Variety (Sep 1946)

RADIO MUSIC Pulylisliod Weekly at 154 West 46th Street, New Tork 19, N, y.. by Variety, Inc. Annual BubscriptioJit ..tlO. Sinele CQPies, 25 csnt-i. liiUered a» ;secona-claa» matter Decaitiber 22, 1S06, at (he Post Ofltics at New Yprk, K; Y;, tm'c)or tils act, oJ Marcli, il,: IS;9;, COFYRrcillT, m«, BY VABIF/JTT, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. VOL. 164 No. 3 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1946 PRICE 25 CENTS HOLLYWOOD'S 3 3 TOP HITS Recorded Broadcasts Better Than Radio, Insures Perfection-Jolson Intra-trade buzz-buzz on "The Jolson Story" has radio sponsors in- terested anew in Al Jolsou ior a fall series but he, like Crosby, is com- mitted to the recorded show idea-. "R-ecorded- ■ programs are better than radio," the veteran showman points out. "as witness the sound- mixing in 'The Jolson Story' and the records I made for Decca. It's the ultimate in programming, both thi'ough a leisurely interspliding 6f the best elements: of your pro'gram' and from the refinements whicli 're- corded programs ' make' possible sciontiflcally, •' ' "Crosby comes to the mike once every Thursday and however he does it it lays there, good, fair or sensational. But recorded, 'every- thing can be sensational. ." "That's my attitude on any radio series' I might do. If the jokes lay dead' we can cut out that portion of static audience reaction," continues Jolson, "and b> Just punching up the weak spots here and there it's a cinch to have a sensational program week after week. "And the nicest part is that no- body knows the difference, or cares, for that matter, if it's a live or re- corded program. Do you or I know the difference unless the announcer tells you it's fby transcfiption'?" His album of Jolsoti. standards is selling big both in the U. S. and England. Black Market Paris Niteries Prove There's No Middle Class Left Paris, Sept. 24. There's no more" middle class in Pans, and nitery biz demonstrates it 'Wore than anything else. 'While the Class spots are enjoying a boom to (Continued on page 62) Troupes See St. Loo Snag On Housing If Cards Win Bands, among other traveling troupes that are booked into St. Louis during-the first week and a half of October, 'have their fingers crossed against the .Cards winning the National League baseball pen- nant. They see themselves sleeping on park benches in the event the World Series comes to that town. Hal Mclntyro's orch, for instance, whicli opens at the Tune-Town Ball- room, St. Louis, Oct. 5, is already -making unusual plans to sleep its ,W|en if the Cards finish on top. .*hey.'ii stretch out on cots in the .ballroom itself. Ten Commandments Set as Semi-Pop Tune Bennce Russell has set the Ten J-ommahdments to music as a semi- •POp song, with his own tune to a Revised Bible text, plits a pop verse 'Of ilie intro. Bciurne is publishing.' Jolson Hot Three-way»bid for Al Jolson's return to I'adio is" expected to cue the singer-comedian's early decision' to wrap up a sponsor- ship deal "for the 1946-47 broad- casting season. Schenley, whicli sponsors the Cresta Blanca nighttime show, is anxious to ink Jolson to a contract; so is Milton Blow on behalf of his Philip Morris ac- count."; But Jiottest deal at the moment is Kraft Music Hall, with strong possibility that Jol- son may step into the spot held down by Bing Crosby before latter decided he'd rather tran- scribe his shows for Philco. Postwar Debs Boom Band Biz Coming-out parties and social events of the forthcoming season promise to be the most lavish display of pomp and ostentation in the mem- ory of Meyer Davis' 30-odd years experience in catering to the musi- cal desires of the drawing room set. Impresario attributes society's splurge of elegance partly to a nat- ural reaction to. .war's curtailed fripperies plus .debuts of a number of girls from America's best, families which occur this year through mere coincidence. Fashionable world added heavy coin to its coffers in the inflation- ary war years and now, that the bars are down, each socialite will seek to make his particular function as Opulent as possible. Cost of music alone for the average affair, accord- ing to Davis, runs to $5,000. When drinks, refreshments, costs of hall, other factors are tallied up often the present-day nut totals around $25,- 000 and upwards. Biggest debbie party of the season Will be that ol the daughter of the Peter A. B. 'Wideners of Philadel- phia, ■whose reception will be held at Philly's Hotel Bellevue-Stratford with Davis conducting an orchestra of 75 men. Debut of Abby Rocke- (Continucd on page 62) . ^By HERB GOLDEN Challenge of increasing produc- tion costs is being met by Hollywood in the b.o. power of the films it is turning out. While the totals on the expense sheets are soaring, coin- garnermg potentialities of the films they represent are keeping pace. That's disclosed by the list of the world's alltime top grossers, com- piled by Vabiety and published herewith. It shows that virtually as many films hit the magical $4,000,- 000 domestic rental figure during the past year as in the entire history of the fihn industry up to that time. A significant fact revealed by the list, however, in light of the con- stantly soaring costs, is its brevity. From the time "The Great Train Robbery" was occupying nickel- odeon screentime until the present, only 33 pictures have returned—or are still in release end give promise of returning — $4,000,000 or more. Of that number, 16 have gotie into (Continued on page 5) Oklahoma Will Finally See You-Know-What Chicago, Sept. 24. "Oklahoma!" will spend a week in Oklahoma City starting Nov. 25, cut- ting a week off its 10-wcek stay here to keep the date in the state it wa.s named ai^ter. This'U be its first visit there, .strangely enough. A Tul.ia date is al.so set for the .spring. State's governor, Robert Kerr, has been yelling at tlie Theatre Guild for three-and-a-half years, since its most valuable property opened on Broadway, to bring the musical out that-a-way. ' . Fred CNo Drudge') Allen Again Planning to Flee Radio; Wants B'way Show Minneapolis, Sept. 24. Here as toastmastcr at the North- west Variety Club's hospital dinner, Fred Allen announced his plans to escape from the "drudgery" of radio after the expiration of his present 39-week contract in order to have some fun again by appearing in a Broadway show and writing a hu- morous book about his early vaude- ville days. Allen says he'll about have had his fill of radio when he completes the contract. It's too nerve-wrack- ing and too hard on one's system and there's too much grief attached, he avers. In radio, he points out, "90% capitalize on the talents and efforts of 10% and it gets your goat. (Continued on page 62) Jr. Musso's Jive? ' Publicity on Romano Musso- lini, lS.-year-old son of the ill- fated Duce, playing with an Italian dance band, has at least two U. S. talent agencies inter- ested in bringing the combo over as a freak attraction. Romano plays the accordion with a tavern combo on the isle of Ischie (near Naples), to which his mother, Raehelle Mussolini, and her family have been exiled. Skolsky Bewails B way Fadeout Sidney Skolsky, Broadwayite- gone-Hollywood, is back in New York after 41/2 years and sadly ob- serves that "the Broadway Assn. should really make on honest-to- gosh effort to save the street before it's-too- late. It's worse than-Coney- Island. In fact, it used to be like Coney, but now it's so bad I wish it were at least back to Coney Island standards. I'm just flabbergasted that the Broadway Assn. has blinded itself to so much and doesn't force its membei's: to do something about it," he adds. "Sure Broadway is a stale of mind, as you say, and it has moved to the East Side, but there is some show business left. However, they have done nothing to make it ap- appealing," the columnist complains. "The legit theatres are particularly appalling. The whole street is like a second class carnival midway, which is why I wish it were back to topgrade Coney Island standards." Skolsky, producer of "The Jolson Story," which opens at Radio City Music Hall following- the incumbent "Notorious," is east for the American Veterans "Committee ' dinner being tendered Al Jolson. v By BOB STAHL Television's chief proponents, with eacii new event covered by the medium in good style, have alwaj-s come up with the timeworn expres- sion that video has finally reached -maturity and is all set now to go full-speed ahead. It's doubtful whether these optimists will think of anything new to say. but they certainly received a solid founda- tion on which to base their op- timism with WNBT's airing last Sunday (22) night of "Mr. Mer- genthwirker's Lobblies," first play in the new "Broadway Preview" project sponsored jointly by NBC and the Dramatists'.Guild. Plan—and it's a good one—is for NBC to invite leading producers to watch the preem. performances on video and thereby see new plays in flni-shed form. Producers in this way, it's believed,' can visualize whether the shows have any value for them. Several top producers were present at the teeoff perform- ance, along with talent and story reps of Columbia) Warners and Universal. Whether any of them ■ (Continued on page 44) . Met Diva's Concert Tour Via Plane Piloted By Her Husband-Pianist utilizing a Government surplus North American AT-6 for transpor- tation, Mona Paulee, mezzo-soprano of the Met, and. her husband-accom- panist, Capt. Dean Holt, who'll pilot, will shortly take off on an extended concert tour of the U. S, and Can- ada. Junket tees off Sept. 30 with initial performance in Toronto and winds up some time next May. Winner of a Met contract in 1943 when she came through as a finalist in the Auditions of the Air', Miiss Paulee met Holt in a San Francisco nitery where he was leading the band and she was a warbler. . Dur- ing the war he served with the Air Transport Command and is .still oit.- terminal leave. ■