Variety (January 1952)

9S Vorty-dxlh We&ut&ty, Jaaour? % 1952 FLYING LEATHERNECKS THE RACKET THE KOREAN STORY RLACKREARD THE PIRATE (III Technicolor) THE DAY THEY GAVE BABIES AWAY AFRICAH INTRIGUE (lii Technicolor) 1 K © RADIO Never A Doll Moment T ./ ■ Hollywood; After 20 years as a Hollywood p;a., a guy ought to have plenty of highlights packed away in his memory bag. There is one drawback to reminiscing, however — you have to find time to relax and think of nothing else. Now if such a luxury were to come my way, I might remember a lot of things which I’ve experienced, or seen happen to press agent friends during two decades. Like, for instance: OUTDOOR REFRESHMENT; SERVICE / from Coast I to Coast ' [ ovor % Century Refreshment Service for DRIVE IN THEATRES PA It TP— — — II There was the producer who wanted an honorary college degree f of making an epic. When the press department couldn't interest a big university, he said he’d settle for a degree each from two small colleges ... . The drama critic in Portland who gave a Paramount picture a bad review, then later ran in his column: “We’re hereby getting back into the good graces Of Paramount by printing the following recipe on how to cook carrots by Miss Betty Hutton of that, studio.’’ . . . And the press gathering to watch Dorothy Lamour give up her sarong forever by burning it. The cloth failed tp, burn, even when doused with gasoline. How’d the press agent know the wardrobe dept, had fireproofed it for safety? « . . The columnist who never Would accept gossip handouts, saying she made up her own chatter so she could , be sure it was exclusive . ", . The time, too, when the gagster production man 'gave the unsophisticate p.a. from Harvard the story, of having to make water wings for a . herd Of non-swimming cattle for a Hopalong Cassidy film— -and the crazy item got printed! | Takes Yer Cherce | Oh yes, the astounding seriousness of the neophyte publicist who wrote three canned reviews for the press book— one a rave; one lukewarm, and the other a vicious pan —and when told to quit kidding, replied, “Isn’t this a service we give drama editors— what’ll a person have to Vj print if he doesn’t like the picture?’’ . . , The day on “Boom Town” when we saw Gable step into ’ bit player’s punch and sustain the split lip that cost thousands in delay. Told it was our neck if anything got out on this, we rushed back to the office to find a newspaperman already , on the ‘phone asking for verification of the story; That was final proof how full of news-tippers Hollywood is . . . The hippo, imported for. a jungle scene, which, the instant he was put into an ocean bay, sank and never came up. No one had told the moviemakers hippos , can’t live in salt Water . . . The press agent who conceived the idea of combining features of 10 top he-men actors to~ make up Peggy Hopkins Joyce’s ideal man. The result looked like a pansy but the composite job cost $50, and he had to get it printed, so sold his soul for its play in one edition . . , The femme star Who telephoned the flack to come right out to the set. Girding himself for a beef; he listened in amazement as she said, “The lead in this pencil is too hard for keeping our gin rummy score; may I. trade it to you for of those soft-lead ones?” Among other events: our “last laugh” at the guy who used to kill all pur cheesecake photos at the censor’s office and who, after losing that job, went to work on a paper and telephoned to plead for art sexy enough to please his boss . , . The “drama editor” on a small southern paper Who wrote frequently for personally autographed photPs and who, when finally .checked on by a field man, proved to be the office boy who, by that time, had the finest collection of inscribed photos in the country . . . The famous femme mind-reader, the chief peg for a campaign, who astounded the press by her “second sight” and then cooked everything nicely, when she lost some jewelry, by asking the cops to locate it for her ... The gag expense account of $1,200 that a press agent turned in for courting the magazine editor he’d just married. And how can we forget the little Swedish girl Who was brought by stillmen to pose in shorts with the U. S. C. college track stars running and jumping and whom we, still a college senior, were told, “is some new actress named Greta Garbo” . . The wonderful line in a "movie review: “The story’s nothing much— just something O. Henry might have written” . . . The time our traveling pal, Rufus . Blair, couldn’t find! a rpom in Cincinnati and booked himself into a hospital as a patient who recovered miraculously after a night’s sleep . . . The life-size lobby cutout of Mae West With flaps patrons could lift to see what was, worn below— rwhich got killed, but fast. New York Theatres starrint JANE RUSSELL' SROUCMMARK FRANK SMATM Mr ««ur stir nonnt JOEY AMR > MidnigM Fratui*) . NifMI, .RADIO CITY MUSIC HAU Rockefeller Center Doris Day • Danny Thomas “I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS” pfvs THE MUSIC HALL’S GREAT CHRISTMAS STAGE SHOW CAN YOU USE A KEY MAN? ... 19 years experience New York area. Advertising and Pub. Chief large, dr? cult, asst, to top executive, supervisor of theatres; and specialist in foreign film operation. Write Sox V-1252, Variety, 154 W. 44th St., New York.