Variety (Jul 1947)

MISCELIiANY Wednesday, July 2, 1947 Senator Aiken s Film Plan To !%ow U. S. Democracy at Work Washington, July 1. Broad, general project for the production of educational shorts on the worlfings of U. S. democracy find the Federal Grovernment will be proposed to Congress in the im- mediate future by Sen. George Allien of Vermont. Plan, which will seek sponsorship from the film in- dustry and the talent unions, wUl be broached to Congress as; soon as Aiken huddles with representatives of the Motion Picture Assn. of America. • Disclosure of Aiken's project fol- lowed by a day the proposal of Rep. Carl Mundt that Congress allocate $2,225,000 to the U. S. X>ept, of Edu- cation to produce and distribute ■uch' educational picturesa Aiken's plan- is considered mucto 'moire ex- pansive, however, since by obtain- ing sponsorship of the film industry, the shorts would be insured of theatrical distribution and top qual- ity, as well as top talent. Basic motive underlying Aiken's plan is a fight against Cibmmunism by depicting how the U. S. Govern- ment works, aa opposed to the Communist type tf rule: Aiken will propose a joint advisory committee of both Senate and House'members to work with the industry on pro- duction. He'll also seek full theatri- cal distribution under the assump- tion that "adults need such educa- tion as much as do the children." lo further his plan, Aiken will ask .that the film projection room which opens on Capitol Hill next fall aLso show the educational shorts for the benefit of both adults and juves visiting Washington. Elsa Lanchester's N. Y. Nitery Date at Cafe Soc. Klsa Iitinchester, film comedienne and wife of actor Charles Laughton, has been signed for her first N, Y. nitery date at Cafe Society Uptown for four weeks starting Jan. .7. Spot, which closed Saturday (28) for the summer, will reopen Sept.. 8 with Luclenne Boyer. MARCHES TESTIFY FOR HERMAN SHUMLIN Washington, July 1. Fredric March and his wife, Flor- ence Eldridge, were character wit- nesses last Wednesday (25) for Broadway producer Herman, Shum- lin, a defendant in the trial of 16 officials of the Joint Anti-Pascist Refugee -Committee. AH 16 were convicted on Friday of contempt of Congress for the organization's re- lu!:al to disclose information to the House ITn'-American Activities Com- ; mittee. ■ . ' ,■ .•March described Shumlih as "com- pletely law abiding, truthful and full ■ of veracity." "tiumlin, along with author H 'ward Fast, is among those subject ' to a fine of $1,000 and a year in jail. SUumlin's last success was "Watch On the Rhine," .a prize-winning drama, which after a JBroadway run was made into a WB picture which he directed. Fast has writfen two scenarios to be filmed in the east by Mike Todd, one being "The Child- ren,''- adapted from his book of that title, and an original called "Bus- man's Holiday." Among others convicted were Levcrett S. Gleason, publisher of Reader's Scope, a magazine; Dr. Ed- ward R, Barsky, prominent N. Y. surgeon, and Marjorie Chodorov. Latter was formerly married to Ed- ward Chodorov, dramatist. Georgre Carson Putnam Felled by the N. Y. Heat George Car.son Putnam. WOR <N. Y.) newscaster and announcer, collapsed from tlie beat yesterday CTues.) noon on the street at Parle avenue and 125th street, New York. He wds taken to the Harlem hos- pital, where an examination showed he suffered a brain concussion as he struck-his head in falling. His con- dition was not believed serious, but doctors said he would be kept under observation at least 24 hours. Putnam was on his way to the 125th street commuter train station to meet his wife, former INS re- porter Lee Carson, and their childi who were returning from a visit to the country. Henry Gladstone is pinchhitting lor Putnam at WOR. Korda Planes Back For British Picture; Other Air Flights With a settlement of his breach- of-contract suit with Lsudy X»w- renoe, l^ir Alexander Korda, British picture producer and director has planed back to London after a two- and-a-half-week stay in Gotham* He left via La Guardia Airport. In London he will direct Oncar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband," With Ifaulette Ooddard in the lead. Korda said that with the comple- tion of "An Ideal JIusband" in Sep- tember he will start work on "Anna Karenina," with Vivien Lelfh play- ing the title role. Thesp-producer- writer-director Orson Welles signed a one-picture contract With Korda as director, and player, with story and title undecided as yet. Welles will leave for London in about two months. Since his arrival in N. Y. on June •11, Korda has been defendant in a damage suit of $302,400 instituted by Lawrence, former Metro and United Artists' foreign distribution executive, who charged that a three-year contract with Korda had been broken by the producer with 16 months of the contract to run. In his defense before the N. Y;.su- preme court,- Korda stated that, contrary to his understanding of the agreement with Lawrence,' the plaintiff had held ownership in other film companies. A Korda ex- ecutive reported that the ca.se was settled in the amount of $17,000. Buddy Rogers flew in last Thurs- day (26) to celebrate his 10th wed- ding anniversary, being met by his wife, Mary Fickford, who is in N. Y. On United Artists business, She's a part owner of U. A. On Monday (30) thfe Pan-Ameri- can Clipper America landed after the first commercial flight _ around the world. Among newspaper exec- utives who made the 22,000-mile trip Vvfere Roy Foward, president of Scripps-Howard; Mrs. Ogden Keld, president of the New York Herald-; Tribune, Frank Gannett> publisher of The Gannett Newspapers; Barry Farit, editor-in-chief of Interna- tional News Service. Simon Schifrin, French film pro- ducer now living in New York, left via Air France for Paris. He said he will meet in Paris the president of the French motion picture chamber, a governmental bureau representing the industry,, to try to arrange for an organization in France which would more or less parallel United Artists in the U. S. Such an organi- zation would deal only with the export of French pictures and would provide for a single agent in the U; S, representing all the major French independent producers. Ethel Merman visited New York's La Guardia to welcome home her husband, Rpbert Levitt, Air France passenger returning from a six- week vacation in Europe. 263rd WEEK! KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF 1947" El Capitan Theatre, Hollywood, Cal. "iBeet evening's entertainment In America. Ken Murray is great." FRED ALLEN PARDSiNN.¥.CAFE, RIVALS AT SARATOGA Jimmy Vernon and Dario, co-bon- ifaces of La Martinique, New York, will fee rival' impresarios at Sara- toga Springs, N. Y., this season dur- ing the racing meet. Dario has been signed, to manage Outhwaite's, spot formerly known as the Meadow- brook. Vernon- previously was signed to manage Riley^a Lake House. Both clubs will be on a name policy, Outhwaite's having signed Emil : Coleman's, brch- and Phil Regan. ^ DeUnonioo's wUL start the season with; Harry Richman. Dario returned last week from a talent hunt 'in France and England and, in conjunction with Vernon, will reopen La Martinique in the falL ' ■ 'Born on The Fourth of July' -By RALPH T. KETTERING- Chicafiio. "I'm a . Yankee Doodle Dandy—a Yankee Doodle-Do or Die i. ." . And he was, from, the top of his flat-topped felt to the toe of his nim- ble boot. He waved the flag and why shouldn't he? He was Ameri- can first, last and always. I remem- ber the first time I met him. The Four Cohans were playing a wfeek at Ferris Wheel l^ck, Chicago, in the open air vaudeville theatre on the south end of the lot, and George liked to ride the big wheel, a left- over from Chicago's first World's Fair, and' so did 1. There being no child labor laws in those days I packed a basket of peanuts and popcorQ around the park from noon until very late at night. Peanuts being, the weakness of most kids; I imagine that is how George- and I struck up an ac- quaintance which was to ripen into a friendship over the years. By^ a bit of deft "exchange of courtesy" we managed to ride the big wheel at no cost to us except the pilfer- ing of enough peanuts from each bag- to fill enough bags to give a few to the ticket taker. Now, if you don't exactly understand that James Stewart Groomed For 'Harvey' Filmization James Stewart, due July 14 on Broadway as summer replacement in the legit version of - the. Mary Chase comedy, "Harvey,'? is being groomed for the film version of that play. Comedy, which was purchased last week by Universal-International for a sum reported to lie near $1,- 000,000, to be paid in 10 annual pay- ments, will be produced by John Beck, former general studio man- ager, now assi-sting Leo Spitz. Miss Chase will assist in the adaptation. Negotiations for sale of the prop- erty were agented by Harold Freed- mf>n on behalf of Miss Cha.se and Brock Pemberton, show's producer. Stewart Will appear in the play during Frank Fay's vacation. Le- giter is in its 138th week on Broad- way. Chicago company, with Joe E. Brown in the lead', recently com- pleted a 42-week run. Yve» Must Berlitz U. S. Warner Bros.' "Sinatra of French Hadio," Yves Montand, is due to ar- rive in the U. S. July 20 or 24, will apend one day in New York, then head for Hollywood. His first task will be learning English. Montand is called a "young Che- valier" type, highly popular with French radio audiences. Revive Revelers Quartet The Revelers, male quartet of the '20s, is being revived by Columbia Concerts, largely for its Community Concerts series. Group is being built around Wilfred Glenn, original bass with the Revelers, who not only has the rights to the name, but access to Old group's large library. Old name will be retained for the new cjuartet. Other metnbers will be Nino Ventura and Glenn Burris, tenors, and Rand Smith, baritone. Paul Vel- lucci will be pianist-arranger. Group has been organized by Wal- ter Preston, head of Columbia's Wolfsohn Musical Bureau, and has nearly 3Q dates sold already for next season. ."" Group, when originally organized over 30 years ago, was known first as the Shannon Quartet. A.s the Revelers, it numbered at different timeift Binong its group James Mel- ton, Frank Parker, Franklin Baur and Frank Luther. Mrs. Raft Asks $18,000 In Settlement of Arrears Hollywood, July 1. Suit in which Grayce Raft, es- tranged wife of George Raft, asks $18,260 which she claims Raft owes her under a property settlement en- tered into in 1932, is on file in su- perior court here. The suit also asks that the actor be restrained from dissipating community assets. The complaint charges that, al- though Raft agreed to pay her 10% of his earnings, since March 1, 194.'), she has received only $19,223^ while the actor's income was in excess of $332,000. Eh, Doc? We have always liked talking dog and/or horse stories. One of them concerns a college track meet being held near a pasture in which ' were • several thor- ou<;hbred horses. One of the spectators of the track events, seeking a bit of-shade, sat down in the •shadow of the fence sepa- rating the field from the pas- ture. ■ Suddenly he felt his shoulder being nuzzlcj, He looked up into the face of a handsome youn!,' stallion. Tlie horse looked around cautiously and then .said, out of the side of his mouth, "Who do. you like in the third, Doc?" —Fibber McGee & MoHtr, ANDYRUSSELL LAUNCHES AGENCY COUNTERSUIT Hollywood, July 1.- Suit fey Andy Russell askings an accounting of $75,000 he says he has paid Personalities, Ltd., since going under that agency's management, is on file in superior court here. Crooner's - complaint, filed by attor- ney Charles Katz, charges that the company was never licensed as an agency and that it breached manage- ment pact by going through the Wil- liam Morris office in setting Russell deals. The agency, in which Sam Stiefel and George ("Bullets") Durgom are 50-SO partners, sued Russell last week for $376,000 for alleged breach of contract. Mae West's 'Diamond Lil' Gets British Censor OK London, July 1. Mae West's script of "Diamond Lil" was okayed last week by the Lord Chamberlain after suggesting a tew minor changes. This official ac- tion indicates that the play wiU have smooth sailing throughout England when show- opens some tima in August in the provinces. Miss West is slated to go to Eng- land some time this month to re- hearse and ultimately open at the Prince of Wales theatre, London, at the end of September. Tom Arnold will produce. - Olben & Johnson's Canada Fair Date on Percentage ' Toronto, July 1. Deal for Olsen & Johnson to play their first fair date is being set for the annual Canadian National Ex- hibition to be held here Aug. 22 to Sept. 6. Deal being worked out be- tween William Morris agency and George Hamid, fair's booker, will call for a guarantee and percentage arrangement. Final percentage terms not yet set. Fair, one of the largest in Canada, will use supplementary stage shows during the O&J engagement. CNE toppers also plan to use other high- budgeted, names and are angling for Jack Benny and Edgar Bergen. O'sen & John.son show will be staged in the Coliseum seating 12,- 000, capacity of which may be di' minished because of contemplated masking off of the side sections. procedure ask any carnival grilter. It was Wednesday, I believe, that the wheel started acting up and it was Thursday, about twilight, and George and I found ourselves at the top but stationary. The machinery had gone .feezunk. Any moment now, with a little more • darknesis, and the show would begin. We could see the spotlightman testing hi.s car- " bons. The lighte below looked like small diamonds from our dizzy height. Soon there would be three Cohans looking for a fourth.. But, we remained bezunk and the world moved on without us. Two kids and a basket of peanuts in a glass en- closed car several hundred feet up in the air hanging out over a great City. ■ The only reason I tell the story Is because that was the first and only time The Three Cohans played next-to-closing and the la.st' time the fourth Cohan rode the Fer-' ris Wheel. As; the Cohans toured the Kohl & Castle circuit, I would follow them around to the Haymarket, Chicago Opera House and the Olympic, once finding myself beating my young hands for them . at Murdock't Masonic Temple Roof Garden where "The Girl with the Auburn Hair"— in private life Mrs. J. J. Murdock— always closed the show by singing "The Holy City" against an illumi- nated church drop. We were standing beside the rail- ing that surrounded that airs wept garden when George introduced hig sister, Josephine, who hastened, off to tell Jerry that "that awful boy is with George again." Whereupon I ducked for the first elevator to the street. Antl-'HlKh Hat' Complex Through the years of "Running for Office" and "Little Johnny Jones" I followed the Cohans.. By this time I had begun a theatrical career my- self, as an usher at the old Powers' Theatre. But George was growing in stature. His name had gone up in lights for the first time as an in- dividual .star in "lattle ■ Johnny. Jones." It was about that time I learned two things about George— his fear of going "high hat" and his superstitutioH about sticking his shoes under the bed with the right •to the right and the left to the left, : Years later, when his health was fading and he was hiding away in a hotel at Atlantic City I dropped past, was told he could not be dis- turbed, left my card, and was on . my way. But, before I had gotten a quarter mile down the boardwalk I was overtaken by the perspiiing Negro pushing a chair in which George sat waving his hands and imploring me to believe that, hon* . estly, he didn't know it was me who was calling and that he wouldn't have me believe he «.ad gone "high hat" for anything in the world. But, it was when the lU-fated Iroquois had struggled through a recovery, first as Hyde & Behman's Music Hall, and then as the Co- lonial, that George and I were to have our happiest daj^. William Harris and Abe Erlanger had sent George Lederer to Chicago in an attempt to "put the house over" and the first show booked was "45 Min- utes From Broadway," which George wrote, both book and lyrics, composed all the music as usual, staged, directed and co-produced, but which he did not act in, con- trary to several adverse opinions. By this time I had progres.-ed in show business to the place where I was treasurer of the Colonial. I'll never forget that opening night George was the most nervous man I'd ever seen. Constantly rubbing his chin and tightening his tie. It. wasn't until count-up time that I noticed he had written on the box- .oft'ice wall "God, help us toni,t;ht.' And -I believe God was listening. Mrs. T. luce, Jr., Divorce . , Hollywood, July 1. Mrs. Dorothy Ince has obtained a divorce from Thomas H. Ince, Jr., son_£!Uh.e_J.ate_film^pr.Qducer._^ Settlement calls for $200 monthly alimony, $100 for support for two daughters and a home in San Marino, Calif. COL'S EOYAL FLACK A touch of royalty wasl added to Columbia Pictures home-office pub- licity staff with the addition Monday Related to England's ruling family, she will work at the New York of- fices as Miss Iris Mountbatten. Recently arrived in the U. S., she has decided to make her home in this country. Finkerton in the iRed It was at the Colonial, during that famous engagement, that we. formed The Schmoos Club. Its members were Billy Pinkerton, the great .de- tectivc ^ LoiLHouiieman, sports edi- ■ tor of the Inter-Oce.in; Jules Alt; man, the liquor baion; Geoige Lederer, the manager; George Wood,, the press agent, and my.self. We played cards and told stories and one night George and I hatched up a plan to steal Pinkerton's watch. I got the watch, gave it to George, who took it to New Yorlc, had it en- graved, "To -the world's .i?reate.sl de- tective from his pals of the Schmoos Club," and we presented it to fum at a high-jinks si.'np v in the ol<| i College . Inn. Pinl-t n wciit a" f ('Continued on page 44>