Variety (Aug 1947)

SCREEN RADIO MUSIC STAGE Published Weekly at 154 West 46th Street, New York 19, N. Y„ by Variety-, Inc. Annual ■ubscrtptloti, $10. Single copies. 25 cents. Entered as aecond-claaa matter December 22, 1300. at the Post Office at New York, N. Y.. under the act of March 3, 1879 COPrBlGHT, 1947, BT VARIETY, INC. AM, RIGHTS RESERVED. <4, VOL. 167 No. 9 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1947 PRICE 25 CENTS LONDON'S 'FOODEASY' RACKET Broadway Legit Production Slow; Only 11 Starting Dates Set Tin Dec. 1 By JACK PULASKI Broadway's legit season of 1947-48 will be exceptionally late in reach- ing active proportions unless pro- ducers speed up during the current nionth. So far only a few shows have fixed definite opening dates be- tween now and Dec. 1, a record low of 11 being in that grouping. There ai'e many more shows in various Stages of preparation, and the list of debuts will be upped by a number of imports, but showmen generally are in no hurry to go into rehearsal. Same goes for actors, judging from the number sticking In summer stocks. Two shows are slated to open in late August, one being a double ar- rival. Only one has set a date for September and six are carded for , October, mostly bunched together early that month. Scenic shops have productions in work that are not yet earmarked for start of rehearsals, and so those shows won't be retarded in opening if there should be a man- agerial rush. That could happen, especially it strawhats are more pro- ductive in Broadway possibilities . ihan heretofore. And recognized (Continued on page 46) . Airline's Patron Pix New Orleans, Aug. 5. Pix 5,000 feet above the Mississippi Valley may soon become a regular "passenger comfort" aboard Chicago & Southern DCf-4 planes as a result of an experimental showing Thurs- day <31) on a ship traveling between Memphis and here. Permanent installation of the equipment would make Chicago & Southern the first domestic air line in the U. S. to feature pictures on their regular flights. Only firstrun pix would be shown. Internal Revenue Admits Failure To Nab One-Pic Outfits Washington, Aug. 5. Bureau of Internal Revenue has bogged down in its drive against Hollywood's single - picture cor- porations and has made virtually no progress during the more than a year it has been working on this matter. Although the bureau let in- formation leak, months ago, that it was sending bills to various Holly - . wood biggies for additional income taxes, absolutely nothing has been done in this line yet, according to insiders in the bureau's main offices here. One-pic companies are designed to take advantage of the capital-gains situation under which they pay only 25% tax. These outfits fold after making one film, then form a new corporation under the same setup. , The orginal test case against pro- ducer Samuel Goldwyn has not even ' gotten to the stage of a bill for ad- (Continued on page 42) SEE NX-TO-CHI TELE WORKING OKAY IN 1948 Hollywood, Aug. 5. Transmission of video programs & om New York to Chicago in 1948 *«s predicted by Noran Kersta, manager of NBC's tele department, w members of the NBC-Northwest- « r » Univ. Summer Radio Institute "we last week. He said that coaxial tfme W ° Uld be com P leted b y that Kersta also said that NBC expected «> extend New York-Schenectady- wasnmgton network to Baltimore in »e next few months. Plenty Prospects For Pix Found On Hayloft Route Film finds among the eastern strawhat legit players have been few and far between thus far this season. But even though the 1947 barnyard cycle is already well past the midway marker, pic talent scouts from the majors are chalking up this season as one of the most successful in ^years in the number of young players who have been tagged promising prospects. During this season, talent depart- ments at RKO, Paramount and 20th- Fox have been making intensive forays into the backwoods, from Maine to Virginia, each one rover- ing between 120 to 140 productions. Metro's talent gunners, who in past years gave full coverage to the strawhatters, decided to sit it out this year on the theory that the best ones of all finally come to Broadway anyway. RKO talent chief Arthur Willi commented on his summer labors by saying "if the season turns up only one crackerjack kid like Barbara Bel Geddes, then I'm happy." (Continued on page 46) By ABEL GREEN* London, Aug. 5. London's "foodeasies," flourishing more and more as a "gray market" means of circumventing the law, give the average American-in-Lon- don the feeling that the speakeasy era is back again. These "clubs," with their pseudo- exclusive memberships, constitute the major means of getting what little there is left o£ London's meager larder. Following recommendations, "admission'' and "membership" fees of one pound each—$8 in all—the member has the privilege of paying ceiling prices for meals. Fashionable town houses are packed for luncheon, dinner and supper with hungry Londoners who already are griping at the $40 vaca- tion-allowance restrictions as of Sept. 1. Within the tight little isle the blacketeering in food and drink is the one big problem next to dollar exchange and the Labor government. Americans are welcome, with "hon- orary" memberships in these clubs, for obvious reasons. ; Wise hotel guests find that they get better food eating in their rooms than in the formerly fashionable grillrooms because the upstairs din- (Continued on page 46) AAF IN WORLD-WIDE PICTURE COVERAGE Washington, Aug. 5. The Army Air Forces is reorganiz- ing and expanding its motion picture service, including new world-wide pic coverage of AAF events. This new flying camera circus is about to get under way, with the first crew leaving for Germany very shortly. Other units arc expected to be dispatched to Japan, Greece, Austria and other areas to make celluloid records of AAF activities. It is understood that the AAF will begin feeding prints of the pictures to the newsreel companies, as was the case during the war. In order to build up its photo- graphic setup, the AAF is taking (Continued on page 47> 'CLUBS' ALLOW OVERCHARGES Which Plans Spending 1 SEE ATTLEE KEY T01LS,ANGL0 PIC TAX London, Aug. 5, Prime Minister Attlee's stalement to Parliament tomorrow (Wednes- day) on Britain's desperate economic plight may provide the answer to the U. S. film industry's drive to stave off an ad valorem tax on Hol- lywood product. American film interests' counter-proposals were transmitted yesterday (Monday) by Motion Picture Assn. prez Eric Johnston to Chancellor of the Ex- chequer Hugh Dalton. Johnston's plan, details of which are confiden- tial, is understood to ask for the revival in some form of wartime coin-freezing measures rather than Dalton's proposed duly based on earnings of a film in Britain. [In New York it was disclosed MXnday (4) that the alternative plan proposed by the MPA was (Continued on page 29) Provocative Title Operators at 20th-Fox's New York exchange answer the tele- phone with the name of the company, plus the title of one of the current pix. It goes, for instance: "Good morning. 20th Century-Fox, 'Forever Amber'." Wags are now waiting for re- lease of "The Snake Pit." Penny-Poor Demos Can't Match GOP, 00G on Air Time Spain Nixes Carol Spoof Mexico City, Aug. 5. Pic censors in Spain have nixed the Mexican film "El Rey se Divierte" ("The King Is Amused"), a spoof on ex-King Carol of Ru- mania, made by Producciones Grovas while Carol lived in Mexico, which was during most of the war. Pic did mildly in Mexico. Carol's friends made some objec- tion to production of the pic, but to no avail. Carol himself is said to have been amused when he saw it in a local cinema. Soviets, Yanks Near Deal-On Sale of Pictures The Russians are giving signs of shelving their veto in the long drawn-out negotiations with the Mo- tion Picture Export Assn. for im- portation of American films. They have agreed in principle to the U. S. industry's demand on a deal for a sizable block of films to be accepted over a period of time, rather than for very occasional spot buys of a few pix. Agreement puts the Soviet and U. S. filmmakers the closest they have ever been to consummating a lasting deal. Russians opened the negotiations with the expressed desire of buying just seven pictures on a flat-fee basis. Irving Maas, veepee and gen- eral manager of the MPEA, in- formed Nicholas Napoli, head of Artkino, Russe distributing com- pany in the U. S„ who was negotiat- ing the buy for his principals, that the deal was not acceptable. Desire of American companies to have their product play in the Soviet Union was stressed by Maas, but he in- continued on page 46) * Washington, Aug. 5. The Republicans are way out ahead of the Demos in their use of radio time, according to reports here. While the Republican National Com- mittee is coordinating a heavy bar- rage of broadcasts on network and local station time, the Democratic National Committee is still strug- gling along without a radio director or sufficient cash in the till to buy platters for its rank and file on Capitol Hill. While the Demos get an even break in use of political ether on the networks, they are not going after radio time with anything like the GOP's enthusiasm. Result is that the Republican Con- gress may have an easier job of maintaining itself in power 1 next year and President Truman will probably have to buck the toughest kind of ether competition from the GOP stalwarts in '48. Observers here are amazed that the Demos, with the example of FDR and the fireside chats before them, are miss- ing a bet on radio. The Republicans, it seems, have learned more from FDR's radio record than h?.ve the Demos and are working hard to (Continued on page 42) WORLD CULTURAL WEB PLANS TAKING SHAPE Washington, Aug. 5. Plans for a worldwide cultural radio web are very much alive again, it was disclosed last. Friday (1), when Lloyd Free, special assistant to the director of OlE (formerly OIC) of the State Dept., flew to Paris to huddle with experts of countries on plans for the interna- tional net. Such a network would operate under the aegis of both the United Nations and UNESCO. Free was formerly counselor on mass media in the secretariat of the per- paratory commission of UNESCO. Talk of a worldwide cultural ra- dio web has been going on for the past 18 months, but it appeared to be dying out in recent months. See Demand for Big Nitery Names; Modest Supporting-Act Coin Nitery owners converging on New York to buy talent from major and indie talent offices indicate that the forthcoming season will produce an unprecedented demand for names which will shoot upper-salaried acta to highest points in history at the expense of middle and lower sala- ried performers. The operators, according to the talent agencies, declare that bidding for performers such as Sophie Tucker, Joe E. Lewis, Lena Home, Milton Berle and others selling for around $5,000 or over, is unusually heavy because operators are unwill- ing to take chances with anything but proven draws. They feel that, with nitery business on the wane be- cause of the general recession in the entertainment industry, the only way they can maintain profitable levels is with top names. On the other hand, they feel that they'll make up for the super salary of the headliners by booking cheaper surrounding bills. That method has worked out at the Copacabana, N. Y., where Monte Preiser splurges heavily on the top . . (Continued on page 38) DURANTE, LAWF0RD TEAM UP FOR YAUDE Hollywood, Aug. 5. Jimmy Durante is rehearsing a new vaude act with Peter Lawford on the Metro lot between their scenes in "On An Island With You.™ Pair would step out on a stage tour if they can arrange their screen commitments.