Variety (Dec 1942)

44 VAUDEVnUB Wedneadaj, December 2, 1942 Eye Pitt Cafe Matinees || Bookers-AGVA J t'untlnued from pate 41 ss^sl . senlcd ilie accord to a combined Defense Workers Indicate Idea May Boom Afternoon membership meeting of the ema and 'Nitery' Business . Pilt.-.burKli. Dec. I. Nilcry owr crs vvatchir-.i; «ilh in- teres.1 licrv; the expciimciil of Al Mcrcur, al his downlou n Music B;'.r. ii] running regular cafe mats. There's a feeling locally that hot spots may be losing plenty of coin by not having a regular afternoon session for defense workers on the night shifts who like to play in the early p.m. Indication of that is in the boom- ing biz the straight bars are doing these days from noon to 6 p.m. Booze places claim they've had to put on extra help lately to take care of the overflow, and queries to cus- tomers reveal that most of them are birds on the assembly lines and gals in war factories who like to relax but can't stay up too late for the last floor show. Hotels have all gone In tor extra afternoon sessions, extending the cocktail hour and turning It Into a regular after-dark stanza, with the ■ame entertainment tha latecomers get. In soma places, mat biz Is almost equal to tha nlta trade and In every case, the take from aft- ernoon drlnkeri Is way up over what It's been In the past. lli.-it he personally did not believe the salary limiliition was legally well founded. 'I believe that limitation was un- wise and unnecessary." Senator George stated. There was no au- thority to issue it." Senate finance chairman added that while he did not wish to engage in any controversy over the ques- tion, he felt it was bound to come up when the Treasury asks for legis- lation to obtain additional revenue, either through direct taxes or through compulsory savings. Treasury 'las always been per- mitted in the past, he explained, to fix what it considered a rea.'onable James Loiighran, outgoing EMA prexy, sent a telegram to Dick Mayo, executive secretary of AGVA, stating that the agreement was off. Mayo accused the EMA of a 'double cross' and declared thai any agent who books below the new price schedule would be placed on the unfair list; any spot which hires an actor below the union's new scale would be pickcletl. Unlc.-is the agents accede to the union's demands. Mayo declared, AGVA will open Its own booking office. Mayo -ent a wire to this effect to William Douglass, State director of employment, maintaining that it would be legal for the union to go into the booking business since it would charge no fees. Douglass has not made any ruling as yet. Individual EMA members, pri- FOUES BERGERE CAFE MAPPED BYHSCHER salary for any employee which if i would allow a company to charge ofT | vately ayice that the union was justi as business expense in computing jjgj asking for higher price.-!, but Clifford C. Fischer, whose 'Priori- ties' helped bring back two-a-day vaudeville, just at hla French Casino and International Casino type of lav- ish nltery revue set a New York atandard In that field, la planning an- other big cabaret-theatre on Broad- way. It will bring back the Tolies Bergere* title, which he owns, lo- caled in the Hotel Edison's grand ballroom, and perhaps for the first time In three years give Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe some real com petition. Arthur Lesser, repatriated Amer- ican, long time resident of Paris, whose class east S2d street (N.Y.) restaurant-cafe, La Vie Parlslenne, Is one of the quick clicks of the sea- son, will be associated with Fischer. The owner of the Tout Main chain stores in Paris (counterpart of S. Klein's pop-priced dress store), who backed Lesser at La Vie, will prob- ably also be in on the venture. Re- port of Lee Shuberl's participation Is denied by Fischer, although he has been identified with Fischer's vaude ventures. The Shuberts also have a financial interest in the Edi- son hotel, from reports. Hostelry runs from 47th through 46th street, off Broadway, and hard by Rose's Horseshoe In the basement of the Paramount liotel. Lou Wal ters' Latin Quarter has been the sole new recent Broadway click, with the lavish type nitery, and where the rest of the town veered east- ward. Rose has been cashing in for scvcr;il seasons with his mass cap:;ci!y cabaret. taxes. Salary ceiling matter will prob- ably come up on a question of the Treasury's jurisdiction In ruling that $25,000 net i^ a reasonable sal- ary. 'Either we will have to recognize that this Is a reasonable salary for the disallowance o' higher amounts or we will have to fix a defmite l>asis for such a salary,' Senator George stated. First AUerapt Fails First Congressional effort to null- ify President Roosevelt's imposition of a $25,000 ceiling on net salaries failed. Attempt was made by Rep- resentative Boehne, Indiana Demo- crat, in the House ways and means committee last week. Congressman made his attempt as the committee undertook considera- tion of a rejected Administration proposal to give the President blanket authority to suspend tariff and Immigration laws. He sought to nullify the salary ceiling through an amendment to the tariff-immigra- tion bill. Committee Chairman Doughton, North Carolina Democrat, threw it out as not 'germane.' Boehne described the $25,000 sal- ary limit as 'another step in the new order which the people voted against on Nov. 3.' He announced, however, that he would not give up In his efforts to effect a change. Investments Also Informed officials here say that the President is planning to ask Congress to extend the $25,000 limit to invest- ment Income. Same authoritative sources state that it is President Roosevelt's t>ellef that all types of earnings should be limited for the duration. It is imderstood that the President didn't Include investment income in the Wage Stabilization Act because he did not think the measure gave him jurisdiction over Investment in- come. It is expected that F. D. R. will recommend to Congress that the proposed Investment income celling be handled by Congress via taxation. they maintain that AGVA should 'classify' acXs. If an act Is inferior, it should not command a salary of a good act just because it plays at the same spot. The agents aren't taking Mayo's threat to open a booking office very seriously. They recall that the actors' union, then under the leadership of Ralph Whitehead, tried a similar stunt here back in 1934, but the project flopped. Meanwhile, the bookers feel that the feud between EMA and AGVA would be straightened out as soon as Florence Bernard, newly elected president of EMA, takes office next week. Miss Bernard was elected unanimously at a meeting last Sun- day after Ed Zwicker, only other nominee, withdrew. New prez, who was president of EMA last year, was drafted for the job and only agreed to take It when she was assured a free hand in re- building the organization. She has a record of amicable dealing with the AGVA. Inside Stuff-Vaude-Nitery Important money In Detroit's Paradise Valley U bringing in plenty of entertainment designed for the large Negro population there. Paradise Valley has gone off WPA and, with the salaries Its residents are pulling down in the great war arsenals here, is beginning to draw plenty of atten- tion as ipenders. Bellwether of tfie new trend has *been the Paradise theatre, once the swank Orchestra Hall where the symphony played, which went to tha bow-wowc and then came back by installing a policy of Negro bands. It was on Detroit's main stem, not far front the populous Negro section, and for the past two years has been building up steadily with name colored bands. Because many of these were in the top flight of orchestras, Its pull also extended to the boogie-woogie fanciers In other colors. It was too cushy a thing to go unchallenged and tiie report is that the Majestic ^eatre, nearby grind house, hasn't been eyeing that important Negro patronage for nothing. The Majestic shortly, according to the Information, is going into a policy of Negro musical comedies, using a standby company but boosting It up by bringing In name acts among the gplored folks. The Three Swifts arrived in Washington without their Indian clubs. Trunk was lost in transit. On Thanksgiving mOmlng managing director Harry Anger of the Earlc theatre got on the phone and tried to round up spare clubs. He located three at the Hotel Shoreham from Maxim Lowe, and finally found four more with an act that had played USO show al Fort Meade, Md. The Three Swifts did their 'act with seven clubs in- stead of the usual 40. By the second show Union station spotters had located the trunk and it was delivered to the entertainers. Fire Boffs Cafes Continued from pace 11 ; $25,000 Ceiling Continued from vkft > week and may be announced this week instead. Some relief is believed likely in- sofar as free lance players below the $67,200 brackets are concerned And in the matter of normal deducti'ole business expenses incurred by artists. lions. L. A. Cautious Los Angeles, Dec. 1. Echoes of the disastrous Boston nitery fire rumbled through Los An- geles Monday (30) when Councilman Roy Hampton sponsored a resolution demanding that fli'e department make rigid inspection of all night clubs and cafes. Inflammable trappings likely to be ignited by careless smokers must be discarded or else, the city fathers ruled. Challenge Celilnf Washington, Dec. 1. Movement is getting unaer way on Capitol Hill to challenge the valid- ity of the $25,000 net salary ceiling Imposed by President Roosevelt's executive order. Senator Walter F. George, Georgia Democrat and chairman of the senate finance committee, has pre- dicted that the new Congress would be called on to decide whether, the salary ceiling should be ratified or be set aside. He left no doubt among newspapermen with whom he talked SAG SETTING PLANS ON 25G Hollywood, Diec. 1. Future policies and procedures under the Wage Stabilization di- rective will be determined Sunday (6) at a meeting of Class A mem- bers of the Screen Actors Guild. Prexy James Cagney and Kenneth Thomson, executive secretary, re- cently returned from Washington, will tell members what they learned on operation of the $25,000 celling order. Important Item up for discussion win be future option contracts, re- newals, etc, and recommendations will be sought for application to working draft of procedure. Objec- tion was recently taken by actors to clause Inserted in contracts by pro- ducers which would hold performer to starting salary in a term pact U stabilization order prevented studios from lifting options. It was later agreed to eliminate this clause pend- ing clarification order from Washing- ton. If such clause ii retained, actor could be held at $100 weekly for seyen years even though option for ensuing yean would run-up salary to- $1,500 weekly. Lambs Gambol S Continued from page 2 stance, the club sketch written by Clyde • North, easily the evening's standout. There, before you, was the library of the Lambs, its walls adorned with 'portraits' bf the five ex-Shepherds. R. H. Burnslde, A. O. Brown, Frank Crumit, Billy Gax- ton and Fred Waring. Only they weren't portraits al all, but the mccoy framed in brass. And when Joe Downing and Ed Latimer, whose unmerciful 'panning' almost made the quintet of ex-Sheps wish they had flocked elsewhere for the night, put a nickel in the slot under Crumit's mugg, the songster broke out with a ukelele-and-vocal easily worth the jit, and then some. A nickel in the slot under the Waring pic got a load of Chester- fields. And when, finally, the boys stepped out of the frames they squared things up with Downing and Latimer. Which was another break for the Iwys out in front. Plenty of Names Upsetting tradition, the - banquet preceded the show—and the celebs turned out lr> force for the food. Dave Sarnoff, Lee Shubert and Howard Chandler Christy showed up. the latter presenting the club with a portrait (this one was gen- uine) of ex-shepherd Waring. Al Smith dropped In, too, to tell about that song he used In his campaigns (after all, something corny has to creep into any show, doesn't it?) and Admiral Adolphus Andrews got in a few innings with General Drum, with supplementary cracks by Gov emor Baldwin of Connecticut, Frank Crownshield and William Francis Carey, the Sanitation commish. Then along past soup time, John Golden asked Harry Hershfield, yours truly and Ford to top General Drum's story. They did. But ex-Gov. Hoff- man's crack (he's now a Major) even topped theirs. The ex-Jersey exec lamented the fact, 'It I should eulogize the General, they'll say I'm a bootlicker, and if I don't I'll be- come a civilian.' Waring cro.wned the new Shep, John Golden, who discarded his carefully-prepared gags for an im promptu oration 'from the heart.' The Gambol Itself started off with Waring and his crew of Pennsyl vanians bringing down the house with their arrangements. Ford, Hershfield and your correspondent then contributed a burlesque on 'Claudia' and 'Sister Eileen' that was 'reasonably sate' from the kind of such decorations on routine inspcc- flre which took nearly 500 lives in ' Boston's Cocoanut Grove, it was as- serted here yesterday by City Public Safety Director Keenan. He added the warning, however, that panic, which took many lives in the Boston fire, can be prevented only by the people themselves. Keenan announced that he had made Inquiry among his staff imme- diately after learning of the Boston tragedy and found that all effective measures to prevent fires and to pro- vide means of escape in case of fires have been taken in Newark. He said City Commissioner of Combustibles Eber keeps surveil- lance in night clubs and theatres to make certain departmental rules are obeyed. Flimsy fire-spreading deco- rations are banned. AH decorations are treated with flre-resistant ma- terials. Keenan said he would confer again with Eber and ask another check on the situation. He also planned to obtain from City Build- ing Superintendent Bigelow a report on how his inspectors found condi- tions. City Building Superinlcndcnt Bigelow said only 10 days ago build- ing inspectors were ordered to check exits of public buildings here. Some hazards were discovered and ordered eliminated, he said. He declared his men have warned against use of re volving doors and Insist that when such doors are used they must have safety devices which permit all sec- tions to open under pressure. State Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner Driscoll said the Bos- ton fire shows the need for strict en- forcement of all local flre prevention ordinances. He declared premises where the public congregate should be carefully inspected frequently to make certain they do in fact comply with the law. Niteries In suburban Essex County and nearby Union County municipal- ities were declared safe from such a catastrophe. Fire department of- ficials were unanimous in asserting, 'It couldn't happen, here,' Municipal restrictions were stringent and were being rigidly enforced, it was stated. Irvlngton Fire Chief Thompson ordered an immediate check of nite- ries there, although regular inspec- tions are conducted, Drapes and similar decorations are banned in Irvlngton unless fireproof. Thomp- son said he had pulled down many FrUco, Too San Francisco, Dec. J. Reminded by the Boston nitery holocaust of a similar but less seri- ous tragedy in Frisco, city officials have ordered a tightening up of fire prevention ordinances and have in- structed the flre department to make a complete check of all Frisco niteries, cocktail lounges and other spots. ' Meanwhile, a special session has been called by the Board of Super- visors of the county governing body to determine if still more stringent laws can be enforced. Scene of a 1936 blaze which killed four and injured 11 was the Club Shamrock nitery, where SO patrons were trapped when a torch dancers' brand set flre to the decorations. strictly pro stuff. Fun galore fol- lowed, with (count 'em) Bobby Clark, Jed Prouty, Lucius Hender- son, Peter Donald, Jack Tyler, Ed Ford, Jack Whiting, Spencer Bent- ley, Joe Smith, Ward Wilson and Alexis Rotov contributing. Lew Lehr proved again how well he can tell a story. Billy Herriro did a Gypsy Rose Lee take-it-off that even had them guessing for a while. (Oh, yeah!). Rotov's burley ballet and sword dance was one of those next- to-closing inspirations that kept them howling. And for a closer. Bob Schafer and the Glee Club gave out with 'Interlude in the Dark,' spe- cially written for the occasion by three comers, Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein, 2d. They should go far. For that matter, if Sunday night's installation ceremonies offer any kind of crlterioni the' Lambs, too, should go far in '43. St. Lents Checks Up St. Louis, Dec. 1. To prevent a repetition of the Bos- ton Cocoanut Grove nitery holocaust in any St. Louis amusement spot. Di- rector of Public Safety McBride yes- terday (30) huddled with the city's building and excise commissioners and fire chief to determine whether the present safety ordinances and procedures used by the city's inspec- tors offered sufficient protection. City ordinance requires that deco- rations in all places of public assem- bly be sprayed with a flreprooflng solution, while dancehalls, niteries, etc., must be equipped with fires ex- tinguishers' and have met?l fire es- capes. Toledo'! O.O. Toledo. Dec. 1. Fire Chief Fred Scherf was ordered Monday (30) to investigate all Toledo night clubs to determine if their decorations are flre hazards. Schorf expressed concern over the trimmings in some of the town's niteries although admitting that re- cent Inspections by state and city officials revealed no cases to war- rant uneasiness. C. Herbert Schinzel, assistant state flre marshal in charge of Toledo office, said night spots are subject to frequent inspection in accordance with Ohio laws, which compel shut- tering if clubs use finery that has not been flreproofed, or lack suf- flcient exits. Hartford's Dimout Hartford, Dec. 1. The nation's strictest, dimout regulations went Into effect here and other points of New England Monday night (30). Marks the first time that non-coastal and non- waterfront cities In the New Eng- land area have been put under Ar.ny lighting supervision. This war busy city is approximate- ly SO miles Inland from the nearest body of salt water.