Variety (Nov 1946)

62 Wednesday, November 27, 1946 Show Biz In Middle Continued from pagt 1 spectaculars in Times Square ar« already blacked out. Nitery and band business, already acute in some quarters, will suffer most from the coal stoppage. In total money lost the boites and dan- ceries won't stand very high, but hecause of the current hairline operations of many of the spots, the relative effect will be far greater. Bonifaces feel, that two factors will militate against their take, tir.st be- ing the confusion among potential payees as to whether the spots ai-e operating and the manner of opera- tion; and secondly the willingness flimong people to wait until the bis- tros resume normality. Legit is not expected to feel any " ill effects unless the strike lasts into 1947. Tickets for the hit attractions are pre-sold well into January and few among playgoers arc attracted by the lights of a marquee. Few pptimists who recall that the wartime brownout had no effect on showbiz grosses are answered by boiiifaces and theatre ops with the fact that wartime entertainment de- mands were at an abnormal high and people would have paid to see anything under any circumstances. Now many branches of the entei- tainment ■industry are facing a lag which some feel: will be emphasized by the power shortage. Should the strike last long enough to seriously curtail freight ship-^ ments, the record industry will also begin to suffer, As a freigljt non- | essential, disks would be among the first to be halted which would mean that the flow of platters from the pressing plants to distribution points would be virtually halted. Most diskery heads expect shipments to begin falling off within two weel« and consequently have hypoed their pressings and shipments, where pos-, sible, to beat the curtailment. Re- sult of inability to ship current pop recordings could conceivably be the death, on.the record market, of much of the product because of loss in timeliness. Special attention is being paid to disks of tunes from .ftltnusicals in an attempt to get tliem oh the market with the film for cross-plugging. One-night ballrooms will be strapped for heat in a long strike. Some, in the- middle of Pennsylvania coalfields may be able to obtain their own supplies. Ijoew's Emergency Setup In the New Yorlt metropolitan area Loew's circuit is in the best position to sustain a prolonged fuel .short- age. In an effort to meet the ex- igencies of last spring's coal stop- page the circuit purchased a large number of smaller generators to keep some of their marquee lights and inside lighting plants going. If necessary, these will be pressed into action. Also, the chain has a large enough stockpile of coal and oil to last from two to four weeks in the emergency, employing storage space both on their own property, where available, and in empty lots. Oscar A.. Doob, circuit. exec, says that if the strike lasts long enough they are prepared to close some of the ncigli- borhood houses in order to divert coal stocks to Broadway theatres, but. in any case, they would comply with whatever requests city or state .officials make. , . At .Radio City Music Hallf head man Gus Eyssell states that the the- atre Would naturally follow regula- tions, and that, brownout or not, "Till the Clouds Roll By" would open Dec. 5. No special equipment will help the Music Hall in case of acute shortage because of its size, so . that if anything like: a jcpmplcte ■ blackout goes into effect the house will close. RICO Operates on Oil Most of the RKO theatres are heated and run on. oil, it being- the only circuit that doesn't utilize N. , Y. Steam Corp. or city heating. In spite of their favorable condition, circuit execs aver the chain 'would dimout with the rest. At the Paramovint, Weitman said that in spite of shortages the origi- nal bookitig t>lans would be contin- ued, "Cross My Heart" opening Dec. 18 with a stage show headed by the Andrews Sisters and Tony Pastor's orchestra. Exchanges will be hit only if the Btrike continues > long enougli to chop rail shipments into the staple commodities category. The inter- change of prints between exchanges win be immediately affected, plus the movement of prints from labs to th« various key exchanges. Ship* ments from exchanges to theatres ate not endangered because films are trucked between these points. No exchanges have enough new prints to survive a break in bookings, but some can exist on backlog material and reissues for a time. Some personal inconvenience is expected for showfolks in. their daily business as elevators in Radio City, and other buildings used by the uidustry are cutting tlieir: serv- ice down to bare necessity. For the first time in several months the stairways in the RKO Building will be open to travel. railroad service as most of the screen fodder is delivered from truck from the St. Louis exchanges. Exhibitors dependent on railroads are arranging for privately owned automobiles to obtain and return films, RR Curtailment Easing N.Y, Hbtel Reservations Continuation of the 4'ino'it for a protracted period may result in considerable easing of the tight hotel situation. According to hotelmcn. it's still too early to tell exact effects of the dimout, but some inns have noted considerably less call for reservations and lobby crowds are not as great; Cancellations, how- ever, are not yet above normal, and so far hotels are filled up. Hotelmen, however, feel that as the coal situation becomes tighter with continuation of the Lewis blitz, there will be further curtailment of train service into New York, and with less travel, load on the inns will be lighter. -Pennsylvania Railroad, so fat, has cut out two trains to tlie west and one to Pittsburgh. Service to North Jersey has been curtailed. Theatres in the Northeast Hardest Hit by Brownout Washington, Nov. 26. Theatres throughout the northeast section of the nation reverted to the wartime "brownout" last night (25) under CPA orders to save fuel in the current coal strike. The Government's order covered 21 states — including some in the midwest—and the District of Golura- bia. In several areas, such as Wash- ington, the Federal order was an- ticipated locally. The D. C. theatres joined with other businesses of the District to institute a voluntary dimout effective last Friday night •■•(22). •• ■• The brownout was the hope of the industry to prevent a complete shut- down of amusement places. Civilian Production Administration could ef- fectively close many amusement spots by cutting off their coal in order to channel it into home and ind ustrial heating. Bulk of the east- ern and midwestern theatres are coal heated. During the war, the brownout failed to have any adverse effect upon the boxoffice, despite the fact that marquees were blaclted out. Should the coal strike result in un- employment in other industries there may, indeed, be a temporary spurt in theatre, biz. Unemployed men might spend on inexpensive amusement. While a substantial number of coal, burning trains have been can- celled, there has been no effort thus far to chop off transportation of specific types Of travel. Hence, show- folk are no worse'off than any other travelers. No Eastern Theatre Closings Reports that eastern theatres might be shut to conserve coal were denied yesterday (25) by two government officials, Raymond Kerr, fuel specialist of the Civilian Pro- duction Administration, and. C. G. Davidson, Asst. Secretary .of- Ihe Interior. Kerr expressed the oijinion that theatre operation results in fuel saving since thousands of homes have lights out and heat turned down while the family is at the pictures. Similar point was made by Davidson. Edward Falck, head of CPA conservation pi'ogram, added that "the only intent of our curtail-, raent order is to cut down on the use of outdoor liglrting." During the war, some theatres purchased diesel engines to supply power because of the coal scarcity. If the government is forced to cur- tail coal supplies for theatres this winter, the diesel motors will be pressed into service again. A Justice Dept. spokesman said closing of film theatres would likely add to the Juvenile delin- quency problem. FCC officials explained tliat broad- Casters would: be among the last to feel the pinch of the coal strike. Commission pointed out that power sufficient to run all the stations in the country is less than that neces- sary for" a single battlesliip. In addition, it was pointed out. many licensees have gotten emer- gency diesel or gasoline generators so that some kind of service will be maintained even in areas hardest hit by the coal scarcity. Radio is classified as a necessary public service and can be expected to receive same consideration as other essential activities. WIBG's Radio Lessons Philadelphia, Nov. 26. WIBG today offered the school board of Philadelphia as much time as it wanted to continue instruction to students via air in .the event that schools are forced to close down because of coal shortage. Offer was made to Dr. Alexander J. Stoddard, superintendent of schools, by Ed- ward D. eiery, general manager of the station. MPTOA's Pledge St. Louis. Nov. 26. - Members of the MPTOA, through national president Fred Wehrenberg of St. Louis, pledged their support to President Truman in the present coal emergency. Wehrenberg's wire to the President yesterday (Monday) I'ead: "The members of the MPTOA , of the United States. are ready and willing to give you \vh6Ie-hearted .support and cooperation in the emergency how facing the American people today. W^ strongly urge you to take a firm stand agaihst the il- legal walkout; of the United Mine Workers of America." Similar pledge was made to May-pr A,: p. Kautman of St. Louis. So. Illinois Effect St. Louis. Nov. 29. A prolons^ed strike of eoalminers in the bitumihous fields in Southern Illinois is e^Cpected. to cut heavily into grosses of motion picture theatres in that area. Although the •Progressive Mine Workers Union is not affiUated with the one headed by John L. Lewis, stoppage of work in mines near Benld, Gillespie, Belleville, Mt. Olive, Livingston and Johnson City* IH:. all within a 33- mile radius Of St. Louis began Fri- day (21). Distribution of film to 330 exhibi- tors in the St. Louis area Will not be seriously affected by curtailed BIRTHS Mr. and Mrs. Jack Reynolds, daughter, Hollywood, November 19. Mother is Marjorie Reynolds, Para- mount contractee. Father is a film exec. Mr. and Mrs. E.P.H. (Jimmy) James, son, N. Y., Nov. 21. Father is manager of sales service at Mutual. Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Geiler, daugh- ter, New York, Nov. 21. Father is ill the band dept. of the William Morris Agency, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Paul, daugh- tei-, Chicago, Nov. 17. Father is continuity writer at WLS. Mr. and Mrs. William Carey, son, HoUywoodi Nov. 20. Mother is the former Leona Olson, actress; father is a composer. Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Corey, son. Los Angeles, Nov. 19. Mother is the former Alice Wiley, legit actress; father is a Paramount actor. Mr! and Mrs. Bob Phillips, daugh- ter, Chicago, Nov. 17. Father is in charge of band booking of Asso- ciated Booking Corp. Chi Office; mother is former Claire Mangen, dancer. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ross, son, Hollywood, Nov. 18. Father is a film attorney. Mr. and Mrs. Herman L. Ripps, daughter, Albany, N. V., Nov. 16. Father is Metro district and branch manager in that city. , Mr. and MrS: Ted Briskin, daugh- ter, Hollywood, Nov. 23. Mother is Betty Hutton of the films; father is a camera manufacturer. Mr. and. Mrs. Ralph Welliver, daughter, New York, Nov. 24. Par- ents are legit players, who toured last year in ''Dear Ruth." Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Frank; son, Hollywood. Nov. 25. Father is screen writer. ' Mr. and Mrs. Gregg Toland, son, Los Angeles, Nov. 25. Father is Metro cameraman; mother Virginia Thorpe, former Goldwyn girl. Mr. and Mrs. Danny Shaw, daugh- ter, New York,: Nov. 19. Father is vaude and nitery comedian | mother is Helen Shaw, former songstress. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Crosby, son, Los Angeles, Nov. 23. Father is the band- leader, • OBITUARIES DR. EDUARDO MARQUINIA Dr. Eduardo Marquina, 67, presi- dent of the Sociedad General de' Autores de Espana, Spanish counter- part of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, died of a heart attack last week in New Yorlc, the second high ranking foreign visitor to the recent Inter- national Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers to die while in the U. S. Fred Markush, representative of the Hungarian performance rights society, died sim- ilarly several weeks ago. Dr. Marquiua was one of his coun- try's outstanding playwrights, a mem- ber of the Royal Academy of Lan.- guages (Spain), past president of the International Contoderation and a close fi'iend of ASCAP. He was instrumental in arranging the re- ciprocal performance rights agree- ment established last year between ASCAP and the Spanish society he headed, during the trip to Europe by John G; Paine, ASCAP's general manager, and Herman Finklestein, attorney. Dr. Marqulna came to N. Y., -Oct. 4 for the Washington, D. C; Gon- IN MEMORIAM Charles and Ann Stern MARK federation meeting, accompanied by his son, who was his secretary, He also is survived by his widow, three grandchildren and a brother now in Cuba. His body will be shipped back to Spain. Services for him were held by the Spanish Consulate in N. Y., Friday (22). VINCENT LAWRENCE Vincent Lawrence, 56, playwright and film scrjptor, died after a heart attack in Corpus Christi, Tex., Nov. 24. After covering golf and tennis for a Boston paper following his grad- uation from Yale, Lawrence teed off his playwrighting activity in 1923 with two Broadway hits, "Two Fel- lows and a Girl" and "In Love Witli Love," with the latter aided by the acting of Lynne Fontanne, Henry Hull and Frank Morgan. Last Broad- way show, "The Overtons," was staged by Elizabeth Bergner and ran for 1'74 performances in 1945. For the: last 10 years Lawrence had spent most of his time on the Coast as a screenplay writer. He collaborated on the screen plays of "Gentleman Jim" (Warners) in 1942 and "Man-Proof' (Metro) in 1938. Several of his plays were also made into films, including "Spring Fever" (Metro)- and "Sour Grapes," Surviving are his widow and two sons. .•:..• HOGAN HANCOCK Hogan Hancock, 46, Dallas execu- tive of the Music Corp. of America, died as a result of burns and carbon monoxide gas. He was discovered in his burning car Nov. 20 near Lewsville, Texas. Hancock was leader of a dance band and booking agent in Dallas befoi-e joining MCA. At first it Was believed that Han- cock was murdered but according to medical reports it was shown his injuries were caused when car be- came ignited. Survived by widow. STANLEY II. CZERWINSKI Stanley , H. Gzerwinski, 60^ veteran trombonist with Merle Evans'. Ring- ling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus Band, died recently at his home in Memphis. A native of Cincinnati, Czerwinski made Memphis his. home the past 40 years. For 25 years he played in the pit bands for vaudeville at the old Orpheum (now Malco) and Loew's Slate, Memphis, Then came 15 con- secutive seasons with the circus band on the road, Interrupted the past season for the first time by his illness. GEORGE BROWN George E. Brown, manager of the Paramount theatre. Glens Falls, N.Y., died Nov. 18 in that city. Previous to going to Glens Falls Brown was with the homS office advertising department of Para- mount-Publix in New York. He had also been advertising manager of an 8-theatre circuit with head- quarters in Dallas, Tex., and before that was city manager tot Para* mount in Memphis, Birmingham and other cities. ' Besides his Widow, he is survived by a bi-other. ARTHUR N. LOWE Arthur N. Lowe, 58, treasurer of the Coronet theatre, N. Y., dropped dead while shaving at his liome in Long Beach, L. I., Tuesday (26). He had recently recovered from pneii- monia and had been on duty at the theatre day before his death. He had been a boxoffce man in several Broadway theatres, starting at the Liberty theatre, N. Y., when that house played legit shows, He later went to Pittsburgh, where.he was treasurer of the Nixon theatre there for a number of years before returning to Broadway. ' : . His widow, Kitty, also a ticket' seller, survives. CLIFFORD W. MEECH Clifford W. Meech, 78, veteraa muisical director, died Nov. 25 in Los Angeles following heart attack, Meech was director of many mu- sicals and prior to advent of talking pictures, conducted for road show- - ings of "Birth of a Nation," "Intoler- ance," "Way Down East." "Covered Wagoh,": "Ten Commandments," ''King of Kings" and "Ben-Hur." ■. ■:.. HUGH M. BECKET Hugh M. Becket, 46, operator o£ the Metropolitan theatre, Seattle,-' died in that city Nov. 8. Becket had operated house on lease since 1944, during which time he played many legit attractions with pix policy Qbtatning wh6n legit shows were unavailable. Survived by. widow, daughter and two sons. ' ' BELLE HATHAWAY Belle Hathaway, 86, retired vaudc performer, died at Newark, N. J., Nov. 23. She had a trained monk act in vaude for a number of years until 1914, when simians were destroyed in a fire, which, forced her retire- ment. Two sons and four daughters sur-- Vive. • FRED C. BEERS Fred C. Beers, SI, motion picture casting director, died Nov. 18 in Hol- lywood. ■ Lt. Faudcli Kub, 20, was killed in Korea Nov. 1, according to vord re*' ceived by parents last week, v He waa the son of Harry Kuh, former Vaiiikty mugg, currently advance agent for "Ice Capades." .Tack L. Frank, 63, father of Mol- vin Frank, a screen writer, died Nov. 22 in Hollywood following a heart attack. : Mrs. Bcrnioe Meelmn, 37, wife of John Meehan. Paramount art direc- tor, died Nov. 19 in Hollywood. MARRIAGES Shirley Mitchell to Dr. Julian H. Frieden, Toledo, Nov. 23. Bride is radio and film actress. , Ann Pobl to Daniel R. Houlihan, Altamont, N. Y., Nov, 9. Groom is 20th Fox salesman in Albany, . Fern Tammin to Jimmy Schoun, Chicago, Nov. 20. Groom is trum- peter in Ray Anthony's band; bride is former actress. Dorothy Colosardo to Douglas Smith, Hollywood, Nov. 18. Groom is a film actor;, v Billy Edith Lawrence to Richard Jacobson, Chicago, Nov. 23. Bride was former ballerina at the CheZ Paree. Chi. . • Imogene Carpenter to Milton Feld- man, Hollywood, recently. Bride is actress; groom is assistant director at Columbia. Marilyn Ross to Bernie Thall, New York, Nov. 19, Bride is singer; groom is vocal coach. Mrs. Elizabeth Palmer Barnum to Henry Ringling North, Saratoga, Fla., Nov. 18. Groom is former of- ficial of Ringhng, Barnum & Bailey Circus. Marilyn Lee to Leonard Shannon, Las Vegas, Nov. 16. Groom is « screen publicist. Martha Jane Waldbott to Richard Degner, Las Vegas, Nov. 23. Groom is a film advertising executive. Ciaire Sorensou to Lee G. Doran, Brooklyn, N. Y., Nov. 23, Bride is daughter of Art Sorenson, makeup editor of 20th-Fox Movietone News; eroom is a Universal cameraman*