Variety (Jul 1941)

MI8GELLAMY Wednesdaj, July 2, 1941 De Ro!dbemont Clippars Into N. Y. Witb Reels on France for M. of T. By GEORGE FEOST The land of four o'clock teas and dictator-teasers provided cartons of chitter-chatter at New York's La- Guardla Field this week with the Pan-American Clipper Ships deposit- ing talkative observers on these shores of the brave and the spree, fresh from England's war-pocked cities and hillsides with tales of alarm and adventure, bravery and buRoonery, chaos and calmness, de- struction and defiance, emancipation end enslavement, fear and frolic, goodness and grimness and horror and humor. George Backer, president and pub- lisher of the New York Post and an official of more news agencies than you could shake a stick of type at, arrived on the Dixie Clipper's mid- week flight with a piece of the bomb that knocked the London Daily Ex- press building Into an all-star edition. On the same flying boat, rode Bichard de Rochemont, March of Time editor, to report that he super- vised the filming of 10,000 feet of celluloid in unoccupied France which will be melded into a story of Amer- ican Red Cross activity. Combined in the same reels will be frames from footage garnered with de Gaulle and some German camera views taken from Jap boats on the Pacific by the BrltUh. Declines to Discuss Method Declining to expose his company's method of obtaining German films captured by the British from the English government, de Rochemont spoke none too kindly of the alleged governors of Vichy, France, who, he said, did not binder his picture-mak- ing but were none too pleased that the cameras were grinding a portrait of France's shame. The inboimd Atlantic Clipper pre- sented us with Max Milder, manag- ing director of Warner Bros, Ltd., in Merrie Old; David Rose, who repre- sents Paramount Pix in the same precincts; and Roy A. de Groot, commentator for British Pathe News. Rose came to the Metropolis of Merrymaking and Miracles on rou- (Continued on page 22) Redtape Delays Brazilian Wedding of Paul Draper Rio de Janeiro, July 1. Despite U. S. press reports, Paul Draper, the American dancer who appeared here at the Copacabana be- fore Eddy Duchin's advent, and Heidi Vosseler, former understudy to Zorina in 'Louisiana Purchase,' are not married as yet" But they hope to be before they sail home July 16 on the S. S. BrazU. Local red-tape has been delaying the nuptials. Miss Vosseler is the Philadelphia society girl and dancer who followed Draper here. for.a South American wedding, but being transients they must go through many trivial but bothersome formalities. Start Constniction Of Film Refief Home On Coast in Late Summer Corio's Broken Gam Kayoes H'wodd Bid After 10 years in burlesque, Ann Corio has finally received the tap from Hollywood—and wont be able to take advantage of the call because of the broken ankle she suffered a couple weeks ago while performing in 'White Cargo' in stock. Howard Hawks has her in mind to play a counterpart of herself -in 'Ball of Fire' (formerly The Professor and the Burlesque Queen'), which he Is directing for Samuel Goldwyn. Gary Cooper's the male in the picture. Hawks wired Miss Corio lo head west last week for a test On crutches, she can't leave, however, for at least four weeks. HONROEMEETS music LOVERS' Grade FieldsXfippers Tomorrow; Temmes' Tour Hollywood, July 1. Building of the Motion Picture Relief Fund's home for the aged and indigent in the film industry starts late this summer on a 41-acre tract in San Fernando Valley with-a fund of $773,350, as of Dec. 3L, 1940. An- nouncement was made by William L. Pereira, Paramount architect, who laid out the plans voluntarily, at the annual meeting of the organization. Reelected officers were Jean Her- sholt, president; Ralph Block, Ralph Morgan, Walter Wanger, Lucile Gleason, vice-presidents; George Bagnall. treasurer; EweU D. Moore, counsel, and Wilma Bashor, secre- tary. Newly elected trustees are Harold Bucquet, Walter LAng and Noel Madison. Holding over from last year are Samuel Goldwyn, Bertha Mann Griffith, Mitch^ Lewis, EweU D. Moore, Mary Pickford, Frederick Richards, Welter Wanger and Wil' liam Seiter. Aside from the building fund, which is supported by the GuU radio show and is kept apart, the 1040 financial report disclosed a total revenue of $370,505, of which $272,- 673 represented donations by indi viduals from various film studios. Expenditures for operation, illness and other needs amounted to $399, 123, leaving a deficit of $19,618. The type of 'music lover' with whom Artie Shaw got in dutch when he called them morons, tangled with Vaughn Monroe last week. Making a circuit of record stores in north' ern New Jersey towns, Monroe met a mob at a Perth Amboy stop that set him back on his heels. Delayed about 20 minutes beyond the time he was supposed to make an appear^ ance there, Monroe was forced to beg the kids' pardon for being late by cracks of 'ain't you going to apol- ogize for keeping us waiting?' etc Dissatisfied with his apologies, ap- parently, some of the mob of 650 went outside and let the air out of all the tires on the car Monroe ar- rived in, an auto belonging to a Vic- tor-Bluebird distributor. In addi- tion, someone stole the rear-view mirror from it and bfted about. 100 pictures of Monroe. Members of a Vaughn Monroe fan club from Long Branch, N. J., got hold of-a" hand pump somewhere and filled the tires with air by working in relays. Club also recovered the stolen pictures. Grade Fields, arriving from the Coast by plane today (Wednesday), wlU participate in various activities, including a Coast-to-Coast broadcast, for British War Relief before Clip- pering Saturday <5) for Lisbon. There shell be picked up by an RAF bomber and flown to England to do a series of entertainments for the British armed forces. ■ Singer-coinrt- edlenne was 'drafted' by Churchill to make the trip and do the shows. Tomorrow's broadcast, scheduled for 10:45 a.m. and carried by NBC- Blue (WJZ), will be* a .15-minute show with Mayor I,aGuardia, Rob- ert E. Sherwood amd ftobert R. Appleby, vice-president of the Brit- ish War Relief Society, with Allen Prescott, of NBC, as m.c.. 'Show will also be shortwaved to- England and picked up by BBC for later rebroad- cas't by transcription. At a cocktail party this afternoon at the Ritz, N. Y., Miss Fields will be presented by Sherwood with a scroll signed by various theatrical personalities, in appreciation.of her work In behalf of the various British fund drives. Number o{ British War lieii^f'So'clety' oMcials will be pres- ent. ' Mis$ Fields .la due' bpck in' the U. S. -late in August to start another tour of Shows for Britain. Meanwhile, Winifred Ashford and Mrs, Pat Macleod, members of the British women's Mechanized Trans- port Corps visiting the U. S. to lec- ture In behalf of aid to Britain, have been booked for an extended tour through July and August. They open July 19 at Greenwich, Conn., and speak almost nightly through New England, with two weelcs of en- gagements in Boston, and winding up Aug. 27 at Pittsfleld, Mass. Sub- sequent engagements will be set through the Middle Atlantic States and on south. Two women will appear in uni- form and will have mobile canteens of the type used in England. They will also take along an exhibit of war trophies, bomb fragments, etc., as well as a projector and films of the Rattle of L<>nd6aii m t.t i '>k< ANDREWS SISTERS H984 ON FRISCO I Not sure of the Andrews Sisters' draw in San Francisco, manager of the Golden Gate theatre there wound up paying the trio almost $1,500 more than the $3,500 they originally asked, because he made a -percentage deal with them. Re- fusing an asked $3,500, manager guaranteed the girls $2,500 with a 50-50 split over a gross of $17,500. Gross ran to $22,468 and the trio walked off with $4,964 as its end. Andrews' Hot Wax San Francisco, July 1. George Bole wangled a police es- cort and held a plane 15 minutes so that the Andrews Sisters, closing at his Golden Gate here on Tuesday night (24), could make connections which would put them in New York in time to do a day's waxing for Decca Thursday (26) before opening a dat*! at the Eail'e, Phniy, on Pri day (27);. -, • Piul SpitaJny's Discs Phil 'Spitalny's all-girl orchestra has been signed by Columbia Records to turn out an 'Album of Charm. Sides, which not have been decided upon yet, will be made in New York in about two weeks. They'll be more along choral work lines than instru mentals. Spitalny's femme crew has never made popular recordings. \ THE BERLE-ING POINT ii By Milton Berle ^ ♦ m «»»«««««»»««*««*««»»«««« >«♦♦♦«♦♦♦♦♦♦♦« MM M-G SCREEN TESTING CANTOR'^ DINAH SHORE Dinah Shore, singer on the Eddie Cantor show, went through a screen test for M-G-M last week, She did a sUent test for appearance, and this -week will be lensed again for speech and emoting. ' singer is currently on a personal tour. She's due at the Steel Pier, Atlantic City, Friday (4) and next week at the Hipp theatre, Balti- more. Chicago, July 1. Am on the Open Road. Took the 20th Century to Chicago from New York. I had to, I'm under contract to Fox. Had a beautiful compartment on the train—with an adjoining, engineer. You sure have to watch out for those gamblers on trains. I got into- a game with four card sharlcs and only won 12 bucks! Kenny Youngman saw me off at (he train. He made me a present of one of his new gags—that Bob Hope tells so well. Leo Lindy gave me a going-away present—a pocket watch with an- chovies in place of hands, and a chain made of braided nopdles. Broadway Department Famous Coney Island words: 'Hey, Frankie, give me the soap, I wanna go into the waterl' Billy Rose and Earl Carroll are cbllaboirating on a new show to be called '20,000 Legs Under the Sea.' Jack White's Club. 18 is featuring a new drink called The Polo Ground's Zombie.' Two drinks and you don't walk; you slide home. Broadway Sam, the well dressed nothing, saw the .^bbott & Costello pic- ture, 'In the Navy,' so many times he's now suffering from mal-de-mer! Went to the premiere of Damon Runyon's Tight Shoes.' live picture had such a terrific mental reaction that 23 people left their shoes under their seati in the theatre. Hollywoodlana . Just got word 'that Paramount is thinking of starring Eleanor Roosevelt in a new picture called, 'Oh! For the Open Road!' Bing Crosby has a picture of 'Whirlaway' in all of his horses', stalls, and there's a sign under the painting saying, 'See What I Mean!' George Raft wires me that he knows a Hollywood actor who was just drafted in the Army, end the hamola told bis agent that he had just signed a 52 week contract with Uncle Sam with options. You can see that Maxie Rosenbloom's fighting days are over—his gloves hung him up. Laird Cregar wires that there's a filmland society playboy who has just been elected 'The AU-American Nothing of' 1941.' Music Department Do you think BMI songs will bring back double breasted vests? There's Always a Reason: Shep«Fields gave up his 'rippling rhythm' style of music because his water bill was too high! Radio Department Heard Johnny Burke, the soldier monologist on the Kate Smith show last week. Add:-Comebacks to World War 11. With so many news commentators on the air today, the only way a comic can ge^ a program is to take a course in journalism. ^ Margie Hart and Ann Corio are readying a new quiz show for radio called, 'Information Tease!' Ihere's No Troth to the Rumor That Boris Karloff and-,Peter Lorre do not''spook' to each other. ... That Tommy Manville joined the Navy so he could be a 'Sea Wolf' That Will Hays has a sideline—manufacturing sweaters... .Th'at Slim Sununervllle'is so thin that when he stands sideways, he isn't there.... Hangnail Deaheriptions Crover Whalen: Greet the People... .Andre Baruch: Citizen Wain.... Joe Louis: Conn-vinced... .Rochester: Benny's from heaven... .Ben Beniie; Man or Micetro. Observation Department Add theme songs: Saratoga Racetrack: 'Just a Little Bit North of Tout' Carolina!' You can't take it with you: My uncle is en route to Leavenworth—the new fives he made had Lincoln blinkin'. Eavesdropped at the Famous Door: 'Her kisses have, kept two lawyers on a steady salary!' Eavesdropped at El Morocco: That's not a Bundle for Britain, that's my mother-in-law!' Whatever Became of—7 7 7 Ross and Dubrow Tuck and Cinns Grace DuFaye Ting-a-Llng Ketchem and Cheatem The Melody of Youth Afterpiece Hollywood is the only place in the world where a guy can starve to death—among his friends. Kyser Band Trouping With Coast Camp Unit Hollywood, July 1. Hollywood's troupe of entertainers, representing the Motion Picture Committee for Talent and Camp Recreation, moves into Hamilton Field today (Tues.) after giving shows at Camp CalSan and Camp Haan. Tour calls for progran^ at the Presidio, Moffett Field and the Salinas and WatsonviUe airports. Alternating on the assignments are Judy Canova, Kay Kyser and his orchestra, Ann Miller, Lucille. Ball, Desi Arnaz, Jerry Adler, Kay Fran- cis, Linda Darnell and Eugene King. UEDT.-COM. EDDIE FEABOD'7 Detroit, July 1. It's no longer Eddie Peabody but Lieut.-Com. Edward Peabody, U.S.N. The banjoist, who -has been' a re' serve officer in the naval reserve, hiis been called up for service and how is assigned to the Great Lakes Training Station. It is the branch of the service In which, it has been indicated, there is no year's limit but officers are in 'for the duration.' llona's 'Bella Donna* Hollywood, July 1. nona Massey will be starred by Edward Small in Robert Hichins' 'Bella Donna.' Pola Negri made it as a silent in 1923 and was given the part In the Selznick Pacts Bruce Hollywood, July 1. David O, Selznick sigQed Carol Bruce, who - appeared in the Broad- way production of 'Louisiana Pur- chase,' to a one-picture-a-year con- tract. Currently Miss Bruce - is working in 'This Woman Is Mine,' her first Glenda Farrell WiH Co-MX. 'BasebaH Quiz' Glenda Farrell will co-m.c. Bristol- Myers' 'Baseball Quiz' which starting today (Wednesday), replaces Eddie Cantor for the summer on the NBC- Red. Hers is a week-to-week arrange- ment through the Young & Rubicam agency. ATLANTIC CITY MAYOR WARNS CAFES ON MT' Saroyan's 2 Plays San Franpisco, July 1. William Savoyan, just back f rom a visit to Fresno, liis hometown, is completing' a new play, tentatively called 'Jim Dandy.' When that is finished he'll write a tragedy, to be .called 'Throw Some My Way.' L. A. TO N. Y. Neii P; Agnewi' Francis Alstock. Max Arnow. Barney Balaban.. -Gracie Fields. Robert Gillham. Alan Gordon. Stanton Griffis. John W. Hicks, Jr. Russell Holman. Carol Irwin. Jock Lawrence. AI Lewis. Harry -MuUer. Ken Murray. Ed Raftery. Samson Rapliaelson. Paul- Raibum. Pliil Reisman. Glen Rose. Walter Schubert. George Sherman, . M. J. SlegeJ. Jo Swerling. Hal B. WaUis. ..pa^of^W^e, Atlantic City, July 1. Proprietors of a dozen Atlantic City niteries were told by Mayor Tom Taggert yesterday their license renewals for the next -12 months would be on a 'conditional' basis. 'Conditions' are that they maintain strict discipline of 'smartaleck m.c.'s who confuse filth with humor.' Barry Wood Rounding Out t04 Weeks With Luckies Barry Wood has been renewed for anothei- 13 weeks, ending Nov; 1, on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade. Pick-' up rounds out his service on the cig- gie show to 104 weeks—two straight years. Wood is currently bouncing around the country and Canada, singing irvlrig Berlin's patriotic tun'es 'Any Bonds Today?' and 'Arms for the Lov<t of America' at various patriotic functions, coming back to New York. tor each Hit Parade broadcast. N. Y. TO L. A. Roberta Becker. Roy Disney. Blanche Grady. David E. Green. Linda Grey.' Victor Meore. Charles Skouras. Tom Walker. SAILINGS July 3 (New York to Lisbon) Grade Fields (Atlanfic Clipper). July 16 (Rio de Janeiro to New York) . Paul Draper, Heidi Vosseler (BrazU). Aug. t XNew Ydik to Rio) Jack bns i.cliK; -iv)-ro^olf Aanfif!rs/y»swH)«HlTi'i ' f ' ■'