Variety (Aug 1944)

MISCELLANY Radio, Hieatre in Happy Marriage, Thinks Hopkins; Sees Bright Future Bv ARTHUR HOPKINS The Bioadway manuscriot cup- iboaid hai been so bare in the past deicacle that Old Lady Hubbard has pKen up searching producei^ of- fices. In desperation sh* may have tinned to political platforms and on I lhat slender fare may be doing oet- ler. Of course^ it never occurred to .the' distracted one to survey the | neglected theatre . nourishment, in Parched Golf Westchester « golf courses have never appearedm such poor con- dition as this: summer.. 'Wiriter ■rules" prevail. The drought. ■.Only the gr.een.s are green. ■ ■ Even the robins look bleached. They don't hop out ol your way any more-*^juat lean. turn, accepted •:by. 'most ■• only in the new Is real , sustenance lo be found. thi.s in spite of the tmphatic iuccc-s ot occasional le- ■ vivals.-.'. Moiehouse and libraiv eupboaids I ni n n lor she believed the Broadway die- , \^^\^^ BERLIN IN D. C. TO REPORT ON'ARMY' ■■,''' ^ ■■.■'■■'■;.■■ Washin^^ Irvmg Berlin is here to report to Pcssiblv Bioadway is to be the | jp|g yVat Dept. following Tiis over- JiernVanent . exhibitio^i hall ., ot ^■ths ..^ith "'This ¥heVAtmy;!. pas.sing show piovided largely bv j^j.,^ ^^^^ p,., loule to the Middle eager promoters who are geneiall> , -^he .soldier show, which de- HE transient as their wares ^^^^^^ ^n Bioadway exactly two' Certainly the vigoious piomise of y^^j^ 4 j^^t. has been in 1he Bioadway thcatie of the '20s'g jj,^^^ northern Ireland, North has vanished. v>fheie or «hv no AfiiCa, Sicily and Italy one can say Equally pu/zling has been the absence of . new authors of stature. A ■play.wright .once told me^ that he had just passed Mr X. a well- luTOwn Broadway producer, looking as; though the' world owed him a manuscript. It could have been any Instead Of going into .Paris and BefBn. lHie' troupe- inste;4d .will■ ■•>v-ind- up in. the South Pacilic theatre of .war,, but: B.ei'Hn, ■ .jt, is ■understbod.,: wiji not join .■it until-after:the actors set through playing the Per- sian Gulf command area. ■: , J J ui .ji .1 1 The songsmith beads for Holly- rroducer, and undoubtedly the »arne , ^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ j^^m repoils, denied look is to be found on the ' ^^^^^^ personal matters Mrs aces of many impatient actois not, g^^,,,^ ^..^^p^n him He. 1G speak of dramatic critics and large , . ^^^^ j ^^^^ chosen" is oe- sections of a ance-enthusiast.c the- ^^^^ bv Warner Bros for dtre audienM ' f,imi.iatioii WB paid hei $150,000 toi Radios Hvpo , , i the iii^hts a lecoid for a first novel A.S YOU have doubtless suspected, t. .■■"■■■ ■ all of this leads to the SDecia! joy I i (_ •. *• u A..* 1. . , , . . , , ■ : : Bernstein Situation Status Quo have found'in freeing from obitvion :-■• . ■ r- •■■ ■<. !■« 'iu c ,ii , ^,41, < J V, , living Berlin s situation with Saul fine plays of the past and bringing K,, ' "" t^. ■ d„. i' , J, *. j. i 1 : , ' H- Bornstem. his partner . u Berlin, them: by radio to vast audiences who ^ . '-Vi.'I.. ■ . n , , otheiwise would never have kno«n ^""^ Publishing firm is sini at them. ("Arthur Honkins Presents" 1 '"^P"^^^ Lawyers for both sides 3SBC, Wednesday nights, 11-.30-12 30I lllih WEEK ! KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF 1944" El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood, Cal. 1 111 11 i/\ about .lour show, Ken. 'U's-'::'SViiii^Vei'f.iilI *■,■':■ ■ .■'. '■':'.'■■■''■■:'.'■■:•: ■-. FRED ASTAIRE furthermore, . are o n , :vacations. thotigh actually terms . are . delaying the con.summation of the schism be- ivveen the two <» It IS mv belief that ■ the.se, per- formances, will do much to stimulate the demand for a: mature theatre in . all parts of the -country. As I have indicated elsewhere I am convinced; that community! theatres are to be-- come a ' permanent cultural part of American lile. The.se will provide sustained opportunity for actors and playwrights, giving playwrights par- ticularly many opportunities for pro- duction now denied them. It is my hope to .stimulate this theatre, expansion by our radio pro- gram.. In this l.have the warm ooi- operation of the National Broadcast-- ing Co.. especially tnrough vice-pres- ident Clarence L. Men.ser and Wvnn Wright, national program director, ; both: theatre graduates and enthur iiasts Wynn Wright personally directed the first 12 performances. By his nensitive vise of the microphone he gives it the freedom and depth of a Ihird dimension. He knows theati e i caided their dancing act to become Andrews Sisters' Saga Of D'Mtagnan Spirit ' Minneapolis, Aug. 1. . Announcement that the Andrew.s Sisteis, localites, had settled 25% of their earnings, now amounting to | $100,000 a year, to their parents for i Ijle, lecalled to their fiiends heie , that 'the mother and father made many .sacrifices; so that the three i daughters could: attend the ..town's I best dancing school and receive other | educational advantages The yeais | of hard woik and the sacrifices by | the parents now are . paying lusty i dividends. - • | By ,111 odd quirk, it .also' .was. | pointed but here, the . sisters : dis values, thoroughly. To him, the pro- firam is much indebted tor showing the way to create theatre magic on the air. The pattern .set by him is now being followed by Martin Mag- ner, a Wright disciple, and likewise n theatre graduate. It IS my belief that this marriage of theatre and radio will do much to make them both more fruitful in the day.s to corhe. Bluenoses Crack Down On One-Armed Bandits Los Angeles. Aug. 1. 'Vigilantes are on the trail again in California, but not the pistol-totin' bland of gold rush day. New vigi- lantes, heaSed by Rev. Wesley G. Edwards, Santa Ana preachci. took the law into their own hands and confiscated $15,000 worth of slot machines in eateries and drmkeries. , , Raiders served notice on , Sheri/t Jesse L Elliott that they were going 'to clean out the wicked and- de- bauching clement, whether the law officers liked it or not. the stage's highest-paid femme rhythm tilo. The father operated a cafe here. He and his wife left their old-fash- ioned home to travel with the girls who, a few years: ago, bought them a modern ; home ^in Brentwood, near Hollywood. -Jive Sis' Tequilla Date . Hollywood, Aug. 1. Andrews Sisters inked-a four-week deal tO' appear at the Aztec theatre, i Mexico City, with a: guarantee of i ■1)10 000 weelvjy against a percentage | Gals will make their firstr-t-rtp/| south -of the border following their i Paramount CN.Y;) theatre booking, I wh^ch opens Labor Day. | Paramount Summons Billy de >Volfe to 4 Pix Paraitiount's SOS forced Billy dc Wolfe to cancel the Hotel Chase St Louis, Aug. 11. and proceed directly to the Coast where the mimic is un- der film contract. Par has four, pix assignments lined up, for de Wolfe, who made his,, debut Jn "Dixie" (Crosby) when called to the Navy. Cart Bnsson shifts into the St; Louis hotel date, advancing his com- initment a couple of : weeks, thence to AIl'Femme Legit Units Give Novelty to USO Overseas Trouping A taii'l.y-.new 'enterprise for L'SO- eainp, Sho\vs,, hithci'ip.strictly hush-,-, hu.sh because ot Us overseas angle, ts the all-lemme legit units now play- ing offshore. Doing a specialized .job ui'enteiHaining GI s, these units dif- fer from vaude units in: being able to piosent dramatic as uell as va- riety entertainment.. Thev also difter .fi'.oin: the . tAvo sti-aigiil legit- troupe^: cloing: '!Qy6r 21": abrpjid inthat their entertainment IK wider in scope; tak- ing m GI parlicipiition. , ' , : Strictlv an overseas operation, the.se.ali-gii;l legit units now flumiJer 23; totaling' St; girls;';.; Although in existehce^ aJiTiost :a year,. the idea was leliubished three months a^o by Ted Hammerstein. legit director at Camp SiiQ\v.s. who.-conceived the idea. Girl.s who aie signed up aie now sent to school for a week s experience, working with Army Special Services unit.s, vthat.:are tbtii'ingj, this, country' instructing GI s in putting on shows The gills leain this loutine, then re- turn to New Yolk, where they : re- hearse at least one Jegit .play ,and one variety show,, and, two or thi-ee .short jDlaysi'. .AVhen :: -the*. gtris 'go abroad they are prepared, (a) to put on a vailety or dramatic show by themselves tb) to stage a GI show with or talent, -'and '-'tc)" to • be the feriime part .of a .stock eompkny'i.with Gl s^in male roles. Each girl m the -troupe, has a different aKsignriient, one being able to: direct,^nother to- supervise making scenery, a third to handle costumes. These units are handy, being able to go where ar big -sItow cannot, performing -in isolated spots, on stages made of two trucks backed togethei, etc. : Legit plays done include such fare- as ' '''My Sister :Eileeri,''.- ''fsiithe Spirit." and ' Doughgirls.' One-act^ crs include Noel CowaixI's •■•Fumed Oak " Gills all lequue dramatic ex- perience. Hammerstein, who is also stage manager for the Broadway hit Oklahoma." says he gets his mate- rial Irom shows freshly dosed,, from stock, radio, pix. even out ot the dra- matic school. Hcs evert raided sev- eral strawhats. . Girls are legit ac- tresses with a specialty, in dance, song, or music. Three girls Irom the iccentlj-closed ' Zicgteld Follies", signed. Girls also include Eloise Hardt, well-known model; Ann Con- nolh oaughtei ol late actor Walter Connolly, and actress Nedda Harris* sj.in Madeleine Holmes, daughter ot aiioi Taylor Holmesr Cherry Blos- som Balaban, daughter of A. J:-Bala- ban, and Baibaia Bitusttr, foimer -wife of producer Al Bloomingdaie. Zanuck Back to Coast Affiii* N Y *Wil«nn* R«W Blackstone, Chicago, with Giro's Alltr I'N. I. WUSOn rww j.,o,|j,^vood. likely to follow. Darryl F. Zanuck returns to H0I-. Jywood tomorrow (Thurs.) along ■with the sizeable 20th-Fox contin- gent of stars and execs who came on GABLE'S HUNTING TRIP : Minneapolis, Aug. 1 for the 'Wilson" preem at the Ro\y, ; Jimmy Robinson, Star - Journal -N. v., la.st night tl). ..-, . , Mrs; Zanuck accompanied her hus- band to Chicago but was forced to return west through news ot thejr baby's illness, only to learn it wa.s. : minor when she got back to the Coast, However, it was too late to i"flHrn ea.st. I outdoor. editor,: has. been informed by Clark Gable that the latter will come east again this autumn for a hunting trip around; Chamberlain,: S D Robin.son, who has accompanied him, on the trips befoi-e, will do so on :this^ occasion.' Plan Oater Oscars For Top Galloper Pix Hollywood. Aug. 1. Cowboy actors, hitherto ignored in the Academy Awauls, are on the tiail of a galloping Oscar, with spurs th.nt tingle, langle, imgle. First definite step in that direction: was a meeting of representatives of studios heavily interested m western films. , ; Idea IS to .set up an organization, apart from the Academy but within the Hays Office framework, to rec ogni/.e outstanding worth in horse drama. Western champions feel that iheir work has as much right to rec- ognition as short subjects, cartoons .Tiid other classifications: now recog- ni/od by the Academy. ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ ♦♦-»H»-»-H?-« SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK By Frank Scully .'■ .. -■ . -HoIlywood,-"A.ug- I.- ■.-.' Despite ha\ing lead e\ cm thing on Woodrow Wilson tiom R S Bhker to W, Winchell. I'm .still anxious to hear what D. Zanuck has to sav U ' would be nice to soe the unveiling of his "Wilson" at the Row but tele- vision is not yet hedgeliopping from coast to coast. They tell us that tlip Ro\y always rolls up boxoftice records 111 Atitu^t There is nothing to slop this one except a "cea.se and desist' oiriei j om Goveinoi Dewey, and he wouldn't do that even in an election \eai. Though 20th Centuiy-Fox claims that "Wilsoti" is the industry's gicate^t picture in its 30 years, it can be true Producers aren't necessarily wiong becau.se they blow up projection rooms with self'praLse till smoke eett in their I's I suspect I \ e Ii\cd thioiigh moie Wilsonian dreams than Zanuck, but recent conveits can otten show moie zeal and reveal moie liyht than .tired ■ old liberals. ' ■ ■ ■ -■■.;■■ ■■,■', Walter, E. Edge, curi-ent governor of New Jersey,who .servfd in the State: Senate W'hen,'Wil.son was governor and in : the U. S. Senate \vhoh WilSon was president, must know lots more than mo.st of us: 1 d like to hear his off-the-iecord opinion of the pictuie. To my recently tested and still far-sighted eyes, Wilson was not, in Bill Bolitho's gluteiing plua^e, "an immovably, .shining man." Neither; was he Hank Mencken .s '"perfect model of the Chuslian oad ' He was a cold, Puritan codfish with shining eyes He saw cltails but larked the waimth to put it ovoi He wa.- the wioiig guy V ith the light \ision He had the material. He lacked the tim- ing and the deliveiy - ■: The.'Unhappy Warrior .■ ■ Wil.son knew American, hi.siory ,as well or better than he knew-world-' history. He had lived through civil war, :reconstruction, the imperial- design, big biz and all the rest. His first rnemory was m Georgia when he heard a passerby .saying. " LuKoln has been elected and. there will be war" He lan into the hou...e and asked his father not who Lincoln was but what.war was. In a. long-ilife he, never quite fovmd out W:-<;ll enough: to stop even one. ,: At Hoplcin.s; at Bryni -Mawr, :at Wesle.yaiv imd.again.at ■ Princeton he letu ned more of what N. M. Butler called the ' international mind"' and it didn t tnghten him ,at all.:, - i , , ', For U.S Irish to like Wilson is proof that anything can happen. • But - there hewa.s-^a college- professor w-ho had-.said goodbye/to all tlvat .clOis-,- tered seciiritv and,was going to make the world safe for democracy or die in the attempt. Its .stil Inot .safe, but he did die in the attempt. ;1 Wherever he went his first four or five years were always, tremendously - successful This pattern pulsued him even in the White House Altei a time his poisonality would begin to grate on people's neives and out would go Wilson and his ideas. : The pity is that people; are,-not smart- enough to sai\age the :good and nink the bad. He came out ot Princeton as a.man who had tran.sformed its snobbish eating clubs into dGinocralic beaneries. It seemed a silly platform on Which tp elect a governoi. It was a silly era. Anna Held -was taking milk baths. Jim Jefltnes was signing to fight Jack John.son and so ' leesiabii.sh white supremacy.' Tv Cobb was stealing: bases and bailing umpires when they said he hadn't And guvs with lavendar names like Vivian M Lewis were running tor governor again.st guys with names like "Thomas Woodrow Wil-sbn.: Election , inv'olved - tlie privilege of. .re-viewihg the N«'W' Jer.sey national guard on hor.seoack wearing a frock coat and a top hat. Silb:? StiKlly fiom Min^kj Thai Wilson was elected is less a mj&tery than how he won, Joe Tumulty over to becoming his: secretary and holding on to him. For Joe, atiU alive, \v<is our kmd of Irish and not easy to win ovtr. ---.■;..-■-.-■ Wilson and.: ■Vaudeville-:-■ Wils'on, the Puritan, loved vaudeville. -Not only: vaudeville but Palace vaudeville He used to come ovei to Broadway from Tienton, JJ. J. Walter WinchcU sav? Eddie Leonard was the Gov's fa\oiite, but G. W. Johnson says Bert William.s wa.s. At any rate they both agree his favorite was a Negro song and dance man. And nobody worked harder for laughs than Wilson Tliat limeiick about hus homely pan was slopped b> one On tour. Wh«i .soiling the —New- Freedom" acro.ss the country he, frcr: quently talked: from the observation platform to guys parked on boxcars. "GenDemenm the boxes' he would address-them. His re-election \va* even more exciting. The Princeton alumni turned out :again.st:him almcst to a man. I remember a Fifth avenue Pnncetonian parade which I heckled with,'''What, did he flunk all you guys, too*" They might have licked him but for the fact that Chuck Hughes gave Hiram Johnson » bni.shcfl in San Francisco and California -after three days of indecision. fiiiallA- vveiit Democratic. That could happen m 1944 too. What do you think F.D.R, made his acceptance speechm San Diego for—the ride? If Wilson failed in his specialty—which was peace—it must haA-e been _ because he- had grown tire^ making up to hi5 political enemies. Anyone who could digest W. J Bryan. Wm. McAdoo, and A S. Bulleson tFiank Harris- used to write to hira ^regularly as -'Postmaster General' A. S. S. Burleson'.'li and not be willing to woo-Clemenceau with flattery, was cei- talnly too tired to get a durable ocace through his own Senate. Yes, ';Wiison ' should be .something to see. even it we have to pav. Out of deference: to a great President, gate-crashmg on this one is definitely barred to all membeis in good standing. J.P. Pays Frances Fanner $10 Fine As a Vagrant Oakland Cal Aug 1. ■ Wit'.iin a month of her release fioi.i A slate lio-pital m Washington, and on the eve of a comeback in pic- tuics or Bfoadway—she had a bid for the top lole in "Tne Woodhull" —Frances Firmer was picked up as a .technical vagi-ant in ...Antioch, a nearbv industrial to(vn. and relea.sed after a $10 fine was paid' by the justice of the peace who imposed it Miss Farmer -was to return- to the home of her aunt, Mrs. Edith Cas- taing, in YeringtOTi. near Reno. Nev. She had been there.:W^lth her -father, E. M. Faime. a Seattle attoiney. since her release from the hospital on July 3. : When picked up by Antjoch police .she: was destitute and: clad only in blue jean.s and a man'.s platd workshirtv' She said she fled Reno after a quarrel with her father. : The former film star was brought to the attention of tlii police when she appeared at an Antioch resident's home a.sking for food and .shelter. She; had tried to get work at: » cannery; but had f.'siled, and had no luck in the harvest fields near Antioch. For four days she had been living a hand«,to-mouth existence and was in need of medical attention. Justice ot the Peace Tom Milan fined her. on her; plea of guilty, then paid the fine himself and saw to her transportation lo Rtno. GOLENPAUL WEST ON WO' FILM DICKER : Dan Golenpaul. owner of the ''In- ., formation Please air package is cui"'- rently on the Coast dicketing for .sale of the rights to make a feature film based on the airer. . Understood three firms aie bidding for the show with 20th-Fox conceded the jiside tiack ' „ Deal would .also; call I'Oi-: the ap; pearances of the program's regular.', Clifton Fadiman, Fianklin P. Adams, John Kieran and Oscai Levant. 'Series of shorts utilizing the airer had been previously produced and released by RKO. Runyon Re-Pacts With 20t)i / .Hollywood. Aug.,1. Damon Runyon, feeling fii after a .serious illness, signed a new contract with 20th-Fox as pioducer-« 1 iitr. •: First job under .the new pact will be a tunefilm, "Chica Chico" star- ring Carmen Miranda. Dfwg Shearer'* Mitsion ; Washington Aug..!.- Douglas Shearer is en lolile toi an important Pacific assi^nmcnl tot the Army Air Forces; Job is not connected with \>^\ he is going as a ciMlian opeiadoot analyst.