Variety (Sep 1941)

52 LEGITIMATE Wednesday, September 24, 1941 L it era i i $5,000,000 for New Chi Daily New Chicago paper being estab- lished by Marshall Field III and Silliman Evans will tee off with a bankroll reported to be $5,000,000. It will be a full-size sheet printed on the presses of the Chicago Daily News. Its offices will consist of two floors in the News Building. Salline isn't all smooth, however, and Field flew into N. Y. yesterday (Tuesday) unexpectedly for hud- dles. Chi Tribune carried story yes- terday that Jield was selling 200,000 shares of his Marshall Field store stock at a private sale, intimating that it was in an effort to get money for the new venture. Actually, it Is understood, Field owns around 500,000 shares, and it is said his ad- visers feel that is too much of any one stock. There are strong rumors, too, that P. K. Wrigley and Les At- lass are investing in the paper. With Field as owner and Evans as publisher, it will get under way around Jan. 1. Thomas MacNicho- las, former Chicago newspaperman, more recently with Evans on the Nashville Tennessean, will be gen- eral manager. Lou Ruppel, former m.e. of the Chicago Times and large- ly responsible for that paper's initial success, appears likely to take a similar post on the new sheet. He's now press chief of CBS in New York. He said Monday (22) that he's 'not denying and not confirm- ing' rumors of a connection with the new sheet. It probably will have United Press service, it is said, and there is talk of namin" i* AM. Field's New York paner is PM. Evans is best known in the news- paper field for his success, in four years, in making the Tennessean one of the most powerful papers in the sUte. When he bought It in 1937 It had been in recejvership for four years. his Governor's Island, N.Y., head- quarters for an explanation of what to expect in the six weeks of maneu- vers which begin Oct. 3. Press-radio men, who will not be required to wear uniforms as orig- inally suggested, will be headquart- ered in the Kirkwood hotel, Camden, N. C, which has been taken over by the Army exclusively for their use. Army apologized because North Carolina law makes hard li- quor unavailable, but promised a supply of beer would be on hand. General Drum stres.<:ed that every type of cooperation possible will be granted and that any complaint by the press will be regarded as a sug- gestion for improvement. Kirkwood hotel. Drum said, is being supplied with dark rooms and telegraph equipment to provide maximum comfort and efficiency. The General appealed to reporters to go easy on criticism in their stories, pointing out that this was only a training maneuver and that it the Army was already perfect the $4,- 400,000 that the practice session will cost wouldn't be needed. (18). The wage increase Is the largest granted under a Guild con- tract in Philadelphia. The Inquirer unit had voted to strike last Sunday unless their demands were granted. At one point the management's ne- gotiators flew to Lewlsburg, Pa., to confer with publisher M. L. Annen- berg, serving a term at the Federal penitentiary there for income, tax evasion. The Transcript's Outgrowth A skeleton crew from the top crust of the late Boston Evening Transcript has emerged with a new Boston suburban weekly titled the Star-Bulletin, Paper is a giveaway, with radio, motion picture and stage show directories, patterned after the 'Radioscope' feature of the Tran- script. Two editions, one covering the Cambridge sector, and the other aimed at Newton and environs made their debut last week (18). Richard N. Johnson, former pub- lisher- of the Transcript, is publisher of the new sheet; Alden B. Hoag, former managing editor of the Tran- script, is editor; Kenneth R. Johnson and Margaret J. Sutermeister are business manager and associate edi- tor, respectively.' Australia Bays Time Service Sale of Time magazine's Foreign News and World War sections for complete reproduction in a newspa- per" and mag in Australia and a pa- per in New Zealand is an extension of the air-mailed mimeograph ser-; vice it started many months ago to South American papers. Sold at prices making it Just about possible to break even, object Is to build up the name and prestige of Time throughout the world. Figured that when the war is over the buildup that Time has been getting will en- able it to launch profitably air- express editions throughout the world. "Foreign News and World War sec- tions, averaging around 10,000 words a week, are transmitted to the Syd- ney (Australia) Telegraph by tele- phone and are taken down verba- tim by stenographic crews working In shifts. Stuff that appears in Time in New York on Friday thus appears In a special edition of the Tele- graph's roto the following Sunday, Telegraph provides transcripts to the Australian Woman's Weekly (owned, as is the Telegraph, by 34-year-old gold-mine Croesus Frank Packer) end the New. Zealand Observer. Idea for the telephonic service was that of David Yaffa, operator of Australia's largest syndicate. He is selling the service in all of Austra- lasia and is now working on a deal with a paper in the Dutch East In- dies. Transmission cost to Australia Is about $1,300 a week, ol Which atiout $800 is for phone tolls. Payment for the service to Time, Inasmuch as coin cannot be transferred out of a British colony to a foreign country, Is credited to the mag's account in London and helps pay for operation of its editorial staff there. Time's 'air-express' edition to South America, started last spring, has achieved a circulation of 23,000. It Is still losing money heavily, how- ever, partly because priorities have severely hit all advertising of ma- terials for export. One hundred copies of the 'air- express' edition are how going to Iceland each week, transported by navy patrol bombers. Bermuda also began getting the 'AE' edition sev- eral weeks ago, with next stops planned for Hawaii and tlie Philip- pines. Bandom's B. of M. Choice The second new author under Random House au^ices to make the Book-of-the-Month is George R. Stewart, English prof at the U. of California, whose 'Storm' will be co-choice with Harcourt-Brace's 'Language in Action,' by S. I. Haya- kawa as the December B.-of-M. Just preceding. Random House's 'Junior Miss,' by Sally Benson, was so se- lected, and. Incidentally, Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov (who play wrote 'My Sister Eileen'), have just completed a dramatization of 'Miss' for Max Gordon. Latter is producing 'Eileen.' On the subject 'of new authors, 'Whistle Stop,' by Marietta Wolff (Owen Davis has also just drama- tized it), won the Avery Hopwood award; Budd Schulberg's 'What Makes Sammy Run?' is deemed the best selling novel on Hollywood so far (25,000 copies); and a fifth new author, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, has had his 'Ox-Bow Incident' just sold to Harold Hurley's new film production unit. Incidentally, the 175,000 to 200,000 extra copies (at least) that B.-of-M.; selections mean to writers ^nd pub- lishers is described as 'a giant bingo* in literati circles. All pubs compete for the Harry Scherman-Meredith Wood fnerchandising system (they're respectively prez and v.p. of the book club), and its effect on the commercial life of any selection Is obvious. William Allen White, Dor- othy Canfleld Fisher, Henry Seldel Canby and Christopher Morley con- tinue as the judges; the late Hey- wood Broun was never replaced. Sheean to China Vincent Sheean, Just back in New York from England, clippers to China this week to cover Chungking for Red Book and the New York Herald Tribune syndicate, and also to do a book on the Burma Road for Random House. Meantime, Mrs. Sheean (Diana Forbes-Robertson) has authored 'Battle of Waterloo Road' for thfe same firm. Mrs. Sheean is the daughter of actress Gertrude Elliott and the late Sir Guy Forbes-Robertson, the Brit- ish Shakespearean. Maxine Elliott was an aunt. Inside Stiitf-Legit Edgar Selwyn left Broadway for Hollywood and the Metro studio Satur. day (20) after turning over the supervision of The Wookey,' Plymouth, N. Y., to Sidney Phillips of the film firm's New York offices. Although further legit plans are not definite, he is considering another script for legit and may produce it for Metro as he did 'Wookey.' Word from the Coast Is that Arch Selwyn may soon be active again. He goes daily to Edgar's swimming pool, hangs up.a sign about casting on the bath pavilion, dons a pair of trunks and awaits players who may ap- expatrlate, helps him. Arch Selwyn's damage suit as the result of a ex-patrlate, helps him. Arch Selwyn's damage suit as the result of a motor car accident is due for hearing soon. Presentation of 'Rose-Marie' at the Hollywood Bowl grossed $44,000, although j>ther reports had* the takings less. Showing was exceptionally costly, production nu{ approximating $46,000. That outlay for a one week date appears to have been hazardous, but the capacity of the Bowl would have accounted for a goodly profit had attendance been bigger. Weather was too cool and the circus was strong opposition for two days. There probably was no actual loss, because of parking and other concessions, in which the attraction shared. It was the first time an operetta was staged in the Bowl, whose manager, ■ C. B. Toberman, and Tom Qirton of San Francisco were the principal backers. Fortime Gallo, New York operatic specialist, had a rooting interest . Little known along Broadway that Frank Wheeler, 50, husband of Win- nifred Lenihan, died about three-weeks ago in the Massachusetts General hospital. Miss Lenihan, fiery Equltyite who resigned from the council early in the summer, had been wed to Wheeler for a number of yeai-s. Death followed the extraction of an infected tooth, a blood clot affecting the lungs, with pneumonia the final diagnosis. Wheeler,'an official of the A. & P. grocery store chain, resided in New York with Miss Lenihan. There are three children, one hers, two from his previous marriage. Dwight Deere Wiman will have theatrical Interests on both coasts this season, but is particularly enthusiastic over the script title 'Letters From Lucerne' which will bring Rosalie Stewart back from Hollywood as co- producer, n is described as a war play different from Ay heretofore pre- sented, ajithors being Fritz Rotter and Allen Vincent, Wiman will present 'Solitaire' and has a share in an untitled Coast revue now in rehearsal there. It is an 'if money' for Broadway. Curtis Wants American Boy Reported interest of the Curtis, Publishing Co. in adding a boys' magazine to balance its present wide coverage with the Saturday Evening post. Ladies Home Journal and Country tJentleman, has' resulted in new bids being opened here on the American Boy, which went into bankruptcy a month ago. Bankruptcy Referee Paul H. King, in the Detroit Federal Court, re- jected the earlier bids made foj' the juvenile magazine when advised that three more bidders, including the Curtis Co., were ready to make offers topping those made first and which totaled under $7,000. LITERATI OBITS Lee-Foster Hartman, 61, editor of Harper's Magazine, died yesterday (Tues.) in N.Y., of a heart attack. He came to Harper's in 1904 and was also a director and vice-president of Harper & Bros., publishers. Joseph Blythe Whitehead, 76, man- aging director. of the Brandon Sun since 1905, died in Brandon, Mani- toba, Sept. 12 after a lengthy illness. Kazlemlerz Glnchowski, 58, editor of the largest Polish paper in the XJ. S., Everybody's Daily, died in Windsor, Ontario, Sept. 15 of a heart attack. Franic Smetburst, 48, managing editor of Ine Raleigh News and pbr server, died Sept. 18 of a heart at- tack in Raleigh, N. C. Christopher W. Harmon, 80, for- mer editor of the E^stern""State Jour- nal. White Plains, N. Y., died there' Sept. 19. Soger Babson Friend, 35, former secretary to William Randolph Hearst, Jr., and more recently book reviewer for the N. Y. Sunday-Jour- nal-American (Hearst) died in Flushing, N. Y., Sept. 21. CoL Edward Brayton Clark, 81, retired vet newspaperman, died in Brookline, Mass., Sept. 22. Edwin B. Self, who wrote The Distant City,' which opened at the Long- acre, N. Y., Monday (22), is said to have provided most if not all the backing. He is known in advertising circles as the exploiter of Schlitz beer and is said to have a number of other accounts. Drama is being presented by John Tuerk. Author wrote another play presented in 1933, it being 'Two Strange Women.' •War' Scribes De Luxe Reporters, photogs and radio men covering field maneuvers of the 270, 000 soldiers of the First Army In the Carolines will find that the War Department has left little imdone in looking out for their comfort. Gen- eral Hugh A. Drum' told them last week. General had a get-together of some 50 press and radio men at . Shellah Graham to' Lecture Sheilah Graham, NANA feature writer, long in Hollywood and just returned from a two-month special assignment in London, is slated for a lecture tour under Coulston Leigh auspices. Film writer did the show biz ap- proach on the London blitz, clipper- ing back last week. While east, she is also pinch-hitting for Ira Wolfert, on vacation, covering the New York legit premieres; also going to Wash- ington for the 'warmonger' probe and to cover the Windsors' arrival. Her return west is indef. Phiily Inquirer-GuUd Pact A strike of editorial, circulation and advertising ei .ployeeis of the Philadelphia Inquirer w.-s averted last week when the management agreed to the Newspaper Guild's final terms; They consist of $52,000 in annual increases; three weeks' va- cation for all employees with five years' service or more, and sever- ance pay to '-»eirs of an employee in case of death. Th agreement came after 10 hours of negotiation last Tuesday CHATTEB Click mag moves to New York from Philly ardund Oct. 15. Jim Tully has Just turned over manuscript of a new novel to Scrib- ners. W. H. ^awcett, Jr., spending i week in Hollywood before return- ing east. Myron Weiss, former medical and science editor of Time and Life, new advisoty ed of Physical Culture. Rian James turned in his 17th novel. The Happy People,' for pub- llcation by Julian Messner & Co. New York Newspaper Guild niov- ing to larger quarters, from West 46th street to Park avenue and 40th, George McCormick, 76, Memphis Commercial Appeal associate mar- ket editor and former manager edi- tor, has retired, ending career begun in 1883. W. F. (Nick) Carter, local staff correspondent of the Associated Press, elected president of the At- lantic City Press Club. He suc- ceeds C. D. Mansfield, court reporter for the Press-Union newspapers. Edward F. Harkins, 69, drama ed- itor of the Boston Record for the past 25 years, retired last week. Em- ployes and executives of the Bos- ton Hearst papers honored him at a testimonial luncheon on the an- niversary of his 50th year In news- paper work, Erskine Johnson succeeds John Truesdell, recently resigned, as Hollywood correspondent for Es- quire Features. Johnson's Job is in addition to his column In the Los Angeles Daily News and his radio program. Truesdell will write column for the Chicago Times and retain a few of the papers he had when he was with Esquire. Lou Schonceit^'Broadway ticket broker, received a Jewish New Year card per usual from Daniel J. Traynor, clerk of the county court. The good wishes side was rubber-stamped: 'Vote for Bill O'Dwyer, Democratic mayorelty candidate. Play Out of Town TALK OUT LOUD A musical r«vu6' tn two acts and eldvsn scones, conceived and directed by Not Llchtman, assisted bjr Perry Bruubkln; with lyrics by David Qnggory end music by Al MOss. ~ y^lU Lorln and Qenevleve Pilot: sketches by Reuben Shlpp and D^vld Oreg- gory; choreography by Helen Tamlrls; set- tings by Walter Ketchum; .oixhestra con- ducted by Charles Blackman; presented Sept. 21, IMl, at Unity House, Forest Park, Pa., owned and operated -by the In- ternational Ladles' Oarment Workers' Union. - , Cast: Helen. Tamlrls, Vivian Cherry, Tn«a. Filer, Susan Remos, Daniel Nogrln, Milton Feher, MIml Benzell, Phil Lcods. Bob Berry, Claire Qrlnells, Estelle Ray- mond. Paul Mann, David Greggory, Laura Duncan, Al Moss, Virginia Blake and Mark Colbln. This sprightly and vastly enter- taining musical revue seems headed for a profitable Broadway_ engage- ment, once It arrives there after first having undergone a bit of pol- ishing, several deletions and possibly a better finale. Notable for all- around excellence of the entire cast, the fast pace, the wealth of slick, trick lyrics which somehow seem to make up for what the music, though adequate, lacks, this show., stacks up favorably with 'Pins and Needles.' Although at present seemingly de- void of an outstanding song hit, two numbers, 'Haunted Heart' and 'It'll Be Great to Be .Alive at Sixty-Five' (in reference to social security old age pension), have appeal. Another number, 'Rhythm Rides Again,' also seems to have possibilities. It appears to be a field day for David Greggory and for the two colored players, Laura Duncan and Al Moss, together with Phil Leeds. In the first instance, besides contributing his acting and .narrating, the clever lyrics by Greggory keep the show' lively and restful. Moss' tuneful mel- odies and fine vocal efforts, of which there ere too few, place him right up there with the foremost colored artists. And Laura Duncan's mas- terly presentation of her vocal es- signment^ Ihould ceuse no doubt in eny auditor's mind that here Is an- other click. Comedian Phil Leeds is effective and humorous. While the show maintains an in- teresting and refreshing pace, some of the dancing is quite ordinary. However, in this respect, the second act shows a decided improvement over the first. The sketches by Reu- ben Shlpp and Greggory were, for the most part, well written, nicely timed, tastefully dressed and quite funny. Special note should be taken of Will Lorin's expressive and moving music In 'Rhumba' and 'One-Ring ' Show' In addition to his lighter stuff. Other outstanding bits ak-e Laura Duncan's offering of 'Lady Eve' (by Moss and Greggory) with Miini Benzell, Virginia Blake, Claire Grin- elle and Susan Remos: also her ren- dition of 'Rhythm Hides Again' and her superb duet with Moss in the letter's 'Haunted Heart.' A pleasant interlude is Virginia Blake's inter- pretation of the Lorin-Greggory tune, 'It's Better With a Sweater.' Per- haps the switching of the Moss-Greg- gory song. Thank You Lord,' in place of the present'finale, 'It's You' (Lorin-Greggory), would make for a ' more effective closing number. Greg- gory's 'Impressions' could very well be eliminated entirely. Much credit can be given to the various persons who had a hand in the staging, settings and production of this revue. Also, bends to Charles Blackman for his masterful conduct- ing. Bart. Followup sL'ontmaed from page H; ward personality. Tapps is a better solo dancer, but that's all. Otherwise, the show , is almost as good as ever. Vivlenne Segal, only remaining original lead and slated for star billing on the road, has not only retained the impressive edge she had at the start, but has in num- erous subtle.ways improved her per- formance. And since the part pro- vides much of the drive for the show end contains some of the best songs, that's enormously helpful. Although Vivlenne Allen lacks a trifle of June Havoc's incisiveness, she looks and sounds remarkably like her prede- cessor and brings the part a ccrtyn style of her own. David Burns isn't as well typed for' the agent part as was Jack Duraht, but he gives a better acting performance. Anne Blair hasn't Leila Ernst's looks or re- freshing air, yet she has an appealing appearance and an ingratiating way of playing. There have been numerous chorus replacenvents. Several of the orig- inal girls who remain have grown beefy since the show opened last Christmas night, but the newcomers are trimmer. Maybe there'd better be some dieting before 'Joey' hits the road. Hobe.