Variety (May 1941)

Wednesday, May 7, 1941 MISCELLANY FILM ffRTTERS TALK STRIKE Texaco Makes Gift of 13 Radio Hours For Treasury Drive on War Bonds ' In the first deal of its kind, Tex- aco gasoline will make a free gift of 13 one-hour periods on CBS to the United States Treasury for the purpose of selling the new Defense stamps and bonds. Texaco will sim- ply get a courtesy line over the air announcing the time is theirs and a donation. Period will cover July 2-Sept 24 while Fred Allen is absent for the summer layoff. The United States Treasury's radio director, Vince Cal- lahan' is now considering proposals of how to fill the tiiile in a manner satisfactory to the Government, Tex- aco and CBS. Latter may produce a series of 'showcase' sustainers in the period. Bank Flags V. S. Bonds . Modern Industrial Bank of New York, which sponsors 10 periods a week on WMCA, N. Y., for news and news commentators, is making' ar- rangements to donate certain segr ments of its weekly time to speakers who will beat drums for govern- ment defense bond sales. Talks will come from Washington, and if the negotiations are completed, sponsor will underwrite cost of a line from the capital to WMCA studios. ■ Johannes Steele and Burnet Her- shey are analysts bankrolled on WMCA by Banking outfit. Harry Jolson Sues Brother AI on 1934 Stay-Away Contract Harry Jolson, brother of Al Jolson, filed a $25,050 breach of contract suit In N. Y. supreme court Monday (5) against the star, claiming the more famous Jolson is not paying him as per agreement, to stay out of the act- ing profession. According to Harry, both he and Al are actors, and Al 'being desirious of reserving to him- self the use of the family name' agreed to pay him to stay out of the field. An agreement was allegedly made Feb. 16, 1934, whereby _in considera- tion of Harry staying away from the footlights, Al promised him $150 weekly, and made him his theatrical agent. The $150 weekly ceased in 1937, and Harry wants his weekly stipend from that time to the pres- ent. Al is asking for a bill of par- ticulars on the varied charges. OK for Sound? BOSWORTH, 75, SIGNED TO 7-YR. WB CONTRACT Hollywood, May 9. Hobart Bosworth, once a star in pictures and now in his 75th year, signed a seven-year term contract with Warners. His first job under the new pact is a supporting role in 'One Foot in Heaven.' He retired from pictures in 1921 but came back for a few roles at various times until he quit for good in 1930. HOT GARFIELD Gotham Hot«I, N. Y., Fire in Room Next to Actor's Fire that gutted the room next to his at the Hotel Gotham, N. Y., en- dangered John Garfield last week. Warner Bros, player was awakened from his sleep in his 19th floor suite by smoke. He aided in getting the occupant of the burning room safely but .and then returned t'o^.help ex- tinguish the flames. Garfield returns to the Coast Fri- day (9) to begin work in 'Hot Noc- turne.' He's been east about two weeks seeking a script in which to appear on Broadway next January. WB pact allows him time off for stage appearances. Helen Craig tried for several years to crash radio, but with few isolated exceptions was in- variably unable to get into an agency door or a network office. However, since making a per- sonal click in 'Johnny Belinda,' at the Longacre, N. Y., she's had more radio offers than she could handle. . Actress' part in the play is that of a deaf-mute and she utters only a single word at the final curtain. HERE'S ANSWER TO WHERE IS VAUDEVniE?' Hollywood, May 6. Warneriles have the answer to 'what's happened to vaudeville?' It's in the film now being produced as ■Navy Blues.' Remnants of 15 vaude- ville acts are working in the picture. They are Jack Haley (and Crafts), Fred Sweeney (and Duffy), Jack Oakie (ex-Lulu McConnell & Co.), Frank Orth (and Ann Codee), Tommy Dugan (and Raymond), Al Lloyd (and Aveling), Dick Lane (with Tex Guinan), Leo White (and McCann), Harry Leonard (Tracy & Gale), £d Gargan ('Charlie Wilson's Loose Nut'), Martha Haye, 'Gentle- man Gene' Delmont (and Jimmy Hussey), Harry Masters (and Kraft), Art Berry (and Nelson) and Creighton Hale. IILOQIUIS ON PACT ISSUE Screen Writers Guild Resolu- tion Calls to Membership to Express Sentiment on Work Stoppage If Pro- ducers Stall on Basic Contract SCRIBES DISSATISFIED SHIRER'S $3,000 B. 0. AT29c-$1.121NK.C. Kansas City, May 6. Impresario effort of KMBC in bringing William Shirer for lecture in the City Au'ditorium last week for a one-night stand in the 11,000 seat hall brought a turnout of 6,500 and a gate of $3,000, scaled at 29c. to $1.12. All publicity and advertis- ing for the event tested the future possibilities for the same setup. Shirer was CBS correspondent in Berlin until recently and is making the lecture tour before the hot spell sets in. Hollywood, May 6. A strike of screen writers looms in the film industry unless the de- mands of the Screen Writers Guild for a basic contract 'arejeasonaWy.. met' by the Producers. The"^i;^ has adopted a resoIutionNauthorizing its studio shop stewards to sound out the sentiment of the^embership on ordering a stoppage of work if the Producers fail to kick through with an agreement. A special membership meeting of the SWG has been called for Mey 19 to sound out sentiment of a strike call if bargaining with the ^r^uc^rs collapses completely. On the eve of renewing! negotia tions with the major companies, the Guild handed out the Allowing statement; 'At a membership meeting'&f the Screen Writers Guild, the mei^l?ers (Continued on page 26), Melvyn Douglas On Pan in D.C. For Communism' Washington, May 6. Melvyn Douglas got his name in the Congressional Record last week, but not in a particularly flattering manner. As part of his daily snip- ing at the Justice and Labor De- partments, Congressman Leland M. Ford, red-hating California Repub- lican, assailed Douglas for signing c petition protesting moves to deport Harry Bridges, West Coast CIO chieftain. 'This Melvyn Douglas, formerly known as Melvyn Hes.selberg, is the same Melvyn Douglas, or Melvyn Hesselberg, who did not accept an honorary military commission in California on account of the public (Continued on page 77) FCC Crackdown on NBC Renews Tilm Conunission Talk in D. C. Once-a-Month At least 12 times a year, in the first issue of each month, certain standing departments in Varii^ti will be published regularly. This includes such compilations as the Advance Film Production Chart; the Band and Orchestra Routes, etc. The Film Booking Chart runs weekly. This issue, the flrst in May, thus inaugurates this regulzr scheduling. FLOCK OF FILM PEOPLE EAST FROMH'WOOD Tallu to Reno Just for the Ride? Plenty of Plane Travel This Week SHOW BIZ'S KY. COLS. TURN OUT FOR DERBY Louisville, May 6. Plenty of celebs on hand. for the annual banquet of Kentucky Colonels Friday (2), at the Kentucky Hotel, night preceding the Derby. Sharing honors with Governors, Senators and U, S. olflcials, were Andy Devine, Charles Butterworth, Harry Rich- man (playing three-day engagement at Iroquois Gardens), Chester Lauck (Lum and Abner), Ole Olsen, sans his 'Hellzapoppin' partner Chic Johnson, who is on a Vancouver hunting trip, Don Ameche, Harry M. Goetz, Robert Young. Tony Mar- tin, Lana Turner and Patricia Mor- rison. Charles J. Pettijohn, flrst general of the Colonels, sounded a solemn note in his talk, and eulogized the late Gov. Ruby LctToon. By GEORGE FROST Tallulah Bankhead left LaGuardia Airport, New York, aboard a Uqited Airliner Thursday (1) evening but long before the actress was on thj transport plane she was up in the air. Bound for Reno but not 'to Reno,' if you savvy the diff, Miss Bankhead got downright indignant when it was suggested that she was in the market for a matrimonial snip- ping, although she and her actor- husband, John Emery, some calendar pages back, decided they would live alone and like it. Asked why-for the trip to the Town-of-Courthouses-in-the-Rockies, Miss Bankhead allowed that she was going 'for the ride and a rest' and she ad-libbed 'I do wish you wouldn't take my picture' to the film de- stroyers standing by. When news-collectors tried to pin her on the divorce angle, Tallu wasn't talking but the inference hung (Continued on page 25) Spring fever in Hollywood is ap- parently accompanied by an urge to head for New York. Deluge of fllm people have been pouring east by train and plane within the past couple of weeks. Among the tourists have been B. G. DeSylva, Paramount's production chief, who left for home over the weekend after Ave days of huddles and looking at shows on Broadway; Kenneth MacKenna, Edgar Selwyn and Robert Sinclair of Metro, who depart this week following plan- laying for M-G's production of the legiter, "We Fought at Arques' in September; the Robert Taylors, who left for Bermuda after two days in New York, and Victor Saville, Metro producer, who's vacationing follow- ing completion of 'A Woman's Face' and 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.' Others visiting included Spencer Tracy, who stopped off on his way (Continued on page 25) N. H. Register Omits Winchefi Colmnn 2 Days, Qnestions Subject Matter New Haven, May 6, The New Haven Register omitted Walter Winchell's column twice last week and carried an explanatory no- tice to the effect that sheet yanked the column because material was 'abusive, factually open to question and upon subject material which the author is not qualifled to discourse.' Register further explained that col- umn was originally purchased 'to re- port the doings and sayings of the Broadway world, and not to editori- alize on national and world news and politics.' Final thrust was a line that column's omission ^was based on the 'paper's opinion of decency and ethics.' Immediate reaction to killing of the Winchell stint was a stampede at local newsstands for copies of the I N. Y. Mirror, carrying the original ; column. Ruling by the Federal Communica- tion Commission that the National Broadcasting Co. dispose of one of its networks is viewed in the fllm in- dustry as a move towards further Government 'regulation' which might extend to the picture business. Industry leaders were cognizant of the danger in stirring up new in- terest at Washington in a Commis- sion for the Film Business, as a re- sult of the FCC move to increase radio networks and furnish wider latitude for individual stations in their dealings with the networks. Picture Commission idea has been up in Congress before, but there has not been much talk of such plan to date in Washington even though a counterpart of the Neely bill and Federal censorship has been offered in the present Congressional session. However, the Motibh Picture Com- mission idea is the thing most feared by the industry as a whole because of the implication that what has hap- pened to the radio industry could just as easily be affected with the fllm industry, once a commission is installed. * Commission idea has been fought bitterly whenever the topic gave in- dication of getting anywhere, con- tention always being that the in- tricacies of production, distribution and exhibition precluded such regu- lation. [Detaih of the FCC-NBC crack- down in Radio section, see page 29.] Joe Cook Imitator So Good, Cook Pots Him In His Theatre Spot Washington, May 6. Joe Cook last week watched Leo Brady, Catholic University student, impersonate him in school's musical biography, 'Cook Book,' and cracked, The guy Is better as Joe Cook than I am.' So this week Cook, held over for second week at the Earle, has in- vited Brady, plus 'Fuller Construc- (Continued on page 25) Friml's First Score In 10 Years Offered Fix i Hollywood, May 6. ! Fir.st complete operetta score by ■ Rudolf Friml in 10 years is being ■ offered the fllm studios with story ■ by Elizabeth Meehan. 'They Bor- ■ rowed the Night,' originally 'Rus- ' sian River.' I Site of operatic yarn is near San Francisco, where the annual Bo- ■ hemian C\ub hijinks are held. If I bought, it would mark the flrst time I a Friml operetta ever was done as < a picture before being staged. The I score is being offered in recorded I form. Trad* Mark neelatsrail POtlNDED BT SIME SILVRRMAN I'uhllHhtii] n'eckir by VARIKTY, Inc. - flid .Silverman, PrAsldAnt 164 Wont 4Clh Street, New York. N. T. INDEX Advance Production Chart.. 18 Bills 72 Chatter 77 Exploitation 8 Film Booking Chart 18 Film Reviews 12 House Reviews 24 Inside—Legit 76 Inside—Music 69 Inside—Picture? 27 International Ncw.s 13 Literati 79 Legitimate 73 Music 67 Night Clubs 70 Night Club Reviews 70 Obituary 78 Orchestras 64 Pictures 4 Radio 29 Radio Markets 62 Radio Reviews 59 Unit Review 25 Vaudeville 70 l>,\ll,V VAHIKTY (PubllHhnr) In Hollywood by Dally VurlMy. r.ld.l 110 A yonr—112 forclfcn