Variety (November 1950)

MISCELLANY ^nmff Wednesday, November: 1950 Yet’ Pic Commaiid Perfonnance By HAROLD MYERS , ^ London, Oct. 31. “Biggest and best yet” was the unanimous trade verdict, of the i fifth Command Performance, held at the Empire theatre here last I night (Mon.). Especially marked i M'as the Anglo-American flavor of the alfair, which is expected to help cohsiaerably in cementing friendly relations both between the film in- dustries of the two countries and the nations as a whole.; Twentieth-Fox’s , “M ti d ^ a r k,” which was chosen as the Command film only after much controversy, received an ovation and impressed with its sincerity, warmth and emo- tion. Generous tributes were paid both by the audience and the Brit- ish press to the stars; Irene Dunne, Alec Guinness and Andrew Ray, . latter the British moppet,who plays | the title role. Although it opens slowly, the film develops force and character -and is certain to achieve wide success on both sides of the , Atlantic.-;. Stage pre.sciitation, produced, by ; ((Zlontinued on page 65) 1 Slated for B'way Revue Bert Kalmar, Jr , son of the late com poser) will make hi s Broadway songwriting debiit with “Guidain Going Up,” scheduled for produc- iion this season, probably by Irving Cooper and Marilyn Cantor, daugh- teh of Eddie Cantor, who will make her Broadway bow as a member of the cast. Kalmar is also slated to | appear in the reyue. Irvin Graham and Charlotte J Kent have supplied other songs for the show, with various writers con- tributing sketches. Mervyn Nelson Is set to stage the offering, which is budgeted at $75,000. By ABEL GREEN GERT HEADING DRIVE WILL MAHONEY THE INIMITABLE The Jolson story, on the heels of Variety’s exclusive that the jaz^ singer was willing his entire $4,000,000 estate to three major religious faiths, has pyramided into a heart-warming climax. Public, press and pulpit continue to acclaim A1 Jolson as a humanitarian headliner in life, as he was in his chosen career. Sermons in churches and memorial serv- ices have been officiated over by clergy of all denominations. Presk •and public accolades for the immigrant from Russia Who left his all to charity, after generously providing, of course, for his immediate family, are a record of the continuing JolsOh story. Jolson biogs were suddenly whipped into shape by byliners on local dailies and by the syndicates following. his death last week. Columnar writings by Walter Winehell, Leonard Lyons, John Crosby, Ed Sullivan and Louis; Sobol were mature, sophisticated encomiums from hard- headed journalists tapping their typewriters softly. ; The widow aiid the two adopted Jolson children will have a priceless memory file. Somehow Broadway-Hollyvybod hewspapermen, most closely thrown- in with Jolson over the yearS) best retained memories of a pseudo- toughie who was a soft touch. The panhandlers’ grapeyine knew Jol- son’s route from his hotel to his haunts, and a walk with the Currently Great Britalning Returning to U. S., Nov. 4 . . . i , * • *I f !. ^ f ^ V/XA;* XX xo X4V.f VV.X. w; AAXO ‘ AlCX V4AA l/0| CXiiV* . CH- . W dXfV • W 1X11 tllC rivoning i>i c ; star, was an experience attended by the constant motion of. hand-into- Washlngton, Oct. 31. to reviye town’s Command‘Firsts’ London, Oct. 31. Official confirmation of the an- nouncement that Jack Benny and Dinah Shore are to appear at the Command Variety Performance at the London Palladium on Monday week (13) establishes a precedent for this Royal gala. It’s the first time that Uvo U. S. topliners have traveled especially from "America and appeared simultaneously be- fore the King and Queen. The complete list of names shows that many Americans cur^ rently working in London are to be similarly honored. There is a par- ticularly big contingent f r o m “Touch and Go,” including Kaye Ballard, Helen Gallagher, The Dcb- onaires, Jonathan Lucas and David (Continued on page 55) I ■ Drive ; Door Canteen got under way last , I Friday (27) with unveiling of a plaque On the old Belasco theatre ; i by Gertrude Lawrence. Cere- monies paid tribute to work of the Canteen during World War II. [; The Belasco, scene of the war- time recreation center for service : men. is now a Treasury storehouse. Storm center of competing efforts to lease it as a legit, it is unlikely it will again be converted to its use as a Canteen in the near future. I Accompanying Miss Lawrence to the dedicatioi. were Mrs. Lawrence Langner, wife of the Theatre Guild prexy and herself wartime head of the American Theatre 1 Wing; Milton Shubert, and Mrs. Martin Beck, New York theatre ; owner, . attending the ceremony ’ also were Sec. of the Treasury John Snyder, former QPA boss Leon Henderson, and Minister to : Luxemburg Mrs. Perle Mesta., i Miss Lawrence emceed a fund- raising ball at the Mayflower Hotel that night. —■Top^.ftho J3miVire-s Mil is orio . ^ ^ Aiiioi-ii u’s b('si - low'd dancing I There are relatively few, once having had contact with Jolie, who eomodian.s, A\ ill Xfalnnioy. ninldng didn’t have his or her own special memory of the star. lii« fir,st poKt-war appearanoe in I When Jolson was iri the throes of “The Jolson Stpry”.he told one of Edinbni gli' i his New York pals, Dr. Samuel Lubalin, “If this clicks, you’re ih,” AVithoutdoubty Ids .dclici<)u.siy Frohlieh) eventually had to document a ic^-off-the-tOp dividend'to Dr. Liibalin. of the loading musio-hall artists ot if the day. Represented by associated booking 11/1 r-'s' in; Gift Subscription Enclosed find check or m.o. for $ Send Variety for one year..... two years, y.. • •. • • . • ♦ • NAME •’I ADDRESS ;..........,. CITY......... ZONE.. . STATE .... FROM Indicate If gift card desired Q NAME ADDRESS ............ CiTY;......,.. . TO One Year-—^$10.00 . Jwo Years—-SI 8.00 Canada ond Foreign—$1 Additional per Year P'^iEtY \nc. 154 West 46th St:- New York 19, N. Y. As if his spurid-pn-film and voice-on-wax were not endugh for pos- j ierity, there has cropped up suggestidns for an A1 Jolson Heart Fund. CORP. I From San Francisco comes the suggestion to Variety for an Al Jolson Ml ■ I Memorial Fund for Servicemen. Another Worthy suggestion is for a I commemorative Jolson Uy S. postage stamp for his war work. ! The affinity of Jolie and song made it a natural for the disk jockeys to pay continuing tribute this past week to the 20th century’s No. 1 song interpreter, and from that stemmed a renewed demand for his Decca disks. In time Columbia Pictures may, under dignified auspices; ; reissue “The Jolson Story” and “Jolson Sings Again.” Both Jolie and ; Cdl prexy Harry Cohn had an idea that some day a “Jolson Festival” ! might be staged. It may now come posthumously. Jerry Wald-Norman j Krasna Productions still plan doing “Stars and Stripes Foreyer,” the USO film story; as a tribute to Jolie. It will be dedicated “to the memory of Al Jolson” (see separate story). The Jolson memorial service on Sunday (29), at. New York’s Temple , Rodeph Sholo’m, under Jewish Theatrical Guild auspices, was repre- Washington, Oct. Jl. j sented by speakers from Veterans Hospitals Camp Shows (Jim Sauter), Plans to develop a system of [ Negro Actors Guild (Noble Sissle), Catholic Actors Guild (Ed Begley), motion picture copyrights were among others. Eddie Cantor, who was the prime eulogist, observed, I abandoned by the United. Nations “Jolson again turned them away.” The temple was SRO. The Coast j Educational, Scientific & Cultural services inspired an eqiially spontaneous emotional reaction, as detailed j Organization’s International Con-^ below, I fercnce on Copyrights today | Further tribute was paid Al Jolson last week when the members of I (Tues.). The conference voted ; the Floyd Gibbons Post 500 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at a meet- ! to recommmend to congresses 1 ing passed the following resolution: i and parliaments Of various coun-j “Whereas: By the constant willingness of Al Jolson to entertain in tries that they amend current the Armed Forces of our country both at home and abroad and by his copyright laws which would pro-! tireless efforts in the furtherance of his chosen art, he has proven him- tect motioh pictures. j self a real veteran and a true comrade, be it therefpre resolved, that The conference, now workingTnr his death the country as a Whole and V. F. W., as a nationwide or- art international convention to sIm-! ganization, mourn his passing and extend to his widow and relatives plify copyright procedures, has. j sincere corisolation.” • been meeting here for the past 10 j IQ IncflfiiHnnc SKarA days, working on various codes.; lllbUlUUOnS 10 Ondie 1 Conference also sought to nullify ' I A] ; the manufacturing copyright which in HI JOlSOIl DCI1|U0SIS calls for the printing or manufac -1 . ^.fter payment of specific bequests amounting to $1,910,000, the bal- ture of 1.500 ^disks or copies of j ance of Al Jolson’s estimated $4,000,000 estate will be split among some sheet music for full protection. ^3 (charitable, religious and educational institutions. Legacies >vere disclosed in New York Thursday (26) when the will of the late per- former was filed for probate. . . 1 • widow, Mrs. Erie Galbraith Jolson, receives the entire net in- printing trades, but groundwork is ; come from $1,000,000, in equal monthly installments. Payments are , beipg laid for legislation in mdi-i not to be less than $3,333.33 every month. Similarly, a trust fund of vidual countries to obviate need $100,000 was set up for the showman’s second wife, Ethel Delmar. She, I for The manufacturers copyright. 35 Ihe present Mrs. Jolson, will draw income, for life. I Plans are also being laid for the | Asa Jolson, 2, and Alecia Jolson, their two adopted children, both ; exten-sion of current copyrights, i vvill benefit from a life income from separate $500,000 trust funds. ; Current laws allow for 28 j'ears on Also granted specific bequests are Jolson’s brother, Harry; his Step- an original and an additional 28 sister, Gertrude; three step-brothers, Michael, Georget and Emil;' and years on a renewal .before .work John M. Sneckenberger. Latter is the Certified Public Accountant, reverts to public domain. , who has been with Jolson for 25 years. Each is willed $10,000. A committee had been caucusing Jolson directed that $200,000 be turned over to the Cedars of Lebanon in the Library of Congress to work hospital, Los Angeles, which is to be known as the Al Jolson Fund, out the UNESCO Conference stand Northwood sanatorium, Saranac Lake, N. Y., receives $50,000 to be on films, which are hot subject to j (Continued on page 22) , copyright in many countries. In ■ England for example, an original book or .story on which a picture is based may be copyrighted. Piracy suits are consequently based oil the original work. This legislation had to be aban- doned this year because of pres- ' sure of various unions from the Truman Seeks Encore Washington, Oct. 31. President Truman today told Carter Barron, Loew’s special rep- , resentative in Washington, that he Mulling Film To Be Made in Israel Tel Aviv, Oct. 22. Barney Balaban, Paramount prexy, arrived in Israel Thursday (19) and left for Europe today fit tk i • n .: (2 2). He was accompanied by Uf D.t. Anm rageMT^e'?'^®* Weltner, head of Para- I mount International, and Jqhn B. Nathan, company’s (jontihental manager. During his visit, Balaban was invited to lunch by Israel’s presi- dent. Prof. Chaim Weltzman. He I would like to see the Washington ; Sesquicentennial Commission’s pa-1 also ’ was entertained'^*Sy*“^ime geant, “Faith of Our Fathers” con-1 Minister David Ben-Gurion. tinued next year in the new 4,000- j About the possibilities of mak- amphitheatre in Rush Creek Park, j ing pictures in Israel, Balaban said Washington; i thM- Leo McCarOy, on. behalf of , Commission met last week and ; Paramount, would visit Israel to ; had been unable to cohrie to a con- j study •possibilities of a film being elusion as to continuation of the ' shut here as well as in Rome and pageant written by Paul Green. In \ Paris. He also stated that Israel light of the President’s wish,es, dc- ' heeded niany more theatres in cision to reopen the display may be ’ view of Constantly increasing num- ber of immigrants* . . made at the Commission’s next meeting in Decembeh Being a veepec of the United Jcwi.sh Appeal Balaban showed great interest, in the development oi the country Murriy SiWerstone. 20th-Fox Encino, Cal., Oct. 24. Editor, Variety: When the phone rang at 11:30 or so last night, I was making a note on some diaiog for the tag of the Crosby show Al JOlson was to have recorded in Sah Francisi^o with Bing this evening. It was Pat Dane, calling) to relay the informa- tion she’d just gotten fi'om Bill Morrow at the St. Francis. Bill and I had discussed the script Sunday evening. It was all done except for the finish. Five days ago, Mrs. Jolson had ushered, me' into Al’s den at the Encino house. We had an appoint- ment to discuss his Korean junket, to^ glean anecdotes and material that were later incorporated in Morrow’s and my script. Al was sitting on the divan across from his television set, watching a Morton Downey kinescope. He iumped up when I came into the room and foreign chief, alSs) spent three days | offered me his seat. Then he in Israel recently, 1 (Continued bn page 221