Variety (May 1941)

Wednesaaj, Maj 28, 1941 mscELLAinr UBOR MESS U. S. Okays Mobile IHed Show' Idea For Army Camps; Stage Names Volmiteer Mobile shows for Arirty camps be- came a certainty late yesterday (Tuesday) altemoon with approval by the War Dept In Washington of the taking over of seven General Motors trucks by the Citizens Committee.for the Army and Navy. Trucks open from the side to provide stages and are part of a fleet which GM used for a 'Parade of Progress' traveling exhibit. Routing of the truck units and other details will get under Way to- morrow (Thursday) when morale, officers of all the camps east of the AUeghenies meet at Fort Dix, N. J. They will lay out -a program from now until July 1, when field maneu- vers begin and shows become im- practical. ' Many name performers have vol- unteered for the 'medicine show' per- formances, while lesser entertainers will be paid by the Citizens Com- mittee. Group will also pay other . expenses, except transportation by Army car of the performers and their feeding and lodging, which will be taken care of by the War Dept. Talent will work out of New York, Chicago and Hollywood. Each unit will be accompanied by (Continued on page 55) Mary Boland Cancels 10 Wks. pf Strawhats . And Jazzes Up Skeds . Managements of a number of eastern strawhat theatre's are miffed at Mary Boland, whose sudden can- cellation of 10 weeks' bookings at their houses has necessitated a wholesale reshuffling of season's schedules. In many cases the changed dates have involved jugg- ling bookings for other name players with consequent shifting at theatres not directly affected by Miss Boland's cancellation. Aetress-was-offered to the summer- Impressarios as the star of a com- pany of Hollywood players in 'Meet the Wife.' Because she insisted on having at least 10 weeks of playing time if she was to go out at aU, it required considerable effort to line up the dates. In some cases other name- guesters had to be rescheduled to accomodate Miss Boland. Then, .when she was notified last week that the full 10 weeks were set, the ac- tress replied that she had decided against the tour. Explanation was that a radio deal, which she had figured was cold, had unexpectedly came through. Cow- barn managers are plenty burned, but as the bookings were all tenta- tive and not yet signed, they can't do anything about it. "~ Par Starring Bracken Hollywood, May 27. Eddie Bracken draws a star spot in 'Out of the Frying Pan,' based on a Broadway stage play recently pur- chased by Pafamount. Filming follows 'The Fleet's In,' in which Bracken co-stars with Dorothy Lamour. Edward H. Grif- fith Is assigned to direct 'Pan.' Master of the Interview, Stoki the Great, Talks Of 'Comrades Together' Buffalo, May 27. Leopold Stokowski here with AU Youth Orchestra Saturday (24) went on a temperamental binge at a pre-concert morning inspection of the new Kleinhan's Music Hall and drove interviewers scurrying to their cubicles and dictionaries for light and air. In a half-hour session, Stoki, clapping his hands at various points in the auditorium, pronounced the acoustics bad, although every other conductor and musician playing here during the past season went over- board re the Hall's aural refiexes. From the reaches otthe balcony, the maestro next proceeded to roar in an English and German basso pro- fundo to a stagehand on the podium, to 'make like Hitler,' and when the (Continued on page 34) TEAMSTEIIS JAM Tobacco'Finally Ending Record B way Tl INGS PLENiy ^^'^ Yrs.; Tours Again in Fall Started with Broadway Bandshow Theatres, Now the Baggage-Smaahera Are Picketing All Theatres, In- cluding Legits AFM IGNORES 'EM Bill Hart's Gift Hollywood, May 27. William S. Hart, oldtime west- ern star, built a 4D0-seat theatre adjacent to his ranch in nearby Newhall and turned it over to the American Legion Post No. 507. House will be called the American. MEASLES TAKES TOLL OF B'WAY PLAYERS Another wave of illness has struck Broadway shows, principal ailment this time being measles, those mostly affected being younger actresses and chorus girls. Betty Hutton was out of 'Panama Hattie' (46th Street) four days, her place being filled by June Allyson, a chorine whose perform- ance was rated 'sensational.' Five other chorus girls were out of the same show several days because of the epidemic. Other shows hit by measles Included 'Lady in the Dark' (Alvin) and the floor show at the Riviera, night spot across the river. Previously, Helen Craig dropped (Continued on page 53) o . Pommer Reccvered Hollywood, May 27. Erich Pommer, recuperating from several weeks of Illness, goes back to work at RKO June 2 as producer of 'Unexpected Uncle.' During his illness, Pommer ■ has been readying the story at home, with the help' of Tay Garnett, direc- tor. GILDA GRAY FfliS VOLUNTARY BmCY A comic opera jurisdictional strike called by the International Brother- hood of Teamsters, I<ocal 817, In New York Saturday (24) against the musicians union has since turned from a laughing matter into a very serious affair. Plus the musicians, the teamsters have also turned against the stagehands for walking through their picket lines, with the result that all legit musical houses as well as theatres playing bands are now being picketed, and there's the fear the picketing will spread to all houses, including straight legit- ers, using stagehands. First drastic reaction to the team- (Continued on page 13) GLORIA JEAN'S AGENT LOSES 200G U SUIT Gilda Gray, the shimmy dancer, now employed at Billy Rose's Dia- mond Horseshoe, N. Y., filed a volun- tary..petition-ot-bankruptcy-in-N. Y. federal court, listing assets of $600, and liabilities of $27,304. Among creditors are the U. S. Government, $200 in taxes, $214 to Leo Spitz for legal services, $150 to Hollywood Filmograph, Inc.. Brooks Costume Co., $415, and $16,600 to the Inland Revenue Assessments Divi- sion of London, for Income tax. From May, 1940, to May, 1941, Miss Gray earned $5,830. Emil Neugebauer, agent, lost his $200,000 suit against Nate J. Blum- berg, president of Universal, when Justice Bernard L. Shientag in N. Y. supreme court tossed out the squawk, after ruling it failed to state a cause of action. Plaintiff sought damages for alleged failure to pay commis- sions on Gloria Jean. Neugebauer claimed to. have been the discoverer of the actress, and stated he offered her services to Blumberg after having been prom- ised adequate compensation if she signed. He alleged he had received notliing.. - .. - B.G. DeSylya Passes Out Bonuses of $60-$l,000 To L^ Casts, Staff Just before he returned to Holly- wood, Buddy DeSylva, most success- I ful musical producer in years, I handed out bonuses to people con- nected with his shows.. Each of the chorus in 'Panama Hattie,' 46th street, N. Y.,. was given $60 and salaries raised from $40 to $45 weekly. Understood that the chorines in 'Louisiana Purchase,' Imperial, had previously received in- creases, same .going for 'DuBarry Was a Lady,' which closed after a profitable tour. In addition, three heads of depart- ments backstage and the wardobe mistress were given bonuses of $1,000 each. Those receiving the surprise packages are Timothy Fitz-, Patrick, Dan Lawlor, Chester Thomp- son and Victoria Riley. All four handled the three De Sylva shows. Sam Ledner, who was - general stage manager, has joined De Sylva on the Coast at Paramount's studio, where the latter is production head. Ledner owns 1% of 'Hattie.' De Sylva has nearly all of 'Du Barry' and 'Hattie,' while Irving Berlin is co-partner In 'Purchase.' Getting Himself Titled Hollywood, May 27. 'Holt of the Secret Service' is the general title of the whodunit serial to be produced by Larry Darmour for Columbia with Jack Holt play- ing his own name role. Cliffhanger starts shooting around Aug. 4. Mary Astor's WB Deal Hollywood, May 27. Warners 'and Mary Astor got to- gether on a two-picture deal, first of which will co-star the actress with George Raft in The Maltese Falcon,' which marks the first directorial job for John Huston, former screen writer, on the Burbank lot. Miss Astor's second role Is as sis- ter of Bette Davis in The day Sis- ters.' SHOW BIZ UNION SHOWDOWN? The safety of New York theatre properties running into millions of dollars, plus the liveli- hoods of hundreds, hav« been placed in jeopardy by one of the most ridiculous juris- dictional strikes ever perpetrated on an indus- try. That the theatres, shows and performers are the innocent patsies of the Teamsters Union's embrpglio with the musicians and stagehands is not nearly so important as the fact that the greed of union ofiicials can create such havoc and yet remain outside the law. With the Federal indictment last week of George E. Browne and Willie Bioff, top stage- hands union officials, for extorting $550,000 in bribes from Paramount, 20th-Fox, Warner Bros, and Loew's, on the threat of crippling the motion picture business via strikes, it is presumed that racketeering union leadership in the show business is heading for a show- down. This latest farce by thg Teamsters Union, which has a membership of only 200, further feeds the Government's hopper of evi- dence; but steps must be taken immediately if the innocents in this particular strike are to be saved from serious wounds. cians' instruments into theatres. At first this seemed to be following the pattern of a comic opera, but now the teamsters' chiefs are angry at the stagehands for passing their picket lines, arid legit theatres are being picketed along with bandfilniers—and no shows are being hauled. Thus an autocratic closed union of some 200 truck-drivers and common laborers can stop Katherine Cornell and Raymond Massey, for instance, from further playing in 'Doctor's Dilemma' when that Shavian piece ends its N. Y. run and wants to move out of town. This turns a farce into tragedy—when the theatre is at the mercy of elements which con- tribute nothing to its artistry. Both the picture and radio industries have been hard hit by the (iovernmcnt for monopo- listic practices. Yet the Government has not yet taken steps to limit the authority and de- fine the responsibility of union officials. 'The Teamsters' Union is chiefly concerned with forcing musicians to pay truckmen $10 per day and $20 per night for carrying musi- If only for reasons of public morale, so necessary in these times, the Government, both state and national, must put an end to acts of union leadership that disregard work- ers' and public welfare. The la. ger issues are manifest in trade unionism in show business. When Sunday performances were okayed for another year there was a crack made to the effect: 'Now Broadway will never get rid of To- bacco Road'.' But the record run drama will finally fold Saturday (31) at the Forrest. It was one of the shows, that sur- vived the season because of Sundays, yet business had dropped to such a degree on that day that Jack Kirk- land and Harry Oshrin, who control the play, decided that 'Road' had reached the end of the road so far as N.Y. Is concerned. A road coin- pany wlU again tour starting in the fall. 'Road' will have played seven years and six months when the last curtain drops. It has been 'closing' since last August, according to the ads in the dailies, a record in itseU. Management ironically invited the critics to the last performance, but it is doubtful if they will attend, most of them having started sum- mer hibernation. Notices originally predicted 'Road' would flop, but hailed the performance of Henry Hull, the original Jeeter Lester of the play. Sundays did not alone account for the continuance. Attendance actual- (Continued on page 45) MAJOR W. S. VAN DYKE RETIRING FROM ARMY Hollywood, May 27. After serving with th'e United States Marine Corps as a major for seven months, W. S. Van Dyke Ij returning to Metro, having sub- mitted his retirement to the service. It's understood he'll be mustered out on the recommendation of the Army medical staff, which tabbed his ail- ment as a bronchial cough. ' Van Dyke will resume direction of th^ 'Shadow of the Thin Man,' but no deal can be made with Metro ^yhlle he> stni .on the Government payroll. , He remains as a reserve, subject to call in the case of emer- gency. The Marine Corps Survey Board is to determine his status thla week. Tradf Uark ReKlit«r*d POUNDED BT BIMB SILVBRUAN Publlnhed WMhIr br VARIETT, SM Sllvennan, Pr»*ld«nt 1S4 W«it «Oth Strxt, W»w Tork. N. t. SUBSCRIPTION Wnnaat (10 Forslfn, ftl BInKU Copl«« , ,...2S C«Dti Vol. 142 1^^^^ No. 12 INDEX Band Reviews 30 Bills 48 Chatter 53 Exploitation 8 Booking Chart 20 Film Reviews 16 House Reviews 46 Inside—Legit 52 Inside—Orchestras 38 Inside—Radio 33 International News 13 Literati 52 Legitimate 49 Music 40 I^few Acts 44 Night Clubs 43 Night Club Reviews........ 44 Obituary 54 Orchestras 37 Pictures 4 Radio 23 Radio Markets.. 35 Radio Reviews 26 Unit Review ,. 45 Vaudeville 43 PAILX VARIBTT (Fubllahtd In Hollytcood bf Dally VBriaty. Ltd.) lift a yaar— %\i forclcn