Variety (Nov 1943)

36 PICTURES Wednesday, November 24, 1913 Dunninger—Master Mentalist Continued from pase .-Z\ merit on sawing a woman,merely in half, In his : vaudeville days he had fun making any. person's haridwril- ii.g• appear on a black sheet, and when he really felt like doing some- thing he \yould cause ah elephant to disappear into thin air. He. was a close friend, cf Harry. Houdini. who willed Dunninger some of his appa- rfms. ■' ; A decade ago-Puririinger got wor- ried about the spiritualist mediums, and started hounding them. Ho post- ed a 810,000. aware" to bepaid to any medium who could produce a spirit-' ualislic phenomenon which lie could; not! cither; reproduce or explain on a materialistic basis. Many tried to win the money, but ho one ever did. In one case he proved that a lady medium was ..producing her spirit rapping, sounds by cracking her toe joints, He admitted! he couldn't do that. Make Battleships Invisible Greek; He hurries t\ to the next .victim. . 'Someone : is thinking of the in- itials M. L.i nian stands up in the. uinlh row. 'Arc those the anyone pic-cnl here?" ;V They, are the;initials of the : 'young ladv at your right.' ' " : Al my left." ■ Dunninger.: laughs. 'Well. I -can make mistakes, My right is ymir left. ..The. name of the lady is •''.;' 'That is right.' 'And you are thinking of a tele- phone number; The number is TRnfalijar 7-6796.' •Well . . . Trafalgar 7-6797.' . Off by one digit, DunninRcr merely' shrugged. He makes it plain on every; program that he does not claim to be 100% perfect, only about 90'.;.. 7 '.day. Coolidge ■never invited him nr. ava Huttori,. the-heiress, had him in to read minds a few years a no. He told her she was thinking ■ of a- sentence,'"-'If you have two : loaves of bread, sell one and buy a llily.' Just where Barbara got that I sentence- who knows, but how Dun- '. ninger got, it is something , even stranger. $3,600 for Personals More recently ' Dunninger has of- fered his magical powers to the U. S. Navy. He proposed to make .battle- ships invisible. The admirals, pos- sibly had never heard of his ability to make live elephants vanish and were tepid to the idea.' Dunninger will not explain the proposed scheme on grounds that it is both a military secret and a magician's secret.. On; the - air, he is amazing, even when he gets into difficulties. Some- one' is thinking of the letter E. he says, but the E seems queer,- Dun- ivinger is plainly puzzled. A man arises and explains, *I am thinking of a Greek S.' , .'Well;. I dpn't speak Greek,' says Dunninger. 'but I also get a triangle.' ■That is right.' 'And a T.' That ..is correct.' ;.'■ Maybe it was some Greek college . fraternity.. Dunninger does not in- quire. He has had enough of LEGAL NOTICE The program .' has sponsor, which means Dunninger on the air for. peanuts. But he is earning $3,000 a week on tour in vaudeville. He says, with characteristic modesty, that he is the highest paid enter- tainer, in the world at private parties: He probably isn't, but he has re- ceived $1,500 for a single evening. He asserts that anyone is able to do mind reading to some extent, and hundreds of letters he has received attest to the fact that some ordinary citizen has performed the miracle—■ Prelate's Latin Doable-Talk Dunninger tried to, read the mind of Pope Piux XII when the Pope was still Cardinal Pacclli. Dun- ninger tried and. tried, nd became confused. Dunhinger's story is that he was expecting the Cardinal to think in English, the language used in the preliminary conversation, and that the Cardinal started thinking in, Latin: After' this was straight- ened but, the Cardinal agreed to think' of an Anglo-Saxon name. Dunninger - concentrated . and. an- nounced,. 'The name " . Johnny.' Which was correct. Thomas Ai Edison, who experi- mented Avith Dunninger on several occasions, said: 'Never have I wit- nessed anything as mystifying or as seeming impossible.': Edison .left a code with Dunninger with Which, he purposed . to communicate ■ with 'The Master Meiitalisf after death. Dunninger has never received any communication, Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and • Sir ..Oliver Lodge also left codes with him. AH are now. dead; Dunninger has never; re-:, ceived any" thought transmission from beyond the threshold. Dunninger reserves- his most spec- tacular, demonstrations of mind- rcadihg for the judges who appear Guns. Blazing.' He added, 'And I have a hunch the story will- appear on page four.' He was correct. If all this is merely a trick, U .Is the best one that has come along since Houdini used to have himself handcuffed, locked into a trunk and dumped into the. most convenient river. or, at least, so believes. Dunhingei's oh his-program and who are sworn recipe for mind-reading !i,s for the j ( 0 testify if they discover any de- Sender to concentrate as hard its - (cc ft..- The judges have included: such possible arid for the receiver to j diverse personages, as' Judge' Edward ' R. Koch, of the New York Supreme PlI'ttfiMK OH'UT OF THE STATU .OK ..M-:\V VIIKK COU.MTV OK NIt\V YORK ■■Till-: fONTINENTAl. BANK, ft THl'ST rOMI.'ANV OK NKW-YOHK. as Sur.rawm-' Tru'sin- ttnitor'a certain Tru9l'.MoriicaKe' rl:>■ o-il ..lutir IS. 1R25, made by IV. A.-It. ):<-uliv t'oriiorailon.' Plaintiff. ngnlnHi W. . .. R.. RKAr.TY COKl'OnATKtS". A .\[ U R I C A N NBWSI"AKKltS. 1NO.. J<Ai:iif.OM COKPORATION, WlT.r.IA.M 1l.\.\l)OI.I.*JI IIKARKT mil THH I'KO- J-I.I-: OK THE . STATE OF. KEW YOKK.' Dpfi-niliiniM. To'nil lii.Ucru of W. A.n. RBAT.TV rciitiroliATlOtC- first morteiiKe-»n«l Ipaai-- ■ .)u>u\ . hiu-kiI . fi'i coupon BOltl-. bomlfi nntl lo nil uihi-r liiLcreBteil pcmdnH: l'ui-mi.-inl. Id nn order tlaled. Nownilier Ki, ml::, iiimlo. by Hon.' llernnrtl Uolrln. n.. .Ihsi Wo i,r Uio Supreme "Court. Now Yorlt ('iiiii)fy, ytiu - are cited to'tiliow .rmixe . li^furi- H:iid Knurl al an AilditUnlnl Spe- . l-.i;il T»-i-iii ■ for Trust Mo'rlpaffOM thereof, .10 lip helil al Room 1530. Criminal ruurti* }iuii<llni:: ion .Centre Street; New York «'lly. mi Die Ul.h (lay of Uecetnbcr. l»l nl J0:mO .iveliirk* llr. I lip. forenoon of lliiil . il:iy: or ns>ouit ,llier/;iiftcr fla eonnsel can Im> lieui-a. why an order ahould .nnl.lH- ni:Mle hiM'i-ln apin-oylli^ - tile- anle by Tlie ConiineniHl Ltiinlc & Trtiai .Coliipnuy of New. Vorlt. n^' sui'coKHor Triliilee -under a i-.Tinin TruMt MortK'iRe daieil June 12, l'.C'.. made by W. A. H. Really Corpora- tion lo'lt;ili>li 1>. Kaufman, aw TniMlee. n(. Hie -'|ii-,.mis»H known'aa the SCIcKfeld Tlii-uii-e. lo<*:'ii-il al ihe. northwcHl corner of Mill Sli;<-"1- anil SUlh Avenue, New Yin-Is I'lly. .V. Y.. lo I*«-'b Tbenlre. « lte:tlt..- I'oriioi-Mllon, for. Ibc mini of f480,- (iiiii i-ash. umli-r'the lerma and coiulll Iohm lti„i-,> tally'.sel forth In a certain written nuVi- iii,-i,1,- and. dated AuKUHt 27, 1!HS. -by liulil 1 u 'h Tliealre ft Really <*or-' iM,i-iiiioii to .'I'lie Coniinentnl Hank ft Trn-M Koniliany of New York, aa Sue- cesM.ni- 'I'l-nsii-f. a' copy of wliU-b aahl -wrlllen olfer la on flic In.the office of tlii- Sin-i.-i-fsnr Trualee, -11 }lroad Slrw-t; New Vorli i'lly. anil which ofTor. nml any :iil<niii>n,-il Information, ai-e available lo all l>nn>lhoMci-H or other liilei-exicd- ik-1-.-.'ois; or In ihe. alternative. In the eviit an ,,rrer to purchase aald ZleKfehl 'I'ii.-.-i ire fm--a Hum.In cxcckh of $48.0.001', ail i.-ash. nel...la lilade .by'aom'o peraon or ro):|iornl ion, t hen' why an order ahonltl .in,I.he rnoile approvlnic. the proponed hale 1 ' b.v. Tl.ie: I'onlinenlal IlanU Truat Coin-. Jiany iif New York, .aa such. Successor . ri'i-iislr,-. to .aiieb hi^lier ,blddcr : . for aiiiil premise, r 'anil.for aueh other and' further ..ri.-lii*r nV (i, the Court may vacem Just ami i-'luiia'bie. ■ . MlTICi: IS Fl'RTIIBR fitVEX to- any pi^i-HOn. or -pcraiina deMlrini; to ln'alu 1 a bid foiv si'iiil ZifKrdd Theatre In exyi*ns. of J I.iO.'IOo. Hint such bid -iiiltal be nil l-.-idli n>>l-. lo Hie Trualee: that such blda miiHt In- -In wrilini; and aeftled.- nml l.be' aanie ilellveivil ni Ihe Clerk of the AiIiIIIIoiimI Sni-i'i/il' 'IVrin .'fo'r Trust. MorlenKea. - Jtooni li:i. . Ciniiii>- Cnurl . Hnuae, Worth, and . Ci-nlre strcela. New York City, al lc»M '4* honr.v prior, to tlie return day of tlie .oilier in. a'how caiiae above inenl'loiieil, an,I IJtal '.'all such written Healed :blila '.iiuisi be accompanied b>\a cei-lllled check to- il -(lei- of The f'ontlnenlal Hank ft .'n-ii.n--Coinii'any of .-New Yorl< ..for' of-Ihe .-n'nount df,aueh. bhU ■ Niirli'lv IS Kl'ltTHKH GIVEN that ' sn I'l.' pi-citiises. ■ If -sold, will be sold aut ..ioi'l to. the following.:., (ro -A parly wall am-i-.-nient reconlcd in .the -office «f ■ the J:ei;l.«ier of .New, York Oouhly- In I.lhcr ]ii::;: ^,f f'om-eyaiieca. pace 2C2.: (b» un- )'iiiil InHlalmenia of- the usaeaamcnlN le\-|eil in the Slxfh Avcmic'Elevated llall- rn.'iil (■•ond.cin)iat(on-|i.roceoillnffa; <ci any alale of tnvi* which an- nceurnlc' aurvey \voiilil. show; and to existing .leuaea nail 1i-nani'-les. hi'cludlnk a*certain luaae dated ' Annual 27. fli-1.1. belweeil'TlieClnvtineitlal Jtiink Ar'.TruMi.. Company of New'.-York, aa. l.anillord.' .and'-Loew*a Theatre.' ft Hc-illy. Corporation, .aa Tenant, .which •ul'd--lease cxiiirea on AuRUat .11. ]»4I. Daieil. New York, N. Y„ November IT, J'J*::. • WISH. KIIEI'AnD, HOUGHTON ft KUJ.LiYC Allorneya for- rialnilff. Office and 1\ :0. nilclri-Hs: 50 HiihuI Sir, lliii'ouKli of Mniibalian, Cliy of ■ New Yi.i-l,. .' V vision a black slate and stale what he sees written upon it in white. Dunninger, 47, is a rather tall, solid man. with receding hair- and eyes which could be described both as brooding and piercing. Iir addi- tion to being, a-magician and .mind- reader, he is also a;hypnotist. . He is called in occasionally by. physicians to hypnotize special patients and has worked thus in at least three hospitals. Dunninger's father was a-prosaic person who. came to-America from Bavaria and eventually became a textile manufacturer, lie is dead. Dunninger, a bachelor,, lives with, his., mother, in an apartment in the Bronx.. He discovered his telepathic powers, he says, -while he was still in grammar school. He was poor at arithmetic and .if he tried to work out a numbe> - -problem he usually got it wrong. But he found that if he just guessed at the answer he usually got .it right. Whereupon, he began startling his parents by an- nouncing who was calling when the telephone rang or who was coming to visit when the doorbell sounded. Like most kids, he became inter- ested in trying to do tricks of magic; unlike most kids, he worked hard at it. His hands were too small to use standard cards, so he. persuaded his parents to buy him miniature "decks to practice with. By the time he was 16 he was good enough to.get bookings. . Although primarily a magician, he started reading minds in his early vaudeville days. There were many vaudevillfe mind-readers at (hat lime and the audience just took for granted that stooges were being uSed. But gradually his fame spread and important, persons begad invit- ing him to priva te mind-reading "par: lies. Roosevelt's Question ^President Roosevelt has had him to Washington twice. The last oc- casion was virtually 'a Cabinet meel- >»«•■ ..'■' ' ,-■ ■ „ First Dunninger read the mind of F.D.R. .--'■•.'.■ ;You are thinking, -Will Hammy Fish or Huey 'liOng be elected the next President?" . : . That is correct,' laughed F.D.R. Dunninger; turned to Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthati and told him. he had a $5 bill in his pocket— and. gave the serial number. Mor- genthati fished out the bill. and in- spected the number. "You're right.' Then Dunninger■"" '-.lurried upon Secretary'of State; Hull. ■You are thinking, 'I wish I cpiild. read the mind of my '; like this.'' '.■- ; ": . .'Correc!-,' said Secretary Hull, and F.D.R. had one of his huge laughs. : Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt remarked later',: a bit nervously, .'He's so re- markable ; . : , . that some people wouldn't' like to have him around all the time.'' ■ That, apparently, is the way Cal : vin Coolidge thought about it. Dun- ninger xiuoled. verbatim from a prK vnlc lcllei-'CoplidRC had '.written Ihal Court. Paul Whitemari, Prof. Robert Ei Merton, of Columbia University. SkV. Joe McCarthy, managing editor of. the Army Magazine Yank. etc. . bunninger instructed : Professor Merton, before the broadcast, to. go with two other, members'.of the Co- lumbia faculty to the Columbia Li- brary and there select ariy book among the thousands on the shelves. Then they were to turn to any page aiid settle on any quotation. All they had to do from then on was concen- trate. Professor Merton was sitting at the judge's table .in the studio the afternoon- of. the broadcast; his two .collaborators.remained at Columbia. 'The-name of the book," ■ announced Dunninger, 'it's a sort of . thesis—the name is 'Middletown.' 'The name,' con tinued Dunninger,'is .444.'. 'That is correct,' responded Prof. Merton in an awed voice, And now Dunninger hesitated. You could sense the struggle going oil in his rhind. 'All I can get,' he said, 'all I. can get is,. .they must be playing a joke on me.. .all I can get is -Does not know the answer."; . • That is partly correct,' said Pro- fessor Mertom, . The quotation the Columbia pro- fessors had chosen from the classic treatise was: The Middletown junior class does riot know the answer.' Dunninger explained later that when he got Middletown twice he thought he- was receiving the same impres- sion, the name of the book, On another Sunday afternoon 'The Master Mentalist' handed- Paul Whiteman a slate,' asked him to re-, tire from the studio and chalk a bar of music from any song he had ever, played. While Whiteman was gone, Dunninger wrote a bar of music on another slate and handed it to a pianist. He told the- audience he could 'not say what the music was because he knew nothing about mu- sic. Whiteman teturned io the studio and the pianist played Duhningcy's baft "Whiteman was plainly astound- ed. It; was exactly the bar lie had .written down Out in the corridor—a phrase from 'When Day Is Done.' The slate on which he had written was. of course, never out of White- man's hand and the pianist had no possible way.of seeing it. Dunninger delights especially .in pulling high-handed stunts oh news- papermen. With an eye, of-course, on publicity. During, his broadcast on -Sunday, Sept. 12, 1943, Dunninger had an .as- sistant telephone. Kenneth McCaleb, foreign editor of the N, Y.. Mirror. McCaleb was asked, to cpnccntrale on any headline which would appear in the Monday, paper. The Monday pa- per-, had not yet been printed, and Dunninger, sitting'in-the studio some three miles away, had no way of knowing what foreign news might have come over the 'cables even while he was broadcasting. McCaleb had a pile of proof sheets, on his desk. He picked the first one which came ito hand. Dunninger BBC WAXING B'WAY PLAYS FOR ENGLAND Further evidence of the manner in which closer postrwar ties are shap- ing up between American and Eng- lish theatre audiences, with the Yank idiom gaining a firmer foothold on British soil, is to be found in a new program just inaugurated by: Roy. Lock wood, BBC production'manager in N. Y. ■■ ■Aimed at reaching: out not only at -U. S, servicemen stationed in. the European Theatre of Operations but at the British public in general, BBC is broadcasting a once-monthly series of,special adaptations of Broadway legit shows, utilizing the original casts of the various productions. En- titled 'Second Nights on Broadway,' the programs arc being recorded at BBC studios in N. Y. arid are sent to London for airing on BBC's Home Service. The radio versions were given an okay by Equity, latter rul- ing that , as long as it. were treated as a broadcast and not.as a transcrip- tion (thus requiring'BBC to destroy' the recording after a single perform- ance) . the actors could go on. Program teed', off ; Monday - (IS) with. Elmer Rice's 'A New Life,' which ended its Broadway run the previous Saturday (131, with Betty Field starring in the transcribed version. ' /Next, .production-' in the series will be Frederick Lonsdale's- Another Love. Story,' at the Fulton, N. Y., starring Roland Young and Margaret. Lindsay. Lock wood does the ^commentary, pointing ' up the one-world. Show biz phase that will link the two countries closer in the postwar era, with the authors of. the plays' also , parilicipaling. . Langner, Lois Jacoby West on Picture Deals Hollywood, Nov. 23. Theatre Guild execs, Lawrence Langner and Lois Jacoby, are due from New York this week to confer With film biggies on the sale of some 50.. stage properties for translation inlotelluloid. '"-."'■"■•:" ■ Oulstariding properly is.■ ./Okla- homa,'■-. Broadway : it, for • which practically, every: major studio is bidding. longhair Criticism Continued from page 2 been derisive, of the photographer, but the - caption indicated' the wealthy matron was expressing her. criticism'of the opera, 'Boris Godu- nofT.' Walter Engels, staff camera- man of the News, took the picture. Plenty df 'Ice', at Preem The Metropolitan Opera opened its Diamond Jubilee season on Monday night (22) in an atmosphere un- dimmed. by - wartime restrictions. "Boris Godunoff,' first Russian opera to be given on an opening night, was presented before .a capacity, audience whose only concession to Wartime in- formality, was a switch on the part of the.males from the traditional white lie and tails to black tie. The females strutted ; theil- stuff to ' the hilt, to open.: somewhat incongruously, a sea- son ballyhooed as being- devoted to 'the. people.' 'Boris'; was selected as the opener in deference to' our Riis- iian allies. 'The people' suffered their second defeat' of the night in the perforiri- ancc itself when Modcste Moiissorg- sky's satirical saga of the tribulations of the Russian people was'lost in a parade of .'stars,* each 6[ whom' did their little bit without regard for the over-aH 'effect. The chorus, Mous- sorgky's 'hero' in the opera, was ragged'and' didn't provide the ma- jestic sweep permitted by Rimsky- Korsakolt's orchestration of the. com- poser's music. : . The cast, headed by Ezio. Pinza in the title role, utilized- fully one-fifth ;o'f* the . company's roster. Salvalorc Baccalpni was.boisterously humorous in his presentation, of the Drinking' Song, whrle rterstin Thorborg gave-a competent performance as the siren. Marina.. Outstanding performance of the. ovening : 'was turned in by, .the horse in the first scerie of the last act. who- disdainfully turned his 'back upon- the audience and forced Ar- mand Tokatyan. the pretender Dmitri, to sing the latter part of his promptly wrote on a slate the head- Mnri.a. tyh|le faelhg the rear of the line: 'How U. S. 5th Landed With Us | slatje. Block on Radio = Continued from pace 2 — thorities, wrote arid produced the first variety : show to come out of Africa . which was . shortwaved lo America via an NBC coastal hookup" and rebroadcast twice by BBC in England. That radio will play one' .of the. most vital roles in postwar global- ization of- show biz is the I'n-m conviction of Block, who sees the 'paving of the way' in the current < Sock reaction abroad to such wutr tempoed shows as 'Transatlantic Call,' 'Answering You,' ''Brothers.'' Arms' and Town Hall Of the /Air;'. However, says Block, these ..arc strictly transatlantic prestige shows. When the peacecomes," they.'ll- be channelled into comedy shows. "Fox; Block, avers, just as in America, the top ranking programs.in England are the comedy, shows. and in the coming era of forgetting the turbu- lent war years* they'll' be more in. demand than ever. Cued almost simultaneously to'an announcement; over the weekend that NBC and BBC will exchange a . new program on. Saturday after- noons, starting Dec. . consisting of music and- .variety entertainment from both sides of the ocean, Block's viewpoints on post-war transatlantic programs -were given an added significance.' It should help pave the yvay for the Briiish counterparts of our own Abbott & Costellos and other topflight comedians ('rhakc no mistake; about it,' Says Block, 'the West End comedians are just as sen- sationally popular over there, among their owtvas our Bennys and Hopes here';) in registering a U. S.. click. Hence, the transatlantic' programs ■' should work benelicially both ways.*' says Block. 'way to the Strand'. With such U. S. legit' shows ■Jiiriior Miss," 'Arsenic and' Old .Lace.-' etc., runriiiig concurrently in both countries hd already .establishing the closer. nglo-Amorican show biz ties! Block visualizes the day wlicri such show's Avill go on the' trans- atiantic airwaves, with the .mixed companies participating. Thus, smiie of the roles will be handled by ) ^i' : formers in N- Y:.. with the English casts taking oyer other parts. "And it won't be just a stunt." says Block; 'It'll'. carry much more . important overtones that'll,, definitely ti in with the inevitable global show- scheme of things.' While gags here and overseas are still .predicated on common pibb- lems, we'i-e; still in an era when -a 'local' switch is required to get over in foreign :iands, says Block. 'Simply by working in in a gag about oranges' while playing in alisbury, England, a reference to an unobtainable 'coke' in Palermo, or a Hershey bar gag pulled in Biz(>rle. all have the ef- fect of achieving an immediate in- timacy: with the' audience. , Because' of its cognizance of the fact that radio is playing a tre- mendous morale role in entertaining the troops, says Block. BBC has. fos- tered considerable goodwill by turn- ing over equipment to the. American Forces Network wherever and when- ever possible. In the opinion of Block, the per-., formers going overseas are more than mere entertainers. From per- sonal observation , on the battle fronts, it's liis opinion that they're practically a part' of the Army. Here's how a colonel summed it lip for him: . . 'When those fighting' boys, who' so often can't be,re|ieved,rare scnt-;out oil mission after mission,! and are finally given a respite, their, first thoughts are of good hot food, a.hot bath, and sonic sleep. When they awake! they suddenly realize whal they've been through—and whal they've still got to go through. That's.- where the 'soldier in greasepaint' must slop in. : If he's there to do the job you've saved a soldier fronl cracking, up and provided him ."with. _ the! necessary incentive 'a'nd.; stimu- lant; for ..'that 'next-.mission;'. . Pointing oiit the- arriazin . high Crpssleys attained' by news broad- casts in England-since that country went to. war, .Block asserts that the post-war round- the - globe news, commehlary and similar type .of; broadcast should have the effect of setting oft. simuliarieous trends, with customs becoming more and more universal arid the ordinary things of. daily" living - becoming- common,, knowledge. - . . Block paid tribute to the .work ol- Col. Ed Kirby, chief of U. S; Army public relations on radio in fctliiit! up the.Hope.broadcast in-Atrica and was likewise enthused oyer the con- tribution being rendered by Capt- Andre Baruch! Who. is iii charge ol the American' expeditionary station in Algiers'. •