Variety (Sep 1946)

Wednesday, Septemlwr 11, 1946 LITERATI 61 Literati Durocher's Ghost Those page one daily pieces can y- jng Leo Durocher's byline in the Brooklyn Eagle are being ghosted by Harold Parrott. Parrott formerly covered the Dodgers for the Eagle and is now road secretary of the eliibi ■ He has also been' doing a lot t)t mag writing recently about the Dodgers under various bylines. Durocher yarns are making a ter-. rific splash in Brooklyn and are said to be accounting for considerable circulation. They're done in "Lip- py's" notoriously outspoken style, With very little being held back in the way of "inside stuff' and vitu- jpcration. With the Bums pushing for the leagut! lead, Brooklynites are eating it Up. by Hersey and the magazine to run the story, is paying at rate-of $15 per 10.000 circulation, which is a low price for a weU advertised feature that has already received national publicity in the press and over the radio.. . ■■ ■ Among other papers signed to run the serial are Washington Post, Chir cfigo Sun, Boston Globe, Philadel- phia Evening Bulletin,' ahdi Indian- apolis News. . . New Yorker and Hersey set the price low to permit greatest circu- lation, and iire donating the receipts from this source to American Red Gross. Only conditions are that the piece be tun in full, and not dragged out over too long a period. Awesome Welles Becomes Plenty Meek Surveying Horrors of a Carny Geek By ORSON WELLES There- is a character who eat.5 the heads off chickens, who diverts his audience by swallowing mice.. For a finish, he may even sample a liv- ing rat. Such an etitertainer, in ca.se you aren't midway'minded, is, known around the carnies as a .-'geek." ^ "William Lind^iay Gresham-claims flatly that' "geeks" are born, hot made. Gresham is a gifted yarn-, spinner who steps for the first time before the book-reading public with the newest of the novels about show » ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ « ♦ ♦ 4 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ f ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦»♦♦♦ 4 4 ♦♦♦»♦♦♦♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ » ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ « « * ♦ ♦ \ SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK j 44 By Frank Scully *********** Be Praised, Ala., Sept. fi. Ha.=; ari.v'ohe previou!ily written a inII-length novel of the rise and fall of a Hollywood' producer? If not, I nominate Jimmy Steinheiraer's "The Golden Egg": for the Scrapbook-ofrthe-Month's. September choice. ; test, carpers rate me a nodding Homer for ignoring Gene Fowler's "Father Goose" let me say for the record that wasn't a novel, that was a romanticized version of Mack Sennett's biography. As for the others, Jim TuUy's "Jarnegan" was. not about a producer but a director. Neither were"Mc'rton of the Movies," "Queer People'' "Boy Meets Girl," "What Makes Sammy Run," "Once in a Life Time," "Personal Appearance" and "The Beaut from Montana" concerned primarily with the front office. "The Golden E.£;g" is not only about the private of the front office, it lakes in the whole dynasty of the fanfiily that founded and finally lost Miracle Pictures. Lest, the company through a. .smart son who got the company away from his family and then lost it to the bankers when his Blitz On Again In London War without mercy is being or- ganized by back-room "boys in Lon- don's Fleet street. No quarter will be asked or given in fight for cir- culation which begins Sept. 23 < Sept. 29 for Sunday papers) when dailies receive approximately 40% more newsprint. All the papers are allo- cating .some of the increase to cir- culation. But as the no-returns rule stiirholds, newspapers are endeavor-: ing to get readers to place firm or- ders and diminish casual buying at bookstands. • Beaverbroofc's Daily Expre.<!s has a. long lead at present Capprox. 3,400,- 000 daily) and is determined to hold it against challenge of tab pictorial Daily Mirror, Rothermere's; Daily Mail, and Labor's Daily Herald. Al- though all papers have pledged themselves not to indulge in certain circulation aids that were; adopted in ,.pre-war days—free insurancCj free gifts of books and household good.';^ there is no doubt that quiet canvas- sing is already taking place. Real filoves-ofT fight will begin when all paper restrictions are removed. Dailies will increase from four and six pages to 24, and Sundays from eight to 32, but this is not expected for at least two years. Meanwhile mag publishers are preparing dummies of new periodi- cals to flood the market. Four houses—Odhams, George. Newnes, Amalgamated Press, and Hultons— dominate field at the moment, and each is investigating possibilities of new productions, especially in re^ gard to women and illustrated week- lies.- ■ A firstrclass woman's magazine could ea.sily top the lot, and neither Picture Po.st nor Illustrated has won anything like the place that "Lite' holds. Newnes is preparing an il- lustrated weekly as soon as paper is decontroUedr and all the publish- ing houses here fear a London edi- tion of Life. hart; $2?. : If , you x;ah take your 1 h0ri:or neat, you'll be ealliiig, for „., V, -i. , 1 ., ! more from him. He's certainly Five British newspapers have, thus I i,jjjjj.fQ[.,.^;„g ■ At the start of the story, its tragic far, cabled the New Yorker about | permission to reprint. Mag; how ever, is reluctant. Its execs realize that paper rationing in Great Britain will not permit full use of the 30,- 000 words, but haven't yet decided on which Britisher to permit to do the cutting. I The "<>xcised" version of the ' Hersey story, done on the American Broadcasting Company's radio , net- work thi.s week (four nights, 9:30-10 p.m., Mon.-Thur, (9-12) was cut by Robert Saudek, public service direc- tor for the web. Hersey personally, however, had to approve each cut, and the excisions had to be double- checked by the New Yorker. Since I the ABC radio version was a sus- tainer, Hersey and the mag received no fee for the radio rights. The net- work paid the actors doing the read- ing and donated the time. hero, Stan Carlisle, learns from the "talker" of a Ten-in One show that a geek has to be taught. "You Whitley's U. S. Survey Reg Whitley, drama and film critic of the London Mirror, in the U. S. to do a survey of entertainment fields here, leaves New York for the Coast tomorrow (Thtirsday) and re- turns to England aboard the Queen Mary Nov. 14. - . busineK, "Nightmare Alley" (Riner I prestige-picture flopped. There is a belief in Hollywood that you can't make money with. Shake- speare and there is a belief on Fourth avenue that ydir can'Vmake money. with a book on Hollywood'. Well. Henry V is making money, and if a seriou.'ii adult novel about Hollywood can make the road betweeij pub- lishing and pictures a two-way .street, "The Golden Egg" is that book. Alias Jimmy Something, Anyway ■ So I m l have not seen a word about the book in the trades or even in the glossier reviews. And about now I suspect at least one reader is don't find him," says the talker, t shouting; "The author's name is not Jimmy Steinheimer, you dope! It's "You make him. You pick up a guy ; James PoUak!" and he ain't a geek—he's a drunk, I That's merely one man's opinion. The last time 1 saw Jimmy his name a bottle-a-day booze fool. So you ! was Steinheimer. I introduced him to dozens of persons under that name tell him like'this; 'I got a little job,'' 10' years agd.' It was when he was handling trailers, for National Screen,.. Uiijvcr.sal and RKO. His real name was James Pollak. but when his parents divorced he took his mother's name. Which was Steinheimer, and dropped his father's,. Later, apparentiy,,;he went:back to his' father's name. Jimmy went into the army and exicept fOT "The Golden Egg" r have not seen or heard (?f him since attending; a ,epcfctml psu^y in how^^ of bis being -hauled off to boot camp. For him to Have emerged four years latet' with as fine a novel as to what makes a prbducer tick as one would care to read is a high tribute to his use of 36-hour passes; The realism in this novel is certainly for men, not mice. Any . deeper disgection of the life and loves of a producer would nevet' get to the HayS office, let .alone-by'it.', ■;.■.''■.•/■■■•■■■.'■''■ The Secret's Odt—TIte Laemmles! You know how many have tried to capture the nuances of Hollywood thinking and' language. Well, nobody has dpne such 'an authentic^^^^ Jimmy'Pollak. I doubt if Ring Lardttet could have done better. People are soon going to start picking the book apart arid say, "Ah, 1 get it The Laemmles! That Willie Levinsoh is siirely Junior!" But Willie is no more Junior than Louis Levinson, his father, is Leonard Louis Levinson, now currently sweating over a musical version of George Fitch's "Good Old Siwash." Louis Levinspn's real name was Levinsky, a change about as deceptive as Jimmy Pollak's to Steinheimer. Relating the grief and relief of 30 years of picture-making, it misses no trick, not even a dirty o"ne. It is'racily Written; It ha$ lauglis: galore. for' you. It's a temporary job. We got Id get a new geek. So until we do, you put on the geek outfit and fake it.' You tell him: 'You don't have to do nothing. You'U have a razor blade in your hand, and when you pick up the chicken you give it a nifck with the blade, and then you make like you're drinking the blood. Same with rats. The ii.arlts don't know no difference.'. Gets Bottle Regular I "Well, he does this for a week, i and you see to it that he gets his j bottle regular and a place to Sleep ■ it off in. He likes this fine. That's i what he thinks is Heaven. So after a week you say to him like this. You say, 'Well, I got to get me a real gock. You're through.' He .scares up at this, because nothing scares a real rummy like the chance of a dry spell and getting the hor Marpic Quits M-G to Write Allen Marple, aide to Carol Brandt, head of Metro's eastern story department, has handed in his res- ignation and will leave the company as soon as his successor is installed. Tentatively slated for the spot is John Mcfiaffrey, fiction editor of American Magazine and m,c. on the weekly "Author Meets Critics" show aired via WQXR and WOR. N. Y, Marple, who ran M-G's recent I $129,000 prize novel contest and does special literary sleuthing for the company^ is reportedly quitting his $25,000 a year post to write a novel. He's been with M-G less than a year, prior to that being flctlori editor of Collier's. . Len Levenson's Whodunit Keprint "Wages of Innocence," whodunit penned by ex- Variety mugg Leonard L. Levenson in collaboration, with Leonard Neubauer, will be reprint- ed in an early edition of the Ellcry Queen Mystery Mag. Deal was set by Levenson during his two-week stay in N. Y. to line up story prop? erties for possib't screen and legit productions. Levenson also signed with Cos- mopolitan mag for his "Left-Handed Dictionary," which he compiled ' in a;'isociation with Tod Taylor. "Dic- tionary," compo.^ed of satirical,; left^ handed definitions,, will run as a se- rialized feature in Cosmo; starting probably in the, December issue. Newspapers Take Hersey At least 30 new.spapcrs' around the country are already running, or .pre- paring to run, John Hersey's New Yorker mag story of the atomic ^bombing, of Hiroshima to which the magazine gave up its entire issue two weeks ago. CHATTER Albert Goldberg, Chicago Tri- bune's film and music critic^ gander- ing Hollywood Studios. Fredric Fradki"'", maestro on the "Thin Man" air serie.s, readying his reminiscences for Simon & Schuster. Muriel Babcock in Hollywood for studio huddles as editorial director of Ideal Publishing Co, H.irold Mann was appointed chief of the photographic department of Hollywood Press Syndicate- Lee Lowrence of Metro, N. Y., publicity staff, sold 'Vogue an article on Block Islan^l, to appear in Octo- ber i.ssue. Celebrity Service started distribu- tion of The Directors Record, a list of legit directors active on Broad- way for the last 10 years, Jimmy Pollakj former head of RKO'c trailer department, wrote a book about Hollywood, "Golden Eyes,'' tor publication by Henry Holt. Ed Grief signed to do an anthology oi: radio mysteries titled "Murder on the Half-Hour," to be published early next year by; Commonwealth Books. Mary Margaret McBride, WEAF commentator, has bought a book shop in Sutton Place, N. Y., in part- ner.^hip . with - her manager, Stella Karn,- and announcer Vincent Con- nolly. ■ Mort Freedgood, Rank Organiza- tion publicist, has a short .story in I the October is.sue of Good House- keeping. Freedgood. will have two books out in the winter, a thriller and a historical, under different pseudonyms^ | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Pulitzer) i on Sunday (8) began printing its comic, action and adventure section | in rotogravure and is the first rag in the country to do so. A new Hoe 12-unit rotogravure press is being used for the innovation. Ed Levin, PM Promotion and Syndicate Manager, has; resigned to accept a top promotional post in- Chicago, ■ Levin, who has been with PM since it started in 1940 and who for a year was PM's radio' edilor, will takc/Up his new affiliation after an extended stay on his Wisconsin farm. Ted Le', Berthon, former news- paper columni.st in Los Angeles, en- tered the Order of St. Francis of of A-ssisi at San Francisco as a lay brother; preparatory to full ac- ceptance in that religious order. Now in his early fifties, Le Berthon spent 30 years as a newspaper writer, tor a time as amusement edi- rors. He says, 'What's the matter? I In fact it was not only written, it was rewritten. I came on the original Ain't I doin' O.K?' So you say, ,'Like j version aljout 10 years ago. At that time Jimmy was recently out of hell you're doing O. K. You can't! Washington & Lee, and was learning to spell "terrific" for trailers, for draw no crowd faking a geek. Turn in your outfit. You're through.' Then you walk away. He comes fol- lowing you, begging for another chance, and you say, 'O.K. But after tonight, out ybu go,' But you give him his bottle. .," "Nightmare Alley" is something more than merely shocking. The narrative is soundly built all arouhd. The people are more like people than those you'll find in most of the bestsellers. Several scenes hit me with my guard down—hit me hard and where it hurts. I was picked to write this review because I'm a magician With some working researcher's acquaintance- ship with the fortune-telling and spook rackets. Gresham treats of flap-slate.s, cold readings, stock answers, billet-switches, codes, one- a-head .systems, ectoplasm, polter- geists, exten.sion rods, giving prac- tical notes on the usefulness of shortwave, air pistols, recordings, luminous thumb tacks, midgets and even fleas with such perfect au- thority that I can. only, assume he was born in a mitt camp with a nickel-plated spirit trumpet in his mouth. VARiET'y will also want to knoy what kind of chances the book ha.s which he got $125 a week and maintained a nice hilltop home. We used to go weekends to Wee Winnie Winkler's Lazy W Ranch near : Victorville on the Mojave D&sert along with Walter Abel and Bill Harri- gan. Carl Brisson, Clark Gable, Jim TuUy, Joe Cunningham, Jack Kirk- hind, Erin O'Brien Moore, Fred Keating, Will James, Morrie Ryskind, J. P. ,McEvDy,; Nancy Carroll and other fugitives from the nitcries of the Sunset Strip used to give the desert .sun the exalted privilege of tanning their hides around the Lazy W: T shilled in an amateur way for the place and brought most of them there. 10 Years to Lay an Egg? On one of these occasions Jimmy asked me lo read his first novel. ThLs , '•'Egg" is it. This is where I came in. At that time it lacked the inspira- tion that comes from the sort of perspiration Humphrey Bogart oozes in "The Big Sleep." Since that time the Pollak prodigy has obviously sweated plenty and, in consequence, has produced a great book; It is too great to be made into a picture. No producer would touch it, any more than King Features would -serialize Samuel Hopkins Adams' "Success" or Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane." But despite these limitations on its world market-value, it is a magnificent novel, full of lovable, lousy, beautitul, beastly people; and destined to be the best book on Hollywood of its generation. It takes the Levinson tribe all the way from Rivington street to Fort Lee, to Hollywood, to Wall Street. It takes thena through the silent days up to millions and down to 77-B. It takes them out of bankruptcy when Wall Street discovers that Show business is so crazy it takes showmen, not business men, to run it. It takes Willie Levinson from his first cry as a baby, through his first lesson in love, through his first screen credit, his first production; his biggest flop. It uses languages which must have been transcribed' from the private files of Wire-Tappers Local Ifo. 5. Really Etwas, Eh? It brings out much that will have to be added to "The American Lan- guage," meaning Menk will have to go to work again. Who, for instance, would know, what these words mean: Natka-chaser, relict, innapennant, contrack, madda fack, serin; pahblic. for sale to Hollywood Aq ' ti meshugga, gone-or-rear, vooping cuff, silent terlets, dispossassed, perjec "Nightmare Alley," however diluted, ' ''"' «^<""=*'^^' ^^^^ chaintches, brezicely would be .too rough and raw for the family trade. If the publishers can find paper for that strong a .story, it's a shame the picture producers can't find celluloid for it. But they won't. For Hollywood's .sake, I wish I could say they might. Canada Bar Cdntinueii worn page 1 New York Herald Tribune was | , - v. j flr.st to announce the serialization of I tor of the old Los Angeles Record the piece, titled "Hiroshima." H-T, ' and later as a. columnist on the LOs like, all the other papers permitted Angeles News. such an important city as Montreal. While this type of advertising has hitherto been illegal in all Canadian provinces except Quebec, it, is ex- pected now that all Canadian prov- inces will accept the CBC's. green light. The CBC .announcement comes on the heels of' the Attorhey-General's ruling . that cocktail bars will be permitted here in October, and the possible return to pre-war hours for taverns which are now restricted to I nix-noots'i' If you can't guess, write to me in care of the station to which you are li.stening and I'll mail the answers back in a plain envelope. Though the worst thing you can say about 'a novel is that it tells you things you never knew before, I have to admit that I never quite knew until Pollak told me what assistant directors doiThey really work like dogs; according to "The Golden Egg." So do cutters; So, tor that matter, do producers. The producers work hardest jockeying for power, but it's woi k. and hard work, nevertheless. "The Golden Egg" has another educational item that held my breathless interest. It relates how a hot love-scene which the Joe Breen office would object to in British pictures can get by in an American picture. Pollak jihows it in very simple, und«cstandable term.s. It's done by substituting .sex .symbolism for Sex realism, and by adding the censor's unproduced literary properties to,the next: producer's; overhead. Thus the successors find themselves actually getting $1,200,000 to make a picture but charged . .$2,000,000 to take care of the "overhead." j I myself feel the soft touch of bribery guiding my hand as I write this. I unqualified plug for a new novelist. Soon after I first met Jimmy Stein-' ' heimer fnee Pollak) years ago, he came to Bedside Manor on a Christmas i eve, all out of breath and pulling a little cart of the mo.st solid buildiiig- j blocks ever r saw. They were for our first flea from heaven. Si rice that time toys in hundreds have come and gone. Three other babies have played their parts In reducing all toys to shambles. But those j building-blocks remain-rmute, indestructible, complete. Not one is miss- , ing. I can't understand it. It must be the Pollak touch, i I have always agreed that every man has his price, but I have argued with bribers that his price may not always be in money. Maybe it's the beer sales from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., „ , ..„ —.-j. .._ and from 4 to 6:30 p.m. except Sun- ! way you praise his writing, maybe it'.s the way you buy his stories, maybe it's the way you pat his kid on the head, maybe it's your choice, in toys for his children. ... Whatever it is, something has fetched me about this book. In "The Golden Egg" Pollak has done as milch for Hollywood as Gibbon did for Rome and told a much livelier story in, the. bargSlH,,. There, I've Said it uays, plus night sales on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 to 10 p.m. Premier George Drew has twice 'stated that changes in the Liquor Authority Act will be discussed, in the fall opening of the Legislatures > 4 «ni!l -I'm- gMt <