Variety (Jul 1946)

64 Wednesday, July 17, 1946 Literati Kober's 'Agent' In Book _ "That Man's Here Again" is the final title of Random House's No- vember ' ■ publication of 'Arthur Kober's "Benny Greenspan, the Hollywood Agent" stories. Five still upcoming New Yorker pieces will round out the 19 items in the anthology. ' Holly wood columnist Sidney Skol- sky told Kober that if he felt strongly- on it he'd OK a previ- ously suggested title, but he (Skol- sky) felt he would like to retain his catchphrase; "But Don't Get Me Wrong, I Love Hollywood", and probably Use it on his own book some time. It's Now Minneapolis Star Following a series of "public choice" surveys, the Minneapolis Star-Journal, changed its name Mon- day (15) to the Minneapolis Star. No, staff, forinat, or policy changes are being considered.. . Questionnaires s h o w e d former name was tob long for most readers. Tribune is the morning sheet, owned by the same company. Josef Israels, Jrs. Divorced After 13 years, Aileen Piatt got her Reno decree from publicist-war correspondent Josef Israels, Jr. Miss Piatt is now doing fashion, publicity In Hollywood and he returns next week for a : sixmonth to a year's stretch in Vienna and the Balkans a; correspondent for This "Week (N. Y.! Herald Tribune), Satevepost and ! Colliers. the Mountain." August issue re- printed his Variety column on "Till The End of Time." Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt has. writ- ten the foreword to son Elliott's book about FDR, "As He Saw It," slated for October publication by Diiell, Sloan & Pearce. Mildred Gordon, who authored 'the Little Man Who Wasn't There" for Doubleday, is lecturing on strangulations, poisonings and shootings along the west coast. : Hank Levy was appo'ined publi- city-advertising director for' The Gagnon Co,, Inc., publishers of the Robert St. Clair novel, "Sheila," which Cardinal Pictures will film. . Jack Gaines has sold an article, titled "My 36 Rounds with Joe Louis," to Truth, Aussie publication. Piece is based on story of AI Hbos- man, ox-GI and Australian heavy- weight champ. . Kiplinger Is shopping around New. York for a staff for a new 48-page monthly mag to star! in the fall. Charles M. Stevenson, former m.o. on Washington News, will hold same title on the'mag. Ruth Gruber, the N, Y. Post's ex- pert on' Palestine, to London, at tached to President Truman's special cabinet committee studying the Anglo-Palestine problem. Formerly Secretary Ickes' Alaskan expert, she may go'to Jerusalem for the. Post if the action shifts there from London James' sole reason for the squawk, apparently, was that he was being sold too cheaply. Argument was dissipated, how- ever, when Gill simply offered to let James out of his contract, WOR to Find Out Continued from page I . Curious Parlay ' Wolcott Gibbs'' authoring that Ethel Merman profile for Life has the literati bunch wondering if the New Yorker staffer is harkening to a Luce bid. Recalled that The New Yorker did that vitriolic profile on Henry R. Luce. At that time this was deduced as being the result of Fortune's series on F-R.Pub. Co. (Raoul Fleischman- Harold Ross), publishing company of The New' Yorker, wherein was listed salaries, etc.. To this Ross replied in a two-line "Talk of the Town" item that "the editors of Fortune get $27.30 a week and their carfare." Band Prices : Continued .from pace 39 , CHATTER David Brown new exec , editor of Liberty, succeeding Jim Bishop. John Herscy is in North Carolina writing .a new .novel for Knopf. Bert R. Ferris has sold new. novel to Houghton Mifflin. Called "Rest- less Road.". Larry Lawrence, Milwaukee Jour- nal's 1 amusement ed, gandering Hollywood. All . Rooseveits now writing: Jimmy does his own scripts as a commentator. Roy Chanslor in Reno inspecting backgrounds for a forthcoming mystery novel. Walter Davenport appointed edi- tor of "Collier's last week, when Henry La Cossitt resigned. Ernie Rogers returned to his post as Sunday mag ed of Atlanta Journal, after gandering Hollywood. Doubleday Doran experimenting with new format $1 reprints via "Black Rose," being distributed by Fawcett. Dee Lowrance, of Metro's h.o. pub- licity staff, hit last week's Collier's with a story tilled "Wardrobe for Waiting." ■ Ralph B. Jordan, Metro publicity exec, hits the bookstores with "Born to Fight," the story of Adm. Wil- liam F. Halsey. Martin Field's Nothing?" in current Screen. -Writer-, j is slowing down producers who ex peCt writers to. | First anthology of poets of the ; Pacific coming--out' as "Sunrise on ; the Pacific." Hebbard of Santa Barbara publishing. "Gone Tomorrow;" new short play leader's $2,500 guarantee was low- ered and a clause in the agreement demanding a certain admission charge was eliminated. Solcnberger will henceforth decide himself on how much his patrons will pay at the b.o. and is said to have retorted when advised that Kaye's. operating costs were too high to permit a lowering of the guarantee, that such problems were Kaye's and not his, the guarantee would be cut, or else Many bandsmen are looking at the bright side of what seems to others to be a foreboding of a dark future for the band business. They feel that James did the industry a favor by providing the straw that prom ises to break the' back of the high price situation. They point out that young bands, which up to now haven't had much chance for sue cess in the postwar scheme of things, will get a new lease on life. The asking prices of even these combos have, been a bit high due to the sal ary-thinking. among musicians gen erated by the top bands. As a result promoters frequently rejected' dates on them on the theory that if they (the promoters) had to pay a wad of dough for 1 a band they might as well bow to the demands of the best names and be reasonably sur of making money. They couldn't be even reasonably sure of doing ftttft*** ******** A * y *** *****tftttttt i tun i ng SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK >♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦«♦♦♦♦♦♦ By Frank Scully ♦♦♦ mmh > m *++^ den, Jersey City, Philadelphia, Wil- mington, Allentown, Reading, Yonk- ers, Waterbury, Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Trenton. Station's prexy Theodore C. Slrei- bert has invited each of the 15 cities outside of N. Y. to select an out- standing veteran to act as spokes- man for his community. Vets will each report, on what their respective communities, local industries and organizations have done in field of vet's welfare "one year after." They'll also report on their personal experiences in meeting problems - of return to civilian life, and their slants on the future. During two-day stay, in'New York City as guests of WOR, the vets will be given a whirl around town, and will take part in special broadcasts with WOR's Martha Deane and oh Ted Granik's "American Forum of the Air" which is moving to N. Y. for the occasion. Dates set are Aug. 13 and 14th. Participating with WOR in the project are Paterson Evening News, Newark Sunday Call, Wilmington News-Journal. Bridgeport. Sunday Call, Philadelphia Evening. Bulletin/ Hartford Courant, Yonkers Tercen- tennial Commission and various Chambers of Commerce. • The 16th veteran— representing N. Y—will be chosen by WOR lis- teners, via the Martha Deane show. Station believes that'opinions of the 16 ex-GI's, each an outstanding rep of a major eastern city, will fur- nish a significant sampling of vet- erans' thinking generally. with a comparatively unknown band, even at the lighter price tap- Poor business done by James in his first few dates was continued by him after he left Convention Hall Asbury Park, N. J. He played Lake Compounce, Bristol. Conn., week ago Sunday (7) and lured a $3,000 gross (he's -getting $4,000 guarantees on all one-nightcrs); at Lincoln Park, New Bedford, Mass., next night (8), he drew 2,150 people at $2 plus tax; at Sun Valley. Wor- cester. Mass.. Wednesday (9) he worked to 2,300 at same price; at Rhodes - on - the - Pawtuckct. Provi- dence. Thursday (11) he drew 2,200 i at $2 plus tax. In between, on W l. iit„ P v, p„,. ! Wednesday (10). James scored the vyno worxs *» l -. 0 nly success he'has-.encountered'to | date. Going into Old Orchard Beach, Old Orchard. Me., which he did not work last year, he played to 3.082 at $2.50 per net ($3 including i tax i. James is now al" the Steel j I'icr. Atlantic City, after which he : heads up into New England again. Fix Leasing Continued from pace I . — census of the members was that, while the leasing plan wasn't neces- sary for top authors, who can usu- ally hold out for their own terms on bestsellers, it would definitely bene fit tyro writers and the oldtimers who've slipped off the bestseller lists and are trying to fight their way up again. Guild-execs pointed out that at least 10 authors had obtained leased copyrights on sales to film com panics so that, instead of the leas ing plan being a revolutionary idea, they were merely trying to make more widespread a system that's al- ready been in use. "While definite plans are still in the works, it's be lieved.that the Guild will, demand that the length of a copyright sale be limited to seven years, with the author retaining all rights outside the immediate picture field. Film companies, according to sev- eral story editors, will in all prob ability give in to the idea. Pro posed'competitive bidding for each picture individually under the anti- trust decision will probably result in a hypoed use of bestsellers as screen fare, since the exhibs will probably bid more for a picture if they can be shown that it's been presold as a novel. Producers, con scquently, are expected to turn more and more to the bestseller lists and, with concerted action by the Guild, will probably be forced to comply with its demands. by Richard harrity, of Ducll. Sloan. Pearce staff, in. August Theatre Arts ■Monthly, due July 20. A Thyra Samtcr Winslow to London 'to do a series of short stories for King Features. Good Housekeeping. Miss America and Travel mugs. Fascination, femme mag, has added J. Walter Flynn as art direc- tor and Claire Glassburg, formerly with Hillman Publications, as asso- ciate editor. Inez Robb, recently back from Germany, to South America for INS. "And also to break in my conga- rhumba course from, Arthur Mur- ray," she adds; July Catholic Digest carries Frank Scully feature, "Retreat to 90 Legits Continued from page ! Hospital Rock, Calif., July 15. This one will hurt all over. For tears, it's a bedsheet picture. Hospital sire. OPA or no OPA-off, ceiling or no celling, am giving this one every, thing. Among the first one to throw everything toward "Going My Way.t and certainly am not going to be the last to throw the book of raves-to "Sister Kenny." As a general in the great army of pain, a guinea pig who has made good, I know a little of what this one is about.and certainly Rosalind Russell, Alexander Knox, Philip Morlvale, Dudley Nichols, Mary Mc- Carthy and the late and, at this point, more lamented than ever, Charlie Koerner, have done everything they possibly could to clarify this issue between the people's troubles and our medical systems of control and authority. ','.-' Sister Elizabeth Kenny's 30 years' war against the medical profession's nfantlle attitude toward infantile paralysis was doubled in no-trump by the Waterbury glam. girl when she laid out her five-year plan to get the Australian nurse's life work, on the screen, Roz and Liz were certainly sisters under, the skin and the magnificence of this, picture proves that two heads are better than one, especially if one of them is pretty. The Short That Failed Sister Kenny's story has been told in books by herself and in a short which Roz Russell spent $36,000 to produce. It was hoped that the short could demonstrate the Kenny Method to doctors who refused to be awed by a nurse from the Australian bush but might be fetched by the magic of pictures. But the story never was told right until RKO sunk $1,100,000 into it, got Dudley Nichols to write and rewrite' the script and gave the industry's glamorous girl Friday her way. You are not spared the major disappointments that Sister Kenny suf- fered herself iri getting this biographical bofforoo before the public, but what Roz Russell went through to get the subject okayed for release emains, in the main, a trade secret. If seems she has always wanted to do something like this. When she was part of the Pigtail Set in Waterbury, her father, James E. Rpssell, a lawyer, slapped fines on his seven kids for pranks. The pranks . went into.their banks. .When a bank was filled the child was permitted to name a charity where the "bad money" would go. Rozc chose to give hers to crippled children. ^ They All Said No Well,, here it is years later and she is still giving her bad money to crippled children. The fact that she wanted others to do the same was . what made her a pest to practically every major producer in. Hollywood. Louis B. Mayer, Eddie Mannix, David O. Selznick, Darryl Zanuck and Jack Warner will tell you they said jio so often to making this picture that they began to feel like heavies. One. woman's fight to change the treat- ment of polio'just couldn't make a picture. It couldn't even make a commercial short. Even Charlie'Koerner, who obviously had a weak heart, said yes only because the righteous Roz owed him a picture and this .looked like the only way he could get off the hook. He threw the crippled stepchild to Dudley Nichols who.finally found himself too worn down, by this Fuller brush gal of show biz to say no any longer. He trekked to the Sister Kenny Foundation in.Minneapolis and found so much good and bad that he almost wished he were back on the old World writing-about fast trains. The black and white of this magnificent char- acter got into the script. Fortunately it wasn't polished till all character was polished right out of it again. It is the first picture to my knowledge about a living character that pulls no punches but shows moles and all. I once tried writing about living persons as if they were dead a hundred years and know it is a very difficult thing to do. But in writing you have a whole tradition of literature to fall back on when it comes to handling adults as adults. But in pictures you have, so many people's feeling to assuage that it has become practically impossible to portray them with anything less potent than treacle. Yet here is a living woman who wants to be portrayed as she is and is perfectly willing to have the worst things a whole profession has said about her put down in black and white, provided of course that she .can tell them off with six-inch body punches in return. But Koerner and Minnesota Said Yes That this nagging Nightingale finally found doctors who understood her in Minnesota is not an accident. They even understood Harold Stassens up there and long before Sister Kenny they understood the Mayo Brothers in the same highly civilized state. Australia, London and even our own A.M.A. might give her the brush, and even Warm Springs might prefer its braces and baths to her simpler techniques of treating polio, but those Scandinavian skljumpers around the Twin Cities were not going to wait till the last doctor died of polio before trying something now to cure it Sister Kenny is due back in the United States from Australia soon. An old and tired health of other people's pains, shie probably will take this crowning recognition with modified delight.. But certainly a picture that is destined to gross millions and will keep her out of financial difficulties for the rest of her life will not be hailed ,with anything less than unquali- fied raves by showmen, most of whom have children over whom the shadow of this dreadful plague throws a cold and almost perpetual'fear. The tears this picture draws from the audience are nothing to be ashamed of. Surely people who can cry at prizefights needn't mind weep- ing when crippled children go around, with braces and crutches under one system of treatment and can dance their way back to health under another. One of the saddest things about the passing of F. D. R. is that he could not haye lived to have seen this picture. He would have given it the sort Of plug that would soon run its gross up to 10 million. But even by mouth- to-mouth it will reward all those who had the least faith in this marriage of'propaganda and entertainment. It is almost sure to get into the Academy sweepstakes and if it results in finally catching and isolating that polio bug, it may inspire some other star to make even a greater picture about the No. 1 Killer of Them All. That's not war, kiddies, but cancer. Totem Pole Holds Down James Boston. June 10. Totem Pole, ballroom of Auburn- dole, near here, apparently . taking a lesson from the n.s.g. b.o. reac- tion elsewhere to Harry James at prices of $2 per person, and up. is holding its admission, scale to the same $1 per asked for even local bands when James opens here next Tuesday (23). There is said lb have been an argument -between James and Totem's operator, Roy Gill, when the maestro learned of Gill's holding the price-line for his five- day run, despite the fact that James is drawing a flat $17,500 for the five days, with no percentage privilege. go into rehearsal next month, the shovys- being "Park Avenue" (Max Gordon), "Sweet Bye and Bye" (Nat Kaison) and "Tdplitzky of Notre Dame" (William Cahnj. Autumn Harvest Named to follow in the autumn or later arc: "Street Scene" (Dwighl Deere Wiman and the Playwrights Co.): "The Little Show" (Wiman and Tom WeatHerly/: "Autumn Song" (Mike Todd.).; "Dream Boat" (A. L. Bormani; "Missouri Compromise" (George Abbott); "Finian's Rainbow" (Lbc Sabinsou and Albert K. Katz- ell);"Look Ma', I'm Dancing" (Oliver Smith and Richard Dorso); "Carioca Purple" (Torrey McKcnny and James Smith); "One Weakness of Juahita" (Edwaj'd Gross); "May and December" (A. P: Waxman); "Happy Days" (Dave Schooler); "I'll Tell the World" (Alex Yokel); "Yours Is My Heart" (Arthur Spitz); "Street Mu- sic" (Dale Wasserman and Perry Walkins),.and "Meet Me at Duffy's" (Ed Gardner). There are a half-dozen straight plays due to start in August and the number of comedies and dramas al- ready . listed for next season ap- proximates 70, indicating that 194G- 47 will be more active productively than last season. One play broker has "sold" 26 scripts, all comedies, having received the first advance on royullics. How many, of that contin- gent will reach the boards is prob- lematic but the expectation is that between six and eight'will be pro- duced. There is speculation about the cost of coming musicals and expectation is that production budgets will be sliced from, those of the past several seasons. •• It's argued that an invest- ment of around $300,000 for a musi- cal is 1 economically unsound because it requires at least a year to liqui- date the production nut. By that time, if the show has a star, she or he is tired, reducing the chances of turning a. profit. It's . been proven definitely that musicals .don't, have, to present stars to achieve success, an outstanding current instance be- ing "Oklahoma!" Contended loo that musicals sans costly stage investiture provide a much belter chance for talent to come forward. Certain il is that elaborate productions don't fig- ure importantly in enhancing a musical's click . chances. That was emphasized last season, as well as in., preceding ones, when too many tunc shows ended in the red. Perhaps there has been a tendency to emu- late Hollywood, and Broadway doesn't'shape up'.too well in produc- tion comparison. How much activity is still, to come may be judged by the meagre list- ing of opening dates. Between Labor Day and New. Year's there arc hilt 12 new shows with approximate defi- nite premieres set but that is hardly an index of the new season, os shown by the managerial plans sn" formulating.