Variety (Jul 1947)

SCREEN RADIO Publisjuid .■Weekly nt 151 Waat lStli Stieetj New York 19, N. T,, by Variety, Inc; Annual subscription, |1D. Single coplen, 25 cents; EtttereS 'W 'second-clasB matter Deiiember 22, 190B, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under th« act ot MarcU 3, 187* corrmoHT, loit, by vakikit, inc. ai.^ jcights rksekved. VOL. 167 No. 4 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 1947 PRICE 25 CENTS GABFEST GIRCUirS PEAK YEAR lespite Good U. S. Bally, Europeans ; Again Run Away With Int'l Festival '■ Brussels, July 1. 4- 'Be^'spite a sensationally fast get- •{fay at the start of the Brussels *• Wofld FUin Festival, Hollywood end- J: ^ up among the also-rans in the iijternational jury's selection of the ■ best feature film. Grand festival jj pi'iise was copped by "Silence Is Cfelden," Rene Clair's production for ;■. Ifench Pathe, which was awarded '' -the Saint Michael statuette, the Bel- ■^ian-equivalent to the U, S. "Oscar." • This is the Maurice Chevalieif starrer w'hieh RKO will release in America ■ as "Man About Town." ,■ /Among the secondary awards, • 'Jll'amuel Goldwyn's "Best Years of Our Lives" was palmed for having ; Wjfr best Story, ' and Myrna Loy ■•' -Walkea .off with the best actress' ' ■jiij'tee for- her performance in the tiame picture. 3. Arthur Bank's "Odd :': Maa Out" held up British honors by •:' winning the- best production awards. . "Other 'winners were Mexico's "JSmamorada" for best photography; "'.(Continued on page 4W Niteries Undergo ince nning of War Saratoga Springs, July 1, •, , For the. first tinie in some years < ■patrons of Saratoga's plush lakehouses •:: , wiU ftnd a number of changes in the interiors! this summer. During the :, prewar and war periods the clubs re- , ■ niained about as usual except for in- cidental refurbishing and painting eacli year to doll up for the August racing season. This year, however, many changes ■ Will be in evidence, the most radical ,: taking place at the former Meadow- brook, to be known as Outhwaite's, .y which is being turned into a private '. membership club with admittance bi' card only. ■ V indicated that the club will V^-.bftrone Of the most-beautiful in up- '■■ »tate. New York. Main dining room remains the same, except for the iaT^ "decorating and new draperies bi^ flreplace has been painted ■White to be set off by copper lamps . «ndMvy), Bar, however, has been . (Continued on page 22) KAP B~WAY REVUE AS ; TOLERANCE WEAPON At the suggestion of the National t-onffirence of Christiaes and Jews, a representative group of managers IS considering staging a revue With racial tolerance the basic theme. It , IS slated for Broadway in the fall and then goes to the road. Show- men huddled last week for prelimi- nary discussions; writers will soon oa selected to .supply sketches and Bumbeijs. A group pf shoyifmen will be me executive heads of the proj- ect and it's expected that financing will partly come from show busi- 1 oess. indications being that support , mil also be offered by leaders in . other fields Helpful Occupation Tokyo, Juiy 1. Tales of lush Hollywood moola have Anally reached Japanese ears. ' Among General MacArthur's mail last week was a film scenario, "Play of Marriage," by a Nip writer who asked the General "to • give the order to his skillful secretary to trans- late it iiito American" so tije au- thor might submit it to Holly- wood. '47-48 Longhair Prospects Big The longhair concert business, which just completed a very good year,, looks in good shape for next season despite the bearish tenor of the times. Concert managements are Cautious in making predictions, but signs are bullish. At the close of the spring booking, seasonj advance bookings by Columbia Concerts, leader in the field, are running parallel to last year. In the Case Of National Concert & Artists Corp., Columbia's chief rival, bookings are even heavier for next year. Bookings indicate, according -to ■^oncert execs, that next year's biz can't be bad. Whether the new sea- son will be as good as the one just finished, can't be predicted yet, they say, due to inability to know what the percentage contracts will yield. Most major artists are now booked on percentage. Their re- ceipts, of course, aren't reflected in advance bookings — only straight fees are. But advance bookings show (Continued on page 22) Eddie Cantor Will Get 33^ of Profits From His Warner Bros. Biopic Eddie Cantor's film biog deal, which Abe Lastfogel (William Mor- ris ofticei set last week with War- ner Bros., gives the star one-third of all profits. The down-payment is merely $50,000, as compensation for Cantor working with the writers. An extra-deal has yet to be worked out for his recording the musical num- bers. Tentatively titled "All My Life," the idea of the comedian appear- ing as him.selt was ruled Out al- though who will be Cantor's "Larry Parks" is as yet undecided, as is the selection o£ aiitho;-s, tunesmiths, di- rector, et al. Only item certain is that ij; will he in Technicolor and that Cantor, like JoLson, will be his own oflE-screen musical voice. Cantor's autobiography, written in 1927, will not be used as the basis of the film because of incomplete data, SILVER TONGUES' By ARTHUR BRONSON In contrast to a postwar recession in adjoining entertainment. or cul- tural fields, the lecture busines.s, which has been good right along, bids fair next season to eclipse its hitherto best year. Established gabber bureaus, just finished with a fine season, are signing up contracts that. indicate a better season next, year. New companies have stepped recently into the field, drawn by the lush prospects or the peculiar ad- vantages their setups ottered. The gabber • circuit, estimated to have grossed over $3,000,000 this season, looks to better the figure consider- ably next year. Interesting development is the in- creasing segue of show biz person- alities into the field, occasioned by the need of variety on the yapper loop. In the case of the two new- est companies^ a third ot their ros- ters is given over to gabbers in literature and the arts, with enter- tainment a strong factor. Names familiar in radio and legit appear (Continued on page 83) ■ Justice Dept. To Crack Down On AFM, Films Anti-trust division of the U. S. Dept. of Justice is preparing to crack a restraint of trade suit against the American Federation of Musi- cians and the major film companies for their alleged action in prohib- iting the use of any film with a musical soundtrack to be used for ■ television, it was learned this week. An official of the Senate sub-com-r mittee, currently investigating the AFM in connection with the Lea Bill, declared that an.y such action would have to be instituted by the Justice Dept. but said there was a possibility the committee would per^ suade the dept. to investigate. Any authoritative statement, he said, would have to come from Rep. Hart* (Continued on page 55) Swanson's Pic Comeback ^ Hollywood; July 1. Gloria Swanson wants to do a starring picture again; She and director E. H. Griffilh have formed an alliance with the aim of making "The Besieged Heart,'! play by Robert Hill. Story ol a woman with a cancer affliction who dies in the end, Hill wants it done as a play first. Meantime, Miss Swanson ha,s got- ten Irving Trust Co. ot N. Y. to finance the picture, with the Rosen- wald Foundation willing to guaran- tee completion money. Film, should it be made, will probably be re- leased through United Artists. Show Btisiness Still Auditionhig That New Act: Taft & Hartley Shows Pix, Too Washington, July 1. Treasury Department dis- closed last week it has turned up a southern theatre chain which evaded $650,000 in Federal in- come taxes by' omitting from its tax returns its profits from ice- creaffi, popcorn and other con- cessions in the theatres. Treasury did not disclose the identity or location of the chain. Case was m,erely listed as one of several large income evasion matters in various parts of the country, on which the depart- ment is now working. ■ Rose Nixes lOG Coke Emcee Bid Billy Rose has nixed a $10,000 a week offer from Coca-Cola to de- liver his own package show io the soft drink, outfit for fall network programming. Coke outfit hfis al- ready bought two new shows' on CBS—one starring Morton Downey and the other Percy Faith—and it's reported that the Rose show had been intended lor a third half-hour, network slot. . Rose ihact previously rejected the emcee role in the new Milton Blow NBC show for Adam> Hats, "The Big Break." Claims; his multiple ac- tivities, including columning, his Diamond Horseshoe nitery, Ziegfeld theatre, etc., take up too much of his time and energies. ■f : Washington, July 1. . A. 20-year old U. S. Supreme Court decision is to be dusted oil by entertainmevt unions in its battle against the Taft-Hartley law. The entertainment unions will claim thpt regulatcyy provisions of the labor- management control act do not ap- ply to the eotertainment field be«i cause of the Max Hart vs. Keith- Albee decision of 1926, which fiilecl the Keith circuit was not engaged in interstate commerce despite the fact that performers were routed by that wheel throughout the country. ' * Sole possible ejcception to the die- . tum of the Hart-Albee decision is seen to be the American Federation ' of Radio Artists, which may be heldl _ to be engaged in interstate ■ com* merce because of Government con- . trol of radio' channels through the FCC. . ■ ■ Other unions will claim that the entertainment industry is engagec^ ; exclusively in intra-state commerce and thus not subject to Federal reg- . (Continued on page 55) AFRA Reprieves Disk Jocks on Cuffo Guest Shots Till Convention Disk jockeys who line up cuffo in- terviews with entertainment stars to hypo their stanzas got a brief re- prieve last week from the threat of an . American Federation, of Radio Artists ban on such guestshots, AFRA board, meeting in New York Thursday night (28), decided, in view of the nearness of the union's national convention, to table the proposal for the time being and place .4t on the convention agenda for mulling by the membership. AFRA conclave is scheduled to open, fir a four-day round of ses- sions, in New York, August 14. Tabling of the suggestion that cuffo interviews of AFRA artists be forbidden on platter shows—or that "customary fees" be charged, which would be prohibitive—was seen in .some quarters as an indication that the matter will go by the boards. Feeling, it's said, is that too many AFRA members wouldn't want to be cut 'out of this forin of free air plugs and would question thatlKjch interviews seriousl^'deprive them of employment Jim Thurber 'Unfair' To H wood; Refunds 28G, Unsolicited, to Goldwyn Hollywood, July' 1. JamS Thurber, it- seems, has broken a long-observed rule. :- ■ He took on the job of doing a treatment of "The Catsbirdseat" for Goldwyn. He turned in a full 80 pages. ^ Then Goldwjn ordered changes^ and Thurber wouldn't go for them. He called the deal off. Now there is nothing especially notable about this. Other writers have resented script changes and quit before now. But, so far as producers around here remember, : few it any fiave ever kicked about acceptin.g coin for the time they have worked. Thurber paid- back every cent of the $28,000 given him. Even his agent had to kick back his % to Goldwyn. Among the writers there seems to be general applause for Thurber'* feeling of what constitutes integrity, but there's some uneasiness about the possibility he's setting a prece- dent. After all, the laborer is .wor- thy of his hire, they maintain, and a lot of work .on the spript is still a lot of work, even if the producer doesn't like it as it stands, Midwest Theatre Toll Big Due to Floods Omaha, July I. Rampaging Nebraska and Iowa rix'ers took toll of theatres and amiisenients in general in this area. At Hamburg, la,, the Colonial theatre continued with six feet of water in the basement. At Cambridge, Neb., however, the flood shuttered the theatres in town. George Baughman, operator ot tlie Ritz, lost his daughter-in-iaw and grandson in the flood.