Variety (Jul 1946)

46 LITERATI VAftiEfY Wednesday, July 3, 1946 L iter a I i M?rk Twain Anecdola Cyril'Clemens, president of ''he Mark Twain Society, Webster Groves 19 Mo., is editing an official'coi- ner "Lewis as director of production | and Arthur Hale as director of ad- j : vvr Using- and public relations; i I . N. Y.-Newspaper Guild lias.bought ; i'iM.t'ion ot Mark Twain anecdotes and the thrce-slory building assessed at wouW Ukc to gel any others from i $200,000 at 133-137 W. 44th street V?p,^v readers Clement R. Alice, N. Y.. tor use as offices restaurant Britain's r-rimc Minister, is Hon- bar and library for members, orary President ol the Society; Harry George Frazier. following up his c T,l n honorary Veepee; and , Toots Shor piece for True' mag. ^. uma l..?!?JS?. ry «^:!^ ™„™. i. doi „ie profiles on Mark Hellinger. reprc- Winston Churchill, English seivtative. N. Y.'s Dally 'Noose' Takeoff on the N. Y. Daily New* tilled "Daily Noose," is currently be- ing peddled after dark in the Times Sq. area, by CIO reps. Four-page paper, almost an exact replica of the News in format, type; etc.,. is a monthly feature of the Union Voice, official organ of three local CIO unions. Hawkers advertise it as a "satire" on the News and sell it. for 5c. Paper's masthead, under the title, reads "New York's vicious news- paper." followed by the • slogan, "Published .top often, including Sun-, day, by Noose Syndicate Co.. Inc. Price of subscription in U. S. A.: liberty ana 1 decency" Paper fea^ turcs such "byllners" as "Don O'Jon- neir and his "Capital Stiff" column; "Hattie Hophead" writing about "Gollywood," etc. Editorial page has facsimiles of all the Daily News fea- tures, including "The Conspiring Fotographer" by "Jeremiah Jail," the "Voice of the Peep-Hole," etc. Line underneath the latter says, ' Please don't bother us by sending in letters.. We write them ourselves." Montreal's Le Jon* Folds Le Jour, one of most influential French language papers in Montreal, folded with Saturday's (29) edition. It was founded In 1937 by Jean Charles Harvey, political authority, and was frequently quoted all over North America. Reason tor foldo was given as financial. . Fascination Switches Fascination mag, in - a series of changes, has named Mary Harbord, formerly with ■ the entertainment section of Esquire, as its managing ed ! *or. Other changes include Murrpw McCumin, previously with Look, as the fashion ed, and Mark Parker, from Woman's Home Companion,, as the beauty editor. Billy Rose's Cnffo Syndication Billy. Rose's advertorials, first ap- pearing •'. as paid ads in the amuse- ment section of the N. Y. Daily News, will be syndicated gratis un- der the title of "Pitching. Horse- shoes." First in the new series tees off today (Wed.) in PM, N. Y. tab- loid. Deal has already been set for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to take the series, after which they'll be run in various papers through- out the country. All for free. Ted Patrick Vice Beaman Ted Patrick, former veepee of the Compton ad agency, has been named editor of Holiday, deluxe monthly mag of Curtis Publishing. Patrick replaces J, Frank Beaman, out last -week because of reported dlssatis faction by Curtis execs. Beaman was formerly financial ed of the Philadelphia Record. In a second personnel shift on Holiday, James Yates was named art editor, succeeding Don May. Peter Loire. Errol. Flynn and Fred, Bobbins, latter the. disk jockey. •'Duchess Hotspur." Rosamond; Marshall's current bestseller, into its fifth printing, making a total of 115,- 000 copies, one of the tops to date for a book not chosen, by one of the book clubs. Kurt Singer, author of "Spies and traitors of World War II," requested by the War Crimes Commission to testify at the coming trial of Horst voir Pflugk-Hartung, Nazi spy. re-: cen.tly captured in Ireland. T. Edward Hamblcton, theatrical producer, elected to board of direc- tors of Farrar. Straus and Co'. Ham- bleion currently interested in pro- ducing "Set My People Free," by Dorothy Heyward. Music Corp. of America has named James . Bishop head of,the literary department of; its subsidiary Lelahd office.: Bishop, former editor *Pf Liberty magazine, succeeds Jean Rogers, who's leaving to be married. Ray Josephs, author of "Argentine Diary" and former Variety mugg in Buenos Aires; left 'for Mexico yes- terday (Tuesday) for a three-months visit. He'll extend his lecture sched- ule next season to include Mexico as well as Argentina. . On June 22, 1848, Adolphe Sax, a Befgian, . patented the saxophone. This event <was of profound influ- ence on the modern band as Richard Franko Goldman points out in his book, "The Concert Band" to be published by Rinehart in November. Trafton Robertson, "morning man" for radio station WMAL in Washing- ton, is now writing a bi-weekly col- umn for. a suburban newspaper, the Silver Springs Standard. Column .is called "The Bank .Clerk and the Soda'Jerker'* and ranges from house- hold remedies to high finance. Duell, Sloan & Pearce will pub- lish on Oct. 1 the only book about Franklin D; Roosevelt by a member of his family. "As He Saw It" by Elliott Roosevelt, son and -confidant of the late-President, is the .inside! story of the . World Conferences as seen by the President and told to Elliott. Helen Coltoh profiles Tarzan in July magazine Digest, also has James Fitzpatrick piece due in August Holiday, article about plagiarism cases in Esquire, one on rad'o announcers, in International Digest, a Sidney Skolsky profile in In Short, and a talent scout story in Sept. magazine Digest; Pic magazine has added three for- mer GIs to its staff. Additions are Dave Camerer, formerly with the N.Y. World-Telly, who'll cover sports: Ed Cunningham, feature ed season tomorrow (3) with "Angel Streol." with a nine-week season of plays, given lhiee ( days each, on tap. Co-op company is under di- rection ot Alvina Krausc, assoc. professor at Northwestern U. . 'SEN. CLAGH0RNE' PLAYS IN STRAWHAT 'KNEW Westport, Conn.. July 2. Kenny Delmar. "Senator Clug- hornc" of radio, can have the lead in a contemplated Broadway revival by the Theatre Guild of "They Knew What they . Wanted." Lawrence Langner said so last night tl) after a-, lively strawhnt production of Eugene O'Neill's Napa Valley drama at the Country Playhouse. Employ- ing the authentic accents that used to get him jobs on "March of Time, Delmar gave a sure, colorful, and quite appealing account of the middle-aged Italian bootlegger who woos a San Francisco waitress by correspondence. -..-' ' . Delmar was suggested for the part by Homer Fickett,: director of "The Theatre Guild of the Air." after a recent broadcast of the play by -the Guild from San Francisco. Langner wanted Leo Carrillo. who could not come cast because ot film commit- ments. Juiic Havoc, who' did Amy in the broadcast, repeated perform ance here last night. Fickett directed production, ham- mering somewhat on the melodra- ma; but revival generally pleased house made, up to a great extent by professionls. Bone. . i Mttttt1tttftffftftttt*ff***'ttt ft 11 t I t > > i \ SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK 1 ♦♦♦♦♦«♦♦ ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ By Frank Scully *********** Hotel Strike — Continued from pace 1 ss would cause boxoffice dips at thea- tres, niteries and would close the hotel entertainment rooms. The threatened stoppage comes at a time wheti the inns are hitting a slight business dip. Many hutels, over.last weekend, had rooms avail- ablet and calls for accommodations during the week aren't as heavy as they-have been. : Possibility of . a strike would cause havoc with the conventions planned for New. York. More than 20,000 Elks are slated to convene here from July 6-11. N Y. Conven- tion & Visitors Bureau of Com- merce has already found accommo- dations for participants in that confab. Current Road Shows — Continued f rom page 44 _ Stockton (41;. Aud,, Sacramento (5-6) Maytair, Portland (8-13). "Voice of the Turtle'V-Nat'l, Wash. (1-13). Arsenic and Old Lace"—Chapel, itor, who edited the CBI. edition of Lcreat Neck, L. I. (2-7). _ Yank, and Richard Dempewolff, article editor, formerly of Newsweek, who during the war was in the Navy as technical editor of Naval Aviation News.. cnvriEB F. Hugh Herbert readying a maga- zine seri.es on "Corliss Archer." The Alan Hynds and daughter off to Maine and Cape Cod until Sep- tember. Joe Laurie, Jr., doing a piece on "gimmicks" for the N. Y Times Sun- day, mag section. Kenneth Friede, fan mag publish- er, in Hollywood for confabs with his west coast editors. ■ Bernard Sobel, longtinme Bos- well to Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., doing his autobiography for Rinehart. Roy Chanslor is doing a novel, "A Lady Comes to Whiskey Row," based on his early recollections of Reno. Ten titles, headed by Russell Jan- ney's "Miracle of- the Bells," slated for fall publication by Prentice- Hall. Milt Hoffman, of Paramount press- book dept., has sold a profile on Phillips H. Lord, 'radio producer, to Pageant. New novel by former British actor Donald Macardle, "Summer in April," skedded for publication by Lippincott In late July.; Bantam Books has named Faulk- Conn. Strawhats Continued from page 45 also oh the agenda. Policy will be to feature names throughout season. Indian Neck has a team of new- comers at the helm, William Whiting and Anita Grannis having picked up at Monlowese Playhouse where Lydia Noble and associates left off a few seasons back. Alexander Kirk- land breaks the ice here with "Blithe Spirit," current; Shows will run Tuesdays through, Sundays, and at least three tryouts will see footlights during the 10-weck season. Louis Tpwrisend 'has resumed at New Milford's Theatre-in-the-Dale after a wartime hiatus. First week (June 22-30) had Louise and Jean Piatt in "Blithe Spirit." Current show (July 3-7) is Blanche Yurka in tryeut of "Aunt Judith" by Bill Noble and George Savage, "illy Losch is pencilled for a revival of "Salpmc" in mid-July. Eagles Mere (Pa.) Tryout Eagles Mere, Pa„ July 2. "Love Sits A-Spinningi" new comedy by Milton Lomask, ^will be tried out at the Playhouse, here; Aug. 7-10, with a fall Broadway production in prospect. Playhouse is beginning its second SUMMER STOCK "A Nice Place to Visit"—Play- house, Lake George Village, N. Y. (2) ; Playriouse. Chestcrtown, N. Y. (3) : Playhouse,. Bolton Landing, N. Y. (4-6). "Angel Street"—Playhouse, Eagles Mere, Pa. (3-6). "Angel Street"—Casino, Holyoke, Mass. (1-6). "Arsenic and Old Lace'^-County, Suffern, N. Y. (2-7). "Claudia"—Playhouse, Cragsmoor, N. Y. (1-7). "Claudia"—Playhouse, Surry, Me. (1-6). "Cup of Fury"—Theatre-in-the- Dale, New Milford, Conn. (3-7). "Heaven Can Walt"—Playhouse, Woodstock, N. Y. (2-7). "I Like It Here" — Playhouse, Worcester, Mass. (1-6). "January Thaw"—Starlight, Paw- ling, N. Y. (2-6). "Kiss and Tell"—Playhouse, Fitch- burg, Mass. (1-6). "Private Lives"—Playhouse, Green- wich, Conn. (1-6). "P^ymallon" — Playhouse, Dennis, Mass. (1-6). "Room Service"—Playnouse, Say- ville, L. I. (2-7). . . "Soldier's Wife"—Playhouse, Stanv- ford, Conn. (1-6). "Soldier's Wife".— P l a y h 6 u s e, Marion, Mass. (1-6). . "The Milky Way"—Playhouse, Ml. Gretna, Pa. (4-7). "The Philadelphia Story"—Casino, Newport, R. I. (1-6). "The Royal Family"—John Drew, East Hampton, L. I. (1-6). "The Shining Hour"—Deerfrees, Harrison, Me. (1-6). "Theatre"—Cape, Cape May, N. J. (1-6). "They Knew What They Wanted" —Playhouse, Westport, Conn. (1-6). "Wallflower"—Music Hall, Clinton, N. J. (1-6). ?Wlnterset"—Playhouse, Litchfield, Conn. (1-6). ' pidc Towhe. Me,.. June 27. Leonard Merrick, in his time a good actor and a better story teller; once wrote a honey called '"Conrad In Quest of His Youth." ! Lest younger readers jump to the conclusion that it's all about Joe, the eminent.novelist.'shimming iii his native Poland, I might as well pause to retail the plot since people are going to begin walking-out. anyway. It concerned an old guy who went back, to his old home town and tried to recapture the scenes and sins of his youth; Everything was changed • and practically all of it for the worse. He did manage to work up one flirtation, however, and dated a dame he had met in the hotel lobby. They were to have a drink in his room before starting out to make a night of it. When she arrived she knocked softly on the door. Or maybe it was open a trifle to let her sneak in. Any way, when she peeked in, she found our hero sprawled across the bed, lying bii his back, his mouth wide, open, ' snoring. The sight shocked her so badly, she quietly, closed the door and hurried down the corridor before a fate" worse than boredom could over- take her. • Forewarned by this fellow's experience, I have always dreaded senti- mental retakes. I particularly dreaded taking my Paris-wedded bride back to the scenes of my Long Island childhood. Applying for a passport re- newal, abroad! I. had to reveal where I was born. "Sloinway." I said. ■ ' - Boy, -I -booked a lot ot them," said the consul, "but you're the first one I ever met to be born in a piano!" Even Old Hokum Bucket Gone That was the last laugh the voyage produced. I couldn't, find a trace of my childhood. No deep tangled wildwood, no old swimming hole, no apple orchard, no old hokum, bucket; no girl in gingham, nothing. All'the scenes had been dropped on the cutting room* floor. Engineers and architects had taken over anfl transformed it as completely as if 'they had been atomic bombers and the place had been Nagasaki. They had named their remake, "La Guardia' Field," after a reader of comic strips of the same name. . I looked for the switchback, the chule-the-chutes, the carousel. All, all were gone, the old familiar places; "If I can find the old Dutch cemetery."' I explained to my bewildered bride, "I can get my bearings and explain everything, I doubt if they'd be godless enough to destroy that too;" . . Well, after hours of hunting, we finally, found the cemetery. There were about 10 graves dating back tp the Revolutionary War. They had survived the liquidated switchback, : the extinct chittc-the-chutes, the consummated carousel, the dehydrated Ehret's brewery, the sad, sad supper .shows, and the smells from Riker's Island. Odeti, Where Is Thy Sting? I. rather think they will survive even a revival of "Awake and Sing," which most of the old Group theatre bunch, now exiled to Hollywood, have just produced in an effort to recapture the scenes of their Bronx childhood. This-Marxian borscht, which seemingly could not solve its own personal problems in the lowest levels of capitalism, except with the aid of a grand- father's life insurance policy, suicide and divorce, filled me with a nos- talgia scarcely distinguishable from neuralgia. . But everybody else thought it was wonderful. It had most of the old. Belascp theatre' cast.. Only the Adlers were missing. Johnny Garfield switched to Luther Adler's old part and Mary Tarcai played Stella's. In fact'the only Adler left in the whole production was the high heel man. J. Edward Bromberg played Uncle Mdrly as of old and turned in a fine piece of direction as well! Morris Carnovsky played Morris Carnovsky, and that's always a pleasant sight. Mack Draws Blank To show you how easily one can lapse from nostalgia into neuralgia, I happened to catch one Bernard Harris, billed as v.p. and gen. mgr. ot an L. A. firm, on Don McNeil's Breakfast Club recently. McNeil was asking Harris about his, past. He had been, it seems, a Keystone Cop away back in 1912-13. AH the audience remembered Mack Sennett's edpsi' "What's Sennett doing now?" Don. asked. "Haven't the slightest idea,", said Harris. Wanted—A Job Well, I have. Stan Laurel tells me he's now a reader, for ,20th-Fox. I savv him, Sennett. walking down Hollywood Boulevard two days ago and he was the man nobody knew. He couldn't have been more of a secret than if he were one of Scully's many political, opponents. The last, time I saw Mack before this was when he was being .enter- tained in the basement of the Masquers. Hal Roach/Jesse Lasky and about a hundred others were there.. Everybody told what he had learned from Sennett. Some producers even told what they had swiped from him. They gave him everything—dinners, ribs, laughs. Jim Tully leaned over tp me and said: "They'll give him everything except the one thing he wants most." "What's that, Jim?" I asked. " "A job." • Silver Anniversary ... Well, that's Hollywood, you say. But it isn't the whole story,, really; I. know a director who got his first job years ago as a prop boy, thanks to a star of those silent days. He's an ace director today and he writes in a speaking part for that actor on every picture. He began, it 25 years ago. That's a lot of pictures. It's also a lot of gratitude. Today's Short Short . Continuing in this melancholy cultural vein,.I ran into an ex-columnist who wanted ever so badly to be a scenario writer. .He was offered the hand in marriage of the sister of a successful director. The columnist rated the sister's s.a. as n.s.g. After a year of not making up his mind, the' writer said no. For 10 years thereafter he slugged, soldiered, got a . book published and finally in New York got tapped for Hollywpod. His first assignment was with the director whose sister he had dodged marrying. The director iopked at him, grinned and said: "Came up the hard way, eh? - ' That: this nostalgia is a commercial product and may even successfully .carry the dead weight of idealogical propaganda, is evident on Broadway today in pictures that go back 100 to 600 years to prove their points. In "Henry V" and "Anna and the King of Siam," the idea of absolute mon- archs whose reigns are tempered and enlightened by»English thought Will presently be carried all over the world. • Personally I can't remember, a British king with Henry's power ani personality, and I've been'around since Victoria's day. But Laurence Olivier certainly makes this king believable. Across the world Rex Har- rispn makes the King of Siam even more believable. In fact Harrison does double duty to, royalty. He plays the king of Slam but looks like Geprge VI of England. . » The number of moth-eaten monarchs who have been bpunced in. my time run into'impressive numbers. Yet here we have twp pictures which give royalty every edge. In "Henry V" the prppaganda intent was quite obvipus. It was intended to spur the 1944 home guard Into an offensive war against the enemy by pointing oiit that Britons in the past had beaten armies which outnumbered them 10, to L How cpuld this be done-to'day.. Very easily. By using Irish tropps.' They've always made British armies look-good. . " But how to sell such a parallei in history as entertainment? That wasn't hard either. Add a chase oh horseback. - Thus equipped you've turned Shakespeare into a western and are sure of a hit. .