Variety (Nov 1946)

Wednesday, November 6, 1946 P^RIETY VA1JDEVILLR A. C. Showmen Wary of New Tax Atlantic City, N. J., Nov. 5. Amusement people here are await- ing announcement tomorrow of plans for a new tax which will re- place the resort's so called ''Iitxiiry, lax" declared unconstitutional by. the Slate Supreme Court. . ~ " ■ IVlayor Joseph Altman: said he ' \vou1d announce plans for the liew I tax over-the two radio outlets here, ' Stations WFPG and WBAB ton igh)., There has been no indication of what form the tax is to take beyond the statement from Altman that it will hit the visitor more than the resident here, , : , , , ; There is no doubt in the minds of ; mdst . amusement, people . here. th!)t ' their busine.^ses will be effected. In fadt it is freely predicted that hotel, nilery : and pier operatctr.s ;.wlli be called Upon to bear .mos.t (if .the bui;- den. SALLY RATIONS FANS, COPS RATION SALLY Los Angeles, Nov. f>. Shortage- o£ fans resulted. in the arrest of Sally Rand on the stage of the Million Dollar theatre, where she was erigaiged ; in" the art of terp. .sichore.. Vice Squad detectives de- clared they saw too much Sally and not enough fans. Charged with putting on an inde- cent show, the dancer Was released in .$500 bail.. Mrs. Waterfall in Hosp; Just Got New Partner Maude . Clark Davis (Mrs. Waterr fall), partner of the late Nan Rae & Waterfall act, is in Bellevue hos-. pital, N. Y.. following an accident Hs result of using steel wool around her house. A piece became lodged in her left index finger and amputa- tion may become nece.ssary as result ■ of infection. There are other com- plications also: As result Jay Brennan (.Savoy &), who teamed with her, following Mi.s.s Rae's death, is looking for a ' new partner, Bradford Roof, Boston, Settles With Songstress; Union Lifts Unfair Action Threatened, unfair action against the. Bradford Roofi Boston, ■^a.s lifted b.y American Guild of Variety Artists last 'week, when the: nitery settled . a-: breach of contract claim, with' Dorothy Blaine, songstre.^s. Claim, according to complaint filed at AGVA, was for $450 singer claimed due her on a date played last summer. Sohgstr.eiss had been booked into the spot on a two week contract and after playing the initial week had agreed to step out because of an incoming package show, with' understanding that she could play the additional week at a later date. When niterV did not pick up the op- tioh she' filed complaint wit^h the talent union, which ruled she w.a.s entitled to tjie week's salary. Sum was finally paid oft when- union threatened, to. cite nitery unfair. Rappaport Withdraws Suit Vs. Dick Haymes On Contract Breach Izzy Rappaport. operator of. the Hippodrome, Baltimore, .has dropped his breach of cpntract and damage suit against Dick Ha.y.mc.5i. -singer, Case was withdrawn from the N. Y. supreme court last week in order to leave way for renegotiation of an old deal that Rappaport had with Haymes. ; Suit stems from. Haymes' inability to. play out a date at this Hipp/which was paCte.d . when Haymes was'- get- ting around $350. Deal was made at tliat; figtire, but ^Rappaport ■ rei-. leased Haymes so that he could inake his nitery- .show bow at the ta Martinique, N, Y. where his click brought on film and radio contracts. Suit was filed last! year when Haymes was playing a lew vaude dales but skirted- the-Hipp. Rappa- port iS.tjbsequeritl.y filed suit.,; Intra-MCA Situation Results In Jack Bertell, Mack Davis, Others Resigning; More Changes Seen A general hou-sccleaniisg of Music. among the top. MCA personnel in Corp. of America persomiel. said to ' ^^ew York which was the capping be caused by internal conflictj has cMnia'x to an already sensitive intra- FOR SALE Full-tiie, genHine, hand-pointed, Bdlintie tarolig. Make excellent' coitume for dancer. Coll MAin 4-737i,'Apt. 301, mornlngt. 13? E. 57lh St., N. Y. C. PL. 9-7470 Shelvey Back at AGVA But Must Take Long Rest Matt Shelvey, national head; of American Guild ot Variety Artists, returned to his . post .in New York this vi'eek atter undergoing checkup at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Clinie prescribed rest and treatment for a nervous condition from which he has suffered for some tihie. Shelvey, however, elected to; re-' turn to duties until Dave Fox, his chief aide recuperate.?.; frofn ' recent operation and is well enough to re- turn to take over for him. Fox is due back this week, after which Shelvey plans planing to Hollywood to'set that territory in order before taking the ^ prescribed hiatus on Coast.- ■ •, He may be away several weeks and upon return plans to get mar chinery in motion for AGVA's initial convention slated for latter, part of next'month, .- ' ■ ■ NTG Back to Head Show At G'wich Village Inn Nils T. Granlund (NTG), whose last New York appearance was at the Midnight Suii, seven years ago, Will opeji at the Greenwich Village Inn, N.Y.i Thursday (7). He. was slated to go into the now defunct Tony Pa.<!tor's Uptown- last y^ar;. when hitch in negotiations de- veloped on calibre of girls selected. Management wanted the line brought in from the Coast: while NTG pre- ferred to pick 'em in N.Y.^ . Photogtapkers STAGE - SCREEN - RADIO ARTISTS NEW YORK STUDIO ; 154 West 57th Street DELIGHTFULLY AIR-CONOniONED PHOWE cmctE 7-3505 BOSTON STUDIO - LENOX HOTEL Phone for Appointment: Kenitiore 5-300: DICK BUCKLEY HELD ON ASSAULT RAP IN D.C. ■Washington, Nov. 5. Richard M. (Dick) Buckley, 42, nitery and vaude entertainer, spent a session in court here last week answering cTiarges by Mrs. Frances N. Half pap; employee of-the Cairo Hotel. She had Buckley up on a charge of assault to which the entertainer pleaded innocent and was held in $300 bond. She also filed suit for .$50,000 :for assault and battery, claiming that he hit and kicked her in his Cairo Hotel room during his run here with the Club Cairo nilery show. Police testified that Buck- ley's wife was putting wet to\vels on Mrs. Halfpap's lorehead when they arrived. Buckley also pleaded not guilty to a charge of illegal possession of marihuana, being releaised in $700 bail till Nov. 2]. He is under bond until Dee. 17 on the as.sault charge. Likuse Ankles 'Venus' In Row Over Stooges Billy (Rose who pijeemed his new show "Venus on the Half-Shell" Thursday i31) has been forced to do some revi.'^ing of the production. Frank Libuse was taken out of the -show day after the opening, when Al, Grossman. .Libuse's, manager, asked that Rose live up, to a eiaimed prom-, ise to supply ,cprni,(i. with :.slooge.s.. After a heated argument 'Grossman .Withdrew ■ his clients Frank Ross and Anita La Pierre who liave been in the previous Rose display, re- placed, but they're in . Only tefn- porarily. Another forthcoming change will be made 'when the Borfah Minevich Harmonica Rascals leave. Tliey've been signed for three weeks only and will have to exit because of pre- vious c'ommitin^nts. No. replacement signed yet. ; . agency situation..' From prexy Stein, resulted in notice to one agent and ^ wasserthan, Taft Schreiber and resignation of - two over the, week- ' the other - Coast., toppei*, down, the end. Another, Jack Bertell, ve^pee! attitude was that MGA's business ioifcerly • in^harge of the cafe- de. ! ^egueing;f^:,Jjollywood.;. This resulted m an idea to make each of paHment and last in legtt, resigned , mca's branches self-sustaining, earlier ia.et week. j each olTice to show its own operat- ' Affected men other than Bertell ; i"g profit. Heretofore it was set up are Mack Davis,: of tire radio de- 1,"'°!"^ °" the principle of cooperation • Snd coordination. But Stem makes partment, one Of those coming o.ver | his home In. Beverly Hills, and with from, the" CBS Artists. Bureau which I Wasserm^h,. Schreiber, et al., run- MCA bought in 1941, who resigned "'"S the operation, presumably they to go on his own, and Benny Ku-I ^''^ the : MCA prexy's. chuk, as.sistant. to Johnny Dilgan of the vaude- department, whc> left Saturday (2). Roger (iaflih, televi- sion; Jack O'Boyle, concerts, and Joe Hammel, who handled writers, were previously reported as let out, but are still with the firm. It's expected, however, that some or all of these imay exit eventually. Jack Whitte- more, of the band location sector, resigned but reconsidered and .re- mains. ' There are reports that others are oh, the way out. ideas. Incidentally Stein has beer>" on an extensive Latin American va- cation-business toui- with his wife, . (iuvrenlly in Rio de Janeiro, he has been trying to phone Bertell three day? running last week but United Nations priorities and, other protocol ' ut oft' phone calls to Latin America. Meantime Bertell made up his mind to blow, following powwow,s with Charlie Miller, MCA veepee and brotiier-in-Iaw of Stein; Sonny Werblin, head , of the N. Y. opera- tion, and Barnett, who contiiiues CO-' ordinating the band-talent setup na- Firings and resignations have been ! ll"??"^' ^. '""dentally, caused basically by the desire ot : ^'.^^^ thinking of playing down Jules ,C. Stein, MCA prexy, to make ! each unit self-sustaining ^ instead of; working cooperatively as in the past ; To insure that end. Stein, earlier | this year, transferred Larry Barnett,' formerly of this Beverly Hills office staflf, to survey the situation and take the necessary action, Barnett, with the strong backing | of the Beyhills toppers, is said to \ have cla.shed frequently with David . (Sonny) Werblin, New York office' head. Atmospheife arpiind the office j has been heavy for weeks, and chop-' pings were indicated a-.little more, than a month ago when Marty Good- ! man, of the radio department, re- signed to go on his own. | Most.important of last week's de- , partUre is, .that Of Bertell, who re- ; signed', to go: on his own. He was i one of those to cpme frbm the CBS ' Artists Bureau, where he: helped .<<et ' up the cafe dcpartineiit, which start-. ed from scratch to become big busi-j: ness; even for MCAi' From caf(>s , ahd vaude Bertell nurtured such ■ :persoHjilities as Hiidegarde, the ' Hartnriafis, Victor, Borge, Joan, Ed-' j wards,. Tito Guizar, Rosemarie, Ma-: rio & Floria, Carl Bri.sson -and Rus- sell Swann, and brought them into ' wider hori^ibns such as fllmis, radio..' and concerts. ' Advent of Larry Barnett as na- tional coordinator, of the band-and- talent business into a single entity created an intra-ofTice situation on its band busine.ss, which was the (Continued on page HG) To All AGVA Members AlMMit .vfar»i iiKo I sitciu my «\i'n money in an effort to ffH'in mi oi-kh"- iy.iifion for the bciM'fU iiiul tiro(e<'tioii iff tliu Viiriirty .%rtist<>N. 1 Imfth'il Utr ■T^'OKnilion lit the NKA n)t><>;>iiK>i ajul l«(<T tl<MnaiMl(Ml iiiid rOt;civ*;<l Ui** »m- of lli*^ union cliarfer. .All Iio|h<n t iiiniK I had. iiiivt! ht'eit riilfillcti Ih Hw .\<i\A. It Ih till liotM'Hl union trev. *vf riM'kcte^TN a!ifl trnly roiircNentiiifr ih^ VtiPiety, Artiste^ Tin im»i(> bi' K lltemtMT. T||« NUCCVHH ot A<j;VA WiiH, and. IN mainly i1n« to llie efTorlN of .MhH SliHvey. Once tiKaIn I nin NptMHl- iiiK my own money to e\'pi-(!i(!fl my U|i- lM'«4'ial.lon nf tiio fine joli ttmt tif ami IiIh hm'o ill tiie ftcld »r« iloiiiK Hn<i to tell }'ou liow tn'rrihly iinderimfil llir> iir**. Matt Sli*'lvey U a Kreftt esr^vn- (Ive and eoiild <>onintand fen lim«> the salary lie In ruceltin}; if Im! took iilN faleiilH eiNewlM're. That would hv a tpu;;<>dy for A^i\\. Th(> eyIiiiUKtInK work halt 1am1«d hfm in th« .Mayo tllnir. k ho|i6 they <-mii r^eKtortt lieahli ttiHl vif^nr. H« will iiird H ill li tH hi tngKln fof hMlependeni autonomy. iMi'n tnielc him uiu Krntprnally vonrw, GEORGIE PRICE. Hot Mustard and Gravy Hollywood. Nov. 5. \<i .Frank Rice and Ernest Stoke.s. . cojrjic team known as Mustard a.nd;; Graii'y; lost $.3;000 'ft-orth of mi.isical . instruments and cpRtumcs wheii ! their trailer burned. i Comics were driving throtigli | Arizona^: arid ; did!; not Inotice their j trailer was on fire until too late. Saranac Lake Bv Happy Benwiiy . Saranac take,-N, Y.. .Nov. 5; Patients ot the Will Rogers put on Noel Coward.?' playlet. "Wa.ys and i iVteans," which was : well acted and ! went bver w ith a bang:, .Bert Jeter I difec'ted..;:; Ambng the patients tak-, ; ing part in production were Eddie , Slagus, Edna Hagan. Jarties Mc-i Gartiiy, Eddie Vogt., Helen Garlsoil. ! Edith Gnrzke. Ivy Ritchie. 1\Iargaret.: Dougherty f.nd . Wm. Larner. Jr.:- Victor Gamba act;ed as iitage man-J ^''Sam Lcfko vout of hos'pityl after ' recent opci'alion and back at the i Rogers. Joe Denicolo fla.shing ,Rood , clinic reportp'',but: pfhcilt'd- iti^ fo.r the rib operation. ViolEi Manning, who .graduated , from the colony. ha.s;;';rettirn,ecl:, for. s. checkup and rest. ■ - Lew Petit, announcer oh Ftation i WBNZ. into hospital for operation, '\i ; Thank.";' to Jake Bern.stfiri; with | "Holiday on Ice"' for reading'hlatfer I sent in for the :paiients. ; , ; ' - . :■ Jack Conlih given his -all'-clear . papers and motored back to PhiJa- ■ dclphiai -.. --:-'i y- -. ■ j .'Vrnold: Coleman, cojiimereial art- I ii-t with 20th-Fox. in fon^observation; j (Write to (hvse who are ill.) . ' PROFESSOR BACKWARDS (JIMMY EDMONDSON) Recently Compieted 19 Weeks Starring On Jimmy Edmondson Show NBC Thanks to Clorence L Menser dnd Jules Herbuveaux 4 WEEKS LATIN QUARTER, NEW YORK 3 WEEKS CAPITOL, NEW YORK 2 WEEKS LOEW S STATE, NEW YORK PERSONAL MANAGER West—HARRY GREBEN. 203 N. Wabash. Chicago East—HARRY KALCHEIM. Wm. Morris Agency NEW YOB.K BOSTON