Variety (May 1946)

LITERATI 69 Literati No Newnprlnt, No A4i One by-product of the coal itop- ntiie in the increasing .shortage of newsprint. Situation was dramatized Jast' week (ID by the .Pittsburgh Press which printed an adlesH etghl- pnge sheet with the explanation that the supplying mills are out of coal and are unable to make shipments. Sunday's paper was decreased to 24 black and white pages from the usual 60 and contained no display advertising.. ; . ■ " ' .Newsprjnt reported, due for ad- vance SB a. ton/ "' author's' adventures with her pet chipmunk which she found while on location in' Washington for her new picture, "Blue Sierra.'' Canter'* Blog Ernest Lehman, is N. Y. to L.. A. to write Eddie Cantor s biography which Farrar, Straus It Co. will publish as its. No. I book on the. 1947-winler list.: Author will live at the Cantor manse for next three weeks. Cantor will come to N. V. in .June fot- further conferences with Lehman.' Incidentally, Lehman is represent? ed with stories in Esquire. Fascina- tion. Liberty and Dance this month. : ■■ Show Bli Books Show-business figures; are going literary in increasing ■ numbers. Reader*' Press, N.Y., is propping fall listing.of tomes on the enter- tainment industry. Among the lilies are ."New York—Confidential" and ' '•A '.'Confidential Guide to Holly- I wood,'! by Jack Lait and Lee Morti- i iner, respectively chief editor and j amusements editor of the N.Y. Mir- j •.roe; "Radio for'the Millions*' by Bar- • ry Gray. WOR disk jockey: The'! Bedside Book of Marriage" by Ar- i iiuid.Sbaw\ editor of S.wiink and j press agent for Leeds Music. . and , •Sing Yourself to Fame" by Al Sie- ■gel, t lie vocal coach. chairman Of the newly organized Hollywood chapter of the Society Of Magazine .Photographers. Peter i Stackpole and Bob Wallace named , co-chairmen: . i Bernard Sobel pleading for bur- ] lesque in the June issue of Dance Magazine. Also has a piece on "The Language of Love" in the August is- sue ; of. Facts, and a reprint from J. "Burleycue' - in the July issue of | Swank. j . Hy Gardner's goi an article up- coming . in . June Cosmopolitan, a • piece on TommyDorsey in this • Month, and pieces from, his syndi- . caled column appearing in prac- i tically every digest mag from Read- er's ' Digest .- to Pageant, Reader's ' Scope and Coronet. Closing date for submission of manuscripts for the Julian Messner award for the best book combating ■ intolerance in America has beeii ex- tended from May 15 to August 1.5. Award winner will receive $6,500. "G>». Friendship" Taken Over Full' color comic page designed to promote international : goodwill was teed, off by the Chicago Times, Sunday, May 5. It's: built around a character called "General. Friend- ship," a; one-star general who has "come out of a chaotic world lo pro- mote friendship between peoples and to make the; world a better, place in which lo live." Sequences lake place in a different country each week. Twist is that the ."Ge'neral" mails readers .who request them picture postcards each week from the coun- try covered. Opening strip on Brazil, for instance, has a tear-off .coupon. Cards addressed to readers' are shipped to that country, and mailed back to them from there. Creator of the strip is Charles A. Teppcr, who got the idea while a salesman for the Chi Times Syndi- cate in 1940. Mike McM.mn, N. Y. illustrator, is the artist and also Tepper's partner in the venture. Teen-Ager's View of II'wood Sheila Tomlinsoh. 14-year-old bit player in "Holiday in Mexico." is fol- lowing in her : mother's 'typewriter tracks: . Moppet is .doing a book on a teen-ager's view of. Hollywood. Mother.. Mrs. Virginia Sullivan Tnm.- , linspn, is writing features d.f Holly- wood personalities for. a newsp"apcr syndicate. Sheila recently was a center of controversy in a divorce action of her parents. Girl's father is D. W. Tomlinson, former vp of TWA. At stake whs the legal custody of the moppt'l. First Aid to AP Bill lo exempt newspapers, press associations and their allied func- tions from the Federal anti-trust laws was introduced in the House in Washington last week by Rep. Noah M. Mason <R., ]IU. Measure' is an aftermath of the anti-trust suit which forced AP to sell to all comers. It says in part: "The anti-trust laws shall not be construed to prohibit any press serv- ice company from exercising its own discretion.in the selection or its cus T toniers, or from /furnishing its press services on the express or implied condition, agreement or understand- ing not 16 furnish the press services which it is furnishing in a customer t« any other newspaper or newspa- pers in the communitv of the cus- tomer." ■ ■1 ._ For Moppet Trade ur. Garry Cleveland Myers, news- paper syndicate writer on child care Problems, will be editor, and his wife, Caroline E. Myers, will be assoc-. ed of a new magazine for children, "High Lights for Children." Which will have publication offices »t Columbus, O. Coals lo Newcastle ' Hilda Abel's novelette, The Bus "luil Had No Sign." published originally in "Cross Section. U)45." : JV'N be one .of the nr.si American talcs (,) |, e prjnied in postwar Gei- "'•iny. according lo Edwin Swer, Cross Section", editor. Yarn is laid W boinb-.shi.llcied Berlin after the Nazis' defeat. . .lust a rie Plug? • "Kibbles and Me" . by Klizabrlh Jayloi-. i:i-yoar-old Metro siar ol National Velvet'' will be out today ■\wed._). puell. Sloan & Pcarce pub- 'ishing. Story revolves around the War Rooks Not Sellinj . Books on war themes seem to be flopping, following trend already marked jn Mm* and radio. Switch seenis to be away from reminders of grim past, towards escapist themes of .'.lighter nature. Evidence is heightened by the controversial Ralph Iugersoll''Top .-.Secret" and Capt. Harry Butcher's biographical "My Three Years. With Eisenhower" i Ingersoll's' boitk is fourth among I best sellers, with Butcher's 14th. ami i indications point to both losing | jground. chatter ; . Thurston Macauley resigned from .INS foreign staff to join editorial staff of Reader's Press, i Dick Williams: former Cincinnati. ..Post columnist; appointed west coast • editor for Pic magazine. ■ Jim Marshall turned in a yarn to j Colliers about the filming activities ; of Ben Bogeaus. titled "Nothing to It." Shellull Graham's column about; , motion pictures will appear twice a week in the Hollywood Citizen:/ ' News Harold Hart, has compiled '■The Jumbo Entertainer;" a collection of. quizzes, puzzles, boners, wisecracks. I doggerel, etc. ! Bob 'N.Y. News.) Sylvester's piece on jazzman Eddie Condon. "The Barefoot Boy and His Band.'' in May 1H Salevepost. William Demarest has completed a book about his early ihealriral days. ."Barnstorming." for submission to ; eastern publishers. { ', \ Good Housekeeping editor Herb Mayes clippering to London the 17th . for a fast two weeks of editorial o.o. [ and talks with English authors. i Rudy Elie. Jr.. Boston's V.muktv i mugg and. reporter for the Boston • Herald, shoving off May 24 to cover ■ the atom bomb tests at Bikini Aloll. | Mildred Gordon, wife" of Gordon j Gordon. 2(>th-Fox flack, 'authored a , whodunit. "The Little Man Who I Wasn't There." for publication by ■ Dnubleday Doran. i Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine announces its second annual detec- tive short story contest with prizes ■ totaling $6.1100 for best. entries sub: ! milled before Oct. 20. George Shaffer, Universal studio . publicist, bought a weekly news- i paper, the. Santa Ana Independent. | fronv the estate of its founder. Alvin , C. Berry, who died recently. Ben and Nancy Freedman com- I pleled (heir novel. "Mrs. Mike." for. ' autumn' publication by Cuward-Mc- Cann. j Kawcell Publications has ap- pointed Daniel J. Jenkins, as asst. editor of Motion Picture mag. Jen-. : kins is recently out of the Army. Malcolm Low l ie completed a new novel. "Under the Volcano.'' it soil of lost weekend in Mexico. .With : dipsomania as the prevailing urge., i Ann Daggett, western editor of Pageant, lakes- over, added chores/as executive editor of Mo\ ietand ifiag. with headquarters in Hollywood. I ■ Anthology of Short stories, poems, 'and essays designed for women will have introduction by Ilka Cliase. j Bonk, cutilled. "A Lady's I'leas'ure." j is to be published by Win. I'enn •Publishing. Board of (lirectors of Mactadden Publications elecU-d the following olttcers to .verve for one yeat: O. J. -.Elder.' prexy; H. A. Wise, senior vi'e|M-e: S. O. Shapiro and lleiber'l ■G. Drake. \ ice-pcesidcnls. and Meyoj- • Dwoi kin, .sec-lreas. j ("ol. Walter Slewai'l. sports ediloi- , or The Memphis Commercial Appeal rand one-lime boxing expert fur y'".V. Y.' World-Telegram, is out of the ■ Army and back at his desk after. four years iji uniform/ Karl Thie.-e.n, Look mag. elected Ring's Pic — Continued from page I together with lensing set for the spring of '47. Grant's '.film is also: scheduled for spring shooting while no dale has been ixed for the Welles' pic. Miss Goddard planed put to England Friday 1101 for a month's slay in which she will look over the picture site. Meredith took off for Hollywood, Sunday, <12i to start work on Uni- versal^ "The Magnificent Doll''., in .which - .' he plays President Madison. Grant accompanied Korda on his ve- in in to Britain three weeks ago. Duo spent a few days prelude. in Paris and then journeyed to London where Grant is eyeing studio facilities. Lindsay-Crouse — Continued from page 1 — Lindsay to lead as ;they Want their hero to lead. Let. them show us how we can be saved—not merely in fragments and suggestions as in- dicated by their dialogue but in full statement.' Our columns..gentlemen, are at voiir disposal." Hint uf the. News - altitude on cur- ienl affairs, incidentally, is seen in the manner in-which their editorial views coincide with a line added to the Chi production of the play the niglil the dimout began: "The big boys in labor are all right—with the exception of John L. Lewis." Army Snafus =i Ciinliniied from pafe 2 Board .luis- also expressed dissalis- .faction with Sharin's setup under wliich profits from captured German proits found acceptable for continued distribution have been used to un- derwrite all costs of U. S. showing.'-. Thus, cross from Hollywood product -equals net. But this policy> despite, obvious advantages to U. S. lax- payers and plicate interests doesn't fit Army directives on use of Ger- man assets. Sharin Cleared Mackintosh has emphatically slated no criticism of Sharin is im- plied by the Committee's actions. Sharin had previously announced in- tention to resign in June in any event. The sudden Army move, en- gendered . by surprise that 1SB owned so profitable a business, merely hastened this step. Sharin plans private participation in Middle European lilm distribution and pro- duction arter a stateside visit. Indications are that. 1SB Film- bank accounts will , be unblocked within next few days in 'order Wn meet payrolls, and studio overhead nn "Believe in Me." Cziffra musical now almost completed. I-. One of Sharin's final deals wa> an- nounced -tliroush. the Austrian gov- ernment's Ministry Of Education, which is sponsoring b Iwo-aud-a-iialf hour U. S. ilocuineniary lilm pro- gram as compulsory for all school- children 'between 10. and 18. Sharin worked this out so that American dni'iinicnlai ies will .be shown in all Austrian zones, including Russian. IJ. S.-produced Allied Newsieel is also playinu all Russian zone houses •weekly.. The documentary program is to he. carried oul in llie city of Vienna immediately, with 104 show- ings lit neighborhood houses unoi ti- mes! taking Care of MI.OIMI kidsi lies; of the country will see the program in the fall when suhools reopen. Kt(- inalion Minister Felix llurdcs has recorded a. |ier.-onjil inlroduclion to the reehi. Newspaper Plum , 1SB finds itself owner of anotlier viiliiabte plii'ii in Wiener Kurier. hi-'iled as Te-st , (lerm-ui languagi' '. newspapei iii liberated Europe. Sell- SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK | ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦ f t By Frank Scully ***** «♦♦♦♦«♦♦♦♦♦ Fountain, Penn., May .10. Cultural Tip to Proud Parents, Not Forgetting the Nodding- Hoopcr- Diipcrs: . . When your children ask if they may stay up to listen to the Quiz Kids in their own room, be .sure there is only one radio in that'room. Other- wise the loud one. the one'they are nol listening , to, 'will be blasting out the erudition of the Q-K's. while the ears of your innocent darlings will be glued to the soft speaker on the second radio and lo."anolhcr ncUvork." That will be "Blondie." Where did your darlings learn such subterfuge? We'll,-it scents it's some- thing that started in the crack of the Liberty bell. Patriots all over Europe fooled Hitler with it. Ordered to listen to Der. Fuehrer's fiiry,: they would play it up and -then catch, the news from abroad on the con- traband radio in the cellar. One World—On* Vole* . Thai Yakiety's English will not 'affect many who waded across the Ox- ford ilhal's a yoke son I is not a source of worry even, to alarm viewers. / But the same is not true of radio comiricntalors. BBC .recognized; this , long ago and gave their gabbers a well groomed course, in English pronunciation. A. little on the Cambridge side, you can tell BBC commentators anywhere—even if you-can"l tell them much/—as the old Oxonian gag used to go. A'-cross-section of American accents goes all the way from hacksaws to chamois; If the United Nations ever open a college for commentators, my choice of a voice is one like Sheilah Graham's, currently peddling HOlly- , wood glamor for a shampoo. She began life as a London show girl and wrote her way up from there, Teh''years in America have tempered her speech, and maybe a. couple of babies have waTmed it. Anyway, it is lovely. ■ tit Radio Words a Minute Maybe you prefer Reid Kilpatrick who rallied off a blow-by-blow ac- count of the. Williams-Belanos flghl for the lightweight championship at 250 words a minute, or lour times as fast as the blowjs fell? t Kilpatrick, in- ' cidentally, \vas announced over Mutual as the fastest talker in radio. A claimant to a championship, he ought to have'it established as indisputably as the way Champion Williams disposed of Contender Enrico Belanos. It took less than an hour for Williams to clear up this confusion in Belanos* mind, but two days, eight hours, 12 minutes antf ,45.!4 seconds of painful research, never cleared up Kilpatrick's'claim.to his title. Friends of Winchell contended that when Waller is really rolling Kil- patrick isn't even an also-ran. Winch's latest broadcast was clocked, at 210 words a/minute. But there is no doubt that at a fast pace Kilpatrick is much clearer to the ear than Wincheil-. Oddly, further researches brought up a new contender for the title. This was Sam Hayes who. up to'that time, had taken no part in Inc.con- versation. Hayes ino relation io Johnny) used to marathon his way along ' at 250 words a minute, but his present newscasting. pace is 175 a minute. At the moment or going to press Kilpatrick's backers had backed down lo the point where ihey were saying'he was "reputed to be the fastest sports announcer in, western America.'' That's quite a retreat from the worlds championship and it may bring up Bill Stern, Clem McCarthy. Ted Musing as disputants. Ronald Reagan, Warner's star, who .used lo be a sportscasler in the middle west, says he never went in for speed, since' his sponsors- preferred quality.. But he agreed that fast or slow it was a tough racket. . Dept. of Correctlve-Directivei Have you noticed /oh. you have?)' that you Can praise people in Holly- wood for-y■ear's' and never get so much as a nod. but remark that something of theirs didn't do too well back in the ice-age and. boy, are you asking for it. .' ... .' . ■_■ • ■ "Where the lie-ll did you ever get the idea." writes Preston Slurgis. "that my picture. 'The Power And the Glory. - was a Hop? It cost $310,000 to make, got its.four stars and a medal, is still- remembered in Europe as one of the, fine motion pictures and grossed just a little under, a million. If thai is a flop. I would like to have more of them. In all good humor. "Signedi. Preston Slurgis." I apologized to him for the error il get very, polite around election lime), but "now it occurs to ine maybe 1 was chumped after all. He didn't say whether the-million was in francs, liras. kroner, shillings or debased marks. That* ■ Me! Tr.vgve Lie. secretary general of UN. in response lo a question as lo how he likexl Lana Turner is supposed to have replied, "Who's Lana Turner? - ' Unless she in return asked "Who's Trygve Lie?", this is hardly a foot- note to "It Pays to Be Ignorant." My own spies report that he actually said. "Why didn't she answei, the post mail the first lime? Such Inxness. She should study the protocol." I saw ihe wrestling match between Miss Turner and Johnny Garfield and my own opinion is: Turner bout fair play. Kitolnoic to Futility Gertrude Lawrence was buoyant and. convincing in Die aired version of Sinjun Ervine's "Mary. Mary. Quite Contrary." which the Theatre Guild cooked up oii U. S. Steel's open hearth radio furnaces. But-it's a mistake to think that • Mary " and Mrs. Pal Campbell went through life "as all the parts she ever played" and that in all ages she had everybody waiting on her hand and foot. - At a Hollywood parly not"many years ago Mrs. Pal. her dog, and the Scullys happened, lo get sequestered in one of the iiosla less glamorous parlors. We were, talking of Stella's Pal Joey iG.B.S.i. and she brought out recent letters from him and read them tons, lie was urging her to get back to.New York and find some bit parts. She looked the loneliest person in (he world, "Please come and pet me." she said lo Mme.. Scully, finally breaking down. "I'm starving for a little human affection." ing oyer 300.000 daily. Ihe paper, under editorship of Ifenrik Burns, lormer German i pre-Nazi > newsman with 1.(1 years U. S. experience be- hind hiin. has piled up profits of :$5(l0i00(l yearly, w ith only W, com- ': ing li'om advertising! When paper ~horlave eases both circulation and advertising income could skyrocket, doubling profit figures. Burns, like Sharin. has had policy. differences with Army.' lie is pres- ently en route to the U. S. for enn- Millal.'nns. on wliich liis continu- ance in editorship may liinge. Burns has pr»|>osed (hat Kinicr be evenl- uail.y handed over jo . management of a group of native editors, with dividends' limited and profits going into a fund for c.--lal)lishing eoiirses' in deiiiociiilii- join nalisiii at' Austrian ; iini\ ersjlies and scholarships for Austrian journalism students to study abroad. Success of Kurier. which competes., in Vienna with British, French and Russian sponsored papers as well us organs of all Austrian political factions, is generally ascribed lo its U;/S.. style handling of news. Front page handles'world-and local news, often in hard hilling, tabloid style, and content -avoids windy political mid socitilogiciil editorials and arti- cles, which fill much space in other. Eiiropean papers. Kurier has .'also had; advantage of AP. UP. and INS news'and pliolo covet age on an ex- clusive basis. But on May 1 these- U.S wire service and pix agencies go' into commercial business with serv- ices available 'lo all comers. Most Austrian dailies have subscribed to one or another.'