Variety (Oct 1943)

Wednesday, October 6, 1943 MISCELLANY 3 Lofty Thinkers Grapple With World Problems; Hearst'Red' Fire DuD Glow y GEORGE E. PHAIR Ix)s Angeles, Oct. 5.. Sci'ibes of . various nationalities and political hues -held a three-day congress on the L. A. campus of the University, of California and not one pineapple' .was thrown, although William R. Hearst's scouts, headed by State Seiiatpr Jack B. Tenney, searched . Ibehind . every tree, bush and hedge in the' oflflng for subver- sive emissaries of Joe Stalin, who were supposed to be liirking in th.e offing with red grenades In their mitts, ready lo blow up the Ameri- can Conslllulion; Except for recurrent bursts of. ora- tory, the Writers Congress, func- tioned for three days in philosophic calm under Ihe joint auspices of the Hollywood W4<ltcrs. Mobilizdtjon and the Universiiy of California: Double dome lhi'nker.s from ivied halls and : piano thumpers from Tin Pan. Alley mingled ihoir ideas about the future . of the world and there was nothing resembling a' rough-house, not even a snake, diince oh the campus in the cool of thie evening. • ■ -It wa.s all very dignified, with Dr. Hobci t. Gr S|)roul. proxy of the Lfni- versity, wcleomihg all the boys and gals (o the academic repast and' Franklin D. Rpo.scvelt, prcxy of the ■U.S.A.. sending his greetings. \ To make it unanimous from ,8 political Btandpoliit. WeiidcU L Willkie sent a message in favor of intellectual and cuUural trecdo.m. : Presldciiiial approval from the While House to Marc Connelly was: 'I send lhc.se greetings to the ..Wrileis Congress with a deep sense of (he signincance of a gathering of writers in these times. It Is a isym- bol. it-.sccms to me, of our .American failh in Ihe Freedom of Expression —^ot our reliance upon the talents of oiu' writers to present and clarify, the issues of o'.ir times. 'Already, the men and women gathered there have . rendered great service in elucldalini; for the nation the issues, of this war and the nature of our enemies. 'I am conddent that .they will per form an equal service, as victory becomes Increasingly assured, in In- forming the people of the complex problenis tliat must , bie solved it peace Is Ip be a living reality. 1 want to c.xlend my congratulations io the Hollywood Writers' Mobiliza- tion Committee and to the Unlvef- slty of California in Los Angeles for sponsoring a meeting of importance to ail Americans.' Purposes of the CongrcBs were expressed in a preface In which the university execs and writers agreed: 'To analyze propaganda techniques as weapons of victory; to sharpen the creative .-ikill of writers by. popl- ing their cvcalive experience and knowledge: lo investigate the mo.st effeclive use of new media of ex- pression: to sirnifilhen firm and con- tinuous .•-cultural understanding among the United Nations; to mobi- lize, the entire writing, professloii in a program of action for the.: free world of Ipinprrpw.' Robert Rps.scn vvas chairman of the Writers Mobilization, with Marc Connelly and Ralph Freud as co-, chairmen or the Congress, which consisted oC a series of seminars and panels, it may have been' the sem- inars, which soiind so much like ■ commissars or samovars that caused the Hear.-il boys, to scent red herring . on the campu.s. . • Chairmen o[ the seminars, which dealt at length, wiih all rnanner of writing Xi;oiTi feature ftlms thrdtjgh shorts, musicals, press agentry, prop- aganda,, documentaries, radio car- toons, sonswritiiig and television, were: . Dore Schary. Fox Case, George Jessel. Phyllis Bcnllcy, John Cohco. Clan Hcisch, Leo, Hurwitz, Gerald Strang, Sidney'Muchman. Phil East- man. Maj, True, Boardman, Cecil Carl and Arthur Schwartz: Heading the panels as chairmen, were'John Wexley. Robert Rosscri, dapt. Bern- ard Vorhaus:, Leonard Bloom. Ralph Heals. John B. Hughes. Cordon S. ,Walkins and Allen Rivkin, Darryl F. Zanuck, speaking in one Pf the later .sessions and explaining (Continued on page .50) Benchley Moves to Par Hollywood, Oct. 5. Bob Benchley .checked into the Paramount lot under a two-ply con- tract as writer .and actpr.': Until recently he had tieen func- tioning under the same double ca- pacity at Metro. THEY'RE Siai IN FOG, SO HALE SUES, TOO Los Angele.s, Oct. 5. Alan Hale, screen actpr, filed.siili for $25,000 against Ichard Thomas, Inventor, cdmplaiaing that he in-- vested ■ ttia't suiii on the inyieiUpr's as'scrtlori that he had. discovered a camera meciianls which would pierce fbg.- A .mpnth ago Hale wa.s' sued by Humphrey Bogai t and Lloyd Baccin. who charged they h^d- invested $5,000 apiece in the belief-they were buying 20.% Pf the cpmpahy, in which, they'a.s.sert. Hale prpfcs.sed to own 50%. Meanwhile Thpmas asks the cpurt to compel Hale to piit up $00,000 under a partner.ship agree- ment signed Oct. 15. 1942: for the, financing of the yentiue .known as Sclcnti(io Development. Inc. 20lh-Fox Now Going In For Dialog Directors , Peter^ Lawrence: stage manager of Max 'Gordon's . Chicago company pf 'Junior Miss.' veteran pi two full seasons of Cpast-lp-Co^sl touring with the same shew fpr USO-Camp Show.s and .recently returned from a season as assistant directpr atElitch's Garden.s, Denver, has been signcd as a dialog director by .20lh Cenlury- Fpx. He leaves for the Coa.st Oct. 11 to-start, work on a new film^ This marks a departure froni 20th Century-Fox proceedure. it' being the first time the .sttidio has u.sed. a dialog director. Other studios have found these direclerlal a.s.sistants with Brpadway theatre backgrpund pf value fpr several, years.' Hersholt to Concentrate On U. S.-Danish Work Jean Hei'sholt has g:ven up all film acting for the duratlpn. tp devote full lime to the National Denmark- America Assn., p( which he is pres- ident. However.' he will coiitinue his Dr. Chrl.stiar\' radio series Wednes- day iilghls pn CBS fpr Chesebrpugh. originating the broadca.^ts from New. Ypi'k. He announced his plans Suii- day night 1.3) in a guest appearance pn the 'We. the Pepple' prpgram on CBS for Gulf. He also continues as president of the Motion Picture ftelief Fund. ; ' A native pf Denmark; Hersholt has bceii active in the National Dcn- niark-Amcrica Assn: alTair.s for sev- eral years. He ha.s a' sislcr still living in Denmark. Donlevy in Chi Hospital OiER F I E L D S Tendency amonr (op ranking Hol- lywood writers to seek, greater In- dependence of action, as weU as big- ger flnaiiclal returns, by going into production aiid direction, is'widen- ing ..tiie already Inflated picture jnar-: ket for writers from other fields. With a larger number of ilrst line studio scripters than ever before now in the7 prodiicing-dlrectlng ranks, /Others cc"islantly entcriiig this phase of production and many younger writei's in the armed forces,' Parampuivt studios last week sent Cpast stpry . department exec Meta Reis le New 'Yprk to line up rcplace- rherits frpm among eastern radio scrlp'ters, ndyelisls, playwrights, short stoiy.writers and .iiewspaper- men. Not particularly interested in the seribijs .type of authpr dripping so-, clai signincance. from . every pore, Mrs. Reis is looking chiefly for writers whp have. " are likely tp develpp the light itpucli e>cempllfied in the bulk' pf the ParampUnt put- put. While cpst pf such a iiip^'e was not revealed. Paramount may spend from .$150;00p to $200,000 during the next year tp deveipp rie\v screen scripters, depending pti; the number pf hew writers eiigaged. ' Accentuating the prpblem. which is afTecting most major. Studios., the .transformation of expe.rl writers into producer-writers and directors has also virtually eliminated, inter- studio loans of such execs! While w-riters can occasionally be loaned, the producer-writer or director- writer is in most cases unavailable because of - inore specinc and broader committnenls on the various home lots. Generally recognized now is the likelihood that top writers go into broader phases . of production as they develop in importance and skill to a degree where they pi-efer working on film yarns.independently pf prpdiicer supervision. IITiS,. of course, applies mainly to writers whose output has proved - cpmmer- cially sound, but it has resulted in a thinning of. thewrlter lists in the top brackets. List Keeps Growing To mentlpn a fc.t . writers who have become i)rbduccr-wrilers or 'dii:ectprs include! Sheridan Gibney, Nunnally Jphnspn. Jules and Philip Epstein, Dudley Nichols ('Land of jVIine,' 'Government ^GirD, Lamar Trotti Cbx-Bow Incident'), Sctpn I. Miller CMInlslry Pf Fear"), Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder f^Majpr arid the Minor'); Dore .Schary. Sidney Bucliman, Howard Snyder, Hugh Wedlock, Michael Fessier, Ernest. Pagano. Joan Harrison, v-rlter With Alfred Hitchcock; in England fpr many years, i.s npw producing at Universal. One-tinie wrilers wlio have long been in produrllon in- clude sucii names as Mark HcUinger,, (Continued pn page i Metro Switches 'Malta' To Korda in England Ne^ Tax Program Would triple Amusement Levy; YielOT Runyon's Tabasco Pic I Holiywood, . . 5. Damon unybn draws liie prdduc- iipn chpre on 'Chica Chico' at 20lh- Fox, the flrst musical screeiiplay he, ever wrote. Stpry wa.s written speclall>' for Carmen Miranda, now fully recov- ered from her recent illness. ' SEEK VIRGINIA WEIDLER FOR'WISE CHILD' TOUR 'It's a Wise'^Child- rhay be revived for the road, present plans being dependent on whether Virginia Weidier, ypung filmite,' will accept an ofTer from Frank McCoy. Salary wbuld be $1,000- weekly. Proposed tp present 'Child' in Chicagp, with BpslPn ; Ip fplipw, then. Ihe ppssi- billty pf a'Brpad\yay shpwing. Comedy was produced by the late David Bclasco: at his theatre in N. Y. in 1929 and. went for a run. It was wrilieri by Lain-ence E. Johnspri.'Lee Shubeit. is menlipned as bcing in- terestcd in the proppsed: revival. 'Child' was piclurized by Metre in 1931. Danny Kaye, Goldwyn Differ on Song Rights .Demands by Sam Goldwyn rele- vant to future use of Danny .Kaye's specialty number, 'Melody in 4 F,! which he popularized in 'Let's Face It."/on Broadway, have, caused dif- ference between the comedian and producer.' Number, which Kaye is doing in G61dwyn"s 'Up it. Arms,' film in- which he's co-starred ■ with Dinah. Shore, was Svrltten by Ka.ve's wife, Sylvia Fine, and Max Leibman. It belpngs to Kaye, tmt.Goldwyn wants the u.se .of the number in any pic- ture he makes with pi- without Kaye, san.s further payment pf the num- ber. Goldwyn also insists lhat.Kaye cannot use the material in any other picture for a period of five years. According to Louis Mandell, Kaye's attorney, the song"s rights shoiild revert to Kaye after the pic, that Goldwyn ''ha-s no right to use It in any picture without Kaye. Hpw- ever, he adds that Kaye will de the number Ipr Goldwyn in any film he makes for the latter withput addi- tlpnal payment. As tp the ilvc-year clau.se, the time in which Kaye is not .supposed to do the specialty in any film. Mandell' is not contesting that point. Washington. Oct. 5. iider the ; new $10500.000.000 revenue program submitted' yc.-ter- day (4) by the Treasury Department 10 the House Ways and iVIeans Com- mittee. : Iheaire admisslbris, now taxed 10%,. would be jumped to 30"! tp-yield an estimated .$327,000,000. Niterles. wlilch now operate'under , a 5''o lax, would also be upped to DO?',: for a take of apiiroximatoly S91.300.000. ■ Even soft drlnk.s, candy arid chew- ing gu , now exempt from excise taxation, would -be slapped at tlie l-atc of a ic levy on each nickel's wprth. affecting many theatres which gel part pf their revenue frem' llicse .sales. Telegraph and leased wires used fpr piping infprmatlpriwpuld hav.e'an extra S.'/n added. Trip indlvldtial incpmc tax; i.s sp- sti in'.the Trea.sury plan that it wpuld. in effect, re.stbrc the $25.0OO income celling and hit the small wage earners hard. There Is. how^ ever, the prospect that Seriate an House lax experts, finding the-pr6- po.sal So severe. w-ill \vhlttlc down- the percentage-on Individual income levies: - On the other hand theatre and nitery owners.cah expect to be saddled wiith at^ least a- 20% burden. Accprding tp the Treasury re'cpm- ' meiidatlbns the individual- incoriie taxes for high-bi-acket earners work as follows: a married man with no i children earning. $100,000 . a year ' \vould have only §13,421 left after : paying federal taxc.-i. If he earned $500,000. he woujd have only. $25,247 left. If he made $1,000,000. he would ' see only $54,000 of it follpwlng tax payment.- The.se figures dP iipt- in- clude the 12.5%: payment due next March 15 Pn the 'unfprgiven' share pf the 1942 earnings. - The only dif- ference betweeri the Treasury's pro- posal and President Roosevelt's old $25,000 ceiling is that the foimer affects riot only salaries biit other incomes as well. Hollywoo.d. Oct. , ■will, produce .'Malta' in. rigland instead of Culver : City, as Prigiitall.v schodulcd by.i Melip. Cpn'>plcled script li.v -JolVn Wcxiey is pn its way to Londpri. ' Idea is lhat the picture lends ilscU particularly to Bilti.sh pi'oduciii'n. although Written here and , inleiidcd •Road to Utopia' For Bing, Bob and Dotty Hollywood, Oct. 5. Paid Jones was paged..by-Para- mount: to produce the next rpad tpur or BIng C?rosby, Bpl) Hope and Dor- oth.v Lamoiir. Tills time It is 'The Road. to Uto- pia.' silarting Nov. I and avoiding all pO.ssible war zpneS. which is a pretty ipugh. jpb nowadays. ' Chicago. Oct. 5.. Brian Dpnlevv has been, in the SI. 'Luke's Hospital here for .several days recovering from -a .severe respiratory irifeclion acquiied on a recent army caiiip-tour. . - .He collapsed last week dining aii ai'my-shpw at Cliariule Field. Riin-. .. u- • ,. toul. 111., an was ."sent '-.he're.-•"for'"!>"«-."-J«^fP^. Paf-tornak s -.pro-- ireatmcni. MtcV beiriy bedded for «"tK:l.nB" jobs. . Undc."siood, Korda'ly.ill- a couple *>f.davs in his hotel he look ' ''''■^'*' La^vrence Olivier and Viv ian a turn for the worse, nd doclo'r oi-tlored . his -removal ip. a lio.-;pil/il. Balance of jiis cairip lour has been cancelled .and'he will return U) Cali- fornia as sofin as '.siifficii-nlly. rcCi)\'- ered lo travel. : I.eiiih lit the film of the boniU-bat- lercd isle. COLMAN-DIETRICH COMBO I Ed Small Is miillin.:! dral to-loam Ponaid Colma.n with ..MarleiiP Dlet- ricli in "Bella Doriiij.' which he i-, ..-tanning for United Artists rclc,i.se:] Lurky"and 'Torch Story. Miss Dietrich is already sel for the I He goes to, w-oi-k on . IhV screen picture. I treaUneiU on .r'eturMli\B iN'o\'. .1. HOLMES' TRAVELOG IlV)llyWOO(l: Ol'i: 5: . 'Mr.- Lucky." i n' Mil tori Holiii'.'S ." [torson. left lor .Vew York Mor.day after .-iitninij a li'i:i!'. wnliui; deal with Paramount. : Author of 'Mr. Lucky.' he , sold , the .-.Uidi,) ',Mi.i.- ' From P.A. to Producer ' . Hollywood. Oct. 5. Bill Oriard checked Into 20th-Fox unflci; a con'riidras associate pro- (hici'i-. ;il|achpd for the time being 1,0 the i yii-(i Foy unit.. For the la.st i.wo ..• as heirii connected , iib- lii-ii,v .staff. Bill M.prris' Divorced ' - Reno: Oct. 5... Mrs. WIlliaiEi iGcrrvi Morris! , .. v.oli a divorce decree: iiere .Saturday " '2 1 after six weeks" rr.-.id<!rice. at \Va-lii)(! Pine.s Haiich. She charged lier tliCalrieal-agcnt hii:<baiKl. whom ; she nian ied 12 years ago i)i .N. Y.. with inentalcriK'Uv. II 'was till" second marriage for I Mi'~-'- Moi ris. Bebe Daniels As llattie' Due in London Oct^ 23 , Oct. 5. 'Panama Hattie' cpme.s into- the Piccadilly Oct- 23, succeeding'SUnny , River,'arid will, mark the initiar ap- pearance of Bebe Daniels in a West End musical. ■Hattie' ' provinces.. .- Trade Mark. JtogJHicrctt i-'Of.NDICD Dif SI.MIC .Sl't,Vi;nM.V.\' I'llklliiliril \i>ekly .l>r V:\KI KTV.: Illi'. : Sld .'<llv<>rriia>i. I'n^filiK-iiL 15« W«)il 46lh 8i.. kcw York 19. N, Y iMii.v v.\itiK-rv f I'iii,i:Hlii..d ill *lli,ll}-»:,,i„| !,)• . Iih:I-.- Vulli.l.l-, ■ SI -a yoai—IIL- (iirr-iuii