Variety (Apr 1943)

24 PICTUBBS WednetMlay, April 21. 19IS House Reviews Continued from page 2* CHICAGO. CHI tH< rom:iiilic sInUii"- 'livw plaudit.'! iiw his .-iiiKiiifi iif It Siiii t»'«l AH Over ARiiiii" niid ■Eii.-lci- I'aratli;." nn«l he bowed off a hit. . Mi.-s Biirric diu-s a medley which liKludec Ivrii's on Hitler. M\if'>o and Tiiio: As Time Goes By.' backed by a clarinet <|iiiiilrt. and an oldie. "I Gotta Get Hoi." and joins in the band's ver- sion of Take It Acain' to Ba>"'er heavy applaa-^e. Jane Fra.ser and Robcrl.« Si.<'.ers in a variety of tup daneinn on llTee raised platform.>! work up plenty of audience enthusia.^ni. Bob Whaling and YveHc score wilh bicycle work. The breakaway trick l!Ot laiiKhs. and (he pair drew jta.-'P-s with their hiith unicyclc work. En- Icrtninini! throuKhout, the pair left to .'-olid applaii.'.'e. Tim Herbert <Herman Timberu. Jr. I is n one-man show with chatter, eccentric daneinf! and impre.-sion.t ot Kaltenborn. Charles Boyer and olhcis. A soliil hit. .^'ory. APOLLO, N. Y. Una Mne Ciirli.slo Orch ill): Hef- tiKiii Auirie. NfinI & i/iitcliiii. Willie Bri/niil, Hnrold Cromer. Alfred Bnnlc!. Arii.<:ical Madvups 'fli; The Aiie Afdii' iMoiio). Thi.s week's 9n-mlnute show is packed with sock acts. Una Mae Carli.'ile is featured, alone with Willie Bryant, but it turps that eijsht screw ball masiclans. known as the Musi eal Madcaps.'who wind up the bill, cop major honors. Boys, dolled up in miniature dcrbys and shoe .xtring ties, beat it (lilt with a wn.'shboard. bass, fiddle, piano. Kuitar. drum, kazoo combina-. tlon. led by a .sqiieaky-voiced char- acter, Little Pinky, who evokes conr Btant laughter via a checkerboard zoot suit and droll dancing. They're all over the place and their un- checked antics, helped along by a ' good baritone, whp doubles from the kazoo, turn such tunes as 'Rhythm of the Band' Too Old To Dream.' 'Have You Seen Lixa Lou* and a hoaxed-up song built around the •B.O.'- radio plug, iiito sureHre re- turns. Miss Carlisle comes out midway In the .show' to take qver the band that is led by a.standout trumpeter. Herman Autrie. The composer rongstress swings from the piano and sells her own compositions. Starts off with 'Oh. I'm Evil,' then <loes medley of 'I See a Million Peo pie.' and 'Walking By the River, and winds up with a boogie woogie piano solo that has the customers ■ yelling for more. Willie Bryant m.c, ties .chow together in easy fashion, and clicks with an imper fonation of a working girl who lives , above her means. Although good I for laughs, length could be cut. Ncal and Hulchin are a smooth Mixed dancing pair, male sporting a white tail coat, top hat, etc., and fcnime clothed in short while isatin «.ffair revealing her shapely gams, They go thrOuuh standard routines, but' draw palm-thumping in solo bits. Harold Cromer, dancer, is a viviicioiis stepper v.-ith plenty on the ball, btit here does carbons of B'.ll Bailev and Moke <Moke t I'likei. Alfred Banks. ventrilo<|ui.sl tioes through routine with Snags, (lumiuy. but sulfers due to a fault delivery. Also yags are not too fre^ih. I Biy. good opening night. Friday 116) EMBASSY, N. Y. IXEWSREEL&) Miiih meritorious newsrcel mate- rial is on display here ihis week. It iiicUidcs plenty of war action on favaway fronts as well as sonic clips in the lighter vein. In addition to a brief .session with Lew Lehr and n ino:ikoy act. one ot ihe most amus- ing items in from Kox-Movietonc allowing colored .soldiers drilling in a jitterbug manner. Il's not an nc* but ihc manner in- which the troop Mipplomcnls training at one of the American camps. Show tees oft wi'h 9 C'lllection of Fhi>l.s captured from tiie Germans. They picture a recent meeting be- tween Hitler and MHs.solini as well- as retreat of Nazis in two. different pnrt.s of Russia. 1'he hardships of war and what Ihc Nazis arc going through on Ihe ca.stcrn front are graphically lold by the enemy Alms.' Tied lo thi.< clip, rclea.scd by Par. is one de- tailing the Allied advance in Tu- nisia, while lopping is one from Kpws of Day also dealiiig with the olTcnsivc against Rommel; bombing .01 Soiisse. etc. A highly interesting foiitrjbution by Pathe. photoed. aboard a 'Navy ho.spiial .shlp in enemy waters, .<how.s badly wounded men under treat- ncnt. while another, from Fox- Movietone, pays a visit lo .«ome u-oundcd fliers at Slalen I.sland. with brief comments aneni iheir aerial combat experiences. To the.sr clips as well as others on the bill the ncM-sreel companies a'.tach an ap- peal to the public to buy bonds. Th6 bond campaign j.< initiated by President Roosevelt at a se.<V'ion with the White House .-itaff. with some of ilie. members purchasing bonds from F.D.R. Worked into the clip are background ."hots from Guadalcanal and steps toward the ruhabilitaliun of wounded. Roosevelt is caught in one of his lighter, humey moods. H. V. Kallcnborn. who gets tire .•solid, with Patti carrying the load and as usual sparking everything the trio <lors. L» Verne and Maxcne improxing each visit in stage-pres- ence and .showmanship. Gals are nattily attired in tailored, pink suitP and there isn't a minute of their 15 or ihf'i'catiuuts that i.sn't red hot and rich in vocal vitamins. Threesome gels crack musical sup- port from the Mitchell Ayres band, whirh also scores nicely on its own. Made up of live saxes, four truni- [•ris. two trombones, drums. ba.<s. < viiilin and piano, outfit is long on ryisS%ffi;i^rh?;;.''«^h?/e ' ..::v^.y ;:un;be;; a.^ muslca. enter comel.v 'Sate Stars EsKiiitlar Conllniitd lr«in page > E dia. Cliiir. CAPITOL, WASH. \Vn.sliiii(/(OH. i4pril lb. Ruu Kiiiiiej/. f'il: & Carol. Cy Reeves. Arrniix & Brodericl>. Mtinno Noll. Aloha Maids, the Rlixiliiii Rockel,'!. 5iiiii Jack Kaufnuin's House Orch. An Brou-ii; 'Harrif/un's Kid' Ray Kinney and his entertainers get the credit fur a $3,000 opening day since the screen feature lacks pulling power. Gene Ford gives the musicians full rein with almost an hour of fun. nicely staged and pre- sented with machine mud tempo. Maestro Kinney has good special- ists and he lets them cut a South Sea rug to their heart's content, Arfens and Broderick wilh their trick piano playing and eccentric vocalizing hud the opening audience in a hilarious mood. It's horsciilay but this crowd liked it. Cy Reeves has an up-to-date monologon rution- ing «<nd mixes in .some easy going dances with his jokes. Fitz and Carol in sailor suit and jitterbug makeup score .solidly with comedy dancing. Meymo Holt and the Aloha Maids in cellophane skirts and un- dulating hips do hulas and war rhythms. The band's contribution is a nice blend of Hawaiian rhythms and medley of swing. To get volume and combined in- strumentation the Kaufman house orch joins wilh Kinney's Polynesians for sonie rhythmic divei'sion. This Salute to Hawaii' is one of the best shows to play here. in months and the sweater girls and zoot suiters from the high schools and colleges were out in force to give it welcome. Arke. Jesse & James are a couple of i-rai-k colored hoofers w-ho bang out some complicated routines wilh an iiiry nonchalance. Boys are a notch ■•r iuii iiliiivc usual male dance team. Jiihnny Mastors and Rowena Rollins emphasize facial and body grotes- (iueri<'s Ion much, but mob ate up evervlhing they had to offer. Colien. TOWER, K.C. f^ansas City. April 16. The Taylor Fainiiy iS). Mayic Flyers i2i. Dare Taiinen. Barrett & •Smith, Georgia Scott, Toircr Orrh U'ith Jack Parks & Marilyn Boll- inger; 'Sherlock HoliHe.<i Secret Weapon' il/i and 'Quiet Please, Murder' (20lh). Willkie*s Book 5 Conllniied from page 1 s shorts reach many millions of peo- ple who go to- theatre.'^ becau.se of the 'drawing power of big star names in the feature aitraelions. With those nanxes removed, millions fewer will attend pictures each week: hence the government me.<!- sages will reach a smaller audience. 2. The best 'good neighbor' mo- tion picture propaganda conies not from outrighl propaganda pix. but from entertainment subjects. It is important that this type of good will, so thoroughly demonstrated by CIAA. be Ciuried. forward. There- fore, big name American stars, who draw the foreign audiences, must be kept al home to make Alms. No Draft Dodginc 'jNo motion picture star wont into pictures to avoid tlie draft,' said Cosiello. "Obviously thiw whose .-erviccs would be coiisi»lered valu- able enough to rate defermriil have been in the business for years. There has been no rush to the stu- dios a.s' there has bi-en lb certain other indii.-trie.-'. to ihick the'draft boards! A star is not made over- night. 'People are drawn lo the lllm hou.sos by big names. If these names are to .be withdrawn, government propaganda Hlins put out b.v OWI .National' Bank withdrawing from 20tli-Fox. it i.s considered likely that Willkie may bow,out as chairman of the board of daeclnrs in due coiir.-c. Jo.seph M. Schenck. who has again j and other agencies will reach far taken up the reins at 20th. i.< con- P<'nP'<'- In-cau.se nobody is go- ,',;.,, . r . , . "If! to pay money at the boxofnce dercd likely to reas.-uinehi.< roinu r! government shorts. The boxofflce will suite and so will the efforts of government propa- gandists.' official dominance in the admiiii.<- iration of 20th. of which jie was board chairman. . •One World.' -meantime, has be- come Ihe hotte.^l book on the mar- ket, hanging up a new record with some 2.'i0.000 copies sold during the first live day.s of its appearance on the bookstalls and .170.000 already printed. Bo(ik'.s entry into the top ranks of besi-.sellers has focused attention of several major Him companie.s on Mini rights, with 20th flgured having the inside track on' a deal. The book is being published in two editions, a paper bound one sell- inl fur St. and a board covered edi- tion selling for $2. Publishing hoii.se is working on a round the clock .schedule to keep up the supply, printing from four sets of plale.s. Book is having the fastest sate of any Simon & .Schuster publication, even breaking 'Trader Horn.' 'Believe It Or Not." and 'The Cross Word Puzzle Books' record.s. Council on Books in Wartime is expected to give 'One World' an even added push when it announces it next month as the new 'Impera- Offering a di.siinct change of pace 1'i,^' ' ^'eVj''"'' '''"P1••*'V';^^' from murder themes of diial screen iCouncil wer« 'Into the Valley.' billing. Tower stage show this week , by John Hersey and 'They Were Ex- gets off to a good start as the_house ; pnulable,' by W. L. White. The of the Book-of-the-Month Club, in a vol- ume to include Herbert Hoover, orch swings out with pop 'Brazil,' Willkie book will also form part aiid Marilyn Ballinger. pretty vocal-' .Himmer book-dividend of ist, takes two choruses on a front mike. Dave Tunnen. mimic, doubles as m.e. and fir.st brings on the Magic Flyer.s, roller .skating duo. Pair does usual stunts. Highlight of act.^omes when girl empties glass of soda on floor through a straw as she is be- ing whirled head downward by i)ari- ner. Second spot goes to Barrett & Hem-y Wallace and other bigwigs Paper situation is now being worked out, by E.ssandess on the printing of the book. Thought at fir.st that the large scale print order on •One World' would cut into other Smith, team in Gay Nineties' co.s-1 books on the publishers' li.<t. but M tume.s, who have a routine of gags. I Lincoln Schuster says the base is mugging^and hooling. jhigh enough to take care of evi-r>- '""' ■■ ' '"'ion. they ;ht paiier. imiKging anci nooi.ng. nigh enough to take care o Dave Tiinnen Is on third with two!,hing they have. In additl bits of mimicry. First i.-: of rube at 1 ,,,.„ „<:,,„' „„-i,i.^i ii„i„„. .:,i county fair oaMnj. his lill of hot NPCcial lightwcigl dogs. Next is takeoff on a Russian dancer, the better of the two :m- prcssion.s. His m.c.'ing is okay, ex- cept that his doliverv is loo slew. Nice blonde. Georgia Scoil. is ihe i •Discovery Night' w-inner this week.' Vnd Ch.r BrU.f. She sings 'Black Magic' accyjlably. I ? ^J'X,p'l'"" Closing goes to the Taylor Family, A»ie> Bed Cro.ss. smaller margins and double columns lin the $) edition) thus permiiling more words per page and le.ss pages per volume. , Willkic^.s royalties go to Rus.sian. al.<o to three, girls and two boys, oldest of 1 whom is not more than'l4. Kids go- through their routine with plenty of, enthusiasm. All show a nice .sense; of timing. Their act is ihe .standout i ot the show. Off after three bows. Good biz opeiiii-.g night. Earl. STANLEY, PITT Pittsburgh, April 16. ■ WifcheU Ayres Orch H^i, An- drews Sisters i:ii. Masters & f?olli»,«, Jesse & James. Ruth McCullouuh. Johnny Bond. Dick Dyer.. Marty Olson: '/forripan's Kitr iM-C). WB deluxer is going back this year to old idea of putting best foot forward for Holy week instead of retrenching. Picture. 'Harrigan's Kid' iM-G), is typical-product tor the pre-Eeastci' .se^ion. but there's b.o. dynamite at the other end of the bill in the Andrews Sisters. Naturally they close the show, and smash they clocked at opener Friday could have been detected bloclcs awa}'.' Repertory is almost exclusively polka-minded. 'Pennsyl- vania Polka,' 'Strip Polka' and 'Navy Comes Through.' which is also in fnlka time, in. addition lo 'Five by ive.' C<o.se with the 'Strip' a.id it's 'Patriots' ConUnued from page 1 Discussing Amerkan propaganda in European neutral countries, he said: 'How better can we counteract the propaganda ot the A,xis than by fllm.s. demonstrating by their very subject matter our oun .free way ot life. > 'We should condition the public mind by handling this idea prop- erly. This should be dune so that the public will clamor for defer- ment for men. like Mickey Rooney and Kay Kyser, instead of subject- ing them to the type of unfavorable publicity they , have recehtty had.' .Costello pointed out that many stars have been eager to get into Ihe Army since 'it. is tougher for those who .stay out than for those who go into uniform. •The man in uniform,' he said, 'will return lo a receptive audience, which is fair enough. Bui if a star is more valuable in civilian life for purposes ot propaganda, morale, or as a drawing card, the public should be conditioned lo see him in this light.' BrIUin and Ruula'a Ideas He cited the well-known ex- amples ot Britain, Russia and other nations which yanked their .stars out of uniform and sent them back to the fllm .studios to make pictures becau.se of the importance ot Alms on the home front The Hollywood Congressman, who is chairmiin of th- liiiu.se com- mittee investigating draft deter- ments of goveriimeiit employees, ex- plained there is no conllicl between his po.-'itioii on picture stars and his stand on go\erniiieiit employees. He .said he is spcking 'e.ssonlial' .status for only a limited number of top buxolllce figures, but that many of tho.se da.ssilied 'csseiiiial' by their governmeiu bureau chicf.s are not really essential. Equity Powwow On Work-or-Fight Edict j The -War Manpower Commission's ; 'work or fight' mandate has become' ! an Increasingly vex.some problem I for people who are among the show- I busine.ss clas.siflcations that have not b9r:i ruled .'e.«sentiar to the war effort. Situation was the subject ot a special meeting'held at Equity ye.sterday i't'i,ies..>. The council appointed a special Equity committee, comprising Philip Loeb, Bert Lytell, Walter Greaza, Ilka Chase and Aline MacMahon, with Paul DuDzell as ex-offlcio should remain occupied in morale* building theatricals. There have been a number of pro. tesslonals who already have turned to war-work employment, and fotr more than a year the American The* atre Wing has maintained a depart, ment fur players desiring to taka war Jobs. From that source 830 pro. tesslonals hqve.been .started towards -essential' jobs, that number comiiin from talent and stage unions. Soma 375 took truining courses and at least 275 secured Jobs either after training or through having past ex* perienc'e. Another 200 have taken tests to detet'mine their aptituda toward such, employment. Necessity ot having the profes. sional to carry on in war-wurk ef. forts outiiide ot the uniformed forces and war plants was demonstrated by the recent benefit .show at Madl- .sun Squore Garden, when over $250,000 was raised for tlif Red Cross. It's pointed out that only people of the theatrical field eould have made such a patri<itic spectaria possible. That show, like all other ' professional entertaliunent.s, re* quired experience and .skill of show people. An Equity leader states:- There are many things which lha theatre could, do better Uian any other agency, things which hava never been explored, .scarcely been discussed. ', .there is no . better way to teach many '.Ie.<i.sons to ihe pubjid. than by dramatic-presentation. It ia hoped that the Government will realize that soon and turn to the the* atre for ideas, personnel and mate* rial for that program.. .it will not turn In vain... The theatre must be permitted to continue If It is to furnish such as^t' sistance.. .it the theatre is essential to this war effort, then it must treated as an essential industry 3 privilege but as a right to .serve thf Government and the people ot Ihia country.* Reptecements Studied By Hollywood Groups Hollywood, April 20. Film industry's Labor-Management Committee will go inio a hiiddla to* morrow (Wed) with Bert Harnifh. area director for the War Manpow* er Commission,, to discuss replaco* ment schedules for mm given 1cm> porary draft determents as essential workers. At a preliminary meeting it was indicated that any deferments in tha fllm industry will be temporary, based on the time neces.sary to ra* place the essential worker with a man of non-draft Age.' These defer* ments usually run from' three to Bln« months, depending on the tima ra* quired to train a replacement. Psri-Tlme Defense Job* Two hundred Aim actors now hava the opportunity to work* at'the Lock* heed-Vega aircraft plant through a split-shift setup arranged by tha Screen Actors Guild and the orim* pany. There arc I011 jobs open and each Job Is to be filled by two men, one working from 4-8 p.m.. tha other from 8:30-12:.')0 a.m. How- ever, if one teammate is tied up with picture work, his partner must com- plele the full shift. The Guild Is now canva.'>sing its membership to fill the first 100 Job.s. If the parttime plan «ork.s ouli other defense job.<> on the same ba.sis will be open to SAG .ncmbcr.i. Kennedy declared that (Cfngsle,v )iad just won the Critics Award, and has so been 'magnificently rewarded.' He read to the House Kingsley's explan- ation ot how the play came to be written. 'Four years ano' wrote Kingsley to Kennedy, "when this study was first begun, I knew very little about Jefferson or the other great men of n«f'>ber, to meet with similar groups our early history. I had just come t'«''P''.<"'e"''"e 'be other talent unions back Irom Europe. I had seen dem oci'acy vilified and .spat upon. I de- termined to And out the meaning of democracy for.mysel^—to find it out from the men who made .it, who pledged—and frequently paid—their fortunes and their lives to preserve it. 'The Patriots was the result of this attempt to cleave through post- World War No. 1 skepticism on the one haixl and Fourth of July fustian on the other; to rediscover in all- its purity the American faith.' affiliated wilh the Associated Actors and Artiste.v ot America, to formu- late a program whereby the enter- tainment industry may contribute, a 'wider and more vital' part in the war. The first confab on the subject will be held Saturday i24) and the prpgram, when formulated, will be submitted to the Government, The question now arises as to whether show people could be.st .serve the war effort In jobs which demand worlcers ot com^lderable mechanical akill, or whether they' CHospital Shows i Continued from-pate 1 'work or flghf edict could be broad- ly construed. ' Since enlertainmeni Is wiilely acknowledged to be a neces.si'ly b<ith for the war and the home front, the D. C. solons will be asked to em- phosize this. In other word.s. If a Kay Kyser is deferred jt's Inconceivable that ne be asked to take a defense job; but there are a host ot le.sser people, not of the Broadway or Hollywood call* bre, who could still do a good enter* talnment Job, once deferred by their draft Jtoards, The theatre organi. zatioRS on their own, of course, don't ask for determents, but if a player is rejected for some deficiency, or because of . corollary dependents, or some other acceptable rea.son, Lytell, et al., would like Washington to frankly stata they can continue their present Jobs and not be beset by any spectra of possibly shirking their v/ar duties.