Variety (Mar 1948)

VICTUIUBS B way VaoiHilinefs Talk Dram Stage Shows toK.O.ASCAPDeinauIs Possibility of some Broadwayt houses now using live talent drop- ping that practice was talked up fast week after reps of those show- cases labelled ASCAP's demand for a 525% hike in seat taxes "the last Btraw." Committee fnuitbig for the five Times Sq. vaudfilmers and other houses huddled.«|th ASCAP emissaries during the iseek but hit what appeared to be inflenl^le de- mands for the new rates. Hiere'll be more meetings within the near future, it's said, when ASCAP names the time and place. TaeanwhUe, reps of Uie Broadway boitses came away from the hud- dles thoroughly ired. Aroused Initialb^ by a boost which would lUke the rate from its present 20c per'seat annually to $1.25, they burned all the more over what they termed was a higjily discriminatory and unsympathetic* attitude by • ASCAP negotiators. They were particulairly fired over a lemartc re- portedly made by Sichard Mittrar^ uss't gensnA mana^ for ASCAP to ihe effect: "I don't caie whether Bta^se shows continue or not." With the ^wcases employing livL' talent'already paying a seat tax for music in sound tracks, llie- atrc ops expressed willingness to double that charge by pasing the identical rate for music in shows. A boost of .525% was definitdy be- yond consideration, 'one " spokes- msm deelaied. And since costs for other appurtenances of live shows . have climbed sharply, it was said, insistence by ASCAP might force tht cbropping of aU stage shows. Leopold Friedman, veepee and ■ecretary of Loew's, acted as tpokesman for Watners, I-ocw's, WSO, Paramount, Bmy and Badio City Music HalL 2l7o Statelet, Gut Sir Tenpercent London, March St. Viscount Songan, son ot Lord Cowley, ex-West End actor, and himself former a^tor and stage director for H. M. Tennenl; Ltd., has made appU?- cation to the London County Council for a license to be^ come an agent. ■ This will make him first blueblood tenpercenter in show biz. " British Films Spreads KEN MURRAY'S "BLACKOUTS OF IMr' n Cfipitan 'llMcitf*, H«lhrwM>#, Coi Now Hayiiic NofiaMlly "Mil AND COO" SMCIAl ACMHEMV AWiM* WiNNBI Unless Senate ^ liix ■ Washineton, March 30. A 21% acnuss-Hie-board slash In t[»e State Department's overseas information program looms, im- less the Senate restores the $6,378,- 000 which the House knocked out "bf this portion of the State Depart- ment's budget. The cvtt Would bite into both the picture and radio prosrams for tiie fiscal yeac com- miiicfng July '1.; • Testimony tdUiis effect has been fiven in executive • session to the enate Appropriations Committee, which is now deciding -tt^heUier to change the House's recommenda- tions for the State f}49partment. ; -State Department ai^ed $34,- 378,000 overall for its' "Voice of America" activities. It got $28,- €00,000 from the Honse of which f2&,S0O,0OO is for program ex- penses, The Department adnilts this-is a sUc3c increa^ over what It has had to spend during the currents fiscal ycart' but claims it's not enough to do tiiie liest job in ' the cuneut international situation. Campaign against British pix by Zionist sympathiors gathered mo- mentum this week witit two Broad- vi^ houses, Rialto and 'Wfater Gar- den, being Wt lor pliOret lines. WithQut wandng, a l^up of young people flashed some home-made signs Mtmday afternoon (29) and began marching before the Hialto currently showing "Thife Smug- ^ers," an Eagle lion-J. Arthnr, Rank production. Later, the gnmp moved up to the Winter Garden where another Bank pic, "Man of ' (Conthnied on page 58) JAN. aaXOFEHIES OFF OVER A YEAR AGO WashhigtOn< March 30. The nation's boxoffices entered 1918 considerably weaker than they crashed into 1947. Figures announced yesterday (29) by the Bureau of Internal Bevenae disclose tiiat the 20% ad missions tax broui^t Uncle Sam S2S,410,738 on the tiasls of January business. About- 80% of this is estimated to come from picture theatres, with the remainder from all other types of amusement. The corresponding figure for" January, 1947, was $28,823,690, or, roughly, $3,400,000 more. -Tha;t means $17,- 000,0<X>-niore in admisaions were taken in during that month. In addition, the January, 1948, nightclub taxes netted the Bevenue Bureau $4,122,000. A year earlier, that figure was $5,227,000, or near-v ly 25% higher. .In the 3rd District of New York, which includes all of Manhattan above 23rd st., the admissitms tax earned on January's biz, was $4,^ 677,493, not far behind the $4,794,- 272 for the same month a year earlier. However^ nightclubbing wds badly off. The tax for January, 1947, biz was a nice $642,415, but was only $383,569 on past January's tabs. Even the tax on charges sold by ticket brokers fell off, bein^ about $7,000 behind the previous year's figiures. Pitching HoRSESiaibEs By mUy Rose Cronyn's London:H'wood To B'way MoUI-AcAivities Hume Cronyn, who Sidled for Britain Saturday (27) aboard the Queen Elizabeth, has been work- ing for the past three weeks on a screen treatment of Alfred Hitch- cock's forthcoming Ingrid Berg- Man starrer, "Under Capricorn." .Actor-writer estimated five weeks "more work remains to be done on the adaptation before the script is completed. He expects to return to t ie U. S. sometime in May, then goes directly to the Coast. Cronyn's next picture thesping chore Jias not yet been set, but he tosdosed that late this summer b.a's due to stage a Broadway dra- n^atic version of Ludwig Bemel- inans' novel, "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep." Play is being adapted by Elaine Byan and Peter Foster is producing. Rehears^ are tenta- tively scheduled to start tlie third week In August. BECALL COI. JOE GOEIZ Washington, March 30. Lieut. Col. Joseph F. Goetz, former associated with BKO Thea- tres in various midwest cities and New Tork, has been recalled to active duly by the U. S. Army Air Fol'ce for assignment to headquar- tej,'3 here. •He'Jl supCTvise the U.S.AA.F.'s ^notion pidttre theatre operations. LB. Mayer's N.Y.Ifaddle WidiSchenckApnllS Metro production chief Louis B. •Mayer is due in New York from the Coast about April 15 for hud- dles with M-G proxy Nicholas M. Schenck and other homeoffice of- ficials. SChenCk, who's been in Florida since Christmas, is ex- pected back at the homeoffice about the same time. - Trip will mark the first visit of Mayer to N. Y, since last Novem- ber. At that time, he came to the homeoffice after testifying in tiie Hollywood Bed probe before the House un - American Activities Committee in Washington. Reject Forrest s CffiDsodiii Han W^^ishington, March 30. Peacetime censorstiip is dead— at leai^ for the' time being. Pix and radio reps jc3ned other media yesterday (29) in unanimously re- jecting Defense Secretary James EVirrestal's plait Sov imposition of immediate controlsi ' The 21-man Securi^ Advisory Council, named by Forrestal to study the pUm, used strong lan- guage to drive their opposition home. Their resolutioa declared: "We do not believe any type of cens^tfship in peacetime is work- able or desirable in the public in- terest Be any exists, we would not be sympathetic with an intent on the part of the military estab- lishment to propose peacetime censorstiip." Walter Ament, Wamers-Ftathe veepee and general manager^ and National, Assn. - of Broadcasters' Proxy Justin Miller were members of . a ' seven-man subcommittee whose recommfmdations were adopted by' the all'^nedia council. 'Forrestal has said he will abide by their findings. The. media reps said they recog^ nized the need for "restraint" in handling security information but concluded the "wise solution b£ this problem is the responsLbility, of-the national military es&blish-^ ment" • Tliey reconunended that' at least one rep> from each media be named to a security advisory council to consult with Forrestal on handling of security matters. Two will be named from the radio industry, one representing the NAB and other the . four major networks. News heads of the webs will get together to name the Jat- ter. Miller expected to rep IffAB. NOBMA SBEASES'S PLAT? -Hollywood, March 30. Norma Shearer may make her Broadway bow iri the fall in a dramatization of Lazslo Aladar's "The Honest Founder." Ernst Lubitsch directed' a fihn version, titled "trouble in Para- dise," with Miriam Hopkins. Kay Francis and Herbert Marshall, fbr Paramount in 1932. Boienwald Fund Eads Chicago, March 30. The Julius Bosenwald Fund, which has granted scholarships to many outstanding artists, musi- cians, and writers: since its creation 30 years ago, will end June BO. Fund has iipent ixver $22^000.000. Hitdicock Garifies ' His l a-Year W^ WB ftd If s Not Exclusive statement by Warner Bros, that it had signed Alfred Hltehcock to a "long-term" producer-director contract sent Hitehcock and Sidney Bernstein, his partner in Transat- lantic Pictures, indie unit, into a dither. WB press handout was is- sued Saturday (2^or Monday (29) release, but bel^i it- made the papers Hitchcock had sent out a denial. Hitchcock' statement was made from the Queen Elizabeth at sea. He left New York Saturday for (Continued on page SB) The only queen I «ver met died Wu^ 0.- Her name was Tn.i<, De Mott HSobiowo. wdj, josie I first met Josie back bt 1934 when I was lining up a cast for "Jumbn » The Hecht-MacArthur aeript called for some oldtime circus stars anii Nagafy the Fire-eater suggested I look up Josie De Mott, the barebapt ' rider. "She's past seventy,"-Said the dtavolo, "but don't let that throw you. She can still do more tricks on a horse t&ut I can on a sidewaUc>* I dropped Josie « note, and she'showed up'a few days later at thA ' mppodrome—a gray-haired kewpie doll about five feet tall. "Can vn« stiU ride?" r asked her. • - Josie smiled a sweet-oldrlad}' smile. "Try me," she said. We went down to the basement where the horses were stabled and she selected a dappled percheron. Behearsals stopped in the arena as the. old girl went into her audition. I looked and blinked. The three- score-and-tenner w*s perfonning.-.with the same limp, kittenish speed that had been hers as a girl. 'I .got the feeling she was doing more than ride the horse—-sflie Slemed to inftale the darned thing through the soles oif her feet, to become s, human-shaped piece of it. Whea Josie dismounted,'the performers and roustabouts lined up to pay their respects. They addressed her the way I imaghie the Duke of Cumberland addresses the Dowager Queen, and I got the feeling tha't' if I didn't engage Josie, tlie cast would throw me into my own tiger cage. I began to realize what Josie meant to circus folk when Dick Maneyi my press ageqt, brought the "Jumbo" program copy to okay. TlM* flinty Broadway broadsider'had devoted as much space to the has-bectt as he liad tQ.Dncante.and Whiteman. and he had writen about her \viai a degree of feeling and respect I never knew was in his typewriter. Josie De Mott was iMini ■« sawdust princess,, and no Sourbon or Hans, burg, iisd a better ba<dEground. Her ancestecs were doing hoisebwk highjinks wluai' the tranter box was ri^rved for Napolemt I. Josie made her debut, at three in her father's horse-drawn caravan. According to the yellawed clips on my desk, tiie audience at fint thought the tot was a mechanical dolK By the time- she had galloped into her- teens, she was a headliner with Bamum and Bailey. Swedes toasted her ia glogg, and Mexicans in tequila. She was as well known in Paris as she was in Peterson. In 1890 Josie fell in love with Chiles Bobinsoh, part -owner of the Bobinstm- ^otiiess' Cireus. Every one thoo^t it was a fine match— the impresario>and .tlie star. But it didn't turn out that way. Theim* presario got interested in pdliti«is and became a gUlie. A- gillie is a person who thinks there is something in the world more important than the circus. For fifteen years Josie did her best-to be a gilUe too, but she never quite made it. One day she got stuck on a cream-colored horse pulling a milk wagon} bought it, and went I>ack into training. Robinson divorced her. No* body had ever come back to bareback riding after a fifteen-year layotT; but Bailey, wlio owned 90 per cent of the Bamum circus, gave her a contract. A nuwfb before tfte cfawus was to open St ihe old Garden, Josie missed a somersault and broke'two-cibs; Tiie doctors .taped her up, and the morning after opening, niglit she was again, the bif^est five feet in CHiv cusdom. ■• ' This was the saga'of the sawdust sweetie who performed for me. at the Hippodrome and went along.witli tjie troupe.to Fort Worth when I presented "Jumbo" at the CentenniaL The following year I dis- covered water, put on the first Aquacade, and forgot alwut Jo.sie; Chances are I made a mistake by not asking her if she knew how to swinu. ■•„ • ■ ■ ■ • And now for ime of those vignettes which make me glad I'm in show business. One Spring evening a few years back, I went to the opening of the circus at Madison Square Garden. As Merle Evans picked up his baton to give the downbeat for the preliminary fanfare, he turned, faced a center box and bowed. Then, as the performers trotted out for the open- ing spec, I noticed their eyes were on the same box. The riders saluted with their whips as they pranced by. The aerialists signaled a jatmtf two-fiqgered hello, and the clowns did an extra flip. Prodded by thdr trainers,- even the elephants waved their trunks. "What gives?" I asked myself. "Is the President in the house?" I followed a Crackeijack salesman down the aisle to the box. Seated in it was you-knoV-who. Her-.white hair had been patted, primped and curled until it looked Uke a platiniun tiara. After the finale, I went backstage and looked up Pat Valdo, who has been major-donioing the Greatest. Siiow on Earth- for a quarter of a century. "Who arranged the big fuss for Joste?" I asked him. "Nobo^ arranged it," said Valdo. ''It's been happeidng like this for years."'- ■ ' .-■ ^■ "You mean Josie attends every'circus opening?" "Yes," said Fat, "and all the other pejrformances as well. You see, the old lady lives in a hotel down on Twenigr-third 'street. Not much of a place—one of -those bed, dresser and xdbidr jobs. The walls are cov- ered with her old circus posters, and on tbe nmatel atje the decorations she won—the medal the President of M^doo gave, her, the miniatun horse presraated.by Edward of England. "Every year when the big show plays New York, Josie puts on her - best dress and hires a limousine. She doesn't have any trouble getting into the Garden—she stiU has the gold lifetime pass Barnum himseU gave her. -The management reserves the center-box for her, and every afternoon and night for six weeks, Josie -is in that box. And if she wasn't, I guess the performers would get worried-and figure sometiMsS was wrong." ■ . Well, when the Big. Bazzledazzle opens at.tlie Garden come April 7, I expect to be there with peanuts, popcorn and pennant. Being an old corn-ball, I'U naturally be thinking of Josie De Mott Robinson. And I'm willing to bet-any. kid a candy apple that the performers will play to the center hasi as usual, and nod their heads in memory of a lady whose life was a little sad, a UtOe gallant and a little romaricable. • . fiopyi-itflit. m«, liy Hilly Hone GEETA GYBT'S YAKK PIC Greta Gynt, British 'actress, heads for the Coast this week on the lookout for a one-pic stint with an American fihn company. Her contract with J. Arthur Rank ex- pires shortly and she wants to get in work on one Yank fihn. before returning to England. Understood that Rank is ready to renew once she treks homeward, but has no objection to a delay due to a Hol- lywood .solo. , She's being handled, through Bert Allenlietg, Hollywood agent. Would Cut Tax to Washington, March 30. New bill to drop the 20% .ad+ missions bite to the prewar 10% figure has been introduced here by Rep. Bertrand W. (Bud) Geathart (R., Cal.). He is a meniber of the House Ways and Means Committee, which institutes aU tax legislation. While the feeling here is that there will be no slashes in the so- called Inxury excises during 1948, it is interesting, that Gearhart's bill came less than , it week after Bep. Harold Knutson (R;, Minn.), chair- man of the Ways and Means Com- mittee, promised that the admis- sions tax would be considered dur- ing the latter part of April by his committee. Knutson has favored reducing the admissions tax for some time, but the House leaders claim that other tilings come first in their scheme o£ tsK legislation, RAVE DAZZLES LONDON IN PALLADIUM London, March 30. Martha Raye stopped the show cold at her opening yesterday (29) : at the Palladium here, providing 30 minutes of sock enterUinment,, after which she begged off to in- troduce the Ben Yost Koyal Guards. She interrupted the sinfr ens' efforts for further comedy and again succeeded virtually in halt- ing the proceedings. The Guards hit showstop proportions on their own in the first half of the bill- Miss Raye opened to a capacity house Nvith 300 standees, i^oxt^ is sold out for the entire week, with heavy advance boofci*«gs.