Variety (Dec 1944)

Wedoesdaj, Deaembsr BT, 1944 MISCELLANY HOT COIN FOR PARIS SHOW BIZ American Forces Network Doing Bangup Showmanship Job for GIs B, i.'PI.. DICK DUDLEY ' (fe.v-NBC, W.Y., Atinounc«r) Ijondori, Dec. ,26. As. you know, the American Forces Network —which . not only sup- plies the ^American portion: of the ABF Program ot the BBC beamed to American. British- and Canadian troops now flghlinfi on the continent, but also operates an all-American broadcasting "setup inside the UK for all the American military per- sonnel still stationed her* . . and that's still a hell of a lot of «uys. Be(oi-c long you will-start.award-- ing yoiir Showmnnhip Citations and 1^ any station deserves an award, it i* the AFN ot the ETO: As for their Showmanship; ask any guy .who has been stationed here for a doiiple of years ... A.s for the War Effort: Well, what the hell . . . they're in it up to their spol-an- nbuncemcnts. I ■ never knew what the AFN meant over here until I-went ori bivouac during the flrst part of the year. We were out in the woods for weeks, sleeping in puptcrits and eat- ing rations from a: can.. Most of the time we shaved wilh cold water and the only basin we had was bur hel- ijiet. Now that is not very home- like. Bui we had an arniy B-1 Kit which was set up in the woods and out of it c»me AFN—bright and beautiful . and American. For the flrst time in months, I heard what songs were being sung back home. I heard familiar voices using phrases wilh which 1 was familiar. It was like a double shot of Four Roses on • cold liighi. Do you see what I mean so far? ok, I'll go on. Good Drives AFN was borii on the 4111 of July like George iw. Cohan and Uncle Sam. A gpod beginning. It was small to begin with but it grew and within a year, it had all the ear marks of an up-to-date 10,000 waller with a livewire program director at the head. Now,, it sends out 19 hours 'pi home each dav to GI guys , and gals. How has the ATN helped Show manship? I'll answer. One of the brightest stars in the USA is Danny iCaye. When most of the soldicis left home, Kaye was barely off the Borscht circuit. Now he is known throughout the ETO because of AFN. Have you ever heard of LUy Ann Carol? She's a new star as far as several million GI's are concerned . . . all.because of one record which has been played for 40 days on Johnny Kerr's "Duflfle-bag" program . . . and played by request. I doubt M Lily Ann even knows how popular the Is (she sings with Louis Prima) •nd there you have another story ... if you are interested, I'll have Kerr send you the details. Everyday, AFN has been crowded .with voices from home. Not just the programs-reven the station identi- fication breaks have been sung or announced by Bing Crosby,; Dinah Shore, Spike Jones . . . in person, or by special records made with the eooperatibn of the Armed Forces Radio in Hollywood, featuring Don aid Duck, Charlie* McCarthy,-Andy Devine and other Hollywood lumin . »ries.-.. Programs on AFN have been im mepsely varied. All the topflightcrs from home, minus the icommercials, have been played regularly. The GI In the ETO kiiows what's on the "Hit Parade" back home. He hears It. There's. Jack Benny, Bob Hope. Fibber McGce & Molly and: all the favorites, Play by play descriptions of ball games recorded oR shortwave . "nd played'the next day. Gi's here had a front seat at the Jam Session held at the Metropolitan Opera House because it was recorded and »iifed over AFN. Smart Productiont Still other prbgrams are tailor made, custom built for specific army problems.. There's the '"Visiting - Hour," a speciW for the hospiUl patients back from the front. It's made up of hits and bite of things Jrom home . . . trimmed down a la "Header's Digest." There's "Com- mand Performance," "Mail Call," Personal Album," "GI Jive" and other shows noi heard In the States Eddie Cantor 'gtvei a flrit-hand eloMyp of what Hospital Entertainment iKMNt for actors and all ihew . biiilNMi An Editorial foataro of 39lh Autiiveranry ISumbpr (Out Next Week) BOOMING B.O:S Producers Seen in Good Financial Shape to Begin Postwar Operations . . . The "GI Tommy" show success- fully explained the British Army to the .American Soldier and furthered his respect for a buddy who'd been taking ir for a long time before the first contingent of Americans arrived. And (fiat looks like real Showman- ship. What about ^ War EITort? Fir.«l of all, it has been one of the biggest contributions to the morale of the Yanks who h^d to sweat out the long months prior to D-Day'•: . . it brought them that touch of Home. AFN had somiething to sell: so it became the only siisr laining station in the world with a sales department .. . , The salesmen are GI Joes and WACS who have sold War Bonds, War Insurance, on writing hoiiie to . Mom, health, .safety and Anglo-American Coop- eration. A lot of guys over here tho\ight they were fighting because they re- ceived a letter from their President but AFN has given them the back- ground leading up to. M-Day. There's a program called "Army Talks' which holds no punches.- It tfells the guys 'what they can expect when they march into Germany; what to do when a sniper's bullet hits them; .'how the Nazis have tried to divide the Allies with the same tall stories ... And it has told them in good, strong language which any GI can understand . /. It's all right from the chest ... A lot of guys will get the voting situation straight because ■of'a series presented by AFN . it didn't try to tell them whom to vote for ... . just HOW to vote. In collaboration with ABSIE, the AFN has sent special programs to the French people and the German peo pe. Stars as great as Bing and Dinah have sat in our London studios and sung songs in German and' French. Bing, later to be known in Germany as "Der Single," told the German sol- dier in his own language why he should surrender. Bing's own com ment after doing this was: "That's the most irpiforfant commercial any- body ever handed an announcer to read." Incidentally, Bing was a real smash over here. Then there's the story of Johnny, the little. British buzz-bomb victim. Johnny wanted a banana. Bananas, if anyone in England has any, would have cost umpteen £'s each. But Johnny was very ill.. .Johnny, the little English boy, needed a banana. So AFN put out a call, and a Trans- atlantic C-54 pilot showed up the next next afternoon with 12 bananas he had picked up in New York, and an English kid in a hospital was happy; and a lot of British people knew a little more about Americans. One of the finest bits of Anglo- American relations to come out of this war has been written by Sgt. Vick Knight, (of AFN). It's a poem that Vick wrote after seeing the statue of Abe Lincoln in Parliament Square, I'm sending along a copy of the pocm, >yhich had to be mimeo- graphed in order to answer the (lood of requests. AiFN now has six officers and 140 men. " Major John S, Hayes is in charge—he was assistant to the vice- pres. of Mutual's Station WOR- Rob- ert Light, now a captain, is his exec- offleer. Bob was in the profession on the Big Street and out in Hollywood until he turned, to the wireless. Lt. Jack London messes - around with Special Events, whieh he also did out In the Twin Cities—in real life. By ABEI^ OREEN Cynda Gienn, American comedi-, ehne, is back In New York from France and gives perhaps the most intimate closeup of Pari"; show biz. to date. She went over for USO- Canip, Shows as head of her own unit. Paris is apparently hungry to be gay again and already the niojieycd few are showing up, bedecked with ; jewelry, in the swankier spots, seem- j ingly eager to divest them.selves of, .some of their riches. The suspicion ; is that much of this wealth has been "I gotten from the black markets! and, | since the latter dread aii official probe as to w'herfe some of thorn got so much money despite. the- Nazi occupation, the bo.nifaccs have noi problem with 1,500-3.000 franc din- ners. At 2c per franc, this figures at $30 to $60 for a person to dine- and-wine well. Theatriis are reopening and boom- ing. That goes' for cinemas: legits and musichnlls. Songsmilh - entertainer Charles Trenel. variou.'iiy reported incarcer- ated in a German prison camp and/or wounded, is doing a terrific business at the ABC Music Hall, along with Sainl-Granier; vet French comic, who. incidentally, was fea- tured many yeai> ago with Miss. Glenn at the Folies Bcrgercs in Paris. Paul Abraham, refugee Viennese composer, is having a new opcrctt.T readied for the Odeon. Jean-Pierre Aumont is mentioned for a'Henr'i Bernstein play revival. The Marigny theatre wants Miss Glenn to return and star in Vinton ,Freedley's"Let'.5 Face It," in which -she toured in America, doing the Eve Arden role. Henry Lartigue, vet showman, and now proved quite a hero in the French underground, is thinner but constantly talks affectionately of Cliftord C. Fischer, his longtime partnei-,-.now in N. Y. Lartigue's Les Ambassadeurs (co-owned by Fischer) is .stymied by the fact ENSA (the British counterpart of USO-Camp Shows) is . using the elaborate. Champs-Elysecs restaurant for its general headquarters. Lartigue is said to have pulled a fast one on the Nazis by "selling" thein his Ciro'.s for a fancy figure, feeling that it wouldn't be long before France would be liberated and the new Ger- man "owners" would te unable to utilize its "buy." Lartigue makes his h'Tq. .W'ith Metro in Paris; he's one of the film company's French directors. New Cafe Popular The Paris-Paris cafo, a new spot on the CliamiJs-Elysees. in the up-" stairs portion of the famed Lang- er's, now. ruii by Robert, of the old Restaurant dcs Capucines, is the high spot for the Parisian haut monde. The songstress there. Denise Gau- dart, is mentioned by Miss Glenn as a strong potential for the U. S. Cairiille Wyn, w.k. to Americans for his prewar international show biz activities; has been cleaning up with "Rose-Marie." the Friml operetta, which has been running at the Chat- let, .even throughout the occupation. yryn Js' now a captain in the French Forces of the Interior (FFI'. . With characteristic Gallic humor, the mu.sichall chansbniers now give free tongue in their indictments of coHaboi'alionists. Mistinguett is ribbed; wilh lyrical tbpper.s'' along the lines, "but I had to sing for the Nazis. because I must protect my tuiin'c." iSince Mistinguett is now in her lOf. that "future" strikes the Parisians as very droll. Ditto the rib on Tinb Rossi, the tenor, who is lyricized that he "sang in order to keep my voice constantly In good shape." This typo of musichall and politi- cal chansoniering in the intimate cabarets oft-times inspires factional feuding. The Maquis accuse the FFI as "being-full of collaboration- ists who have suddenly gotten relig- ion and become ardent pro-Yankee and pro-British enthusiasts." Frc- (Continued on page 33) Ted Collins Writai iHformatlvoly From the Tal*n>t' Vtowpoint on "The Future on Televtsimr I" 39lh 4nniver»nry Edition lOut Next Week) : Glenn MiDerV Fate a Puzzle, Plane Vanished War Dept. announcement of the disappearance of MaJ. Glenn Miller on a plane trip between England and Paris two weeks ago shocked ■the band business deeply. There is no inkling of what happened to the ship in which the maestro and -a group of officers riot connected with his own activities .were-being transpoi-led. It's held unlikely that the plane fell into the English chari riel, since the latter, at the point of the planels crossing, Is only 30 miles wide. Thrt-e hive been other theories advanced, all conjecture. Among them is the possibility the sh^ got lost and landed in remote Allied ter- ritory or in enemy-held area. Possi- bility the plane crashed due to en- emy aerial action i* held remote; even wilder is the idea that It could have collided in mid-air with a robot bomb. In making the jump from England to Paris alone. Miller's purpose was to prepare for the subsequent ar- rival of the band. Latter, a very large outfit (62), took oft a day "or two later and landed in Paris with- out mishap. With it was Lt. Don Haynes, Miller's manager In pre- •war private life, who followed the leader Into service late In 1942. Miller. 35, had been in uniform since October, 1942. He joined the Air Force with the rank of captain and spent .some 15 months in this country organizing various bands. Ill June he shipped for England, where his outfit was. broadcasting extensively over AEF network and BBC. He and his crew had been awaiting orders to moye into France since Sept. 1. Sgt. Ray McKinley has been directing the band since the tragedy. Tupv Since 1S39 Miller has been one of the fore- most maestro names in this country since the summer of 1939, when a long stand at Glen Island Casino. New Rochclle, N. Y., shot him to the top. Prior to leading his own outfit. Miller was one of the ace trombonists; and arrangers available for Vadio studio and dance band work. He was a member of the band formed for Ray Noble when that maestro canie ovor here from England, sub.sequently forming the first of three, bands of his own, the last of' which clicked^ Miller was born at Clarihda, la., and was schooled in a number of middlcwcst towns. He. attended the U. of Colorado and there met and married, .-in 1928', the present Mrs.' Helen Miller. She's living in Tcna- fly, N. J., in a home Miller bought several years ago. Besides Mrs. Miller, there are two adopted chil- dren—a two-year-old *iaoy and a thrcc-months-old glrl-rwhbm Miller has liever seen. Major film- companies will go into the European postwar era in belter shape generally than when the war began.. Not only have they set their financial households in order in the past three years, but the high in- ventory of nearly every, major cor- poration, not always rated an asset by Wall Street, puts many distrib- utors in shape to coast along on production when peace is declared. Not. only do financial quarters rate this favorable; because the cost (ft this product stockpile has been writ- ten olT. but furthei- because it will permit most covporatipns to readjust! their production costs in line with boxolTice returns. B.ecausc most major'companies do not contemplate extensive postwar theatre . expansion, indications are that' there wilt -be little new financ- ing in the early peace period. Biilk of this will go for production of new pictures and for what little new financing is required to fit into the television setup: As to the latter, the policy of most major film com- panies is to go into tele field slowly and cautiously, which, at least for'a while, will- mean .only minor outlay of fresh capitah Major companies still have fresh in their minds how Ihey burned their fingers in over-expansion In the theatre field during the 1927-29 boom period, and don't intend ito be. left holding the sack again. Con- sequently, they are keeping closa tab on demands for new seating in certain areas boomed by war in- •dustries to ascertain just what the theatre demands will l>e once the war plants cease to operate. J Even on production, it's believed that most production outlay can .be supplied out of company earnings. S. A. AUTHOR PREFERS BOOKS TO HOLLYWOOD Kathleen Winsor.-author of best- seller "Forever Amber," now on Coast helping on screen-scripting it for 20th-Fox. is turning deaf ear to Hollywood for futiire, She doesn't like studio scripting, prefers to stick to book writing. ■ Odd angle is, Miss Winsor is U. of .Cal; graduate. • i Pou.vriKo Kv Hi.Mio srr.vun.MAN rillillaliril tVi'l-kl.v liy V.\llll-:'rV, Inc.' . Sid SIIVlTillllll, I'l'CHillt.||t li4 Wi-H> 40lh !^\.. Si-w Vdilt 13. N. T. INDEX Bills .............. Chatter......,..;;., Film Reviews ...... House Reviews .... Inside Legit , ; . Inside Music . Inside Orchestras .. International ...... Joe Laurie Lc.c;itimatc i.itcrati ...,'.; Music Mew Acts ....:... ■Night Club Reviews Obituary Orchestras ......... Pictures Radio .... Radio Reviews ..... Frank Scully Vaudeville 31 30 9 .35 39 ' 32. 32 l(i 9 3G IG 30 35 34 3!) StI 4 20 2« 2 33 l».ilI.Y V.iltlliTV < (rulillnlieil ill IIoll) ivnuil bjr »Blly Vnrtfly. J.ld.) 110 a Yeai^tl! Vrif<<iitn