Variety (Nov 1943)

MISCELLANY yARIETY Wedacsday, November 3, 1913 ■ X'SQ-Camp Shows execs,,; answer-* ;ng criticism of ineffectual '.opera l ion-. i-1 its program.-at North African and, Mediterranean bases, last week cited Yhc impossibility of making .'any radical changes in its overseas setup, contending (bat 'die military phases of . ration come |iisl--ihc test is secondary and must not interfere' ■ Stars returning from ■ the North; African aiid Sicilian, war zones claim j that the USO-CSI. OA-eiseas .pi o^i ani I suffers because under ' - present I fipiration not nearly enough; of. the'.' Yank fighters .are being reached; that frequently they come to a base '■where their arrival has been en- tirely unheralded, hence no prepa- rations were, made to ill low. for a maximum . turnout, and r lhat. frc- uonlly they find themselves' playing a mere fc\v' hundred . after being . notified in advance of audiences .numbering several thousand. Camp-Shows execs maintain Owl any such criticism 'is premature, prompted by a • lack of knowledge that , doesn't take into, consideration the military phases of the wars con- duct at the bases..'.specified. Thoy argue that; unlike the situation that obtains in ngjand. Where it:s pos- sible to maintain a regular circuit of camp shows and reach the an- ticipated soldier audiences; the cam- paign in the Mediterranean-war zone pr ovides for a succession^ of secret maneuvers and constant shifting of troops that, obviously doesn't take into consideration a performers hurt feeling when, in anticipation of an audience of 20.000. he finds upon ■arrival only 500 are there.•■ because '1he others at the last minute have been, ordered into combat. 'Such movements.are secret; none but the top command knows of the opera-.- lion-, so why. should they pass on the "word in advance to special, services w .USO entertainer,? It's' pointed out. ' 'Furthermore, when a-star or any VSO troupe' is skedded to make an appearance, a cable is sent ahead. Frequently, -.there's a bottleneck on such messages, . particularly, s-ince more vital cables pertaining to troop 'Operations are given priority. Hence it's understandable . why the per formers arrive at their next stop be • fore their message; and are un- heralded. "These'art the things that must be considered in attempting to develop our Overseas program; * And these are. the things- that don't ap- pear: on the '/surface and. I.eaVe' the . -entertainers confused and bairled '. The .fact remains CSI-is endeavoring in every possible way to carry out the . program with maximum effi eiency.' Another N Y. Nitery Prop. Into Legit Production Another New York nilery ; owner, Dave Wolpcr:of tire Hurricane, joins Billy Rose and Lou Walters as Broad- way • producers:. 'Wo!per.. who has .financial hacking in .'Early to Bed,' bought the option oiv Bud Pearson and- I.cs White's Too Hot for, Man-; euvciV. last week, and is currently hioking , ;a director. Production will toe'-staged with Harry Del'mar, production manager Of USO Camp Shows. Wplpcr will' be assisted by Phil Waxman. .lawyer- who just resigned fn.mASCAl's legal dept. am , Hollywood. Nov. The' BU>e> bad boy is kicking Hp his heels." again. .. Not content with feuding with the-.big studios and makihg faces at; its.: stars, James Marion Fidler has-tweaked the nose of his network bosses here on the Coast. ' ; •Week ago Sunday, on his under-! arm deodorant broadcast, the Blue's script-scanner.: Dorothy Brown, de- tected something about Belle liavis that'seemed to her in bad taste.. As • (Continued on page .46) 71*t WKEK! KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF El Capilan.theatre!Holly wood. Call •"iVtiiiv iM- are all enpigeil in tlw> la-ilil aiVii sOfiiut's Vius.iness' of. ItUliI-' ing' a war tli"ii- Is ureal in-ed for i-mci l.-ilnni- nl and 'laughs.'- IP helps us jo i-i'lax a ml relii-vi's ilio wartime iiu nlal U'lisUiii. HlacUmiiy -'.dc-H? n il cly Si rvcs thai : |n)rpns<\ a nd has inailt-.a valiialilv (•niilriliiitinir toward niainiaiiiiii.it :liiuh niotale ' siinoiiK rivlliaji anil military pirisiMinrl in this i-iiiniiinnliy." FLETCHER BOWRON, Mayor of Los Angeles. ♦++♦♦♦♦ ********** ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦«f♦>♦♦>I«> * ♦ f M %* *■*■+* I THE BERLE-ESG POINT By Milton Berle *************** * ******* ***** ******* * ** ♦ ♦+++-.M.+.++' Weiit to Baltimore this week for a look at 'I'll Take the High Road.' vlie play OilTord Haymdn and myself arc producing. The reason we opened ■■' it iii"Baltimore is that if it needs any doctoring, we can always i-u'sh if iq ■Johns Hopkins, We're not worried about I lie script at all. / Mike Todd promised to lend, us Gypsy Rose L*>e for - additional dialog. 1 My brother (the one who writes airmail letters on fly paperi came a'.ong. We had a hard jobcoiiv'tncing him' that;Til- Take the .High oad' 'was not a play about the CatsUill mountains. Of course, all this -Jin's iiiijirorcd 'ft' 1/ standing tcith. flic SIiiiIjciIs. ■ Have to remOre my slioes when / enter lJie.ir office. Being a producci is wonderful. Who knows'. 1 . May name a part of Broadway after mc. Won't it look good: * My problem, Mr. iidioiiy, ' Is'one ton .('(i n'l ioiiorc. : hi the moriiiiip / tliiiik o/ flie clcrcr I si\oultl linrc.'shi'cJ (liC: iiig'it be/oic; I. undersiand that the girls in the /Fpliies' are willing to settle for • mink, sable or any reasonable Xox.-imile., , . : With the rising cost of food, it's hard to say which tomatoes, are expensive'.' ■',,.' Now that' dimoiit has "been, lifted, the-wolves outsi again'be allowed to have a gleam in their eyes: .' Or is the bootblack said when he looked at his time schedule, '' be my shining hour.' ♦♦♦♦♦♦ DANNY KAYE4F,ASKS TO ENTERTAIN OVERSEAS After missing shows for three days at the Roxy. N. Y., where he is cur-, rently headlining, Daiiny Kaye was adjudged 4F Monday night (IV after a: thorough overhauling, at. Gover- nor's Island, N. Y. He was but of the Roxy Saturday, Sunday and Mon- day but returned for his Tuesday shows. He went to the isle from the Ritz Bros. Get Equal Billing With Pic At N. Y. Roxy, Plus $8,500 Wkly. . oxy, N. .,. has ' set the ' Rilz Brollvers for .show starling Nov.- 17. They will eoino jii on lop of the 'Cafe Society' unit .previqusly.sei, but with- out Hazel Scott, who must fulfill prior commitment with the N.. Y. Para- moulit.- t,atter look the Hazel Scott matter to Petrillo. inasmuch as she is a irienib.er of tlie AFM,' and Pe- trillo nixed the Roxy deal. Ritzs' deal is unique iii:view of its tcrnis. Contract not- ,only calls for $8,500 per week, but gives the Ritz boys 80?; of the stage shqw billing and equal billing with the deluxer's film,'' tiadalcanai iary" i20th). BEN BERN1E ESTATE ESTIMATED AT $500,000 Estate'ot Ben Beriiie. who died in Beverly. Hills. Oct. 20. will approxi- mate $500,000, that sum including a life, insurance policy for $250,000! The beneficiaries include his widow Dorothy tWes) Bejiu'e. Mrs. Rose Harris. Roblein. the ole maestro's first wife, son -Jason (in the Army), his brothels. 11'.nan. -JefT aiid Dave, also fiye sisters. Estate also includes annuities. \ one of which would have assured the immensely popular aetor, radio humorist and bandsman $21,000 annually; . Impressive funeral services were t conducted at Temple Rodclph Sho- ' lorn; N,.Y., last Thursday |28) which ' wer attended by:'prominent mem- bers of- the profession. Rabbi/Louis I. Newman . conducted, the services which included a eulogy by Bill Bi andell, ,g.m., th.e Friars. Widow remains in N. Y. iuitil next week, then returns to the- Coast, to close up the. Lupe Velez house in Bevhills she has under lease. Her- man Bernie, g.m.. for his famed . brother, leaves for' Hollywood- Fri- day i ft') as docs. Pvt. Jason Bernie, vhp is on furlough. N. thorough checkup and among, the salients which deferred him was a tongenitally bad back. Kaye is mar- ried to.Sylvia Fine, writer of. his ma- terial. ' As soon, as he was given 4F the comedian phoned Abe Lastfogcl, president of USO-Camp Shows, in Htillywqorl and requested he be sent A. J. BALABAN NOW INTO LEGIT PRODUCTION A. Ji Baliiban,: director general of T ♦ . ♦ ..' ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ ♦ t ♦ . induction center for a more I the Roxy theatre operation for 20th- FOx, whq has' rim. the gamut of all branches of show business, -from -pioneering picture house- prescnta^ lions to film productibii,. may emerge as a legit producer this winter. It will be via a setup, comprising Stella Uhgcr, autlibress-iicwsvconinicii.talor. Joan Alisoii i.who wrote tlie WB film, 'Casablanca') and A'lcc Temple- overseas immediately. .Ka've'stated" j lon - l j\ e . blind pianist-radio star who he'd guarantee. that- Leo Durocher, Wl " f c ^ ]{ '« composer, the Dodgers manager, will, accom- Balnban . brought the three, to- panv him and that 'between us, and I Ket,K ''' 111 whnl ."'c 'calls 'Hie most . P. Scluiiberg has signed Ernest Truex an Jeriy. Wayiie for his musical. 'Mariaiine.' and wuuld like Mary Hcal.V as the soubref.;; it's Deris Duke's-money that's behind Vincent Ypumans* Cuban musical melange... Hermes Pani. with .a sj'vOn weeks' vacation from 2Dth-I''ox. .tui ned down plenty of that rest ful , color.-green, to stage the dances for 'Mexican Hay- ride.' because he's en ioutc • to Acapulco for a ' r al' Mexican'.! hayiidc. ].: J. P.' McEvoy. Dagmar Goriowsky. . Barbara Bennett. Beth Moakips. the Nicholas Sclicncks. George Jean Nathan,- the .Tolin. Krimskys and Howard and'Tail is Dielz. were cockfailed .by Ruth Sc!w\n iii honor of her brother, Fred Wilcox, and lici fiiiaiice, Jolin Warburton. Sliort Shots : .. Joan Fontaine arid Brian Abeam' will soon be, sloppinc tia alonit the Avenue.. .Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen are pulllnj the tinishiiic tuiiehe^ . to their new musical, a period play of the deep south, with a 'Scarlett O'Hara' singing heroine.!.that machiflcent square-cut diamond Greer, Garsori! Is'now weaiHriif on her .glo.veless hand is her weddlup gift from Pansy and Nick Scliem k:.. Nedda Jlarrigan Is standing by at the I.om- bai dy, wailing to go overseas for USO.. . : now that A. T. Waxinan has found 'Isolde' in the person of Weiidy Barrie, Jie is looking for a "Tristan*, to play in 'What Would You, Ladies?.' Harry Madden s satire on tlie.tw* Wagnerian lovers.. .Stanton GrifTis has sublet his Kasl .17th street duplex to Gloria Vahderbilt and !Lt:. Tat di Cicco . ..the Theatre Guild has a new play for Etliel Barrymorc, but-, her. characterization would be that of !a cook, and. Miss B.,!ll's sald, : is afraid: It Isn't glamorous enough, .according to most people these days, any domestic: Is the most glamorous being there is'! ''' ... ' ,■; '■■ .' . '/ '■ ASTAIRE'S NEW DANCING long Distance Phones a strolling accordion player we'll bring entertainment to the boys any l MI,cc where you send us.'... exciting new writing PARTNER, EX-ROCKETTE Fred.Asia ire's dancing partner in his new picture being readied at RKO will be Luciljc Hivnur. a for- mer Rockette al the Hadio City Mdsic Hall. N. Y. A product of Philly niteries. she \vork<'d at the' N." Y. World's Fair and ^it: various combination i spots after leaving the-Music DeSyl va. ■ row.n & Hcndci'- |son.' And whether or not he will be , ,. . the formal presenter of their first It has long been Kaye s anibiUon musical comedy, tentatively titled Tea Tray in the Sky.' he will direct iheir business .'deslinic's. Tcmpleloir has cancelled his con- cert bookings to concenlrale 'on.(he- show, and both Miss Ungcr and Miss Alison, who have, been on (he Para- mount and WB lots, have likewise eschewed contract commitments to be free for the stage writing chore. to go.offshore to entertain U. S. and Allied troops abroad, but his -uncer- tain draft status stymied that.. Waller Niels'on, trick cyclist, filled in Kaye's time on the Roxy bill and will perform a like service for Beat- rice 'Kay who! left the show yester- day i2> because of prior conimit- meiits. Hall. She's been in Hollywood several months. Todd Heads Friars . Michael Todd is the new Abbott of the Friars, succeeding...the'-' late Ben.Bernie. Ho was nominated about four weeks ago, bejng-namod unani- mously prior to Bcrnie's passing and was inducted last week without an- nouncement/ Lou Wallers was elected Dean and J. C. Flippen re- elected.'Prior. New directors' named for two years: Harry Delf. George Kelly, Ken Kling. Michael Myerbcr . liv- ing Tishman. First Test in H'wood Cartoonery Hollywood, Nov, .2. ♦ A femme employee at the Leon Schlc'singer studio, who was .dis- charged to make room for a return- ing soldier, has been' ordered rein-.; slated by the U..S. Conciliation Serv- ice on an appeal for a decision lodged' by the Screen Cartoonists Guild. The decision, awarded the girl full pay for the week'she did! not work following her discharge. The verdict will be of great im- portance, -in other communities when the Hood of ' returning servicemen start calling !nround at their .former places of employment to be put back to work. Cartoonists took the-stand they were glad to see the soldier' back on his old job but declared the girl should be kept on the payroll even in a lower classification where a job is! open. The decision was handed down by U. S. Commissioner Livingston. MCA Buys Into First Legiter, Saroyan's 'Man' Music Corp. of America is now a show backer, reportedly -having put up $10,000 for a , iece of George Aboot's 'Get Away' Old Man,' the William Saroyan play.' Thfs-. is the chunk which became available when Billy Rose bowed out. . ■ MCA, which agents Frank Sinatra, was thrown together . w ith Abbott when dickering "Umpire's Daugh- ter.' with Sinatra starred, tacit - that fell through, .- The . agency - and J. C. Stein, its pre/, has long been financially in- terested in Rftd and other film 'packages' as. co-investor and finan- cier, -but this is I'epoilcdiy a first in legit (jacking. '. '. Gladys George Revives ?. A.' in Frisco Breakin Hollywoi .1. .Nov. . Gladys.George is reluming to the stage in her former success. 'Per-, sonal Appearance;' bpeiiiiu; in Frisco with Lyie Talbot in the press agent role. Another play being readied for Fr isco: break-in . is J ack Liiider's pro- duction of 'Lady Chatlcily's Lover.' Irving Berlin's Personal Click With Britishers London. Nov! . Irving Berlin.', who siifce his ar- rival here last week, has been get- ting as much publicity for his forth- coming 'This Is the: Army' produc- tion as any distinguished War-time, .-visitor to these shores, hits notified USO that he won't accept, 'a single -penny' for., personal expenses in- volved in the tour. ; • •• ■Beriin's generous gesture liiis won widespread attention and since'liis arrival he's been feted as no oilier distinguished personage in a long lime. He's^being continually! inter-, viewed and photographed. When tlie. AssjiY of! American Correspond- ents in London tossed him a cocktail- party Saturday (.101, erliii was emotionally alTeclcd by the signal honor. The scribes got him to a piano, where he played and sang.all of his famous melodies, ncluding the 'Army' tunes, in which c\crybody joined. Exclusively for Service Men in Times Sq. Area In a move designed to expedite service for .the thousands of men in uniform- who, gravitate into the" Broadway sector and are anxious to make every mintite count, the N. Y, Telephone Co. is installing a Times Square long-distance exchange, for the exclusive use of the servicemen puttfng in calls to . their families; The exchange, to be. located at 43d and Broadway, with .combined rest- room, facilities. Ptc. opens on Saliir- ■ dav (6) 'with the coin pa ny selecting hand-picked-^operators, (or the job;- ,slx.-of'Whom .will always be on duly. Exchange is similar, though much larger, to (he one.-; already set up at Grand Central and: Pcnnsy stations in N. Y.. .with all calls to be chan- neled through private long-distance lines to. prevent any ticup in service. Previously Ihb-'-'Uu.iformc'd- boys, in tile Times Sq, area were compelled to wait .their./turns-iil phoiic booths or hike over to the two servicemen's exchanges at. the. r.-. depots. ! fields' New lullaby' Bpffed By Brown-Out Benny Fields, who': opens tomor- row. (Thur.O morning, at Loews. State, N. Yvpaid for. a» new arrange-. ment-last week of 'Lullaby road- way,' to use in. the show. It was! his idea tb'^cw.ord the lyric of. »' ( which- is- 'alhiosl ^standard material- with him,' to take into account the dimout and its .clVecl oiv the .-H eel'' normal brilliance. Day following the delivery of the material the Army annoiilict (i that the east coast d!moul regulalionl would be lifted as. of this past Mon- day (1);