Variety (Feb 1942)

VednesJay, February 4, 1948 MISCELLANY 01 YANK IN ARGENIM-PIX A Review of the Reviewers By HOBE MOBBISON Those perennial bad boys, the New York drama critics, are at It again, Ben Hecht Is making rude noises at them—out loud and in jniblic—and Samaon Raphaelson had the temerity to write a play about them. Finally, a Greek actress has appeared as a new Hedda 'Gabler and the lads are In- a dither of disagreement. Brooks Atkinson, ot the Times, and Richard Watts, Jr., of the Herald Tribune, differed sharply on two plays in the last few days. Atkinson, apparently thinl^cing Baphaelson's 'Jason' character was aimed at him, J>anned the show as if from personal outrage. Watts, however, seemed to like the idea of a play about critics and even used his Sunday (1) column to repeat his opinion. Atkinson and Watts took opposite views ot Katina Paxinou's per- formance ill the title part of the 'Hedda Gabler' revival, too. Broad- way has since been saying that even allowing for inevitable degrees of personal reaction,, giiere jnust be ^ertaift_l^sic standards of placing. There must be such a thing as good acting, or Ijad. "Vet' to Aticlnson," Miss Paxinou's performance has 'the incandescence ot a real actress,' while to Watts it was 'Hedda the horrible.' Obviously, both extremes can't be right. One ot the critics apparently can't distinguish good acting from bad. How about it, boys? Hecht's 'Lily of the Valley' drew the week's worst press. John Anderson, of the N. Y. Journal-American, wrote a witty and discern- ing pan of it. Richard Lockridge, of the Sun, wrote with his charac- teristic modesty and sympathy, yet didn't hide his dislike of the show. Louis Kronenberger, as critic tor PM, the paper for which Hecht wrote the columns from which the 'Lily' material was taken, gave the play its worst beating, while Wilella Waldorf, in the Post, was stirred by it. Incidentally, it was a pleasant week for Miss Waldorf— ghe liked everything. Burns Mantle, of the Daily News, gave his straddle rating (Two - —Stars-Plu&)-lo. all-three openings, during .the-.week,-b.ut.he.definitely 4idn't like 'Hedda.' Robert Coleman, in the Mirror, used his pet 'deeply moving' cliche about 'Solitaire,' thereby giving the John Van Druten play an even split of four favorable reviews and four pans from the daily critics. With John Mason Brown on a lecture tour, Frank Farrell brought a city room directness to the World-Telegram's reviewing assignment. He also revealed a critical crush on 12-year-old Pat Hitchcock, femme lead in 'Solitaire.' Still, it didn't quite equal Atkinson's enthusiasm for Bobby Clark, In The Rivals,' or in anything else. Phila. 'Unalert/ Lets 2 'Nazis Parade Safely Philadelphia, Feb. 3. The Philadelphia Record on Sun- day (1) called the American Guild of Variety Artists office tor a couple of actors to help out in a stunt testing the alertness of the citizenry—ljut sot an actor would take the job. Stunt was to have the thespians dress as Nazi-U-Boat commanders and parade around midtown to see it they would 'fie spotted. Not one of 80 actors who were - the type on AGVA lists would take the job for fear of getting beaten up by some outraged citizen. * The paper Anally assigned two of Its staff reporters to the stui^t. They Saraded around for three hours in le center of town, talked in German dialects to cops, soldiers, citizens and bartenders; yet no one apparently noticed the swastikas on their hats or paid any attention to them. The stunt was similar to one pulled W the British War office in which two of its members paraded through London recently togged out as para- chutists without being molested. Crawford, in Lombard Pic, Donates $112,500 Salary to Charities Hollywood, Feb. 3. Joan Crawford takes over the part originally assigned to Carole Lombard in 'He Kissed the Bride' at Columbia, donating her entire sal- ary. $112,500, to cliarlty. It wUl be Miss Crawford's seoond outside pic- ture in all her years on the Metro lot. She will be given leave of ab- sence from the- Culver City studio. Of the actress' salary, $50,000 goes f^m 5"* *25,000 to the In- rantUe Paralysis Fund, $25,000 to the Picture Relief Fund and ♦i-i-sop to the Navy ReUef Fund. ■ ' 7ARZAN'WASHING UP AT M-G AFTER 9 YEARS Hollywood, Feb. I. 'Tarzan' pictures and their chief exponent, Johnny Weissmuller, both go off the Metro lot with the com- pletion ot 'Tarzan Against the World.' Studio is abandoning tree swingers and Weissmuller, after nine years of shrilling from the tree tops at Metro, is mulling a deal with Sol Lesser. Tarzan's mate,- Maureen O'SuUivan, was turned adrift by the studio some time ago. JUNE MARLOWE IS E FPRE Blonde Actresi Speaks Per- fect Spanish But Always I» Cast As Yanqui — Rest of Who's Who Entirely Na- tive UNLIKE HOLLYWOOD Buenos Aires, Jan. "SrS At least one American actress, June Marlowe, is mistress of the Spanish language to the extent of being a regular player in motion pictures made in Argentina. But be- cause she is American and a blonde she is invariably Hype-cast' as a Yanqui. She's especially in demand for comedy scenes and because she 11 also a singer and dancer. Miss Marlowe also appears on the Buenos Aires stage. " ' • ■ " Unlike Hollywood where all na- tionalities are freely represented the film industry here Is pretty ex- clusively native in stars and direc- tors. Missing are the Swedes, the Germans, the French and the' large battalion of British talent which are so conspicuous in Hollywood along with a scattering of Danes, Russians, Mexicans and others. Unknown to U.S. fllmgoers, but as familiar as Gable and Garbo to Latin film fans, are these outstand- ing Latin stars: Llbertad Lamarqaei Top Latin star, specializing In melodramatic roles, she's in her thirties, as are many of the big names in Latin films, age apparently making no dif- ference. Can actually play the guitar and sing sad tangos with a choke that makes millions of Latins weep. Nlnl Marshall: Top comedienne. Plays several girl types which she created for 'radio. Stuff, although local, popular beyond Argentine be- (Continued on page 55) H wood Counts Its Aliens as U.S. Orders Move-Out From Coast Areas Sadistic Don Cordray, WJZ, New York, all-night record spinner, has a penchant for good-natur- edly needling guest stars he gets on his owl sessions. He allows his guests to emcee a quarter or half-hour broadcast, adding their own comments on records played, but always using plat- _ ters selected by Cordr ay him - sclf, which is where he gets in his needle work. For instance, he recently had Sammy Kaye on his show and handed him a group of Blue Barron platters to turntable (Barron's band is very close in style to Kaye's); another time he had Benny Goodman, who was assigned Artie Shaw discs. Topper, however, was a bunch of Rudy Vallee recordings which Will Osborne spun recently. DUR6IN MAKES PEACE WITH U Hollywood, Feb. 8. Differences between Deanna Dur- bin and Universal have been patched up. Treaty of peace was signed by Nate Blumberg, president of the company, and the young actress, who returns to the fold after a tour of Army camps in the east. Announcement of the peace prO' tocol wa£ made with expressipns of gratification from both sides. Their months' old spat resulted from Miss Durbln's resentment of the studio's treatment of young producer Vaughn Paul, whom she had married shortly before. Singing star leaves Friday (6) on a patriotic tour covering camps in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Dela- ware and Pennsylvania before re- turning for picture work in March Hollywood, Feb. 3. Check-up on the nationality ot hundreds of film artists and work* men is under way in the studios as a result of the announcement by At- torney General Biddle in Washington that all alien enemies must be evac- uated tram vital war areas on the Pacific Coast. Particular attention is being paid to the 7,000 extras regis- tered with Central Casting Corp. Other department); in thf fllnUndUS- _ try will make their reports at a ses- sion presided over by Y. Frank Free- man, head of the Producers' Asso* elation. Howard R. Philbrick, general man- ager of Central Casting, reported only one Japan'ese on the current register. As for alien Germans and Italians, there is no record. Phil- brick declared the Screen Actors Guild prepared figures several months ago on foreign-born players, but these would have to be checked to determine how many had obtained citizenship papers. —'Kenneth^-Thamsonr-executlve-sec.1.. retary ot the Screen Actors Guild, expressed the belief that most of the first flight actors were either citizens or had taken out their first papers. He promised to make an immediata study of membership. Other guilds and unions are checking up to deter- mine what percentage, if any, will b* affected by the evacuation order. Proclamation prohibits alien Jap- anese, Germans or Italians from aa area covering practically all the Him studios. Aliens are given until Feb. 24 to move Into other districts. Oboler Has No Criticism of Garbo; Praises Generosity of Hollywood Editor, "Variety': This letter Is written in response to your story In last weik's 'Variety' regarding the failure of Miss Greta Garbo to appear on the program ot Jan. 24 for the President's Infantile Paralysis Fund. First about Garbo: The publicity for the celebration of the President's Birthday was be- ing handled in New York by George W. Johnstone. His assistant in Hol- lywood came to me tor a tentative list ot the artists who were to ap- pear on the first broadcast and I gave her such a list, which included the name of Miss Garbo. Up to that time, Miss Garbc had i<ot .agreed '.o appear nor did she refuse such ap- pearance. The Hollywood Commit- tee was confident that It could se- cure Miss Garbo's appearance. Notwithstanding the fact that the list furnished Johnstone was a tenta- tive one, he released publicity which Included Miss Garbo's name. Because of the fact that this was to be Miss Garbo's first microphone appearance, it naturally attracted attention In the press. The situation Is an unfortunate one, albeit everyone acted in good faith. For my part I placed reliance upon the assurances of the Holly- wood Committee that Miss Garbo's appearance probably would be ob- tained. Undoubtedly, the Hollywood Committee felt that Miss Garbo would not refuse for such a worthy cause; and the further complication was added by the fact that John- stone, upon receiving the tentative list, prematurely released publicity making mention of Miss Garbo's name. I have no criticism to make of "Miss Garbo. She has the 'n'ght to refuse to appear for any charity cause it she sees fit to do so, and she should not be assailed for this reason. For my part, I reiterate I acted in good faith, feeling that the Hollywood Committee would be able to persuade Miss Garbo to appear. Now, about the other matters which appear in your story. You state 'She (Garbo) has long had a genuine horror of radio and is quoted as seeing no reason why she should endure personal agony simply to per- mit Arch Oboler to score a 'scoop' and add her to his gallery of 'for free' promotions.' Stars' Generosity The jo-called 'for tree' promotions have not been promotions for Arch Oboler but have been promotions for what I regard as mighty worthy causes. In the Treasury Hour series, there appeared a long list ot out- standing stars of screen, stage, and radio and in every instance their services were donated in the sense that they received only the minimum AFRA scale. It should be of more than passing interest to you to know that prac- tically the entire list,ot prominent film stars in Hollywood volunteered for this series. These stars were most anxious to do their bit for the Gov- ernment. In this list should be in- cluded such names as Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, Henry Fonda, Priscilla Lane, Martha Scott, Ray- mond Massey and many others, loo numerous to mention. It it is not out of place to so state, I might add that these stars were influenced in part to go on the show because they had some degree of confidence in the kind of script that I would write foi" them. 'And,' 'pa>erith'elically' 1 should add, that while these stars were not paid for their appearances, neither was I. We were all attempt- ing to do a job for the Treasury Department of the United States. Goes Back 2 Years Going back two years ago when NBC put on a series of programs which I was writing and directing. Nazimova, James Cagney, Ronald Colman, Joan Crawford, and many others volunteered to give their services tor the AFRA minimum, merely as a contribution to the de- velopment of radio drama as an art. Getting down to the present series of 'Plays for Americans', now on NBC, we have had the same over- whelming support from Hollywood and stage stars. Wholeheartedly they have volunteered their services in this morale series. Again I should add that I am not being paid for this service, either. If all this be 'high-pressure', then I must plead guilty. Frankly, I thought we were, all trying to do a job for the United States Govern- ment. It is doing no less than dozens of top executives from industry and busincs:;, who arc rendering service to the Government without pay. These are trying limes. The Amer- ican people have been kind to stage and screen stars, most of whom have made very substantial incomes. I see no reason why they shouldn't help to the fullest extent of their abilities. But to their credit it should be added that it has. never been necessary to exert pressure on them. Hollywood has been generous in offering its wholehearted support to the Red Cross, March of Dimes and the vari- ous shows in which the Governmen'. 'is'lhlereitijd. Arch 'Oboier. ZANUa BERLIN PALS AGAIN; DEAL COOKING Hollywood, Feb. 3. Chill between Darryl Zanuck and Irving Berlin, which dates back to 'Tin Pan Alley,' has been thawed out by William Goetz, and all's well again, with a deal being talked. Zanuck is hopeful that some ar- rangement can be worked out where- by the songwriter would supervise his own production. 'Trade Afnrk ncglHlornd POUNDKI) nV .SIME Slt.VKKMAN rulillaliril MVi-kly l>y VARIKTV, Inc. Sill Sllvonimii. PrCMltlpnt \H Weill 46lh Sireol, .\cw York, N. t. INDEX Bills 48 Chatter 53 Concert-Opera 35 Exploitation 16 Film B6oklng Chart 18 Film Reviews 8 Forum 55 House Reviews 46 Inside—Legit 52 Inside—Orchestras 36 Literati 52 Legitimate '. 49 Music 39 New Acts 45 Night Club Reviews 45 Obituary 54 Orchestras 36 Pictures 4 Radio 24 Radio Reviews 32 UniU ....45 Vaudeville 41 DAILY %'.\KIKTy (Pul)Iliilic<I In' Itollywooi) by D«ll)- Vnrlc-ly. Ltd.) ■ HO a yenr—112 tmMan