Variety (June 1942)

Wednesday, June 3, 1942 MISCELLANT SPORTS FILMS' FOOL BALL Lisbon Rates Tops Compared to Rest Of Europe; Fancy Nite Life Prices [Bv o r^ev}ST)(^perman before Ms ar- rival in the v. S. from Libson after he had been Interned in Axis-coun- tries—Ed.] Lisbon, May 20. Lisbon Is the boom night spot of Europe at the moment. After coming out of occupied Paris and sitting in Internment in Germany for five months this place is an after- darkers' paradise although plenty is still lacking in what might be called tops in entertainment known around the continent before this war started. At this writing, I've only been here four days, but it is enough to see that there is plenty of the where- withal flowing around even though what can be had with it comes in limited quantities with not too much class attached. But even so, plenty of coin is changing hands and the boys are going away with plenty of headaches and undoubtedly the same amount of satisfaction eveh though they did get taken in the clip Joints. Since the boys with the big rolls ■round here are mostly transients (Continued on page 44) JEAN SABLON'S MOTHER WATTS IN PORTUGAL Jean Sablon's mother from France has been stranded 'In Lisbon for three months, still trying to get ac- commodations to America. The •Inger fears chancing a Portuguese freighter to South America, but may compromise on that, Sablon, who goes into the Hotel Savoy-Plaza's Cafe Lounge on Fri- day (5) for-a limited engagement, to round out for the ailing Hildegarde, Is booked back into the Urea Casino, Rio da Janeiro, Hildegarde,'forced out of both the /cafe and 'Keep "Em Laughing,' two- a-dayer at the 44th St, is now out of the hospital but will rest her throat until her June 16 opening in St, Louis. Who's Producer on W Kicks Up Wood-Par Foss Hollywood, June 2. Question of who is the prqducer on 'For J Whom the Bell Tolls' is kicking up a storm between Sam Wood and Paramount. Wood, who Is directing, also insists he is the producer. 'The studio won't confirm this. able but thus far the' studio has projected none. Second round com- ing up. MacLeish's New Song 'Song of the Free,' new pat- triotic number is slated to be in- troduced at Roxy, N. Y., Thurs- day (4). Archibald MacLeish wrote the lyrics, with Kurt Weill composing the score, pub- lisher being Chappell St Co. MacLeish will turn over all roy- alties to the Red Cross. 'Free' is expected to be heard in the 'New York at War' parade June 13 and is scheduled for radio on Sunday (14), which has been named 'United ' Nations Day.' LOU HOLH IN CBS BUILD-UP Lou Holtz starts a new CBS series June 14, a 15-mlnute comedy and hot-string musical accomp, and pos- sibly also Mary Small for vocal in- terludes. Slated, for a 7:15 Sunday night groove. John Barrymore's Many Friends Compel Larger Turnout at Services Hollywood, Jime 2. Old-time friends of John Barry- more who worked with him on stage, radio and in pictures, paid their last respects yesterday (Monday) as the body lay In state here. Father John O'Donnell, who returned Barrymore to Catholicism shortly before he died, 'officiated at the requiem mass held at Calvary cemetery today (2). The actor was placed in a crypt be- side that of Irene Fenwick, Lionel Barrymore's wife. About 100 close friends and rela- tives admitted to the Calvary chapel while hundreds of morbid fans milled around the outer grounds. Active pallbearers were Gene Fowler, who handled funeral ar- rangements; John Decker, the artist; Edward J. Mannlx, W. C. Fields, C. J. Brlden, Stanley Campbell, David O. Selznick, I^uis B. Mayer, Herbert Marshall, and Dr, Hugo Kersten. Chief nioumers were Lionel and (Coijtinued on page 14) «♦♦»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦» WEflOTTHEBl, STILL THEy COME From All Sides Are Raised Cries of 'Don't', But H'wood Smart Enough Not to Believe Itself—Baseball Slow Poison, So Two the Way on ALSO 1 OM CORBETT Hollywood, June 2. Any glib gent around the studios, who has been on the payroll long enough to know his way to the win- dow, win teU you about sports pic- tures. He'U stoutly assert that the average sports-background story Isn't worth an old sweatband in com- mercial values. And he'll even tell you why. Sports, he says, are dramatic only as presented on the field of play. They become a pale caricatilre of themselves when transposed to the screen; because their values are real, not fictional. Whereas, says he, life presents a dull, monotonous pattern that is 'pointed up' by dramatic treatment of its highlights, etc., etc. Baseball Is the dumbest of all sports mediums; he' adds, gratuitously. Agreement being general on that point, it is not surprising to find un- predictable Hollywood in the mi^st of an epidemic of sports production and that two of the impending re- leases have a baseball background. These are 'It Happened in Flat- bush' and The Pride of the Yankees,' featuring a lot of red-necked guys in (Continued on page 14) Poor Crop of B'way Hays Reflected In Meagre $1,120,000 H wood Bays Let 'Em Drink Beer Hollywood, June 2. There was hint of champagne In the air when .representatives of the Screen Writers Guild and envoys of the Producers Assn. sat around the table at a love feast after signing their new working contract. The only unsolved problem was ''Who Is going to buy the wine?' The writers lost the argument and everybody drank beer. FRED ALLEN AS HALF-HOUR NEXTYR. Kapp Buys Town House, Billy Rose An Estate Decca prez Jack Kapp, before he ' left for one of his periodical trips to Hollywood, did two things impor- tant to his private life—^he bought an east side home and adopted a baby boy, around three. The Kapps already have a 10-year-oId daughter. Kapp has long yenned a Manhattan town house, rather than an apart- ment It's in the ultra East 60s. Incidentally, Decca Records fig- ured in the 1041 salary reports as having paid Bing Crosby $100;e40 for waxings, Jimmy Dorsey got $45,591 and, Andrews Sisters $34,235. Dorsey Is lio. 2 to Crosby as a Decca best seller. Another property acquirer in.show business is Billy Rose who took over a show place at Mt. Kisco, N, Y,, for $70,000 cash, including 60 acres of ground, and completely furnished, with swimming pool, tennis courts, etc. . It's supposed to be one of those extradorlnary 'bargains' for cash, reported costing the original owner nearly $1,000,000, including furnish- ings. Hollywood, June 2. Beseiged as he was for years by autograph hunters, it Is a little sur- prising to learn through Frai)k Mor- gan that Barrymore himself once sought George Bernard. Shaw's sig- nature for his then Infant son. 'John met Shaw in London when he went there to play 'Hamlet* and they promptly became great friends,' Morgan recalls. Later, Shaw was here in Holly- wood and at a luncheon in his honor John asked the visitor for an auto- graph for his son, John Blythe Bar- rymore, born not long before. Shaw, knowing John's sense of humor, thought he was being ribbed and tried to pass the thing off with a merry quip. Considerably to his surprise he found himself being hounded on the subject in the en- suing few days and finally gave in, with the following inscription on the fly leaf in one of his books To John Barrymorie's baby whose first articu- late cry was for an autograph.' Gable's Recollections Clark Gable recalled John in a somewhat un-Barrymoresque aspect —that of a man with a lasting mem- ory. He'd had a set of naulks with which he'd climbed the Matterhom (Continued on page 14) PANS PK STARS SELLING BONDS Minneapolis, June 2. Representative John M. Coffee, of Tacoma, Wash., doesn't think much of the Treasury Department's jnethod of utilizing high-salaried film stars to sell war bonds. Here to-address a Farmer-Labor party convention and speaking over radio station WCCO in. favor of President Roosevelt's proposed $25,000 war-time income limitation, the Congressman declared, "It's a little hard' to convince people of moderate means to buy War Bonds when they're peddled by movie stars who are paid a half-million dollars a year.' Representative Coffey, in his talk, passed over the fact that these so- called "high salaried stars' have been doing a splendid job in selling the bonds and that persons of even the smaller means apparently have had no compunctions in buying from them—in fact, have been eager to do so. Trade circles here construed the talk as a slam at the fUm industry and the salaries which It's paying. Thb Congressman intimated that there's impropriety in having the ex* travagantly paid film stars urging the underpaid masses and those peo- ple of the small income groups to invest part of their meagre Income in War Bonds and to support war activities financially. He further in- timated that such appeals would come with better grace from others who would be less calculated to arouse resentment among the com- mon run of folks. When Fred Allen returns to Co- lumbia in the faU (Oct. 4) he wiU for the first time since early 1034 be presiding over a half-hour j>rogram. It was the sponsor, .Texaco, that elected to reduce the running time from the Allen program's present 60 minutes. The switch to 30 minutes actually takes effect July 5, the-date that Texaco inaugurates its summer replacement show, consisting of Jane Froman, a mixed chorus .and an AI mro songstre-ss MAXINE SULLIVAN REMARRIES, RETIRES series will go the usual - 13-week cycle, Regardless of whatever effect the war economy may have on the petro leiun industry it is Texaco's inten tion to maintain the Allen program next season through its customary romp of 30 weeks. The account has retained the Sunday 0 to 9:30 p.m. period. The following half hour has already been tagged by Campbell Soup through the Ruthraufl & Ryan agency, for Bob Bt;ms when he re turns from his vacation likewise Oct. 4. Colgate-Palmolive-Peet has, in turn, put in an order for Burns' pres' ent niche, Tuesday 8:30-8:55 p.m. with the idea of filling it with Guy Lombardo or some new program Griffith Leaves Par Hollywood, June 2. Edward H. Griffith, producer-di- rector at Paramount, has been granted request for release from his contract which had 17 months to run. Break came over disagreement on his next assignment. Griffith is the third producer to le?ve Paramount within a week, others being Arthur Hornblow and Robert Sisk. who reached the heights by singing Scotch folk-songs in rhythm, has re- married and retired from show busi- ness. She was wed May 24 in New York to Dr, Charles Walburg, a phy- sician. Her last date was at the Howard theatre, Washington, May 6. Bandleader John Kirby was her &tst husband. They were divorced re^ cently. ' Miss Sullivan first came to atten' tion in 1937 through her method of swinging such ditties as 'Loch Lo- mond,' 'Annie Laurie' and others. She was credited with beginning that vogue, which was later disputed friends of Ella Logan (ofay) now in 'Sons o' Fun' on Broadway. At the time she started Miss Sullivan's ar- rangements were written by .Claude Thornhill, now leader of his own band at Glen Island Casino, New Ro- chelle, N. Y. Par'^ Rhodes Scholar Hollywood, June 2. Betty Rhodes, radio's 'First Lady of Television,' drew a new contract at Paramount and is being groomed for stardom in musical pictures. New pact is the result of her work in 'Sweater Girl' and 'Priorities of 1942,' Poor 1941-42 Broadway season which drew to a close last week was refiected In the comparatively small number of plays bought for films. There were only five shows running on Broadway during the season toi which picture rights were purchased, compared with 17 the previous sea< son. , ' ■ ' Total spent by Hollywood for legiters was less (than half spent the season before. It amounted to $1,- 120,000 for '41-42, compared with $2,354,000 in '40-41. 'These figures are for a total of 22 plays, bought in the season Just passed and 30 plays the previous season. Of the 22 plays bought during the year,' only four had been produced during the' season ('Watch on the Rhine' was a holdover from the year before); eight were oldies which had been produced in past years and were more or less well-buried by the time Hollywood decided It (Continued on page 20) Scrap Records Will Finance New Disks For U.S. Service Men Group of concert and popular mu- sical artists have been enlisted to give their services in a nationwide plan to supply service camps with phonograph records from money ob- tained in the sale of scrap records which would be turned in gratis by' the public. The plan emanates from the Tom FIzdale publicity office. The project hae been cha'rtered as Rec- ords For Our Fighting Men, Inc. Among those that^ the FIzdale of- fice, which states that it bas no com- mercial connection In this campaign, has lined up to give it glamor,are Kay Kyser, Fritz Reiner, Benny Goodman, -. Count Basic, Claude Thornhill, Grace Moore. Charlie Splvak, Kate Smith, Helen Jepson, Albert Spalding, Gene Autry and Paul Robeson. Tnids Hark Reclttered VOUNDBD BT BXiiK StLVEKMA.S' l-ahllnhed trcckiT by VABIETX, Inc. Bid Sllvorman. President 1S4 West 4Cth Street. New rork. N, T SUnSdRIPTION Annual..110 Foreign Ill SInRle Copiei ...,,.,.2S Cenle VoL 146 INDEX Advance Production Chart.. 16 Bills 48 Chatter 53 Concert-Opera 37 Film Booking Chart...-. 16 Film Reviews. £ House Reviews 46 Inside—Legit 50 Inside—Music 43 Inside—Orchestras 39 Inside—Pictures 18 Inside—Radio '... 34 Inside—'Vaude-Nitery 44 International 14 Legitimate .T. 50 Literati 54 Music .'. 40 New Acts 49 Night Club'Reviews 49 Obituary 54 Orchestras 38 Pictures , 5 Radio 21 Radio Reviews 30 Shorts Reviews 24 Unit Review i 49 Vaudeville ,. 44 DAILY VABIRTT (Publlahed In Hollywood br Dolly Variety, Litd.> 110 a year—tl2 foreign