Variety (May 1942)

W«d>es4«7« May jl, 1^42 Show Biz Bond Selling Power selling In that ««a. At the same time, Arthur Majrer, -«Aoliu T»e«n^ serving on the WAC wilhout pT, was due in Baltimore to addrcat the theatre owners ot MaiyUnd. Trips will be contlnuefl by varloua mem-, bers of tie WAC throughout the U. S. to cdly theatre operators to the caus^, ' ' Heavi^ discounting ' complaicts' toiy Network, which consists of froni ekhibt 'in fome sections oif the' countT7 thst boad aclllng and charity campaicn^'ire tiecomiac too fre- quent, and Ihua fanrt buslncis,^ as wdl as make It mm difficult to raise coin, indn^ttyleaderi have been pointins out to readcUnatt flfteratora that ther should consider ttaieniaelves fortunate to be in the fflm buainess at all, in times when other Indus-' tries have beieii virtually crippled due to the oatipn'a 'war neerii . ' Gfant "rally War Bond campaign being staged in Times Square.on Fri-- day by the WiVC;,in cooperation with the Treasury' Depixtment; will Jiav^ as parttriiOiiti^' Geo^e Raft, Pa<iil- ette Gbddard, Sfartha ;.Sipott, Bob Hope and others..... ^- i" ' SKClal Badlo Bally Special Victory Imiadcast for the sale (ft Tceasuiy-Bonds: and Savings Stamps will' be presented oyer the Mutual network Friday CSfi) with,a cast inchiding Jted Skeltoii, Edward Arnold, Bfaie Steveoi^ John Nesbitt and Irene Manning. Robert Poole will qiealr as representative of the Independent Th«»tre Owners .Asso- ciation. . Program 'was artanged by Howard Dietz on behalf of the Departmoit of Treasury,' to 'stimalate' the -drive in motion picture theatres through- out the United. States. - coast's fetMM Weekly Hollywood, May 26. Motion Picture Committee for Hollywood, representing the U. & Treasury's. War Savings Staff, is tumitig in a weekly total of $235,000 for the GovemmcBTs war chest Of this sum, .fUS.OQd Is siAscribied weekly throu^ the payroll savings plan and the other $200,0(W repre- sents rath sales.' Committee has 500 volunteer sales- men on the job, aiming at a weekly target of $31^,000. D. C. «S,SM.MO Goal Washington, Hay 26. Three big ralliies scheduled by the ^Motion Picture and Special' £veiits section of the U. S. Treasury stimU' lating bond sales. Ifi Chicago at the International Amphitheater oh May .27, at Detroit on .May 31 and in New York at the LewisohnI Stadium on June 3, Paul Robeson, Marion An- derson and Olivia De Haviland will provide the star value and concert attractions,' The 'Ship Ahoy' girls from Metro arrived here Saturday (23) and were welcomed at the Capitol by the Galifornla and Ohio Congres- sional delegatliXDs. Their goal is $3,-500,000, or enongh war bonds to buy a destroyer. When reiiorting at the Treasury where they were thanked by Harold N. Graves, As- sistant SMretary, it was aimounced that they had made cash sales total- ling |2;ZO0,000 in rallies held at At- lanta and Macon, Ga.; Green-yille flTid~CbIi&nblli; S. C; Winston-Salem and Greensboro, N. C, and in Bich- mond, Va. While here thcgr will make personal appearances -with their picture at the Capitol theatre. . Dorothy Lamour goes from New Orleans Into the Texas area this week.' While todrfaig the South and in the home country of Jesse Jones she hopes to annex the bond selling championsKip for a single rally, now ' held by Luise Rainer. It wfll Increase investments with ffncle Sam. ' . ntt Bally Pittsburgh, May 26. In addittan to five-station hoo^-up locally, program launching war bond drive In theatres here this. Friday (29) has also recruited dIstrleCs 'Vic liews of the recording companies, the ■recording artists, -and future record- ing plans. In general, your concert and opera page is the best current news bulletin ,on the subjects that 1 know of. I liope that 'Variety* will continue to give recorded. music a break even should discs become as legendary things, as new auto tires. Vic S. Taylor. Seven sqiall stations within a radius of 75 miles. Show's in diarge of James Totii^an, advertising director for WB here, and he's lined up a flock of front-page personalities in addition to available acts, beaded by Artie Shaw, -who opens wieek's en- gagement r'wiifa his band at Stanley ttiat dayj Bic Dime's Worth - Detroit, May 26. One of the biggest dime's worth of entertainment .assembled will be given Dctroiters at an inter-radal show May 31 to spur War Bond sales. Lined up for the program are Marion Anderson, Paul Robeson, Pri- vate Joe Louis, Ftank Murphy, jus- tice of the U. S. Supreme Court; Olivia de Havilland, the Michigan. Symphony Orchestra of 55 pieces and a ^-volce choir drawn from the combined church choirs' of the city. The representatives of the Treasury Department expect to add a few more big names before the show opens in the big arena here. Buildup of the show is to offer-a special attraction to. the Negro citi- zens of the city with expeptatlons that tw,o-thirds' of the 20,000 who will be able to.get In will be colored. It Prod. In England ; ttiaammtt tnm 'pare'T —— been plenty of doubling up oa artists and technical people'. United Artists pfemiered for the U. S. its latest British-made, 'Ships With Wings,'"last week atthe"Nor- mandie theatre. New York, charity affair and. likely will line up 'Fore- man Went to France' also for U.-S. release.' Latter already is set for dis- tribution in British Isles and other foreign markets. These two features are among the six Michael Balcon recently finished at Ealing studios, £iOndon,. uiider -the three-year pad he has with UA. .These are Turned Out Nice Again,' 'The Big Blockade,' 'Black Sheep -of Whiteliall' and 'The Goose Steps Out* besides -'Wings' and 'Foreman.' Balcon's They Came in IthaM;' is now in production for next season. CslwMbU's 'Story* Columbia plans to distribute Un- published Story' as its next Biitidi- produced vehicle In this country. Company is doing' imusually well with The Invaders,* rdased origin- ally In Great .Britain and Canada as '49th Parallel.' ^ Universal leaves the England pro- duction problem to. its British as»>- clate, taking only -the strongest fare made by General Film Distributors. --RKO has no quota productions aa tap in £ngland presently and. Is in- definite about future productidn )ust now. Company recently (Atalned a print in the V. S. 'of They Flew Alone' starring Anna Neagle, with picture set for release -here shortly, IVs the -story of the late aviotrlx; Amy MoUison, and her husband, Jim MoIUaon. Twentieth-Fox is nearing comple- tion of 'Young Mr. Pitt,' but has not announced the next'story to be made in Ehglaiwt, Djarryl Zanuck presently is in London and Ukely will line up Britsh production while there, Rob ert Kane, 20th-Fox producer in Great Britain, handled 'Pitt.'. - Victor's Presti|[e ^^^sContinued from yafc Sl^ssa made that hasn't beoi publicized, the latest recording affiliations of Her- bert Janssen and »!inanii«»i Feuer- mann, have been with .Victor. I take nothing away from Colum- bia in their attempt to cUmb back to neck-and-neck competition 'with Victor. ' Until the ban on shellac (Mr. Taylor is' correct-in tome of his statements. . .. The negotiations with pie Cikcinnati Orche'stni'do not seem, to Tuuie jelled for Columbia.os yet.'. The Chicago SympHohy.i* d Victor recordiJVB symphony now, but Stokowskl IS' still' under 'tfojitToct'to Columbia /or'his-recciTdings luith the AU-^Americon Youdi Orchestra. Jans- Closer Anglo-American Co-bp sContlnned from page 3^ same would be true of English direc- tors arriving in America.' The Radio Idea [It might be pointed out in this con- nection that the MOI has arranged a similar interchange of radio produc- ers and directors. It currently has a crew In the United States waxing transcriptions to be sent back to England, while Normao -Corwin will shortly go to I/>ndon to build pro- grams there for consumption in this countiy.l Each man would make one or more sen is nov> a Cohtmbia artist; having pictures of a documentary—Bern just made soTJie' ColumWo records, while'Feuermann is urith Victor; ^ir Thomas Beechdm has recorded Jot both Victor and Cpl'umbia on the iortign series, ond-'J^th ctnt^ aire tarrying hli recof'^ngs'. ■true that, as yet, ColuTnbia canhbt compete with Victor 'in name value, but from no competition at all two years ago', a. serious threat to Victor's mastery has been developed -whether Vtctor, loith the power and prestige it possesses, toiU altoto this, once awaked jrom its lethargy, is still another story /or the future. —Ed.] Caiteen ^Continued ftom pagclj R. Fleischer.. They were originally asking $50,000'for rights, compromis- ing on the $25,000 plus a .small In- terest in the fllm. Lesser gets exclu- sive tise to the title and Is assured full cooperation-of the. Wing. .. Coin from the fllm sale-and the radio commercial will be used to support the servicemen's recrea^ tion spot and other of the Wing's ae^ tlvities. It may be used to 'bu^.«il additional Canteen in New York^ with the-present one in the basement of the 44th Street theatre already overcrowded and almost unbearably hot on warm'nights. However, there is talk of iceplanting it Paramount was-somewfaat annoyed at the high price demanded for the Canteen title, feeling the studio was-' being held up since it claims to have originated the idea ot a picture b a s e d on the spot and already had it In pro- duction. It offered $2,500 for use of the title alone, figuring that was all it could afford, as the fllm to which the tag had been applied was a B- Production is continuing on the pic, but it will ha've an entirely different label Al Jolson to -M. C. Jolson likely will m.c, the C^n- .teen radio 'show which Ed Woilf Associates Is producing and expects to sell to a sponsor this week. Jol- son Informed Wolf yesterday (Tues- day) that hell be Svallalile to head the package 'imit He -will be'sup- ported by guest stars provided by the iheatre .Wing. They'll work for free pr for nominal fees to provide the largest possible profit; to the 'Canteen. _ • Show Is expected to originate from the 44th Street theatre. Dorseys' Brawl SSsCOBtlnned from page rector of ttii Paramount theatre, N. Y., whom Tommy Dorsey had championed'. Threats that 'some day ;^53;'d.St3r*rf;;i;rre";ecrr'^n^^^^^^^ j?.T.'*„i?^,!^J!5*. picture so badly, that picture boded all good for the consuming public for discs, but taking another ^ood look at the recording personnel of Victor still—despite material' the palm must stIU go to BCA with such stars as Crooks, Martlnelllt Schlpa, Bjoerllhg, GlgU, Melton, Peerce, Lawrence, PonseDe, Flagstad, Schumann, Korjua, Frijsh, Moore, Jepson, Traubd, Glannini, Maynor, Houston, Rethberg, Bampton, Borl, Novotna, Tibbett, Thomas, Warren, de Luca, Gorln, Panzera, Swarthout, Thorborg, Anderson, Kipnis, Pinza; 'Gordon, among the vocalists—and a real plethora of instrumental talent which Columbia as yet cap't rival to a degree—Rachmaninoff, Paderewskl, Sanroma, Rubinstein, Courboin, , Brailowsky, Luboshutz and Nemenoff, Vronsky and Babin, Schnabel, Landowska, Copland, Cortot, Pessl, Iturbi, Hess, -Rosenthal, Bonnet, Arrau, Bauer, Kreisler, Menuhin, Elman, Zimba^st, Heifetz, Renardy, Primrose and Spalding. What the decreased record pro- duction will do to the issue in the future of discs of serious music, only time can telL I know that the plans of both major companies Included some of the best work either has done in bringing out great 'music by great artists with the finest record- ing techniilue of the day. I want to tl)ank 'Variety' fbr Its tdnstai)t-iaip-to-(the-minute flow -of nose,' and 'do the same to Jimtny>' began, the fisticiiffs. Rube. Bloom attempted to separate them, and 'was hit Rocco Vocco caught a glancing blow on the cheek. After the pair were separated. Tommy, made cracks re Jimmy's band, ability as musician, etc. Both leaders were only slightly marked. The Dorsey brothers have Indulged in arguments often, before and since the two were co-leaders of the Dor- sey brothers orchestra. In 1937, while the band was at Glen Island Casino, New Rochelle, N. Y., Tom- my walked off the' stand one night after an argument over tempo, and never went back. He formed his own outfit and a little while later record- ed for Victor arrangements of 'Marie' and 'Song of India,' which, when re- leased, were big hits. Recordings 'made' Tommy's band', and he shot up into the big money class, acquh> ing an expensive estate at Bemards- viUe, N. J. Jimmy struggled along. - But In 1940 his band began to catch on via several popular'recordings, and. in the spring of last year, he launched several strong successes like 'Green Eyes,' 'Maria Elena.' 'I Understand,' which put his band at the top of the heap in record sales for 1941, topping all compeUtors, with a 4.800,000 sales total. He also moved into a position as one of the first five money-earning J bands in the cpuntry.,^.^.,,.,, _,. ' stein prefers the word 'factual'—na- ture. They -would be anywhere from a single reel to feature length, ac- cording to the idea each director has his own product and the quan- iiy ot material he tvants to get Into M- Bcrnstela said the films would be factual - rather than flctibnaL as the factual fllmis take far less time in preparation and. also can be lensed faster. He pointed out .that many, directors with no previous experi- ence at documentaries had done very successful .jobs on them when they turned their haiids in. that .direction. ' There will be no official guidance as to what the .directors shall flilm according tb!'tbe-.<4GnIstry of Infor- mation plan, but they will be given free reln'-'to .make the most of their, own ingenuity and ideas in picturing those things which , strike them as particularly pertinent Subjects,, ot course, will be expected-'to be in f|ir- therance of the. war efRnrt, and the respective govemmems will give, all pjAssihIe.aid. I^i^nclal.. arrangement - set by. Bernstein with his own government and expected to b* acquiesced 'to by Washington calls for each country, to take care of the expenses of the other countrjr's directors while they 'are on foreign soil. In that '^y there win be ho problem of foreign ex<- diange Involyed . Bernstein's mlislan, hi the U. S>. also is to acquaint Hollywood stu- dios with material -and assistance avaHaUe to them .'wi&out charge by the IDnlstry of Informaitian. This inclndtf' mHUons of feet of film ynade by MOI cameramen since the start of the 'War, «nd 'valuable for splicing into picture sequences. Bem'steih, ' who is generally credited with bringhig the present relative order out of the' bbaos, once prevailing in regard to the. "part of British fllins In' the war effort; xe^ fused commetti OP the cunctttly con- fused situation In this country. ^ is scheduled, howeVeri^to 'ineet'with Lowell Mellett coordinator of U. S. Films, and with industry execs. Net So SabUe In Em land On the controversial issue of how far the governmoit shotdd go in cueing. Hollywood on the type of pictures to make,' Bernstein .declared the MOI makes no bones about giv Ing strong suggestions to British producers. Whenever the MOI has a good thought for -a story 'with Commendal possibilities, - Beinsteln said,, it . immediately gives It to a private producer. Virtually all such ideas emerge as fllms,,with no flnan- cial aid from the government Pictures which the MOI wants made but which seem unlikely of producing a profit are 'commis- sioned'; that Is, paid for by the HOI. Mors own filmmakers, the Crown unit, turn out those done on loca- tions wh^re it Is not feasible to have anyone but government 'employees working, Most of the commissioned pictures and those made by. the Crown unit are for the program of 52 shorts a year which the MOI releases wAh- out charge and which all British houses are under obligation to In- clude on each week's bill Ihese are all handled by a single com- mercitd distributor under a contract' which.allows hini to make a moder- ate profit, rather than on the! for free 'basis by various companies as is the policy on Government shorts in the U. S. There, are frequent checks by MOI people to make sure the films are being playied, Bern- stein said. Producers are encouraged, he de- clared, to think up ideas of their own for feature films that wHl aid in the war effort MOI, however, has great control over these. All scripts must be submitted to it .and it has no hestitatlon, Bernstein asserted, in telling a producer 'what's good and what's not good. Simple expedient of denying the cooperation of any government department to a pro- ducer of something deemed 'not good,' while giving him every pos- sible cooperation if It is 'good,' easily keeps scripts along the right line, S^mstein explained.' been privately produced, but on government suggestions, will shortly be seen In this country. Alexander Korda recently made deals for United Artists-to distribute most of them here. They include 'Those We. Serve,' which ' Noel Coward pro- duced, directed and acted in. It's a true story of the adventures of a destroyer and cost $1,000,'000 to pro- duce, the grcaiest ^m yet spent on ' a propaganda film. Practically com- pleted, it -will' reach Here in August. Others Another. "The First of the Few,' is being produced, directed and acted In by Leslie Howard, David NIvep Is also In It. It's the story of the Inventor of the Spitfire. It Is now completed. ' Still another is 'One of Our Aircraft Is Missing,' being made by Michael Balcon with cooperation of the British and Dutch air forces. Alsp. 'We Dive at Dawn,* submarine'stioiy, belrig'produced at G^umoiit by Anthony.. As^ui^; a story ot 'the. Arm^ just going into producUoq by.,BaiIcon ai Ealitig, .and. a picture. .(Qf g^jerill^ warfare in Jugoslavia, whicti Balpon is prepar-. ing .w,ith the. cooperation of the Jugioelav government in-exile. MOi itself Is .also m'akiiig several features for distribution in both Ehg-. land and tills-.counta;. •(Bernstein said English pibdtice^. used .'to work . with pne eye -on the British market and otte on the Amexican; now.lt-> works with both eyes on both lojar* kets),- Pictures are 'A-1-'Priori^,' a ^ -fOur-reeler on lease-ledd material whidi was recently filmed' Jn tl. S/ war plants by British, crew; 'Front ■ Ifiae Revisited,' a feotuie on what's happened to Kngltidi blitz towns shtce Ihe blitz; being-made by Harry Watt, who did Ttoget.fbr TonighV and a feature about the Coastal. Com- mand. ' . Government' Is--< also making « couple' shorts for consumption In both countrte; They are. 'America- Moves'Up/.^wing: American ma- terials in. .England, nainated by Bob Troirt, CBS copimentator in London, and a>two-rcdeT Aiherlean troops in the British isles. Exigencies of war and the'effect ot the factual prodiict on regular commercial British fllms-has-wrought in tiiem a greet change, and one all to the good, Bernstein declared.' He said writers .and'dircdnn had come dow^ to earth in the ^pe of thing tliey were doing'tud more direct In- fhelr story-itelUng: He pmpheslbd a similar effect-<m- BoUyw4>(id output as the w/ir progresscK Although double features fire stiU . prevalent in Engbmd bieause of American product, comlof in, Bern- stein sees a redoettoh -b-flollywood tn about 290 films a jtcar, With eifan- ination' Qf B's, if tli^'sltuatfoa follows the same'path «i ia Xbiland. The threatened ahbrtogs of mate- rial about which Amerlcak producen are disturbed.' said Boniteln, 'will bife nothing as Niilipared to the short- age of monpbwer.'althouih that situ- ation isn't so acute herfe as it is la -Ebgland/ - . Ditto In EBchnd Squawks from some elements of the American shorts induitry that it Is being' squeeud,'QUI of busing ihrciigh IheL elmlpaUMi qf. playfaig time ^en by govtniment fllins weris also heard m Brit^ at fhe begin- ning of the conflict, JteBstiln said. What happened, he e^lalned, .was. that most of the private shorts mak- ers are now prAdtlcbll for the gov- ernment on comnilitfagf) while « small segment ooottaiues makhig purely entertalnmsnt product that Is still finding time <A BrIUdt screens. Another Industry fear that proved groundless said Bemiteln, wais thiat the government's tmqendoui aon- theatrical program. 'WoiiUl hurt "ttie* atrical business. As a. matter of fttct, he pointed out, , it appears to have played a part In hdplhg It. MOI turned out 100 reels for 16 mm, showing Ikst jdat. ond^ Is stepping .that up during 1049, Bernstein dis- closed. One-of the chores the MOI exeo -will handle during his three months in the U. S. will be to arrange for acquisition of American shorts on the war effort These Will be distributed as part of the-.MOI's program of Bt yearly. Already Included in this pro- gram, Bernstein polhted out, have been three Rtissian, onoi Polish ^nd one Free French short . . ^ < Still another Bernstein task will be conversations with John Hay Whit- ney, chief of the films division of the Office of Inter-American Affairs, to coordinate the showing of American and British informational films in Latin America. Aim will be to elim- inate the present competition be- tween the product, end jlqiible A number of features •.)y5ijhhayjt.p3a?.jnB^i^^i.qt e.iq!ji,.'x a«» V-'m*^*'**