Variety (Aug 1943)

4RIETY ruMlHhed Wevlcly nl 164 West 4«Mi Street. New Torlc, 19, N. I., .by Variety. Jin-. Animal, Mltaerllitlon, $10. Singl* c<i|«l«i». 25 cents. Euterud «» jeraiiJ.flMs uiauirr l>*v«mbrr. 2-'. lags; at the I'oa 1 bfitco at Now. York,.'N. V.,. under th» act ut March 3. 1S!'J. COI'VKICIIT, 1U43, BY YAJKIF.'l'V, INC. AIX HH.HTS HKSEKVr.D. VOL. 151 No. 8 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1943 PRICE 25 CENTS Blue Net Makes Public Retraction Of Fidler's Boner on Upon the instructions . »f Edgar + Kobak, the web's general manager, the Blue Network last Tuesday night (27) broadcast a disavowal of ji'mmie Fidler's report, aired Sunday (25). that Gertrude Lawrence would marry Hugh Marlowe. The Blue's statement did not mention Fidler, but declared that 'they (Miss Law- rence and iter husband, Lieut. Richard Aldrich. legit producer who is now. in the Navy) listened with, interest' to the broadcast and the Aldrichs were 'contented', with the. stale of- their marriage and had no intention of changing it. Marlowe, who played the road tour of 'Lady in the Dark' with Miss Lawrence, is married to Edith At- waler. currently leading lady at Elitch's Gardens, Denver. The Blue last spring had to air a retraction p£ a Fidler report about Ethel Barrymore collapsing .while touring 'The Corn Is Green,' and prior .to that there was the crack about Gene Tierney's smoking pre- dilections which drew the ire of 20th Century-Fox. Theatre Guild Burns At Mamoulian For Grabbing 'Okla.' Bows Lawrence Langner and Theresa Helburn of the Theatre Guild: and Rouben Mamoulian have terminated an association covering a period of years. The 'feud' is one of the side-, lights on : the cleanup show 'Okla- homa,' St. James, N. Y. It seemingly all started when Mamoulian is reported to have taken too much credit, via a newspaper story, for the show's success. Mamoulian staged it; the Guild roduced. -. Just what the Guild executives objected to hasn't been determined. Richard Hodge is, who composed the score, also burned at the director. It's been revealed, that during 'Oklahoma' rehearsals Mamoulian was hard to get along with, Agnes de Mille. . who drew, plaudits for staging the dances, being among those who had differences with him. Mamoulian is. out of the Guild's planned motion picture unit but he (Continued on page 46) THEATRE REALTY BOOM HYPOED BY REFUGEES Buying interest on the part of moneyed refugees, concerning the- atrical properties in New York, is proving a headache to real estate men. Seems that wealthy prospective European and South American buy- ers, now resident in the city, are not used to the hush-hush method of dealing with realtors, and so spread .the word around that they are in- wrested in certain ' theatres, etc., which naturally brings competition tl 'om other buyers. New Battle Station The Sammy Kaye-Old Gold program had! as its broadcast guest last Wednesday night (28), a marine recently'-returned .from ; action. Just before the show went on the marine received a wire from the mayor of his home town, Amsterdam, N Y. The wire read: •We're all proud of you. All 34,000 of us in Amsterdam will be listening to you on.the Lucky Strike program .tonight.' Earlier Curtains Urged for N.Y. Feelers have been sent Broadway managers as to the advisability of starting performances earlier than at present, it being believed by some showmen that advancing the first curtain would be advantageous, par: ticularly on Sunday evenings. Sab- bath performances have been on the downgrade for some lime, only five attractions showing on that day, but Sundays are expected to pick *up with the advent of autumn. It is contended that if Sunday night performances started at 8 o'clock. or 8:15. instead of a half or three quarters of an hour later, more patronage might be attracted among persons desirous of reaching home well before midnight. Letters were sent managers by the League of New York Theatres, and dependent upon responses the organization will rec- ommend earlier curtains. For years it was suggested that performances start earlier,, at least on some evenings, argument being that more suburbanites would be at- tracted, but the idea, never really materialized. CIO Sinks Heavy Coin Into Ambitious Projects in Or- der to Counter Adverse Criticises—Views Pitch As a Battle for Survival GM'S TALENT SPLURGE In the first all-out pitch ever made utilizing the three outstanding show biz media, labor and capital will slug it put this fall and winter via a series of stage, screen and radio presentations aimed at reaching their respective millions of sympa- thizers. Plans for the campaign have been quietly shaping up during the past few weeks and, on the basis of what has been accomplished thus far, it'll- be no pollyanna slugfest. As far as labor is concerned, the CIO is pro- jecting itself into the show biz pic- ture on a big scale to let the people of America know its a battle for survival; that it won't yield any of (Continued on page 46) 3 SPONSORS TESTING TELE IN 1-HR. SHOW " A regularly scheduled, one-hour experimental- commercial television series will tee off Friday (6) via G.K's WGRB, Schenectady, with B. F. Goodrich Co., Lever Bros. (Vimhisi and the Hamilton Watch Co. participating. The broadcasts will be once a monlh during the 9-10 p.m. slot. Goodrich will have 30 minutes dc-. voted to a demonstration of products and a talk' by John L. Collyer, com- pany prexy. Viirims will, feature 25 minutes of comedy and Hamilton will take over .the time break pro- duced through the use of a slide, B.B.D. & 0. is the agency. The programs are to be supervised by. Fred Manchee ; v.p. and head of the agency television board. . Repatriated Talents Are Being Counted On to Help Reeducate Freed Europe A plan to help reeducate Euro- pean countries ^jow under the Nazi yoke, in postwar periods, by means of entertainment, was voiced by Prof. James Sheldon, executive secretary of the Non-Sectarian Anti- Nazi League, in New York. Idea, still in the nebulous stage, is to bolster the morale of newly freed peoples by introducing democratic ideals via plays, music, skits, mi- sicomedies,. radio acts, and other phases of the amusement world. At,present lime, plan is being dis- cussed with Robert E. Sherwood, .head of the Overseas Branch of the Office of War "Information, with the unifying theme, thai-,of having , ex- iled artists of the various countries go back to their homelands and put (Continued on page 21) BILLY ROSE REVERTING ZIEGFELD, N. Y., TO LEGIT Loew's Zicgfeld theatre on -Sixth avenue and 54th street. New York, which W. R. Hearst built as a monu- ment to the showmanship of riotenz Ziegfcld,. Jr./reverts to a legit house Sept. 1, when Billy Rose takes pos- session. It's , on a one : year lease only, a restriction made necessary by the fact that all the Hearst proper- ties—newspapers, really, etc.—arc in the courts. Meantime,a syndicate of 10 promi- (Contiriudd on pv-le 37) Anderson Reportedly Dramatizing The War Under 'Command' Auspices African Barter Yacht Club boys -returned to N. Y. last week from their mid- dle east USO-Camp Shows lour wearing neckties that Jack Benny took along with him. On the day they left Algiers for home, the. Benny-Larry Adler- Wini Shaw-Anna Lee troupe arrived. 'Benny was dressed to kill.' says George Kelly. 'We simply told him that where he was go- ing he wouldn't need neckties.' Brit. Songsmiths In Anti-U S. Move By BOB MUSEL London, July 20. There's a revolt, brewing on the short and grimy street which is Brit- ain's Tin Pan Alley. British song- writers are banding together in the first stages of what appears lo be a developing offensive aimed at get- ting British songs at least a 50-50 break with American songs in the British market. At the moment it's about 80-20 against. Visitors from overseas often gel the impression the Hit Parade is fol- lowing them around. The most per- (Continucd on page 47 ) ♦ Possibility of Maxwell Anderson becoming; the Government's 'official.* playwright , lo record via the stage the story of the Yanks in World War II is seen in a report that Anderson's forthcoming play, based on the North African campaign, will be staged on Broadway, next fall under U. S. sponsorship. Further reported that the new war play.- on which Anderson has just started work at his home in New City. N. Y., will probably be shown exclusively to the men in the armed forces, similar lo the current London production of his 'Eve of St. Mark.' Rusty Lane, who staged the Lon- don presentation, is reported coming lo this country In the near future to arrange for the casting and produc- tion of the now Anderson play. For background material, Anderson spent considerable time with Geh. Eisen- hower and his men in Africa, re- turning to this country about three weeks ago. Anderson's 'St. Mark' has been widely performed in this country as a camp-sponsored production. Caesar Uncertain About 'Color Line' Tune for Det. Irving Caesar is up a tree -about one of the top tunes in his revised musical. 'My Dear Public' Song is called 'The Color Line' and features a colored gal singer. Show begins a fiye-week tryoul next week at the Cass, in Detroit, cradle of the recent race riots. Radio Played Major Role in Helping N. Y.'s LaGuardia Quiet Harlem New York's radio stations gained themselves much praise, particularly from a couple local newspapers, for the aid they gave the city adminis- tration in coping with the riots that raged in Harlem through. Sunday night (I) and Monday (2). Not only did the stations make their facilities available for talks by.Mayor Fiorello I.a Guardia, but they cooperated wilh the Mayor in explaining the event on their news programs so as not to spread alarm among the citizenry.'The Mayor had asked them lo help him stifle the spreading of rumor and thus prevent the out- (Conlinucd on page 47) —— ^^™»