Variety (Jun 1946)

SCREEN 'JUN ■ 6 1 RADIO MUSIC STAIpE Piii,llsli,(l w«kly nC iti Went 4611; Street, K>vr York JO. N. T.. hy Variety, inc. Aiinii.Tl iiibscrlptlon. tlO. Sln(i* copIm. 2« crjiti. Hiitcrca IS aecuna-clasa Diatlev DoMinbor I;i05. at Ilia Pont OIKica at N->v Yoi!:, N. y., iiiiiler .llia" act u£ M»ri;l> 3, ISTO. CUl>VRiGUT, J»W. MV VAKUb-lY, INC. AM. KIGU'I:^' MJSSEKV^D. VOL. 162 No. 13 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1946 PRICE 25 CENTS N.Y. Drama Critics' Boxscore; p[ AS BiyEPRINI Season of 1945-46 (Jun« 1, 1945-May 31, 1946) (» Abbreviations: SR (Shows Reviewed); R (Ri(ht)i*W (Wron^); O (No Opinion Clcvrly Expressed); Pel, (Percentage) I.KWIS NICHOLS (Time.":). I.OVIS KBONENBERGKR (PM). W.\RD MOREHOUSE (Sun) •VERNON RICE (Post) ROBERT GARLAND (Jotirnal-Ainevican). ROBERT COLEMAN (Mirroi'i *WII.ELLA WALDORF (Post; V.^HiKiY (Combined) 61 C'Mi.sji Waldorf reviewed Hisl half season, Rice taking over Jan. 1 due to former's falal illness.) Nichols Noses Out Kronenberger In 'Variety' Drama Critics Boxscore For a number ot seasons Lewis Nichols ot the N. Y. Time.t and Louis Kronenberger ot PM have l)(!en balllinfi it out for Vahikiv's Ni'i.v York drama critics champion- sliili. The past season has been no difii'irnl, Nichols nosing out Kron- enberger, last year's winner, b.v one less wrong guess. Bolh liave now copped twice. Nicliols' 1945-46 percentage of ITIt'is is the critics' boi.tcoie orip- iiinieti niirt atitiualli/ used by Variltv since 1923. It is therefore tlie bo.x:- score the Billbonrd decided lind come t)Uo file public doiiiiiiii and so stole il. The wiiisiinl pni'l o/ this sequeme is that it tool; 'em 20 years to get ai'otind to it.] [Sinatra's Baseball Pic j For Kelly, Lippy and Self I Chicago. June 4. I Script about three baseball pla.vers ! who go on vaudo tours during tlieir I off-seasons is being prepared b.v i Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. I The Voice added that Metro's story I dept. seems moderately interested. It's a "Tinker-to-Evers-to-Cliance" yarn, lie said. Vith parts of "Ryan, O'Brien and Shaughnessy," tailored for himself, Kelly and possibly Leo Durocher, who has signilicrt some interest. Didn't indicate, however, wlio'd play first and second base and shortstop roles. .915 is e.xccptionaUy high, having been topped only twice since the boxscore started during 1922-23. All but one critic clearly expres.sed an opinion in their 1945-46 notices, liie. exception being charged with two "no opinions.'' Right behind Krorienbergers S9B came Ward Morehouse, of the (Continued on page 68) Awesome Orson PutsHexonCrix Tele Nips Self With Day Program Void; Sets Sold Blindly Television itself is now ganging up on television, First postwar receiving .sets hit the retailers' shelves last week, ptil out by the 'Viewtone Corp. and the Bel- mont Corp., latter a subsidiary of Raytheon Manufacturing Co. Retail- ers, however, can't demonstrate the .sets to' prospective customers din - ing normal daytime hours of trade bccau-se none of the video stations is currently broadcasting daytime programs. WNBT (NBC, N. be.^an broadcasting four aftcriioons a week alter returning to the air ^ul)sccllll.Mlt (Continued on page 24 j In his regular Sunday (2) Blue network broadcast, Orson Welles threatened to put the whammy on tlia critics who didn't like hi.s "Arotmd the World." which opened last Friday (31) at the Adelphi. N. Y. Spilling a fantastic tale of Harlem vengeance, hex, voodoo drtims and all, Welles told of how once before he had "killed" a critic. U was all highly amusing to listeners as he "predicted'' dire things to those re- viewers who panned the show, al- though conceding that the new mu- (Continued on page 33) St. Petersburg, Fla., June 4. . 'Virtually everj' facet of show busi- ness — including films, television, radio and recording .:ompanie.s—had their eyes riveted on St. Petersburg, Fla.. today (Tues.). For, out of the current convention of James Caesar Petrillo's American Federation of Musicians may emerge a blueprint for union behavior that is expected to vitally influence all branches of the entertainment industry, at least for the next 12 months; The repercussions from Petrillo's opening blast at the radio industry and the recording companies on Monday (3) are already making themselves fell, and there's no at- tempt being made to conceal the wori i.somc slate ot the radio-record- ing chieftains. Sensing perhaps more llian ever befoi e that they were being squeezed a.s the "whipping boy" of what es- sentially is an industry problem, net- woi k executives made no bones as to their concern in the wake of (Continued on page 56) Johnston Says He Won't Be Yesman In Answer to Film hdustry Critics Runyon Sets 250G Price on Film Biog Damon Hunyon has set a $230,000 tab on his life story for any film company that's interested, with aoth- Fox reportedly given first choice. Agent Paul Small has just returned from a trip to the Coast where he huddled with studio exacs on the property. If the deal goes through. Runyon wilt script the story himself. Runyon, for a time, produced at 20th. 'Buy Stock And Be Our Partners/ ABC TeDs Talent Hollywood. June 4. Sale of slock to stars broadcasting on it.« netwoik to fortify it.s position against defections to other skeins when time opens up in the fall is ini- der sei ious discussion by the ABC plans board. By making its per- formers and those on other nct.s partners in the operation. ABC's Ed Noble and Mar'it Woods liold 10 the theory that it would strenath- en the ch?in piogramMvise and woo other top latent with the partner- ship bail. Idea stemmed from the proposal to Bjng Crosby and repoi led ov'er- U\re. to Ed Cardnei- for purchase ot ABC slock in lieu ot full earnings, thereby placing them in the capital CConlinued on page 33) Expect N.Y. Fight Bonanza Influx by out-ot-towiiers for the I.,ouis-Conn boul. June 19. is vx- peeled to bring in its wake a bo- nanza for the Broadway spots. One nitcry. La Martinique, which planned to shutter June 19 for the lirst major summer ■ closing since i pre-war, will remain open until :.)iMic 21 to cash in. Spot reupciis in 'September with Harvey Sioic. Martha Tillon and Tlie Viig;il)onds. ROY ACUFF IN TENN. GUBERNATORIAL RACE Memphis. June 4. Roy Aciiff. N.o. 1 hillbilly songster ot rjdio and screen, was entered in the Tc-iine.s.see governor's race in a sin pi ise n"'Ovc the past weekend and I lie is icpoi ted scrioii.-ily considering j canipaigriing for the Republican I ncuninalioM. . Two years ago Acufl had decided ■ nuaiiiM entering politics, alter mull- . ing the matlor lor many months. He : sairl il would interfere with his ra- 'fiio and film commitments at that time. .N'nihing further heard on sub- ' (Conliuucd on page CTj Henry Morgenthau In Quick Fadeout III a surprise move, Henry Mor- genthau. Jr.. ex-Secy, of the Treas- ury under President Roosevolt, has bowed out of the radio commentary picture alter an eight-week series of broadcasts over a flvt-atation "pri- vate network" 'covering New York, Baltimore. Washington, San Fran- cisco and Hollywood. On WMCA. his N. Y. outlet, in Baltimore, anrl in Washington, He was locally spon- sored, while the Others carried him .sustaining. Reason ascribed for the quick fadeout is that Morgenthau is in need of a rest and wants to relax. He considers the eight-week experi- ment in the "pull no punches" tech- nique as a success. But understand- ing is that he won't return to the air unless he can go coasl-to-coast via a major- network. He had pre- viously been rebuHed for network presentation. Morgenthau's last broadcast was Wednesday (May 2B i. with 1>is ac- cusation that President Truman had betrayed the trust ot the man who put him in office stirring consider- able pro and con comment. By HERB GOLDEN Eric Johnston took open cog' nizance last \veek ol increasingly- frequent reports being heard of din- satisfaction by certain industry top- pers . with his administration a« president of. the Motion Picture As- sociation. Johnston freely admitted to VarKkxy that echoes of the reports had reached him, but olTcred no apologies other than his record to date. ? There's no sign thai any crisis in the regime ol the MPA's S100,000-a- year, prexy is anywhere near, but if irritations on both sides continue to grow, a showdown could possibly occur. Likelihood of that happen- ing now, tiowever, is slight in ligtu of the excellent results Johnston lia,'* achieved in the past few week*; in advancing the industry's export trade potential. The settlement w\v,\ (Continued on pag* 5j Mountain Goes To Mohamnied Via H'wood Miniatures By WHITNEY W1LI,I.\.MS Hollywood, June 4. Hollywood in Miniature. Inc.. wUh Don Hai'tman, Columbia producer, as prexy, and Nat Goid.stone choir-, man was previewed for Hollywood last week, and nothing quite like it has ever come out of the tilrn capit-jl. Six large miniatures present a paRcant of Hollywood which is sup- posed to, and doe.s, give an cxai-t jllimp.'ie of the picture colnny as it nicfts the eye. It's due a tour, .itarling in Uie fall, willi u Ni-w York date. - Tlieic is Malibu Beach. Grji.i- man'.s Chinese theatre, the Bi^) vn Derby, the Hollywool Bo.vl. a ly;)!- oal motion picture stud'ii. and, Anally, th.e City of Hollywood. First five arc approximalcly Ave (Continued on page 24 > The Hour Of Charm All-Girl Orchestra a»4 Choir Conductad by Pliil !i^pitoluy 10th Ytar en the Air Sundayt, 10 P. M. E.S.T. NBC