Variety (May 1942)

SCREEN RADIO MUSIC STAGE Pabllshed Vr«eklr at 1C4 Woit 4tth Street, New Tork, N. T., by Varlet]', Inc. Annofil subicrlptlon, flO. Slndt ooplea tf oeDta, Batered aa Seeend-bluaa matter Deoembor 22, 1905, at tbe Poit Office at New York, N. T„ under tbe aet of March I, 197»> COFCTtlOHT, 1«4Z, BT VABIKTT, INC. AIX BIOIRS BESERTED VOL. 146 No. 9 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1942 PRICE 25 CENTS 2-A-DAY REVIVAL GROWING Department Stores Consider Radio For Sorry-No-Goods Advertising New York department store op- erators are talking about buying pe- riods on local stations but not for the'purpose ot selling goods. With their stocks of merchandise due for non-replenishment these stores figure that they can retain the goodwill of their customers by advising on how. to take the be::t care of the things they already own. It would be an adaptation of the campaigns now being carried on by I>etroIeum refiners. In the case of the latter there Is the double-bar- relled motive of not only maintain- ing goodwill In the product but of keeping dealers with the choice lo- cations loyal to the refiner for the duration. So long as the refiner in his advertising keeps plugging away at .such suggestions as frequent examinations', regular lubrication and changing of tires the service sta- tion may pay Its rent and cover the payroll, even thdugh gasoline ra- tioning sharply, curtailed pump in- come. The profits from these other aervices would make up the drop in gasoline revenue. Theatre Wing Mulls 15G Offer For Canteen Pic Unexpected avenue of income to American Theatre Wing, N. Y., will pi"obably come from one or more picture fli-ms. Wing Is mulling an offer of $16,000 from Columbia, •which proposes to makie a series of six shorts on the Stage Door Can- teen provided the Wing will guar- antee at least two name guests or entertainers. Wing has named a managers committee to act on the Columbia offer and another reputed to have been made. Paramount. has a script called 'Stage Door Canteen,' an original Written on the Coast and announced for Immediate production. Wing iias queried Par, questioning Its right to ^e the Canteen title. At Par's New York office it was stated that there was- no diesire to enter into contro- versy over the title, which would be changed or the script shelved. Xmsf Takes Eocore Hollywood, May 5. What started out at 20th-Fox as •Coney Island' will leave the studio as two pictures, one under that title and another tabbed 'Police Gazette Man.' Material was taken from Edward Van Every's New York vignettes but films will be along divergent lines. Bing in 5 Parts Hollywood, May B. . H. Allen Smith came west to do a yarn on Bing Crosby for the Satur- day Evening Post. • He got so wound up with the crooner the mag will give it five in- stallments. COORDINATING WAR EFFORT BENEHTS Attempt Is being made by the newly-formed United Theatrical War Activities Committee to set up a nationwide organization to coordi- nate the use of aU types of show business talent in the war effort. James Sauter, exec director of UTWAC, returned to headquarters in New York yesterday (Tuesday) from two days' inspection of the situation In Philadelphia. He'll start later-in the week on a tour of the midwest and part of the south. With the Hollywood Victory Com- mittee on the Coast and the UTWAC in New York apparently unable to cope with situations constantly de- manding coordination In virtually every city of the country, Sauter hopes to throw off part of this job on local organizations. He Intends to name an exec Secretary in each important city. UTWAC and Hollywood Victory (Continued on page 53) 80^ of HVood Victory Caravan's Gross Going To Army, Navy Relief The Hollywood Victory Caravan's multi-starred show, if it grosses its expected $6SO,000-$750,000 in 13 nights, will experience a breakage, for expenses, of around 18-20%. The rest is net to Army and Navy Belief. And while it may De argued that one show alone in Madison Square Garden in March netted over $160,- 000, the Treasury Dept. was anxious to get this itinerary going pronto, even if less prepared, for the definite reason of giving impetus to the forthcoming War Bond drive. Start- ing May 25, for three weeks, 142 stars in as many cities will pep-talk" the sale of U. S. War Bonds. Talent pools from Broadway and Hollywood will tee-off stars in groups of 20, on a finally scheduled itinerary, to hypo the sales. 3 One iir N. Y. By Ed Wynn, Another in Chi (Bert Lahr- Joe E.Lewis-Bert Wheeler) and Third in L.A. (Frank Fay)—3 on B'way COAST UPBEAT The biggest revival of two-j^-day vaudeville since the 1020'6 looms nationally, with Ihree. more such shows now scheduled to open In June—one In New York, a second in Chicago and another in Los Angeles. These will supplement the three two-a-dayers current in N. Y,, the Clifford C. Fischer-Shuberts' 'Priori- ties' (46th Street) and 'Keep 'Em Laughing' (44th Street), and the Ed (Continued on page 55) Berlin's Soldier Musical Sought Sight Unseen By Pix; Par May Pay 250G The xmusual of selling a sight- imseen film property faces Irving Berlin's forthcorhing soldier Show, 'This Is the Army,' even before his script is finished and the show goes into rehearsal. Harry Cohn wants the show for films at $200,000 and guarantees he'll get Mark Sandrich (Continued on page 53) ASK $25,000 FOR FILM TITLE TO MLANCHOLY' Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. is holding out for $25,000 on the title and' syn- chronization rights to 'My Melancholy Baby.' Paramount has expressed an interest in making a musical with that title starring Bing Crosby. The picture company had Inquired about the rights early last year, and the price quoted at the time was $20,0.00. It retorted that the amount asked was much too high. In setting a higher figure this time Shapiro-Bernstein * pointed out that the success of musicals with old-time sorig titles meanwhile has enhanced the value of this particular torcher, and that, anyway, such exhaustive use would be made of the number in Paramount's production that other producers might not find it expe- dient to buy its synchronization rights for some time thereafter. Satllle's MacArthur Theatre Believed to be the first MacArthur theatre in the country will shortly be opened in Charleston, S. C, by Albert Satille. He operates the Gloria and othir theatres in Charleston. Theatrical Tours Near Curtailments; No Baggage Cars Seen By Next Year MacLeish in ASCAP Archibald MacLeish, director of the Office of Facts and ^gur.es, was admitted last week to membership in ASCAP. He wrote "Freedom's tjand,' to which Roy Harris pUt th« muslo. ONE TIME AN AUTOGRAPH PAIDOFF Washington, May B, Suitable hotel and apartment ac- commodations at reasonable rates are a major problem of this over-boomed town; and landlords, who e^gperlence vacancies wh0h a tenant jj trans- ferred from Washington, ar« really in a choice position. Thus, while Lieut. Greg Bautzer, .Hollywood at- torney and man-about-BevhlUs, was dickering with a prospective land- lord, in walked Cary Grant and others of the Hollywood Victory Car- avan. "When Bautzer greeted Grant chummily, the' lan^ord collapsed, stating that Grant was bis Dora's pet star. Quick' on the up- !Bke, a Hollywood pal, who knows the angles, cracked: •Well get you an autographed photo and guarantee you a personal appearance by some visiting Holly- wood celeb once a month In the lobby of yoiu: apartment' house If Bautzer gets that apartment at a fair rentat' P. S., the deal was closed, and Grant inscribed, 'To Dora, At Last!' \ Pulitzer Deadiipe On Legit Sobjected ToB way Criticiisni The Pulitzer awards were an- nounced in New York Monday (4), when it became known that no drama was cited. So for the second time the theatre this season . was passed up on the presumed grounds that no American- play of sufficient merit had been presented. The N.Y. critics previously had elected not to make an award. Some Broad- wayites. regard the • negative action of the Pulitzer committee as another, error of omission in the failure to consider 'Watch on the Rhine,' The Lillian Hellman dramd, which was a sock on Broadway, opened too late last season for a Pulitzer award, (Continued on page 49) Washington, May 5. Theatrical touring for - the season of 1942-43 will be severely restricted by the Office 'of Defense Transporta- tion, it has been more definitely , as- certained. Present Indications >r6 that baggage cars and transportation facilities will be limited to severe minlmums In order to facilitate .military movements. Conjectures have . indicated this ' In the recent past. At the office of Director. Joseph B. Eastman It was gald that It was too early yet for formal announcements but. Informally, it was stated, that baggage cars for large touring at- tractions will probably not bfe avail- able next winter, Producers icanning the horizon, believe that the rail faniine wiU make one-set shows imperative. They also see another good reason why America is almost certain to have a revival of the two-a-day vaudeville circuits, where most of the stage, es- sentials can be carried In a suit casa. or rostume trunk. German on Milw. Air Anew, Butits Now Anti-Nazi Milwaukee, May S. German language broadciists hava been verboten from Milwaukee radio stations since the United States de- clared war On Germany. But tha Teutonic tongue is to be heard again on the air In this area, over WRJN,. the Racine Journal station, and It will be sponsored by the Wisconsin Federation of German-American So- cieties, strongly anti-Nazi group. Purpose of the new German lan- guage broadcasts is to further tha Americanism activities of the Feder- ation. Programs will be heard twice weekly, Tuesday and Friday, and be of a half-hour's duration, starting June 2. First Shellacked, Disc Biz Now Gets Needles Radio and recording business was nudged again by the War Production Board Monday (4) when an order was issued to halt -within 80 days all iron and steel mauufactiu-ing not necessary to the war effort Under that heading comes ' phonograph needles. Between 300, and 400,000,000 of them are shaped yearly. Ban against them, however, will not hurt so much as the WPB's re- cent requisitioning of stock shellacs, which sliced record production. There are many manufacturers of long-lasting needles of synthfrtic jewel nature.