Variety (Jul 1945)

WAR ACTIVITIM N. Y. Names Check In on Paris Rialto Giving GIs Bad Case of Nostalgia W4Mln(>!j(Iay, July 4, 1945 Toppers Arrive PaHs, June 18.. JEtliloi-, "Variety": Abe LiVsUogel was hcre for a covi- pie for (lays and is now inspecting I p,,.^ Lot(an. the .lat-lc Benny nnil, t)ie -circuit.' Unchanged in appear- p^^i^ "Cos>rfck Chorus,, and the jjiice and manner,: hfe is stiU tWiegH musical units,, "Up'In Gcritral,. ^ame (|uipl, erticient little guy hes p.:,,.)^ -Rosalmda" and "Diamond Blwavs been, And I'm sure that horseshoe." have airived in- Paris, whatever Utile wrinlUds and siiags j.^,,. assisnnient throughout ETO USO has been running into will be (European Theatre of Operations), ironed out. today (July 4). , tianc Vroni, 11 .md Bob Hope just cji-ace Moore has ariived in Italy Brvi\cd in liie KTO and are being f,.Q,^ Fiance lor a three-day trip, ■pi-ocessfld prepaiatory to touring the | special CiL-show nL i^aples circuit. The Copacabana lovelies; go,,,;) nenie arrived in Oslo. Nor- iPowors and Conover models) played i ^^.y^, ■jl,^u.j.j,,y i-^g) j,i s FI\inR their first date for the GIs at , ^nYji-tre-ss, for her first visit to her an airfield ju.«it outside ot Paris and | ),o„ieiai,d j,, six year.s. Actress, scored a sensational hit. Many. ^\.e.„.i„g ygo ynitorm, gave inter- who had bci-n forgetting what ani^j^^^ ^^ pres.-!. expressing delight at Amenctn beauty looked like were|jjpj|jg [,ut stating she plans reminded that American gals are | „.,yi^ing hgi- permanent home in the still the tops. The gals were \ery ^ g gracious.' ?!hunniilg the "brass," aiid |- '\.^ , v^^....-_^^-.-.--—. ■ , being very sweet to the GIs they en- ' countered. To the regret of many, " incUiriing myself, they didn't tarry in Paris long, but were, quickly shunted oil to the guys suflfering un- ' ijer the non-fraternization ban. Guys who were singing hossannahs to the beaiify «r "L» Belle Parisienne" are now "rhapsodizing over the home- grown product. What GIs need , is «orne more of the same brand. "Dia Joined the Act Rashcll Delmar. juggler-unicy^- clist with a USD-Camp Shows variety unit soniowlrei'e in Ger- many, writes that he received the scare ot his life rocenlly. Two German .soldiers walked lip to him on the .slreot and surrendered. : 'Times Sq. of Pacific' Sees More Films Nightly Than the Real Times Sq. ; jlbndiull'i T- H,,'June .22'. . B,c>ovii( business i i u the ■ ■•'Tintes Sij.: of the Pacific!' brought, 250 of : la.st mond llor.cshoe R-ue/'. ^xpe^te'd i ye--s^be.s, leased these Where Are the USO Shows Asks Ex-B'wayPA, Now Gl ■ Germany, June 20, Editor, ''Variety": T,.4 Mike Spector, Carol Bruce'.'-' managei'. is here on the post with me. He's managing the gai'agc we've turned into a movie theatre, but h&'ll be 40 years old on.Jiuie IB and. ■.that should give him a boat ticket, back to civilian status b.\ .^ugu.st. T, Sgt. Mike Xemba, Cleveland nitery owner: T/4 Chick Simpson,: CBs" announcer for • "WCSC in Charleston and WOOD in Chattanoo- ga; and T 4 Jay Waxenberg, who.se band.s were hitting the big time in the Bor.scht Belt, are three of my biiddies who ioined me in being caught with our; points' down, . 'file■ .^rmy will probably take, up our op- tions for some quick booking into the CBI. Non-lraternization is still in effect hv Gei'inany. so being stationed in the BaViirian Alps ."iO milo.s south of I Miinicli means being more isolation- I ist than an .America Fir.>.ter. H'.s like playing pri.soivfc'r-oF-war so to over- come the boredom I'm staging and So. Cal. Film Houses Go Over $9,000,000 Mark Hollywood, July 3. Total of $9,30q,600 in bond sales for the Seventh War Loan dvivts was registered last week by film theatres in'Southern California. Of this sum $7,2f)5,000 came from a .seven-theatre bond premiere in this city, at the Locw's State, RKO Hillstreet, Los Angeles, Orpheum, Paramount, War- ners Downtown and Uiiiled Arli.sls. An additional $2,035,600 was ac* counted for by a tour of six cities by the cast of the "CBS "ilollywood Barn Dance" program, Tnnipe played to a total ot 11,27.? bond biu- ers iiv Pomona, Santa Maria,, Oiitai lo, Santa :iBarbar8 aiid, Lriug i Boacli. . In the stildias, the Holly wood Mo- tion Picture Wdr Finance Coniniitfee announced a week'.s total ot approxi- mately .$.'i,000,000, activated largely by Metro's corporate investment of $i;!)00,000 ill War Bniul.s. Parley Teams O'Seas Hypoed By Army To Offset Talent Dearth Yankee StadiumV llOMOeO Show Sale of over $10,000,000 in bonds was veaUzed as admissions for the "Here's "Vour' Infantry" show at Yankee Stadium, N. Y,', Inst night 131, with the Stadium a soUdiit ot 04,000 seats. Event, sponsored by tiie War Finance Committee and N. y. Motion Picture War Activities Coin- mlltee, was the climactic evem ot the 7th War Loan drive. In addi'ion 1 to battle-scarred, vets taking pait in I sham skirmishes, show also incliid- ! ed appearances of .stage and screen figures and several orch combfria.. ■ tiOnS.v. . ■■-:„■!' '; ■; V A "Gold Book of Honor," wtth^^ the names of pix employees who', helped in the campaign, i.s being readied to be presented to Secre- tary' Morgenthaii in Wa.shington by Irving Lt<s.ser, chairman of the N. drive, next week. ' < :Salem,•"■O;,,-;July, An auctiori; of various; i,t(;m.s', Jn.: chiding; four V pair,,. ot iiylon : hose, i bVoViylit 'more:..than $100,000 in bond i sales last Thiirsday (28) at the Sliite i here.' . The hjfloas ; w'ere . sold for I $,').00() each In s\«ep,cr, sold foT^$^^^^ ■ IT-pouiKj' hatti for. -If r,2,40,.:,a.iKl cig-'; Army has been stepping up interest I ai ets.'.'ji.'iO a carton, in GI '.shows through . its Soldier 'Convinced that its owii .soldier shows-ate going to .be the most im- portant part of its entertainment program, becau.se ot the insulVici- ency of outside entertainment, the here mometrtarily, should part an- swer the need. Hal Mclntyre. first ol the big name bands to cimie over, went over like » house a the in his only Paris ap- pearance when he broadcast with his band from the stage of the Olympia theatre. Broadcast was carried by AFN to installations they are now touring in person, and was disced for repeats. Mclntyre is a sweet modest guy, and cooperated to the utmost, kuth Gaylor, vocalist with the blind, went over very big. Her refreshing manner of singing, sans exaggerated emotionalism or. syrupy sweetne.ss, had the soldiers begging for more. She's strictly big league. Another couple of high-class gents are Amos 'n' Andy, Unassumr ing and toopevative they made many new friends with whom they came in contact. They are now playing to ho.spit;ili/.cri' .soldiers. M'ckey Rooney's "Jeep Shows" Mickey Rooney is doing a swell job in •■jeep Shows." These are units of three or lour soldier-entertainers, who tour in a jeep, carrying their props and InstTuments with them. Amusing incident occurred last Feb- ruary when Mukej' was entertaining a group of soldiers in a foxhole about 2.')0 yards away from a "Jerry" outpost. A brigadier-general crawled in and yelled. . "Get the hell back, we can't afford to have anything Jiappen to that $&,000-a-week noggin ot yours"—and I don't mean noggin. Harry Ro.se, over here in a USO unit, is going around telling every^ body that he is sleeping in Sonja Henie's bedroom at Chatou, but I told him I was more interested when Sonja Hcnie slept there. i Should you run aqfoss my'former I esr"Hwiird Lindsay and Buck Grouse, say hello Tor me, and to any of the other.s from the legit crowd, I sure would , like to see some of them, it's been a long time. Also to my brother; Sid Gary. . Sgt. Harold Gary::' Pacific front. The Niivy pix. in addition to old lilms pro- vided by the American motion pic- ture industry. Take a map and follow the fleet-- wherever security and the latest news of the war permits you lo fol- low it. Thai's the circuit covered by the "Times Sq. of the Pacific." It includes ships at anchor and atpHs, ships on the way to, from and in the midst of battle, as well as ihe ground installatuins that support the.se ships. Latest project of the Navy's enter- tainment forces is a ■ "Mississippi Showboat."- which will be;mounted probably on an LST, bringiiig to the personnel such Navy men known in showbiz as Dennis Day, Jackie Coo- per. Claude Thornhtll. Lt. Bob Cros- b,yv and Lt. Com. Eddy Duchin. In addition, of course, there is the disc service which supplies about 5,000 records a month. But the^ film distribution is one item about which little has been written to date—and that side of .the Navy's bu.sinessiis doing a boft b.o,.' when the shooting's over on this side, more details will be jivailabW, But take the word of naval correr spondents: There are more films be;- ing .shown nightly in the Pacific than on the real Times Sq., and they are not second runs either. As .a matter of fact, in some instances, ship per- sonnel at sea outside the continental U. S. mav. and otten do. see lealures befoi'e they are precmo<l otlicially at home. : other teams are in the, European theatre, and one's in Panania. ' The teams consist of five otiicers I each, all with experieiit'e iiv scirne i field of entertaihmenti or rec.reatioiT. , , i Their purpose is to visit some area cross to Nuremberg to ^^^^ ^ P ^ ihree-day riemon.stra- lion before a group of jiyen in how to stage shows on short noticeV mijkp own costumes, sets and makeup, and Lt. Buddy Freeman, Son Of Chailie, Gets the DFC First' Lt. .lohii (Buddy) Freemani son of Charles (Interstate) Freeman, who recently received the Distin- guished Flying Cross as a navigator in the European war area, is home in Dallas for a thirty-day furlough. His brother, Charles (Dink) Free-, man, al.so a First-Lieutenant,' has been di.scharged .frofri the Army. Dink Frecmpn, who is known on the Coast a,s a former member of the Pasadena Pla.yers, contracted a ninuK inleclion while acting as spe- cial services officers With an enter- taining unit in Italy. Dems Name Santer The Democratic National - Com- mittee is hypoing its entertainment branch activities with the appoint- ment Friday: (29) of James A. Sauter »s director of its reactivated stage, . .film Hiid radio diYi-Sion. Saulcr has been doing liaison ■work for the Committee sinpe 193.5, .tieing in w.ith talent in all branche.'< of the'eihtei-tiiinment field. Now Col. Young Marvin Young, chief of entertain- ment branch of Army Special Serv^ ices in N. Y., upped to Jul] colonel. - Col. Young is now in Europe, on a survey of pro and GI .show.s for the ETO, U. S. Rollcall Dick Dudley, ex NBC fnnnouncer. IS now in London, and BR produc- tion' manager of Army Forces Net- work is producing two big shows a week, "Army Talks" and "AE'F Special." . Sgt. T. L. (Tommy) Canada, ex- N. Y. and Coast publicist, now at Camp Patrick Henry. Va. • Gpl. Richard Beach, formerly in' ."Winged Victory,'' now on voca- tional, per.sonnel at Fort. Thomas Convalescent hospital, Fort Thoma.s, Ky. Pvt.' Sah-alore Giamboiic,. Goa^t nitery . coniic, ; nOw 'With ■ Air Force _En.gineer-Command in Italy. Lsabel Victoria Torres, formerly tran.sl'etor wilh Metro in N. Y., now a WAC private at Miami, Fla.. Apny Air Field. - Pfc. Clark Dennis,-ex-NBC tenor; repprt.s from : th'e;' 144th.. .SlatiOn, hos- pital nijar Manila on the. Special Services variety uiTit\ he's ■ attached td;'playing.the Philippine.s circuit;" "■ Ray Eberle, Ish Kabibble and Budd.y Bacr are taking special trainr ing courses at Camp Lee, Va. Pfc. Louis W. Chaudet, nephew of Blackstone. and a magico on hi',s own, no\y writing and riirectjing'GI .Shows in Germany. boy.'i as strippers); editing a . posit newspaper, teaching a course in pub- lic lelalioiis and handling the job ot production*head for a radio station. .Gettii^g: down to gripes i with lull apologies to Abe L.istfoyel and all his gaiig (or the great, job' i'know tliey're trying lo doi, our outfit never saw a USO show or any lorin ol Hosh eiitertaininent during all our trek through Bastogne to Aachen to the Koer River to the Remagen bridgehead, .acro.-'s the Rhine River, around the Ruhr pocket; down to Frankfurt ihe Dan u be to Mun ich. We were the first- Signal Company almost every place we Weill and: got there ahead of the infanti'y and the armor a couple of fillies^—but we also got to Corp.s headcjuarler.s often enough to check on the entertainment pros- pects. We did't expect pcrfornier.s to pome to our coinpiiny area to give us a show,: but we Xe.lt there .should be .something .going oh back at Corp.s besides movie.s. If there ever wa.s. it was a,taig secret to u.s. Boy.s with other Signal companies tell me the .story was ihe same with ihem. ^ Only, lime any of us found USO talent available v?'as when we got back to a i'est area like BruK.sel.s. And when you get to a city such as that,, you. want to get away from every- thing G.I. and pretend you're a civilian by paying, your w-ay into, the local niterie.s and sin tieiis. Now that the war's been finished more than a momli, we've .still had no live entertainment. ' The, closest thing :6f w liich we heard was.a Grace Moore- Nino Martini concert in Nuremberg, a week ago—-and that was 160 miles from us. If the kids in the hosiJitalr beds are getting all the talent, we're glacJ o£ it. But the general opinion .seems tci 'be that rear-echelon- com- mandps in .siioh .spot,s as Paris are the (ihes seei ng the stars. Special Service does a good job supplying us with books, old maga- zines, phonograph records and good new motion pictures (although the projection mach inesour post is forced to u.se is an old foreign model, and the- soiind: is unintelligible». They .can't get us musical instruments for an orche.stra we want to form, even though there's a German warehouse; full of them nearby, They haven't been able to get us curtains or lights for a theatre we had to build : our- .selyes, and. there are; rio cdslumes or pipps available. 'A month .ago we were dc..stro,y.ing everything (in this ■country; now - w-e .can't get permis- sion to so much as borrow a couple of girls'dresses, for'out boys to wear in burlesque blackouts. Recreation I'rogi-am Is tiale If you can .stand one more gripe, listen to this abou't Special and In-, formation Services' iSensalional edu-- cation and recreational program which got such tremendous publicity at home. At vK'ar's end our company immediately went h-ito'aetioii to put this program . tp work,' . When wfe came to our current battalion: post; one of oyr ofiiceis was appointed by the post commander: to take charge of the program. Text books never arrived, dc-pile his repeated requests 'to Third Army lie«tlquarters,iHO h6 .selected quiilified instructors among Show Conferences. -.■ Just before V-E Day, anticip.iting the end of war in Europe, the Army sent five conference teams overseas, after more than 8(1 demonstrations in the U, S. had .shown-thein that this was the best way to help units develop soldier show programs. The Bond Queens Hypo Quota Salt- Lake Cily, July 3. Over .'812,000,000 in "E" bonds were sold by June, 20, contest riead- Jiive, as re,sult of a statewide War Bond Queen contest sponsored by the pi.x theatres in Utah in coopera- tion with the Salt Lake Tribune. All team that worked"lhe"Meditpri'anean i of Utah's 29 counties elected a queen area has just returned, bringing back i on basis of bonds "voted" for them, reports of its exptu-iences. Three I at least $15,000 in bond sales needed for a queen to qualily. Piesident. Trunian, passing thrpugh here Wed- he.sdiay (27), personailly congrat..: mated the two Utah county winners. Utah is owe pt'. II western states iiiider the isupervisiott- of Charles P, Skouras, hoijorary fiatipiial ehair- man of the' industry's bond drive.: CHiViax of drive will come with the! crowning of the state bond queens write own skits, songs, music and 1 at a gigantic patriotic spectacle to- gags. Invited groups run from 100 to 500 men, representing a couple of men from each unit in- the area. Fields coveted are variety shows, musicals, quiz showii and radio pro- grams. : ■ ■ ■ , . , - Working Out Okay The conferences have been hiuhly ..suc'ce.ssful,, because the confcreiice itself is a show. The classi's are scenes; the team otTiceis are actois, the material is presented dramati- cally.. Delegates coming-in,, many of, them combat troops frpm front lines, some with battle-mud si ill on* their boots, and expecting dull lectures, have always had a good lime. . Conlerence'tcams have had an en- thusiastic reception everywhere, ac- cording to report.s. The Navy has been as interested as the Army;. in' conference at various points; in Italy and North Africa the Navy por.son- nel which attended exceeded the Arm,y's. The Filth Army iii Italy es- tablished a well-balanced sohlier show program a,s a re.sult. " morrow {14). Jimmy McHueb^s $j!6,000t000 - Beverly Hills, July 3, Jimmy McHugh's "Swim Aqua- cade'' for a bond show broke all rec- ords garnering $26,000,000 at Beverly llill.s hotel pool. Cabanas sold $500,. (100 each. Tickets were $1,000 bonds and three thousand attended. our own men to teach a dozen sub- jects without the aid of any books af all. At the same time he sent men to SHAEF headquarters in Paris to | try to get the books. They have just returned with authoritative informa- tion that the program is not sup- po.sed to, go into effect until August. Three months after the war is over! And they've had years to get the pro- gi'am together! What do they expect the boy.s to do for those Ihiee months',' I know the rule books says that each one of ■ lis is to get a, furlough at lea.st every three: months, and ihat.,;15' ;i- ;caii be absent from a po.st at all tlme,s. But actual fact; shows t-hat not one man in our company has had. a furlough .since war'.s end, and conditions in this Third Army are not apt to im-; prove, according to s.yrapathetic but gloomy' statements of otir imnTediate- officers. : . . , . All of these things aicn'l affecting me too much because I'm busy w-ith enough other un-^warlike activities.. But they are killing the morale of thousands of men who fought damned hard for America'.s victory in Eiu'ope. Maybe Aincrica--and even the Ati'my—-would like: lo know about it. • , The mail .situation is still roimli. Copies of "Variety" are generally two months old when we I'eceive them but they're still the be.st rvud- ing I gpt—-.seeond only to my wif(i'.s letters. ■ Tfd. fin rlmdn. Maps Sailor Units To Play Army, Navy Hosps Lt, Cdr. Robert (Bob) Eison, noted Chicago ex-sports announcer, has been put in charge of the le- cently-created Navy Liaison Unit in N. Y, replacing Lt. Harold F. Gro.ss, Latter, put on inactive list Vast week, ■will return to his radio interests in Michigan. Elson. will continue Gro,s,s' pro- gram of planning Navy self-entcr- taiimitnt as well as civilian shows lor domestic hospitals and overseas bases,',': .■■■■■■■''.■"'•'■• L. A. to N. Kamsay Ames, Earl Carroll. Jean Dalrymple. Joan Edwards. Margaret Ettinger.: L. A, Frederick!!. Edmund Goldman, ■ John Houseman, John Joseph; Lacy W. Kastneri . Edgar Kennedy;' I.sobcl Lennart. IjOu Levy. Hc-rry Link. Leonard MacBain. Don McElwaine. Burgess Meredith. Joe Rines. Aim Rutherford. Do're Schary. Lajry Stewart " N. Y. to L. A, Irving Berlin. George Brown. Mack Gordon. , . Merv Hoiiser. Paul MacNamara. Johnny Mercer. Eugene Murphy. , .ibeOlman. ■ Joseph H. Seidelman. Mrs. Norm.nn Sicgel. Ho'cco Vocco. Herbert J. "bfates. Sr.