Variety (May 1947)

MISCEMLANY Wednesday, May 7, 1947 '4§i Alii Salute to Sophie Tucker Her 'Greatest One-Night Staiitf By ABEL GREEN ' Gene Buck summed it up: "This is the greatest one-night stand Sophie Tucker will ever play." The 40th anniversary salute by the Jew- ish Theatrical Guild to "the last of the red hot mamas" was one of those inspired evenings, Sunday night (4) at the Hotel Astor, N. Y., figured by veteran showmen to make histfiry, if only for the reason that few such testimonial dinners ever see a gath- ering welcomed by Eddie Cantor, as president of the Guild; toastmastered by George Jessel; troubadoured by Irving Berlin, who was chairman of the dinner committee; and honoring a trouper who stormed New York (at the German Village below Her- ald Square) in 1906. Cantor, Jessel and Berlin came in specially. from the Coast for the dinner. As Berlin's "Song for Sophie" (lyric herewith) puts it, "While others are staging their comebacks, Miss Tucker is still going strong." As her inspired speech of appre- ciation reviewed her career, the 1,- 500 overflowing attendance in the Hotel Astor's grand ballroom, at $15 a head, unashamedly reflected its sentimental emotions. New York's Mayor William O'Dwyer seconded Jessel's toast to the departed Jimmy Walker by also expressing the wish he was here to better express official New York's reactions to this tribute tb Soph. Sir Cedric Hardwicke, for the actors, presented her with a scroll from Britain; William Mor- ris, Jr., eloquently linked his agency's time-honored association with the star; her longtime pianist Ted Shapiro spoke briefly and to the point; Harry Hershfleld—a veteran of "the celery circuit"—rounded out the humorous talks. Cantor and Milton Berle had to" breeze for a 10:30 NBC broadcast for Texas City Relief; Jessel came in after his Sun- day night guester with Fred Allen; and Miss Tucker just skipped the dinner show at the Latin Quarter, where she is currently engaged, but did one show at 1 a.m. (At 6 a.m. she was still dispatching wires of appreciation to those who made the evening possible)." Jessel at Bis Best Jessel's toastmastering was past- master stuff. If anybody got too serious he punctuated it at just the right time with an ad lib. When a colloquialism was uttered he trans- lated it for Mayor O'Dwyer. His crack about "alas and alack and Al Lackey" (one of Soph's husbands) . wcs an inside yock. Miss Tucker saluted Berlin with "what a wonderful feeling it must be to lpow you're immortal while still alive." In her-.sentimental and business encomiums, for "the boss," the late William Morris, Sr., first president of the Jewish Theatrical Guild, she saluted '.'Mother" Morris and Aunt Ella (who came in from their Saranac Lake home), Bill Morris, Jr. and Ruth Morris (Mrs. Bill White). And when she men- tioned "the ex-office boy who grew up to be one of the,most respected men in show business," the applause for Abe Lastfogel was extraordinarily spontaneous, on a par with the en- thusiasm for Berlin. One of her eincerest salutes- was to the absent Jack Yellen, her special-material writer for many years, delayed out of town. Also fogbound in New- foundland were Val Parnell and Hairy Foster, who clippered over from London for the dinner but couldn't get in on schedule. in addressing herself to her fore- bears in Heaven, and to the late Bill Morris, Miss Tucker also expressed the request, "And, Boss, when'you see Sime Silverman, do give him my fondest regards. Song for Sophie By IRVING BERLIN Verse ■ ^* ■ Making what you'd caira speech Isn't up my street, Fancy words are Out of reach . When I'm on my feet, So I've done the best I could for now In the only way that I know how. Chorus I've written a song just for Sophie A song that I'll sing through a mike Just to tell her how we love her What we think of her In the business there's no business like. While others are staging their come- backs, Miss Tucker is still going strong. She continues to deliver Just like that river Old Sophie keeps rolling along. Second Chorus We know what an artist is Sophie 'Though some say her songs aren't nice. But her lyrics don't need cleaning Her double meaning . Simply means what she means only twice. When Jolson and Cantor and Jessel Have finished with their final song They'll be rocking in their rockers Three alta 'yockers' While Sophie keeps rolling along. Third Chorus* We know of the kindness in Sophie We know too that Sophie is smart, As a star she's made a boodle Using her noodle But she's best when she's using her heart', . The Angels Will watch over Sophie, They'll see that she keeps going strong, They'll say 'tho we're wild about ■ her . We'll do without her Let Sophie keep rolling along. * This third chorus is Berlin's per- sonal salute to Soph which he pre ferred not- to sing at the dinner, hence published here for the first time. ; 255TH WEEK! . KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF 1947" El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood, C«f. "It's just a, question of time— everybody has to see this show. It's tops." ■ .. JACK BENNY. Court Enjoins Albany Board of Education Nix On Robeson Concert Albany, May 6. Supreme Court Justice Isadore Bookstein this afternoon (6) granted the Carver Cultural Society a permanent -injunction, restraining Albany Board of Education from interfering with Paul Robeson's concert Friday (») night in Philip Livingston Junior High School audi- torium. Concert will go on as orig- inally shedded, for the Negro bari- toWs 64th and final concert of his current season. Bernstein-Hitchcock N.Y. on ntic London, May 6, Sidney Bernstein, owner of the Granada circuit here, planes for New York Saturday <10) to meet Alfred Hitchcock for finalising _,of their plans for setting up Transatlantic Productions. First picture will be Patrick Hamilton's "Rope," which goes into production in Hollywood. It will be Hitchcock's initial pic in color. Bernstein will work out a releas- ing deal for Transatlantic product and arrange financing. Hitchcock arrives in New York from the Coast next Monday (12), according to his eastern rep Ai Mar- golies, to meet with Bernstein. Transatlantic pards will remain east about 10 days to two weeks before heading for Hollywood to siart shooting plans. Paul Robeson, whose appearance under the auspices of the Carver Cultural Society in Philip Living- ston Junior High School was banned on Mayor Erastus Coming's order, because gatherings of "a highly con- troversial nature" shouldn't be per- mitted in public school buildings, would have sung here Friday night, even if he had to do so in the home of Arthur J. Harvey, counsel for the Society. • • Harvey announced this Saturday (3), following arguments the previ ous day in Kingston before Supreme Court Justice Isadore Bookstein on a show cause order seeking a per- manent injunction restraining the Board of Education from interdict- ing Robeson. Corporation Counsel James J. McGuiness argued that the Board had exceeded its authority in granting the Society permission to present the singer in a concert at the high school. McGuiness claimed that no con- continued on page 64) Pitching Horseshoes «y Billy I see where Walter pamrosch and a group of artists have issued a state- ment on behalf of Kirsten Flagstad. They say we shouldn't concern our- selves with the politics of the lady with the soprano voioe and baritone shoulders. Judge the Madame by her throat, not her vote, says the com- mittee. • Well, I think that's" a divine idea! And while we're exempting talent from the responsibilities of citizen- ship, let's not be picky. For instance, there's a gifted banker over there named Hjalmar Schacht. Why not bring this^wizard over to run our Chase National Bank? He's not a bad fellow. He was acquitted at Nu- remberg, and, like Mme. Flagstad, has been frank enough to tell us he never really got fond of the Nazis. That's fair enough,. And remember, never once did he personally turn a valve in a concentration camp .gas chamber. By all means, lef s have him. And what's wrong with that talented businessman Axel Wenner-Gren? Like Mme. F.'s Quisling husband, he -is reputed to have, picked up a few odd millions playing store with Der Schoener Adolf. So what? The war is over. Let's be big about it. Wenner-Gren can plunk down fifty million if he likes a deal. Why not let him plunk it? It'll put plenty of people to work. Live and let live, I always say. . * And speaking of talent, what's wrong with Sascha Guitry? „. Fine play- wright. Fine actor. What if Sascha ,did get on the radio and tell the French to relax • and enjoy the occupation? How long are you going to hold that against him? He's an artist, isn't he? .And! Art has its privileges, hasn't it? • What if his German buddies shot '50 hostages a day? The widows of those hostages should remember there are many Frenchmen, but few Guitrys. By all means, let's have him. He's a big name. The gentlemen handling Flagstad's business can get him lots of bookings around the country. .. And how about poor Furtwangler, the symphonic conductor? What if he did slip in the "Horst Wessel Song" occasionally? It was only a re- quest number. He, personally) never stamped on a pianist's fingers if they didn't form the Nazi salute fast enough. Besides, we need some new con- ductors. Isn't it about time we brushed off that dtaffy old patriot, Tos- canini, who told the Duce to jump in Lake Como? And how about some good in-between conductors? Like, for instance, the fellow who led the 100-piece orchestra, at the Auschwitz extermination camp. I hear he did a fine job. When they were shoveling living kids into the ovens, he played "The Blue Danube" with such gusto no one could hear the children scream. Surely there's a job for him somewhere in this big country. Perhaps in some quaint little town where they have band concerts in the park Sunday afternoons. What's that commotion over in the comer? You want to be heard, you say? Certainly, lady, this is a democratic country. But make it snappy. You say artists eat, perspire, sleep, marry and vote like ordinary folks? You say nothing in our lawbooks permits a violinist to commit murder, throw rubbish in the streets, or cross against the lights? You say Flagstad took a run-out powder when we were in trouble, and no more rates a welcome mat than Putzi Hanfstaengel? * You say she sang for Hermann Goering, and should no more sing for us than Eva Braun should be mod- eling for John Powers? You. say a singer can't put down "Mein Kampf;" pick-up "Die Meistersinger," and get away with It? You say Flagstad was disloyal to our way of life, and shouldn't be allowed to shrug it off with the wormy chestnut about Art being above politics? Well, my dear lady, I hope you feel better now that that's off your chest. By the way, weren't you one of those misguided pickets who paraded in front of Carnegie Hall when the Madame was singing? Ah, I thought so. To go on with what I was saying. Practically every country in Europe has writers, musicians, poets and painters who have been impolitely de- scribed as collaborationists. And many fine businessmen. Most of these talented people are as innocent as Mme. Flagstad. For some reason, their confused countries seem eager for them to exhibit their talents elsewhere. Well, I have a ducky idea. I think America should bring them all over. We'll have darling novels, darling concerts, darling poems and darling pictures. . Of course, once they get together here, we may not have much of the old America left. But, after all, is that so important? I ask you, is that so important? —. (Copyright, 18*7, By Billy Rose) Germaine Sablon Preems At Blue Angel Next Wk. New York cafes will have another Sablon on the circuit when Ger- maine Sablon opens at the Blue An- gel, May 13. Mile. Sablon, who spent the war years as an underground h "he" veteran songstress confessed . fighter in France, has already made that she "felt like no red hot mama" \ several platters for Continental Rec- and cracked, "I sure feel as if the ords and has played a holdover en- rockin' chair's got me!" An elaborate show, batoned by Mel Morris, followed. MUSSO'S BOY V1TORI0 YENS MAKING ARC. PIX Buenos Aires, May 6. Vittorio Mussolini, Benito's son, who's now living in Argentina, is gagement at the Latin Quarter, Montreal. • Jean Sablon will fly in from the Coast to be at the preerrt. He'll re- turn shortly afterward to do a series of guest appearances on the air. U Renews A&C 5 Years Hollywood, May 6. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello will reported to have sufficient capital to . continue their antics on the Uni- set up a film production unit with which to carry out his cinema ambi- tions. Fascist dictator's fledgling directed films in Italy during his father's heyday and was. associated with Hal Roach in Hollywood. He's now married to an Argentin versal lot for five more years, under a new contract calling for two pic- tures annually, with the privilege of making one outside. Comics have called off their pro- posed British tour to make an indie picture for United Artists following iaii, Ursula Marina Buvoli, whose : completion of "The Wistful Widow parents own a ranch in the province j of Wagon Gap," their current chore of Santa Fe. I at Universal-International. My Favorite Story A flat tire plagued a man driving along a deserted coun- try road,one summer afternoon, He stopped to fix it, and as he began to jack the car up, he heard a voice ask: "Gotta flat tire, bub?" He looked about and there was nobody there. He shrugged and thought it was the heat. , The voice repeated the question: "Gotta flat tire, mister, huh?" There was a tired old horse leaning against the fence. The man thought: "It can't be, but I'd better find out." So he answered the horse and the horse answered him, and they settled down to a long chat. He told the .horse how he had fought through the war and had raced midget cars before the war, and didn't know what to do now that he had been re- leased from the Army. And the horse told him that he was out in pasture all the time now, but that, among other things, he had won the Kentucky, Derby back in 1932. When the man had the tire repaired, he and the horse bid each other good-bye and the man drive off. A quarter of a mile down the road, he saw an old farmer sitting under a tree. He stopped his car and talked with the farmer, asking him if he owned the horse. "Yep, I shore do," replied the old one. "You want to sell him?" queried the veteran. The old farmer began to laugh and laugh. "What're you laughing at?" the young fellow i -ked. "Hee, hee," giggled the farmer, "You got" took in on that Derby story, too, didn't yah?" Betty Hutton. Trend Away From War Themes Cues More Book Sales for Fix His Fall With an abnormally small number of books having be'en bought for filming since the end of the war, story editors are looking for a con- siderable pickup in the fall. Com- plaint has been general among them that the quality of the output during the past 18 months has been excep- tionally low, resulting in the few buys of screen rights. With the war getting far enough behind for most writers to have got at least one book on the conflict* off their chests, story eds, studying fall lists, foresee a quantity of b'etter thought out and more skillfully written tomes than was possible un- der the speed and strain of the war years. During the past year and a half most film companies have been buying only the volume necessary to keep their literary stockpiles to a minimum height. A certainty to be a best-seller, but in which none of the majors is show- ing any. interest, is Sinclair Lewis's new novel, "Kingsblood Royal." It's to be published at the end of this month and is a Literary Guild selec- tion, Subject matter has the top studios laying off, although it's thought possible that some indie might find it a usable property. It concerns a sedate and narrow- minded bank clerk in a small Min- nesota town, who discovers he is l/32d Negro. Rather than keep the fact to himself, he shouts it around, resulting in a complete upset in his life and that of his family. Likely to attract the studios is "The Big Sky," by A. B. Guthrie (Sloane Associates) which got un- usually good notices, emphasized by front page reviews in both the N. Y. Times and Herald Tribune Sunday book sections. It's a story of the opening of the west, preceding the Lewis & Clark expedition. One thing making it attractive at the present time is that it could be shot outdoors on a relatively limited budget. On the other hand, it has no women characters except one Indian squaw and has no "heroic" male characters. 20lli , s Record Crop Of 'Outside'Stars Under One-Picture Peals Hollywood, May 2. More outside stars are currently tied up wit"h 20th-Fox on one-pic- ture contracts than at any previous time in the studio's history. Deals include Olivia de Havilland for "Snake Pit"; Joan Crawford, Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews, "Daisy Kenyon"; Joan Fontaine, "The Walls of Jericho"; George San- ders, "Forever Amber"; Brian Don- levy, "Kiss of Death"; Ethel Barry- more, "Moss" Rose"; Victor McLaglen, "The Foxes of Harrow"; Randolph Scott, "Home, Sweet Homicide," Jennifer Jones, "The Dark Wood"; John Hodiak, "Gentleman's Agree- ment"; Joan Blondell, "Nightmare Alley," and Ida Lupino for one pic- ture, still unnamed. GALE PAGE'S COMEBACK Hollywood, May 6. Gale Page broke her seven-year retirement for the second femme lead in William Cagney's "The Time of Your Life." Her last chore' was in Warners "Four Mothers," in 1940. Filming is at General. Service, H. C. Poteter directing.