Variety (May 1941)

SCREEN RADIO STAGE Publlsbsd Weefclr at 1S4 W«at 4llth Jtre«t, New Tork,'N. T„ by Variety, Ino. AnDoal aabacrlptloB, $10. BInsIa coplaB 25 cenja. • ■Dt«T*d u SMond-clAfU matter QcqqitmlMr 22, ItOS, at tb» Poat OSIc* at New Tork, N T., under ttie act ot March t. 187t. COrniOEfT, IMl, BT VABDETX, [NO. AIX BIGHTS B]E8EBTKD VOL. 142 NO. 12 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1941 PRICE 25 CENTS BLACKOUT OVER BROADWAY Berlin and Bernie Override a Racial 'Hint'; Insist BiD Robinson Performs Negro organizations in New York are protesting an alleged slight to Bill Robinson last week at a rally o£ the United Service Organizations in Madison Square Garden. Whether or not .Robinson was almost kept from the stage because of his race is the subject of a welter of con- flicting stories. At any rate, the famed tap dan(;pr finally went on, at the Insistence of Irving Berlin and Ben Bernie, and easily registered as the sock of the show. Entertainment was staged by Billy Rose. New York Urban League and the Conference of Negro Social Work- ers filed a protest with Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson on the basis of early accounts that an army offi- cer had ruled against Robinson be- cause of his race. USO is raising $10,00p,000 to provide recreational facilities for tlie army. ■ According to Berlin and Bernie, the facts were that Robinson wasn't scheduled to be in the show, but "Befnler who was m.cling, spTed "Kim and called him up. Rose, they say, (Continued on page 18) Lnnt-Fontanne Deal Off On Sponsor's Fear Pair Wouldn't Stick Long Lever Bros, will decide within the next week or so on what it will use as summer replacement programs in the Rinso and Lifebuoy spots on CBiS. After spending a week in hud- dles with their ad agencies, a group of Lever Bros, execs left for Boston Friday (23) to go over the proposed shows with their home office asso- ciates. While in New York the gang listened to nun\erous auditions. .One suggested combination that did blow up just before the group left was that composed of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. They had been offered for a series of dra- matic scripts. Among the difficulties that presented themselves during the discussion of this proposition was the lack of assurance that Lunt and Miss Fontanne would be avail- able for radio over a long period. Discipline Pittsburgh, May 27. Bill Reynolds, until recently a doorman at the Roxy theatre in New York, is new male vocal- ist with Bob Chester's . band. Reynolds, who replaces. Bill Darnell, recently paged by the army, joined the outfit here last week at Kennywood Park. Chester says only trouble now with Reynolds is that every time he's addressed by the maestro, ' in or out of the band-shell, he still snaps to attention. BIG GAMBUNG BIZ i)N RIVIERA Cannes, May 8. Although not comparable to the spring seasons of the pre-New Order era, life on the Riviera has shown a definite upbeat. As well As being the now officially dubbed 'French Hollywood,' the Riviera has gone through a renais- sance as a play center, with most of the casinos reopening and the for- eigners again converging on the bet- ter known Cote d'Azur resorts. Much of the idle legit and screen talent can also be seen lolling on the bet- ter known beaches, waiting for nor- (Contlnued on page 18) NEIRK ECLIPSE III Trial Darkness of World's Brightest Lights in Six Weeks — Midtown N. Y. Theatres, Hotels and Build- ings Have Plans All Set —LaGuardia Favors Fre- quent Drills for Radio City, Times Square, Etc. SAFETY ZONES A total blackout of the greatest concentration of neon and mazda the world has ever seen—Broadway—Is a strong possibility within six weeks, and a certainty by ■ September. Whether it will be a trial dousing of the lights or a permanent one, and how soon it will come, may de- pend on the reaction in this country (Continued on page.^5iX Judy Manying Dave Rose Despite Metro's Protests IJollywood, May- 27. Metro's protests to her impending marriage- to Dave Rose, divorced husband of Martha Haye, have fal- len on the conveniently deaf ears of Judy Garland. , The film company's squawks that her prestige as a juvenile star would suffer have been ignored in Miss Garland's announcement that she and Rose would be wed .June 15. Rose is musical director of KHJ, Los An- geles. CBS SeDiiig Artists Bureau to MCA, Including Talent and Staff, for $250,000 Hughes' Speedster Hollywood, May 27. Howard Hughes, who recently, completed filming of 'The Out- law,' is back In the aviation business with a new 64-passen- ger plane designed to fiy from Los Angeles to New York in eight hours and 30 minutes, an improvement of five hours over the current schedule. Ships will make 350 miles an hour and cost $500,000 apiece. U. S. DEFENSE THEME SONGS ''""'Wasiiingfori,'May 27. Irving Berlin, whose 'God Bless America' has become an ex-offlcio national anthem, has been enlisted by both the U. S. Treasury and the War Depts. to write patriotic theme songs on Americanism. The songsmith has contributed 'Any Bonds Today?' to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr.,'s defense bonds cause, and, for the Ordinance Dept., Berlin has au- thored 'Arms for the Love of Amer- ica.' Both will be handled exclu- sively by the U. S. government as non-profit, non-commercial, strictly patriotic ballyhoo for defense pep-up. Trade OpinesD. C. Blow at ASCAPMust Necessitate Society's Complete Revamp BdWES-CHRYSLER TO END IN SEPTEMBER? Report persists that Major Edward Bowes will wind up his five-year career with Chrysler this Septem- ber and that he will be replaced with a half-hour dramatic show .b.uUt. ar.9,und one or two Hollywood stars. Riithraufl & Ryan, agency on the account, is said to be thinking of putting . together a man and wife combination for ■ the substituted series. Among the twosomes under con-: slderation are Clark. Gable and Carole Lombard and WlUIam Powell and his wife, Diane Lewis. Lindbergh Potentially More Troublesome to Radio Than Father Cooghlin Washington, May 27. Dilemma which eventually may cause the broadcast industry more severe pangs than the late fuss over Father Coughlin reared up last week when the Federal Communications Commission washed its hands of any responsibility in the fracas caused by refusal of certaiA stations to sell time to Charles A. Lindbergh. No action will be taken without the formal presentation of evidence showing that both sides of the questions upon which the famous flyer—now turned propagandist — desires to speak are not being fairly presented by the broadcasters, Commish said. Peace organizations and members of Congress seemed to be principally responsible for the hullabaUoo. Opinion within the American So- ciety of Composers, Authors and Publishers over the ultimate effect of the U. S. Supreme Court's deci- sions in the Nebraska and Florida cases seemed yesterday ^Tuesday) to be in sharp conflict with the view- points of lawyers close to the music publishing business. ASCAP officials regarded the court's ruling as mere- ly a barrier to the society's doing business in those states and in no way a sign that ASCAP must rad- ically reorganize its business struc- ture, if it is to survive. Trade at- torneys hold that it is an easy con- clusion that, with the way now j cleared by the highest court, the I legislators of many other states will I rush to adopt similar statutes, and ' good business judgment would dic- tate that ASCAP sUrt to prepare immediately for the readjustment. According to these trade lawyers, ASCAP has no choice now but to recognize that the principles which conceived the organization, and upon (Continued on page 42) Conscription and Nat'l Defense Take Their'toll Of Borscht Belt Gigolos Conscription and national defense effort is giving borscht circuit hotels, as well as other resorts throughout the country, a new headache. They are having trouble getting in suffi- cient quantity the boys they need to double from waiters during the day to playmates for . lonesome femme guests in the evenings. I Hundreds of collegians are im- pressed into this service every sum- mer, the pay (when tips are counted) being good and the work ranging from highly pleasant to ex- I ceedingly unpleasant, according to •the run of guests. Now, however, Army is siphoning off many of the potential dual-duty waiters, while {job offers at better pay in defense I industries are taking many others. One of the biggest talent agency mergers In years will be consum- mated today (Wed.) when the Co- lumbia Broadcasting System board of directors votes on selling its Co- lumbia Artists Bureau, Inc, to Mu- sic Corp. of America. It's a deal s^id to embrace a $250,000 cash con- sideration, plus- a complete' person- nel as well as talent takeover by MCA, It was engineered byTHCA's president, J. C. Stein, who came east expressly for that purpose, with William S. Paley, prez of CBS. Only possible hitch In the deal may come from the American Fed- eration of ftadio Artists, which pos- sibly will balk at such a mass sals of talent management without as- sent of the performers themselves. It's understood thaf'such a conting- ency is being written Into the agree- ment between CBS and MCA. CBS' divesting Itself of iXs talent agency was deemed inevitable with- i.a-the .radio trade_for.xeasons of-the— Federal Communications - Commis- sion, Since the recent FCC monbp- (C^ntbiued on page 32) Customers, Brass Band, Boy Scouts Picket h Behalf of Popular Mgr. Detroit, May 27, Goodwill that a nabe house man-' ager used to build up patronage for his house is being used against the owners In the latest strike of the Detroit Managers'"Union against the Moss Bros.' Parkslde. Claiming that Edward Jacobson, manager of the Parkslde, was fljred - just as the union was In the final stage of negotiating its contract with the Moss house, so the union has put a picket line out in front. It's quite a line-up, utilizing the friends J«.- cobson had cultivated as a theatra manager. Picketers make use of a brass band of a nearby post. Boy Scout troops, and have staged parades past the the- atre composed of neighborhood women and close-by organizations in which Jacobson has been active since his employment at the cinema. H'WOOD'S $183,768,701 FOR PIX WAGES IN '39 Hollywood, May 27. Film Industry ran up production costs of $183,768,701, chiefly in wages, ' in Los Angeles County fdr the , year • 1939, according to figures compiled by the Chamber, of ^ Commerce. Sum represents 87% of , cost of motion picture production , throughout thc41nlted States In that year. I Payrolls in 1930 totaled $130,960,- , 561, slightly less than the $132,914,- 402 paid to studio workers in 1938.