Variety (May 1945)

20 PICTURES WednrMlay, May 16, 1945 Laurie's Notebook U. S. Majors Continued from paie S gium, Holland, Italy. -Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, ele;. have been By JOE LAURIE, JR. Just finished reading two swell books by two swell troupers: "Rolling Stones," by my old friend Fred Stone, and "Some Of These Days," by juc old gal friend. Sophie Tucker. They bring back golden memories to the old tinier* and make the younger generation of the theatre realize thai they have a cinch today against the hardships the pioneers had in show business years ago. land aid for It seems that a lot of actors-are going into this writing racket, Is it j an pa . _ecause they have just learned to write, or have the stories they've stored | . ^^e. vhe wa ^ w »Jf. % tip for years Anally broken the dam of the inkwell? Eddie Cantor, J. G. , best* *5 "Op.OOO 'e'»>W'> U ' f ~ Nugent. Gypsy Rose Lee. Ilka Chase. Georgie Jewel. Paul Whilema... W. C. ! f ^ ™e « ho ^ 0 ' Handy. Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Bob Hope. Peggy Wood. Joe E. Brown and . : " J!f I l nl | v with differtiit dis* Elsie Janis have-written books; brides there were those by the old stars, h«£* A £J& ^ m £ c now gone, like DeWolf Hopper. Weber and Fields, Otis. Skinner. George • JJilM. A^^uUme U S e < U M. Cohan. John Drew. Will Roger,. Doug Fairbanks. Sr.. and Nat Goodw.n. ! ^ just to mention a few. who have taken up space, which I can t Man>of leased to SIO.000.000 or then, arc. or have been. C.las>'A wnlers and, of course, some of tliem had , ^ ^ ^ vnlil . e ' Eul:o . « ghost guide their typewriters. • pe an terrilorv could be raised'100', i Of course, turnabout is fair play, although- book writing is a writer s wjlh , Me ' ■ ■ FLA. MAKES ANOTHER PITCH TO FILM STUDIOS . Tallahassee, Fla., May 15. In another bid to bring Cali- fornia's multi-million dollar movie pointed out as potentially good mar- : """ViV-.'^^.'"" ■""""■/"^il.Vr ! i»dustry to Florida, a resolution was kels always, of course; Voviding i^ 1 ^ ^ the State Senate here that U. S.. films are freely admitted ■ ° ld '™ 0a .| plavef/^^ie.V' F) i{,ay IU ' ea, ? ,,,K for •PP«i"lment ; quest. Baseball piayeis, < noflcaiiieis. { a ,. mOt | 0n p j cture industry com- ; pallbearers, etc would receive mm- \ f fl ,. lo ( £ (o : p ersUiu V „, n , .mum of $20;^ fencers, jockeys, clc Q . c u • loca 4 , he f r sllldi '/' m ; $25; . bareback riders, motorcycle ; 1 riders, etc., $35; hazardous doubling. ' $50 up. half for players whose call started | at 3 p.m. or later. Work day would i end at 12 midnight, wilh ra'e after jlliat calling fSV double time. Play- !crs would receive $8 additional, for I special makeup, nr. $2 additional for : sideburns, mustache, etc. Dress ex- ; Iras would receive $8 additional for because they have just learned to \vi _ „ "' """ I Florida. |. Sponsored by Senator Waller B. Fras'er of St. Augustine, the resuln- I lion said location of studios in j Florida would bring an added inllijx , of tourists, "Oder an opportunity for : ' the '.youth of our stifle to develop their talent for stage and screen, . „ ^ . , 'bring great wealth lo the stale and '-reopening of shutttered j 'or Sunday (131 but called off - by be a source of advertising of the ' : ' - ■uii- advantages of the Stale of Florida." Senator Fraser declared that . Florida had'lhe advantage of tropi-. Among the newsmen ruined playwright are: Jack Lait.'-Ring Lardner. ' i' n0!ie . European territories "with : tit;it>- in the dailies. Dinning trio's ; Probe Drama Continued from.page 1 job. Slili a lot o( newspapermen: got into the show business via the quill, j lhea lres and improved showmanship j station execs because of pad s I'm afraid thev have done a much better job at show business than meas- . _ lhe increase in rentals would nbt.|' d «' raW «-.»«' v « rt,s "»«'' Hnct "l».vmenl uring pica^. Some ofour great plays have been written by newspaper- : make up (or the potential dip- in : in advance" clauses. folloW/ing pub- men. Adolph Klauber. Ben Hecht. Charlie McArthur, Gene Fowler. Charles 1 sxvo)len re ntals due to the war. i singing career had already been Emerson Cook. Bayard Veiller. Arthur Hopkins, Eugene O'Neill. Glen j „ ul _ frbln 'Britain ''a* «n"eii'- Sund»y. .May «. jii the-flrst pf McDonough. Ralph Kettering. Paul Armstrong. Dorothy Kilg.llen. M.urine ! a J5E'fa&2id from around $40.- : lhe se,,es ,ald 01,1 by Ta " nt St0llts - Watkins, Edna Fcrber. Dorothy Day. Arthur Brilliant, Mai k Hellinger. . Q00 ^ Jn 1940 to approximately Sam Hoffenstcin. Montague Glass. Nat Dorfman, Wilson Mizner, Gl !>ce i jon'noo 000 in 1944. A cal. scenery; climate, access lo the large population centers of I he United Slates and proximity to Cen- tral and South American countries. Under the resolution, the commil- Dayton. Mary Chase. Damon Runyon, Bide Dudley, George S. Kaufman. Channing Pollock. Maxwell Anderson. Marc Connelly. Laurence Stallings, Max Lei(. Bart Cormack, Deems Taylor, Morrie Ryskind. Russel Crouse. Ward Morehouse. Allison Smith. Fulton Oursler, Rennold Woolf, Irvin S. Cobb, Bozeman Bulger, George Ade, John Anderson, Gilbert Gabriel, Alexander Woollcolt. Charles Washburn, Gladys linger,.Booth Tarkington. Jack Kirklahd, The Spewacks, arid so many many more Fourth Estaters. Every actor (eels he has a book, while almost every newspaperman feels he has a play. Some of them just never seem to-just get around to it. It seems the style, nowadays to have "actor columnists" write, for our daily papers. Will Rogers was one of the most successful to do this work. Eddie Cantor wrote a box for a while, now We have Bob Hope, Orson Welles and Gracie Allen doing very well with their columns. j "Variety" was the first to give the writing boys in the profession a chance to talk in terms of ink. Such as J. C. Nugent, Fred Allen, Jack Osterman. Billy Gould, Milton Berle, Billy Jerome, Leo Carrillo. Bill Halli- gan and Adam Sowerguy Murphy were just a few who graced the "Va- riety" columns through the years. I believe an actor really writing his own stuff gets just as big a kick but of appearing in print as he does on the stage. ' Anyway, its' more lasting, if you paste it in a scrapbook. We have had many actors'who have written fine plays. Playwriting actors have included George Abbott, Eugene O'Neill. Hyman Adler, Roy Atwell, David Belasco; Eleanor Robeson, Charlie Blaney, Earl Carroll. George M. Cohan. Jane Cowl, Frank Craven, Harry Delf, Paul Dickey, Leo Dilrichslein, Phil Dunning, John Emerson, Sam Forrest, Grace George, James Gleason. John Golden-. Albert Hackett. John Hazzard, Sidney How- ard, John B.' Hymer. Bert Kalmar, George Kelly, Howard Lindsay. Clara Lipman, Edward Locke, Lester Lonergao, Jack McGowan, Gilbert Miller, Clyde North, Jack Norworth. J. C. Nugent and his son Elliott. Basil Rath- bone, George Rosener, Edward Milton Royle, Mary Ryan, Cornelia Otis ' Skinner, Peggy Wood, and so many mVc could write as well as they could act, ancr even sometimes better. Writing a book today is a cinch. All you need is a publisher to ask you, especially one who has some extra paper laying around. 30.000,000 annually in ill alone could not be made up through increased revenues from the Western European territory. Theu^there, are other areas, such as Sweden. Spain. Egypt, North Africa, the Far East. Girls -who filed complaints with 'dip-™ 0 '' "$20-•Tuohy's office following the expose j tee to. be appointed would include liis' territory '" "Variety" were Jane Nielsen. Vir- the governor, and representatives 6( ginia Gleva. Kathleen O'Brien and {the judicial arid legislative branches Mable Sandstrom, who claimed they'd been lured into schools with promises of fat slage contracts or stardom in' Dims when they grad- Australasia, where rentals have in- ua *«J- Tee^s, they said, ranged from Inside Stuff-Pictures creased from 100 e ; to 400 r i during the war. Can U: S. distribs expect to hold those gains? - In regard to Britain, one non-Aim industry research outfit recently issued a pamphlet stating that Eng- land represented 75% of all foreign film rentals. In thw event, rentals from Britain would be' $127,500.- 000 annually instead of approxi- mately $90,000,000 estimated by "Va- riety". Official British Board of Trade estimate is also around $90,- 000,000. There is some, prospect of course, that the Far East (including India and China) can be raised from a 10% territory (around $17,000,000 annual rentals) to a 12-15S- territory as the emphasis swings more forcibly to the war in the Pacific. But India is'regarded as in the British sphere of influence and British film interests plan to dominate the picture field there. Germany . remains the important unknown quantity in Europe. Some foreign department heads estimate that film rentals from this territory, if and when U. S. films can be shown there, would range from $15,000,000 to. $20,000,000 annually. For lhe time being the German market will re- main closed, according to latest re- ports from Government sources, and may not be opened io U. S.'Aim in- terests for many months, perhaps years. Most theatres in Germany have been destroyed except in by- passed towns such as Heidelberg. The foreign film outlook, however, does not remain without its favor- able aspects: A more forceful inter- $170 to $350. with schools and loan companies involved advising them their credit would be ruined it they tried to back out of contracts. - 'I paid all but $40." Miss O'Brien's complaint read, "because I never learned anything at the school. They put both popular and. classical sing- ers together in a class of SO, and we appeared before the. school mike only twice." Miss Sandstrom charged she be- came ill and couldn't attend classes, but the school refused to refund any of her money, arid Miss Gleva said the chool obtained money under false pretenses, since there was ho radio equipment, no stage, no class- room. Promises that classes would be placed on a weekly metropolitan radio show and appear in a Loop theatre were never' filled, she said, adding. "I spent $300 before I smartened up." H-A's Expose Series Herald-American, m e an w h i 1 e , of slate government aiid private citi- zens. Warners Builds Contract list m Past 5 Months Hollywood May 15. Total of 15 thesps have been added 10 Warners' contract payroll since the first of the year, raising the roster .16 27 stars and 47 featured players. , Newcomers to the regular, salary list are Ramsay . Ames; Robert Arthur, Bruce Bennett, Barbara Brown. Pat Clark, John Coinpton, John D'Andrea, Wanda Hendrix, Art Kassel. Joe Kirkwpod. Jr., Peggy Knudson, Robert Lowell. John Miles, Helen Pender and Martha Vickcrs, C. P. Skouras to N. Y. On National Theatres Biz . Hollywood, May 15- Charles P. Skouras left last night 114). for a. business stay of several, weeks in N. Y. While there he'll attend a board meeting of National Theatres and huddle on other cir- Eric Johnston's future participation in film industry affairs still remains a bit indefinite with the present U. S. Chamber of Commerce head ill last week. He had been re-elected a fourth-term head of the Chamber, an unprecedented thing, but this apparently is held.no stymie to his swinging over to any post with the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors Assn. Picture officials know that he has expressed a desire to carry out his Labor Management Charter, his pet project with the C. C, before leaving that organization. It's been okayed by the CIO and now is up lo the A. F. of L. stid the National Assn. of Manufacturers for approval. Both are expected to fall in'line which would speed completion of Johnston's P1 j7s?now the belief in the trade is that he won't sign up as a MPPDA j "ompanie^'as'ind'iclrteoMn^*'Vai-iety" exec until he cleans up affairs in Washington. Johnston has been prof-!.,„,,.,„,,"',„„,.,. Tt _'_.,-, . , . . .. . r . ... ., , " , . • ■ , — , r « ) last week ( Withdraw U. S. Films in ferred a definite contract with all angles agreed in principle. Formality of i c _« ; _.., „„„ .-..j u„,.„ ,„ J; „„ ., ... . , . • a " * ~ * Spain ), may yield belter trading aign.ng awaits adjustment of his affairs wtth the C C Generally under- lerms f Amei . ican p.oducer-distri- stood that Johnston would divide h|s time between N. Y. and Washington, butorS 0nce ^ ad barrj are he , d much the same as he does now with the Chamber. l0 a minimum and CUI . rency manip . ulation is also curbed (combined with the reopening of long-closed markets), there is a strong chance for maintaining a very high level of film export trade. That current for- eign trade levels can be increased, however, to a point where the in- crease would make up for any sub- stantial decline in U. S. dgmeslic grosses, is considered doubtful, for the next year or two at any rate. cuit matters. Accompanying Skouras were Ed SCabel, in charge of-film buying for NT. and Sam Shain, aide to Spyros Skouras- Latter has been here sev- eral weeks on Seventh War Loan business. posing schools, and Better Business Bureau warned prospective students to investigate records of schools in their offices before signing up, with following data—including names and dates—printed in H-A's series. Of- the Metro school, one of those • named in complaints. Bureau was!— , _ Mil A ' T quoted in H-A as staling it's owned hKeO LrOSS . WOfCr lOP The overall picture of how the Nazi atrocity newsreels. fared is that •Veeing is believing," and that the newsreels did a dignified story of a gruesome one. In the back of most people's minds also was that-Geh. Eisenhower wanted the American public to see the films and be convinced that the newspaper and radio accounts were not exaggerated. Checkup of theatres around the country reveals that exhibitors played ball in handling the atrocity newsreels about 90'i. Also that with the react Ton at hand, exhibs would treat future releases on Japanese atrocities, es they arc brought to the light of the camera, in like fashion. Checkup on the Universal - lot discloses: 151 employees who have been with the company 20 years or more. List includes two, Maurice Pivar, editorial department head, and Charles. Van Enger, cameraman, who have been there 33 years.:. C. A. DeFrancis. grip, has a 32-year record. Four others, Martin Murphy, studio' production manager; Ford Beebe, associate producer: Waller Kirkpatric. props, and E. J. Cunningham, electrician, started at Universal in 1914, 31 years ago. Grand-total of the 151 amounts lo 3,585 years of work. How old cartoon comedies, which at limes get out to U. S. armed forces overseas, cause unfavorable reaction among some servicemen, was illus- trated recently in a GI complaint from the Pacific Southwest fighting zone. "Sunday Go to Meeting Time," a Merrie Melody carloon. allegedly made; the Negro look ridiculous at a. tiirie when many people are working to bring around a better understanding between the races. Warner Bros., -which originally distributed the cartoon,, explains that the short was made ever five years ago. - SPU New Scales Continued from page 9 s ing up to $75 per day tor racing, trotting horses, etc. Rate for In- dians would start at $18.50, ranging up to $300 aiid over. Proposed agreement specifies waivers must be pftid only $10.50 per day, and that none may be hired until all available SPU members arc. employed. Can- cellation of calls and issuance,, of Eddie Cantor's job as producer at RKO will be hampered during Iho month of 'June by radio commitments, including those of Kddie Cantor, Joan Davis arid Harry Von Zell. These players in producer -Cantor's forthcoming western musical, slated to start June 4, will require one day off pei-'week for airshow. chores, gumming up the filming schedule. . Ab- sentee .problem will be,solved inMUly when all go oft the air; by Morris Dreyfus, also known as Maurice Dreyfus, identifying him as having formerly been connected with four aviation and air-condition- ing firms, three of which are now out of business. In 1942. Bureau re- ports show, Dreyfus and a partner approached a man operating a small school of voice, dancing and music in Detroit. ! "Dreyfus propsed that the ; man • was working for peanuts," record reads, "and that with extensive sales promotion they could all clean up. Promises were made for interviews with influential people along with screen tests. Students of the school became suspicious after six months, since the work was all schooling— no interviews or teste, following which warrant for arrest of princi- pals was obtained and owner was fined $50 for operating a trade school without a license." Bureau also has report of Talent Scouts showing one of its 'incorpo- rators, James J.' Donegal!, was for- merly associated with three aviation schools,'all of which have gone out of business; that a prospective stu- dent stated a salesman for TS told her she would be on Station WBBM in four weeks after signing up; and that WBBM informed the Bureau it had no connection with the school. Film Row and radio execs were out on a limb on the deal, inasmuch as exchange flacks had spent weeks working on 13 TS scripts with Howard Keegan. WCFL staff writer. Final returns from only 16 o( lhe. 40 areas covered on the Red Cross War Fund Week campaign for 1945 now show a total of $6,834,753 as compared with a grand total of $6,- 054.212 in 1944. N. Peter -Rathvon. RKO prexy, chairmaned the drive for' the film industry. Pressburger's New Aide * ; Hollywood. May 15. Theodore W. Baumfeld has been appointee! successor to Henry Brash as N. Y. sales rep for Arnold Press- burger. He will leave the Coast at the end of this week to set up of- fices in N. Y. Baumfeld has been Pressburger's executive assistant for past three years. Brash had resigned his post to lake a producer's job with PRC. PAR ANNUAL MEET JUNE 19 Parainoulit's annual stockholders meeting will be" held in New York at the Par building June 19. Usual reelection of directors, and statement of Barney Balaban, as prexy. to the shareholders are. two things .to. come up. Full details of session will be out- lined to stockholders in a proxy statement to be mailed out this week. While producers are kicking about the shortage of celluloid, Warners' statisticians are bragging' about six cameramen, now on the lot, who have shot 15.000,000 feet of film oyer a total of 165 years of service. Arthur Edeson has been aiming a camera for 35 years, Sol Polito and Ernie Haller, SO; Sid Hickbx and 1 James Wong Howe, 25, and Peverly Marley, 20. Their total uumber of pictures is 1,502. '.'weather'permitting" calls would be j but cha , ked up 'i ini e wasted lo ex- > abolished. I perieiice when station execs phoned It is proposed that all callbacks j Donegaii to tell him the series, set must be posted not later than 3 p.m., i on 4-4:30 p. m. slot Sundays on with proviso (hat it not posted all | WCFL, was off because "the heal's players on call will report back. ion." "for .. Proposed'' minimum for nou»re- cording- singers - doing,, rehearsal or- mouthing to playback would start at $25, ranging upward to $75 for soloists. Weekly conversions would call for six times daily .rate, instead of five times as currently; Overtime would start after eight hours, with minimum calling for time and one- School,-which was on WIND with a similar format previously, but got knocked off by summer .baseball schedule, hasn't any recourse, ac- cording to station execs, because it hadn't, paid- in advance and because station's contract reads, they don't broadcast in behalf of businesses that are questionable.- □ R. R. Travel — Continued from pais* moved to the Coast to .complete the war in the Pacific. Chicago is still the botllcneck; since .there are over 20 trains daily from New York lo thai town, while a considerable lesser number' travel westward from : Chicago. At the same time, rail accommo- dations from Hollywood are not ex- pected to become better because trains will be moving from that point with convalescent and furloughiug servicemen.