Variety (Sep 1946)

MUSIC I'Mlil.ifthed .Weolili' -at -154 W'Pfit 461 h Street, New York 3 9* N. Y.,. Variety, lac. Annual sub«(,'.i-iutu>rV,, Sinslfli cOi>jps,' £5 cetits.. , Wiit'(i|'eU as' securi^-cluy^i ipalier December 2M, . lUOf^, at; the , X-^pst Oitioe fit New ' York, is', Y-.r ufider : tlji^; act ■ olE Marcli . 3; "1871*. COl^YiatlHT, 1»4«, BY VAKiETV, IXC. ALL KldUTS KESKKVED. VOL. 164 No. 2 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1946 PRICE 25 CENTS 'TALK BACK TO DR AMA CRITICS' Coimn'l Television Moves West As Marshall Field, FordM,llii Shovrs N. Y. Hotels Agree to Fdlow Niteries And Pay AFM Musicians 20% More New York Hotel Owners Assn. and N. Y. Local 802 ol the American Jf'cderation of Musicians got together •yestei'day (Tuesday) in Mayor O'Dwyer's office and settled their sal- ary differences, after hizzoner called ary differences, after Hizzoner called liotol men agreed to give the same 20 "i. boost previously okayed by the cafe operators. Prior to the meet- ing, at which the two factions shook ' hands, howevcir, it looked for a time like' the playing of music, by name - bands or ordinary elub-jobbers. would become a lost art in N. Ti. hostelries. ■ Deal the cafe men agreed to and which the hotel men will now go along with, calls for, in addition to the 20% hike, time and a halt fori overtime, extra f6r occupying a bandstand more than one hour al a time, ,$5 extra for New Year's Eve and a nine-hour working day. Before agreeuig to the above ' points, the hotel men to.ssed a healtliy scare into bandleaders, . agents, music publishers and the , club-,iobbers, who, incidentall.v, were (Continued on page 44» Goodman's Vodka Jive Benny Goodman is eyeing a pro- fessional trip to the Soviet. Maestro may take a trio of musiciahs with' him to that country some time next spring for jazz concerts. And he himself, if plans work out, would do longhair solos with the Moscow Symphony. Goodman's name ig quite big in that country. * I Wait Tniittait O.K. On Showbiz White House Meet to K.O. Lynching Washington, Sept. 17. It President Truman says yes, the White House will become the stage- screen-radio capital of the U. S. A. for a while ne.s;t Monday (23). Mr. Truman got a telegram today, signed by 8B names', asking for a confer- ence Monday to discuss witli him steps to end lynchings. . Signers of the wire, who asserted they'll go to the "White House if the President would see them, included Orson Welles, Quentin Reynolds, Larry Adler, John Garfleid. Paul Robeson. Oscar Hammerstein II. Gene Kelly, Alan Ladd. Canada Lee; Joe Louis. Burgess Meredith. Grc^ goi-y Peck, Edward G, Robinson. Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra. Frank- lin P. Adams and,Prof. Albert Ein- Miami Bistros Move To End Gyp-'Em Graft By Waiters, as Last Year Miami Beach, Sept. 17. ! ' Miami and Miami Beach operators '■ are determined that they'll not be working tor the waiters tliis coming season. Last year in some spots, sit- uation was such that virtually no- I body could get, into the joints with- out shelling'out. In one case, the headwaiter didn't or wouldn't recognize a partner who, rather than make a scene at the front door, slipped the attendant a sawbucki The managements were up against it for fear of waiters' mass walkouts in midst of a short, 10-week season so stood the gaif despite the public's screaming. This season most ops are reported ready to institute a system inaugu- rated by the Copacabana manage- ment toward the end of the season, System calls for telephone reser- vations to be handled, from a phone (Continued on page 53) N. Y. BIZ HELD UP IN FACE OF STRIKES Despite picket lines in front ol, .■leading hotels ,by the American Fed- i ^ration of Musicians and the truck- \ ,ing strike—both of which ended on Tuesday -night (l7)-Tvisitors kept pouring into New York at an undi-] minished pace. Hotel space situation ' 'in the itiidtown area has tightened once again after the summer lull. ! It wat. feared originally that visi- i tor and buyer influx into :tho city! Would be cut off by the stoppajics, j but most inns didn't feel any efl'ects j .and are full-up until Oct. 1. Buyers ■ l^ept coming in aver the past two weeks since mdst arc stocking up for the winter season and anticipat- pd that the situation would ease off m time for deliveries. Theatre and .cafe business picked Consideraljly as result. Selzniclt Talking Contract to Garbo Grefa Garbo is being, sought by David O. Selznick as an addition to the list of players, un'der. contract, to him. Producer has spent the past several days of liis stay in New York in endeavoring to make a deal with •the- Swedislr star. 'They have had several confabs: but there has b.een, ho indication yet as to,wh,ether, she will sign with him.— ,, Selznick was slated to return to the Coast last night :(Tuesday) or today. He's been east about 10 days seeing his two sons, .iettrey and Daniel, prior to their entering school in .C^onoecticut this montli. Boys iiave been living in Connecticut with their mother, Irene. Solzniclt had them down to Atlantic City last, week.' ' ,, Paul MacNamara, producer's pub- licity topper, r,cturns to tiie Coast at the end of this week, following hud- dles with Sid Alexander, eastern pub-ad head,, on the "Duel in the Sun'' campaign. They made their first appointment last week, to a new field force, planned to consist pf four to five men, to plug the film. Initial appointee is Ted Tod. who Will headquarter in Chicago, Tod comes to Selznick from Warner Bros., for which he was Wa.?liinBton mid then midwest pub-nri rep^,, • Riiolo mmi The long-suftcrmg Broadway legit producer, not to mention the play- wrights, who have been taking it on the chin from the drama critics without an opportunity to hit back, will get their innings this season via a riew radio show iii which they'll slug it out weekly with the news- paper-magazine crix. • 'The periodic .critics vs. producers- playwrights flareup hit a crescendo last season, with the crix getting all the play and the managerial end having recourse' to no other outlet except to vox-pop his defense in the dailies' "letters to the editor" col- umn. With legit producers Still smarting under last season's mul- tiple blows, the new air show has a timely element that's attracting wide show biz interest. , Tabbed "Broadway Talks Back," the new show will debut on WOR (N. Y.) early in October. It's been packaged by Gertrude Berg and (Continued on page 52j Radio Lag Held Key to Drop In Sale of Music Mu.sic men who have long been convinced of the importance of recordings as against radio, as the medium for the exploitation of songs, are not so certain anymore that one has. more power tlian the other in the overall picture. Their uncertainty is caused b.v (1) the slump: in sheet sales,' Which Started last'-spring and became moi'c pro- nounced during the summer while tlie Hooper ratings on radio shows hit the lowest ever, and (2» the no- ticeable increase in sheet sales co- incidental with, the start of the, fall rciLirn to the-au' by. important pro- grams. \ : :■';,..-,'■:■;;' Those incidents, which many pub- (Continued on page 53) GOP Nominates Lodge Hartford, Sept. 17. John Davis Lodge,,'former stage and screen actor o( Westport, has been named by the Republican. Party of Connecticut for the seat repre- sented the last two terms by Repre- sentative Claire Boothe Luce, who is retiring from polifics. A grand.son of the late Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachu- setts and a brother oC former Sen- ator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., Lodge will run for office from the fourth district. 'Okkihoma!' Cracks All Records, Does $113,000 In Week at Des Moines "Oklahoma!" broke all records for a legit show by grossing $113,000 last week in Des Moines at the 4,300-seat KRNT theatre (radio), formerly a Shrine edifice. Figure is much more than originally estimated. The The- atre Guild's approximate profit on the date was around $45,000 out of the attraction's 70% share of the takings. So heavy was the demand for tickets that Mrs. Georgia Clark, (Continued on page 55) + Television's steady expan.sion into a top-coin advertising medium spread westward from New York to Chicago this week as Mai'shall Field 3d announced his decision to bank- roll the "Don McNeill Dinner Club", and Ford Motors stepped in to spon.sor all home football games of Northwestern University. All tele- casts under both companies' aegis will be carried over WBKB, Bala baa & Katz tele outlet in Chi. Announcement of the new banks- rollers, coupled with the disclosure this week that RCA-Victor is all set to swing into full production on its 1946 line of television receivers ($300 to $2,000 appr6ximatc cost>, points up the optimistic predictions of tele's chief proponents that video will project itself as one of the na^ ; tion's top forms of entertainment in the next 12 months.: Old question of whether sponsors would decide to take a fling at video plugging before enough sets hit tni; market to make the expenditures pay off in product sales seem.'-- .to have been licked simultaneously, (Continued on page 52);: : Rank's Bid to Lease Brit. Coaxials Cues Video Shows Into His Theatres London, Sept. 17. With both eyes fixed on early wholesale installation of full-screen Bogart's New 15-Year Pact With WB Sets Precedent television in a nunsber of top deluxe houses in the Gaumont-Brittsh, ard Odoon circuits, J. Arthur Rank terests are currently inaking a strong bid, for thousands of, miljes of goyi; Hollywood, Sept. 17. Humphrey Bogart may soon ink the longest straight acting contract in history of the film ,industr.y by sign- ing a 15-year 'pact with Warners. Sam Jaffe re^^ealed , terms of the deal which calls for Bogart to make two films annually in the succeed- ing 14 years. Aetor is allowed to ernmont-owned coaxial cable stUl criss-crossing England, the rcmni-'nts of the elaborate. British < system uE air-raid defense. Since the Govern- ment, mindful of things that might make one film annually away from come, intends to preserve ownoi'sI. LIQUOR INDUSTRY SEEKS GEN. IKE AT lOOG YEAR Fprraer Secretary. of State- Ed Ward Stettinius. Generals Douglas Mac- Arthur, George C. Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower are reliably reported as having been contacted I by the American liquor industry for., its czar under its. new operation. IVlacArthur arid ivlarshall have fro- j quently boon reported considering ' retirement from the Army, as has ' Eisenhower. The job^ would pay up [ to $100,000, annually. ' , ., | The liquor industry recently com- i bined its two public relations fac-j tiorts into the Licensed Bever;,i''c Industries. Inc., and plans an even | greater policing of its own rogula- j tion code to balk periodic dry I ':'nisades. : [ lot either on participation basis , or flat fee. : Amoirnt of-coin was not disclosed but'it's understood that Bogart would collect a flat $200,000 from Warners per film in addition to getting ap» proval rights on director and screen'- piay. Bogart has been set to co-star with wife, Lauren Bacall, in "Dark Passage." Other films on his' slate include "Winter Kill,""Treasure of Sierra Madre" and "Mr. Broadway." Mickey Rooney's 20G & % Mickey Rooney 'nas been set for a six week tour at the now standard price for top rate film stars of $20,000 weekly guarantee against 50<;^ of the, gross. Out of this sum, Rooney will shell out for surrbund- ing talent, which is still\to be set by: the William .Morris agency. : Rooney is slated to start at the RKO theatre, Boston, Oct. 24, and will continue with the E-arle, Phila- delphia. Nov. 1; Oriental, Chicago, Nov. .14; Downtown. Detroit, Nov. 21; Albeo, Cincinnati. Nov. 28, and Palace, Cleveland, Dee. 5. Rooney's last theatre engagement was at Locw's Sla'.'o, N. Y.. in 1940. in the coax network. Rank interc.-^ts are seeking to lease the system, -for.- (Continued on page 55) ROSS NIXES $1,500 FOR ADDICT GUESTER Ex-boxing champ Barney Ross, who last week voluntarily ■ surren- dered to the Government as a nar- cotic addict, turned down $1,500 for. a guest shot on the air becaLise, he ; didn't want to give his case undig-* nified ballyhoo. Ross surrendered formally yester- day (17), leaving for a cure. Durin? the preceding weekend, be was at Grossinger's, upstate New York re- sort, where he rested a few' d;iy.s. A rep of CBS' "We, The People" Slui- day night airer contacted him. end offered him $1,500 to go on the show for a brief spot, The show's pro- ducers were so sure Ross would say yes, they had already arranged for a line-feed to pick up the spot direct from Grossinger's. But Ross nixed the deal. ' . • '