Variety (Nov 1945)

VICTORY LOAN DRIVE—OCT. 29-OEC. 8 i - ; ' "let'* Finish the Job" '--^^M W M: Published Weekly at 154 West 40th Street. New York IS, N. Y., by Variety, Inc. Annual subscription. J10. Single copies, 25 cents. Entered »s second-class matter December's?,. l'JOS, at the Cost (Mice ». New .Ttork, 'N. T.; under the •«( ot Much I, UW.. . COl'VKUaiT, 1945, BS VAR1KTY, INC. AIL I! I GUIS RESERVED > • • ■ - VOL. 160 No. 9 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1945 PRICE 25 CENTS NIGHTCLUB BABY COMES OF AGE Hub Critic Explains Why Out-of Town Crix Are Right When They're 'Wrong* By ELLIOT NORTON J^.. - ■ {iframar Critic. Eost>~^- . Boston, Nov. 6. A few weeks ago, in a rag whose name I cannot remember at the mo- ment, but which might possibly have been VARiEMf, there was a little item under Inside Stuff, which re- ported that the people of the theatre in New York were pretty darned angry at the "out-of-town" critics, especially those of Boston and Phila- delphia. , These wicked outlander.s, the in- side-stufl'er'hissed,. were getting lb be more than Broadway could stand, they having been wrong—mark the word.!—in their appraisal of. at least thrcVi'eeent shojwsr- - Fromthe~'tWne of the article. I gathered that something was being done-about the whole thing.-some- (Continued on page 59} Selling U.S. Products 15a Pic Brings Aussie Reaction • • >'; By ERIC GORRICK Sydney.. Oct. 26. " ; Ma.hy~ATtstralian pic fans, taking seriously stuff published—in-^Aussie. that U. S. producers .intend plugging Yankee commodities via pix. on bid to capture world markets via screen propaganda, are now requesting politicians' to taboo any pic carry-. 5ng too much "super-salesman*' ma- terial. • ■ .' "- ", Eiddingly. some mule fans have suggested that those nifty but ex- pensive fashions, covering every- thing from hats to shoes, worn by fcrhnie stars, should be barred. Males say that, sweethearts and wives go for the Hollywood stuff 100%, leaving them dipping coil- ; (Continued on page 36) : Sooner or Later! Chicago, Nov, 6,. In liis Chicago Journal of Commerce column on Saturday (3V, drama editor Bill Leonard prefaced a s paragraph of chat- ter items with this: "Lifted from Variety— why not admit it?' ! NOW MEMPHIS CENSORS PIX FROM THE SCRIPTS • Mtsmphis,; Nov. 6. Censorship look a new twist here the past we,ek when the local board of snippers was asked to censor a movie script in advance of filming. Bradbury Foote, screen writer, whose scripts include "Young Tom Edison." "Edison the Man" and "The Bride Wore Red," sent to Chairman woyd T. Binford the, scenario of 'The Magic Melody," asking for in- formation on material therein which would be objectionable to the Mem- Phis board in the finished product. Picture is based on the life of 7™ Bland, the Negro composer of Carry Me Back to Olc Virsjnhy" and "In the Evening By the Moon- light." * Foote said a studio has already HjKcn it, subject to approval by the Memphis snippers. Binford is mulling (b'r> latter in -'Pare moments. (More on censors on A 3; Flip on the Road, Flop on B'way Broadway legit season of 1945-46, up to this week, has revealed very few drama successes, and there have been plenty of disappointments, in- cluding four shows which closed be- fore coming to town. Results of out-of-town tryouts have been puz- zling to .Broadway observers, who bas£-theit- opinions on the grosses in stands like Boston, Washington and "Philadelphia. Indications are that theatregoers in those cities are attending new shows^ regardless of merit and they are paying little at- ferrtion-^o Oheir local newspaper critics. ' ~ — Latest instance of the flip-flop be^ tween the ' tryout date and the (Continued on page 36) Little Flower May Follow The Orchid Kid Sundays It looks like New York City's out- going mayor. F'orello H. LaGuardia. is heading for the 9:30-9:45 Sunday night slot on ABC (Blue) via com- mercial auspices. Deal for sponsor- ship is .currently, being negotiated through his Music Corp. of America tietip which reportedly guarantees LaGuardia an annual intake in the $75.000-$100,000 a year bracket. Sunday night ABC segment opens up next month when Woodbury drops its sponsorship of the "Holly- wood Mystery Time" show. Re- ported several agencies are putting in a bid for the 15-minute niche, with ABC intent at the moment, in wrapping it up for LaGuardia. If deal clicks, it would bracket Walter Wmehell and LaGuardia in the 9 to 10 segment, a move seen as strengthening the web's Sunday night audience hold. : ' *T CAFES NOW IN lillll -Wartime- spending— has put the nitery, business in its. best position ill history. Since staVt of the'war, cafe trade has increased more than 40% over pre-war figures) and grosses have reached. the point where New York spots-, like the Copacabana register $55,000^ weekly, and sometimes , more'; -the "Latin Quarter runs around $46,000, the Diamond Horseshoe averages $45,000 and the Zanzibar runs in the same bracket; Increase in nitery takes-is all the more amazing when, it's considered that the field is virtually an infant industry that only emerged from its Prohibition underground a little more than a decade ago7\With repeal. In fact, the nitery field has reached the state of affluence where it often pays the same talent more than they can get in either vaudeville or (Continued on page 27) Legit Vaude, Pix, Band Shows-All For One Admish It has been proposed to change the policy of New York City's Center, theatre, operated by tne present municipal administration, whereby continuous performances would be given. Idea, worked out by Law- rence Robinson, calls for legit, vaude- ville, new bands and picture shorts, all tor one admission. Four per- formance.', daily would be given starting at 10:20 a. ni.. final legit show, starting at 1.1 p. m. Robinson's plan calls for two casts to alternate on the legiters, revivals of Broadway shows and possibly- some new plays. Each cast would perform 16 times weekly and the minimum pay would be $120 per week, since their appearances would (Continued on page 27) ., ■ Writers Board Credo Writers Board, formerly the Writers War Board, has formalized its postwar credo under foiir head- ings: • ]. Combating racial and .religious hatred. . v 2. Strengthening the world or- ganization for peace. . 3. Exposing fascists and their line in U. 5.. 4. Watching Pan-Germanism here and overseas, and reporting it. .Metro Rep Testifies — Against Yamashita One of the principal witnesses in the current war criminal trial in Manila of Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yama- shita was Francisco Lopez, Metro rep in the Philippines. A survivor of an orgy of murder and torture carried out by the Japanese against 1.500 civilians who had taken refuge in the Manila German' Club, Lopez electrified the 'trial commissioners and audience with a gruesome reci- tal of Japanese sadism. ..Lopez witnessed the impaling of babies oh the bayonets of Japanese soldiers, and flecTared that the Japs laughed at their victims' fates. "They really enjoyed it," he testi- fied. Emit Jannings, Gieseking Head AMG Blackball of Nazi Show Mob Now Baring the Soul ... Minneapolis, Nov. 6. . With Harry Hirsch abandoning burlesque at the Alvin, which housed it for years, he has leased the house to Karl Wittman, evangelist, to conduct -a gospel campaign. "We're sure the Rev. Witman will keep it clean," explains Hirsch. Peron Moves Nip Argent. Show Biz By RAY JOSEPHS (The writer for a number of years tuns correspondent jor Variety in Buenos Aires. He's the author of the hook "Inside Argentina.") . Argentina has seen an exodus of many who have been prominent in the pro-Democracy movements, and showbtisiness personalities have been outstanding in tjxosp moVe- ments. P^rJiajy^ecalJsetheir faces "were - known to everyone and they were more easily recognized in crowds of demonstrators, according to underground reports, they are all now living in waiting for visit's from the Argentine Gestapo. Many have had to go Into hiding in the interior, or to cross over to Uruguay. The police are well aware of this, and all exits from town are (Continued on page 36) By. CURT WEINBERG Frankfurt, Oct. 23. The German theatre, radio and screen .industry suffered a mortal blow in its attempt to stage a post- war comeback when American Mili- tary Government released a list of 616 Germans, almost all of them af- filiated with the fields of music, writ- ing, radio and the theatre, who have been placed on blacklists and can- not be hired for any but manual labor. In the case of artists, the black- balling also forbids thfem from en- tertaining in public. The list holds that all persons ap- pearing on the list were guilty, of Nazi Party affiliations, Nazi sym- pathies, or. benefiting "to a marked extent from the Nazi system." Big names on the list include actor (Continued on page 27 > Lukas Sees Lingering Nazi Unrest and Urges More USO Shows Abroad USO-Camp Show units may yet b« playing under wartime conditions in Europe, declared Paul Lukas. who returned last week from a three- month to.ur of-Germany and Austria as head of a concert unit. Violent outbreaks by Nazi elements hiding in the mountains are still possible, he said,' and may strike when they feel ready," Echoing the opinions expressed last week by Gen. Eisenhower, who warned of possible German otrf- (Continued on page 59) CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER Sunday, October 28, 1945 Plain Dealer's Poll By Robert S. Stephan , Radio Editor, Plain Dealer ; V . This is not a poll by "experts and professional critics." The poll represents a-'^People's,choice" in Cleveland, 95 other cities and towns in Ohio with a few returns from Missouri, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. Here k the way Plain Dealer readers voted by classifications: ■•'••' -.. :■'.'-. Simiclatsical The first 10 in order of Votes: hour ok charm andre kostelanetz ! > : >. '"' -■'•. v stradivari bnsemble ' * "■'"' don voorhees concerts " ? sunday evening hour american album of familiar musk' ,;• symphonette ' .-' family hour" ..'""' First piano quartet HOWARD BARLOW CONCERTS