Variety (May 1942)

WeineadAjt M»y '6» 1941 mSGELLAMT 22-YR.-0LD SURPRISE HIT Radio Pliu[s Films' War Bond Drire There have been varied Iropressions of. the relationship between the motion picture and radio Industries—majority opinion has been that a feud exlsts^ut the plcttire business Monday night'(4) called on radio, via the Lux Radio Theatre, to break its first major ballyhoo '.in Its campaign to get everybody in the industry to voluntarily set aside 10% of their eamings tor war bonds. Cecil B. DeMlUe, in a trl-comered discussion with Joan Fontanno and Brian Aheme, starring on the broadcast, put in a three-minuta plug for the War Bond Savings Idea. DeMlUe outlined the Motion Picture Committee's work .to achieve 100% cooperation in the volun-' tary sales plan, which will mean the purchase of $300,000 worth of War Bonds weekly by the picture business. DeMlUe carefuUy brought out that this would be over and above purchases outside of the pledges. It' was a weU-concelved script reaching the Lux Theatre's vast ..air audience. Effect of INmouts Problematical Until More Gross Fpres Seen; . N.Y. Blackout Hurt Legit, NotPix FARGEAGHIWOW Avery Hopwood-Charlton Andrews' 'Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath', Circa 1920, of the Al Woods School, Mopping Up in Loop — Coast Agents Have It OTHER BEDROOMERS Theatre men do not expect to know for • few weeks just what •fleet eastern Coast dlmouts wUl have on film business. due to variation in other factors that constantly figure, but believed that for the area in- volved there may be some suflering. Pointed out in the exhibition field that this will no doubt be more true of houses close to the coastUne, es- pecially at shore resorts, whUe at the same time houses Inland stand to benefit. Instead of going to the shore, people this summer are ex- pected to go to mountain resorts, places like Saratoga, etc. This should boom business in such spots. The dimout extends aU along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida and affects theatres 25 mUes Inland from the shore. There may be some relaxation on early rules; however. It is believed. ' Meantime, on the first week of the dimming in Greater N. Y. there have been many violations and reported that numerous theatres received visits from police or other authori- ties because their marquee sides or the fronts of buUdings were lit up. In some cases it was said if this goes (Continued on page 52) Evolution With History When Old Man Mose Irks Old Man Mozart, That's Kicidng Bucket Too Far * '' Detroit, May 5. If ever a musician 4iad a right to display temperament it was J. V. Clunn, a pianist for SO years cur- rently worlcing in the night clubs here. Judge John V. Brennan de- cided'. However, even . justifiable temperament was no excuse for Clunn's clouting Miss Yvonne Davi- son over the head, the court decided. What happened was tliat Clunn was giving the patrons of a Uttle spot here a dash of the classics. Midway through a soothing version of a Mozart Sonata — some fancier of (Continued on page 27) CANTOR RENEWS FOR 39 WEEKS, SAME SPONSOR Hollywood, May S. Eddie Cantor's pact with Bristol- Myers has been renewed for another S9 weeks on NBC, starting in Octo- ,ber. On June 24 he ends his most successful radio work since 1933, with 43 weeks on the air. Capt Hewitt Wheless, war hero of the Pacific, who was cited by Presi- dent Roosevelt last week, will be Cantor's gUest tonjprrow (Wednes- day) night at Santa Ana Air Corps Centre, for which, the comedian is making a donation to the Army Re- Uef Fund. Jack Benny is Cantor's Euest June S. Philadelphia, May 6. - Benjamin Fogelman, operator of Benny-the-Bum's, hired a three-piece FlUpino' orchestra just after outbreak of the war and bUled them as the *Threa Filipinos.' Came the grand stand of Gen- eral MacArthur's boys and the name of the unit was changed to the .'Bataan Trio.' With the tide of battle changing again, they're now known as the 'Corregidor Three.' Aa&CtoHead Own Radio Show For Lifebuoy Soap Hollywood, May B. J. Walter Thompson agency passed up its option on Abbott and Costello for C:iiase & Sanborn to clear the way for the comics to'head their own show next fall for Lever Bros, under a deal with Ruthraufl & Ryan. Team will probably plug Lifebuoy soap. Don Stauffer and Lawton Camp- bell, of the agency, are working out a deal with Eddie Sherman, comedy team's personal manager. A. & C. wind up with Chase & Sanborn when that program goes off the air June 28 for the summer. Surprise success, the theatre's chief lure, is currently exemplified by the sock scored by 'Good Night, Ladies,' now in its fourth week in Chicago and turning 'em away. Probably none but tyros would have attempted to put on the show, for it dates back 22 years, being t|ie Avery Hopwood- Charlton Andrews farce, 'Ladles Night in a Turkish Bath,' a riot that A. H. Woods staged, in 1920 on Broadway. Howard Lang and Al Rosen, Coast agents, have the latest stage gold mine. Some New York managers have gone to Chi to look it over and were promptly told by the new showmen that they had no intention of mov- ing the show to New Yorlc, saying that it probably would stay in the Windy City' for a year (late Harry Frazee'a 'No, No, Nanette' turned that trick there ^. Business of $17,000 weekly is sapping the attendance Of 'Blithe Spirit' and 'Angel Street,' which are also playing the Loop. 'Ladies' is at the Blackstone, an abandoned legiter outside the Loop area until Oscar Serlin rented it for 'Life With Father,' which ran there for 66 weelcs. Serlin is said to have spent around $20,000 to fix up the place, a sort^of shambles when WPA relief shows were given there. Dur- ing the 'Father' run Israel Slavin, a reformed truclcman, made a deal with the Blackstone hotel, which owned the property, to buy the the- (Continued on page 51) Danny Kaye Seeks To Raise $1,000,000 In Chi Cafe Bond Sale Danny Kaye, with his wife and accompanist, Sylvia Fine, fly to Chi- cago for a voluntary U. S. War Bond benefit which they hope will yield $1,000,000 from 600 Chez Paree cus- tomers. Already, $600,000 is assured, because a $1,000 bond wiU be the ad- mission, and the comedian hopes to sweU that by 'auctioning' off certain favorite numbers. For the $1,000 Bond pledge, the Joey Jacobson man- agement is donating a de luxe dinner. Kaye has been individually re- sponsible for $792,575 in U. S. Bond sale^, through personal efforts, sans Governmental auspices, including $156,075 from one Sunday night at Lo Martinique, N. Y. nitery; $193,000 Monday night (4) from a Lane Bryant s'tore function (after hours); $240,500 from a Hotel Astor, N. Y., convention, appearing gratis before the United Hotel Grocers; $140,000 from personal friends; drives before Underwear & Negligee convention and similar conclaves. Kath Hephnm Play Has Smiilar $300,000 Fihn Ideas as IMoon' With the sale of John Steinbeck's 'The Moon Is Down' to 20th-Fox last week for $300,000, a similar price tag for film rights has been hung by the owners on 'Without Love.' Play is owned jointly by the star, Katharine Hepburn, the author, Philip Barry, and the co-sponsors, the' Theatre Guild. '.^ Although the legiter isn't set to open oh Broadway until next fall, the owners sent out a hint to film companies last week that they are open to^ffers and the price would be the same as :tbe Steinbeck. While 'Moon' can be put into pro- duction at once, regardless of its interference with' the run of' the play, 'Love' couldn't go b.efoTe .the cameras for an indefinite period, de- pending on its success on Broadway. Miss Hepburn has given no concrete (Continued on page 27) UAPays $110,000 for BritisbFilm On Whicli'Angel Sl' Is Based Yet Cannot Use B'way L^t Hit s Title Test of Fitness Miami Beach, May 5. Laurence Schwab, who com- manded a sub chaser in the last war, passed a ph'ysical examina- tion for reenlistment in the Navy. He theii appeared before an investigating Lieutenant, Wl^o looked over his papers which listed the manager's various theatrical activities. Schwab be- came worried when the oflicer let many minutes pass without asking. questions, then almost fell out of the chair when the Lieutenant asked: 'Mr. Schwab, do you think vaudeville is coming back?' Dress Institute Propagandizes Via Records Vera Barton, singer whom both CBS and RCA-Victor are exploiting, and Walter Gross, CBS pianist, re- corded a new pop melody at Decca's New York studios Monday (27) copies of which wUl be suppUed free to radio stations over the country as propaganda to keep American women conscious of their appearance these war days.- 'Dress Up, Baby' a' new pop published by Berlin Music, is the title of the tune and the job was paid for by the New York Dress Institute,' Gross and an eight piece -band aC' companied Miss Barton's vocallmg, and 1,000 copies of their work are to be pressed with the same tune on both sides, to lengthen the playable life of each disc. J. Walter Thomp- son agency handled the job. The discs are for private distribution only, not to be released commer- cially by Decca. Miss Barton Is still an RCA-Victor artist, despite work- ing in Decca studios. BERLE ASKING {8,500 FOR STAGE PERSONALS Milton Berle, whose previous top theatre salary was $6,000 weekly. Is now asking $8,500 a week. Agented by the William Morris office, the comic and 'Variety's' cub columnist is available for a summer tour. It's not Likely that Berle Is asking the increase ' on the basis of his 'Variety' column's Crosley, but more likely on his recent films for 20th- Fox and a season on the radio as topper of Ballantlne's Three-Ring Time program. Berle was only submitted at his new salary last weels. No deals have yet been set. CJLB., Hooper Vary On Prez's Audience, Bot It Was Big, Anyhow President Roosevelt's address to the nation last Tuesday (28), dealing with the war effort at home and abroad, got a bigger listener count from the Co-operative Analysis of Bfoadcastlng than it obtained from a C. E. Hooper check, which Colum- bia had underwritten. The C. A. B. reported that the President's home- set rating for that night was 69.5%, whereas Hopper figured It at 61.8%. According to the C. A. B. percent- age, the April 28 talk garnered the fourth largest audience ever to tiine on the President. His record per- centage (83) was achieved by his Dec. 9, 1941, broadcast and the same rating prevailed when he talked Feb. 23, 1942. The rating for the Greer incident broadcast of last Septem- ber was 72.5%. One of the most unusual situa* tions ever to arise regarding screen rights to a legiter has come up as the result of United Artists' pur> chase of American remake rights to 'Gaslight,' English film which Colunv bia holds for American distribution. 'Gaslight,' written by Patrick Ham- ilton, is the basis of 'Angel Street,' current Broadway legit cUck. UA has not bought 'Angel Streets and thus cannot use the' title or changes made in the original 'Gas- light' script by legit producer Sh^- ard Traube. In other words', the $110,000 UA paid for remake fights includes only the story as originally written, which Is considered medio6re - and the company can take no advan- tage of the successful title or th* switches that are held to be to a great extept responsible for 'Angel Street's' success. On the other hand, Traube can- not dispose of any film riglits to his play, 'inasmuch as to do that ha would have had to acquire rights to the original story from Columbia. Col, incidentally,, has had the Eng- lish film on its shelves'for more than a year, feeling the picture of insuf' ficlant caUber to make release profit- able. Traube was in negotiation som* (Continued on page 49) SPENCER TRACY AS WILL ROGERS AT WB HoUywood, May 5, TiUe role In the picturized life of Will Rogers goes to Spencer Tracy through a deal with his home lo^ Metro,, and Warners, where 'Uncla Clem's Boy' wlU be produced. Film Is based on the Saturda;^ Evening Post story written by Mrs. WUl Rogers. Loanout of Tracy will be the first In his career as a Metro star. It was Influenced by Mrs. Rogers, who in- sisted that he was only actor in Hol- lywood capable of doing justice to the role of her late husband. FANNIE HURST AS RADIO COMMENTATOR Fannie Hurst will do a general comment series on the Blue net- work five days a^ week, starting June 4. Show will be spotted 5-5:15 p.m. It's scheduled for only two weeks. However, if the novelist finds she likes radio, the series will be ex- tended. ... ., , Trade Uark Re^lfltcred • FOUNDED DT SIMB SILVERMAN PoblMied Wecklr by VABIETT, loc Bid Sllvorman, Preildent iS4 West 4ath Street, New Tork. N. T. BUnsCRIFTION Annual tlO Forelsn Ill Single Copies ' Sfi^CenU Vol 146 110 No. e INDEX V Advance Production Chart.. 18 Bills 47 Chatter 53 Concert-Opera 38 Exploitation 16 Film Booking' Chart 18 Film Reviews 8 House Reviews 48 Inslde-rLegIt 60 Inslde-MDrchestras 42 Inside—Radio 34 Inside—Vaudeville-Nitery .. 46 Legitimate SO Literati '■ 55 Music 42 New Acts 49 Night Club Reviews 46 Obhuary 54 Orchestras 39 Pictures 5 Radio 28 Radio Reviews 32 Unit Reviews 49 Vaudeville 45 DAILY VARIETY (Publlehed In Holl.vwood by Dally Varleiy, Ltd.) 410 a year—tl2 forelsn