Variety (Sep 1946)

IMIISCKLLANY Wednestlay, September 11, 1916 Writer, Actor Post Gets Legion Brushoff ; Will Fight Decision The Dupcan-Pai'is post, New York, t of the Arterican Legion, member- ship of wliich includes Qene Kelly, Desi Arnaz and many former mem- bers of Yank, and Stars and Stripes staffs, was refused a permanent chartet" > by the American Legion brass last : week. No reason was given: for the, rejection, but liberal tendencies of the group is suspected by many in the membership. Action is surprising, inasnniUCh as the post recently weeded out so- called radicals from its leadership, and was recently praised by Rep. Wright Patman (D-Tex.), author of the Vet Housing Bill,,as an outstand- ing example of a Legion organiza^ tion because of its Operation Hous- ing. Marion Hijrgrove, author of See^ Here, Pvt. Hargrove," commander of the Post, is believed to .have dis- comfited the Legion hierarchy by his recent series of lectures in which he castigated the Army brass. : An. emergency meeting of the post is slated ■ shortly and it's believed that the decision will be fought. Other members of the Duncan- Paris Post include James Gow and Arnaud D'Usseau, Millard Lampell, the radio writer; Allan AndersoHi ison of playwright Maxwell; Len Zinberg of the New Yorker; Durbin Horner, former managing editor of the Sunday section of the N. Y. Mir- ror and former editor of the London edition of Yank; Harry Slons, ex-, editor of the Yank Mediterranean edition; Walter Bernstein, Lloyd Gough :and Dr. Howard Rusk, who was in charge of the AAF rehabili- tation program. Post is named after Greg Duncan, of Stars , & Stripes staff, who Was killed in Italy, and Pete Paris, ai Yank photographer, who was hit on the Normandy beachhead on D-Day. Sports Shorts .: Basfekj^U ' insiders eSpect this fall,to see ii flnaj rapprdcheraent between , ma,16r: league owners and ,- the : Pasquels' Mexican League. ^Peelin.ir is cued by ,re-' cent action of the ML, prexy,, Bernardo Pasquel, Wiio followed U. baseball's leail, iii barring Hooper Ti'ipplel, frorti, competi-, tion ^after the Cardinal farm- liand found gu,iUy of betting against his team : To further bring about a cenienting of rela- tions. Sam Bi-ead'on,, Cardinal prexy ha« mvited Pasq,UeI to be his guest at the World's SeHes ': should; the Cardinals vvin the National League, pennant. In .any event, iPasquel will prob- ably, be; iii,the U S. for the fall baseball meeting of the majors, wlieh some attempt at an eqiiir fable .adjustme'il; will be. made. Alter US' suoces-'tul introduc- tion into profe.ssional baseball by Bill. Veeck at Milwaukee and Cleveland; showbiz selling tech- . nique has evidently been brought .to the pro football ranks, and With kudos on all, sides. At least, it was credited in large part with the crowd of over 60,000, the largest ever to see a pro fiootball game, which jammed into Cleveland's Municipal Sta- dium Sunday (8)"for opening of the All-America Football Conr ference schedule, when Cleve- (Continued on page 62) The Berle-ing Pomt 22181 WEEK! KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF 1946" E( Capitan Theatre, Hollywood, Cal. "A hilarioiis siage show tun."' -By Milton Berl«- Great COOPER. When To Let Him Buy Her a Mink Coat -By H. I. PHILLIPS- Realtor's Showmanship (Shirley an Ex-Yauder) Pays Off in Big Manner An- ex-hoofer and songplugger in New York has parlayed showbiz sell- ing techniques and a $25,000 loan into amillion dollar Long Island real estate business. Walter T: Shirley, former vauder and schoolmate of (Reprinted, by permission, from Hi Phillips' "The Sun Did 1" in the N. Y. Sun.) Clothes-Hungry Britons On Buying Sprees Here Those junkets to the U. S. that- British pix people are; currently tak- ing in droves are double-barrfeled. Besides the show biz angle, which involves the ordinary chores of building Up. bally, visiting HoUyi- wbod, and. luring lucrative: .contracts, the Britishers . tiave invaded ,11. S. clothiers en masse. Lifting of the five-year garment pinch by a tour t ■ American shops has been the No. 1 '.•oncern of the visitors, Sean McGlory, Abbey Player now an RKO cotitractee, actress Ann Mayor O'Dwyer, who now owns i Todd and director Carol Reed, latest Mastic Acres, an L. ;I. develojpment, I to arrived here, have all curtain- gave -ample- evidence last ^^ w^^ raised their, entries \yith buying his showbiz; experiericei, with 'a flying sprees;- Visitors,, their appetites cocktail party for presSj rMiajnd_ jiiJiettei;b.y England's heroic war television bunch for the openlrtg of | and postwar diet, have aho^one in his "Model Acre." While CBS video for plush napkin-tucking. Sudden cameramen filmed scenes for tele- switch from the Spartan fare has vising Sunday <8) wire recorders proven too much, in some instances, were used by Pat Becker and Mona to the Britishers and a number have. "He wanted to buy 'Vuguiia, my little girl, a magnificent mink. I felt that,: as a good mother, I should intervene. Not; mink, I told him; not while you are married to an-- other woman. He begged so hard I finally allowed him to buy her a sever^skin beaver that cost $1,500." — From the statement of a mother on her 15ryear'-old daughter's ro- mance. Atta girl, mom! A mother has to be firm these day.s, watching a daughter every minute and protect- ing her-against evil le.st -she get' bad ideas into her little head. ■ . This musicians' strike against the hotels is really causing a Krcat dc>al of trouble. 'Why, just the other day when I was playing bridge uti tht Essex House I told my partner to "trump it," and Petrillo called another meeting. Understand most of the hotels will combat the musicians' walk- out by scabbing.. .all beds: will be covered! with sheet music. But sottieu of the hotels won't allbw the use of any Vocabulary that may be mislakeiil for musical terms. For example: employees are no longer on the iilaff.' and cannot deliver notes. It you want a drink, you can't go to the bni'..'. it has . to be the cocktail lounge. Rooms are now called apartmenl.s in-■• stead of flats, and if "you're a sltjirp character you can't even register. If you're lucky enough to get a rooln.. .you have to open your door with a wire instead of a key. Even the hotel advertising department has orders not to drum up trade. But I think it's going too far when amairied woman guest can't give birth to trtptcts. , ■ The Great VVit Way Asked John Clein how"Swan Song" is coming along,. He said, 'vit's Ben . Hecht-ic.",-, . Know a guy who uses a small bridge table to do business under , . .he deals in black market Austins. — -v-- A friend of mine recently stayed at a hotel in Boston that's so fjj-liion- able., the girls are only branded with King-size cigarets. Spanked my baby Vicki for saying her first naughty word; "Youwgman.'' Know a showgirl who only goes out with married men, . sort of a chorus-pondent. Hangnail Descriptions Phil Baker's-gags: Eversharp Repealers; . ^Gareer women: Groom Dodg- ers.. Bette Davis: Perpetual emotion. ^ .W, C. Fields: , A Hic-lowner... Gabriel Heatter: Good Rumor Man. ' Observation Department ■ ; CBS is adding more mystery shows. Guess they'll have to find the- Hooperatings by tapping the wires. 1st Ham: He's a Uvo-bit comic. 2d Ham: Yeah.. .and he keeps nsing iliose same two bits over ojkI. ofer. Sardi soliloquy: "No wonder she's a good dre-sser.. .her wardrobe is made out of law suits." With the Winter Garden showing "The Killers" 11 times.a day, they aren't even giving their guns time to cool oH. Performer:' Now that we're owditionino for you, what's the first thiitg you'd like my trained pigeon to show? Booker: Great restraint. Saw a very thin girl arrested for vagrancy. The cop took one look at her legs and said she had no visible means of support. Ray Anthony (,I_.ocal 802's Cary Grant) knows an agent who's so iiiider- handed.. .three .sottball teams are trying to sign him. I loved this line from a current Broadway melodfama: "I'm soinv away ...far away...so far.away that even Mr. Keen can't find me!" There are bold, bad men around everywhere . offering mink coats. Some even come up with ermine or .sables. AH mothers .should watch these ,fur-bearirrg persons like: a Pitching Horseshoes ————— By Billy Ruse i I see the Russian government doesn't like bur ttiusical play, "OkJahbma!'' As part of the campaign against "dangerous iorejgn ideas," the official magazine, "Culture and Life," recently'published an article by Konstantine , hawk, particularly if a 15-year-old | Simonov, panning the American theatre, and specifically taking a pot-shot , daughter is involved. One of the at "Oklahoma!". Simonov label.s it a "very poor effort.". It's common first steps in character building i."; knowledge such pronouncements don't get printed in the Soviet Union to teach such a child that if the offer, without first being cleared by the Front Office. In-other words, it's olr Fisher for their WWRL program and by Johnny Grant for his WINS shoWi Entire , party was flown by chartered planes. Shirley started in Showbiz as a singer in Sweeney's Theatre, ■ Bay Ridge, crooning to lantern song slides while songwriter J. Fred Coots played accompaniment. After doing song-and-dance stints with his Sister, he began plugging for Kalmar-Puck, Irving Berlin afid Will Von Tilzer. ■ Following a war stint, during which he organized the Argonne Players, Shirley soon dropped out Of show .busine.5s and went into, real estate. He, attributes his successful jump , to exploitation ideas culled ixom, entertainment industry, with special, emphasis upon mass adver- tising and repeated plugging. He was the first to try broadside real estate ads in rdailies and inow siJends more money on newspaper ads than anyone else in the real estate biz. been rendered hors de combat alimentary uprisings. by Heifetz Pix Again Jascha Heifetz, who made the first full-length feature film built around a concert instrumentalist—^Samuel Goldwyn's "They Shall Have Music" ,(JJA) in 1939—is being sought by several pix companies. Violinist, formerly reported set against further films because of the trite story of- "Music," admits now to bCr ing agreeable to offers, with two provisos: (a) story must 'be .."adult," and (b) the music niust be iari;,in-- tegral part of the film. Musician finished, working on a se- quence of. Federal Films' "Carnegie Hall" in N. Y. last weekend, playing the fir.st movement of the Tchaikov- sky Violin Concerto, slightly cut. Part will run about 11 minutes, for longest musical sequence in the film, Qi-' in any previous pic. His original film is still -making - neighborhood and art-theatre rounds. . Title: was changed shortly after i.ssue to "40 Fighting-Mothers" and is iiow known as "Ragged Angels." Dunn's Pic Before Legit James Dunn, who came east early in the suminer.for a three-day hud- dle with the Theatre Guild and .; wound up in the strawhats, returned ; to ^fhe Coast last ,night .^Tuesday):., He's slated to do one iMcture for _ Republic before coming back to New Perennial Herbert ' . . .! V-. v : ' , -Vieter Herbert^^ iM^r V"l,''^ Gulld'aVfioirte-:.-sbr(-.:of:-recoi-d-fot late production of Eugene O'Neill's : operetta, cbmposer, - with three of Moon for the Misbegotten," which his oldies annbuhced in: last Week- goes into rehearsal Dec. 16. 'end ads for Greater New York ar^.. MERLE McHUGH'S PIC DEAL .c^^^^^ik J^J^JTo^ Merle McHugh, daughter of Gene , in N. Y. next week il7), to join "The ,McHMh, night managing, editor of Red Mill," 40-vear-oldie now play- the N.Y. Daily Ne-vts, has been inked ing the 46th week of an original limited eight-week run. And in. nearby Millbum, ISI.: J., Playhouse, 30-year-old "Sweetfiearfi" is skip- pingv through a six-week .strawhat engagemeBt. to a term pact by Beacon Produd tions, which will make "Co'pacabana" for United Artists release. Miss McHugh is a former Conover model. , ■ ■ comes from, a married man. she should recoil and state flrmly: "How, dare you offer me a mink coat? Mumsy and I, wbitidri't think of it. Can't you protect: my gbod name by making it a beaver or squirrel or sumpin'?." .'- ;■ Our own Beatrice Fairfax .has considered the whole problem and reported: "Every mother's dut.y these days is to see that her child gets the right viewpoint On life. She must make her realize what is wrong and what is right. When a girl of 15 is of- fered a mink coat it can give people the wrong idea; in:fact, it might give everybody concerned the wrong idea. Then, too, a girl's ethical sense can be distorted. When a married man offers a girl of 15 a mink coat it should be understood that not until she is 16 is it proper for her to accept. ; - "The man should be told in no un certain manner that the child is be- ing raised very carefully, and that she is distinctly the beaver, pony- skin, raccoon or even nutria type. "When: a child is 16. it is early enough to talk with married men about mink, but even then it should be specified that it .should' only be a three-quarter length. 'And re- member,, only one coat! We have seen many a 17-.year-old child's ideas of life: distorted by violating this principle. . "In ,, raising a -girl properly it should be a cardinal rule to in.struct her; so that whenever a man makes her acquaintance and, suggests m'inli, sable, ermine or chinchilla the child will immediately, say: 'You'll have to take it up with mother. And shes very strict, about $5,000 coats.' • "The child, to .save time, might suggest to the man that he get up a list of other furs, contact mother, arrange for an appointment and bring some sample coats of a .some- what less expensive type. If he is the right sort of married man for a schoolgirl to run around with, he will understand," she concluded. ficial—the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics doesn't like our favorite .lollipop,'. . ^,':. ' . ■, .. V'. .'''-^ 'V.^;--'V^-• > ' ':-.-''^ : Well, ain't that too bad? At the ri.sk of being tagged a reactionary, may ra.sk Konstantine what's wrong with "Gklahoma!"? I've .seen it four limes, and my only beef is I didn't got to produce it I grant you its happy : ' patrons don't:walk out of the theatre resolved to catch twenty more rivets • the_next_day. On the other hand, they don't exit determined to kjck some- , body's face^riT^ Ybij.Tay this everiing-Df-igay music,:prett-y,-giEls-aB,d &p4riled_^ dancing "has no purpose." ,Well, neither has a Strauss waltz, a glass of wine, good tobacco, or a buttercup. In this country, Tovarich, we figure a sunrise is something more tllan the signal to go to work. We're silly enough to suppose there's more to romance than population statistic.i. All the pretty things you say are "purposele.s.s" are what make it possible for : us to go on living in a punchrdrunk world where diplomats still consider people expendable. - ^ .,. ri bet you a quart of uranium that nothing your subsidized theatre has produced is as popular with your people as "Oklahoma!" is with Ours. : And, besides, instead of being backed by the government, this show is practically vice versa. Out of the ten-million-or-so it will net, sonielhing like seven million will go to our Treasury. Judging by your loan requests, that, kind of dough Would come in handy, eh Comrade? Considering that the financial set-up of our theatre doesn't make it very profitable to preach, I think we do pretty well in the social significance department. In fact, we have .several left-of-center playwrights whose yearly income would keep the Kremlin in caviar. It's a good thing your Commisisar of Entertainment wasn't around when Rodgers and Hammerstein were writing "Oklahoma!" Strange things might have happened to this gay little valentine. The song titles vriight have been: "Oh, What a Beautiful Magneto," "People Will Say Were m ; Trouble," "The Farmer and the Cowboy Should Unite to Build a Better World," The delightful song about the Surrey with the Fringe on Top might have come out as: "Pleiwe don't tfmifcOint /owe is o factor When 1 take yon out in my tractor, / -: In my lend-lease JWic/tisciH tractor With the hinge on top. v We've no time for cooin' and biiiin' -./ ': There's a quota •re must, be fiHin' Simonov sa,vs that Cnpid's amMai'n. ' --Vf.', ■ , And a bourgeois sop.' ::-',:' :: . Oh, the man in the Kremlin will forget-to fromt As we make hay for the nation, : : , , ; ' And that picture of Stalin lue can roll riBht down, Wheitever we need inspiration. Don't sing love songs from "Oklahoma!" ,' Ain't you heard it's in bad aroma? - , ..i Jf you want that cri>iiwn diploma You must never stop Perspiring in that tractor with the hinge on the top:" For two years now, Mr. Simonov, I've been trying to get a vi.'-ii to to Russia. I wanted to catch your .shows, your orchestras, your ball*'' AveriU Harriman tried to get me one when he was our Ambu.<..'-: dor in Moscow. Last November our emba.s.sy in London tried. Both tiine.vii" dice. Why does your government make it so difficult, Konstantine? Whe I have a good show, I'm glad to invite the critics. r «" (The obove is reprinted from Billy Roae't doill/ "Pitching Horse.''hoe' colui7m.)