Variety (Jun 1946)

!»IISCBULANY Wednesday, June 5, 1946 There's No Place Like Home, H'wood Finds in Hollywood, June 4, The Cindticlla molit is getliiig a play atiiin iii Hollywood star-build- iiiR Bclivilics. It hasn't yet reached the IcKCiHlary piopoilions of the old silent tUiys when, sccording to pop- \\\a\- superstilipni at least, a gal was liable lo be discovered by a directoi; at the Vrnice iiicf, the corner, cpf- fee shop, or a Uixi-dancehall, for in- slaiK-e, and be sky rocketed, prompt- ly to stardom. Habiis and importance of directors and producers have changed all that. Thcv'ro loo hard lor the aver-, age cal io mecl. But, anyway, the- Cinderella scUip has gotten as far. down the scale as Ihc studio bacU- lols. the liilli" theatres and the haunts of n>odcls. Theory a.uain is boing widely dis- cussed and u> some extent acted upon around the studio that there's no reason why the ambitious young- ster.s sliouldn l lake- the high hur- dles lli-st! Nancy Guild was suddenly yanked out of •whatever obscurity may be the lot of an Arizona co-cd and featured by 20th-Fox in "Some- where in the Night." . . ! .'^etlous Speak Louder I Sol Le.s.ser not. Only announced; that "he waij going into, the con- ; tract shadowlands of Hollywood, or even farther, for a couple of youii;i .. actresses for "No Trespassing," but , he actually did as mUch.. Julie.Lon- . don was taken from a; professional school and Allene Roberts from the little theatres tor the two . feninic leads in the Edwai-d .G. Robinson- . Lou McCallister starrer. Also Rory I Calhoim. under contract to David | O. Selznick. but fresh to. pictures. | was signed for a featured role in the film. - . Le.-tsef maintains that the contract . li.sts of the various studios include j any number of talented young , players who aren't being givcn_ a ; chance on their own lots. He in-' sist.s that theres no need, for talent licouts to range far afield when they can find what they want right in Hollywood's own backyard. Ttiis theory .gets considerable sup- . port from tiie fact that it isn't so ; long ago that Louis B. Mayer served caustic notice on Metro's citing de- pat-tment. producers and directors that tliey were letting valuable tal- ent go to waste and were, failing to give proper attention to. dievclop- nienl of young contract players. Tar's Own Closet Paramount oo the other hand. Sports Shorts Uhfavorabl* weather finally forced two ball games on New York the sanie night (.May 28, a Tuesday) at Yank Stadium and Ebbets Field. So what do you suppose Henvich — Keller and DiMaggio and Reese—Reiser and Herman did to McGeo — Hope and Skellon'r On a cold, vainv night 28.000 turned out.in Brooklyn and 50,000 in the Bronx, indicating that maybe all.the dairy people are not west of the- Hudson. There was a rush ot ticket or-, ders for the Louis-Conn figlit before the public sale • .started, tiU' demand then .slowing down and with the title event but two weeks- away' OS).- ihe sale will have to'improve greatly, if the Yankee Stadiinn is to approxi- mate capacity. Checks for as much a.>! $25,000 each from large commercjfll firms were received, lho.se rtrms plaiuiing to cnxertain customers and einployees at the match, such expenditures bpi"(( chargeable off income tax re- turns. So far the majority of fans,buying directly Uom. Mike Jacobs' office are colored.' as previously reported; aiid it's as- .•iumed that the bulk ot other .sales w-.ill be made by ageiicies. Total ticket sale.s. as of late last week, approximated $1,850,000, SI00 top. Mo.st of the tickets sold by Jacobs directly to tight ad- dicts are of lesser deiioniiria- tions. Guy Lombardo thinks he may get iiis Gold Cup boat up to 110. This is the one with the Hi- Cylinder Miller. He is also re- ported fooling around with a jet motor. It explains where Lom- bardo doe« his •bv'uncing. Indianapolis 500-mile auto grind saw- Spike Jones with an entry iit the race,- and antedi- luvian auto collector Jame.s Mel- ton piloted one of tiis ancieiits in the Fiiestone old-car parade. 207lli WEEK ! KEN MURRAY'S •■BLACKOUTS or 194«" El Capitan Th««lr«, Hollywood, Cal, '-V..ii're the killer. Ken--nia in*: .A. Ki*»i "IK'"'.": ALAN LADD. The Berle-ing Point By Milton Berle 'APPLE BLOSSOM TIME' AS ANDREWS' INDIE LucienneBoyer Clicks Heavily in First B^ A. Performance Since '38 I Buenos Aires, Mi9.V IS. ' The famous blue velvet gown niay \ lia\-e gone the way of other glories of France, but Lucieniie Boyer's tal- ent as singer and actress i-f still sock b;o. material for Buenos Aires au- diences. French chantoosey has a whole briefcase full of new songs, but audience.s. here insist, on her packing the old favorites a.s well; this she-does-with incomparable ar- tistry. Her voice is excellent, per- haps less hu.sky than before,-and at- thoiigh .she use.s. no mike, she can be heard effortlessly acro-ss the entire theatre. Mi.ss Boyer's precm at the Odepn Theatre gave socialite Argentines a chance to demonstrate their pa.ssion for everything French, and ^ they gave her a resounding welcome lal 12 peso.-;—$3—which is a high ad- mission .scale for Bueiics - Airest. There was a brief in.slant of stunned 'surprise when .she came on. because 'the "Paries Moi d'Amour" queen, I once so .svelte, is many . pounds. . heavier which may be due to the potato-bread diet of occupied France. But the cleverly designed Alix gowns do good cambuflagc duty, and . all el.se is forgotten , as soon as she goes into song. Singer's stint occupied the second half ot the bill and was divided into three section.s. each punctuated by a different gown: blue, while and Lou Levy, manager of the An- drews SIster.s. has bought the .film rights lo "I'll Be With You in Apple Blos.som Time", as a starrer for the has gone systematically about the : femme trio.. Levy and the Andrews i talent hunt in its own bailiwick. . will produce it independently. . „,„•„., ,„„ „.h:,t Studio has been active in making ' Their Decca disk version ot that last ^' foanouls for some time, farming out ' tune was among the early platters called ^^e opt m sm of F. ancc^^ its young.'^lcrs for parts in other! to catapult the Andrews «iHs' to I audience reali/at.on oj^ Bludios where they can get a build- up and fan following. In addition, the company has established a sys- Boy!' Hollywood's xeally turning.out western pictures in a hurry, In ■ fact, out there, if you don't get your iiiakeup oft quickly enough, you mis- Ihe preview....I'll never forget the day I was. playing golf at Hillcr and woimd Up in a sand-trap-^lhere .was Monogram shooting a de.> • scene. .. .Speaking of movies, due to llie trend of psycho pictures, 1 .,u.vt heard that Prof. Albert D. Metzler, world famous psychiatriijt, was hired, as eastern talent scout for MGM;. ..However it's not true that the cast times for the next Ingrid Bergman'picture will be designed by the Now England Strait Jacket Co. The Crtal WU Way "Oklahoma" has been, running for three year*.. . .next .year Ihey elect a new governor. . Jack'Bobbins is goihg'to spend that MGM. half-million profit ciicoulag- iiig the improvement ot the .T R's... .Robbins Rhumba Research. ; Oite comic Jn town did so well the other night... .they're congratulating the guy hg stole the inaterlal from. ■ Solly Violinsky knows a guy who . has been in more pawnshops than Ray Milland's piortable. ri Know a .Broadway producer who; has had so many flops'.. . .ho luis a direct chule to Cain's. Saw a niovie .yesterday and cried my eyes out... .1 wasn't in the pielurp. Doing great at the Carnival.. Uncle Sam gels 90% of my .salary—my agent gets lO'.i . .. idoes anybody know a reliable finance company.' Incidentally, they have a new innovation for visiting'comics at the Car- nival—on the'$2.50 dinner they .serve Eyorsharp pencils and pine linen pads. A There's Xo Trulli lo the Rumor That Tommy Mahville'.s divorce decrees'are printed on cancellcil checks .;..ThBt John LI Lewis is umpiring for Brooklyn—so that he can keep calling strikes... .That W. C. Fields look out a $50,000 policy on his ihiist ....That niy brother, Frank, is looking for a job... .That the Moscow Alt Players, are appearing in The'Red Mill... .That when Clai-k Gable wanl.s lo travel incognito he wears-.smoker ear muffs That Meniisha Skiilnick will .sOon be starred iii the "M.-tgnillcent Yonkel" That be- cause of the housing shortage Frankenstein, Dracula and -the Wolf .Man are all living backstage at the Riaito theatre. Ilanfnair Descriptions June March: Strip-endous.... Herb Shriher: Harmonic-comic... .B.-S. Piilly: Fraud-villiaii... .Tommy Mahville: Cashitivaling... .Vincent Price: Dragon-wicked. Obscrvalloii Dept. Got the surprise'Of my life last nile. .. .sat in Lindy'.s for 20 niiniiles without hearing an.vone reiriark. "This place is a goldmine. ' Certain nite club M.C.. has beeii spending money likie water.. . .now he's trying to float a loan. Know a girl that has .such an Interesting problem... .they booked her for a return engagement on"Mr. Anthony's" program. Overheard at the Zanzibar: "He's got all the money shell! ever need." Met a guy that's .so dXimb, when .somebody gave him tickets for "Call Me Mister".. . .he went out to buy a confivmalion present. Saw Jcs.sel at the Roxy. The theatre's so big that if you sat in the last row jn the balcony.. . .you'd think he was. singing on key. ;Undersland B, S. Pully has cleaned tip his ^ict... .after each naughty word he says D. D. T.. Bcrird Krcs You can't go wrong with a Feist song unle.Ss you .place it with Mills;. ' Talent Scoift to Young Hopeful: Who knows? In 10 year.s you may be a big "enough .star to be able to write « testimonial for Ken Murray's Blackouts." One nite club funny man is so bad....his hecklers are demanding top billing. 1st comic: Hotu loiifl t/id it tuUf [inu lo become a sucfi'Ss? 2(1 comic: Oil, nborit 10-pnyM o/Joe E. (.eii'is' innterinl. . What n crowd at the Carnival la.st Sunday night. Half aii hour before the show started, the lobby was packed... .thought it would never stop raining. < . - Went; into a re.stauranl.on 8th Avemic. One waiter was slanriiiig on liis head serving a cup of coffee. I exclaimed. "What's the idea of standing on your head'? Who arc your' The waiter replied, "I'm one of the Yacopi "Troupe. . Damn that Morris office. ' i4side (6 tiiy bobkiiiokcr: "Yoiir .slip iii slioiri/*;/." My brother (the one with the I'ui lle-ncck no.se) has found a way lo save his money he uses mine. wide"att''enLn.'%n7"the"indTe-made | of,:the three gowns. she got the big- filmusical will be tied in with the ten-i ot stage auditions, oh its own lot through which promising con- tract players can do their stuff in (Continued on page 24) song's revival. Pascal Woes Grycie For Shaw's 'Profession' Hollywood, June 4. Gracic Fields is being paged by Gabriel Pascal for a starring role In a lilm version ot Ihe George Ber nard Shaw drama, "Mrs. Warri-ii's Profes-sion.'* Actre.-^s is currently reading a re- vised script of the play, which may be produced in Hollywood it Pa.-^cal. finds .studio facilities unavailable in England next fall., Re-Created Club Durante Due for SRO Tonight :est hand of all. U is a typically French gesture, put on with all the grace and showmanship at which Ihc French are so skillful. Songs run the gamut of expres- sion, from the clas.sy "Chanson.s" to "Je ne croLs plus au pere Noel," , . the piquant flavor of "De la Made- SRO sign' is expected to be posted ^ igj^g „ ropera" and the tragedy ot early lonighl (Wednesday) iO f''ont -^napelle Toi." She had her audi- or the Golden Slipper, dancehall "n . thoking back tear.<:. Times Square, N. Y.. when Jimmy | .Jacques Pills (Miss Boyer's hu.s- iDurante's friends gather with The-,,3nc)) covers the (li.St half of the iSchnoz to celebrate his 30 years m , bui^ and' .socks with his joie de , l.show biz. Metro is throwing lha ; innuendo and' good-na- parly for Durante, and the, dan(:e-| (^^pj bonhomie. He i.s especially hall, on the site of the old Prohibi- ^^^^ j„ .-pi^.^ia Gaucha. " a satire on lion hoispot known as the Silver i i^j.^, pustoms, which g<»es over big. Rogers' Forced Landing . Meniphis, June 4; Buddy Rogers made a forced land- ing in his plane smack on the high- way near Blue Mountain, Miss.. Sun- day >2i night when darkness and Slipper, will be known tonight only pju^ on.stage for .iB minutes, wilh- ; as the "Club Durante.' 'out being tiling I More than 400 of the comedian's' !friends, including. Mayor William rO'Dwyer, are expected to attend. , _ , , ,. . , . ■ ;.Durante will leam. iip with his old,! w<-<l<l'-'t!. t'-at revcal.s him a ■ p.-irlners, dancer Lou Clayton, now j p hi.s nianager, and singer Eddie Jack- ; .4fler a monlh in Biienos Aire.';, son. His stooge. Mile. Fifi, will also : the Boyer company moves on Via appear, and she and The Schnoz will jihe Pacific coast route Id-New York, give out with many of the novelty i It should click >ieavily with (rosmo- tunes thai, helped push Duraiile to polilan U. S. audiences. Her "Par^ Frank Pourcel. violini.st, leads the 'l accoinpanimciit and does a .---oId, a 4th Generation P.A. . Hollywood, June 4. Six-pound, 13-ounce daughter was born Saturday i.I) to Mrs. Eddie Ettinger—and the infant's life work seems cut but for her. ' Father is an independent pub- Hcisl. Grandfather. Ed Ettinger, is an independent publicist. Great-aunt Margai'Ct Ettinger is an independent publici.^t. Great- aiinl Loiiclla O. Paisons is a newspaper coluinni.st. and sec- ond cousin Harriet Pai-.sons is a film producer. poor visibiliLv compelled emergency [ [fj^^-jy" '',;, 'pl.^'^nf.^jy comedians' landing. He was flying his own ship j,, g,|,|i,ion. Diiranle will do a piano from a Biimingliam air show to Memphis, accompanied by - .Marc Cramer. Plane taxied along the highway into Blue 'Mountain where residents ot this old soiitherh college town turned out en masse to greet flim- sier. He resumed trip nexl da.v: escaped willibut injury. for Laurilz Mel- Icz-Moi d'.AiiKiur" has lost nothing over the year.<s, in fact it-is even better than that of her 19.38 Buenos A li es performances. Chaplin Tees Off Hollywood, June 4. Charlie Chaplin's first picture hi ei>t years. "Comedy of Murders.' atarled leiising yesterday (Monday) on a 10-weck shooting schedule. Chaplin and Robert Ploroy cd- di)cci and Chaphn will co-.star with Martha Raye. Kccoinpaniment chior. Parly is slated to begin at 11 p.m. , DuiaiMe arrived . from the Coast yesterday iTuesda:()' for the affair! and for the Broadway prcem tomor-i row i Thursday ) at L<jew's Capitol i of his latest .Metro pi(;lure, "Two; Sisters from Boston.", Joe; Paster- nak. Metro producer, who originally 'tlibughl up the i(Jea, will al.so be on ■ hand. , . . : A host of celebs will entectain. Leon I & Eddie's) Eiiken, longtime! real e.state holding, and headwailer at Durante's Parody and .support for d.Tirghtcr. Dover Clubs, asked for the privilege I .Couple married iir Tia Jiiana in of once asain hea'lwailing. I9,'t7 and .separation occurred last Still anotl:er Durante. shindig. April. .Icrry Cie.sltr is Mrs, Holtz's hosted by his agency, N. W. Aycr, ■ altorricy. Lou Holtzes Divorcing Hollywood. June 4. - Phyllis' Oilman - Holtz, former ' Broadway aclre.s.s, - filed suit . for ; dfvorce ycstel'da.v '■)• in Superior ' Court sgainsl Lou Mollz. charging oxfrenie cruelly. She asks for di- vision of prppeily, including Florida alimony Helen Menken's Play Helen Menken plans starring in and producing "First in Heart!' next season on Broadway. It's by Betty Smitli, author of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." and it's her maiden playwi-iting effort. BOGIE DOESN'T LIKE FEMME LEADS AT COL Hollywood. .Iiine 4.' Humphrey Bogart may withdraw from Columbia's "Dead Reckoning'' de.spite his commitment brcau.se of studio's choice of leading women for Ihe pic. Bogart-claims that neither Marguerite Chapman nor Evelyn Ke.vc." are suited for the part. I Columbia is now trying to borrow 'Lauren Bacall tBaby) for the role, I but Warner Bro.s. is unwilling lo I loan the star. Both she and her hiis- I band. Bogart, are under W B ius- I pension. 'SERIOUSV MUSICAL Hollywood, Jiiiif 4. Albert Hay Maiotte. composer holed for religious standards such as '^Lord's'Prayer" and "Twenty- Third Psalm." is collaboraling with Rowland V. Leigh, film writer and director, on a musical play of a serious nature. Subject and title are still secret. U s slaled for Broadway produc- tion in beceniber. YULE LEGITER Hollywood, ,Iune 4. Steve Fisher is aiithoring « legit play, "Chrislmas Upstairs," .slated for production by Roliert Mont- gomery and Elliott Nugent tin Broadway next fall. Montgomery will also -star- in the piece if he can arrange sufficient time off from his Metro-chores. Kit Cornell, Lise Meitner Get Racial Unity Award Chicago. .I line 4. Katharine Cornell and Dr. Li.-^e Meitner . will be awarded the ltt46 .^rts iind Sciences citalioii.s «if llic National Conference ot Christians I and Jews for their "splendid work Howard interracial underslan<ling" at 'a- luncheon here Thui'.sday Hii. A'wai'ds will be given the two women by Dr. Arthur H. Coinplcn, Nobel Prize winner and chiincellor ot Washiiigtbii .University. iSelcc- tions of the actress aiid .vcienfi.-t were announced by Dr. Jiiines M. Yard, jiiidwest director of MC'Ci,! aiid the ir.'dwest fcriiine <lireci(>i-s' board, composed of Mr.s. John AI- dien Carpenter, Mr!!, Louis L. Mann nnd Mrs. George J. Asle. * Paulette to Frankfurt . Pari.s. June 4. .Actress Paulette Godditrd has gone to. Frankfurt for ftvfc days Ss gue-it of the AriTiy before returning to iln U. S. She plans visiting here on htr \vay back to America,