Variety (Jan 1940)

PICTURES Thirly-fonrlh VARIETY Amuvprsary AVediiesday, January 3, 1940 RETAKES OF 1939 By George E. Phair Hollywood, Jiiii. 1. There was n lime irlu'ii ))ln»ipi(r \c(is the ra<ie. When beaia-u thIci/ ilic ?iiiilion piclure screen. Tlic Icodiiia /eiiimc ii <i.s li/.c ii fushion paye. All spick ana s))nii. iio iiifiilcr u lint the scene. J7i si'lk (iiKl cimiiie, jcii clri/ (i>i(l pomp, The (luiii.'icl posed ni 111(1111/ n (;il<lcd hall. But iioio IlK'y dunk lii'r in ri tropic Rtcamp Ot U'rc'tic'Iter tiinkciip in (i Ixiriooiii brnii'I. (. w * Oc-Oomph. in» .\. D. In the hi.stoiy ol (he motion piclme: old 1939 wiU be known as the Year ot Deglamorization. Feminine pukhriliide, ciillivated, adorned and pub- licized at a tremendous cost, suddenly found itselt behind a celluloid cight- Not so long ago a femme .Mar could dawdle through a stampede, a hur-, ricanc a sandstorm and a forest lire and wind up by swimming over IMiaoara Falls without disturbing one lock of her permanent wave or dis-1 arranging one flounce of her Paris gown. For a time Joe Public looked; on in wonder. Then he snickered, and the snicker was loud enough to be ; heard by the Master Minds of Hollywood. Now the glamor gal finds her-1 self pushed around, as it she weic a heavy or a roughhouse comic. Notable example is Marlene Dietrich, orice the last word in beauteous hauteur. Marlene was a lady, like Du Barry, only more so. Today we | find her in a western honky-tonk, warbling ribald songs and mingling in j unladylike clinches with barflies. Joan Crawford always looked as if she were stepping out of Ye Olde Smarte Shoppe. In her current piclure she has the aspect of one emerg- ing from a concrete mixer. Clark Gable clamps a headlock on Joan and drags her through jungles, swai-pps. fens, bogs, morasses, quagmires and anything else he can find on the lot. Joan is utterly and irrevocably de-oomphed. For years Alice Faye was the fair-haired gal at 20th-Fox. Modistes, coutouricrs, cosmeticians and haii-manglers were hired in vast numbers, to enhance her natural beauty. Along came 'Hollywood Cavalcade' and j 'Alice's features were festooned with custard pie.s, flung with-unerring aim , by that veteran pie pitcher. Buster Keaton. There is only one thing more j deglamorizing than a custard pie. That is a huckleberry pie. Even the Great Garbo, once as aloof as a Goddess of Norse Mythology, finally let down her hair and got a snootful. P. S.—The beauty shops are still working overtime. Life is a cycle. The back-laced corset is coming back. So is Dracula. ', PETE SMITH GrrHings to . Variety MuKBS ICvoi'y whvro Inside On Harry Edington's Orig Tie-in with RKO Hollywood, Jan. 1. Naming of Harry Edington as head of RKO studio production fol- lowed negotiations that have been on and ofT for a number of years. He was first approached to become ex ecutive head of the studio at the lime Hiram Brown was prexy, lat- ter making special trip to the Coast to confer with Edington. Report- edly, Joseph P. Kennedy strongly recommended Edington at that time. Once again the studios are threaleniiig lo knock off the high-salaritd I First overtures to Edington were sUrs. The play's the thing and all thai sort ot stuff. It's a good Idea If | made shortly before David O. Selz- they can dig up another plav. 'Bov Meets Girl' Is gelling a bit frayed nick moved into plant as executive around the cuffs. ! producer.- and were renewed soon ! after Selznick departed to join Diplomats can't agree on w^hat constitutes contraband, but everybody 1 Metro, admits that Henry Arnjetta is a high e.xplosive. THROUGH THE (34) YEARS So aiHiihcr _vo;tr lia.s i-timc and i^onc and show l)u.sinc.-.s iiuikcs il.s I'MO cnliaiu-c oil a wi.ild-stagc that is peopled l)y .shunf^rc and lonifyiiiK; aclnrs. On (he l)acUdrop is an crnpliii!; v(iU;ino effect, lepri'senlinK Ihe rcsninplioii of liuropcan life and (Ujiih stnigKle in age-okl eoinhat. J3o\vn front tlio scone is iiiorc iran- qiiii a visiuii of Anici iea in troubled peace. In the swirl of events sluiw business is not detached fi(.in the coinposilc setlinjr. ."-^o closely are (he theatre, the .screen ami radio inlerwoven with the world panorama that every d.iy and hour make new demands on the resonrccs of professional >liuw- mon. The (ililijialion wtirld that is cm show business is versal sanitv. It is clear and the assi;;nment clean cut. In ji the verj;e of politicarand military hysuiies, the dominating inflnenci: in the canse i4 lini- is the mirror in Vvhich humanity may };li,.ii)sc it.scif, however vague and bleared the vision may be. .^how business alone retains some sense of luinior, an atlrilmie ilmi can save civilization. Dust (if .H Years ha.< accnmulatetl on the bound I'lUs of ^■^^HlKrv since its lirst issue. Week after week the publication has maintained its uniciue i)lace as an international newspaper of the show world. Its columns hi'.xy testimony to the fcuiiiude of show peo()le who, tliri.ugh the years, have adapted them- selves t(i iincunnlcd changes, innovations and developments both wilhin and outside the tlie;itre. I Edington, in the meantime, is .>:aid to have cultivated a close asso- :ciation with the bankers interested 'Primrose Path' was once known as 'February Hill,' but the studio boys i i" RKO, and that his decision to ac- thought the title was too cold for so hot a story. ' cept the post was due to pressure from this end The Patent Leather Kid' is coming back with the sarne title but a new i Universal has story. Patent leather shoes and film stories crack .with age They change the names of piclure plays upon the slightest whim. They change the names of budding stars in spite of her or him. They even change the morning mist on yonder mountain's brow. The good old California mist becomes a Velo now. Whether they call it a fog or a mist or a Velo, it still leaks. 'Should Huibonds Work?' will be followed by 'Should Wires Work?' but both questions are unnecessari/ if there is a moppet in the jumily. Picture industry may be a trust in Washington, but not in Hollywood, where one producer will trust another about as far as he can throw Oliver Hardy. Yeaiis ago the Supreme Court ruled that baseball was a peculiar busi- ness, requiring peculiar rules. And if baseball is peculiar, the him busi- ness is positively delirious. abolished post of scenario editor with the departure ' of Jerry Sackheim, who held the job for the past four years. Reginiald Allen, formerly with the Edington unit, has been made secretary in charge of writer assignments under Dan Kelley. and producers and di- rectors will clear writing wants through him in the future. Joseph J. Nolan remains as assist- ant to president George J. Schaefer, in charge of studio operations. Lee Marcus continues in charge of the B s.. For the im.ment. the (uitstiindhig activity in professional en- tertainment is commercialized radio, the i)artncrship <if slmw- manship and merchaiulise. It's Joe .Miller at his lie--i .nid worst—in front of a 1 droi), armed with a shaving >iicK. a bar of soap and a plate of soup. .■\ik1 Toscaniiii in the iirclusira pit! .\<it in iis wildest tlreams could the generation of.iluaire- gders and music hivers, who made a ritual of a John i^rew open- ing at the I'.mpire Tliciitrc or a Caruso appearance at the .Mei- ropolitiin (high-lights of the era when V/XRiK'rY was yuimg), imagine the show world that exists today. Record iif the recent past makes a prognosticator besil;ilc be- fore predicting the future. Hut the future will be written, week bv Week in \'.\HiKrv. To the people in show good wishes f<ir the New business, V.akiktv extends, beariiest Year. Lull Over at 3 Go Shirley Out of Costume In HoUyiuood, li/e ii a jumpy re/rnin. With options. Its rhythm interrupted ac/nin (ind ugain, With options. Hot only in matters o/ cinema art But etien in gentle affairs o/ the heart. They promise to wed 'until deadi do us part.' With option^-. I TIME OUT TOUR I Hollywood, Jan. 1. I Pending recovery of Claire Trevor, I hospitalized with the flu, and the I turning of cameras again on 'Dark ' Command' at Republic, Roy Rogers : is personaling along the Coast. He'll slay out until the command lo return is given. Hollywood. Jan. 1. Universal sUnled three pictuies during holiday week aflor an all- lime low wilhbnly one production in work. New films are the Deanna 1 Dui'bin starrer, 'It Happened in Kaloha,' which started Thursday. | ■Black Friday' and 'The House of j Seven Gables' rolled nexl day. '.My Little Chickadee.' co-starring Mae We.>;l and W. C. Fields, wound up Thur.-iday. SAILINGS Jan. 12 iNew York to Buenos Aires), John W. Hicks, Jr., Adolph Zukor (Santa Elena). Jan. 2 (Baltimore to London). Robert Montgomery, Ben .Goetz (Clipper). Jan. 2 (Genoa lo New York), Ferenc Molnar (Rex). 'South of Pago Pago' .sounds like the work of Victor Victor. Gordon. Proper spot for the preem is Walla Walla. Or Gordon O. Henry's life is about to be fllmed but it won't be his first appearance on the screen. His yarns have been camera fodder ever since Hollywood was born. Technically there is a difference between 'Hurricane' and 'Typhoon,' but old Joe Fan won't notice. He i.v interested in sarong.s. that never saw the Mississippi. Old Mar.-se Sacramento has played the Volga, the Yukon, the Hudson and everything but the Erie Canal, which no respectable stream would think of playing. Now Old Sac is playing the Swanee, gurgling in southern accents as it meanders through Cali- fornia fields owned by Iowa farmers: 'For men may come and men may go, but my options go on forever.' In Picture Town the evening sky Was pierced by flashes rising high. Prodigiously the searchlights gleamed— A hot dog stand was getting preemed. In simple days of old,.the humble cow- Would meet the milkman in the dawn, but now She kicks aside the milking can And goes to meet the makeup man And get a smear of grease paint on her brow. Hollywood, Jan. 1. New production plan for Sliirley Temple at 20th-FoK calls for 'The Young People' as her next slarrer instead of 'Lady Jane,' the original • entry. Switch was made to avoid fhoot- ing the fourth consecutive costume picture with the young slm. L. A. to N. Y. Gene Bu.sch Jimmy Durante Tom Evans Sam Hcllman Walter Huston Jesse L. Lasky Bruno Le.ssing William Reynolds Lucile Watson N. Y. to L. A. Robert Gray Lou Irwin Abe Meyer Ellis St. Joseph Janet Gaynor has something the other Hollywood gals ain't got. A hus- band who can't criticize her new clothes. We have always wondered what teould Jiappen if some brush yovlh , (hey u ill discover an orioinal storw walked up to Chorlcs LauyhlOn and snid 'Hi ya. Chuck.' _ Wliile Unrle Sam's gximshoe boys are prowlive orouiid Hollyioood, maybe 'The Drunkard' staggers into its seventh consecutive year, a new record for marathon hangovers. Ladles who are built like hackn Shouldn't walk around In slacks. establi.>.'hinc Prison pictures are so prevalent at Warners that the studio is known as the Big House. Secret ambition: from himself. to see Spencer Tracy in a dual role, stealing scenes Governmental shifting of Thank.^giving opened a new line of thought. Why not lump all the holidays into one grand festival? New Year's Eve always did sound like the Fourth of July and vice versa. Warning to young vocalists: Once upon a time Ned Sparks was a crooner, and look at him now. ^ Even a cow must take a screen lest nowadays, like a cow she is not the type. If she looks too much It Just Keeps Rollln' Along All up and down this whole creation there is no more versatile river than the Sacramento. It is not what you might call a big league stream but it has doubled for all manner of waterways, from a rippling rill (o Old Man River himself. (?leopalra, on her gilded barge, has two-timed Caesar and Anthony on the muddy waters of the Sacramento. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn have paddle'd on its tide, and many a Memphis gambler has dealt oft the bottom while (I'-.itin,!! on the good ship Robert E. Lee 'Too Bu.'.y to Work' is. not the life story of a-studio exec, although a lot of them are like that. Tliis (nifc nboul the extermin<ition of B pirlnres i.t a lot of harmless bnii- iiif/. Tfiere u-ill uliuays be B's, no mailer how colo.'isal. Giveaways are becoming so common that iiulomobile demands a chauffeur with it. the film fan who wins an They had to write an epitaph For little Aloysius. He asked a star to autograph A set of gimmick dishies. lETY TrnOa -Marli RckI!>(<!i'«'I FOll.S'DED DY SISIB .-ilT.V K11 N ruliilHlicil \Ve«lilT liy V.-»ltlKTV. Ine. .SIU .•fllveriiian, I'l-CHlilfm 184 Weit «th Street. New V<irk Oily SODSCRIPTIO.N Annii.ll 110 ForelKn Ill KiiiKle Copies Omiii Vol. 137 lllli^iy No. 4 INDEX Bills : HI-HS Chatter )(il Dance Bands 123-i;U Film Booking Chart.... 42 Film Reviews 40 Film Showmanship Id Forum ; 162 House Reviews 14.1 International News 71- ti3 Literati IHI Legitimate 146-inn Music 12:t-I31 Night Clubs.... 132-142 Obituary 162 Pictures ; 4- 'Jd Radio 64-122 Vaudeville .'. 132-142