Variety (Feb 1942)

SCREEN RADIO STAGE Publlihad WMkly at 1S4 Woit 4Sth Street, New Tork, M. T., by Variety, Inc. Annual subscrlptton, |10. Single copies 2S centa. Bntered aa Second-clam matter December 23, 190S, at the Post Orrice at New York, N. T., under the act of March 3, 1879. COFTBIGHT, IM2, BY VABIETT, n>'C. AIX KIGHTS RESERVED )L. 145 No. 9 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1942 PRICE 25 CENTS LECTURERS' MINT i "jiianc^ Dancemen Call War Songs 1^^^^ 1^ Corny But the Public Buys Them f.---'. — ^ — JJ: . , By BEN BODEC -. Itnprvtlon current among the >. >5'-|nor« dbwrvlng contingent of music ^UUtilbMs is that the general run of ■t 'ttMnrt^^isd leaders has yet to become A;«wiire of:the change In musical tem- jA' Vii^.among Americans and that the Jt utttr won't get the types of songs i^ttwr. want to hear until the leaders '■nap. out of the submersion in their ,. .^owiL e|os and in swing fantasies. It 15 these publishers' contention that . . the avwage dance band has no in- : teriut Whatever in lending its serv- .:_ ^ exploitation of war songs, ' it la' far more concerned with [Ihg its old stylistic groove g hep to the tastes of the ftical jump addicts, iheir contacts of recent ihese pubs have come to the ■Ion that, with the exception few melody bands, leaders are •tm ifving in a world of their own • and •» loath, to yield themselves to : playlliJt the music of the times. The pubUsbers state that their failure to a^rake'n an interest among band ! leaders (has discouraged wider ac- : ceptanca and publication by them of War scB^s. The average jumperoo wmd; they hold, feels that such tunes "..-^ - We cony, and if they play them their \ (Continued on page 13) Vice-Crusading Cleric Gets Year In Pen On Perjiiry Conviction Minneapolis, Feb. 3. The Rev. H. J. Soltau, vice cru- ■ader and head of the Law Enforce- ment League here, whose raids of au-night liquor clubs, gambling nouses, etc., have made him a local norm center, must go to prison Feb. 13 to serve a one-year prison term on a perjury conviction. The state supreme court has upheld his con- viction. The perjury was ;n connec- (Continued on .page 55) FED. AGENTS NOT YET HEP TO TRADE LINGO Company managers with touring Shows have been advised to use un- mistaltable language- when sending telegraphic messages to home offices because of federal scrutiny of com- munications. Recently a producer . Wrled the man back with a show, astlng why the usual nightly wires anent the gross had not been sent, answer being that the messages had been sent. Inquiry at the telegraph office dis- closed that transmission had been neid up pending inquiry. It seems tnat several cryptic terms had been "*ea and an Investigator thought the words were in code, nosslblv roveal- Award for Toledoan Who Broadened Fellow Citizens Toledo, O., Feb. 3. Fred A. Spranger, the local haber- dasher who organized junkets of To- ledoans to Detroit and Cleveland mu- sical and entertainment events (grand opera in Cleveland, Sonja Henie and tennis players in De- troit), has been awarded the annual Junior Chamber of Commerce dis- tinguished service key. Getting people away from Toledo to broaden themselves culturally was deemed 'outstanding contribution to community.' JUKEBOXES AS AIDTOWAR EFFORT Detroit, Feb. 3.. Secretary of the Treasury Mor- genthau has praised Michigan as the top state per capita on defense bond sales. Currently the No. 1, 2 and 3 tunes on the thousands of coin boxes in this area: 1. 'Remember Pearl Harbor'— Sammy Kaye. 2. 'At the President's Ball'— Glenn Miller. 3. 'Goodbye Mama, I'm Off to Yo- kohama'—Frankie Masters. Also on the current rundown of (Continued on page 11) Arena Mgrs. Now Plan Musical Revue on Type Of Ice and Roller Shows Production plans for a musical re- vue to tour arenas, with a view to making it an annual show similar to ice and roller presentations, comes up for further discussion in New York Feb. 16, when a group repre- senting 16 arenas throughout the country meets. Arena Managers Assn., which has an interest in 'Ice- Capades' and books 'Ice Follies' and 'Roller Follies," may finance wholly or in part. Several musical producers who have been working out details have made submissions. Unit would call for company of approximately 125 people, including line of 48 girls. One of major problems arena men have been faced with is that of get- ting a musical show capable of fol- lowing the fast blade and roller spec- tacles. Another factor involved is in producing a revue which can adc- 'HOT OFF CUPPER' JOYS £[1010$$ Foresee $6,000,000 Season Because of Public Eager- ness for Lowdown Which the Returning Foreign Correspondents Discreetly Don't Provide 50% COMMISSION Although 'Just returned from the wars' foreign correspondents notori- ously give almost no real inside stuff to. their lecture audiences, there is a terrific boom market just now for this type of speaker. The experts who have been back too long and can't be sold as 'hot off the Clipper" find their fees fall off. Precise arithmetic does not exist in the lecture business, which Is specialized and partly secretive, but guesses are that this season will see a sensational gross of $6,000,000. A large chunk or that will go into the pockets of the foreign correspondents. There are still the lady-poets, the monologists, the guys with pictures they have taken of birds in the Squeegee desert and the Yogi ex- perts. But they're all playing stage- (Continued on page 55) METRO MAY GO INTO DISC BIZ Hollywood, Feb. 3. Metro will branch out into the rec- ord business if Nicholas M. Schenck okays the venture. Louis B. Mayer, headman at M-G studios, has been making a thorough study of platter- making and is said to be fully con- vinced that such an enterprise would be an invaluable adjunct to picture production, distribution and exhibi- tion. It is believed that Mayer got the idea from Tommy Dorscy, who now at the studio appearing in 'Ship Ahoy.' Bandman ends his associa- tion with Victor March 31 for a tie- (Continued on page 55) LIBBYHOLMANTOMAKE COMEBACK IN HUB CAFE Li6by Holman, after an absence of three years, is returning to show biz as a nitery singer, opening Feb. 19 at the Somerset hotel in Boston. Agented by the William Morris of- fice, she'll specialize in 'early American blues,' with Joshua White, Joe Cook, 35 Years Announces in Show Biz, Retirement at 52 -4- Cafe Earnings as Pianist Paid for Ministry Studies Philadelphia, Feb. 3. Rev. J. Samuel Stephenson, Jr., former nitery pianist, on Sunday (1) became rector of St. Mary'a Epis- copal Church, West Philly, 'campus church' for the University of Penn- sylvania. Rev. Stephenson worked his way through theological school tinkling the keys at Pierre's, nitery in Upper Darby, a Philly suburb. $5 CAFE COVER IN WAR-RICH WASHINGTON Washington, Feb. 3. Previously just a so-so show town, Washington, D. C. is now a 'Klon- dike' for dance-bands that have re- cently played there. Heavy cover charges are taken In stride in a town jumping with people eager to spend. Last week (26) Glenn Miller's band opened Mrs. Maria Kramer's new Roosevelt hotel room with a cover chage of $5 a couple which, with taxes, amounted to about $5,50 yet almost 1,000 persons jammed the 600-700 capacity room, with turn- over. Tony Pastor's current. Dick Stabile, who opened the slightly smaller Del Rio Club, also was protected from a blitz by spend- ers by a $5-palr cover, but still was snowed under. Carlton hotel and Wardman Park hotels, with Joe Sudy and Layton Bailey bands also run capacity almost constantly. Garbo Had Previoosiy Given $5,000 Donation To Fund, Friends Report Since the uproar in the radio and film trades last week over Greta Garbo's non-appearance on a radio charity program written and directed by Arch,Oboler (see Oboler's letter to 'Variety,' page 3 of this Issue), friends of the Swedish star have come forward to reveal that Miss Garbo has 'within the last few months donated a sizeable check to the In- fantile Paralysis Fund. This Is said to amount to $5,000. Friends state further that Miss 'Garbo has been a substantial con' tributor for years to various chari- ties, always without publicity, always By JACK PULASKI Joe Cook, at the age of 52, is re> tiring from show business. because of ill-health. Diagnosis indicates a debilitating aliment which affects the nerve system. He has been active theatrically for 35 years, starring during that period in a series of Broadway musical comedies as one of the big money Mr. CooVs formal announce* ment of his retirement appears on page 51 of this issue in form of a full-page adtierttsement. He took the same method, an adver- tisement In 'Variety,' to intro- duce himself to show business when he entered it in 1907. comedians of his generation. Above all. Cook was noted for his remark- able versatility as a performer, his talent running the gamut. Cook has been consulting doctors for more than a year. Although essentially a comedian, Cook was also finely trained physically, as dis- played in his juggling, and acrobaticf on the stage. Cook traces his illness back to two successive attacks of influenza, which he suffered about two years ago when at his unique and am^ing estate called 'Sleepless Hollow' at Lake Ho- (Continued on page 52) Yonng B'way Hopefuls Will Try to Raise Coin For Theatre Via 50c Ban A dance at Manhattan Centre, N. Y., Feb. 27, has been arranged by the young actors and would-bc ac- tors who frequent Walgreen's drug- store at 44th street and Broadway, N. Y., to raise coin to rent a little theatre workshop. They hope to ob- tain $2,000 from sale of tickets (50e each), program advertising and con- cessions. Idea of having the theatre Is to keep a continuous series of plays going, to which producers, critics, film scouts and th« public can come (Continued on page 54) GROUCHO MARX INSISTS TOIEn'PLUGHISBOOK Beverly Hills. Editor, 'Variety': If the financial position of your paper has been as precarious as that of most of the other theatrical Jour- nals of recent years, you probably have never had any traffic with th* Internal Revenue Department If, however, you are one of the for- tunate few Lindy Hoppers whose weekly envelopes have been^ stuffed