Variety (Dec 1942)

WAR ACTIVITIES Wednesday, Peceaber 9, 1942 OWI's Film-Radio-Press Campaign To Plug Wartime Manpower Needs Office of War Information Is launching a nationwide campaign via screen, radio and newspapers within the next two weeks stressing the wartime manpower problem and metliods which can be undertaken to fuinu Government defense plant needs. OWI hai completed a set of 20 recorded spot announcements on •Women Wanted,' for use by local stations, with Gabriel Heatter, Ed- win C. Hill, Kate Smith and others doing the leads. Similar spots will likely be prepared on transfers, training, absenteeism, stay on the job and other problems. These will be made following a study of the Baltimore sector where the greatest advance in the changeover to war- time employment has been made. OWI is also preparing a series if live - minute recorded dramatized ■pots, concerning the same prctblem, using names such as Fibber McGee & MoUy, Cltfton Fadiman, John Kie- ran and others. Campaign covering the subject on the Kreen has also been mapped. Already completed is on* 10-mlnute film dealing with general manpower problems. Three-minute short on 'Women Wanted,' for tue in Balti- more, will be tised in other areas with a remade sound track. There is also to be • three-minute short on 'Transfer from Non-War to War Jobs,' a thiee-minute subject on 'Absenteeism and Stay on the Job' and a three-minute short on 'Train- ing.* Newspaper channels, posters, pulp magazines and other media will also be used in lining up the campaign. First phase of the information campaign, running from around Dec. 15 to Jan. IS, will be devoted to ex- plaining the 'local' character of the problem. Second phase of the cam- paign starting around Jan. 15 and running through March 1, will re- volve around recruiting for skills of which there is an acute shortage. Third phase of the campaign, begin- ning March 1 and continuing for the duration, will be a drive for trans- fers from less essential to essential war work, recruiting of women, less- ening of absenteeism and recruiting of farm labor. Pitt Variety's Canteen Premieres Friday (11) Pittsburgh, Dec. 8. Variety Club will open its Can- teen for service men Friday ill) following an inspection of the new room by members of the showmen's organization and their fainilie.';. Set to appear at inaugural to entertain men in uniform are BorLs KarlofT. Slate Bros., Buck & Bubble.-;. Linda Ware, couple of name bands and practically all of the nitery talent in town. Variety Club itself is un- derwriting the entire project, with no outside help, and la-st week raised nearly $3,000 for the Can- teen on moiisler midnight berierri: al Stanley thealrc. Variety Club'.s Canteen will be only a temporary affair until new 150,000 building is erected next to the Pennsylvania Railroad station. When thii! i.s open, showmen'.s site will fold and new Canteen will be operated jointly by USO and Va- riety Club. Permanent place is expected to be ready some time in February. SPANISH SAUCE Dcsl Arnaz anil Carmen Miranda to Flavor 'Canteen' Hollywood. Dec. 8. Sol Le.sser's 'Stage Doer Canteen,' which already ha.s had enough stars announced for it to bulge Madison Square Garden, will-lack but noth- ing. The latest addition to the giant pot-pourri has been added at the •uggestion of the Motion Picture So» dety for the Americas, the Coast branch of the Office of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. It will be a Latin American se- quence, populated with names like Desi Arnaz and Carmen Miranda, (if •vallflble), who hail from south' of. the border lands. "Variety's' Wide Coverage A copy of 'Variety,' which travels thousands of miles in dif- ferent directions before it is read, finally landing in Reykjavik, Ice- land, is the one sent weekly to Charles B. McDonald, theatre division manager for RKO at N. Y. After reading It himself, Mc- Donald sends it to his son, Harry, who's stationed in the army at Savannah, Ga. Latter, in turn, mails 'Variety' tu Leo McCall, who's at the Iceland post. Mc- Call, former schoolmate of Mc- Donald's, is the brother of Mary McCall, Jr., president of the Screen Writers Guild. Major Amen Very Curious About Training Films Hollywood, Dec. 8. Major John Amen, of the In- spector General's office of the U. S. Army, has been here the past two weeks inquiring into making of army training Alms by studios. Understand this visit follows inquiry the Truman Committee made some time ago, as to costs of training Alms that had been made here previous to Col. M. H. Gillette taking over this function here, and which had been allocated to studios without compe- titive biSding. All studios have received question- naires from Truman Committee ask- ing them if any of their personnel had commissions in the Signal Corps and if they make any training pic- tures, with questionnaire asking what costs were and how much footage was used in their making, also the lime. Amen has been interviewing vari- ous studio officials and others re- garding the methods utilized in mak- Ing these films, also inquiring into operations of various ways used in turning out Government Alms by studios. • Disney to D.C to Stalin Walt Disney Ii tending a print of -Education for Death' to the Office of War Information In Washington, for immediate shipment to Joseph Stalin in Moscow. Disney adapted the short in color from Gregor Ziemer'g best selling novel of tliat name. Request for the print to be shipped to Russia followed a special showing to OWI representatives in Washing- ton. Modem MusemnV Points Up Pix' Film Cavalcade hportance in War P.S.: Show Biz Made Sure Good Time Was Had by AU Chicago. Dec. 8. Another example of how people in show business help keep up the mo- rale of those in war service was .shown here last week, when, follow- ing an appeal by the British War Re- lief ofAce, 55 young aviators from Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the globe were turned over to operators of the Sherman hotel and Chez Paree, who made their stay jan interesting one. They were entertained al lunch at I the Sherman, through the courtesy of i Ernie Byfleld and Frank Bering, with I the 16 models from the Panther Room show furnishing the decor. In the evening they were guests of Mike Fritzel and Joe Jacobson, who wined and dined them at the Chez Paree and numbered all the girls of the chorus for the boys to dance with. Shea's Bonus to Staffers In and Out of Service The Shea circuit, of which E. C. Grainger is president and operating head, has sent to each former em- ployee of its theatres, now in the armed service, a week's salai-y as a Christmas gift. Additionally, as on previous years, the circuit will give its present employees an Xmas bonus amounting to the equivalent of a week's salary. In June and again in September, this year, employees were given an extra week's salary. Nice Work, Girls Hollywood, Dec. 8. Chri.stmas gifts of $5 will be sent to every former Warners employee now in .service, through the efforts of girls in the studio who have col- lected $2,500. Checks will go to about 450 men in the Army, Navy ?nd Marine.s. Uncle Sam's Roll Call 2d ParlU Goes OWI Gillespie (Gep) Evans, in charge of trade advertising under Bob Gill- ham at Paramount and with the company six years, checked out Friday (4) to join the Overseas Division of the Office of War In- formation. Par has placed him on leave of absence in order to take the OWI post. About two weeks ago. another member of GilliiamS- departnient. Mannie Rainer. who headed shorts publicity, joined the same branch of the OWI and may be sent to Ice- land, it is said. Schorr's Dec. 7 Salute Jose Schorr, Columbia Pictures p.a., in the N. V. office, celebrated the Pearl Harbor anniversay by joining the Army Monday (7) as volunteer officer candidate. Paul S. Goldberg, son of Harry Goldberg, publicity-advertising di- rector for the Warner circuit. Army. Bill Berns, Broadway and film gossiper on WNEW, New York, joins the Army via the induction route Friday (11). 'Variety' Mao In Pabllc ReUllons Fort Jactson, S. C. Dec. 8. Pvt. John Bartholomew, former new.spapcrman and correspondent for 'Variety,' has been added to the staff of Public Relations under Capt. Murray E. Wyche. director of Public Relations here at ttge world's largest infantry training center. Frisco's Latest San Francisco. Dec. 8. Dave Scofleld, KFRC announcer, into army air corps for ground school duty. Atidy Pino, of Slnaloo nitfery, army. Tom McGowan .slipped from a roof a'l the navy's pre-flight trailing school in Nevada broke his left wrist and was given a six-month leave. He's announcing at KJBS during that period. Dick Crosby, former house man- ager. Embassy, army. Harold Stevens, drama depart- ment, Examiner, army. Jack Ford, 3 Sequoian.s. currently at John's Rendezvous, headed for arjivy ..... Bill Clifford, orch leader, navy. Vic Newry, Domino Club. army. Gene De Forrest, p.a., army. Morton Sontheimer, news editor, San Francisco' Nomr ioincft. .a"my. Frank Martinelli, J'r., son of Bal Tabarin niiery's boss, navy. The Switch Detroit, Dec. 8. Reversing the usual procedure, the act of Roxy & Leroy was broken up here when the femmc halt went into the Army. Roxy Sullivan, the fenune half, is a sharp-shooter and got a commission in the WAACS to serve as rifle and pistol instruc- tor at Des Moines. Hawaii, Always On Alert, Wants More Camp Shows Honolulu, Nov. 12. Editor, 'Variety': Show business U just to much here and nothing more. Perhaps USO's Abe Lastfogel will send some muchly desired entertainment to this part of the world soon, we hope. Never for one second has Hawaii ceased being on the alert, and did we have a honey of an alert last night. I live at the beach and was notified to report for special duty, as my usual time to go to work is midnight, but this call was much earlier, and they only called the senior operators. So I dressed In the Jeep and made it to my head- quarters from the time that I was called officially in exactly 14 min- utes all streets had to be cleared in less than one-half an hour. It was sensationally thrilling to know what we were to be expecting, and more so to know Hawaii was ready for anything. We have lived anx- iously for months. June 3 and this last one were the tests for us all. So successful were they, that our new General, Hans Kramer, (Continued on page 44) Art Arthor Set to Go In Toronto. Dec. 8. Here in the home-town tu clean up some personal affairs before en- listing in the U. S. Army is Art Arthur. Aim .scripter, who has checked out of Paramount after be- ing in on the writing chore of 'Rid- ing High' (Par) starring Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell. Arthur is married to Jessica Pepper of show business; they have a young daughter. Pamela.. He returns to Hollywood within ihe week to be -inducted, and will turn down a commission because he'd rather be a private. Report LI, Byrne Killed Indianapolis, Dec. 9. Lieut. Richard Byrne, U. S. Air Corps, for five years a member of the flrsl violin section of the In- dianapolis Symphony, reported killed in airplane crash at Orlando Fla., base Nov. 29. Arthur W. Baker, for the past 10 •Continued on page 55) 'Praise the Lord' Song Trailerizes Bond Sales St. Louis, Dec. 2. With all Aicker houses cooking up new ideas to aid In the new War Bond sales campaign, execs of Fan- chon Sc Marco here came up with a new one for its four deluxers, the Fox. St. Louis and Missouri in mid- town, and the Ambas.sador, down- town. During the short intermis- sion period between the feature flickers, a policy in effect for sev- eral months, the customers are in- vited to .-.Ing 'Praise the Lord and Pas:< the Ammunition' with the words shown on the screen and the music provided through the sound apparatus of the house. Harry Crawford, manager of the Mis.sourl. has installed a number of mechanical gadgets in the spacious lobby of this house to hypo the sale of war stamps. One provides for the dishing out of a free ducat if a dime is tossed into the replica of a sub- macine in tl>c. .bac!rgro)ind. Craw- ford also is awarding a free ducat for the best war bond slogan sub- mitted each week by a customer. Goes Social A .series of eight supper dances ha.s been skcddcd by the Theatre Wing Supper Club In New York for the beneflt of the American The- tre Wing. The dances will be held bi-weekly in the Sert Room of the Waldorf-Astoria starting New Year's eve. Purpose of the parties Is to raise funds for the maintenance of the wartime program of the Theatre Wing and to promote good fellow- ship. Helen Hayes and Frank W. Crown- inshield are co-chairmen of the club's board of governors. Salkow't Col Pic Hollywood, Dec. 8. Columbia a.ssigned Sidney Sallcow to direct the Colbert Clark produc- tion, 'The Boy From Stalingrad,' based on an original by Robert Ar- den. Picture goes Into work Dec. 14, with ■ script by Arden and Ferdi- nand Reyher. Different as World War II Is from all preceding wars on the ground, at sea and In the air, so is it dif- ferent psychologically. Never be- fore have films played so vital a part. That was demonstrated Mon- day (7) night when the film library of the Museum of Modern Art, N. Y., gathered together for a private screening eight short pictures, each one representing a different Allied or conquered country. Coming on the anni of Pearl Har- bor, the aim was to show the role played by sprockete<' celluloid in keeping the civilian population in touch with the war effort. It served to demonstrate that pictures cannot only effectually make stay-at-homes familiar with the job their own country is doing and spur them to do more themselves, b"t can per- form the difficult task of knitting Allies together. The aim was a bigger bite, how- ever, than the Museum screening served to chew. In its effort to 'get pix representing different countries, the library went out on'.a limb with some more or less minor propa- ganda entries, although the Alms as a whole proved effective. Metre's Best As might be expected, the smooth- est of the lot was a product of Hol- lywood, Metro's 'Out of the Dark- ness.' One of John Nesbitt's 'Pass- ing Parade' shorts, It revealed. In contrast with the other subjects— mostly informational shorts put out by various governments—that the U. S. film capital can do an unbeat- able job of making propaganda en- tertaining and vital when it .sets its mind to It. 'Out of the Darkness' is about a Belgian underground newspaper. La Libre Belgique. During the last war 22 of its editors, one after the ither, were executed by the Germans and still the paper continued to come out. Picture winds up by reproduc- ing a clipping from the N. Y. Times of this war. Again, it reveals, the Belgians can be conquered but they won't stay that way. La Libre Bel- gique has once more made its ap- pearance. Australia, on the other hand, no doubt presents the most gripping entrant among the United Nations films. Representing that country was a subject seen recently In the (Continued on page 55) N. Y. to L. A. Jimmy Durante. S. Charles EInfeld. Harry Cox. Harry James.- Frank Monte. Louella O. Parsons. Tom RockweU. Leon Schlesinger. Charles P. Skouras. Antoinette Spitzer. Hal Wallis. Jack L. Warner. L. A. to N. Y. Eddie (Rochester) Andcrsmv Fred W. Beetson. Ed Beloin. Jack Benny. Myrt Blum. Ingrid Bergman. Sam Clark. . Helmut Dantine. Dennis Day. William Dozler. L. Wolfe Gilbert Louis J. Halper, Rita Hayworth. Richard Halliday. Robin Harris. Sam Hearn. Carl Lesserman. Sam Levene. Mary Livingstone. Mary Martin. Louis B. Mayer. S. Barret McCormick. Bill Morrow. Bobby O'Brien. Clare Olmstead. Bob Mucks. William Perlberg. N. Peter Rathvon. Arthur Rose. Joseph M. Schenck. Howard Strickllng. Paul Stewart. Claude Sweeten. Bob Welch. David E. Wesbner. Don Wilson. Sol M. WurtzaL Herbert J. Yates. GordAB Youngman.