Variety (Jun 1947)

Wednesday, June 25, 1947 LITERATI 53 Map Int'I Copyright Act The International Literary and Artistic Association, organization re- sponsible for keeping the Berne In- ternational Copyright Convention up-to-date, held its reorganization meeting in'Paris, June 18, under the Presidency of Andre Boutet, Paris lawyer who succeeds Georges Mail- lard who died during the German oc- cupation. Plans were outlined for the revision of the Berne Convention at Brussels in 1948. The meeting showed creat interest in the Washing- ton Copyright Treaty, which is inr terpreted here as encouraging for the United States adhesion to Berne Union, thus ensuring world- wide protection for American books, plays and films and reciprocal pro- tection in the U. S. for foreign lit- erary and artistic productions with- out cumbersome formalities now re- quired under the U. S. Copyright Statute, which has remained prac- tically unchanged since 1909. Charles Campbell, Jr,, Paris thea- trical lawyer, who has been active in the International Association for many years, was charged with or- ganizing in New York, Washington »nd Los Angeles, local groups of at- torneys and writers adhering to the International Association, the idea feeing to develop U.S. interest in automatic international copyright. Mull '47 Far '48 Stockholders of '47, new coopera- tive writer-owned magazine, will meet tomorrow (Thurs.) in New York at studio of photographer Cjon Mill to decide on future of pocket-size mag. Reported that both Clifton Fadi- raan and John Hersey are editing practically full time at '47, in effort to improve the mag. Liberty Staffers At Liberty Liberty mag gave notice to ap- proximately 80% of its staff last Fri- day (20), leaving only a skeleton crew in charge of its home (N. Y.) office. Staffers about to go on two or three week vacations. lost out, all those .fired however getting a week's salary instead, Floyd Odium, mag's chief backer, has been having conferences with mag execs in recent weeks, first at his California home, and last Friday in N.-Y., with drastic firing move eventuating. Editors' Coast Odyssey Never in anyone's memory around these parts have motion picture edi- tors, from dailies throughout the country converged on the film capital in a bunch, like they're doing this year. As a result, Holly- wood looks like it's in for a big splurge of the personal touch type of publicity. Scribes can't all hope for the breaks Lee Mortimer got, of course, but now, that travel and ho- tel restrictions have let up it's an awfully rainy night when you don't stumble over two or three of the outianders at Ciro's. Motion Picture Assn., through which they all clear, has a hefty list of both tentative and definite dates for the guys and gals who wanna see how moom pitchers are made this summer, besides a heavy smat- tering of prominent foreign news- paper and magazine people. Latter average three a week, an all-time high. Among domestic visiting fire- men, those who've already been here during past month or so on vaca- tions or assignments, or both, in- clude: Wallace, Cleveland Plain "eater; Miriam Rosenbloum, Chat- tooga News-Free Press; Mortimer, tt JE? 1 * Mirror; Owen Wister, Charlotte News; Alton Williams, Sichmond News - Leader; Mitch Z*F*E?> Toledo Blade; Irv Kup- tJ? • !* ica e> Times; Boyd Martin, ijmisville Courier - Journal; Fred Moon, Atlanta Journal; Brick "ewog, Milwaukee Sentinel; Nat Timis Chester Gibb °n. Seattle r„» ls S' £ red J «hnson, San Francisco p^t. B "" etin; Betty Craig, Denver £ost. Marce Thibeault, Montreal Le . V. ,ohn - Boscnfleld,. Dallas ™8VS. -Who Hobart, San Francisco tmronkte; Paul Jones, Atlanta Con- ation; Omar Ramiey, Cleveland Rh53., Wab * n « Hick s. Fort Worth 2r*-Telegram; Claude LaBelle, San £* nc i sco News and Carl Gartner, "es Moines Register and Tribune. v .W. number of editors who've na*T7 l Wos m one year in the °« J« 60; this year MPA expects "rem to number well over 100. charge of advertising and public re- lations for the Burlington Mills. Lat- ter is one of the country's largest textile firms. Collins was with D&C, which spe- cializes in film accounts, only since last Jan. 1. He was in charge of new business and, according to prez Ed Churchill, "was ultimately to •take my place." Churchill said he has no successor to Collins yet in mind. Publisher of the European edition of the N.' Y. Herald-Tribune when he came to D&C, Collins had pre- viously been with the N. Y. Times and with Gimbel's and Macy's in New York as advertising and mer- chandising expert. Klein's Now-It-Can-Be-Told Howard Klein, pro hypnotist, who served as an officer in the Medical Corps, has a yarn in next week's Collier's telling how he used the Svengali treatment to extract info from German officers during the war. He was instrumental in cutting American ship sinkings by getting from a captured Nazi sub. skipper details on how Geggaan agents along the Atlantic coast were signalling ship movements to subs. Klein has played theatre and club dates for years and has been at the Anchorage, Philly nitery, for the past 28 weeks. Kenneth Collins* New Job Kenneth Collins has resigned from tty e r ncy as oi *** (30) to become v.p. in CHATTER Screen Writer almost tore forms of July issue off presses on receipt of a script from Bernard Shaw ex- tolling American Authors Authority but wondering "why in blazes they had to tie in with Authors League," which he termed a reactionary out- fit. Shavian plug for triple-A will be run as leader in August issue. Mag, with new format, now carries ads and is driving for increased circ. Whittlesey House bringing out John Mason Brown's "Insides Out" and Mel Heimer's "The Big Drag," the latter a book about Broadway personalities. Another upcoming Whittlesey publication is "How to Be a Successful Advertising Wom- an," edited by Mary Margaret Mc- Bride, for the Advertising Women of New York, Inc., contributors in- cluding top N. Y. adfemmes. Hollywood Women's Press Club inducted 19 new members: Talia Bell, Barbara Best, Naomi Black, Marge Brown, Teme Brenner, Pa- tricia Clary, Ann Del Valle, Wanda Henderson, Viola Homer, Lee Hogan, Zan Joyce, Audre Lyons, Agnes Mc- Kay, Geral dine Maver, Anne Meyers, Melvina Pumphrey, Martha Scanlon, Virginia Tomilson and Margaret Waite. Elizabeth ("Show Window of Life") Gregory celebrating 75th an- niversary with promise to write "The Story of Aviation" which she knows from its first rise to its last flop. Rick Stevenson rorwarded his "The Hangpu Menace," a tale of Chinese Communism, to. Prentice- Hall for early publication, and is completing "No Place to Hide," a novel about racketeering in war surplus materials. Dorothy Jardon, who starred in vaude, musicals and opera, has be- gun work on her memoirs, working title of "I Wonder Who's Missing Her Now." Ann Daggett, new Hollywood ed of Macfadden Pubs., is wife of Chuck Daggett, ex-VARiETY mugg and cur- rently writer for Jimmy Roosevelt on radio and politix. Hal N. Colton, author of "Writer Wrong" in July Esquire, is other- wise Variety muggette from New- ark, Helen Colton Field. EHjott Arnold, who authored best book on Norwegian underground, spieling for his new book, "Blood Brother." Mordecai Gorelik's "New Thea- tres for Old," a study of theatrical production, will be printed in Eng- land by Dennis Dobson, Ltd. T. H. Coward, publisher of "Mrs. Mike," announced that the 1,000,- 000th copy will come off the presses July 1. Sara Salzer, formerly with Tri- angle Publications, named Seven- teen mag's western editor; head- quarters in Hollywood. Three of Lionel Houser's early novels, "Lake of Fire," "Smart Girl" and "Smile and Caress," will be re- printed by- Bantam Books, Inc. First issue of Playtime, new Ca- nadian monthly covering travel, recreation and sports, will come out in July and will sell .for 25c. Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., exiting Cue mag as drama critic. Jo Sanson and Dick Pack's "Quiz Book of the Seven Arts" being re- issued in dollar edition by Garden City publishers in July. J. D. Spiro is covering the Holly- wood beat for the New York Times while Tom Brady is vacationing for a month in Mexico. Picture story on Sophie Tucker and her charitable work in July 20 issue of Parade. Composer - conductor Sigmuna Romberg hits Look mag with three- page picture layout July 8 issue. Dorothy McEvoy, J. P.'s daughter, convalescing from double pneumonia near Victorville, Calif. McCullah St. Johns appointed Hollywood managing editor for Photoplay and Radio Mirror. Alton Williams gandering Holly- wood studios for the Richmond, Va., News-Lhider. Wally Gould huddling with pub- lishers over the printing of his new book, "She Made Them Men." William K. Hutson, ad director of Omnibook, elected v.p. Hutson has been in charge of promotion. Budd Schulberg abandoned film writing for a while and flew east to complete a novel. Catchpenny Aura Continued from page 1 sioner Benjamin Fielding to halt the growth of such establishments. One' of the first results of the meeting with the Commissioner was the dispatching of a flying squad to Broadway on Saturday (21) to the various arcades, record shops and certain restaurants to see if existing city ordinances were being violated. Squad members warned managers and operators that tbey would tolerate no barkers or shills, and warned them against having loudspeakers blaring into the streets. Plainclothesmen are expected to watch these spots and will report violations of the anti-barker or anti- noise regulations. No arrests were made Saturday. Added influx of the arcades is seen to be a sign of a dwindling economy on Broadway. Main stem, no longer filled with well-heeled servicemen and relatives which fre- quented top niteries, legit, film and vaude houses, has been invaded by the Coney Island type operator which seeks to cash in on small- change propositions. License Commissioner Fielding disclosed that he conferred on two occasions with spokesmen' for the Broadway Assn., including Robert K. Christenberry, Hotel Astor presi- dent, who discussed ways and means of lifting the tone of Broadway. It was disclosed that problem was difficult at the outset. inasmuch as four arcade licenses had already been granted before he came into office, and consequently he couldn't refuse further licenses because exist- ing arcade operations would become Virtual monopolies. Fielding also declared that cor- rective action will have to come from voluntary agreements by realty interests and merchants, rather than legislative action, and will cooperate with any group seeking to elevate standards on the street. Fielding cited the example of 42d street which at one time was a class thoroughfare, but has dwindled to honky-tonk pro- portions, and stated he would do everything in his department's power to see that Broadway doesn't deteriorate to that level. Bonus Plan Continued from page 5 SCULLY'S SORAPBOOK By Frank Scully would not assure continued interest of the participants in Par's affairs, chief motivating factor for the bonus plan, because execs can keep the stock even though they leave Par's employ after one year or are discharged for cause. Investment company idea is also rapped on the claim that it doesn't operate as incentive compensaton. On this score, complaint asserts that participants have an interest in driv- ing down the price of common stock in order to enable the new company to pick it up cheap for speculation. Key execs can profit by utilizing in- side info to buy in advance on good news or sell on bad, it's charged. Briefly, proposed plan calls for or- ganization of company with author- ized capitalization of $4,000,000 con- sisting of $3,760,000 in notes and 240,000 shares of common at $1 par. Par underwrites the loan on notes and sells the stocks at two-thirds face value to selected execs in desig- nated quantities. Coin raised is to be invested solely in Paramount stock. Pomeiantz, Levy, Schreiber & Haudeck represent the plaintiff. (Frank Scully column this week, a tribute to his friend Jim Tully, who died Sunday (22), is repri?ited in part pom Scully's book o/ profiles, "Rogues Gallery," published in 1943 by Murray & Gee.) If you took the physical Dantpn on which Belloc and Robinet, his biog- raphers, agree (if they agree on nothing else), and cut him down a foot and then gave him something of Longfellow's Village Blacksmith, and used Bunyan's Great Heart to set this massive and mighty machinery in motion, you'd get a good 1 working blue print of Jim Tully. But you'd still be miles from the secret of what made this enfant terrible of Holly- wood a mighty oak of American letters. What would still confuse you is how a man who made a fortune out of writing for motion-picture fan magazines over a span of 18 years, could gain a world-wide reputation at the same time as the leader (and the founder) of the hard-boiled school of writing. How could one lobe of his brain turn out stuff that made him the highest-priced peddler of a picture star's passions and kitchen recipes, and 1 the other lobe of his brain make him, currently a best-seller in the USSR for such non-political portraits of Americana as "Jarnegan," "Circus Parade," "Beggars of Lite," "Ladies in the Parlor," "Shanty Irish," "Emmett Lawler," "Laughter in Hell," "Shadows of Men," "Blood on the Moon," "The Bruiser," and "A Dozen & One." ; He hadn't been in a-boxcar in over 20 years, but he was still catalogued in the country as "the hobo author." When I first met him he owned a three-acre, $100,000 estate on Toluca Lake, over the' hill from Hollywood. A brick mansion, modeled on the lines of George Borrow's, and hidden among dozens of giant eucalyptus trees, it housed Hollywood's best library. There aren't more than three civilized homes in that land of magnificent mansions, and Jim Tully's was one of the three. Fifteen miles beyond this retreat—now too hemmed in for him, what with the Crosbys, Powells, Astors, Twelvetrees, Brians, Bruces, Brents, Disneys, and other picture personalities building on all sides of him— Tully had bought a 100-acre ranch so that he might retreat farther from the civilization that attacked him from the west, where he found his fame, and the east, where he had none to lose. He grew alfalfa on his acres and thought that when the revolution came he could live off his land, because land, in his curiously innocent opinion, is the last thing the revolutionists, whether from the left or right, will take. The revolution, to hear him tell it, was just beyond the 10th hill and several leagues this side of the horizon, already. • v ■• "Let's have another drink!" Shakespeare and Billingsgate If you didn't let him have another drink, you'd find his wrath swerving from the generality to the particular, and you'd soon be writhing under the lash of his incredible candor. It was a curious mixture of Billings- gate and Shakespeare—a poet pelting you with manure. If you didn't let him have another drink, his voice got more basso profundo, and deeper truths came out—all of them about you and all of them destined to make otWers grin, and you squirm. Naturally, such a talker shocked the more cautious. In. one and the same month he appeared in Vanity Fair, Scribner's, True Confessions, the American Mercury, and Photoplay. And if that isn't getting a feel of the public pulse, Lydia Pinkham never had it either. Nobody ever has been quite so willing to go into doghouses as Tully, feeling certain he'd bark his way out before dawn. And his bark, more's the pity, was far Worse than his bite. He had a compassion for men, which hobbled him at every turn; that compassion, of course, took him out of the running in the Superman Sweepstakes, the Nietzschean dope sheet which drove its author crazy, Mencken to beer, and Shaw to - clown- ing. When Mencken sent Tully to San Quentin to report the hanging of a youth, Tully stood by the scaffold and watched the lad's neck pop, then sat down without a quaver of emotion or a break in a line and wrote his most hard-boiled report. Without even one aside, "A California Holiday" remains the most terrible indictment against capital punishment ever written in America. Of those who do manage to get their quota of the notoriety which passes for fame, he was proudest of Jack Dempsey. Both were road kids; both made the grade, Dempsey made more money, but Dempsey sensed that Tully. did more with what talent he brought out of the ring. Three of his close friends were such widely different men as Walter Winchell, George Jean Nathan, and Jack Dempsey. Jim's wife -was Myrtle Zwetow, six years secretary to his close friend, Albert Lewin, long Irving Thalberg's lieutenant, and Hollywood film producer. She was as beautiful as a Brenda print, and the best dressed woman in a town that tells Paris how to dress. The only lady in surroundings where all try to play the part, she protected the ex-road-kid in the social clinches, and kept him from those who- would put him back in the chain gang from which he was the world's most eminent fugitive. He went to New York twice a year just to see Dempsey, Mencken, Nathan, Winchell, Runyon, and others of the old mob, but after a week or two he began to die every night, waiting for the dawn, and then sud- denly he hopped a rattler or a plane and blew for his Hollywood hide- away. •• The people he wrote about—hoboes, prize fighters, circus troupers, pros- titutes, fugitives from chain gangs, and beggars of life generally—are what the trade knows as money pictures, but Tully's treatment of them was too tough, in the -main, for the censors. Producers found it easier to steal his raw material and dress it up as society drama, a seduction on a drawing-room couch being easier to condone, presumably, than one in a box-car or haymow. Nuns Taught Him That he could write at all, he attributed to the nuns at the orphanage where his father led him with far-from-loving care, at the age of five. The son of a ditchdigger who seemed only too glad to get rid of hirri at that early age, Tully might have been considered a success when he could earn $30 a week as a chainmaker. At lunch once with Walter Winchell, he asked the latter for the loan of his column. "What for?" asked Winchell. "To keep a road kid from burning," was the answer. "Okay," said Winchell. Between the two they saved the kid from the electric chair. He is now studying journalism. "I'm sorry now I didn't let him burn," said Tully. Of his fights, his battle with the late John Gilbert remains the most hilarious set-to in Hollywood's long list of smacks on the nose. He was upbraided, as an old boxer for hitting a matinee idol. "I didn't hit him," he explained, "He was swinging away at me, and it looked to me as if he'd fan himself to death. So I put him to sleep for his own protection." How he could hold on to the roots' of his serious writing In such an atmosphere was the mast enigmatic thing about Tully. Writers with as much industry, leaving out entirely the issue of talent, say, to a man, that they can't work in California. Tully, on the other hand, swore by Hollywood. He couldn't work in New York. How he turned to writing is one of those incredible accidents of his- tory. He was 22 at the time, and had been sent by Martin Davey. the famous tree surgeon who rose to be governor of Ohio, into the south in command of 10 men. His letters to Davey were so interesting the tree surgeon asked him to write something for the company's bulletin. That was his first published piece, and though he didn't make much money at writing for « long time, he had averaged $80,000 a year for the last 10 years.