Variety (Jul 1948)

Wednesday, Jtily 7, 194S 4S Literati MealaBd-Shulmui'* ColUb Richard Mealand, former Para- mount stoiy editor, has collabo- rated With Max Shulman on a 52- page screen treatment of a'short story by Shulman that appeared in the June 12 issue of Collier's. Treatment is now being oifered the studios by the Levee-Stark agency. Yam is tagjged "The Thief of Broadway." It is a show biz drama. Shulman's mag story was labeled "The Small Time." Mealand has written two novels and a number of short stories since he left Par two years ago. This is his first effort specifically for the screen. FTC Cites Book Clubs Federal Trade Commission last Saturday charged six book clubs, including Book-of-the-Month and l^iterary Guild, of falsely claiming to offer "free" dividend or bonus boolcs. FTC complaint objects , to use of terms like "tree," "bonus -books," "book dividends," etc. as "false, misleading and deceptive." About six months ago, the: Com- mission ruled that words like '"free" could not be used where there were any strings to the offer. ■ Named in the current citation were: Book - of - the - Month Club, Inc., and its officers; Doubleday & Co.. and its subsidiary. Literary Guild; :Nelson Doubleday, Inc., of Garden City, and its subsidiaries, Book Ijeague of America, Double- day One Dollar Book Club, and Home Book Club; Cadillac Pub- li!;liing Co.; and Walter J. Black, Inc., trading as the Classics Club and Detective Book Club. Romberg Fictionalized ■ A novel based on the life of Sig- niund Romberg, "Deep in My Heart," written by Elliott Arnold, with Romberg aiding with data and advice, will be published by Duell, Sloan & Pearce next spring. Meantime, in addition to bis current summer radio chores, Romberg is working on a new legit musical with Dorothy Fields, while a film scoring job is pending. Portuguese Film Bights Soiisht American interests are negotiat- ing in Lisbon to buy film rights to two successful Portuguese novels, "Selva" t"The Forest"), by Fereira de Castor, a novel about adven- tures in the Brazilian forest, and "The Maia," a domestic novel. "The Maia" is the work of Por- tugal's leading novelist of the last century, Eca de Queiros, centenary Of whose birth was celebrated last year. The novel has also been adapted for the stage and the five- act drama was a big success last year in .Lisbon and On the road. Cott's 'Treasury of Spoken Word' Hermitage Press on Oct. 15 will bnng oftt a "Treasury of the Spoken Word," edited by Ted Cott, program veepee of WNEW, N. Y., and subtitled "an anthology of poems designed to be read aloud." Contents of the volume will be based on material from a transcrip- tion library by the same name to be released this fall by World Broadcasting. The book will also carry instructions, a la script .form, for the reading of the poems. Louis Untermeyer wiU. do the foreword. WNEW has been airing the "Treasury of the Spoken Word" material for a number of months. It's reported about another 100 stations have taken options on the -series.' : ■ • ■ ■• ■ Treaty finlndcs Chinese Although the Senate has finally pa.ssed the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the U. S. and China, the clause covering Chinese translation of American literary works was spe- cifically excluded. That phase of the pact is thus left in the air. Under the Senate action, Chinese translation of American writings 'wUl be interpreted io accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Commercial Relations signed at Shanghai, Oct. 8, 1903, until further negotiations and agree- ment concerning translations are forthcoming." Tlie new treaty would have for- bidden the pirating of U. S: booics In their original language, but would not have limited translation. Furthermore, under the most-fav- ored-nation clause of the recip- Weal trade agreements, other na- tions would have had similar right of translation. It had been ex- pected that, despite pressure from publisher and author interests, the Senate , would approve the new treaty; as. Ote Stajte Department had argued that the U. S. would lose "face" with the Chinese gov- ernment if renegotiation of the controversial clause were re- quested. Arizona Times Sale Snair Arizona Times, reported sold last week by publisher Anna Roosevelt Boctciger, has reverted to its origi- nal owners following a nix of the deal by minority stockholdets. Group seeking to take over the p.m. daily was headed by Colum- bus Giragi, Times columnist, and Fred A. Eldean, N. Y. public rela- tions counselor. Giragi was to have chipped in with additional coin for the hardpresiscd paper. Plans now call for Giragi, who Jiad taken over as editor-publisher, to be retained in an advisory ca- pacity. Giragi made drastic changes during the few days he controlled the paper, eliminating one editor, cutting overhead, slash- ing salaries on a voluntary basis. Sixty employees were dismissed the day before Giragi took charge. Anna and John Boettiger own 51% of the Times stock, including 2% turned over to them by Klea- nor Roosevelt. Walter Klrschner of the Grayson chain clothing stores originally had the remaining 49%. Stock certified control of the paper could not be sold without consent of all stockholders. CHATTER Margaret Barton's "Garrick," will be issued by Macmillan in September. Lucy Greay Black has joined Knopf as assistant to William Cole, publicity head. Arthur Marx sold a story, "It's Better to Receive," to Red Book mag for early publication. Radio News, Ziif-Davis publica- tion, becomes Radio and Television News with the August issue. "Sheridan: His Life and His Theatre," by Lewis Gibl>s, will be published in September by Mor- row. Sarah Salzer is profiling Andre Previn; Metro's 19-year-old musical director, in this month's issue of Seventeen mag. Two new publishing firms, Den- is Yates Publications, Ltd., and Peter Nevill, Ltd., have been formed in London. Bruce Downs, eastern editor for Papular Photography, ^iff-Davis publication, resins to beeome pic- ture editor of Collier's. ' James iJugan writing Cosmopol- itan piece on Robert Goldstein, Unlversal's talent scout, titled " *No-Gun' Goldstein" for Ifovem- ber publication. Margaret O'Brten's "My Diary," illustrated with her own drawings, will be published by Lippincott in September. It will have an intro- duction by Lionel Barrymore. Robert I. Garver, radio director of Alley & Richards ad ageticy, writing a book on "Radio's Partici- pation Programs." .scheduled for Prentice-Hall publication this fall. Charles Samuels on annual six- week junket to Hollywood to select this year's candidates from all studios for Motion Picture Magazine's yearly series, "Stars of Tomorrow." Louis Broinfleld, while auto- graphing books at Lazarus Book Shop in Columbus, O., last week, let It be known that he has an- other novel, "Wild Country" ready for publication next year. Paul Blaushard's series of arti- cles on the Catholic Church, on the basis of which the Board of Superintendents banned The Na- tion from the libraries of the pub- lic schools of New York City are scheduled for publication In book form in the fall by Beacon Press, of Bostott; Leonard R. Harris has resigned as associate editor of Varsity to be- come publicity director for the trade book department of Prentice- Hall. K. S. Ghtlger continues as public relations head of the firm, and Dorothy M. McKittrick Is upped from his secretary to be assistant to Harris. Gene Elizabeth Wyatt continues as publicity assist- ant for the company's other de- partments. Trust Victories = Goutlnucjl rrom page S ts, nixed the move because the Gov- ernment, action has been sent back for new hearings and there 1b there- fore no final word on the suit. Utigating exhibs have been counting heavily on the tagging of certain trade practices as monop- olistic by the Supreme Court-as loading the dice in their favor. Company attorneys now believe that these exhibs will hold back untU 'final decision in the Govern- ment suit so that lullnga «od opinions made therein can be used in support of their private suits. Fifth & Walnut counted heavily on the weight of these opinions but lost out because of the court refusal to permit their admission. , In Contrast To 1947 Remarkably enough, after a dis- astrous 1947 which saw affirmance of both the William Goldman (Philadelphia) and Jackson Park (Chi) decisions, majors have, not been hit with a single major blow during the current year. The winning string started with the Bordanaro Bros, suit in Buffalo for $489,<00 damages. In tWa acUon, all defendants but Warner Bros, and Paramount were let out. Triple damages of $84,000 were awarded against Par and Warners. Both are appealing, with a strong chance of reversal. Second victory also occurred in Buifalo whe^n the Rivoli Operating Co. (Stanley Kosenowski) took a beating in its $1,200,000 action. That suit resulted in- a Jury verdict against the plaintiff after the ma- jors introduced strong proof that Rivoli had engaged in percentage- chiselling. Third in the siring wa.s the Dallas action of B. R. McLendon. Court dismissed the suit after trial. McLendon allowed his time to appeal to lapse and later settled cross-claims for percentages on pix for $5,000. Active in handling the sti-ing of victories for the majors have been a number of attorneys well known to the industry. . Included are Louis Pliillips (Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin & Krim), Richard Mor- gan and Mortimer Lane, Para- mount; Robert Perkins, Howard Levinson of Warner Bros.; Gordon E. Youngman, William Zimmei^ man of RKO; Edward C. and George Raftery (O'Brien, Driscoll, Raftery & Lawler) for United Art- ists and' Universal; Louis (Schwartz 4) BYohlich for;Colum- bia; John Caskey (Dwight, Harris, Koegel & Caskey) for ZOtb-Fox; and Benjamin Melniker for Metro. H'wood Wails 1 Contintteil from p«s« J ; fresh talent is called for from every standpoint now and that one- new click per year is well worth the investment in time and money for the upbuilding. That tlie idea has taken hold is evidenced from the fact that on studio contract lists right now are. 89 ^potential stars of the: future, compaired with less.than 50 a year ago. By-Pass Big Namcf In the current economic drive the majors as well as the indies are sidestepping-highly paid names and developing acting talent, espe- cially among teen-age thesps of both genders. Warners assigned Patricia Neal, a newcomer on the screen, to the femme lead opposite Gary Cooper in "The Fountain- head," a role ogled longingly by a dozen Hollywood names. Other comparatively new names booked for buildups on the Burbank lot are Barbara Bates, Doris Day, Geraldme. Brooks, Douglas Ken- nedy, Gordon MacRae, Ray Mont- gomery, Helen Westcott and Mary Stuart. Metro is heavy on sprouting femmes, altliough short on male juves. The roster includes Eliza- beth Taylor, Ava Gardner, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, Janet Leigh, Marshall Thompson, Marsha Van Dyke, Arlene Dahl, Audrey Totter, Cyd Chari.sse, Claude Jar- man, 'Jr., Richard Beavers, Betty GaiTett, Dee - Tumell and Candy Toxton. Youthful thesps under contract at Paramount are Wanda Hendrix, Mona Freeman, Richard Webb, Laura Elliott, Margaret Field, Mary Hatcher, Roberta .Jonay, George Reeves and Mary Jane Saunders. In the Hal Waliis stable on the same lot are Mickey Knox, Kristine Miller, Douglas Dick, Suzanne Dalbert and John Brom- field. moth's Sprouts In the development process at 20th-Fox are Colleen Townsend, Coleen Gray, Jead Peters, Debra Paget, Robert Arthur, Vanessa Brown and Richard Wldmark. RKO has Betsy Drake, Jane Greer, Gloria Grahame and Jack Paar. Under David O. Selznick's banner are John Agar, Rory Calhoun, Guy Madison, Gar Moore, Louis Jour- dan, Christian Kelleen and Hazel Brooks. At Universal-International the roster includes Marta Toren,*Shel- ley Winters, Stephen McNally, Ann SCULLY'S SCRAPBOOK ^ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦t»»* * «* By Frank Scully ♦♦ ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦J Nutley, N. J.. July L In sprint! « Jting man's fancy lightly turns to tboufdhts of euphoria, which in case you skipped class that day is "merely im exaggerated feeling of well-being." And what Is exogamy, too, if hot this same exaggerated feeling'? Not only love gives this feeling. Dr. John Gregory on "Leave It to the Girls" gives it and* Constance Bennett, Binnlo Barnes, Sylvia Sidney, and a gal whose-name I didn't quite catch, seemed leaded with it. Dr. Gregory, who spiels his psychoanalytic routines with an Oxford: accent (or is it-Eton?), stumped the girls on words which would: not. have bothered them at all if they had been constant readers of Scully'a Psychiatric Word Book for Hollywood. Earning one's "E" here in fact is easier than earning it at Eton, By using this dictionary as a pony you should finish far ahead of tiin class, which must be still trying to rhyme "love" with "taeteroaexual- ity." This, too, is a symptom. It's called the "expansive delusion." You'll find it uudN": Eeholalia. The meaningless repetition of words, heard spoken by others, a symptom of dementia praecox. "Okay," "Check," "That'*- right," "Now he tells me," "Well, that's life!" "How's tricks?" "Nice picture, L.B." . Eebopathy. A nervous disease marked by a senseless repetition of words. Dialog of Hemingway characters^ Ballplayers on coaching :lines. ■ ■ Echopraxiat Meaningless Imitation ol gestures of others. Also a dementia praecox symptom. People who can't sing but imitate Crosby's "Bub-bub," Jolson's knee routine, Truman's piano-playing. Eclampsia. A (onvulsion, frequently occurring in later stages of pregnancy. Producers on coming out of the ninth bad sneakview of a picture, which seems to get increasingly worse with each editing, Ecmnesia. Loss of memory for I'ecent events, .with fair memory ot : older events. Producers who say, "Gimme a pencil, I wanna, make m mental note of this for tomorra's meetin.'," but who remember quite well how sexy a sagging star of today looked 10 years ago. Economy-Canon. A working rule in which the simplest explanation is preferred. Also called the "law of parsimony" and "Occam's razor" after William of Occam, who formulated it Used for,«atting'. B pic- tures for C mmds. Eostasr> <1) Excessive and overmastering joy or rapture; (2) ^te of suspension of sensory and other mental functions incident upon pro-, longed contemplation of a limited group of ideas. 'Film salesmen in convention assembled on learning next year's product will be fea- tured by a picture co-starring Lassie, Gregory Peck, Ave Gardner, Bing Crosby, Loretta Young, Larry Parks and Thunderhead. Edipus. The desire, usually unconscious, of the son to possess :the mother and to be hostile to the fatlier or destroy Mm. Correlative of the Electra complex. Jolson singing "Mammy" on Fatber's Daj^. Effeminatton. Extreme feminity in a man. Actors who want to re» Vive "Pleasure Man" in Old Homo Week. . ' Ege Libido. Characteristics of narcistic people. Actors who not only keep scrapbooks but read- them. Divorcees who keep- teiUng different psychoanalysts the same dreams. » Eidetiker. An individual who possesses the Ability to pto|ect like- like (eidetic) images. Ctiildren and actors. Ellierfield HonseSi A group of circus: borseS' whieb were abA/tt Un, solve arithmetical,problems mdudiug extractions of square rootft. If they could extract'only round roots they were sold to Hollywood coW'- boys for clearing the land of tree stumps. Electra Complex. Oedipus complex from the femme angle. Deliriumk , brought on exhibitors whenever they think th*^ miv have t)i> pi^ "Mourning Becomes Electra" again. Electron. A particle of matter, about 1/1,800 the mass of a hydro* gen.atom, or equal to character parts of Indiana in almost any westein. .Emboltsm. The forming of an air bubble or-other foreigii body in a blood vessel. Common to writers on seeing their story ideas-tossed into the bloodstream of a producer's "original." Emmert's Law. The tendency of a projected image to increase in size in proportion to the distance of the projection ground from the eye. Producers who catch previews of dwindling, stars .from the flrst rows far to the right, next to the fire exit. ' to the right, next to the fire exit. Emotivity. Capacity for emotional response as measured by a gauge dipped in glycerine. An 8m tear ballooned to 35m-and transposed to Butch Jenkins' cbeek. End-Orcan.. A sensory receptor connected with «■ neuxon or nerve fibre. Musical directors who try to save a bad finish with thtindeiioiiur organ music. Endotramy. The custom of confining marriage to individuals within the same community or caste. Drunks who marry drunlcs', stars who marry stars, producers who marry chorines, .writers who marry stenographers, etc., etc. Opposite is called exogamy, BnopbtiialBios. The condition in .Which the eyeball is sunk into the orbit. Common in hangovers. Eoantliropas. Generic term for Piltdown man. Literally, "dawn mim." Actors Who want to play Tarzan. People who live in Tatzatta, Cal. Eonisnt. Perversion Characterized by impulse to dress in elotbing. of opposite sex. Actors who want to play "Cliarlle't Auot," Actresses who want to play "George Sand." Epigamic. Tending to attract other sex. Actresses who bleach their hair to attract actors wearing brunet toupees. Epiplierlal FeelinE. Any expei-ience whose source of stimulation is localized outside the body. A hotfoot admbiistered during the chase sequence of a western. Eremophobia. Psychoneurotic fear of being .alone. No. 3 company on tour playing to empty houses. Ergasiomania. Busy activity in work-projects, none of which is ever completed. All authors go through this manic excitement. Some get over it. EfKophobla. A psychoneurotic anxiety lest one overdo in work or ■ exercise. Also called Lapdog Disease. Error of Recognition. A term proposed by Foucault for recognition of an item not previously experieneed. People who write to Kidiibitora Herald telling what's wrong with a picture. Psychology ts overboard with a variety of errors. Many make their living just, ebecklag whether the errors are constant, variable, of judgment, or method^ motivated, observational, referred or limited. Eiytiuromauia. A morbid interest in the color red. Also variously called the Thomas Sign, Tenney Complaint and Brewer's Yeast, Eschrolalia. Sensele.ss babbling of obscene words, met with in manic excitement and dementia praecox. In the Cohn Syndrome Esoteric. Hidden. Known only to initiated. The Bre«a office boyc who protest "cleavage" in the presence of low-cut gowns and diemaod it when twin beds are too close together. . Blyth, Helena Carter, Howard Duff, Don Taylor, Rtcbard Long and Dorothy Hart; Enterprise has Beatrice Pearson, late of the legit drama, and Marie Windson, formerly with Metro. Republic is building up Adele Mara and Janet Martin. Eagle Lion sees star possibilities in June Lockhart, Lois Butler and Scott 1 Brady. Walt Disney is arranging l a career for his lone moppet, BoIh i by Driscoll. ! Samuel Goldwyn is mapping fu- ture greatness for Cathy O'DonneQ I and Farley Granger and has signed ; a long contract with Gigi Perreau, I a seven-year-old thesp. Columbis 'has assigned top femme roles to i Terry Moore and Nina Foeh.