Variety (Aug 1946)

Literati Maiss Production Dedications 1 Allen Smith brushes oti the /dedication business in a lulsome intro to his new :book, "Rhubaib" (Doubleday, $2), with the following, mass production salutiitions: ■The author is far behind in the production of books, this being but his seventh, wherefore he is also be- hindhand in dedicating books to those who, he feels, should have books dedicated to them, plus those who have asked him to tledicate books to them. To catch up he would have to write around 143 I. bopks.real quick. This; book is^dedi- l cated to: h "My wife; my daughter, my son, '\ my mother, my father, nly sisters, my brothers, my in-laws, my in- laws in law, my dog Kufus, Harold • Matson, Don Elder, Lee Barker, Ken ; McCbrmick, Milt Runyoni George ' Hecht, boVothy Larrimorc, George Code, Eric PusinelH, Fred Allen, Ben' Serkowlch, Marcella Hendricks, Abel Green, Morris Gilbert, Clayton E. Buttolpb, James Street. Rufus. Blair, Blrig Crosby, Buddy DeSylva, ' , B. O. McAniiey, H. L.. Mencken, Frank Waldman, Chuck Daggett, Sherman Billingsley, Leon Kay. MA Shiilnian, aU the residents of Old Roaring Brook Road. Bert.MacDon- nld, Mary Margaret McBride, Elmer Roessner, William J. O'Brien and all his Klnkels, Morris Watson, Joe ' Alex Morris, Harry Battin. Grayson Kirk, Red Barber. Ted Crosby, Wal- ter Winchell,. Herman Fox, Jack Sutherland, Earl Wilson, DeVoe iiingham,, Joan Crawford, Tom ' liriccetti, Douglas Black, Jim Moran. Leo- McCarey, Gene Fowler, Hedda Hopper, John Moynlhah, Alton Cook, H. R.. Ekins," Sam Ballard, Idwnl Jones, Elliott Arnold. Chet Lauck. Norris Goff, Mel Heimer, Sid Rez- . nick, Stanley Anderson, Arthur God- frey, Jim Howard,,' Gerald Holland, Charlie Gorham, Carl Randau, Asa Bordages. Tatum Wallace, the Mount ftisco National Bank & Trust Co.. Toe Mitchell, Doc Rockwell, Ed Gardner, the lost. Dorah of Double- day Doran, Sid Skolsky, Dinah Shore, Gene Austin, Edgar Bergen, Hal Bock, Nick Martini, Willard Mullin, the Sawmill River Parkway. Douglas Gilbert, Clip Boutell. Ray- mond Chandler; Charlie Brnckett. Billy Wilder, Dwight Wiley, Seton I. Miller, Frank Partos, Harry Tugend. Y.' Frank Freeman's dogs, the Har- lem Division of the New York.Cen- tral, George Brown, Libble Block, Stuart Rose, Al Jolson. James Durante, Pop Reynolds, Daition Runyon, Jack Foster, Leo Lindy. and .New Castle Wiater District No. 1.- P.S.—It's a funny book, besides. IUm Oat of PMkcr Out of Bacr New York. ' Wifpr, Variety: After reading your reprint of Billy Rose's'column critical venom, I cry enough's enough! Billy and too many other persons have attributed that crack about Hepburn running "the gamut of emo- tions from A to B" to Dotty Parker wIthoXit question. It's about the only thing ever at- tributed to Dotty, and her .whole reputation as a wit seems to be fotmded upon it. If so, she's only a half-wit, in a manner of. speaking. For Bugs Baer said it flrst, about an earlier novice in the windmill school of acting. It isn't clear just how it was first glvei) her tag: either Dotty had a good rnemory, or somebody else .hnd a poor one. '^".hi-., doesn^t need the credit; he has aaid too many other quotable things that'll live. He's probably too calloused now, after all the ftiilT of . that has been lifted (he wiu; ■ Ily the 'sole support of half M'J •.- •■••"^ics in vaude), to care. It •.appeii: that I, as an' old B.ncr fan, ■'o. Clark Kinnoird (King Featiires Syiulicale) galaxy of individuals,seeking a few moments' audience with His Honor- just enough time to be photographed and'explain. to newspapermen how their nam'es ar* spelled." Pic alongside was of O'Dwyer on City Hall step's showing the sights to a Canadian gal in New ICork to pre- sent hirh with an invite to a Toronto air show. If the juxtaposition of story and picture was intentional, Sun played it straight and gave no indication' it was being intentionally made up that. way. . Authors League's Drive- I Authors League, of America has reduced member fees from $25 to $15 and writers may become mem- bers of the Pulp Guild for $10 a year, the idea being to-get as many authors as possible into the fold before the big book contract 'fight is waged. . In the piist the Guild had ail the. w.k. authors in it; but for a united front the little.ones must be in as well, or there is no chance of victory. "Thing in the past that has stopped considerable membe^'ship is that, ajside from a few official meals, there is no social nor club life, no meeting place. That last is a real drawback, in N'. Y. city; not only tor resident but . also . for visiting writers who'd like, to meet co- workers.- Charles Jackson's Newest Charles Jackson's ."Lost Weekend,'.' dealing with dipsomania, is being followed by another daring theme, homosexual marriage, in' his; forth- coming "Fall of Valor," iSimon' & Schuster publishinjg. Chl'E Sun, Trib In Price War Morning newspaper price war is on ;tap in Chicago, with Marshall Field's Sun gciing from 3c to a nickel last week. The other ayem sheet, thfe Tri- bune, remaiiis at. 3c, with signs on newsstands reading "Tribune is 3c —Pay No More,!' indicative that itH stay that way. Helmer's 'Big Drag' Mel Heimer, King Features writ- er, is doing a book on Broadway called ''The Big Drag," due next spring via Whittlesey House. Writer Is at Saratoga Springs completing ,the mss. for a September deadline. Heimer has dropped the Bill Robr inson biography he was to do for Whittlesey. Bikini Expose Bob Cpnsidine, who covered" the flrst atomic bomli; test at Bikini, and wrote the script of -Metro's A-bomb film, "The Beginning or the End," is doing a "Wayward Press" piece for the New Yorker on the news- pa'per and radio coverage of "Op- eration Crossroads." He maintains that the coverage was mishandled all around, with the result that none of the correspond- ents could write intelligent etbries of what was happening during and after the tests. Total TIcup Harold Sherman has a hovel, "The Green Man," in Amazing Stories, about a visitor from Mars, that; is surrounded by tieups. The author, who recently sold ','Jane A<ldams of Hull House" to Para- mount, has film and stage interest in his new opus and a coriiic strip also is in view.'. In the novel, not at all disguised, arc numerous Broadway celebs, so there'll be no guessing games. ZifT Davis may also bring out in book form, though the book and mag de- partmcnl.s are now. entirely disa.sso- ciated; m.igs in Chi, books in N. Y. . N. T. Sun, Hizioner and P. A.'s N-_Y. Sun last week gave Mayor William O'Dwyer a kidding once- over on his sasceptlbilily to pro.is agent gags. And right next to the story it used a three-coUimn photo- ot just the <;ype of stooging for which Hizzoner is being ribbed. Which seemed to prove that it was Ihe Sun ,and not the Mayor who played .«uck- «r for the p;a.s. Ytirn by Harvey Call s.nid: "For Jhe last seven months, under Etrook- lyn's favorite son, William O.'Dwyei', City Hall has switched from a one- jnan production to the greatest stage Jn the city for praise agents. Uj) the broad front' steps through the Col- lonial-colonnaded hallways pass a Kipllnc:er Snags Engel Louis Engel is resigning as man. aging fdltor of Business Week mag to become New York m.-mager for Kipliiigor. • Enjii'l's cniil.-ict.s with big bii.sincss wiis one of the factors in l<ipliii(;er"s desire (0 \mb him. He checks out of Business Week Aug. 15; Contagious Talent? There has never been a.s many forunvs on writing na Ibis summer with local cclcbs getting a chance 1 lo tell how-I-donc-it. After all Ihc ! words settle iiito .silence, and the ballyhoo is over, just wh.nt prac- tical benefit the young hopefuls gel from these gatherings is tiuestion- ablc. a.sidc from seeing and hearing the grciit and near-great. Idea scci-ns to be that with so much talent a.s- . .semblcd there must be some con- i tagionl CHATTEB Frederic A. Birmlngbani new mgr ed in Chi for Esquire, R. H. T, Bond .handling mystery book dept. for Dodd Mead. Lionel Shapiro, chief European correspondent for NANA, ganderihg Hollywood. Fascination featiire editor BevH'- ley Wcxler scripting a itsy^U-iV yarn for 20th-Fox: \iviit Erskine Jbhn.son inked to write a monthly Hollywood column for Mo- lion Picture. Fawcett fan mag. . William H. Toumey out of the army, ed of projected ,new' fact crime mag for Bernarr Macfadden. ■ Sandy Vanderbilt • succeeds .Wil- liam Shawn as m.e,. pf. The, New Yorker. Shawn going on pari-time duty. Homer Croy back to home town, Maryville, Mo., for a.regional novel to be published by Duell, Sloan & Pearce. Fred Johnson, drama editor of the San Francisco Call-Bulletiii, gandcring Hollywoo(J studios for two weeks. New trade journal for carnival and circus concessions called - Na- tional Concessionare, but can: the muggs read? Ted Bennet taking six months' leave from his piiblicity chores to finish two hovels he started while In the Army. .Leslie Charteris, author of mys- tery yarns, received his final Amer- ican citizenship pape'rs in Los An- geles last week, Jack Tooill has takieh over thea- trical post for the Erie (Pal.) Dis- patch-Herald. He's son of Kenneth Tpoill, co-publisher. Random House will publish' a translation of Joseph Kessel's French novel, "Coup de Grace," which will be filmed by Enterprise, Nancy Davids profiles Harry Haenigsen, Herald-Trlb syndicate creator of "Our Bill": and "Penny", strips, in Sept. Pageant. "A Blind Man Goes to Tale," in' current Issue-(Aug.) of Ebony inag,, has been writteh by Harold M: Bone, V.Miurrv correspondent in : New Haven, ,Tohn K. Hutcheris upped from as- sistant to editor /of N. Y. Times Book Review,, succeeding Robert Van Geldcr. Latter, resigned to write a novel. Ray F. Fletcher, recently resigned biz Mgr. of Portsmouth . (p.)Times, aiid'Ray F. Barnes, publisher Elwood - (Ind.) •■ Call-Leader, bought the Ala- mosa (Colo.) Daily Cbui-ler. Fletcher will be publisher. Will'ani Laas, new m.e. -of Holi- day, talking with Mark Hanna, lit- erary agent for Errol Flynn, for the latter's "oceanographical survey" when Flynn makes his next excur- sion on his yacht. . John Chapman returned to - his New York Daily News chores after two weeks of gandering Hollywood. J. L. Rosenberg,, editor of the Inglewooid (Cal.) Daily News, ap- pointed executive editor of the Sac- ramento Union. Second instance in the last several months pf one author demonstrating, a "photographic memory" by dupli- cating almost wprd fpr wpi-'d an ear- lier wprk of another author is cur- rently forming one of the chief topics of conversation in the pub- lishing business. Tokyo Correspondents CJub elec- ted Walter Simmons, Chicago Trib- une, president for current, six-month term. Other officers: John Luter, Time mag, first veepee; Tom Labert, AP. second veepee; Burton (jrane. N. Y. Times, secretary; Ralph Teats- worth, UP, treasurer. Still another anthology of New Yorker pieces: Francis Steegmuller's book for Rcynal & Hitchcock, join- ing Wolcott Gibbs, /» 'hur .Kbber. Irwin Shaw. S. J. .Perelman and others in the reprint swiBepstakcs. Shaw'sr book is titled "Act of Faith" for Random House publication. ■ Five of Theodore Dreiser's novels will be reprinted limultaricously by World Publishing on Sept 25. Titles will include such worJcs as "Sister Carrie" nnd "Jennie Gerhardt" amon.i; olher.s and will sell at $1.98. Edwin Scaver's (Book - of - tbe- Month Club) daughter. Edwina, has .signed a: licw contract with the Ballet Ru.s.se. starting with the troupe at the Hollywood Bowl. . nbccnl casualties. Read and Facts, comes with announcement writers can file but there is no money for 'cm. Fact is that according, to legal I procedure, the printer comes first head tried to bolster position, with ;\ teiTifio puzzle lottery, with con- testants being urged to go out and gather subscriptions. Large sums and small were paid as prizes, with cf ntest lingering month after month, but ho help, apparently. SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK < By Frank Scully «* V *« ^ Kubla, Kan,, Aug. e. People marvel when dining by candlelight cnez Scully's Bc^am Manor at the' way our little Alice in'Blunderland can cbpk rlea. '"Jftjj individualism of each grain is retained to the end of time, after the RKO smasheroo of th^ same name. I have to explain to guests that she learned the art from a prince who hoped one day to rule Siam. It was,on the French Riviera where she w«s actinfe^j^'jny .s', etary and being paid chiefly:in a course of English from copies of ■y^Riri'5» It saved learning a lot of things which weren't so. My opposition, this heir: apparent to. some elephant empirei offered to give up his right to 300, wives if pur little starry-eyed skijvunper would marry him. 'What's mpre, he promised to teach her how to cpok rice properly. She asked my advice aiid I tPld her to settle for the rice, and after she had mastered the art I'd marry her myself. Hei' swarthy boy friend wasn't nearly, as regal-looking as Rex Harrison, who is'really, king-size in "Anna and the King of Slam." In fact,, as I remember Alice and her particular King of Siam he was well under five feet. Mickey Rooney could have played him without benefit of Adler. I remember^ too, that he had a way of saying, "Comme'je suis beau, eh?'*- ("Boy. am I beautiful, no?") : On that I nearly lost the biest cotiked rice in the World. : ■ . : Even Tliclr Cats Arc Cultured What other few contacts I have had with romantic Kubla Khans have not been anywhere nearly as charming as Anna Leonoweh's with Motigkut ^r Irene Dunne's with Rex Harrison, it you prefer, it that way, Mrs. Eddie Dmytryk once gave us a thoroughbred Siamese kitten who used tp hop upon the seat , ir^ the bathroom, thereby carrying the word "house- broke" tb'cultural extremes, and pertainly years ahead of the brighteist of : the Scully-bred flieas from Heaven. -And George Wylie Paul H'mt, A'''" zona's practically perpetual governor (he held the oflice seven tcrnis), used to regale me with 'quaint tales from Bangkok, but they were no ciuainler than Anna's, nor even Siam Goldwyn's plain tales from Grauman (Chinese. ♦ . ■ President Wbodrow Wilson sent Hunt oft as minister to Siam just to keep him from getting into a gubernatorial rut and, all I got out of it when he came back were slippers, ,dre.ssing gowns and photographs, which always seem to fiome out better in the Nalibnal Geographic. That Anna's educational program didn't leave lasting effects, is pbyipus in the reading pf latter-day pbits. The king pf Siam, whp recently com-: mittedisuidde, or was murdered (vote for one), was a successor to this same King Mongkut whom Anna educated. Mbngkut's first wife, played by Gale Sondergaard (whp really stPle the picture) told Anna that the thin veneer of occidental cultiire wouldn't last, and it. didn't. , In fact the modern - />f these dry-moated, monarchs are a ,pretty .sad lot. A dairk-skinned dnui' >'-. regal subsidy adjoining.Siam spent his last years building up i- > .ein of ex-Follies girls in Paris and trying to drink them all under the table in New York—this at the very time, (1942) we were fighting to restore orderly government all Over the world. Na Best For. a Windsor He was confined to an A-A institute on Long Island until the British felt it would be better fpr the English pound if his mortey cleared through one of their subsidies than through ours. they asked emissaries to try the idea out on the Prince Alarming. Between his hangovers, the emis.saries finally t:-' »he oriental Othello into leaving New ,York for Nassau, but When thj.-- •■■wb reached Eddie, who was ruling there at the time, Eddie, to borrow a Drew Pearson phrase, hit the ceiling. The British foreign office fprccfully explained to Eddie that, color and polygamy excepted, he and' thie Prince Alarming were royal cousins and if Eddie' gave the guy a brush it might inflame every potentate against British rule frpm the Gobi desert to Ceylon. The British empire was hav- ing a tough enough time surviving dismemberment without adding Eddie's caprices to its list the,foreign office added, "But the Ziegfeld hsirem!" Eddie insisted. He was told that was .being taken care of. It was, too. An American Portia who had been called in on the legal and medical aspects of the case suggested that the harem be allowied to accompany the Prince as far as Miami. Without passports, which they would never think pf getting on their own, the gals would be denied the privilege of walking up the gang- plank behind his rum-soaked highness. She would, see, however, that a doctor accompanied him to his destination with sufficient medical supplies to take care of H.R.H. when he became hysterical at the loss of his assorted collection of old chorines. The switch wprked, but the ordeal left the young doctor so shaken that even after four years of surgery with the American forces in the Pacific he still prefers not to go back to New Yo'rk but has picked instead a rough western town near the Mexican border to practice his profession.. The Prince Alarming has since died of what alcohpllcs anpnymous would call "overeating." He Wasn't Her Disli The metropolitan .Portia who straightened out that "right of asylum" for royal refugees had been an old hand at taking kinks out of kings. Once, while resting in London between revolutions in his fleabitten mon- archy, a king offered her his hand in marriage. It was a Suhday evening. The servants were out He was helping her clear the dishes after dinner. They were in the kitchen when he popped the .oldest of questions. It seemed to come right out of his heart. Or a Hollywood script He had seen her pull many of his bewildered bluebloods out of bank- ruptcy, He and all his kind wer.e eternally grateful to her. She looked at him with compassion where he hoped for adoration and awe. "Listen, my Balkan beloved," she said, "dry that silverware, and I do mean dry!" ' But will you marry me?" 'Morganatic or: royal?" "r have no choice. Morganatic, of course.'* "Oil, " said the Portia, reared under the American way of life, "a king's rnoli, eh?" Kin;. Leer Disarmed She looked him up and down. He really wasn't a bad egg and he didn't have the strength of one either. Aga Kalui, Otto Kahn, Kubla Kahn—any of these boy.s could take him in anything from gin rummy to diamond mines; All he had was the prestige Of co.stume drama.s. "You know," she said, "'I've seen you in dozens of imiforms, but never armed with anytliing more lethal than a .swagger .sticlf. At least a gang- ster'.s moll would be protected by a gun." .''What I a.sked was, would you marry me?" . ".Np," .she said. The refusal really shook him up. It didn't follow, the protocol at all.- He ilnished drying the silverware and then left in a very undiplomatic hiitT: Between her and the British foreign office they eventually got him his job back, but so far he has never itiarricd. Personally, I rate her several cuts above Anna and I suppose a hundred, years from now One World Pictures will reach back for her memoirs to produce them in atorhovles. But I'm rather glad I saw the. rough cut It seems to have had more vitality in the original. Biit don't get me wrong. I .thought "Anna and the King of Siam" was swell, top.