Variety (Jun 1941)

W«dnMdajt Jane 4, 1941 SOME LOWDOWN ON WHY BIZ IS GOOD IN DIXIE-AND IT'S NOT Mi DUE TO DEFENSE Selling Entertainment As a Policy, One Factor— Another Is Cooperation Among Theatre Men and With Local Commerce Organizations Br GEORGE McCALL fEx-VABiEry staff member, now em- ceeing his oum Hollywood unit) . If you are looking for the box of- fice reports you'll find them else- where in this Issue. You won't see any report on Columbia, S. C, New- port News, Va., "Jacksonville, Fla. or. and jukeboxes, Sunday, and my troupe and 1 landed In Gadsden in the middle of a cloudburst There's a cotton mill on the edge of the town, two hotels and a flock of beer parlors. Optside of the the- atres and radio the only entertain- ment the town has to offer is radio Of course there is No Do-Ra-Me'« Here kindred spots in Dixie, but believe me it's a Holiday in Dixie as far as show business is concerned. I Icnow, we (my Hollywood unit) just com- pleted 14 weeks in that territory. , There are lots of reason for good business down South. In a .business where the alibi is more important than the result, here's one section of the country where the alibi Is necessary to explain why new rec- ords haven't been . br'okeiL That's The rest'Ot the country has always tobacco-chewing, but all of Gadsden doesn't go In for that. It was still raining at 6 p.m., but my checker brought me the news and It was news. We did a $560 mati- nee. That's Important afternoon money In any man's theatre. Nat- urally youll'say that we were'a stage attraction and as such was something unusual. That's not the case. The Gadsden theatre has played stage shows daily for the past nine years. The theatre has run out of excuses for bad business, i sqi^ nothing but policy, and the Defense, reconstruction, army , people like the policy. camps and hundreds of other reasons ere given for the improved business south of the Mason-Dixon line. They help, : but they also have their bad jwints. rU go into that later. The Policy has a great deal to do with the success of southern theatres. T. D. Kemp, Jr., has been booking Hollywood, June 8. Ancient Welsh song festival, the Eistoddfod, one of the oldest In the world, will be represented by 80 Welsh singers in the 20th> Fox production, 'How Green Was My Valley,' which is localed in the coal mining district of Wales. John Ford, director, has SO warblers thus far, and is ar- ranging for 'three weeks of re- cording to go along with the pic- ture. Harmon Reviews Film Industry In Natl Defense An overall summation of the in- dustry's effort in support of national X. u. »-e"P' defense was supplied by Francis L. points, m go mto that later. The X"t"°se^rT5eS^ ^me a^^' Harmon, coordinator of the motion south has always been noted for low gooSf^me only fiUr However, heiP^"; committee cooperating for wages and long working hours. De- g^s lieen able ti maintain the combo L"*""""! ^!^''P^''\'"^^V' aT^J^^^ in most southern towns for the Ass_ n ot M P. Advertis^ fense hasn't changed that much. Payrolls are higher but the work- ing hours are just as long. Up in Pennsylvania, one of the most fre- quent excuses for bad business is tiiat the workers are- working too hard, hence they're too tired to go out. Somebody's wronj. Maybe theatre operators in the South are not selling individual pic- tures. Perhaps they are selling mo- tion pictures in general as a source of entertainment—an avenue of es- cape. We played a town in the north where I was asked to address the Lions club. There were 12 theatres in the town, under three different managements. The operator -who took me to the Lions Club did not belong to the Rotary because tiie policy m most soumem xowns lori- — —.- - - • r- Lver^al seasons. This is not an argu- ! IVf'J:"" "^!^,f.>t^^^ ment for the comblnaUon policy, but 'l^'^ned that President Roosevelt left a sustained policy, minus giveaways, "one of his auditors in doubt in h^ has been successful. At least In that !P°'=^-°"^°e fireside chat of last territory I Tuesday (27) as to the importance of Manafen* IniUaUve \'°^ thinking and acting in terms of Managers throughout the south western hemispljere.' seem to have a great deal more! Harmon contended that the atten- authority than managers in other tion of the film industry continues sections of the country. They also ^to be focused on-our own continuing have to know how to make popcorn.' effort to achieve better understand- Popcorn in the southern states pays' Ing and closer cooperation between many a theatre's rent, but between I the 21 American republics, popcorn and pictures they manage Besides listing films released under to knock out reasonable grosses. | the film defense committee's sponsor- Too much credit is . given army ship, he stressed the significant con- camps for good business. During my [ tribution of newsreels which 'is too GealleMieftttheN Br BOX ■ALUQAN Hollywood, June 8. I was having my •wmiag oooktall at MusM-IVmnks, a double Johnny Walker blaok label with plain water. I heard a voice at my elbow order- ing two dry Martinis and I looked Into the back bar mirror and tiiere was Hank Wales end a girL I said, 'Have the first one on me, Hank.' He said, 'Hello, Bill,' and introduced me to the glrL They were dressed for somewhere and I was wearing an open flannel shirt that rich motion picture directors effect On me It looked like heU. I'm fat and 90 plus and no bargain if I wear taUs but Hank insisted on me having an- other. I felt like a horse in a garage. We had-three or four more before I remembered I had ordered my din- ner at the Ituch counter. 'Why don't you sit with us,' Hank said, and he didn't have to ask me twice. The brunet gave the green signal and we sat down at a table. i 'Haven't seen you since the night I Basil Woon threw the party for the | Rough Club at Foyot's,' I said to Hank. *Dq you know what happened on the Olympic?' 'Sure I do,' said Hank. "You threw a party for the Grand Duke Boris and got hit in the eye with a bottle of Lanson 27,' reminded Hank. 'Well Arno Dosch-Fleurot was to blame,' I said. 'He told me that Boris was sailing on my ship and that it might be a good idea to throw a party for him. We would be at sea on Jan. 13, the Russian New Year. I forgot all about it until the Olympic stopped at Plymouth to take on some London passengers and Paul Gerard Smith was poured aboard. We framed the party lor the <jrand° Duke before the dog watch was put to bed. Eddie (Mould- ing was a passenger and we pre- ^ vailed upon him to sing a song for us and Alan Dwan promised to come also. Alan was on a return trip honeymoon. It's like coming home from a hanging, A lovely gal named Catherine Flynn was on board and she dug up a ukelele. Smith told her if she would warble a few numbers he would put her in show business. Miss Flynn was engaged to Mess- more Kendalr who owns the Cap! Draftee Kin SweD B.0.00 Weekend In Dixie Invasion Spartanburg, 8. C, June 3. Dixie saw more money over the past weekend than at any time since the Confederacy stopped printing its own bills. With the south sport- ing an Army camp in practically every cotton - field; parents and sweeties of recruits rolled in from the- north ' like- waves in special trains, extra buses and hordes of cars. Result was. iced juleps for the gaunt gullets of hotel keepers, exhib- itors, restaurant owners, recreation park operators and proprietors of the sundry other si>ots where any- thing from two bits to $20 bills could be spent It was "Boom Town' week- end for all of Dixie. Not since Grant took Richmond has the north been south in such quantity. And it was all surprise, too. Memorial Day, it must be remem- bered, is not something the folks on 'the nether side of the Mason-Dixon celebrate. South'n folk have an earlier Confederacy grave-decorating event—which yields the same senti- ment but hardly the cash of the northern holiday. Tarkmgtoii-Warners Settfing Tenrod' Tiff tour of the souQi t saw few soldiers often taken for granted.' Harmon i tol theatre on Broadway but Paul in theatres in comparison to the'stated that one-sixth of all news- «^ Roterl«l%^r^^r "it^?h"fnf I n"n>ber of men now in cantonments, reel subjects during the second haU a Rotarian. Neither of Ihem be- .h t»«™~...»»o .. i.TTj * « . longed to the Kiwanis,. because the third operator was a member of that group. They prefaced any ref- erence to each other by questioning the legitimacy of his birth. . I didn't run across any of that stuff In Dixie. Every theatre ' operator and manager seems to be vitelly in- terested In his business as a whole; not just bis theatre as an .individual unit They fight for business, that's true, but their job seems to be sell- ing the theatre as a place to spend a pleasant hour or two. Trade Ass'n Co-op Every town in the country has Its Chamber of Commerce. That seems to be a must, whether you're in Gadsden, Ala. or New York. And, Incldentelly, more ~about Gadsden later. Every member of the C. of C. tries to sell his town. In the town there is usually an association com- posed of automobile agencies, plumb- ers, grocers, etc., who are vitally Interested in pulling together to sell motor cars,. fixtures, edibles, ete. There Is no association of theatre managers whose Jnterest is selling motion pictures. Out ia Hollywood the Producers Association does some- thing or other about the industry but True, they are all Democrats down ^ of 1940 were related to national de- there and perhaps they are getting tense. Also that presently, more than a little better break in the matter 25% of current newsreel clips pic- of Government spending on im-1 turize activities bearing importantly provements, but the earning of the upon the defense effort and 'contrib- Individual is below that of the'uted materially to national morale.' worker in the, north, middle west 'During the past 10 months, the No. and far west Weather? They have 1 flim hero,' Harmon declared, 'has that In the south, .too, and it Is just | been the civilian artisan at work in as hot and wet there as it is in Chi- airplane factory, armory and navy cage. My show did capacity bust- yurd, as newsreel editors have con didn't know that I'm no crystol- gazer myseU. Well we gave the party as planned and it was a big success until I got hit in the eye, tl^en it was colossal. Paris MemMlea W9II Hank and I had a couple of double brandies and got to talking about Paris. I told him about the thrill I got ojtt of his story in the Chi Trlb about Sarah Bernhardt's funeral. That was the best story I ever read I told him. We talked Booth Tarkington's suit against Warner Bros, is in the process of settlement Action seeks damages of $100,000, claiming the film com- pany made 'Penrod and His Twin Brother' not based on any story of his. The film company as its defense asserted that the public associated it, end not Tarkington, with the character of Penrod, as a result of the many pictures It has made of that character. The settlement is understood to give Warner Bros, the rights to produce the Penrod stories, and also gives the author some money, the amount of which has not yet been disclosed. n^ in Jacksonville on a day when tinued to dramatize effecUvely the j about Gib, Floyd Gibbons, and the rain fell pontinuallv from noon until 1 j. j »—) j - - ' .i_. ! , _ . ' . _ " SAPPER'S KEWABD Hollywood, June 3. Irving Rapper draws the director chore on 'One Foot Ip Heaven' at Warners as result of his recent job on 'Shining Victory.' Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland are in the top spots. rain fell continually from noon until , jjjjuej hands and trained eyes of late in the evening. The show be- master craftsmen in key industries.' fore me had the same experience. I Prodnctlon What's wrong with theatre busi- ] Regarding production, the division ness? I can't say. If I could answer , headed by Y. Frank Freeman, with that I could make a mUlion. I Carryl F. Zanuck, vice-chairman, haven't tried to give the soluUon Harmon told the AMPA that the here. Tve attempted to give a few j^^st important work thus far has reasons why business is good where- ^een in the commercial field. He business, hasnit been too good in the ^ited Columbia's 'Spirit of 1941' and past In fact when I started for Metro's 'The Battle,' both shorts, as that part of the coim^ I felt I was examples. Columbia's picture was going on Oie 'deatti trail but com- ^^j^ ^^ ^^e direct request of U. S. pleted the tour with a different idea. CWU Service Commission to assUt Down n that part of the country placement of skilled civUian la- the theatre operator and manager ^^^^^ ^ armories and Navy have done a good job of selling the .,i.he BatUe' dramatizes the theatre as a place to go for enter- «avv's service of auoolv Uihment They have discouraged ^avy^^^^rvi^^^^^ as niuch as possible el'/a^.f^^o' crease in number of features having any kind. Double bills haven't been ! „„„ ,„ time we had in Paris and Berlin with Lincoln Eyre of the World and Webb Miller. Hemingway and Bar- ney Gallant were in town but we couldnt get them away from the dome. We got to talking about restau- rants—Montaigne Traltures, the res- taurant of William the Conqueror at Dives. The Cochon Au Lait over on the Left Bank and the Auberge Du Ped Nim. We opened another quart of brandy. We got around to Georges Carpentier. The night in London he gave me a letter of introduction to Spinelli and we both missed the plane to Paris the next momhig. I thought that Carp had been a French flyer but Hank told me Stadio Contracts it only affects the country at large; allowed to eain the nooularity they ''"^" uniform as leadmg charac-1 George had been singing In a cafe when matters such as Lana Turner's 1 have attained in other sections of ^ Pictures dealing with tenk , m Berlin-and had been thrown into sweaters come out in the open. I Ihe eountrvland as b result business parachute troops now are a concentration camp. Mlstenguett im,-* 1 1-1 -i. J . ' we couniry ana as a resuu Du:>ine5:> , „_„j,,^#i-_ _,i>v, tu- Via,l tv.o vir^^ c :_. .• i_>_ That people are interested in mo- tion pictures Is not a rumor. They acti^lly are. I telked to 6ver 100 service clubs, talked to the student bodies of such universities as> Illi- nois, Drake, Florida and others. Ap- peared in theatres to a total attend-, ance of over 600,000 people. They couldn't get enough of Hollywood. They fired questions, at me for an hour at a UmV Not silly questions Is eood- Bood in a cart of the coun- production, with the whole-1 had the King of Spain spring him ^ wherrmo^ey Cs al^^^^^^^ hearted cooperation of the Army, ac I and he came back to Paris with less plentiful than elsewhere. <="'*'"e Harmon TheyVe At It Again In the non-theatrical field, he re- ferred to SO training films now be- ing made in Hollywood under the auspices of the.Research Council of ;parole d'honeur.' ■ We talked about NeU Henry, Frankie O'Nell,- Sparrow Robinson, Tommy Lyman, Roy Barton and Dick Kleegan; Hank knew every- the Academy of Motion Picture Arts I body. Being the ace ipan of the and Sciences in cooperation with ' Paris Trlb after he had covered the U. S. Army Signal Corps. | World War with Gib—well why The U. S. Public Health Service, • shouldn't he. We remembered the Hollywood, June 3. Les Goodwins climbs the gang- —though there were maiiy "of them direct the'^new^feudTbetwe^ . trough the office of Lowell Melle{t,' night Erskine Gwynne took us to the —but Intelligent questions. They McLaglen and Edmund Lowe at recenUy requested the industry to Quatz Art Ball and we sat in Henri were vitally interested in the rko ' Produce a' non-theatrical film on Letellier's box and Billy Doyle movies. riiiriin+i,, Goodwins is piloting venereal disease, Harmon said, and ^ kicked the Agha Khan in the part of V?*®**'',* i".?* tobacco and corn "Mexican Spitfire's Baby,' formerly belt asked the same questions as called "Lord Epplng Sees a Ghost,' those in other sections of the coun- on the same lot try. Maybe more there were inter-, ested in Gene Autry than elsewhere,! but that Indl/cates nothing. To get back to Gadsden. That's a good example of a small town. Chances are you won't find it on the 'map. It-has about 15,000 population Rosemary Lane to Legit Hollywood, June 3. Rosemary Lane makes her legtt debut next fall on Broadway In 'Young Man's Family,' to be pro- _ aild.'.thtee. theatres. Where or how duced by George Abbott. 'headed by W. A. Scully, Harmon eX' niiy.. manager dug it up I'll never Actress is currently on vacation in plained that more than 10,000 exhibi- Imowi but .there it was, an open California. > (Continued on page 23) this has been underteken by Academy's Research Council on a non-profit basis. Zanuck's commit- tee is remaking a three-reel film on life at West Point, silent version of which was titled 'Cadet Days' and made in 1926. This is being done for the War Dept public - relations bureau. Regarding distribution, the division the the anatomy of the same name, We had some more brandy—'Well, I've seen them all,' I told him, "but the story you wrote about the Di- vine Sarah's last mile was a lulu.' 'It was a good story,' he finally ad- mitted. "The paper got a' lot of fan mail on that one, but let me tell you a little secret—the story had my name at the top on the by-line but I didn't write It. It was written by a lad who was "working for me—a man named Vincent SheeaUt' Hollywood, June 8. Fred Zinneman inked new con- tract as shorts director at Metro. Mary Jo James drew player ticket at' Warners. Marvin Borowsky signed as ju- nior writer at Metro. Robert Stack's option picked up by Universal. Jack Otterson, chief art director at Universal, renewed for year. Stephen Morehouse Avery's op- tion lifted by Edward Smalt Harry Lewis inked player deal at Warners. Donna Drake's acting option hoist- ed by Paramount Anatole Litvak renewed as direc- tor at Warners. Elliot Paul handed writer contract at Metro. Frances Neal's minor contract with RKO approved by Superior Court. Lynne Overman drew two-year ticket at Paramount Ed James "penned scripter con- tract at Republic. Ray Jones signed new deal as chief of Universal's' still photog- raphy istafl. Fred Finkelhoffe became contract scribe at Metro. Laurie Douglas former fashion model, handed player' contract by Paramount. Smiley Burnette's option renewed by Republic. Fay Holden inked new contract at Metro. Babs Savagje. dre.w moppet.pact at Republic.!'. Richard Haydel, boy ' pianist, signed by Metro. Leni Lynn's player option hoisted by Republic. Virginia Grey handed a new act- ihg termer at' Metro. George (Gabby) Hayes bptioiied at Republic.