall Any U. Pfdr-Dividend Arrears Un.'ettled conditions m the for- eign field resulting from the Euro- pean conflict probably will force Universal directors to abandon origi- nal plans to payOff part of the dividend arrears on the first pre- ferred stock. Plan will be held in abeyance, according to latest infor- mation in Wall Street, although it may come up for discussion when the U'directotlate meets Jan. 7 next Ltitest indication is that annual financial statement for Universal for the fiscal year ending last October will be available at the January di- rectors' session; It is expected to be one of the most favorable statements in several years, although writeoffs and realignments made in the final quarter, because of foreign losses, undoubtediy will make the net profit less than originally anticipated shortly after_ the nine-month report came out. Annual stockholders' meeling and directors' annual confab does not come until' March 15 next at Wil- mington. New board" vJill be named at that time. ROGERS' 9-PlC DEAL WITH COL OVER 3 YRS. Hollywood, Dec. 19. Charles R. Rogers closed a deal to produce nine 'A' pictures for Colum- bia, three per year for three years, contract effective Jan. I. . Two of the films lined .up for 1940 are 'Jane Addams and Hull House' and 'Senate Page Boys.' William A Pierce, . as.sociale producer . with Rogers at Paramount, stays with him under the new contract. Talking It Over By Joe Laurie, Jr. THE SCENE:—T)ie 5!)lh Si. tntTame 10 Cviilrtd'Park. THE TlMi;:-rClivi,s/mns Ei'e. THE CAST:—Blai-kie. and A'ellie, f»ro old cob Jior.<!«>», crops, livestock and livestock prod ucts during the next 12 months." As sales proceeded farmers began lining up in warehouse front offices at the cashier's cage for their checks —checks that means plenty of Christmas spending, and exhibitors can naturally expect to get their liberal share of the golden flow dur ing the balance of 19.39, and extend ing well into. 1940. Other News Pertaining to Pictures Aussie's and U.S. films on frozen coin .Page il Phil Reisman's Aus.sie trip ..Page 11 Yanks'Spain setup !,..Pa"e U Film salesman gave NBC its Graf Spee .scoop: ; .!..Page 22 Aylesworth as coun.<!el page 24 Ameche back for radio washup.- Page '26 Radio reviews: Norma Shearer, Peter Lorre, Connolly-J.gnes- Martin, Jackie Coogan ! pjge 28 ASCAP's $6,9.')0,000 income for 1039. Page 31 Sarn Coslow'a music publisher page 31 New acts: Little Tough Guys Page 34 ACVA limits agents lo 5Vf , Page 35 Dramatists Guild Page 41 Warners'halt legit bankrolling Page 41 NELLIE—Well, Blackie, here's another Chri.<-lmas coming ddxm ih» stretch and it finds us at the same old st.nnd, BLACKIE:— The holidays don't seem the .<;ame to me these d.-\y.«. NELLIE—Oh, it was the same years ago, BInckie, only we're old now and we think things are different. You know we're doing pretty good now when we even walk through the park. BLACKIE—Well, we may not be able to trot and gallop any more, and these.iaxi driveirs may laugh at us when they see us, but we have ^ome- thing none of these young pimks have. NELLIE—That's right, Blackie. Say. isn't that natty little fellow with his coat collar turned up George M. Cohan? BLACKIE—Sure, that's him. There's nobody else walks ju.'it like that. 1 remember him years ago when his hair wasn't as white as il is now. He was just a kid then, well hardly more than a kid. A k^d with dreams and ambition. He was piVtii'hg'o'n his'first~sH6w,"'Liine Johnny Jones:.' He ' and his partner, Sam Harris, would drive around the park for hours in my cab. George would sing his .<;ongs to Sam and tell him the hundreds of ideas he had for future show.s. And Sam would tell George about the plan."! he had of building theatres to house their productions and make the firm of Cohan it Harris the greatest in the country. And by golly these kids made their dreanis conic true and the;y're still going strong. NELLIE—I always enjoyed pulling show folks around, they were so interesting. When I first started working for Mike we were both pretty young. Mike came from Ireland'and 1 came from a farm upstate. II was the first time for both of us ip the Big Town. Actors would hire Mike lo drive them around town because he had a great sense of humor and understanding.' Actors liked Mike. I used to turn around and watch the young actors, composers and writers who carne to find success in the Big Town sit back in the c:ib, and you could almost see the hope shining out of their young eyes, 'VoU know, Blackie, hope is the dreams of a guy that's awake. Their thoughts kept time to the rhythm of my hoofs, "I'll knock this town 'dead' from the bolder ones, and 'I hope they'll like my stuff' from the timid ones. I remenvber the time 'Victor Herbert rode arovmd in my cab for ro\u- hours. It was just before the opening of the Wizard of the Nile,' his fir.st Broadway show. He Just sat back in the cab and moved his hands as if he was leading an orchestra. BLACKIE—I drove Al Jolson around for hours after his first opening night at the Winter Garden. He felt terrible because he had (lopped. They .stuck his specialty in full singe with a lot of girls standing around detracting from his turn. Bui the next night he did his songs in 'cue' and made theatrical history. NELLIE—There were three gals thai were almost always together that my boss and I liked very much. They were Lillian Russell, Maggie Clina and Annie Hart. Mike would have Maggie sing "Throw 'Em Down, Mc- Closky,* for him, then would make Annie Hart sing 'The Hat Me Father Wore.' And many's the lime Lillian Riis.sell sang 'My Evening Slur' lor his tip, then give him a couple of bucks extra en the next trip. BLACKIE:—Speaking about singing in a cab, I had Caruso the night of his debut at the Met. He was just taking a ride through the park to gel rid of the flggil.s. I was going along nice and easy when suddenly he burst into song. What a voice! People slopped to listen. Some started' following the cab. They didn't know then that they were listening to lh» world's greatest tenor, and for free too. There'll never be another like him. NELLIE—There'll never be another like any of 'em. They were great artists that loved to live and were on speaking terms wilh Life. Where have you personalities today like Jim Corbett, Tod Sloan, John Drew, Sam Bernard, Eddie Foy, Jerry Cohan, J. W. Kelly, Diamond Jim Brady, O. O. Mclntyre and Chuck ponnois'.' All different types and greiil per- sonalities. BLACKIE—Speaking about personalities, you forgot lo mention one \h«l stood out like the Empire Building; that was Raymond Hitchcock. I'd drive him down Broadway and he'd tip his pearl gray derby lo everybody, and_they'd laugh and think.he .was .full of joy juice,, but the funny part of it was he never look a drink in his life. NELLIE—Speaking about traveling down Broadway, it's been yean since I've been downHhere. In the old days we drove all over the town, we didn't just do the Park. We drove to the Melropole, Jack's, Claridge, Shanleys, Astor Bar, Knickerbocker. Why they knew me in those spoU as well as they knew the customers. 1 was always good for a few lumps of sugar from the waiters. I'd wait for my old customers like Junie Mc- Cree, Ren Wolf, Scamp Montgomery, Bat H^asterson and Lee Harrison. BLACKIE—People liked to ride in those days, enjoy the fresh air and take things ea.sy. Today when a co\iple of .squirts get a little slewed they jump in the cao and want to wear Pat's hat and drive me. NELLIE—But there's still nice people riding around. I get a greiit kick out of driving an old couple around, they just sit and hold hands and with half closed eyes they dream of yesterdays. BLACKIE—It just seems like yesterday to me when a little dark slender feller wilh grand eyes was sitting in the cab and humming a tune ^ihat kinda broke up my gait. The tune was 'Alexander's Rag Time Band.' and the feller Irving Berlin. I guess 1 was the first one, that is the lir.<-l horse, that ever heard it. NELLIES—Did you know Willie Collier and Pete D'aily yhen Iht-y \ver« ' working at Weber & Field.s' Music Hall'.' BLACKIE—Did I'/ 1. used_lo alrnosl die laughing listening lo them kid my boss. Each one would try'to top the other's gags and'when gu.vy lik« Collier and Daily lop each other well, that's the tops in tops. NELLIE;—It's funny how one name.bRngs on another. I recall Gene Buck when he first came from Detroit and started making picture!- on sheet music, and then became one of (h'e great and best liked men of the theatre. He still rides with us once'in a while, yep, he's that kind of « guy; plenly of heart for the show business and its people. You know he discovered many great stars for Ziegfeld. And speaking about Zieg- feld, I drove Jack Norworlh and Nora Bayes way back in 1908 when they appeared in the first 'Follies' on the New York Roof. They were the greatest singing team of 'em all. And it was in 1908 when I remember a handsome leading man called Sam Forrest wilh great big eyes and • shock of coal black hair opened in Booth Tarkington's and Henry Leon Wilson's 'Springtime.'' Now Sam is one of the great directors of the theatre. There was another handsome guy called Joe Howard whom I drove around. He just came from his Chicago ■where he-made a big hit at the La Salle theatre. A great ladies' man was Joe, and now at 75 he i* still working and is as hand.some as ever. BLACKIE—You mentioned Scamp Montgomery before. Well, that brings back to mind the time I drove Doyle and Dixon, this greatc.^t hoofing team in show business, and it seemed they got a wire about the p.o.'-sing of Dave Montgomery (that was Scamp's brother) in Chicago, and ihey were offered to take out 'Chin Chin' the next season to'rcplace Monlgom- ery and Stone. NELLIE—Ye.s, there's a lol pf 'em have gone lo the Big Track and no kindlier soul than Will Rogers! He told Mike one night that he Jit^f^ met a person in his life lhat he didn't like. He liked people, yes J-'id horses, loo. A grand man. BLACKIE—It sure was nice having lived in those days and knowing those great people. Yes, Nellie, they're just memories and I'll carry, them lo the grave with mc, lhat is unle.ss the bo.ss decides to make glue out of me, then maybe I'll help some young actors paste future memorie.' their scrap book. NELLIE—Well, here comes Mike. 1 guess I'll be going back lo the it.ible- BLACKIE—Do you mean lo say you're gonna celebrate Christmai iive in a stable'? NELLIE—Why not? Isn't that where il slarledT