Variety (Dec 1940)

Wednesday, December lit 1940 MISCELLAmr ;. The recording cdmpapies.isre prim- Injg .themselves for a ;hefty hop in record sales aftef, Jan. 1, 1941. If \h& radio networks and the. Amierican Society , of Authors, Composers . and Publishers do.n!t ■ come to ah agree- - merit bef ore then, records will be the best .Trncaris the public . Will have for .bearing, esUblisHed fayqrjte_ tunes; Ahd .!the^^^ 1^^^^^ not the pop humbers, is-what the record manufacturers expect to devote most of their time to. Most- of the ' tunesl; that have at^ Itained. by, long poffulairity a .'stand-; ard' rating have been recbrded many times over, but they'll be refurbished by new arrangements and recorded tihew by the bands Of the; moment. Indication, of the. iexpectant boom in Bales is the fact thgit Bihg .Grbsby, one of Decca; Records best seirers, is ait the moment cutting the greatest' numbier of sides at one sitting he has- ever mafle;'..• •. : singer is cutting jZO tuiies during the current visit of JacH Ka^p, Decca head, to'thie Coast- Filing that many lor future release, gives sonie insur- ance at. least against getting caught short of stuff for regular ilsue. Cros- by's usual quota of sides per sitting has[ been about six; . The expected push in; .sales, too, will probably result in sharpening the current battle between ASCAP publishers and radio-owned Broad- cast Music, ASCAP is currently partially barred from the air, but after Jan. 1 will be barred entirely, leaving no outlet for its songs except tecbrds, . the theatres, dancehalls and the comparatively few inde- pendent radio outlets that will sign ASCAP contracts. It will mean that the ASCAP pubs win be lighting, tooth and hail to have their stuff re- corded., with BMI always in opposi- tion, And the networks bwn two of the recording cotnpanies-^blumbia and Victoh / Brenda Joyce OK Tq Return to HollywQod But Ordered to Rest Pittsburgh, Dec, Id. While not entirely recovered from blood clot which fornied on her arm, result of. a fall, and caused partial paralysis. Brfenda Joyce was well enough to leaVe the Mercy hospital here Thursday night (5) and accom- pany Lbuella Parsons' troupe back to Hollywood, Physicians ordered, complete, rest for injured miember for some time after return to Coast, whith \yill probably delay start of her next picture; 'Priviaite Nurse.' SOth-Fox actress. was out of. the ; Parsons. show at Stanley for four days. '■ :.■ ; .Only rhcmber of unit who didn't head West again was June. Preisser, who, accompanied hy her . mother, went tb New York;to vi§it the David H'bpklnses. ;Mrs. , Hbpkirts is the; former Cherry Pireiisser, who. was with her twin sister iri vaude/'and' niusical .comedy for years. . Her hus- : band; is the son of-Harry L; Hopkins. ;tJi)it, - which was oiit;; only six we,efcs. closed, here,, and .principals returned ■■ to HbUywood Monday rnornirig. (9):; The Indian Sign ; : ;Hol^ywo9d,^peG . ;'Howard Hill, charnpion ircher of the Him coibriy, sent ,a chair lenge to . the Indians of ;New: Mexico; offering to- meet their; bow-an.d-arrow chaniip.;as a bally. , stjuht : ii>t ^'Sahte 'Fe{ Trail.' :• In- . diahs held a powwow and sent back a retort courteouis: 'Nix on . bow-and-arrow. If you want to. shoot it: out with ;guh> okay.'; - Challenge is^ off.'; telly YtHrl^ips Oirec^rs How Will Gei Grieater Say .in Production — .Heretofore On 1 ya Chpseh Few Enjoyisd Such Frqnt^lWFice;Ei;iviliEge»; v COLLAB ON SCRIPTS . Philadelphia, Dec. 10. ; Bing Crosby, in a letter . to thje Philly 'Re;cord Aast week/ answered an ^attack in a pre-election editorial in ihe daily taking him to task for his endorsement of Wendell Wiilkie •while being enriched undfer; the Robsevelt administration'. Wrote Crosby: 'It would seem that all the differences of opinion cbi^s,; cerning the twp presidential candi- dates were pretty cbnclusively, setr tied on Nov. 5. I feel if 26,000,000 voters esteem Mr. Roosevelt as the man for; the job, it's surely good enough for me, 'I db think, though, triat whether the, two Robsevelt admihistrations played an important part in the .re- markably good fortune which has attended:my career seems trivial in (Consideration of the traditional, is- sues that, were inyplved;' The crooner then went into a de- fense of the use of WPA montfy. on his Santa Anita racing plant,; which the Record said 'raised :'an. unhappiy pdor .in Congress'. ; ' ' .; 'Four years_agb' I conti-acted-.to lease a racing plant from the county of San Diego in California, for 25 days a year for 10 years at a total rental of $100,000 plus a percentage of the' gross business. These grounds were to be built by the funds of the (Continued on page 53) By BOB nl&AK' Hollywood, Dec; 10. While the; consent decree ending Uncle Sam's anti-trust : war on the 'big five'. jnay be' sour music, to dis^ tributors and exhibitoris alike, .it is being hailed as the. perfect symphony, by Hollywood film' direetots. Pilots, who for years have been decrying a practice 'under which they were ■ handed a script at night and told to start cameras, rolling in the mprhing, are ;convinced that the Federal, court docurhent indirectly; .• haS *" brouglit them victory. ; \ .//: ■ • ■ Handwriting . presaging the dawri of a new ideal for. the fellows who plit the players through their camr era paces is already visiblie, \yith 20th^Fox blazing the trail and the other major companies gettihg .set-to hop the bahdwagohvas soon as work schedules ciah be re-arrariged. It's all a piirt of Hollywood's push tow- ard iniprbved product to meet the lijUfLsales coinpetition that ;gets un- deniH^nce the decree terms;.are put int^WHto|HU|^_^ DirectprsnaV^P^M^diOi ^'^^ (Continued divpa^^W^ SHOW BIZ NAMES ON 6 LONDON AMBULANCES on .Hqny.wbod; beci lo; _;Revampin.£? of the. ckst of "The :Great American; Broadcast' at 20th- Fox shi t.led; Alice .Fayc and . Jack Oakie into top role's formerly as- ..signed; t6 Betty Grabie arid Henry' .^onda. , Cesar Romero and; John .. fayne : were .f-etairied in featured parts; Starling, dale -was set back to Jan. 20. ■ .^^ck Gordon- and; Hari^y Warren "e doing the music, replacing Raii)h ^ai?ger and Leo Robini; who are . tuning 'Tall, Dark and Handsome. ' ./ Lbriiion, Nov. 2iS; . Show business.; Is well represented by the; ambulances; that clang thrbugh London streets during air raids to give succor! to the injured; First; six of tbem bought by' con- tributions to the American Artists Ambulance! Association are; now on the sti'eef and"hkye been christened with the names of show biz person-, alities. . They are Fred . Astaire, Lauta ; '.and;; Irving A^her, Gilbert Miller; Phoebe Foster. Sam:;Eckmaril Jr.. and Liju ^and Berhie;: Hymani (Phoebe Foster i.s named after, the, of. Harry FostCi', representing the .William ^bnis office in London for 30 yeiars.) ...^' ^ ■ ; A.mbng'.contribulpi's ' tb- Hhe /full medicallyrequipped arnbulanccs; in additio^T to those, after .\vhom they; are. named, are Moss Hart, George S. Kaufman;. Jerry. .; Lester, . Sobcrt Lynch,: Marx; .Bro.s., ;Ray Noble,' .Harry .Rapf,' Pete Smith,- Bill-. Stern,- Dwight Wiitian; Lambs Ciub. merri- bers*^^ .Hugh .6*C6iinell., Jean Paul Kiiig. Harry ■Von.Zeli; Clay Clement I and Don Randolph, arid jiei'sonnqi of the Cihdercliia theatre, Williamson. : W. Va.; Cbmrniinity theatre, Ca,tslti.ll, N,Y,: Michigan theatre, • Flint,: Mich.; Gern theatre. Qscola, .Ark.:; Kirby theatre; Houston; Oatka and ;Farm'an Defense of England Is N^w Drama Trouped By British Headliners London, Nov, 26, . . List of those from the profesh now serving with the forces or in defense units continues to grow. Names hcajdUa hefty, list,. Jack' Hiilbert is a full-time cop holding down a beat in the West End—a . straight beat with no trim- niings. Others doing duty from old- line legit are Frank Lawton. Hugh Williams, Francis Lister, Nigel Pat- rick,. Peter; Maither, Guy. Middleton, all with Army commissions.. Robert Douglas and Rklph Richardson a;re tbpline pilots, latter with the Navy flyers;. From picture ranks are John Mills, Basil Radford, Robert Holmes and Archibald Batty. iHpllywoodUes ; David Niven and Richard Greene are well: attached, latter as a private in the Tank Corps. Qreene recently announced his en- gagement to a prominent society deb. eras First Week, Just About Break Even Fresh Fright Holly wood, Cec. IQ: "Topical horror, fresh from; the daily newspapers,- is the new. trend ; anrjong chill '^• producers;. • in HoUyvifbod. Old ; fashioned ; < -gobse-fleshT:pictUres. - have— lost ; -theii:. potency, arid: .film, nvaker^ are turning ib in-tlie-news lab- oratory developments to lure the fright fans. : Wallace MacDpnald,' Columbia , producer is:liriirig up four yarns ; ■ foi:; Boris ;Karlbff, based on the ■ horrifying effects that: might be achieved, by the misuse of mod- . ern scientific discoveries; . M Shifts Al HbUywood, Dec. 10; Orson . Welles has gone native. Frbni now on, all activities of Mer- cury Productions, Inc., his operating company, dealing in films, legit, radio and the written .woird, will\be. controlled from his diggings in Holly wbod. Total shift to the Pacific Coast, is the result of Welles' lour-way con- tract with RKO, calling for his serv- ices as producer, director, actor and writer for. three pictures. First of the trio is 'Citizen Kane,' now in its last editing stage and diie for Febru- ary release; . Welles announced that hlis second feature will be a Mexican yarn, to be shot . below the bbrder, starting in March; He is now at work on .the story, between lectures and other activities; including the Mercury theatre, the Mercury. Press,- the Mer- cury Text Records and United Pro- ductions.. BINNIE BARNES'PLAY AND PAR PIC BIDS SCHNOZ TOPS CARROLL SHOW ON COAST -, Holly wood, Dec. 10; . • Jimmy Durante .;heads the; new. sh6w;at.the Earl Carroll riitery open ing .Dec, 26. Comedian's contract wife'bf :Ce^r^ Jost^'ahd'molher^3lls:ior a;minimpm-bf three weeks • ■ ■ _ < • .. - . :.•. ■ and ton coin tor anv'Sinplp,-.atti'ar- and top coin for any single vattr'ac tibft-at the ^ppt. ; ;■'' : Carroll ;is staging an; ent.i rely hc'w revue.;: ' •' / ■ ': '■ -■- To Accomp Bride West Dcsi . ;Arriaz has .:C.aricellcd 'the' fourth \veck of his engagement at the . Roxy, N.'Y., ;starting ;.to:x»prrow (Thursday), to return, tb the Coast with Lucille Ball. Pair ;iycre mar-, r.ied a couple weeks ago.! Miss Ball is required oni ihe RKO lot for added scenes in Harold Pittsburgh, Dec. 10. Before leaving Pittsburgh' with Louella Parsons unit last week, Bin- nie Barries received a wire from Paramount offering her role of 'the other woman' in 'Skylark' with Claudette Colbert. . It's the part Vivian Vance created in the origi- nal production with Gertrude Law- rence. Said she was reservirig deci- sion' iintil she got back to the Coast and read the script. . .At same . time, Vinton Freedley was paging Miss Barnes to take the lead in. a 'new. .play •, he has just, bough'^t, 'The French They Are,* by ftobcr.t Wallsten. There. was an- other .spot in • it offered actress' hus^. band. - Mike . Frankovich. :wh6 hds a Isb beeh bn tour with Miss Pair'sohs.' Understood she was favorably ihi- pressed with play and will db it on Broadway if Frcedlcy will wait for her to fill a cjuple of picture com-r riiitments. • The Metropolitan Opera . Co. Pf , N. Y. closed the first week of its IB- week season Monday (9), with ah estimated gross of $89,300 out of a capacity $108,800 and- yet just abbiit, ; broke even. \ ' ■ ' >;'■...■■ ; .Opening night's 'Un Ballb In •; i^aschera' .drew-the largest audience; - ever to attend a Met perfornriance, and at advanced pi'ices cPllected $18,300 at the boxoffice. ^ Tuesday ^ (3). the Met played to a' sell-out in Philadeiphia,. with ;'Nozze di Figaro' presented. Wednesday (4) the opera, was 'Walkure,' with ;the first kppear--; ances of the year of Kirsten Flag- stad, Helen Traubel, Lauritz Mel-. Chior, Juiiiis Huehri, with Erich Leinsdorf conducting. Gross. .wa3 \ $11,500, oi: just a little .under, break-. / ing even, a surprising thing for a. Flagstad performance. The Nor- . wegian; sbpranb, despite the fact that: ' she apparently is singing ias well as. : ever, with her 'Ho yb to Ho', ringing to clarion high C's, is riot" the draw she once-' was, due^ ;probably to a ' limited repertoire of less than 10 operas. Melchior, criticized, last sea-, son for failure to hold on to top notes, stretched them beyond musi- , cal limits to prove that at 50 he is , vocally as good as ever, and Helen Traiibel again . proved 4ier claim to the reputation of America's greatest vo^iced soprano, by a Superb charac-. terizatioh of Sieglinde.. Thursday (5) the Met' lost oh Its (Continued on page 25) BENNY GOODMAN BAND FOR COLUMBIA FILM? Deal is being worked out for Benny (Goodman and his crew in a film to be made shortly after the first of; the year. If negotiations are completed, film will be pro- duced by Irving Starr for (Columbia release. There's a possibility, as the yam stands now, that there will be an- other band in it in additibn to Good- man's, Latter's participation would be limited to about two weeks by othei: bookings. 'Glory' for Crawford .- Hblly.wpbd. Deer, 10.; ' Metro bought George ^CoUy'.s old Broadway play, 'RoHccled Glory.' as j a pbssiiplfe. 'screen ;starrer :for ■ Jbari. Crawford.' Deal calls; for Kelly to write the script,' to be filmed under J; 'Walter Ruben's prpductibn ; guidarice. ; theatres, Warsaw. N.Y.; and Parar, Lloyd'b 'A Girl, a Guy and; a; Gob.' nioupt and Palace theatres, Marshall, She-and Arnaz leave New York to- Tex. I morrow. Jeanette MacDonald;West; Jcanette MacDonald ha.s returned to' the Coast for a new Metro assign- i nicnt foil owing her lirial. concert In j Wostche.stci'\ N. Y,; la.s-t w'ccit, ',. , j Her hii.sband,. Gene Itaymbnd, ac- , cotripahied her west. ,j Trade Mark; RefcUtertd FOUNDED .BT SIMB SILVERUAN Published fl'eeklr by VAItlETT. Im. 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