Variety (Jul 1946)

OBITUARIES GEORGE FOSTER George Foster, 82, founder of Fos- ter's Agency, London, and father of Marry Foster, present head of that agency, died in London, July 26. Further details in vaudeville. . GERTRUDE STEIN Gartrude Stein, 72, author and lecturer- famed for her eccentric literary style, died July 27 at the American Hospital in Neuilly, a Paris suburb. Long, under treatment for cancer she had been a hospital patient for only a week. Born in Allegheny, Pa., Miss Stein spent her early youth in Paris and Vienna and later returned to Amer- ica to live in Oakland, Cal. where her father was a streetcar official. A graduate of Radcliffe, she later studied medicine at Johns Hopkins but didn't bother to take a "degree. Following a brief period in London, Miss Stein went to Paris in 1903 ac componied by her secretary and con stant companion, Miss Alice B. Toklas, whom she had met in San Francisco. Independently wealthy, Miss Stein became a patron of the arts and encouraged such artists and writers as Matisse, Picasso and Ernest Hemingway. A shrewd collector of paintings, she was known to have acquired many canvases done by prominent artists in their formative years before their reps were estab- lished. Writing her first book in 1909, "Three Lives," a collection of per sonality sketches, Miss Stein showed clear prose in her initial work decided, contrast to her odd style of later years. Among other books which she authored were "Making of Americans," 1926; "Geography and Plays," 1922; "How to Write." 1931 "The World is Round," 1939 and "Ida," 1941. Her latest book. "Brew sie and Willie," was published a week ago. In the thirties Miss Stein authored a hit opera, "Four Saints in Three Acts, 1 ' whose libretto incorporated many of the bizarre word repetitions which the public had come to expect of !»er. With music by Virgil Thom- son, it was presented on Broadway in 1934 with an all-Negro cast. Co. show two seasons; spent a sea- son with the Lew Dockstader Min- strels, and then for 38 years pre- sented an act, "Ollie Young and April," with his wife. He toured Europe twice with this act. . He produced several of the late Florenz Ziegfeld's spectacles, both on the Winter Garden Roof and in the New Amsterdam theatre, N. Y. He arid his wife had leading roles in Victor Herbert's "Velvet Lady" for three years. The pair played both the Keith and Orpncum cir- cuits for many years, and at one time Young was financially inter- ested in the old B. F. Keith theatre, Columbus. He was one of the founders of the National Vaudeville Artists and member of the board of directors. Besides his wife, Adah, three sis- ters survive. circuit, died In St. Louis, last week. As member of the comedy team of Cameron and Flanagan about 30 years ago, he played leading theatres in U. S. His sister survives. J. MOROS1NI-WHEI.AN Joseph Morosini-Whelan, 55, one of Ireland's best-known teachers of dancing and former member of the All-Ireland Board of Ballroom Dancing, died in Dublin, Ireland, last week. Survived by widow, two sons and two daughters. ROBERT MARKS Robert Marks. 51', member of the Lambs, died Wednesday (24) in N. Y. He.'was stricken with a heart attack while dancing during a party cele- brating his wedding anniversary. He was a dentist -with offices in the St. Morilz hotel. of directors of dramatists, authors and radio writers would have to recommend approval in principal and then put It up to their general membership for majority vote, AAA briefly would act as the copyright owner of all material written by members of the four Guilds and would control. the licensing of It for any form of publication or pro- duction. Outright sale of material for any purpose would be positively for- bidden. Wednesday, July 31, 194$ CHARLES WELLESLEY Charles Wellesley, 71, former film arid legit actor who appeared with Ethel Barrymore and the late Chauncey Olcott. died July 24 at the Brunswick Home, Amityville, L. I. Born in London, Wellesley came to America as a member of Olga Nethersolc's rep company. During his long career he was also seen in a number of films. .'A stepson survives. AUGUSTIN J. GLASSMIRE Augustin J. "Gus" Glassmire, 67, veteran showman, died July 23 in Hollywood following a long illness. He was associated with the Morosco THI FAMILY OF LOU IUSH, who potted away, eiprett their deop- •tt appreciation fa Al Richard and the many Mends of the profeiulen far the klndneuet extended in their hour of bereavement. AL SELIG Al Selig, 61, advertising and pub- licity executive for many years in the picture business, died July 28 in New York after a prolonged ill- ness. - A newspaperman before he be- came affiliated with the film biz almost 30 years ago, Selig had at one time or another worked for practically every major film com- .- pany. He was once publicity, ad- vertising ?and exploitation director of the old Tiffany Productions, leaving that outfit to take, a similar post with Columbia. His last job was with 20th-Fox, where he was trade contact: Two weeks after he had joined '. Fox last winter he was bedded with : the incurable ailment that resulted . in his death. . Ill for more than a year, previously, he managed to continue working, having left the War Manpower Commission, where he had conducted special surveys on labor problems, to join Fox. Sellg's, first job was as a reporter for the bid r{. Y. World. He then joined the N, ^Y. Journal, working there .and for Other Hearst papers for the next 12 years, following which he became editor of the picture de- partment for Underwood and Un- derwood. During his newspaper career he became known as an out- standing crime reporter. Long after he quit the field he continued to write for publications. His first film job was with the old Fox Film Corp., in publicity. He did work for such oldtime film stars as Theda Bara and William Farnum, and handled, roadshowlngs of some of the top pix for more than 25 years. An expert exploitation man, he had done much of that work in recent years, particularly with RKO and Universal, on the road. Surviving are.his widow, daugh- ter, granddaughter and. two sisters. Jules Fields, eastern director of pub- licity for 20th-Fox, is his son-in- law. OLIVER RUSSELL YOUNG Oliver Russell "Ollie" Young, 71, wJc. showman, vet Al G. Field Co. member, and a former producer of ■ the "Zlegfeld Follies," died July 25 In Columbus, O. He had been re- tired 18 years. He started in show business as a Juggler; was with the Al G. Field theatre, Los Angeles, from 1920 to 1928 and directed the original pro- duction of "Abie's Irish Rose." Starting as a legit actor in N. Y. in 1899, Glassmire entered Alms as a character player in 1932, appearing in a long list of features including "Wilson," "Fallen Angel," Scarlet Street" and "Enchanted Cottage." Surviving are his widow and son, Albert. .-.-■' ADELAIDE SHANNON Mrs. Adelaide Shannon, 75, who with her late husband, Harry, were prominent members-of the Shan- nons, theatrical touring company, died July 16 in LaRue, O. A son and daughter survive. FRED W.BAUER Fred W. Bauer,. 78, violinist, died in Sandusky, O., July 23. He was for years leader of the orchestra at the Sandusky theatre when road shows appeared there. Jack MacDermoit, 53, former ac- tor, writer and director, died July 22 in Los Angeles. As a director he piloted several silent films starring Colleen Moore. Wife of Clayton T. Dusinberre, owner of Red Bud, 111., theatre, died in St. Louis, after long illness, last week. flyman-Greenfield, father of Irving H. Greenfield, asst. secretary of Loew's, Inc., died at his summer home in Long; Beach, L. I., July 29. Strawhats continued from page 1 s; the field, however, have been dis- couraging. One bright note in the talent hunt is sounded by Arthur Willi, at RKO, who says he has already come up with five lookers as result of junkets through the barnyard Belasco belt. Willi added that he obtained best results by avoiding the w.k straw- hats and sticking to remote hinter- lands, where the players are more or less obscure. RKO department head called this season "the most fruit- ful In years," adding that by its end they will have covered the east coast from Maine to '.Virginia. Generally slim returns on the tal- ent search have come as a surprise to most of the department bosses who expected a thespic bonanza with the end of the war.. Veterans' theatre groups, highly touted at first, have had a tenuous, if not short-lived existence and, as a result, have brought little or nothing in the way of new people to the. eyes of the scouts. Other returning GIs have either turned to other fields or just don't have the ability to begin with, say talent heads. j American Authors Continued from page 1 Runyon's 100G LOUISE TABER Louise Taber, KQW-CBS director of education, died in San Francisco July 22 of a heart attack. She was known as an authority on California History and much of her radio work dealt with that subject. At time of death she was engaged in producing "Youth Looks to the Future." She was also producer of the KQW-CBS portion of Columbia School of the Air broadcasts. "HERR LOUIE" Henry E. Moeller, 52, known pro- fessionally as "Herr Louie," head of the orch known as "Herr Louie and the Weasels" and later as "Louie and the Gang," died in Chicago July 27. Band had played at Eltel's Old Heidelberg, Loop bistro, for the past 12 years. Survived by wife. MARK CORY Mark Cory, 62, RKO manager in •Portland, Ore., died in that city July 24 following a heart attack. Cory had been branch manager in Portland since 1932, and was with RKO and its associates since 1923. Before that he was branch manager for Pathe in San Fran- cisco; REV. A. L. KUNKEL Rev. Anton L. Kunkel. S.J., 72, pi oneer of radio broadcasting- develop ment in New Orleans, died there Thursday 125). Father Kurikel's ex- periments in radio began as early as 1909 and led to establishment of WWL| New Orleans' first radio sta- tion, operated by Loyola University. SOLOMON GREEN Solomon Green, . 68, vet accom- panist for nitery singers at the.old North American Music Hall, Chi- cago, died in Chi July 28. Pianist retired from showbiz about 10 years ago and has. been with the Chi Tribune ad dept. since. Survived by wife and daughter. TUDOR C. BROWN Tudor C. Brown, 65, doorkeeper at the Fox theatre and one-time vaude performer on the Orpheum Manklewlcz, Henry Meyers, Martin Gang, Sigmund Romberg, Dalton Trumbo, William Pomerance, Robert Kapp, Craig Rice, Richard Burke, Walter Bruington, Walter- Doniger, Lawrence Lipton, George W. Yates and Charles G. Booth. Admitted by its backers to be the most radical action ever taken by a talent organization, SWG last night (Mon.) voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution which purport- edly will give the outfit a virtual monopoly in American literature. Voting by full membership of active SWG.members had 330 yes, seven no and Ave passing up right to. ballot. Resolution presented by Ring Lardner Jr.', said "that. the Screen Writers Guild endorses in principal the working out with other Guilds of the Authors League of America a plan for the establishment of an American Authors Authority along the general lines prepared by James M. Cain in conjunction with the original material committee of the Screen Writers Guild, and that the executive board is instructed to proceed in cooperation with the rest' of the league to draft a specific program, which program will be subject to ratification at a future general membership meeting." Action of Richard Macauley, who was expected to be in opposition to the AAA plan, in urging all con- servative members to support it came as a surprise at session. Ma- caulay called it "a very nice capital- istic enterprise, a coalition of one bunch of capitalists to see what they could get away from another bunch of capitalists." He also pre- sented a resolution that AAA be required to accept material for copyright from anyone, whether or not a member of the four writ- ing Guilds'which will make up the Authority, but it was voted down. Members did, however, vote unan- imously in support of an amend- ment designed to prevent censor- ship of material by the AAA. Amendment, moved by, Eddie Blum and seconded .by John Wexley, was to the effect that AAA would never discriminate against any author on the basis of contents of material. This is the first positive action on the AAA proposal by any of the Guilds in the League and is ex- pected to pave the way for favor- able resolutions from the other three organizations. Discussion has been carried on among the other groups. Some even participating in drawing up present form as outlined in the Screen Writers magazine last week. Boards Contained from page 1 doctor. Paul Small agented Runyon in the deal. Korda and Marcel Achard also closed a deal with the Theatre Guild for the production In New York of Achard's current Paris legit hit, "Aupres de ma Blonde" ("Besides My Blonde"). Arrangement was made for Sam Behrman to' do the American adaptation, with he and Achard splitting evenly on authors' proceeds of the U. S. production. Play won't be ready before next spring, at the earliest. Korda has an Interest in the. legit production and intends to make a picture from it in England. Under terms of the Dramatists' Guild basic agreement, picture rights to the American production must be put on the open market, but Korda retains strings on the yarn via his Interest In the Paris version, Achard returned to England with Korda 0 Rose Exits Par Continued from page 3 to Barney Balaban and Stanton GrifAs on his twice-yearly visits to the U. S. because his duties not only covered distribution by Par's pro- duction setup In Britain. Rose joined Par in ; 1938 after having been active In Hollywood production in association with Sam- uel Goldwyn and United Artists. At one time, he was veepee and general manager of UA studios and held similar posts with Goldwyn. Mason-Rose Unit London, July 30, While David E. Rose is officially said to be making further study of his production alignment,. now that he has given his resignation to Paramount as British chief, it's re- ported that James Mason, one of the British stars who worked in pictures he made here for Par, will be co-producer In his new unit. Of the two features planned by the Rose-Mason production unit, the one produced In England would be for J. Arthur Rank, distribution.. Understood here that the deal with Mason' was set before Rose left for the U. S. this summer. Lnraschi Checks In Luigl LuraschI, head of the Para- mount studio foreign department, left for the Coast yesterday (Tues day) to give a full report to Par production chief Henry Ginsberg on conditions In Europe. LuraschI flew in from London to N. Y. last Friday (26), following a threc-and-a-l month production survey of Europe, Ginsberg, meanwhile, returned to the Coast yesterday (Monday) with George Brown, Par publicity chief. NBC Ballyhoo — continued from page 23 arranged with sponsors to cross, plug one another's shows. More Changes This Season Keying the big ballyhoo Is the fact that there are more major pro- gram . changes coming' to the NBC schedule next season than in any other recent season. The net execs are afraid the affiliates might not emphasize the changes sufficiently, and are taking no chances ou losing listeners through such oversight. While the regular NBC parade will get its share of the spotlight, major emphasis will be laid on the following: Sunday- night: The new Don Ameche show going in for Drene, and Phil Harris with Alice. Faye taking over the Fitch -tunc. Monday night: The Benny Good- man show replacing "Information Please." Wednesday night: Bob Burns step- ping into-'the- former Hildcgarde time, and "Duffy's Tavern" taking over Eddie Cantor's old slot. Thursday night; Burns & Allen moving into the 8 o'clock time; Can- tor, switching to this night as he starts working for Pabst beer: the new Dennis Day show; "Aldrich Family." coming over from its for- mer home at CBS. Friday night: The Alan Young show, also a. inoveover from CBS.' The Oct. 13-14 "Parade of Stars" will really be the culmination of the campaign rather than the be- ginning of it, although thdt's the ' part, that will get network billing coast-to-coost, That CBS will also do a big song- and-daricc about Its fall schedule was certain last week. But CBS execs weren't as yet ready to dis- close details of their plans. All -they would vouch for is that they would put' on their showcase shows on two successive Sundays, Sept. 22-29, an hour and a half each of those days, using the N. Y. Phil- harmonic-Symphony time, 3-4:30 p.m. ABC and Mutual have made .no official comment on their ballyhoo plans. MARRIAGES Mildred Carl to Harry Hynes, Jr., St.-Louis, last. week. Groom is head booker for Universal's St. Louis e\- change. Dorothy De Poy to Walter C. Lardner, Waterford, N. Y., July 2T." Bride Is continuity editor at WTRT, Troy; groom is an engineer there. Nina Ferova to Don George, Reno, July 23. Groom Is songwriter. Martha Scott to Mel Powell, L«s Vegas, Nev., July 23. Br|de is stage and screen actress, groom a mu- sician. Frances Henry to Howard Smith, Las Vegas, Nev,. July 23. Groom is a film editor. Dorothy Perkins to Joe Wills at Cameron, Texas, July 20. Groom is newscaster for WOAI, San Antonio. Mrs. Judy Bear to Harry Volk, Philadelphia, July 19. Groom is publicity director of Atlantic City's Steel Pier. BIRTHS Mr; and Mrs. Hank Caldwell, daugh- ter, Hollywood, July 23. Father is a radio actor. Mr. and .Mrs. Gene Polito, son, Los Angeles, July 27. Father is asst. cameraman at Metro. Mr. and Mrs. Millard Ochs, son, July 12, Akron, 6. Father is mana- ger of the Strand, Akron. Mr. and Mrs. John Shidler, daugh- ter, Torrence, Cal„ July 25. Mother is Rosemary De Camp, film actress. Mr. and Mrs. Hyatt Dehn, son, Hollywood, July 24. Mother is Ginny Simms, radio and screen songstress. Mr. and Mrs. Emile Holliner, daughter, July 23, Chicago. Father is maitre d* at Mayfair Room, Black- stone hotel, Chi. Mr. and Mrs. George Lipton, son, N.Y., last week, Mother is the former Josephine Hansche »f Chicago Opera Co.; father Is actor in "Annie Get Your Gun." Mr. and Mrs. Bob Ross, son, N. Y., July 14. Mother is Mary Lou For- ster, radio actress; father is radio singer. Mr. and Mrs. Max Gilford, daugh- ter, Hollywood. July 28. Mother is film actress Anne Gwynne; father an attorney. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson Taylor, daughter, New York. Father is CBS programming veepee. Mr. and Mrs. Millard Ochs, son, July 12, Akron, O. Father is man- ager, of Warner's Strand, Akron.