Variety (Sep 1940)

Wednesday, September 4^ 1940 MISCELI^AilY S Minor internatibrial tempest created last week by Gerinah: .Embassy: charges that March of Tinie' Is ttsing ioptage pirated rbm UFA In 'Rani- tjafU We Watch' has ohly been jstirred up farther by producer Louis d« Rochemont's reveliation of the Bource of the film. Celluloid, from: th« feature -Baptism of Fire.V \yas turned over to MOT by the British governmieiit after having been seized from arv Atlantic Chpper 'plane,;at Bermuda. • ■ ; v.' ■ Reich's entire bUtput of propa- Sanda flilm is shipped to UFA in few York via the clippers. /When wqalher and other conditions perihit, the U. S.-operated -flying boats skipi the -British contraband controi sta- fion at Berni udii.; Qtherwise; 6rt set- ting . down there the. German film, fia well as any other Gerinan con- Vaband. is taken; off.; Berlin Just -keeps sendliig prints of a film until it plane gets it through. - Fu 11 t itie to 'iBaptism,' ;de Roche- mont declared, was transferred, to MdT by the British government rough 1 ts alieii- property ciistodian it Beritiuda, Gonflrmatipn of the Jitl» was confirmed • via: Canada's ninv.Gominissioner, John Griersort, >t Ottawa, -in time,, to permit , the ,, (Contihued on page 25) . %nencan \^ May Be Hastened New U. S. Sentiment • Prospects of fllmizing "The Amer- ican .:Way' now appear better" than ♦ver, Harry Gpetz declared .Thurs ; day (29) on his return from the Coast for a twb-week stay sit his New York headquarters. Goetz and Max Cordon, who produced the legit-vei"-^ •ion; of *\v;ay.' have a distributiori. deal with RKp; Plans for Aiming the play were postponed last fall when the foreign situation ;hiade .it apl^ear - unlikely tliat the high production cost; which would necessa'rily be entailed,, could b* covered. iSince thcin Goetz has been attempting to intieriBst public- : ipirited individuals and organizations to share iii the production cost or Sponsor exhibition of the picture be cause of its.patriotic nature.. iSackers of the legiter carhe in On the same basis, being told In advance there was little chahce of getting their in- vestment" back: ' ; Goetz has not only succeeded in drumming up considerable interest, but has . been greatly aided by the patriotic fever which has been gen •r a ted in th e U.; S, since it embarked 0a the preparedness program. It's felt that 'Way' might turn put pirbfit .tble. as a straight business.,venture result: of current sentiment throughput the country. CLIPS FROM PtoM ;30SIlENTSF(BtREIJ|F HollywObd,\Sept. 3.'. . Mary Pickiprd Is dohatihg a fea , turu made up of excerpts -froni 30 of. h^r ..silent: piGtUres,. to be released .thrbugh United Artists for the: ben eftt; of the Canadian War Relief. ^ .Pictiire will carry;a prolog and an epilog, in . eolor by Miss Piekford. Herb Sterne, and Sbnny Chalis .are doing . the. .editihg. ■ ■ :\ CHRISTIE'S CdMMERICAlS , Al Christie, veter^in '.d^ launched a commercial .pictXire pro ducing enterprise under the: hjime Embassy Pictures in New York; . . Both—Wffrren . M^^^ and- J. Grahanv, directors,; who have, been ^with him for -;years, are in : Christie's new projects^ of bn ,/Hpllywobd,. Sept.: 8, ;. tiaralhe Day falls heir to several stories pri the Meti-o shelf,; originally apught for. Margavet SuUavan .when she was a: star on :the Culver City, lot. :>,.:•:.■':. ;";^ ' ;-.-.'. :-^:'-. ^■ Yarns .are, being dusted off and re- v/ritten for Miss Day, who recently returned frorh ai personal appearance with Waiter :Wagrier's *Fpreign Cor- respondent' in; New York; She'a fea-? tured in the :film. Disclosure, that a number Pf gpv- erhment agehcies, including the F era! -Bureau of Investigatipn and; reprPsentatiyes of the; Dies commitf tee,, are investigating activities : of tJFA in cpllabpration with the Non- Sectarian . Ant.i--Na7.l League^ was made by a spokesman, for the latter organization last week. : He decliared that isufficient evidence of illegal ac- tivity has been discovered to fbrce the curbing In a couple weeks of UFA ais . a. ma j or distr ibUlor of/Nazi propaganda in the United States..- ■ tJFA is the. American agency- fbr handling film made by UFA pf Ger-i niany, Tobis ahd other Reich . pro- ducers, ail.; of whom are subject to Hitler, control and. turn .put. .filhis of varying degrees of propaganda, It Is shipped to. a dozen theatres thrbughbut the United States, seven in the' metropolitan New York area, which play nothing but-Germian pic- tures. UFA, witli biflces in Radio City, N. Y., is -incprpprated in New York State. - it was forced to regis- ter with the State Departinent in (Continued on page 21) Bonuses I nto Trust Rind; Weekly Pay IG Hollywood, Sept. 3, 'New cbtitract \betWeen " Mickey Ropney and Metro calls for $1,000; weelcly during the first year and a graduated option up to. $3,000;for the seventh year, plus, bonuses of $25,- 000 per.- picture. The : pact . was legally; ;affirrned b.v- the superior court and involves both'Metrp and Loew's,' Inc. Minimum bonus guarantee is $50,- 000 a year above Mickey's regular salary. If hie makes^ mb;-e. than two pictures a yc.ir.v each ' job callss fbr an' extra ; .$.25.000;;.. At .,'hi.s ...c.urreht rate. .Rbbney ■ Will pull .down: about $150;b00; per annum a.?ide from his .w.eekly pa.y...env.eio'pe.. ;■ : tinder the ...court .:ruljhg, ;the:'.$25,-' OOO-per-picture; boniis gobs into a trust fund, tp be^ preserved lihtil. ;h.e reacires the age of 35. .after which hi;S.. mother :.draws -.'^ •Mickey .gets;the'residde.' ■;' MamoulianV *Rio'; ; . 'Hbllywopd, .Sept;;-3. ' 'First, assignnient;. for .:Rpuben' Ma-^ moulibn ■ Under' his . . ternl; con- tract with iOthrFox.. .will./be . "fh.ey. Met in Rib.' he.w title'; for';'Latin froth Mahhattah.' He .recently' fin'-, •.ished' 'The Galifonrian;' .' Cesar ;Romci'o :gets. the leading role .in. 'Rio,' wh ich is lal)bed a ' yarn about : American . showgirls touring Sbiith America,.. M It n 7 bf th(i Theatrical Prominen.ts Accounted For in Unoccupied France > SEVERAL EVACUEES (The. iuriter/ VariEtv'? ' cQrrespond- ent in Poris; •until tfte Freiiciii; copi- tofs cdptiire by Me Nazis, describes in the fpregbing, froin his present statiorv in Madrid, the effects ofy Hvige Paris exodus . upon; French show hv^iiiess personalities.) ' ; By jpSEPH O. RAVOtXO ; : Madrid, Aug. 22. For the most part, it was impossi- ble during the weeks fpllbwing the Gernian tiriumph to khPw where those connected; with French, show biz had sought refuge.' ■, Sonne wei^e seen in Tours : and Bordeaux befbre ■ the Armistice, only to disappear once the German trobps bccupied these cities; Soirifli were known ; to; have crossed, into , Spain' enrbute' to the. United States.; Others, were somewhere, ih France with the broken and crushed French army, with still others falling into; German hands as prisbhers. Many.: simply: "rehtiained behind in their hbmeis despite the. German ad- vance.:/ '' V'; ' Sbme anticipated the German en- try into .Paris., by some' w*eek.s, -like Irvih; .Maries, the. American who re- turned: to New York after 15 years' residence 'in the .French capital. Others, like playwrights Henri.Bern- stein and- Louis .Verneuil; .■ screen and; stage acftors Victor Francen, Louis Jbuvet llnd Madeleihe Ozeray; ' . (Cdhtmiied on page 23) Trehfet *Nazi Victim' Unemployment Aid / More Profitable To Actor Than Pic Job A legit actor who doesn't care to^ let it be. known that he is 66 had a one-date quickie piqture job last week that cbst him rriuch more'than he was paid for the 'camera appear- ance. He got $26 from the Astoria, L. I., studio, but: the way he figured it he lost $41.25. He .laughs it off in the telling and justifies himself by explaining that taking the fllih bU, that: of an historical character, he proved to the director that he' is the Phly igiiy who :can play that partic- ular-part. ' His bookkeeping starts off with a deduction of $2.50, which the agent's commission. Because he took the job he will not receiye $44, which is his hibhthly pensibn from the Fed- eral ., social .'security fund. He also had to forego the $15 State unem- ployment dole. An expense was the payment of $4.50 to get into good standing with the Screen Actors Guild, necessary before he could taice the picture job, and the total on the debit- side thus was $66,25. the additicnal 25c being the deductibn ■for social; security.; Credit ■■■ of ? $25 therefore left him In the red for $41.25. \0:y--::y,X '-- ■ ' '""^ 'COFFEE BEAN conga; SALUTE TO S. AMERICA Grapevine report is that Charles .. Trenet, French; cafe singer and songwriter, is a. vic- tim of the. Nazi invasion. , Already knbwn. to a certai ■ strata in.. America via his Co- lumbia disks, the ; W^llliam Mbr-. ris agency was all Set tb-^bring him to America when war set in. The 23-year-Pld . enter-' tainer wai* ■ tdiitpd; .'find' in France. ■ Detroit, Sept. - 3. jVith three bands in her 'guard of. honor,' Gracie Fields broke all at- teridiahce". records for/ 'Windspf, Oht.* oh her ;current tour. of Canada, More than 6,000 . persbns'.jammed .the Windsor Arena,; largest crpwd/in its history, at $1.10 for the lowest ad- rhission. Proceeds of the berielit, held in threatening weather/goes to the ■.Canadian. Navy League. • • • It gives some idea "of the pickings the British star—who more than. 20 years ,;^gp was honored by the late King George "V. for; her work in keiep- ing up the morale of the fighting forces in the "World War—will glean on the benefit tour which takes h;er into 31 tow,ns and cities of the. Do-. miniPn. ■; ,■ Miss Fields, who quipped about weather being 'hbmelike,' got. a turn- out of all Windspr's martial force, including; those three bands from the Windsor Sea Cadets, the Essex Tank Regiment and the Second BalaUion, Essex Scottish. : The toiir, on which she is accom- panied by Harry Parr Davies, song- writer, will take her across Canada from Victoria to Halifax. With the money pouring in at her: benefits she may carry it a little farther intb the Empire with a Junket across the Pacific to Australia. \: Upon his visit to New York, early last \yeek, Congressman Martin Dies, .head' of the committee investigating; un-Americanism, ; declared that he has 'undisputable' eyidence that the ■Theatre Arts Committee has a direct: connection w:ith ^Moscow. It is in the form of photostatic material. TAG, has been charged . with being; a ■•Communistic . front prgahizatibn, which it has denied. - -Dies interviewed several film players in his suite at the Waldorf- Astoria and three were cleared of charges that they were members of the Communist party, .. ialthough so, iridentifled by a Los .■Angeles grand jury. Those ; who' appeared volun -; tarily and were exonerated were Franchbt Tbne, Luise Rainer and Francis Lederer. .■ His opinion re-; garding Lionel Stender, also named on the Coast, was withheld. Npnc pf the legiters named in the Lambert-' ■son charges appeared arid all pre- ■ viously had denied Red ■ affiliation. Understood that Dies thought that Jone. Rainer and Lederer had cbn- tributed ' tb certain . pi^ganizationa witljout knowledge that the groups Were radical. ,.■ ; Bert. Lytell/ president of Equity, also had a session with Dies. He staled his purpose was not tb de- (Continued on page 21) tUBITSCH PICBEiAYEl) BYDOOteTlEl^ •• .• HpUywbod, Sept. 3. Start of ; Ernst Lubitsch's : first production for .■United Artists lease; is;, being held back untii Oct. Ii5, although tiie script ..is / ready, for .shooting and . Merle Oberon,. the femme cp-stari :is: available at; the moment. .. / Delay is caused by Melvyn Doug- las. male \ topper, Who . is tied up with a job at Coluinbia. Woody Herman band will broad- cast a special dance prograrn via shortwave to South Arherica to- night (Wednesday) from; the Hotel New Yorker, N. Yl. ' Pickup, which; wil.l be beamed, sbuthward by CBS,, is in deference 'tb the- Part-Anieric'an Coffee Growers Assn:, in' convention at the . hotel. . - . . ;: . Ah original .; jive tune has', been dreamed up by Joe Bisitbp; pE tiie band, and. Dbp Ray, sontjwriter, for the broadcast, . t tled' \Gojffee ; B^^ Conga.' ■ -V British Gov't Would OK Niyen'sFibn for Howard As Worthy Propaganda London, Sept. 3, Leslie Horwafd is cabling Samuel Goldwyn to ask reliease of. tiavid Niven to co-star with him Jh one picture, 'Pimpernel Smith.' If Gold- wyn releases Niven from contract stipulation that he can . work fbr'hp other producer, It is understbpd the British army command will allow the player to temporarily giye up his regular duties; as the film .would be good propaganda. ;; ^ Leslie Howard Productions Co. has been formed to make, the pic- ture from an Original gtpry by Wolf- gang Wilheirn.: It will be released by' Ango-Araericiani which is also.fi- hanciaily Interested the produc- tion. :" Shp.otihg.' 'starts.; In Septemr ber. ' .■"■.'• ; Dix Accidentally Burned I . r : Hollywood, Sept. 3. '■• !': Richard - Dijc' sustained pbvvcjftr .burns on his left cheek and ear I When a pistol was accidentally . dis- ' charged ..niear .his ; face dUrin? the filmi.ng pf '.The .Roundup', .at Para- . mpiint.' •• ■:...'■ ■:-'■ f Actor .Was., .rushed to a hbspilal I for anti-tetanus injections, Trade :Mark Replatorcdv. POUNDED BY 8IME SIT.VERMAN ruhllNhed Weekly by VARIETY. Iiio. ■ Sid Sllverniftn,.• Pr«,sl(1ent .■ m Weat 46th Street, Now Vork, N. T V.\Kir,TV K.VDIO DUlKCTOnV . trul)!lslieil';iri N ...Y (tniiually). . . ' ■ ■;-.t!i. ;pf!r copy; ;; n.\n,Y VAIUKTT •■• S j 0 ;i.. yV;M-.-Sl 2 fore! jrn . . (Uul)l!.Mli('f|, lh-,MolIVw6ba .by. ■ . Dully Variety, Ltd.) ■ ; : ■