Variety (Jul 1946)

SCREEN RADIO MUSIC STAGE 1 RIETY Fabllshed Weekly at 1(4 West 46th Strett, N«vr Tork IV, N. T., by Variety, ina Annual Bobscrlptlon, HQ. Bind* conlei. 15 mnta. llnlend w mooiid-claia matter December 22, 1305, at the Post Office at New York, N. *., under tbe aot of March », 18V3, COPYBIOHT, 1M9, BY VABIETY, INC. ALI> BIGHTS RSSKBTXD. VOL. 163 No. 8 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1946 PRICE 25 CENTS LEAN PIC PICK hYS 1NSTRAWHATS • .. ■» • , — .. . .. Square Dance Click in the Heart Of N. Y. Cues New National Terp Vogue American Authors Authority Looms, Ala ASCAP, to Embrace All Scribes Hollywood, July 30. ♦ Most drastic change of recent years in the film industry format is the proposed' establishment of the American Authors Authority, which would alter the status of every .screen writer in Hollywood. Con- templated project, currently under discussion by the Screen Writers Guild, is something like the Ameri- can Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, except that the pub-" lishers would be ruled out. Under the proposed setup, the AAA would copyright the works of dramatists, screen writers and radio writers who belong to accepted guilds. Operation costs would be paid by buyers of the writers'prod- ucts. Creation of the AAA idea is credited by James M. Cain, in an article in the Screen Writer maga- zine, to Morris Conn, counsel for the Screen Writers Guild, and Ring Lardner, Jr., chairman of the Guild's original material committee. Other outstanding Hollywood fig- ures mentioned as helping the idea along are F. Hugh Herbert, George S. Kaufman, Russel Crouse, Howard Lindsay, Samuel Moore, Herman J.. (Continued on page 54) Jokesters Crimp WOR On False 'Winners' As result of some cruel jokes be- ing played by various pranksters, WOH, N, Y., has found it necessary to make announcements over the air that "winners" of money prizes check with the station before com- ing for their "prize;" Seems that jokesters have been picking names at random from phone books, and calling people to say their names were mentioned as winners of money on WOR. Victims are told to go to the station for their check, and bring along six neighbors as identification, or be accompanied by a blind or crippled person, or some other far-fetched story. Opening Paris Peace Conference Televised Via Films 36 Hours After Once again demonstrating tele- vision's speed as a communications medium, NBC television last night (Tuesday) transmitted motion pic- tures of the opening day of the Paris Peace Conference. less / than 38 hours after the conference got under way at the French capital Monday (29). Films were taken under the direct supervision of John F. Royal, NBC exec ve'epee over television, who flew from N. Y. to Paris last Satur- day (27). Films arrived in N. Y. by plane yesterday, were imme- diately processed, and edited, and were put on the air last night for their first public showing in this country. Royal, who was accompanied on his trip bv. William F. Brooks, NBC vecpee over news and international relations, expects to visit all coun- tries on the Continent, exploring video and film facilities there. Runyons 100G Pic For Korda-Crosby A $100,000 deal \vith Damon. Runyon to do a screen play for him was set by Sir Alexander Korda before his return to England last Saturday (27). Script will be fash- ioned from an idea by Korda and will be for the picture Bing Crosby is committed to make for the producer in England next year. Runyon will do all the work on it in New York and is slated to have it finished in about six months. He received a $25,000 down payment, with the rest due at various stages of completion of the story. This chore kayoes Runyon going to the Coast for a 20th-Fox committment. Besides he wants to remain near his (Continued on page 54) Becomes Ice Impresario Via GI Bill of Rights Bob White, a former skater at the Hotel St. Regis ice show, has become an ice show producer through the GI Bill of Rights. On a. loan guaranteed by the bill, White purchased a portable ice-tank and produced a show "Serenade on Blades" which will open at the Berkeley-Carteret, Asbury Park, N. J., Saturday (3). Show includes Peggy White, Chris- tina, Billy Peterson. Jack Raffloer and a four-girl line. F STOCK TALENT NSG Tramping through the sticks in their annual talent search, Aim com- pany talent departments are current- ly . about two-thirds of the way through the hunting season with their usual small catch. Strawhats blooming in the summer evenings have yielded little in .the way of promising screen thesps, according to the majority of pic firm talent heads, who add that they still have until Labor Day to make some sort of strike. At 20th-Fox, Joe Pincus and staff- ers Joe Holder and Frank Gregory report that they've come up with nothing, but that this .situation is not: unusual, since the entire bag of the past several years has been inconsequential. Sn far the Fox scouts have covered the entire New England States, and will spend the next month in New York and sur- rounding area. Pincus said, "The good actors are still the old sub- stantial Broadway people. The be- ginners we've seen just aren't ready." Paramount, and Metro talent de- partments have virtually the same report to make, although they seem to think they can uncover something before the Labor Day deadline is up. Latest communiques from people in (Continued on page 54) Those 40 Seconds Chicago, Jitfy 30. It took only 40 seconds for Herman Barron to drop the Anal putt that meant the decision in the Ail-American Golf Tourna- ment, aired over NBC 'Sunday (2B) by Bill Stern from Tarn o' Shantev country club here, but the network time had run out—so, millions of anxious lis- teners never did learn from the radio who won the tourney. Victory over Ellsworth Vines, the former tennis champ, was Barron's if he sank his pitch shot, but the ball landed four feet from the cup oh the 18th green. It was almost 6 p.m. (Central time), however — time for the Frank Morgan show to come on. "Please don't cut me off the air," listeners heard Stern beg. "Just give me a few seconds." Barron was measuring his distance. Stern kept pleading— but suddenly it was 6 p.m., the tournament went off the air, and the Morgan show was on. Barron then dropped the shot, to win the tourney by one stroke and the $10,500 prize, golfs richest purse. Radio Forums To Train Axed Axis Radio Stuttgart, central station of the U. S. radio network in Ger many, is making arrangements to broadcast a weekly discussion pro- gram to German civilians, based on America's "Town Meeting of the Air"- program. Deputy chief Stuart L. Hannon, in charge of Stuttgart programs, wrote George V. Denny, Jr., "Town Meeting" moderator, re (Continued on page 48) Biow Eyes Al Jolson For Tuesday Series Hollywood, July 30. Al Jolson is to confer in New York this week with Milton Biow on a radio series for . Philip Morris. If deal jells he will move into the Tuesday night spot now tenanted by Margaret Whiting. Al Levy, of Century Artists, pro- posed the new-type format to Jol- son, which the comic liked, Biow feels, the impending release of the Columbia film, "Story of Al Jolson," will revive him in public favor. Vet Bowes Ams ited for Tour Some of the original Major Bowes' vauders will hit the road again this fall under the directorship of Lou Goldberg, longtime manager of the late amateurs impresario's shows. Units will retain the Bowes name under special deal with the executor of the estate, appearing as Major Bowes'. All-Star Graduates. First unit, set up by Jesse Kaye and GeDe Ford, is booked into Loew's Capitol, Washington, D. C, Sept. 12, at a reported $3,500 weekly. If successful, the group will do a full-time tour. Most of the members are either ex-GI's or were overseas with Camp Shows units, and will be presented on a "10-years-afler" basis. Also expected to give some of the vets a chance to get back into cir- culation. Salaries, of course, are upped over those of "amateur" days. Goldberg also holds screen right* to the Major Bowes film biography and is currently in a dicker for the lensing of Bowes' career. Deal has been turned over to Abe Lastfogcl, William Morris agency g.ni., for completion. A revolution in America's dance tastes, incorporating the lowly square dance as it was terped by the covered wagon gentry over 100 j£ars ago, may be in the offlng. Al- ready the rage throughout Texas, the midwest and on the' Coast, the craze is now making a tremendous impact on sophisticated mid-Man- hattan where more than 20,000 peo- ple, by conservative estimate, gather each Monday night at Riverside- Park, at 103d St. and Riverside Drive, to join in the fun. B. A. Rolfe, vet showman who pioneered in vaudeville, motion pic- tures and radio, believes square ' dancing will make its mark during the coming fall and winter season, and recently gave up lifetime job as director of the Long Beach, Calif., Municipal Orchestra td come east in order to get in on the ground floor. Rolfe incorporated some square dancing music into the songs played by his new name band, with a "caller" and all the accoutre- ments, and recently introduced it into the Grand Ballroom of the Wal- dorf-Astoria where it met with great success. . As Rolfe puts it, the renaissance (Continued on page 48) 'OkbJ-on Way to Setting Replacement Record Before it finally terminates on Broadway, "Oklahoma!" may set a record for the number of replace- ments, if it hasn't already. Paris of Laurey and Curly, the leads, have changed seven times while there have been four differ- ent comediennes in the role of Ado Annie. Joseph Buloff, show's original comic, left recently. Owen Martin, understudy, took over but Dave Burns is due into the part next month. Latter appeared in the part in the road "Oklahomu!" but with- drew to appear in "Billion Dollar Baby," ciosed. I OH TELEVISION