Variety (Sep 1942)

52 f^AfHETY Wednesday, September 30, 1942 Literati r:ypsy lIl.^it<•. a Memo I Paniphlil ol lf .;i'i.< L",- C•v|)^y Ro o ! I.il' IK I.CO Wl.lilU. SllllD.i \- SchuMci cdiliii-. lust ytMi-. |)rec(^.iii'^ i li,ii)lic;itii)ii 01 tho builcv .sl:irs •'".-Slriny iMurricrs.' h;is rcj'.'!'.--"! m aiioiner similar lake. Uyp s Molhcr j Finds a Body' is iw to hit Uic st-.ills I Oct. 9. i Curi enl pamphlet purpoi is lo be i a Idler lo Miss Wrighl from Miss ! Leo explaining lyhy she o;innot. as ■ requested, sit down ai'.d Itiiock oit a missive to booksellers abo it 'Molhcr. etc-.' Explains Gypsy: '1 keep re- I 19-8 moinbering that booksellers' dinner c nipl.vini! « il <ilhcr demands nl il^eu- ir.ii.e pi)u..'.liil compeiil'T II (ie!n;iiid< lh:il e\erv "otiid Chicago Jiue >p )t> ml e\"er\ .■.cnui . I ;h(; S.iii. TnOiMie . iicw.^s.uri. ■ lh(.m line.' .'i.r aei'ord*' Yiddish Play Th6 Bridegroom Regrets (YIODISII) , ..I.... .1 V.llh IIHIM. Ill 'Ml«. I ■_• .<.! .-Ji. 1-^ ll'.M-lllMl L'. r.MIIHIII^d ■•Ml- 1 I ' I M ..I. .r.I. 1 V.if-iui Kii-Uz- S: r-- .1 l■^ \:.lli.ifl I I--M 'mM ^^ Si i'UlTy ■■-..i-.ti Mni-ii.- ■iii'r'l«'<l l>y I k«« l:i....hl> II. N. Taming Shanghai Nite Life Contloaed from page 3 Palcrvitrh I'pprd | i Ivii Patccvitch new pio.-idciit of ir Condo Nasi Publications, Inc.. to ! succeed the late founder of the busi- i ne.xs. After live years with Hemphill. I Noyes. Paleeviteh joined Nasi in s pers.Mial a.ssistant. Trom 19T2 to lUGli'hc was managing di- lasi vear; they wer"c"t'hc""toughest j rector of Nasi publications in France, boys I ever played to. There wasn't publishing French Vogue an, Jardin a vok or cackle in Ihe house. They Ides Modes. Upon his return, he was didn l care about my black nylons. ] elected t,) the board of directors and five for those ' was one of the three members of I ».,\..-. ^" ,-h,. r.-,i..-i.- i: I.Mllls 1.l:i ... .l"X>ic. \\ iiii.'i. -(.- Iiiil:. . . . N;ilh;.n (:<.l<ll'iTi: l'li:irl,ilti* i:i>Itl:4tPlli n.iltl I'lM'P'T l,,,-„li .lliculiri i:..ll.v .l;i.iilii' i;iisi;iv lU-iurr . . . r. -iiiix S<'i<lmiitt I! ..■ :..l.il.t>r>: Mm 11 1 Crulirr ....II:imi:i llflhliuirr . . l...iii> IM. ',-.|iil7.1i.v I paid two .linely stockings and I might .iu.-l as well have had burlap bags wrapped around the fairly well known le.sis. I sat under a hair ("ryer for two hours gelling myself goosed up for that dinner, and not one bookseller gave me a take. Now you «:int me to write a letter lo them.' As for Ihe new book. Miss Leo .sez: 'I'm in a spot . . . the honeymoon is over. The book boys sal still for G-Slring, but I can't go around sell- ing gold bricks all my life. There comes a day when someone makes like a metallurgist . . . Besides. I can't sit down and beat out a liltic letter. I get self-conscious now that I know about that printing press you have in your basement. I don't hope to turn out literary gems or small masterpieces, but I do have to worry about transitions, li»ht and shade, and every now and then I have to give out with a nuarce or two.' 'V/hen a customer wants a copy of 'CriiTic and Punishment." Gypsy ad- vises Miss Wright to lell the book- sellers, "ask them to s'^ove 'Mothei'. eic' under his nose. TcK them to say they're fresh out of 'Crime and Punishment' but they do have a little number that,should fill the bill. It it comes to a toss-up between 'Mother' and 'Crime' explain how I'll knock myself out autographing copies and then ask them If Dostoievsky can top that dialog.' Telling of her recent wedding to Alexander Kirkland (which hadn't yet taken place when the letter was written), Gypsy said: 'The cake is going to be wonderful. Thyra just called and said she had a time get- ting a bride and groom decoration for it. . . . She said she shocked the salesgirl at Deans by asking for a brunette bride with bangs and wear- ing a dress that stripped easily.' Goldberg and .I.icobs ,iio not only Ihe producers, llu-y also play the leads iind ojieiate the hou.se. now in its eighth season. In addition Ihey the company's executive committee, arc contrasting theatrical talents. He continued in the capacity of ex- Rose and Nathan Goldberg are ccuti\ e assistant to Nasi until the, iticlodramalieians. while Betty and lailer s death, Sept. 10. j Jacob Jacobs are deft with the song, the dance, the laugh. CHATTER Bennett Cerf's Random House trade notes arc bright, a departure for staid literati circles. Curtis J. Harri.son. formerly ad- ertising manager of Photoplay and' for the past two years with Mutual Broadcasting System, has joined the eastern sales staff of Look, Inc. Fayvellc Schulman is the new publicity manager of PM. She had been assistant to Ed Levin, who had handled both promotion and pub- icity chores. Levin continues as promotion manager. 'Tobacco Tycoon' (the Story mcs Bu 'lanan DukeV. by John K. Winkler; is due for Oct. 22 pub- ication b. Random House. Gocd railer ad is a pr.ck of ciggies with special •ncket. which RH is send- r.g out. Geor<re Durno. who has been cov- ering Ihe White House since the Waodrow Wilson administration, was given a Hotel May.' jwor. D. C, se-cl- o(T Saturday (26) before he donned the uniform and double bars of a captain in Air Transport Command of the U. S. Army. ACLU Moves on P. O. Curbs Post Office revoking of second class mailing privileges of allegedly obscene magazines has steamed up the American Civil Liberties Union through its National Csuncil on Free dom from Censorship. Communica tion by Elmer Rice, playwright, ils chairman, stated that 'almost two score magazines, some of long stand Ing, have had their second-class mail- ing privileges revoked within the last four months, a record unprece- dented in Post Office history." The Union charged that postal ofTicials had prejudged some of the cases Among the magazines of national circulation whose mailing privileges had been revoked are 'Police Ga zette." 'College Humor," 'Film Fun, •Real Screen Fun," 'Real Dclcetive and 'Front Page Detective.' The Council contends that the P. O, Department has ignored the recom mcndati'on of the Attorney General's Committee on Administrative Pro cedure, which in 1940 held that 'ob scen'.ty is largely a question of judge mem which often may require i broad sociological expertness.' and recommended thai the Departmen consult with outstanding experts to obtain their opinions. The Council also cited the system in elTecl in the Customs Service, under which banned matter may be reviewed by the courts with 'judgments by aver age men, not by a few professional censors.' Chi Sun to Sue City News Chicago Sun will shortly file suit against the City News Bureau and City News Company for failure to service them. City News controls some eight tubes into various vicini ties around Chicago, with all paper participating. Black ball by any one paper prevents another from get ting the service, as in the case of the Sun. Only bre-k gained by the Sun was f ring election time, when the Chi cage Tribune permitted it to get returns in exchange for raising price of the Sunday edition and CPlays on B'way S Continued from page 59 ties are chiefly strippers and bump- ers—and there's no more subtlety to their work than there is to a Gestapo thug. One such is Marian Miller, billed as 'Queen of Quiver.' She's a hefty blonde who shakes from every angle. Another is Isabellc Brown, also a bumper, who works under dark lights with a rosebud g-string that's treated with radium paint. Then she turns around and on her der- riere, also in radiolite, is painted a pair of hands which are plenty ex- pressive as Miss Brown, also a meat- and-potatoes bumper, does her grinding and tossing. Another un- dressed specialist is Noel Toy, the Oriental fan dancer. She's wearing the least of all and waving her fans more to the side than the centre. The blackouts and skits are all of old burlcsk vintage, cleaned up slightly, and Pinky Lee and Herbie Fay, as comics, and Murray Briscoe and Murray White, as straightmen. work valiantly but unsuccessfully to breath a laugh or two into the lines and situations. Savo also is in one blackout, the old drink-switch rou- tine, with Margie Hart, but this falls pretty flat. Later, with a greatly abbreviated version of his regular stage act, Savo scores nicely. It's too bad, however, that the talented pantomimist is in a blowser of this type. Truly McGee staged the ensemble dancing and she probably doesn't rale censure for the far-from-dis- tiii>;uished routines. None of the girls, .some of 'cm a.k.'s, is obviously a dancer, and few of them look as though they belong on the stage. The showgirls, eight of them, are chiefly on the meaty side. The cos- tumes are clean, as is the scenery, but not distinguished. As no de- signer is mentioned in the credits, doubtlessly all of the production ac- coutrements came from the Shubert warehouses. . Miss Hart is on and off frequently during the show, each time in a dif- ferent skin-tight costume, and all of the latter are okay as well as re- vealing. She's doing only one strip routine, however, and that to a spe- cial song that's of grade school cal- ibre. Irv Graham is credited with this special, also the inane opener, 'This Is Not a Play by Saroyan'— as if anybody would have suspected. Miss Hart, when .alking, doesn't flatter the show, nor is she flattered by her surroundings. 'Wine' is on a two-a-day schedule, with three shows on Saturday. That many shows, plus its limited budget and the fact that it is in a Shubert theatre, may<keep it going for awhile —but certainly not on its merits. Scho. 'The Bridcyrooi.i Re.^rels." based on a Yiddish radio drama, deftly jells mortcin problems, dialo;; and comedy situalioiv with moralislic im- plications and biblical by-play, so important lo Yiddish dramas. Song cues round it out. but do not pro- trude. Charlotte Goldstein, as the Rabbi's daughter, does splendidly with a juiev dramatic part that could easily slop over. Rose Goldberg, as the mother who refuses lo allow her diiughter to snatch another girl's man. is likewise restrained and ef- fective. Nathan Goldberg uses every trick in his dramatic kitbag. Benny Scidman is perfect as a pompous and .sanctimonious chiopy chaser. Mu- riel Gruber. as the girl wfith Ihe rovini eve, looks the part and plays it lo the last leer. Guslav Berger, Ihe man in qucsl-on. is bi-i and bulky for a juve. b'lt shfiw;; a fair basso in ills love ro'iv, 'YDirrp My Only Love." Solid all Ihe way are Betty md Jacob Jaccbs as the comedians, thanks to good situations, lines and musical material. As a solo he does 'It's Not So Bad,' a patter tune that clicks. As a team they use the tried- and-true rouline of 'Yiddish lyrics to pop English tunes. They romp through "Sleepy Lagoon,' 'Jingle, Janale," "Kalamazoo." and concentrate on 'Hawaiian War Song." Since this is a stock troupe that nlays repertoire during the week, the feature show is given on week- ends. The settings are mostly paint- ed flats and played in one or two, Yasha Kreitzberg does okay with the pit crew. Biz good. Fran. WarPix Cuntlnued from page I and foyers to ushers and other the atre staff members, it"s reported. What the fans .seem to desire now is 'escape' fare—they don't want to be reminded so constantly of the war, according to the exhibitors, This is aside from the question as to whether, regardless of ill box' office effects, it's advisable to keep reminding them, the boys hasten to point out. In the trade's opinion, the situa tion was brought home forcibly here lost week when the Abbott fit Cos tello comedy, 'Pardon My Sarong, panned by the critics and not helped much by word-of-mouth, far outdis tanced the highly praised 'Pied Piper' at the local b.o., although the latter won raves galore. If enough people won't attend the war pictures they can't do much good, the eX' hibitors assert.' Bill Sears. Orpheum manager, says ushers reported to him that they were told by many patrons that the latter were attending 'Pardon My Sarong' to 'get awSy' from war pic tures and that they liked the comedy because it helped them to 'forget' temporarily. The public is eager for more comedy, he feels. Bob Murphy, Star Journal film critic stressed the same idea in his review of 'Are Husbands Neces sary?', current Orpheum offering. Of course, 'Wake Island,' now whamming them, is an exception and the present agitation does not mean that occasional war dramas will not click. The leaders say that they're only questioning it it's wise for war pictures to predominate. 96% Exhibs Want War Pix According to PRC Hollywood, Sept. 29. War pictures are demanded by 96% of the film exhibs, with musicals in second place, according to a nation wide survey made by the distrlbU' tion branch of Producers Releasing Corp. Poll was taken by order of Leon Fromkess, in charge of PRC produC' tion. hard, for with the gradual reopening of the spots, some two weeks later, employers slashed salaries by from SO-;!, to 75%. a'ha rather lame excuse was ad- vanced by employers that the !1 p.ixk. curfew imposed by the Japs had greatly curtailed their hours of busi- ness. So far as musicians and artists were concerned it was a case of take t or leave it. They took it. Since 1937 and the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, artists and mu- sicians had been drawing salaries probably the lowest of any large city of the world. Top musicians, for example, were being paid about 800 Chinese dollars per month, the equivalent of about $80 in American money. The best a good ballroom team could cdmmand was about $100, American currency, per month. Prices of commodities were higher than ever before in the history of Shanghai, but they could live, after a fashion. On June 29, when the first evacu- ation liner sailed from Shanghai, top musicians were drawing less than the equivalent of U, S. $40 per month. Mediocre men were being paid as low as U. S, $20 per month. In other words, the pay of a flrst- class musician in America would equal the salary of an entire band in Shanghai. But between August, 1037, and the outbreak of war with Japan, almost all of the American artists and mu- sicians disappeared from Shanghai, many returning to America, others seeking more lucrative flelds in the Far East, Of the American 'die-hards' re- maining in Shanghai, the best-known are Bob Hill, bandleader from Los Angeles; Henry Francis Parks, Chi- cago musician; Richard Cony, leader of Milwaukee, tor whom things went from bad to worse and Anally resulted in his admittance to the American School, where indigent Americans are housed and fed. Traitor Foekler Bob Foekler, another American bandleader, disgraced the American community by swinging over to the side of the enemy. Foekler nightly broadcasts antl-AUied propaganda for the German radio station in Shanghai. The lesser lights include Lester 'Vactor, of Canonsburg, Pa., and Charley Jones, of Los Angeles. Both are colored musicians. . In 1940, The Olympian, the wide- ly-read and Influential sports and entertainment weekly [which this writer edited and published] brought about formation of the Shanghai Musicians' Union, which by 1941 was becoming powerful enough to talk back to employers. It is probable that had not war come the union would by now be in a position to dictate to employers. But immedi ately after the outbreak of war, the Jap military ordered the union to disband. All of which, according to directors of the union, may have prompted one of the oflFicers of the union to 'go south' with all funds in the treasury. Today only a subdued night life is known in Shanghai. The infamous 'Blood Alley' on Rue Chu Pao San, has vanished into the anaconda of all things temporal—the past. Where once inferior mixed bands blared, foreign sailors and soldiers battled over the ladies of their choice, vile hooch was served, knives flashed and occasional pistols barked, all is. quiet. The notorious Frisco Cafe, where 19 men were stabbed or beaten to death over a period of seven years, is now a warehouse. Gone, too, are the Golden Eagle, the Charleston, the Bucket of Blood, the Alhambra, the Golden Star, the Victoria, Mumm's, Rector's and the other Blood Alley jernts where once pop-eyed tourists looked on as service men and their gals danced on sawdust floors, cling- ing together in a manner calculated to make the Siamese twins look like distant relatives. But It was not the outbreak of war that brought the end to Blood Alley's spots, but rather departure of hundreds of foreign service men, the non-arrlval of merchant ships and the paucity of patrons. Shanghai Nile Life ConHned The night life of Shanghai today, apart from a few huge Chinese cab- arets, one or two French Concession hot spots and a lone foreign hotel ballroom, Is chiefly confined to the dangerous ^^estern blstrlct, whire life la aheap and murderg are com- mon. Yu 'Yuen Road, once a swanky residential thoroughfare. Is now the city's hiib of nite spots. The pocket-edition nileries along Yu Yuen Road, almost all owned and operated by European refugees, inii.Kie the Mnskee, the ArizonEb.the Ali Baba, the Tavern, the Evetiiatt, Bolero, Roxy, Jessfleld and Maxim's! Prices are high, A scotch and soda costs U. S. $1.50. Beer is $1, Coca Cola, four bits. These spots have orchestras numbering from two to five men, always with a gal singer. Patrons are principally wealthy Chinese of the Wang Ching-wei side, Jap officers and a scattering of Ger- mans and Russians. Artists and mu- sicians are paid little or nothing, but tips are good and their earnings are greater than the earnings of mem- bers of orchestra in the larger hot spots. The famous Mandarin Club, claimed by residents of Shanghai to be the most beautiful nite spot in the world, is goinssstrong. The spot is operated by Jimmy James, who emerged from the United States Army in 1919 to teach Shanghai night eating, hot dogs, barbecued meats and American ham and eggs. That was at the original Jimmy's Kitchen on lower Broadway, prob- ably the most renowned of all Shanghai"s eateries. Mandarin Club patrons are chiefly Wang Ching-wei big shots, Jap admirals and generals and a few Americans who have the price. Priced, Incidentally, are three times greater than prices of the most expensive nite spots of the town. Jimmy James is 100% American but up to June 29 his Ave business establishments had not been inter- fered with by the Japs, one rea.^on being that James keeps his nose clean, offends no one and serves American-style food to all comers, including scores of Japs. Mrs. Hamilton S Continued from page 1 s Philly's now - shuttered 'Barbary Coast'). Mrs. Hamilton was in charge of the hostesses at the canteen and had been embroiled with other committee members on various occasions. She once ukased that married hostesses may not dance with visiting service- men, but was overruled. Mrs. Hamilton, herself, would only say that she quit 'because there are some people who just don't work to- gether.' 'You can call it a matter of temper- ment,' she said. 'Mr. Sullivan and I just simply couldn't get along.' She referred to R. Livingston Sulli- van, socialite banker who is chair- man of the canteen committee. Sullivan would only say that 'some- one objected to jitterbugging' and that the executive committee met and ruled that it was okay. One official, who declined use of his name said: 'Mrs Hamilton is a swell person, but she wants to run things her own way or not at all. She frequently disagreed with 14 of the 19 members of the executive committee. The 15th was her husband.' A. C. Mayor's Side Contlnaed from page 1 titution,' and praised Army authori- ties here for complete cooperation. 'We ^ow this town has been loaded With prostitutes, pimps, pro- curers, racketeers and other unde- sirables, and for any public official to try to excuse or justify this situa- tion is not only an insult to our in- telligence but an indictment of the official himself,' Taggart said. The May act, which up to the present has been used but once, per- mits Army authorities to step in and close up joints where civil authori- ties have failed. It could an<!ct al- most any enterprise, but would un- doubtedly be concentrated upon cafes, bars, and any amusement cen- ters where liquor is sold. The act was made effective shortly after pas- sage of the Selective Service Law and is so broad In Its verbiage that it grants the Army almost complete power should the military declcle to exercise it tO its fullest interpre- tations. The sole instance,of its use was to put it in force -in 30 counties of Tennessee, Including Chattanooga, and three counties of Georgia, In- cl.:ding the City of Atlanta, to clear up alleged vice conditions around Army camps there.