Variety (Mar 1945)

- Motion Picture Industry RED CROSS WEEK March 15-21 ■ Make It Thrive In '45 By Collections After Every Performance ^> Inc. Kublliln a WMkUr |}'111 West lllh Btrejt, Now York 1», N. 1.. by Variety. ..... HBUriB It fictma^elan minor SacImEer 22. laoe, at the Post OffTok nt Now Torlt, CdPXBIOHT, 1915, BY VAB1K1V, INC. Annual lubqorlptton. 111. Bin Hi* qanlef. If oenlf. ~ ■ n. i.. undn w* isi «t htfsd i, rm. AM, BIGHTS BE8EHVKD „, PRICE p CENT* VOL. 157 No. 13 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1945 CURFEW HURTS ALL BROADWAY 25% Ceiling on Income Taxation May Prolong 20% Amus. Tax Bite Indef Washington, March 6. The amusement industry, now oarrying the weight of a 20% amuse- ment tax, has cause .to worry over the growing prospects of a proposed constitutional amendment which would prevent the government from levying more than 25% income tax, irrespective of the size of the in- come. Already 17-state legislatures have petitioned Congress to put the mat- ter to the people for a vote. If 15 more state legislatures similarly pe- tition, Congress would act and there Is a very good chance of a favorable popular vote on the 25% ceiling. If the amendment should carry, it would pwbably be a long, long time before the'20% bites on the- atres, niteries, etc., would be low- ered—if ever. While some toppers In show biz would benefit substan- tially by the reduction, lower peace- (Continued on page 521 Latch On to Frock Coats, Song Ploggers, and Get Into Madison Ave. Groove By DON WALSH That's the advertising business for you! ' Here's Batten, Barton, Durstinc & Osborn, Inc., known far. and -wide as one of the most conservative and staid agencies in the field, winding up as—ef- all things—a songplugger. Chronology of this strange state of affairs follows: Oneida, Ltd., manufacturers _ of Community silver plate, of Oneida. N. Y., through BBD&O, have been conducting a mag campaign based on returning servicemen using a aeries of reproduced paintings in color titled, "Back Honie For Keeps." All the pictures showed a ."back home" GI greeting his sweet- heart as a tie-in with Oneida's post - war merchandising campaign. The theme clicked and letters (oi reprints started coming in. from servicemen and their gals from all (Continued on page 491 Patriotic Anyway Miami Beach, March 6. As soon as the curfew went into effect, the "patriotic - ' if. otherwise scofflaw gamblers posted notices that, because of the midnight curfew, chemin-de- fer, roulette, craps, etc., would start earlier. . S.o now they're gambling from 1 p.m. on, but close at the witching hour, per the Byrnes edict. Summer a Hot Period For Film Names' P.A.s But Prices Create Bar Summer let-up in picture making and pressure by studios on their stars to go into vaude are expected to produce a bumper crop of names on the vaude circuits this summer. Major hitch for vauders, at the mo- ment, however, is the high price tags hung on the film people. John Carroll is now being submit- ted at $5,000 weekly, while William' Bendix and W. C. Fields, both on the market for about two weeks, have been' nixed so far by bookers because of prices. Bendix came with a $10,000 weekly tag, while Fields was appraised at $12,000. John .Boles is being submitted to vaude houses for $5,000 weekly, just double his salary since his last va- riety date.. Reason for the upped wage is his run in the successful (Continued on page -49) Home Radio Sets at Peak Despite No Production Washington, March 6. A total of 33,100,000 individual American homes now have radio receiving sets, the largest number In history. This despite the fact that there has been no production of radio receivers during the last couple of years. Figure was announced here yes- terday (Mon.) by Lewis Avery, NAB director of broadcast advertising. • Increase came about, said Avery, through the shift of many sets from homes, which had more than one into homes that had none pre- viously. CURFEW SEEN NIPPING SEVENTH WAR LOAN The curfew will doubtless be re- fleeted when the 7th War Loan drive starts in May. Volume - of bonds ■M by actors in night clubs and 1 oalres was important in the previous drives, but with those places dark the sale to individuals will certainly be clipped! That is where .the Treasury Department is due to step in. A long, tough grind for theatres and other branches of show biz in the coming Seventh War Loan Is seen on the basis of Friday's an- nouncement by Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. ' He announced a $14,000,000,000 goal, of which $7,000,000,000 is to be sold to individuals. Of this, a rec- ord-breaking $4,000,000,000 quota is earmarked for Series "E" bonds, the kind sold in film houses and by some other centers of amusement. Drive will formally Tim from May 14 to June 30. However, an "inten- sification" of "E" bond sales will begin April 9 and will carry through until July 7. This-indicates that the theatres, etc., will be ( pushing bonds for Uncle Sam for' three months without a breather. A GHOST STREET AFTER MIDNIGHT By JACK PULASKI Broadway 1h turning into a ghost street. * That's the way it looks after one week of midnight curfew. Other localities are similarly affected but for the world's greatest metropolis to fold' up like a tanker in the deep sticks is incongruous. It's quite evi- dent that the curfew is the most radical wartime experiment in the nation's history, and by placing the citizenry on what is in effect martial law, Broadway has been-hardest hit. If the curfew Is not modified or eliminated, the legit season may terminate disastrously. Broadway is loaded with shows, many of them Fix-Radio Boys on Coast Stake Video Claim; Prelude to East West Waif are? Curfew's effect on Broadway legit therewith. ' Effect on the national picture boxoffices Page 8 ' Effect on niterjes 7iationalll/ (biz off 25-45%) . ...... .Page 23 standout successes, but the agency sale of tickets, even for those legit hit attractions, is slowing up. while (Continued on page 23) They Get Drunk Fast Now and Also Gum Up Legits Coincidental^ . During the first week of the cur- few it was noticed that more play- goers arrived at theatres well- liquored than heretofore. It was more evident among parties of four, six or eight persons rather than couples. ' A Navy Commander accompanied by his wife entered a hit-legiter so over-exhilarated that wife tripped going down the aisle, falling on her face. Because of the disturb- ance they were politely ushered to the lobby. Officer explained he was just in from extended sea duty. Knowing there was little time to celebrate after the performance, they imbibed during and after dinner. The Lunchtime Beat Another effect of the curfew: Winchell and- Lyons are cover- ing Lindy's at lunchtime, and Winchell is going back to Catch- ing shows—anything to- keep busy. "Besides, seeing the shows," says the suntanned Winchell, just back from his annual prolonged vacation in Florida, "will give, me something to chin about after midnight." - .' The big thing now is where to go after 12. Looks like a big ginrummy season, and. the guy with, the most liquor winds up playing host to his cuffo guests. Taxi (Booze) Service The peripetatio bootlegger is another new curfew evolution among Hie nighthawk cabbies. If you look right they hoist a bottle of Scotch or rye for .a quick swig in the back seat as they chauffeur you around. More Burdens Placed On Homef ront Good For GIs Abroad—Malone Confirming the impression that what is behind the midnight curfew is soldier opinion abroad, Ted Ma- lone, Blue network correspondent just back from the European Theatre of Operations, Monday (5) said, "Any ruling which puts more bur- den on the people at home raises the morale of GI's abroad. "Not that they get malicious glee out of it. but they feel that oivlllans in the U. S. must bo made to realize that this .war is a hellish thing, and we must all sacrifice .in order to win it," he added. ' He declared that GIs fighting up close to the front are most grateful for USO-Camp Shows troupers who bring entertainment to them. Troupes are known to have been playing for oompanies in towns in Belgium immediately prior to their recapture by the Germans lata last year. Several times, due to prevail- ing conditions, such as lack of space on troop trains and rest bases behind the front lines, singers would have to go through their paces without any accompaniment at all. "It's easy to please people who have so little, Malone said. He condemned the newspaper (Continued on page 46) By ABEL GBEEN Always agitating that -the Goast become the capital of all show busi- ness, the pix-radio bunch thinks It* really has something now in tele- vision as 1 the cohvinccr. To hear the Coast film and. broadcasting studio, executives, give out, there'a no question but that the .blending ot the two arts, via video, must make Hollywood the focal point for all television, When one reminds the Coastltes that with the Broadway legit, plus Radio City as a New York landmark, plus some still existing eastern film studios, the east might well become the television centre, it gets th« coast defenders Into a stew all over again. But, east or west, there's no gain- (Continued on page J) 'Voulez-Vous Cut a Rug/ Yank GI Jive Impact On Not-Too-Gay Pirn American films, four and five years, old, are doing sensational business in the cold, unheated' houses of Paris, according to Burnet Hershey, playwright, radio com- mentator and Liberty's war cor- respondent, who last week returned from a four-month trip on the Con-, tinent. These films appeared miraculously almost Immediately after Allied IfD- eration of the city, and have sine*' been playing to paoked houses, with crowds waiting in the cold for hours to get in. It was explained by Her- shey that some exhibitors, caught short with the pictures when the Germans entered the city, hid them (Continued on page 55) Hue ti;leyisio\