Variety (Dec 1942)

mscELLAinr Nazi Kdbassy Demands Crackdown ; By Argentina on Pro-Democratic Pix; See Protests as Going Unheeded: Cinema Lochinvar Torocto. Dec. I. ica.i i-omictood. Walter T.irp- 4ar.. IT. hor'.ed a-i eiEprj ■x-hiiky bo-.t'e at EiToI F./Tui's scree:- s^'.f as Tootsteps in the Dark" •WB> cor:;:;er.c«i its showing at '.'r.e Palac«. T;rcm:o subiirbao ho jse. Sesu^tant uproar waj fol- :-..Ted 07 the 'JiheTS and maa- zzer Sa-Tt Appleb^un tiiicg the <i:r.\i:biT :-to the front office and luniniomng police. Bill (or ?<r.-e«n repa.r totalled $163. Young var.da! was found guOty of Tirillrjl da.—.age a.-.d has been rerrjr.ded for a week in the v.he.T sentence i-ill be Buecoa Aires, Bf: App»rer.t:y miSed by the eaii-.: A.-ger.tina's attitude toward i":- Az'j fl!.T.5. the Nazi embassy ha; r-a.-.ded that the Foreigr Office crs: -; c<-.-J.-n on pix which kid the 'h'li'rrs . »"i the STi.anika :deo'.i>g7. Dr. 0-:o lUrneTi. the Bsr'.i.-. <:r^rze c -.f.^irti. hro-%ht the -;"er '.-i »■.-.tntk.n of Foreigr. M:r.u-.er ?.-.z G ii.iaza. declaring that the eih;D.- t.o.T if i'jch filrr-3 as To Be or Not tc E/;' •Ij.Kl. 'Ttirs. M:n;ver' 'M-Gi a.-.d •L^g:e Sc'jadron' 'U). were aflectir.? relations between the two ccuntrie; ■ Ars'Titina and Chile are the only S. .\. republics sti!l ir.a:nta:r.ing dip- lomatic ties with the Aais natiotLS. T-.e .Argentina Corem-tieirt ha: p ;bliclv refused to answer the tr.arges lodged by Maynec. but it i.= •w,r.der5tood from reliable sources th^* . t-e N"az: protests will go unheedto. ' Until recently such protests ha%-e ca.-ried plenty weight, and it was r*- riiled here that only last mor.th . Miyr.en's ire over the house record ! t^tabliihcd by the Invader?' at the ' Teatro Gran Rex resulted in its with- I crawal for a week while authorities , re?tud:ed the allegedly Lnsulting an- Pic was sTibsequently released. | t j: w->rd-of-mouth that some of the j choice scenes had been blue per.ci'.ed ; hurt its rjhaequent run. i Maynen's latest blast is regarded a; a particidar tribute to Hollywood. | iicce the Nazis are known to be , burned up by the GoYemmenfs re-: Because it is not feasible to tour cent increasingly strong stand against t^j, j^j^ extensivelv. plans Rome-Berlin in propagandizing, aftr- being considered to play repeats coiumning and espionage. | ^-ith the Gertrude Lawrence star- Nazi activities in B. A. were re- , ring attraction, with Broadway likely vealed by three detailed memoranda | to see the musical again. Possible sent here from Washington, with a : return of "Lady* to the metropolis request for details, following the Bos- j is tentatively dated around Easter, ton speech by Undersecretary of: -.vith either the Broadway or Hajes- State Sumner Welles that the Nazis [ tic theitrea mentioned to get the have been seeking some way to set - . . cooler passed. Locs! dai'.ies muffed a good story by not ascertaining what 21m was being shown when the incident occurred. mX MAY SEE lADYINDARK' REPEAT It tcta cost monep to deject Germany. Japan and Italy. Our government ecUa on you to help noir. Buy tear 3artngs bonds or ttamps today. Buy them ecery day it you can. But btai them on a regular basis Wadties Want More Par Gailop Hollywood, Dec. 1 Producer* of western films are facing • ihortage of cowboy riders, who ar« rtfutlag to gallop for $11 per day, the ctistomary wane tor ehasing rustlers, Indiana and whatnot Inti t r a tl, the buckaroos are ac- cepting only the regular $10.^ calls and declining to risk their necks for the extra Uc. Tliey want $16.50, the aame as dress extras are paid. Meanwhile many of them are quitting the Industry to work in de- fense plant*. One group of 25 left In a body last week, attracted by steady work and high wage*. If wood Political Ambitioiis Med As ^nal Corps Sets Up Own Branch Grauman Testing ©ff the smudgepot coverup. Following the old Nazi teciinique. Maynen picked on latest batch of fli.ns in an effort to point out they were permitted, despite fact that they constituted a strong pro-Demo- cralic weapon and that the Nazis • therefore had the right to carry on their own campaign. ! Strongly anti-Nazi fllms shown here recently have been subjected to many severe cuts, but it has been no- i ticeable that outright stoppages, such | as in the case of ChapUn's 'Great Dictator' and 'Confessions of a Nazi Spy.' of a year ago, are no longer common. Such pix today are doing rtrong biz. Rainger's Widow Sues Airlines for $227,637 Los Angeles, Dec. 1. Mrs. Elizat>eth Rainger, widow of Ralph Rainger, song wriUr. who •wa; killed in an airplane crash near Palm Springs Oct. 23, filed suit for $227,637 damages against the Amer- ican Airlines, operators of the air- liner, and Lieut. William N. Wil- ton, pilot of the Army bomber which collided with the transport. Wilson last week was acquitted of char yes cf involuntary manslaughter by an Army court martiaL Other plaintifls are the Rainger children, Douglas, Constance and Susan. Higlil^litofTedLeins' 30tfa Anni In Band Biz Is Today's Bad Tra?d I Orcir.ari'.y a ZOr.h ar..-.i-.ersa.-y in show bLz ^oiiid be a gtla aiTair, but backstage at Loew's State in New ;York the other afternoon, the man with the everlasting high hat and ■ •Is Everybody Happy?'catch phrase. Ted Lewis, didn't lock any too h-appy 'about the whole thing. He was tired ' and worn as he noted that "an enter- ' lainer s road may oe paved with the best of intentions, bu: right now it certainly is a tough one to travel' He pointed to a group of medicine bottles on the dresser. TSoctor's care. Not that Tm ill. Tm just plain i tired. Tve done five, six and seven shows a day, but compared with to- day's traveling conditions, that's childs play. Tfou need strength to travel around the coimtry, keeping people amused, playing for the boy? in the camps and selling bonds in your spare Ume." •1 remember the last war very well, and travel then was a pleaS' Hollywood. Dec. 1. Sid Grauman is taking screen tests for a role in Sol Lesser's forthcoming pictiu-e, 'Stage Door Canteen.' Script calls for an experienced Hollywood show- man who introduces various glamorous personages to the populace. He plays the part of Sid Grauman. Lesser is studying the tests to aetermine whether Sid Is the Grauman type. show. Both are large-capacity houses and if a repeat Is played the scale v.-ill be dropped from the original ure compared with such things as $4.40 top maintained d'J.Tng the run • sleeping on trunks in the baggage at the Alvin. jcar between Meridian, Miss, and At- Figured that 1.ady' could return | lanta, Ga. Not only you can't get a to Boston for three weeks, prior to 'sleeper, but down south when there's Broadway. Bookings for "Lady* after ' ' its Chicago showing, which begins in rr. id-January, are not definite at this time, because the attraction's stay In the big Civic Opera House will r.ot be fixed until It opens there. LAMBS GAMBOL FOR GOLDEN A WOW Robmson on His Own Hollywood, Dec. 1. Casey Robinson, veteran Warners' writer, recently made producer, has checked off the lot. He has plans for his ovm nTiter- producer unit nothing but standing room, you can't cen ride the 'Jim Crow" cars. We've slept standing up overnight and then played a theatre date in Green Bay, Wis., with an extra job of trying to sell bonds on a cold comer.' The conversation turned to the last war when Lewis played at Rector's for the soldiers. It was during that time that he introduced the laugh- ing trombone, muted trumpets to dance music. 'We still haven't found anything to compare with 'Over There," in this war. although there are a couple of good war tunes (Continued on page 531 By JOE LACRIE, JR. When General Hugh Drum walked into the Lambs Sunday night (29) for the Installation Gambol—in- cidentally, one of the top events the W. 44th street clubhouse has seen in a good many years—the mob figured he was one of the guys from the 'Student Prince' because he was hovering around Lee Shu- bert so often. .Anyway, that'll give you a pretty good idea what General Drum, and. for that matter, all the others who turned out for the Cam'ool. got themselves in for because they wanted to see a vaude show for free. .^nd what a =ho\v: Take, for in- 'Continued on page 44^ Soosa Goes Marcbing On in 20tli-Fox Film hdoct Shnmlm Dec. 11 Herman Shumlin, having pre- sented The Great Big Doorstep' at the Morosco, N. Y., last week, has finished his season'; schedule and Is ready to go into uniform. He's 44. Showman is duft to be inducted as a private in the Army on Dec. 11, after whicb he gets a week's fur- lough. Cloiing In Fast Hollywood, Dec. 1. Film workers won and lost in earnings and living scale for the month of October, according to fig- ures Issued by the California Labor Statistics Bulletin, Average weekly pay check for the month was $58.61, a slight increase over October, 1941, while the cost of food went up approximately 24%. ABBOTT and COSTELLO "A pair of good-luck charmi that shine like gold at the box office,"— Kato Cameron, N. Y. Dally New*. Now on National Releato in "Who Dona It" Unlv«r*al Picturto Camel Cigarettes, NBC Under Personal Managtmant of: EDWARD SHEflMAH Hollywood. Dec. 1. John Philip Sousa. bandmaster and composer of military marches that inspired your grandpop to shoulder a Krag-Jorgensen in the Spanish-American War. is marching • posthumously into Hollywood' through his autobiography. 'March- ' ing Along.' j Rights to the book, acquired by { 20th-Fox. will be used as the basis i of a picture under the title. 'Stars ' and Stripes Forever.' the name of j his most popular tune. Kenneth Blacgowan is slated as producer, with Harry Goetz. who handled the transfer of literary and musical copyrights, as associate producer. Kobe' for London Stage Hollywood, Dec. 1. Lloyd C. Douglas' novel. 'Tlie Robe.' will be staged in London this winter under an arrangement be- tween Alex Aarons. British legit pro- ducer, and Frank Ross, who bought the screen rights of the book. Aarons and Ross closed the -leal for the stage production here last week. Today I Am a Star Hollywood, Dec. 1. | Vi'amers upped Irene Manning to ; stardom as a result of her recent I work in 'Yankee Doodle Dandy.' New billings goes into effect in | her next role in 'The Desert Song.' ! Elsa Maxwell's Cafe Date E'.sa Maxwell goes into the Ver- ! sailles on Dec. 17. booking being for ' four weeks. ! Miss Maxwell made her night club I debiJt at this .^pot six years ago.- • j Hollywood. Dec. 1. Ground work for the establish- ment of a western branch of the Signal Corps Photographic center is beins laid here by Col. Melvin E, Gillette, commanding ofncor of the unit, who has been here for the past week. Under the new plan Holly- wood will play a bigger role in the United States Army's vastly expend- ed training film program. This move is on orders of the chief si;;-?.! offi- cer and provides that Lieut. Col. Paul Sloane, former executive offi- cer of the Astoria Center jp.der Col Gillette, be in charge of the western branch which has established head- quarters at 9538 Brighton Way. Bev- erly Hills, from which future opera- tions will be directed. Under the new setup the .\rmy will do no producihg on it.^ cwa In Hollywood. Following the prcoara- tion of scripts the subjects -Ai!; be farmed out to various comrr.ercial studios where full adva-.tage of modem equipment, trained person- nel and technical knowledge rr.ay be obtained. .Assignment of pictures to <'udios belonging to the Research Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be coordi- nated bv the Western Branch of the Signal Corps. Western Photosraphic Center, through the Research Coun- cil itself, which has no military manpower active in Its ranks or directine operations. Subjects, which for military reasons can best be produced by Army personnel. wiD continue to be filmed at the Signal CorD= studio in Astoria. Taking over of the Hollywood theatre of operations for the S'gna] Corps by Col. Gillette ends the po- litical ambitions and plar,s of vari- ous studio men. who went into the Army within the past six mor.i'ns to have the photographic unit based here and. in time, perh.-'os. r-.ake It the centre of production fT all trainin? films of the army with on* of the HoUywoodites in '•har^e in- stead of a reeular Arr^v of'-rr such a= Cnl. Gillette. There ha.<: been a Si?n?l Corps eroup functioning here fT «)me time with ouarters at th» V."o<tem 'venuc ?tudio of 20th-Fox where Maior Snm Bri.«kin ha« boen In charze '"f a eroup of officers and men. This unit i< i-'-'-T'^dent of the one that Lieut. Col. Frank Tapra heads .-^nd which Is to make seven films f'->- the Soecial Sen-ice Branch of the Army of which Prie Gen. F H, Osbr>me is head. Moving BrtskiD Groap The Briskin group has been under W^sh^n-ton direction. Part of it Plready has been shipped out within the ^^^ct few weeks and it Is under- sloofl that the balance will be «hi«ed to other posts and not inc!i;-icd in the selun headed by L'cu'. Col. Sloane. a former major studio direc- tor who has a thorough knowledge of Hollywood production .-"d meth- od* The re.cearch Council of t>-c .\cad- emv. which was organized b'-' Col. Nathan Levin-ton for its terhnical aid to the Signal Corps ard through whom various picture men were recommended for reserve mmmis- sions in the Army, will continue to be of sen'ice to the Western Photo- gr.iohlc unit that Sloane hcad«. but will not have any military auth.iyty. The films that are to be prodirced here under the direction of Col. .Sloane are designed to rN""dite the training of soldiers for Held and combat duties. It is a\"> rontem- nlated by the chief sipn.-'l officer to open .-iddltlonal nhni --rnphic branches >n the Detroit and Chicago area.-:, which, ns in Hollywood, will be under the command of Col. Gil- lette. The pet'.sonnel of the I'c-' ninrterr u-'il inrliide .-ibout ."in rfn-ori: nnd ion mm with Major R I'lcrt T.nrd. a forp><— film producer, hc'i" leliirned hero from Astoria for fNCnilive dtillcr