Variety (Apr 1948)

For Ofikey Siipig of llotfaer s Eyes' Hollywood, April 6. > Array of top show biz names turned out Sunday (4) night to honor Qeocge Jessel on his 50th. birthday and his 40th show biz anniversary, but the pointed barbs ojE the usual Friara "roastmaster" dinner was genevtitty. missing as ' they touted him M' shies. Some 1,000 were present as emcee Jacic Benny, George Bums, Eddie Can- tor, Sam Goldwyn, Bob Hope, Al Joison, Pat O'Brien, Danny Kaye, L. B. Mayer, Lieut. Governor Good- win Knight and Mayor Fletcher Bowron handed out tributes- Benny teed oR: "I'm speaking air<!ad of the greatest humorist o£ all time. I would probably be the gjTcatest toastmaster to imy func- tion because I'm the Proctor in the . Friars, which is equivalent to being a photographer on Reader's ■ Digest. I know Jessel would be most happy to ftmction botta as toastmaster. and guest of hmior but this once somebody else is taking the job. Georgie is ^t^, coior- .'.£nl,,giib, even funnier than Jack ^WUHg,'- TOCwfe-sophisticated -flian . Caward,. .jooie. charming . tbaa . Chevalier, more versatile than the ,, Govenior of Alabama. In fact he's the on.y Awerfaan mentioned b«tb in V?no s Wtio- and the KiOH^ Bi' ■ port." ■ , J C^or cracked ''It's about time that- the greatest after-dinner Bpeafeer in the country got recog-" nized witb a dinner of this kind. ' These -net my words. I quote from a meeting of the Friars on March . ,« wheii Stestu^ said 'Wb^t am I thd bead of the EMars {or if I don't get*a dinner tossed f^tr me? t n^t 1. MS wea be Abbott with- GostdUo.' . . , I ^ave laiawa George isnce . the days of the "ffid Cabaret" in 19tl-. He wasnt 13 then. One nl^t be called me, asked help to .; a bigh hat^ striped trousers ■ and a frock coat. I said, 'Gecngiei ' yoa'se getting confirmed! lai't ttia^i < jbnuirontflt'far occasianlilw this?* Be retried, *Vt9rVta getting awc- xied< too.' ' , ,,'Saye"imd Jetson. Danny Kaye said he's- sncb. a newcomer that when he gets with oldtimers they send Mm for cigar- ets. Benny said, "Darryl Zanuck . .eoulda't attend^ being in 'N. Y. It's too bad ke isn't here because we . wanted to give him a citation for WldiBg Georgie m° one job for so tnany years. I wasn't so lucky. - Zanuck tra'ded me to Warners for . an assistant director and a polo maUet." Mayor Bowron came forli» with Ids usual compliment of show biz, 4esset and the film industry, wfaieb has been lu«. inalterable monolog for years .except with the change ^ ftf nameSr asd-en^onment. Next to closing- came- Jobion, who tts^S the show entirely with his s<Migs, three of them. In introduc- ing Jolson, Benny said Jolson has $5,000,000, Cantor wishes he had it, and Jessel probably is worried Eddie will get it Jolson said they've been telling all ^rts of stories about him, even to the point that he became friendly with L^ry Parks, so he could teach him how to drown. He said that Jessel Is not alone, a great wit and enter- tainer but a,great imitator, that he has be^n trying to imitate him for 30 years (but badly), and it did no good to steal bis material. He said G^rgie could .never sing, it was just a bad patter to music, and that for first time in his life he would imitate an imitator. He said Jessel was just a loud noise and he would demonstrate it, which he did with a heartrtugging ]»ndition of "My Mother's Eyes," such as Jessel never rendered. It brought the house down and Jol- son into his own. He followed this ■ With "Easter Parade," which re- sulted in an outburst of applause - and whistling at its end for almost five minutes. ' The mammy singer came through with a number that no one in show biz could normally follow. Jolie in- troduced a new song, "Nearest to Heaven," which he said he wrote about the baby he recently adopt- ed. Be stopped the show cold. It took a good five minutes before Benny could get it underway and introduce Jessel. Jessel Shoivs 'Em How Jessel, nervous all night sitting on the dais without being able to g^t a word Ifi, again proved him- jielf the topj^ aftei^-dinner speaker, of the nation, evm tbovHiA hie was in the spot of guest «f h^nMir.' He got btttghs from the start 'Xadies and gentlemen," he said, "this has been a very trying evening, sitting impatientiy listening to the many gentlemen highly suceessfol in their own vocation trgding their hand at being public speakers' md. considering they'v* all done ir^ll, I pay them, a comj^iment w X would « W^year^lduiasebaU pire who his crocheted his ibst table cloth. It is customary for a recipient of a testimonial dinner such as this, when called upon, to, be overcome with emotion, and then sayingf 'oh my good Mends I have no word:i'at thne.' Well, I have as many as 'Gfliie .Wifh the Wtad'.. ," , I wouMli.««ll to yowr ^tteiK tion that this is wgt the fiat fbnas a dinner has been ghren in my honor by the Friars, ^ere have been, many. In ISM tiie Friars had me as thdr guest in fhe monastery in New York and there were <hi the dids George M. C6han, Willie Col- lier, Marcus-Loew.VfTalterC K^ly, Sime Silverman and Sam H. Harris the'q^al^^^ Use gjentlenien \iiilo Bate iitoer.iNie' <3owni'the maid to thefrfsfhenu' jt4d in stn^ngmy praises they did not incorporate monologs from auditions given in front of Alexander Pantages. These gentlemen of -flit past' spoke of many things that I've done that have not been touched upon tbii^ eveniQg,and «r modest as I am I feel-|t IB uttltdr t» ti lady I have A date wifh later in the evening not to hear some of my contributions to mankind in general. As a child I made up sayings like 'a friend in need is a friend indeed;', 'money you make like that will never dO yon any good,' ItodEefeUer- can only wear one suit at a time,', etc., etc. ; ' . " - ^BoteC vJNSM^ nw.Hei* "I should l£k« to speak of the' help th^. I have been to my fellow Toam threogbottt the years. I wish I'could do iMs in the second or third person, I am'so embarrassed I recall walking along the water-^ front in Albany, N. Y., where man was feverishly trying to start bis boat. I showed him how to makf it go, and he never forgot it That man was Bobort Ftdton. At another time I was asked for my advice by a great man in. Washington. The country was in a most hazardous position, the union itself might be severed, and he said to~ me, 'Georgie what am I going to do about that general. I am getting criticism from- all sides. He drinkB, he smokes cigars incessantly and titat beard of his. And I said Abe let all of. your generals drink that way, let IMcClellan go and k^p Grant. '*At another time I met a young man selling beer in the ball parks of New York and I said to- hini baseball is the coming game. Go to Baltimore^ go to' that little school and get that kid. The rest is history. The two were none other than Col. Jake' Ruppert and Bab6 Kuth. "Not alone have I helped my fel- low man, but even the dumb aoi^ mals. -A thmg two years old mn body wouU bet on, because his name was Rosenberg, so-I changed lus name to Rosemont and. in 1986 he beat Sea Biscuit in the Santa Anita Handicap. Well, you say all these things are of yesteryear, but very few people know of my achievements in the last few months. I was asked to help a certain man who lives in San Si- meon, a newspaper publisher. 'I want a certain general,' he said, 'to run for President. Give him some advice.' And so the world thought I was making a personal appear- ance at the Roxy in New York, but I was far away in Loew's T^jkyo and there I spoke to the great gen- eral and I said to him, 'Dougie, your speeches sound as thougli you had a good head complex. They (Continued oh page 58) K£N MURRAY'S .'•BLACKOUTS or iv»r El Capstan ThMtnit'Hollywood, Cat. ' VtoMT Playing Nationally «'BIUL AND COO'* Special Academy Award Winmr TO ME FRANK -By DR. FRANK JUH^GDON- He was, a yotmc actor. "Why.cotft we lunw a subsidized thi.-,t..».. he askedj!"So we can get a chance to act? They-do these thtoerhAff; in Russia » 'J)© msl" I said. "Yes." he answered. '^ write? or artklf ,or musidiUL baa a chance oyer there." • I couldn't be angry wilh Mtau He had vom out a lot of shoe leath.. goteg.from 0«« to office looking, for a job, He had sat aroundTal green's with his fellow-actors t»Udng about &« ;tottenness of a sv«to- which wtm give yoiiiDig talent a. «hsBii>e. , «»« or a system 'He w« jwlfentfi^ ag^nst the "mmNi mttftocrlty of censorshin Hfe was 4cud3/' angry at the monst^Mbwi Intolerance of the deciS ll^eudo^patriottamt of *h#.Thomas. Com^^ Somebody had been ejqfloitmg his fnutratfon to persuade him ttuk the Soviet State haS nuHce to offer. ilSIRUSrafEDByFTC Washington, April C. Amnaeownt Ticket Kaaafactuiv ers Assn. and a number of leading theatre and ofhcr amusement tic- kets w^ere cited tod» ^Tnwday) iSy the iTeawfat, Tfade Ciiimni jssinn for operaUnii^^^aK unlvsfia.ewniil^ natifD to iSt prices .lU4><elli|dnate competition" in the manufacture and ssltf'- of ticketf and rriated' itnns. Ttait was part (tf «b overdl FTC cmaplaint irtiich cited six dif- ferent tnde asaociations and- 37 manufacturiers. They iqchided alao nuuuif«etar«Ts of itaiboad tldxts, coupon books, restaurant checks, cIbthing,''caivcHllS, etc The amusement-geoup products involved Included: "checks and coupons naed by all types of amuse- ment enterprises. mid similar eB>- tabhshments/ audi as batfahousMi, swimndn8[;, peotir, -hone and .ikig .shows, races, fairs;' . candvaila, gamesjuid.theatres."' Among: the manufacture]^ named were: Globe 'KidEet Co.; Allenn Lane Scott, International-^IRekct Co..- Ateus^implex Titket Co.; EUiott Ticket Co.; Arc us Ticket Co.; Toledo Ticket Co.; Oilltagfaam Printing Co;; jNationSl Xiclmt Co.; ^PiemieivSouth«m Ticket Co.; Bal- timore Ticket Printing and En- velope Co.; American' Ticket Corp. and National Theatre Supply. lAtter two firms were described, as. not members of - any. of the as-*^ sodatimia but "allied -to -have actively cooperated in the colloslve pracHciesJ' CitatiHHL also named. Gooch and Co., N. Y. It says-that the six trade associations maintained-head-' quarters at that address, and that the-, Gooch partnendiip serves as Secretary and industry counsel for all of them. "Pursuant to a. conspiracy," said^ FTC, "the respondents have col* lusiyely engaged:' in the followhig practices: agreement npon identical and unitorm prices, discounts, Sui" chargesi, and extra charges to be applied in the sale- and' distribU" tion of the products. - The respondents are given 20 days to file and answer with FTC. It caaw il a shock to him when I told him that no governm.™* interferes with the liberty of its creative artists as much as tlw wm». mnnist despotism of the KremUn. . . -An author named Kmrtylev wrote a historical novel about Ivan thi. Terrible. The CentnA Committee of the Communist Party crackprt do^n on it because it made the dreadful Tsar "too ordinary and in suffiLctently digniQed." A playwright wrote of tMs sume Ivan and M« play was withdrawn by the Committee because "the hiterpretation^ the Tsar was not sufficiently dignified." Imaghie what would have happened to Shakespeare, if he were a .Russian citizen, and wrote nf « Tsar as h» wrote of .Prince Hal, later the hero of A^court JCostylev haij to grovel. He wrote: "I highly value the critical articles about my novel, Itran the Terrible, because they help me in my wmfc The only thinK I night regret ia that such articles have been perham too favorabteto nw wMln. I mysdf hav« 8lway»l>em of a more mod^ oi^iott of m wMto than my crities.'^.^at vmM. our young fiimd say of an Auerieni tfrnntiimait that faiAniliated a writer like that? ' "Ihe'iCremUn's Kfiiike''tb its musicians is still fresh in our minds They grovelled,' too.. It was not'enbugh. ShosttdcOvlch has had to give W hhi dialr oC music «t the Ifoseqw GgniwrValm^. Khadi«t«rian has had fa.isesii^ as Chaixnuui of the iTaloo. o«. Sofiet eomposenTltofb suiter loss of mcome as a result. " lf» tougitr to he a strug^UnC youngster with talent knocldng at demMrtisni, mm or Left, is not the itttswR^ m it on-the throne .antl It. wQt dictate to the ^ndy, the stildio and the- stage. Creative art maar have to fight-to mwvive hi our system, but it still has tike right tcT fightrw^utd «s long as it has this genips at least has A,chance. net reaC Qnii^ M Clak Ibrb Harts HABE WABNOW SIBICEEN Hollywood, April 6. Mark Warnow, due to conduct the Friars* dinner to George Jessel, is hospitalized at Cedars of Leb- anon following a heart attack. His condition is "fairly good.' He wrote a special "Jessel Can- tata" for the occasion, extolling Jessel as "new Metfausaleh.' It was sung by Wamow's choir. iroie Her?^, Jones (Ick at Casiio, LoBdeii . London, April 6. Allan Jones and Irene Hervey were a positive click on opening at the Casino theatre, Monday (5). They were obliged to do 10 num- bers before'getQng oif stages Other American performers on the bill are Maurice Rocco. sepia singer-pianist, and Harrison and Fisher. Also on show are George Noonan, Keppel & Betty, Bennett & Williams, Newman Twins, the Edwardos, and the Carpenter Girls. WeissmuUer and Others Aboard the QM From Eng. Johnny WeissmuUer, who made a number of p.aT's in Britain, was among a number of showbiz pas- Teddy Hart, brother' of the late songwriter, Lorenz Sart, and the; Federation of Jewish Philanthro- pies are currently in a Hassle over whether sale of rij^ts to the clef- fer's film biog constitutes in- come or principal; Legal dispute stemmed from, a j^ovlsion hi Lorenz Harfs whidi gives Teddy Hart and wife Dorothy the income on 7Q%i of his estate, with, that portion revertii^ to the VSP. upon their death. Question of income or prihdpali which, has wide show business ap- plication, popped after Metro paid $250,000 for a musical based on the .life and muric of - Lorenz -Hart and his lifetime coUahOrator, Rich- ard Bodgers. Coin is to be split evenly hetwem the Bart estete and Bodgers. Metro's original tttle for the pic, "My Heart Stood StiU," has been switched to "Words and Musict According to Teddy Hart, the! $12Er,000 slice is held to be current income from the estate and there- fore belongs to him. Jewish Fed- eration, however, claims the coin shottl^ibe considered part of the basic estate - with Teddy Hart entitled only to .the interert deriv- ing therefrom. Metro's deal with the Hart estete and Bodgers for the purchase of rights to all songs to be used in the upcoming production provides for the film company to pay the first $60,000 for necessary song clearances. Thereafter Metro and the songwriting team must split song costs^O-50. ' Dart's Bequests Hart's will also bequeathed a series of cash payments including $5,000 to Teddy Hart and $2,500 to his. wife, Dorothy. Other cash be- qUests include $2',300 to Mrs. Mary Campbell, a maid; $2,500 to Sidney Hertz, a cousin; $2,500 each to Dr. Milton Bender and Irving Eisen- named by Hart as executors ud trustees ofhis-estete. Julian T. Abeles, copyrii^ at- torney Metro, Is chuffying the Lois- Andrews, former wife of 20th-Fox producer George Jessel, makes her New York cafe bow as a single at the Ruban Bleu next Mon- day (12). Length of engagement isn't definite because of the possi- bility that she may go in the RKO film, "Brothers m the Saddle," which may start shooting around May 1. It's her second cafe appearance m a Hanhatten nitery. She ap- peared briefly in an act at the then Fefe's IVConte Carlo 'in 1941, with her former husband. Prior to her N. Y. tri^, she appeared at Slapsie Maxie's, Hollywood. Miss Andrews has been domg video shows on fhe Coast and ex- pects to resume tele on the Coast in the fall. She's also a coliunnist for Teje-Views, a video mag. sehgers who were scheduled to!man, friends; $1,000 to Irene Gal- arrive in New York late yesterday i lagher (Max Dreyfus' aide at Chap- (Tues.) aboard the Queen Mary. [pelD, a friend; $1,000 each to Mary Others listed were playwright 1 and Linda Bodgers, daughters of Frederick Lonsdale and A. C. W.I Richard Rodgers, and $2,000 each Nightingale, manager of the D'Oyly to Mrs. Emma Kahn, Mrs. Rose Carte Opera Co, Also due in was Eric L. H. Cos- by, British financier and chairman of Bruton Films and Premier Dis- tributors. While in the U. S. he hopes to work out some deals with American pic producers interested in film-making abroad. , Elkan and William Herman, two aunts and an imcle. William H. Kron, Hart's longtime business manager, received a trust fund comprising 30% of Hart's estate with principal to be paid over to Kronfs two daughters upon Ms deaths iKion and- Bodgers are nan For Cantor on Coast Hollywood, April 6 The Beverly HiUs B'nai B'rith women's group will host Eddie Cantor at a testimonial dinner ati the Biltmore Bowl April 14 as the "outstanding humanlterian of the year." It's expected 1,000 will at- tend to pay tribute to Cantor for. his willingness to heed humani- tarian appeals during liis 40 years in show biz. George Jessel is slatea to emcee, topping a list of screen, stege and radio talent , j Speakers and guests will incluoe Mayor Fletcher Bowron, Habbi En- gar Magnin, Dr. Merle Fish, Al Jo'- son. Bob Hope, Tony Martin, Oman Shored Will Rogers, Jr., oMie Burlie, Groucho Marx, Abe Burr rows, Danny Thomas, Dennis and Harry von Zell. Peck Dc-Horsed Hollywood, April 6. Gregory Peck fell off a horse Saturday and broke his lelt itg- He won't work for at least » month, doctors-report.-