Variety (Jul 1946)

SCREEN RADIO MUSIC STAGE niETY Published Weekly at 184 West 46th Street, New fork 18. N. T„ by Variety, Inc. Annual subscription, HQ. Single cohlej, III eents. Entered aecuna-elaas lhatter December 22, 190fi, at tbe Post OKice at New Yoii, N. Y„ under the act ol March J, U's. COrXBIOHT, 1946, BY VABIETX, INC. -ALI, BIGHTS BE8ERVED. VOL. 163 No. 6 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY/JULY 17, 1946 PRICE 25 CENTS 90 LEGITS FOR BTO IN B'way to Get Bard Rep Again With Hurok Avon Group The Stratford-on-Avon Festival Co., W.k. English Shakespearean rep co„ will visit the U. S. this fall un- der Sol Hurok's management, for its first U. S. trip since 1929. Company will tour the U. S. and Canada, first offering a four to six weeks' season in N. Y. in Oct.-Nov. It will present four seldom-seen plays of the Bard. "Measure for Measure," "Cymba- line." "Love's Labor Lost" and an adaptation of "Macbeth." Director Sir Barry Jackson will be in charge. Troupe must be back in England by next April. Hurok. who returned to N. Y. last week- from a three-week plane trip to Europe, also sewed up several (Continued on page 38) ChimiieySweep's Coin Lores Durocher's Other Lip to Network Q. & A. Leo Durocher has been pactcd for a 15-minute commercial network show starting next October. It'll be a once-weekly question-and-answer program on sports and games, in- cluding baseball,, swimming, bridge, etc. Durocher's sponsor will be Chim- ney Sweep. He'll go into the 1 p.m. Sunday segment on ABC. * Sock reaction to Durocher's team- up with Fred Allen on the lattcr's Sunday night NBC show for the "Brooklyn Pinafore" capsule, which was reprised later in the season, was seen as a factor in lining up for the q and a series. 'ALL NIGHT RECORD' STAN SHAW TO QUIT Stan Shaw, first all-night and early ayom disk jockey in- radio, around whom the famous ditty re- volved, with its refrain of "Stan. Stan the All-Night Record Man." is giving up his all-night chore nfler almost 22 years. The original "Mi'iKmen's Matinee" man, and now jock Of the all-night record show (1 to 5 a.m.) on WJZ: flagship of the ABC net, Shaw. has peon told by his doctor to slart tak- ing it easy. He expects to quit the all-night job in about a month, and take a daytime staff announcing job on the station. Eddie Newman and Bill Crago may be considered • for the spot. Honor Jerome Kern •Hollywood, July 16. The late Jerome Kern will be honored Sat. (20) with a "Symphony Under the Stars" program in Holly- wood Bowl. Lennie Hay.ton and Johnny Green will split the con- ducting chores for Bowl orch, On a ticup with Metro, group of pic players from cast of "Till the Clouds Roll By," will appear, among them Robert Walker, Kathryn Gray- son, Johnny Johnston, Tony Mar- tin, Judy . Garland, Frank Sinatra, Lena Home, and .Virginia O'Brien. Is Odium Buying Paley CBS Chunk? Reports that William S. Paley. chairman of the board and principal stockholder of CBS, is going to un- load a large chunfc of the network stock to Floyd B. Odium and his Atlas Corp. have been circulating in the trade.during the past week. As far as web execs are concerned, no- body's saying anything. Paley .him- self is on the Coast. It's recalled that, prior to Palcy's return eight months ago from over- seas, where he served as a colonel under Gen. Eisenhower, there was talk that he would sell out and not return to the network. - Instead he relinquished the presidency, took over as board chairman, and has been right on top of the revamped programming operation ever since. Cops' Assault on Negro Musician Stirs Drive Vs. Anti - Harlemites Harlem niteries and artists living in Harlem, long subjected to dis- crimination by New York taxi drivers who.se refusal to drive people to Harlem not only offends the Negro entertainers but also hurts Harlem bistro business, have this week obtained broad show business backing in their fight against this practice. The. drive, aimed against discrimi- nating cops too. is headed by. the Civil Rights Congress of New York. II revolves around the arrest and beating of a Negro musician, Carl- ton Powell, a member of the Ghit- lison Trio and a regular on the I.anny Ross show on CBS. Heading the drive are whodunit scrip lei- Dashiell Hummetl; orch leader -Charlie. Burnet: and Betty Garrett, (Continued on page 20 > Jtooney, Benny Mull Nation 1-Niter Tour • In the wake of Bob Hope!s recent jour of onc-nighters, which grossed upwards of 5500,000 in 31 days, other ™P film names are coiisiderins Similar jaunts. Latest to consider «ie one-nighty field is Mickey Rooney, who would head a vaude troupe and ■ nd> J »<* Benny has been studying (Continued on page 36) ! Tribute to Hughes Paid in the House Washington. July 1(1. .Tribute to Howard Hughes was paid on the floor of the House last r wcek by Rep. Gordon L. McDon- !ough (f!. Cal.i who represents the I Hollywood district, j McDonough commemoraled the | eighth anniversary of Hushes' '■ iiround-the-world flight <ir>:! "'so ex- i pressed hope for the i ' flyer - J (Continued on page 38) WOR to Find Out What Vet Thinks, Feels Year After WOR, N. Y., is going all-out to build a novel project marking the first anniversary of end of World War . II. Under general tag of "One Year After—the Veteran Reports," station is rounding up an impressive cross-section panel of vets to report on what's what with the ex-GI's, 12 months after the shooting stopped. Project centers around the 16 ma- jor cities (of 100,000 or more popu- lation) in the basic WOR listening area, including New York City, Newark. Paterson, Elizabeth. Cam- (Continued on page 54) Pix Leasing Stories Already a Precedent; Hope to Make It Genl Exec council of the Authors' Guild is slated to meet in N. Y. during the second week in September to devise definite plans for obtaining the right to lease copyrights to film com- panies, rather than selling them out- right. Council is topped by Chris- topher La Farge as prexy. Fanny Hurst as veepee and Richard Lock- ridge, secretary. September meeting will follow a series of regional membership meetings throughout the country, at which the Guild sought reactions of its members to the proposal and ideas for best carrying it out. Con- (Conlinued on page 54) EDITORIAL ADS'GIVE PUBLISHERS JITTERS One of the biggest daily newspa- per headaches, and one which calls for drastic action by the publishers association, is the desire lo refuse "editorial advertising". The dailies are in the middle constantly and they arc urging that if it's news- worthy tiicy would rather devote free editorial news space to the issues than permit factional groups on labor is- sues. Palestine! etc. to opinionate ! in the form of advertising. This | would also affect ex-Mayor F. H. LaGuardia's paid "editorials" m the ! Sachs Furniture Stores space, al- though Billy Rose's "advertorials", so long as they treat with lighter show biz themes, would probably j be exempt. I The newspaper publishers are on I the hot seat that such "editorial ad- , {Continued on page 36) Wrong Signal Chicago, July 16. First Federal. Savings and Loan Corp., in the Loop, became the first Chicago bank to use wired music last week, with customers making theiv deposits, withdrawals, etc., to soothing music. Somebody got their signals crossed at the kickoft, however. The first number sent out over the wires was "I dot Plenty o' Nuthin'." Swoon-Croon On the Wane The show biz phenomena that have created many wartime box- oftice precedents are at an end. A number of factors stress this. Here arc some industry viewpoints: 1. The swoon-croon thing is passe. If bobbysoxers are as ardent about their Sinatras, et'air, fact is that the. swoon cycle is ovei'. Records not selling. What's worse: there's noth- ing new to replace it. 2. Tips getting tighter. Wartime subjection- of bribing your way into the class spots is now a hasbcen. When Britain froze its average table (Continued on page 23) Helen Hayes' 'Aet-of-God' Daughter Makes Debut With Mother in Strawhat New Hope. Pa., July 16. Seventeen years ago Helen Hayes created a cause celebre when she dropped out of the Broadway hit, "Coquette," to have a baby, forcing show to close at the Maxine Elliott. Miss Hayes won out on a subsequent contract violation claim brought by producer Jed Harris on grounds her withdrawal wasn't her own — but was "an act of God." Last night. Miss Hayes' "Act of God" baby, Mary MacArthui" (play- wright Charles MacArtluir being (Continued on page 52) OVER PAST YEAR •By JACK PULASKI Broadway legit production is all set for a banner 1946-47 season, despite the deceptive current lull. Twenty musicals and 70 straight plays (comedies and dramas) are already listed for this fall in a sea- son that, production-wise, will be more active and varied than last sea- son and compare favorably with the lush war years. Financing is as easy and available as ever, with produ- cers in better shape than before on talent, materials, etc. ' Paucity of new shows has made the summer of 1946 the dullest on Broadway in many years, but it's been simply a case of producers lazying through the July doldrums. August will sound the merry note, with several shows already, in pre-' rehearsal stage and ready to roll. Three musicals are scheduled to (Continued on page 54) OPA Suspension Hits Nitery Biz; Owners Mull Talent Pay Cuts Temporary suspension -of OPA at a time when business started' r seasonal, if not permanent decline, has put -the nitery industry on a spot. Industry at large faces one of its severest crises brought on by a rising wholesale index which has reached 25% in the last two weeks and a decline in sonic spots up to 50'J. The past weekend is said to be the worst in many years. Business over Saturday and Sunday de- clined approximately 10% under last weekend when the four-day July 4 holiday brought cafe spending to a new low. As a result, bonifaces are wear- ing their longest looks. In face of rising prices, many feel that in- creases will have to be passed oh to (Continued.on page 45) . ~ Chevalier Set for Oct.; j 'Baker's' Legiter Mulled I Maiiiice Chevalier is definitely due j in the U. S. in October, after an ab- | sence of many years, for a Broadway i legit appearance; according to his I manager Arthur Lesser, just arrived | from Paris: Lesser is here to set up plans f ■>■. Chevplier to...'■•■■■"jar in a one-m; s'-'-w. Bvo; cl<;. • engage- (.Continued on page 36)