Variety (Nov 1946)

MISCELLANY W<Hlnc8<lay, November 6, 1946 Henty of H wood and West End Glamor Keynote Film and Pix Command Shows London, Nov. 5. i British show biz, abetted by en-1 tei'tainment luminaries from Amer- I lea, went all out this week in staging two precedent-shattering Royal Command nerformances in the cin^ ema and variety field. On Friday night U), 19,000 Londoners mobbed the streets outside the Empire thea- tre in Leicester Square as the King «nd Queen attended the world pre- miere o.E the British film, "A Mattel* of Life and Death." Three days later, on Monday night (i) the Royal fam- ily appeared at the Command variety show at the Palladium. While in contrast to the cinematic performance, the variety show on Mohday ,proved, to be only a niild affair, both outside and inside the theatre,. both shows were smash financial successes in benefit to the Cinematograph Trade Benevolent Fund and the Variety Actors B\md. The cinema show alone netted $120,- 000 plus $32,000 from sale of adver- tisements and progranis to make it the biggest arriounl ever raised ; in a theatre for charity. ; • Friday night's show was marked by injuries to over 100 people as the jMoh, got out of hand ouEside. the lobby With police powerless to cope with; the situation and the show starting 30 minutes late as "a r^esult. The melee took place in a street that was lighted up as brilliantly as any Hollywood or New York pre- •■■ miere. • . American film stars who were preSeht iiiciuded Joan Bennett, Kay . Milland, Pat O'Brien, Reginald JiJardner, Maria Montez, Jean . .Aumont, William Eythe, Kim Hun- ter, Dorothy Maline, Bessie Love, Katina Paxinou (last minute replace- ment for ' Luise . Rainer). Walter Wangei* represented th^ Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Hollywood. Anthony Kimmins introduced the British stars comprising Stewart Grainger, Margaret Lockwood, Mi- chael Redgrave (whom Joan Bennett announced earlier as going to Holly- wood to co-star with her in a picture early next year), Valerie Hobson, Eric Portman, Diana Wynyard, Marius Goring, Sally Gray, Anton Walbrook, Patricia Roc, John Mills, Jean Kent, Bud Flanagan, Sid Field, Anna Neagle, Will Hay, Ralph Richardson, Rosamund John, De-» borah Kerr, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and Naunton Wayne. Yank Stars Do Their Stutt British stars, with the exception of Miss Wynyard who gave an ex- cerpt from 'Cavalcade" in which she starred, walked across the stage bowuTg. The American stars didn't pick up the suggestion and insisted upon saying something or giving a short act. Americans receiving the best reception were Milland, Gard- ner and O'Brien with top British scorers being Field, Mills and Flana gan. The Michael Powell-Emeric Press burger: film, which will be filmed in the U. S. under title of "Stairway to Heaven," was well received but will prove controversial. Besides the main feature, bits of "Broadway Melody," starring Bessie Love, were shown along with scenes from Charlie Chaplin comedies and Al JoLson's "The Singing Fool." The British and American stars and their husbands and wives were pre.sented to their Majesties along with Powell, Pressburger, and Nor- man Siegel, Par studio flack from Hollywood who piloted the Yank stars: ' ■ Performances at the variety .show 'on Monday, night were topped by Sid Field and company in the bil- liard scene from Val Parnell's "Pic- cadilly Hayride" production at His , Majes^^^ and Arthur Askey, star of Jack Hylton's "Follow the GirLs" production at the Prince of Wales theatre. Both shows closed, for the night to let their co.medians appear at the Command Perform- ance. Other acts that registered strongly included Caii'oiiK, the Three Sailors, the Three Ross Sifiters, and Gill Johnson. Big scenes from the Pal- . ladium show, "Hightime," proved to be among the evening's standout performances while Robert La- mouret and Terry Thditias .from "Piccadilly Hayride" were di.sap- pointing. Show as a whole was also ■ disappointing,, with laughs only sparsely scattered throughout. •The King and ■ Queen, together with, Princesses Elizabeth and Mar- garet, received J. Arthur. Rank, . prince Littler, Mark Ostrer, Parnell and Han-y Marlow, the topflight {Continued on page 60) Sports Shorts For the next three succeed- ing Sunday afternoons the Yan- kee pro football team will play AH-American Conference elev- ens at the Stadium in opposition to -Giants and other National League teams at the Polo Grounds. Although it's the first season for the Yankees, tickets .scaled at $!5 (boxes) top are higher priced than for the firm- ly established Giants, rate being $4 for some boxes, with all other locations in the ball park priced at $3 and $2. According, to the advance sale attendance for the ,, Conference contests .^Will. ■ ,be' ■ away oft compated to .tltP; Open-..; ing games. Demand for Army > Notre Dame tickets is i .iprecedented and very few pasteboards have reached the agencies. What few tickets there are for the game at the Polo; .Grounds Saturday (9) were quoted at $60 and $70 withoiit stipulation as to ' loca-' tion, Bids from fans Who don't care what they pay are expected to: go miich higher during the week. Brokers have been offered tickets, at ..$50 .each from indi- viduals' who .obtained, them from the athletic associations, of the .respective schools but few .such transactions .are .knoWri';'t£) /have ' been made. Hockey got oil to a capacity ; start at Madison Square Gar- . den last :midweek but Saturday, ' (2) night's game'was not heavily in demand and some agencies \yere .stuck with; ^ticktitSv New 'i'brk's Ranger team appears to be much better than last sea- son's tailender, but regardless of its status the Garden cleaned up. . Time was when colored heavyr weight fighters couldn't draw peanut money but the Garden figures to sell out Friday (15) next week when Jersey Joe ; WoUcott and Elmer (Violent) Ray mix it up. Recently Gene Tunney was quoted saying that it Ray would meet Joe Louis at this time, Ifle'd knock the champ oijt. The- Football Dodgers now have their own theme song, published by .Leeds Music, and written by Bennie Benjamin and George Weiss. ■ Following their viewing of the Giants-Bears game Sunday (27) t the Army football team evident- ly took a page out of the quar^ terbaeking book ot the pros'. It's reported that during the pro game, when Earl Blaik asked Arnold Tucker what he'd do in like situation after Sid Luclc- man had passed from deep in his own territory, Tucker replied, "Kick." Blaik approved. Satur- day against West Virginia, while protecting a 7-0 lead, Tucker took the ball on his own 2-yard line and flipped a forward for a 30-yard gain. But Blaik was in Baltimore. Guy Lombardo is installing a 1,700 horsepower Allison, engine in his Tempo VI prior to an at- tempt at Gar Wood's speed rec- ord for the mile straightaway; 124.86 m.p.h. He'll take his crack in Miami Beach. . Lom- bardo has been conferring with N. Y. Park Commissioner Robert L, Moses on a site for next year's International Gold, Cup IRaces wnich Lombardo, as defending champ, has the right to choose; Current parleys centre aroUnd .lacob Riis Park, where there are accommodations, for 14,000 cars and half a million spectators. The Hudson River was vetoed because of choppy waters, but Lombardo definitely wants ■ to bring the race to N. Y. C. 229th WEEKI KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF 1946" El Capltan Theatre, Hollywood, Cat. 'Ken MuiTay'.M 'Blackouts' is a knockout! The more 1 see of other .shows the better I Itke it." HUGH HERBERT. FOOTBALL- Army Even Choice fo Defeat kish; Penn 8-5 Over Lions •By Harry Wismer RUBINSTEIN RECORDS SCHUMANN FOR METRO Artur Hublnstelri, who played the background music for the Frank Borzage film "I've Always Loved You". (Rep), recently finished re- cording some music on the Metro lot before his visit east for concert com- ihitments,'. Music. is based: on, ah : as yet untitled script concerning the life of the composer Robert Schu- mann. Clarence Brown is, listed as pro-, ducer-dixector, with neither east nor other production plans set. Romance between Robert and Clara Schumann (latter a famed pianist in her own right), and legal steps taken by her father to- bar the union, form one of the great all-time love-stories of music-history, so that the script has aroused unusual interest. Katharine' Hepburn has been mentioned for the femme lead. Rubinstein recorded 13 selections in all, from works of Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, latter two composers having figured prom- inently in Schumann's life. Borzage film, incidentally, al- though not well received critically, has been doing good business out- side of New York. (Director 0/ Sporfj and Commentator for ABC Networky" COLLEGE GAMES WINNERS ODBS Army-Notre Dame Army Even Georgetown-Boston College ". Boston College ...9.5 Penn-Columbia ....Penn .... ..8-5 Harvard-Dartmouth ,■... ...Harvard .. ... ,. 6-5 Colgate-Holy Cross . ......,,.. ... Holy Cross .... 5.7 Wake Forest-Duke ....... . ...... . ..:.,......... .Duke ...,........ ' 5.9 Clemson-Tulane .. i..,.............. . ,.Tulane . [ 8-5 So. Car.'Maryland ■................ ;■. ........... So. Car ;.....7.5 No. Car.-Wm. arid Mary No. Car 8-5 Alabama-L. S, U. ..., Alabama Even Georgia Tech-Navy Georgia Tech 12-5 Ohio State-Pitt Ohio State 4-i Northwestern-Indiana ...........,......... Northwestern ... ,, 2-1 Purdue-Minnesota v.:. . i ....................... ..Purdue . ,r. ....... 7.5 Iowa-Wisconsin .ij... ^.......... Iowa ..... .. 6-5 SMU-Texas A&M SMU Even Lafayette-Rutgers Rutgers 13.5 No. Car. State-Vandcrbilt , . ... .. ....,. No. Car; State..... . 6-5 Rice-Arkansas ..Rice ......... . 2-1 use-California USC 2-1 UCLA-Oregon UCLA 4-1 Stanford-Wa.shington . . ..Stanford .,........,. 7-5 Michigan-Mich:State ;....;/...;', „., ..,.lVIichi|ah . .;\,:3-l■ Kentucky-Marquette .. , ..Kentucky 12-5 Y.iJe-Brown Yale .. 12-5 Tulsa-Okla A&M ...:..... ... .. .. ,.., ,: . Tulsa .... ....... 8-5 Okla -Kansas Okla 2-1 Cornell-Syracuse ... .............. . . . Cornell ,..,... .i. .,13-5 Ponn Stale-Temple Penn State ■.. 3-1 West Va.-Fordham V.. i.^. ;.,.. . .': v.m .■;'. ." V.,. W. Va, .'.. .::'; ^ .,.,I.3-5- Miss. State-Auburn.,.:, i^;.;,... , : '. ;>.;.C;',, v.:, :.Miss. Statt; ; . . 2-f' Georgia-Florida .1 ■.,. ..-,.....;....... . .. Georgia ... ......... 5-1 Miss.-Tenn. ..,........,.,.........,... Tenni 8-5 Texas-Baylor ..... . ..Texas - : 3-1 Reynolds* $12,000 Outline Cools Zanuck's Added 50G Deal between Darryl Zanuck and Quentin Reynolds for the scripting of the story of Wildcat Enterprises has apparently cooled, following -Reynolds' submission of a $12,000 outline. Proposed pact called for an additional $50,000 for the completed scenario. Reported that Zanuck thought the story of the ex-Navyites who couldn't lose money was given too zany a treatment for good b.o. fllmi- zation. Louis deRochemont, who was to dire.ct, has come east to con- fer with Reynolds over salvaging of the .script. Title originally sub- mitted is "It's Only Money." PROFESSIONAL NATIONAL LEAGUE GAMES -WINNERS Boston Yanks-Wash. Redskins Redskins .. Chi Bears-L. A. Rams . Rams ..... Green Bay-Chl Cards ,-. .v.................... Cards ,... Philly Eagles-N. Y.. Giants .., '.....:..........,. . Giants .... Pitt Steelers-Detroit , Steelers .. ODDS ... 2-1 . .. 6-5 ... 6-5 ...5-8 ... 9-5 Nurnberg Pix for Reich Berlin, Get. 21. the Four-Power Information Committee of the Politicar Direc-. tprate. one of the sparkplugs of mili- tary government, agreed this week on the production of dbctimehtary filrfr on the Nurnberg tibials and has directed that the job be completed by'.Jan. 1, 1947.1 ' Latest issue of "Welt im Film" (World in Film) was devoted in toto to the trials, and is currently being .shown at all German film houses in the four zones. Vodka Diva for U.S. Kyra Petrovskaya, youthful Rus- sian actress and coloratura soprano, reputedly the • first Russe artiste to come to the U. S, since the war, ha.s' been . pacted to ■ an exclusive rhanagement contract by the . William Morris agency. Deal calls for repre- .sentation in all branches Of the theatre, also films and radio. Agency is angling to set her in a forthcom- ing Broadway legit, with nothing definite on that deal as, yet. In addition to her native tongue, she also speaks French and English. Her last stage appearance was with the Moscow Satire Theatre Co. at the outbreak of the war, after wliich she became a nurse. She married an American Red Cro.ss worker, Elliott Shirk, with Whom she , came to tlie U. S. PAMPAS PIAYWRIGHT IN U.S. . Samuel EibheJbaum, Argentine playwright, has arrived in the U.S. With six plays which are making the rounds of major niotion picture com- panies. Some interest has been shown by .story departments in the only one ,which .is in English, "Bird of Clay." It wa-S translated by Theo- dore Apstein. Most of the plays have had, pro- ductions in Buenos Aires. ALL-AMERICAN CONFERENCE GAMES WINNERS OBDS Buffalo Bisons-Brooklyn Dodgers ,.. . . Dodgers ,.. ..... 6-5 Cleveland Browns-San Fran, i,...,............ Browns ,.,.....,. T-9 L. A. Dons-N. Y. Yankees ....... r............... Yankees .......... 7-9 Chi Rockets-Miami Seahawks (Mon. nite) ..... Rockets 2-1 Record /or the Seaso7i: Won. 148; Lost, 62; Ties, 13; Pet., .705. . - . (fie« don't count) THE SUN DlAl % h. l Phuups : Those Noel Coward Openings My dears, you simply must see Noel Coward's new play/ "The Playboy of the Worldly West.";..No, that's not it....Let me see....Oh, yes, it's "The Webb Mill," I think, We went to the opening and got away unhurt, too. Lucky us! You know what a Coward play is, my dears.:. Something like an O'Neil play as "an event.". . .Only an O'Neill play begins in the middle of the day and ends at night, while a Coward opus begins in the middle of the night and ends on signal from the Stork Club, know what I mean?.. . During an O'Neill play the audience goes out to dinner. At a Noel Coward play the audience acts as if it had never left dinner., vl just wouldn't miss a Coward opening.,. .Such uncertainty and suspense!,,, You think the cast hassn't .shown up or Noel Coward hasn't fini.shed the third act or there's been an injunction or something, but the curtain really rises ultimately and from that time on you have to be content with only 50% of the attention. " : What a workout in exhibitionism!.: . And this one was superb.. It was impossible to tell where the audience stopped acting and the actors began. .. .It calls for a narrator or something.. . .My dears, it was a society rddeo. ... I've never seen anything so rough, except in those Hollywood and Detroit strikes Exquisite, really! . AU the girls who sound so good in. sable w-ere there., .and the, darlings who come through clearly in chinchilla. .. And, ah, yes, the dowagers who do everything but stand on the-chairs and call for a long cheer for Mead- owbrook!. , .! don't think I ever saw so many people confuse a first night show with intermission at a prohibition era Yale-HarVard football game. .. .You know that woman who won't even go to a funeral unless she can make a late entrance and hear demands for an autograph?. .,Yes, she was on deck, in Technicolor.... . ; .' "''V? ;■■'■ .'.'l'"- .■".''"■■*': ..*•■"■*;:'' ■'V'':.'''f "'.''■' '';•',','' Lady Whipplewhite and the Countess, of Chives were there:. . :I couldn't tell whether they were trying to bid on ati old master by long distance, greet .somebody in Cos Cob or just run around and ring doorbell.^.,; And they had their boy friends, the ones who are out for the "Ai.sle Clogging Stakes of 1946" and the "Lobby Blocker: of the Month Award," tome hell or high water. Such funi * : *'"^f„ ,* ■■' .,'v L ' Oh, the play! What was it about? Let me think! Ah, yes, one of tliose "sex life among the roaches" affairs, done so cynically!... You know hoW Noel is... A sort of pumping station for clever remarks....This time he was out of ethyl ■■»•■■*■». It will run for month.?, even if it i.'n't a revival... .Excuse me, now my dears, while I get an X-ray. . I thinlc my leg was broken by a couple « Park avenue debs....I do hope so. ..You must see it., the play, '"^ leg!.,.Don't forget the name. ."The Noel Man Slippeth.". .Cheerio. (Repridfed from N. Y. Sun)