Variety (Nov 1945)

MISCELLANY VARIETY Wednesday, November 7, '19-15 This Was The Army, Mr. Jones Irving Berlin SWw Closes in Honolulu After More • Than Three Years By CPL. ARNOLD HORWITT - Honolulu, Oct. 24. Honolulu a few days ago saw the final performance of "This Is the Army.'' The w indup was, quite un- derstandably, something that deeply moved the entire cast. The Irving Berlin musical, whose proceeds have gone to Army Emergency Relict had been running since its New York debut July 4. 1942. ,/> One doubts that the show was ever put on in a more attractive setting. Local 'laborers - set .up a big stage on the field at Honolulu Stadium, and on the night of the performance the stage was trained against the nioun- ;, tains in the background; A big moon hung over the field, decorativcly sur- rounded by a few fluffy white clouds. The benefit audience of brass, GIs. -civilian bigwigs and ordinary Joes, American and Hawaiian, sat on wooden benches. They paid $5 a head, and the net of about $35,000 i Continued on page 63) '■.'-. This Week's Football By TED MUSING PAULETTE'S $10,000 SCHOLARSHIP FUND WINNER Army j Cornell i Navy ....... - Pena ....... I Penn State... • Dartmouth .. • Vale'....... -. ! Duke ... ! Georgia !t,su - Tennessee ... I Ga. Tech.... J Illinois I Minius'ita .... ! Ohio State... ' Northwestern • Riec ! Texas .' : SJMU- ....... . TCU ........ use [ Wash. Oregon LOSER College . .. .Notre Dame ..'-. Colgate .,. Michigan .. . Columbia ... Temple .. Princeton ...Brown ,..N. C. State ....Florida ...Miss. St. ... Mississippi . ... Tulane ... Iowa ... Indiana ...Pitt r .. Wise. ...Ark. : .. Baylor .'. Texas A-M . . .Texas Tech. ...Calif. ... Oregon St. ... Wash. St. ODDS 9-5 Even 6-5 6-5 6-5 6-5 2- 1 3- 1 12-5 8-5 7,-5 6-5 8- 5 5- 7 4- 1 2-1 6- 5 9- 5 Even Even 6-5 . 7-5 6-5 Pro Lions.....'... .•: Bears Actress Paulette Godi'.ard has do-! Packers .'. .Rams nated .$10,000 to the Hebrew Uniyer- : Eagles .......... Gians sily of Palestine for the "Paulette j stcelcrs . Cards-. ' Goddard Scholarship." 'Annual. Redskins ..Yanks awards of $500 will be made tor 20 j SEASON'S RECORD years to a deserving and needy slu- Won Lost 48: Ties 8: Pet. dent engaged- in medical or scientific research. Miss Goddard made the donation through the Southern California chapter of the American Friends of the Hebrew University: 6-5 6-5 6-5 6-5 6-5 713 (Tics Not Counted) England's Refusal To Grant Labor Permits Stalls London 'Jones' Chicago. Nov. 6. Unwillingness of Prime Minister Alice's labor group to grant labor permits to American performers is - ways for Sonia Vonie7nd MaT* Dan ['causing Billy Rose no end of diffi- Topping , Thursday (1). as forecast cutties in lining up his London en- three weeks ago, when they an- I gagement of "Carmen Jones. Re- nounced throiwh attorney J. Arthur ! cording to word received here from Friedland that Miss Hcnie soon will i lhe producer last week. .Develop- sue the millionaire sportsman and I me,lt - of course, cues similar^diffi- parl owner of the N. Y. Yankees I culties for other American producers Sonja's Divorce First, Then Her New Ice Revue Chicago. Nov. 6. Chicago, scene of their marriage in 1940, became the, parting of the SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK J - +■»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ By Frank Scully • .';.•.■ Violet Ray Village, Cal„ Nov. 4. Let others begin'piling up priority claims on the discovery of the atomic bomb, I want to get it in the record that I was the first to flncLa new use lor soapboxes. Saloon Editor Earl Wilson's clients have been"•throwing me. and themselves into a series of mistrials, over claims I seem-to,have had made to "Bedside Manor - ' as n name for a home. Max Lief go'* as far back as 1929 when he published "Hangover," and Homer Croy files a claim for Ring Lardner. I can go back to 1918, thus putting Scully def- initely back in the race, but why bother when I have such a hot subject as a new use for soapboxes? I may say in this connection, lest some lout leap into print with proof that he has been using the system for years, that I too tried it out in Europe long ago. But not until I 'got ; roads far smoother than Hitler's military highways could I call the idea a pronounced success. At the present moment, enroute -to.-Hollywood from previewing a hew theatre in 29 Palms, a little jump of 150 miles, I am parked in the backseat of a '39 crate which is still rolling on its original tires. On the door is a soap box and on the soapbox is a portable typewriter whose name has ever remained a trade secret, since it came to me with not a dime oil the list price. At 45 miles an hour, typing enjoys a rhythm which Tin Pan Alley tries day and night to achieve. Above that speed (which is illegal anyway) type tends to pHe up on the turns. But this is a small d.isacivan- lage compared to the home discomforts of doorbells, telephones..'-and-, visitors who play straight for your gag that you "always work with the hope of being interrupted.'' There are no interruptions in the back oi a car and if you're the sort of writer who isn't quite sure of this, make the dame do the driving. . . Soap Operas Sans Soap Whether what you write is worth the price of a soapbox may be an issue, but how many of the columns which are turned out either under ringside conditions or in soundproof cells are worth all that trouble either? Brisbane claimed he dictated those editorials into a dictaphone in' his car while riding to "work." Lippman claims he turns put his stuff in a room from which all distractions of sight and sound are excluded. Personally, I think he wrote better stuff for "The New Republic" when he suffered plenty of both. '■ . ; . ',. ■/:'.:' .'■•'... All'I can say in defense of the soapbox system is that it frees you of interruptions, it gives you beautiful and ev'er changing views, it permits you to ask the driver to turn on a radio program, if there happens to be a break in your own continuity, like a strike in the subway, it keeps you out in the open air, and it takes the .soapboxes off street corners, thereby forc- ing people to go inside for their entertainment. <■ >. There can hardlv be a better explanation as to why 29 Palms now has posing representation of Hollywood an mctool . lhcalre . y ou cal ,- t n „d a soapbox anywhere in town, stars take part in the nation-wide Prcvious , 2 9 Palms (which .by actual count has only 19'-,) showed its drive have been seriously affected I77lh WEEK ! KEN MURRAY'S , "BLACKOUTS Of 1945" El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood, C«l. "I'proariinis—no wonder parked houses always," JOEL McCREA. GoMbricking By Stars on Bond Tours Charged :'.'. Chicago,. NoV:i'6. Accusation that film stars are "dogging it" in connection with the Victory Loan Drive was made by Dale Harrison in his Chi Sun column Saturday (3): . ". "Motion picture industry has been soft-pedalling it,'' he wrote, "but the fact is that plans to have an tw- in the future. ■No—permits-—have—as—yet bee n granted him. Rose admitted and it doesn't look like there'll be any by the apathy of most of the big names, most of whom have asked to be excused." Among the notable exceptions, he concluded, are Joe E. Brown and Kay Kyser. both ol whom were in Chi last week for bond pitches, and Merle Oberon and Alan Ladd, 'whose prompt volunteering to the Treasury Dept. for assignment was the Hollywood exception;rather than the rule." for divorce. Here, to start rehearsals tor her 1946. Hollywood Ice Revue, which opens in Indianapolis Nov. 15— , thence to Detroit. Chi. and N. Y. I forthcoming, which he said, would winding up in Los Angeles in Feb- I make . il ,ook . U } e . the , Company will ruarv-skating star and Toppimr ! Tcm?ln ' on indefinitely »» the Er- who came onfrom N. Y. to meet her. I 'a n S cr theatre here, where its cur- went thoroughly into the business rcn;!y cleanln S up. of romantic newspaper linkings of . both- with' others.' Friedlander said, and decided to vail it quits. The gossip . column fodder was one of the biggest bones of contention. Friedlander added. Following their huddle. Toppin:; went hack to N. Y.. where he said he'll soon be discharged from the m^JS^ 'CEREBRAL' HEMORRHAGE Judge. It's Miss Hcnic's first mar-I S ri.ckcn with a cerebral hemor- riage. J rhage while strolling before his Park Arthur Wirtz. business partner of avenue. New York, hotel. Monday Miss Hcnie and operator of the 15) afternoon, Jerome Kern, dean of Chicago Stadium, announced that he j American composers, was reported and the skating star have purchased ; late yesterday (Tuesday) to be the Wedgewood Stadium in Los An- i tightfy improved but still not out None the less Rose hopes to set things right, via Jack Hylton. during his (Rose's) present London visit. He ik-w over this past weekend. I JEROME KERN STRICKEN: geles l capacity 9,000), and that it'll be renamed the Sonja -Heme Ice Parlor. Revue, which numbers 200 skaters-—biggest cast yet—will play there in February. Kaye Winging Home Hollywood. Nov. 6. , currently eutertain- danger. The 61-year-old composer v as not recognized, hence taken in a police ambulance to the city hos- pital at Welfare Island; where his condition prevented his removal to a private institution. Kern has. had a heart ailment, for some years. , As soon as the composer was iden- tified, Louis Dreyfus, publisher with his brother Max of most of Kern's Memphis A'so Scoffs At -Nirfloteis and R.R. Alibi Memphis, Nov. 6. Considerable concern in trade here over showing industry will make in Victory Loan campaign. Feeling is that biz let itself down in cancelling Hollywood star tours alter sending out the word that the personalities were on the way in droves. ."•'. Official explanation about trans- portation and hotel difficulties brought snickers on Film Row and Main Street alike. Obviously, hotel accommodations could have been arranged for such a tour in every town like Memphis and exhibs note wryly that the stars seem to be getting around „ okay for football games and such. Local - gang went to work by phone and tried to line up a film personality independently, but so far no dice. Committee has promoted a brand-new Ford to raffle off at so many chances per Victory Loan purchases, but details on the raffle can't be carried in the press because of the lottery laws. It had been ex- pected to tie this in with a show of some sort built around a star, with the "name" getting the public- ity and the car cashing in on same. Danny Kaye ■ ing troops in Japan, 'will leave j melodies, went to,, his assistance; Tokyo tomorrow ( Wed.) in a B-29(Louis Dreyfus arrived here from bomber bound lor California and _slated_ to arrive four days later, ac- "eofalng to word received on the Goldwyn lot. Actor is due in New York. Nov.12, to resume his radio show. HYDE EAST ON TODD DEAL Hollywood, Nov. 6'. John Hyde shoves off for New- York, Friday (!)) to confer with Mike Todd oh dim production, William Morris exoc. arranged the deal whereby "Todd will make pic- tures for Universal relca.se. Business Connection Wonted ! \'»n«l'.«Illr iiutur of rr|»viatloil ,'on- t<'iiii»lHfi*N HinujcA rr,»iM .iiiri- work-. M-pk* ,-oiiHlH-rriitl nutlet- wllb t*N<at»- lislifll orgiini/iltfcm uIhtm kiihiH Kluiu-MiiinMlilfi aiitl cn-alfi*' '.abilfO urf «>KM'lillHl. * Husinc** liiH'kgmiiiMj. Will otuk? In- *#-stnif,i(. Hunk T,.r»T|.|ic^. Aililr«-fc» It v \V/. Vurirlv 1.VI llnl tlilli SI.. NVw Viirk l». N. V. England only last week to sec his brother, who recently underwent a major operation in Boston. Latter^ condition is said to be good but-he Was so close to Kern (hat-news of the composer's Stroke .was, being withheld from him. Kern - had recently arrived from lhe Coast, where he was occupied with two feature films. "Till* the Clouds Roll By." for Metro, and "Look for the Silver Lining," War- ners. He was to have started work on the revival of "Show Boat" for which, he composed the score and which Richard Rodger* and Oscar Hammcrstein 2d are producing. His illncrs will not set back the show, .although the opening date at the ; Zxgfcid was previously delayed un- ! til Dec. 24. being originally due : early next month. Composer was I also to have supplied the score for , "Annie Oakley," a new -musical, also slated by Rodgers and Hannn'cr- ! stein. SHOWMEN ASSURE AID TO MISSING IRVIN MARKS Col. Fred Levy, the Louisville showman, now in New York, reit- cjittes that he saw the missing Iivin Marks', longtime Paris resident and European rep for the Shiibefts, Al Woods. David Belasco, et at., in the Hotel Henry Clay, Louisville. Col. Levy's report is so graphic that show- men-friends of the missing thca^ trical agent and manager have urged Vaiuety to stress that if Marks is in financial need he should stop worry- ing and contact them. The showman has been missing since a year-ago "May. When Col. Levy bolted from his table to halt Marks in Louisville—this was a couple of weeks ago—it was appar- ent that the agent didn't want to be recognized, but when finally caught up with, Marks muttered something to the effect "it's a lot of hopey about me being missing; I've been taking it easy at a dude-ranch out west," etc. Col. Levy says. Marks did not look his usual dapper self: pictures outdoor in a corral at Smith's Ranch, but by a sleight-of-hand which will confound those city slickers, the town has managed to build a theatre. It is a neat little job of concrete blocks and a Nissen roof, seating 350. Bill Undei hill and his w ile, Prudence Ann, who own. edit, publish, print and distribute by their own ink-stained hands "The Desert Trail," also own The Theatre. It has 90 other name, having no other opposition. As "The Desert Trail" is the only paper in the area, notices of pictures showing at The Theatre are uniformly of a higher adjectival content than the handouts of the Hollywood studios themselves. Every' tui'k is a triumph. . : ■ v ' .. Previous to the opening of The Theatre I caught a 16mm. thing in color at the high school. It was called "Around the World in 150 Miles." It was a job of a travelogician named Francis Line, who claimed to be the shortest man in the business. Somebody challenged this at Columbia Uni- versity, he said, and in the playoir Line.who is bald, said he won by the lack of hair. His picture- , which had .1 running time of 110 - m in u t es, c ov - crcd the jump from Los Angeles (0 Palm Springs and was as full of beau- tiful and believable fairy tales as ever came out of Tinsel Town's high- priced script factories. . Smog Springs Coming Up . An amateur in the field. Line showed what Hollywood may expect from 16mm. in the future. The fact that "The Desert Trail'' gave his sneakvicw the brushoff is hardly an argument in favor of a free press, but I am here to bear witness to the fact that Line by mouth to mouth packed the place and will do it anywhere he shcrws this picture. He had everything in. it except the smoke and fog .which is fast making Los Angeles known as the Pittsburgh of the west and may^soon turn Palm Springs into Smog Springs. Obviously if in the invisible war between industry and tourists, industry wins, the sunshine frontier of California will be driven further and further back from the coast line. That's where the Mojave Desert will come in. As if in anticipation of just such a retreat, our car is now passing a corral-with-a-windmill which bills itself Ultra Violet Village. First in line to respond to the trend away from San Fernando Valley to Ultra-Violet Village is the Hon. Albert Dekker, currently legislative representative of Hollywood, but already willing to call his political career quits and return to acting. To insure him something to fall back on he has asked me to find him five acres and independence. Short of several thousand acres, there is no independence on the Mojave Desert. Dekker feels he made the mistake of laying off while only a featured player. Stars, he says, can layoff, but featured players have to keep' working or soon they are no longer 'featured players. He believes if he had got a few good pictures, which might have earned him a star rating, he could then have laid off. He hopes to do this in the next two years and then maybe run for mayor. To me his withdrawal from the political scene is a deep disappointment. He had everything public life heeds—vision, humor, courage, candor, hon- esty and-policies. He captured a reactionary stronghold which has with- stood attacks for 40 years. Elected, he had to quit a $60,000-a-year career, as an actor to "earn" $1,200 a year as a legislator. Meaning Of a "Liberal" Education >Jaturally all his film friends assured him they would have plenty of roles for him when lie returned from his service at the state Capitol, and K he had been on the reactionary side of the, fence he.could have banked on such promises. But what he met on returning to. Hollywood'.was' a series of invitations to talk all over town, al cuft'o. Six months passed and nary a role was he offered. Finally he landed with an indie outfit which had made a specialty of doing something with featured players under contract to the majors. !.*.,': .. : ,_'_.;' ^i. --LL'/s'/J. The Dekker experience is so typical of liberal solidarity that, for all the screeching by the Rankins. Brewers, etc.. about comrades under every bed in Hollywood, forward-lookers' are so separated between crises that they mean nothing when the "grosses are counted. Politically, whether inside or outside the Studios, the boys in the chips, 011 the other hand, show a surefire solidarity Had they put Dekker in office they would have catered to his every need and have seen to it. morcoyer, that he in turn took good' care of their peculiar problems and fought any threats to their security. A Favorite Story Otir favorite siory is (he one about the hillbilly woman who was very jealous of her husband. She was cleaning' out the attic and found a mii-re'. She had iwver seen one before and when she looked in It. 'she said. "S« (hat's the old hag' he's been running around with!" The -reason this is our 1945 favorite story is that we have been using « for the last 20 years with great success. —Fibber McGee & MvUy.