Variety (September 1953)

I WednrMlay« Septeni1>er 9, 19.‘>3 book to favored guests, tourist and local, at hotels, niteries, casinos, public buildings, and the like. It tells the .story of ndu.stry and Cuban achievement, along with the more frivolous aspects, and winds up with some native cheesecake, and also quite a lew institutional ads from airlines, hotels. Esso gas, Palmolive soap, local cofTee brands, steamship lines, and the like. But uithal it s an expert exposition ()f C'uba and its “marvels.” The poli- tical commercials tor Batista, his family, the humane alTairs they concern themselves with, is part of the local abracadabra and needn’t concern the tourist too much. Abel. SCULLY’S SCRAPBOOK ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦»» By Frank Scully Literati $7.9.'>. as against the larger tome's Book was eddi'd bj Dr. William IVridgwaler ami the ( ol stalT. Columliia f. Press, which gets out I he l.n gec tome, didn’t g(> lor the Viking boil-down at lirst. on grounds ol fU’estige and saUss el- icit, hut Wfis linally sold on the uha of a dilVerent market, in a mass auilieme. tor tlie shortened version. Tlu'i'e’s no tojuivalent (»ne- volume. d<‘sk-si/e enc.Mlopcdia in the maiket, it’s claimed. Kinsey An ‘Affront’ A lioni page letter in The Evangelist, ollii’ial wi*ekl> of the Alban.v Caltiolic Dimese, Friday (It, irom II It. EUins. man.'iging ediloi ol I lie Schenectad\ linion- St tr. . re.K ling to an edilori.il jninlo'l in llie previous etlition and tilled •Ahlietting an Altront.” sl.ileil, ‘ The Alh.iiiy ollice of As- sociated Pre s reported tlial of Id! newspaper^ polled on the day the Kinsev rcp'iil was released, l.l did nol lee il The I.'). all dailies, were in .New Nork .Stale” Union-Star w.IS one 111 them. Ekins’ letter ealled attention to llie tail his paper published the <'ondenin.ition. a day later, ol Arch- bishop .Schulte, of Indianapolis, I “and followed with a brief slate- inenl ol our own altitude.” '^I’he Ev.ingelisl ci|)lioned his e|)islle ’ Union .Star Ketused to Fall For KiMse,\ Piihlieily .Stunt." I^kins ex|)lained; “We look the firm position that publication ol excerpts tioni the Kinsey book in news|>aper columns wamid be in iiad t.iste and that such puhli(,i-^ tion would he an all t out to wom.’inhood . . .’’ Kin'.e.\ Distilling (’orp. of Phila- ilelphia took advantage of the puh- lieity slirri'd by the Kinsey Keport to plaie a tongue-in-ch(>ek instilii- tional ad in New York papers. Ad w.is he.'ideil. “Please . . . we’re Kmsev the distiller . . , We’re not Dr KiiiscN, the author-scientist . . . Nor .ire we the publisher of his t.iiMoiis hooks.” It went on to say that ‘xou can readily understand that we cannot altord to send you a eop\ in return for a label or bottle top <d Kinsey Whiskey or Kinsey din. Nor could we do so legall.N. since the Clovernment frowns on sex in the promotion of alcoholic hevorages.” Ad mentioned the fact tliat on publication of the first Kinsey re- port on the American male five xeais ago. the distillery was .swamped v\ith requests for copies oi the book. It wished the book sites well, luit asked the custom- ers to “let us go about our busi- ness of distilling and distriliuting” the Kinsey products. .And d plugged the book hea\ il\. Desert Springs. The first time I ever heard of Howard Dietz was in an English class at Columbia in 1913. The instructor asked him his name. He said it was Dietz. ”Your Christian name? ” prodded the prof. Dietz grinned. “Did you get a good look at my face?” he asked. At that time it was Milton, a name .still highly honored among poets We called him “Freckles” (Jeorge Ephraim Sokolsky. the eminent capitalist agitator (who was on the other side of the fence in those farolT days!, insisted it was “Moisha.” They had a fight about it. They slugged each other and rolled around my dormitory room. Sok bragged that he won. Maybe he did. but it looked to me like a draw. An>way, .some time later, Dietz heaved his .Miltonic billing into the Hudson and came up with “Howard.” The change may have been due to numerology or something, which had a vogue in those days. We were friends from our first meeting. He got a job as corre- spondent for The American. I worked for The Sun. We u.sed to take turns delivering each other’s copy downtown from Momingside Height * until we found a guy who lived in Brooklyn who.se name, I think was Ginsberg. Around the campus he was called “God.” We paid him two-bits to drop our copy off at Park Row on his way home each night. One summer Dietz and I had a house at Babylon on Great South Bay. By this time Dietz was working for F*hilip Goodman, an advertising ace. J(jhn Held, Jr., and George^Jean Nathan hung out there. One of Goodman’s accounts was Sam GoWwyn and it is said that Dietz worked up the “Ars Gratia Artis” slogan and the head of Leo the Lion while in that hucksters’ hql. He began about this time to pick up some coin on the side. He won $.500 for a slogan. I think it was something as profound as two col- lege men standing around at a deb dance, ft^nd one saying to the other, “Bored? Have a Fatima.” Or maybe it was a Hassan. Anyway. Dietz won the money. I was in Poughkeepsie at the time covering the re- gatta. I sent him a long telegram of congratulations. Collect, of course. He tried to reply by the dearest rate, collect, but I had left no for- warding address. More fun. The house we had in Babylon we took over from Ralph Barton, the cartoonist. We got the house for a song. Dietz was writing them even then. Most of them ended merely as lyrics and many of them landed in F. P. A.’s column. Now and then I would write one, taking sly digs at Dietz’s version of the life he wa.s leading. We would ride to town each morning, open up our papers and never refer to any of this rhymed repartee, though we talked of everything else. W'e saved our ribbing for print. Then Dietz joined the Navy and there was a well-founded rumor that he had died of pneumonia. It sent Alice Fox Pitts into a trauma on meeting him. bearded and haggard, but certainly not dead. After the war he got back into the Goldwyn dynasty. There were mergers and his company was always the one that was bought out. F'ach time Dietz emerged as top man in the new’ setup. This I believe was the greatest proof that he had what it took to survive. He sur- rounded himself with the best men and paid them well. Si Seadicr, i classmate, has been his advertising manager for at least 25 years. Dietz’s advertising feuds with Par in those days were the delight of Broadway. He even flashed a magic lantern .on the Paramount Tlieatre telling people the be.st show in town was at the Capitol. Before Smog, Other Poisons This went oiLAintil one day his bo.*<s. Nick Sc henck. pointed ouf that Metro didn’t have enough product for the Loew th^res ahTPhad to buy from Par now' and then, and it didn’t help to have customers told that they were exhibiting Par pictures made from hackneyed plots, worn-out stars, and .so on, under the generic title of “Pick Your Ov\n Poison. But Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You!” So Dietz dropped that one and motion picture advertising has never been as lively since. Along about this time he wrote a fanta.sy of a child in a sort of Olympic games with her father’s Wall Street office equipment. He called it “Jun^ Goes Down Town.” Some latter-day Disney will get around to it eventually. Though tall and thin, he seemed to be indefatigable. He worked days, played nights, took up table tennis, bridge, golf and painting and knocked off some highly commercial lyrics in between. He showed up for work at 1540 Broadway around 11 each morning, went off to i long luncheon and jammed all appointments in between 3 and 4 p.m. It was on one of these occasions, legend runs, that he bumped into Louis B. iMaycr who remarked, “You’re leaving early. Mr. Dietz.” “Yes. but I came in late, you must remember that.” Dietz replied. I think it was Tom Weatherly who brought him and Arthur Schwartz together. He liked Dietz’s lyrics and Schwartz’s music. Schwartz was a graduate of the Columbia Law School, but he found his desk was getting more jammed with music and less with briefs. They became a great team in an era that had many excellent ones (previous to the current Rodgers A Hammerslein regime), notably Rodgers & Hart, Kern & Wodehouse. George & Ira Gershwin and. of course (gag>, Irving & Berlin. Schwartz gave up law in order to keep up with Dietz, who seemingly gave up nothing when he took on something else .They would work until 2 or 3 in the morning. Schw'artz would flop exhausted on a Ix’d I and Dietz would then make the round of the niteries in order to wake up for tlie next day’s grind at 1540 Broadway. In the end Schwartz had to he carried off to Johns Hopkins and from there was ordered to take a sea voyage. He headed,.for the Frencli Riviera and came to Nice to give me all the news. W’henever Dietz made a trip he included the hideaway where I w is hoarding what was left of my legs and lungs. In the longterm sen^e of the word, he has been a good friend. His first real failure was when he tried his hand at producing on the Culver City lot in 1934. That was “Hollywood Party.” It puzzled him that nobody in Hollywood seemed to understand the humor of Jimmy Durante at that time He explained to me what he was trying to do. and while I thought it was funny, he assured me it left everybody around the lot colder than an Arctic .seal. So lie retreated to Broadyay and resumed his march onward and ufi- ward. That he could make switches is well illustrated by “Give Something to Remember You By, ” It was originally planned as * comedy s^g. with a boot in the derriere as the remembrance. But Dietz decided he and Schwartz should rewrite the song along senti- mental lines and I guess in that form it has made more money than Campbell’s soup, M-G credits Clifton Webb with introducing the song. ' but wasn’t it Libby Holman? His switch from Broadway musicals to rewriting “Fledermaus” and “La Boheme” for the Met will probably keep his name alive longer than anything else, but I have a feeling that he must get more person il satisfaction out of the picture success of “Band Wagon.” if for rw» other reason than it convinced Hollywood that he was good not only on j Broadway Init Irom coasl-to-coast. ’ He once wrote a sliow called * Rewnge With Music” and revenge, remember, is liest when served cold. From 1934 to 1953 is a long time as the buhhlei^of show biz go. and I for one got a vicarious thnil out of seeing my oldTretklcs mount Stephen Leacock’s horse, ride off in four directions and mark up four winners in four different field- I He mu-t he powered with magneiic energx, of which 1 am the greale-t * li\ iii^ authoiity. Fabulous Store • Frank X Tolbert, of the Dallas Morning News, has done a breezy , lake about “Nciman-Marcus —i I Texas.” the fabulous store deep-in- ^ the-heart-of. which apparently en- joys the dubious distinction^ ol ' catering to “poor millionaires, as | well as Texas millionaires. In act-, ualily. it’s a savvy department j store who-p ri'putation is as tar-i flung as its ateliers which are' stocked with the finest from Paris ^ f and Peru. New York and New Zea -1 I land And its customers are just j 1 about as scattered, i It’s good reading, made more so I liy tlie humanizing of its personnel and personalities, which aren’t confined to the founders. Mrs. (’arrie Marcus Nelman and llerliert Marcus. Sr., or Stanley i Marcus, its most renowned oper- jating scion II is an interesting book because it name-drops mil- i lionaires and just struggling per- I sonalities like Mrs. Mamie Eisen- ' bower (for whom N.-M made her in- augural gown) and Mike Romanoff : with the same nonchalance as are ! detailed some of the human hap- penstances are punctuate the N-M , enterprise and its customer rela- j tions day after day. Fundamentally, i ■of course, it’s unexpurgated Hor-i •’atio Alger stuff, but loaded with I glamor in a manner which no | “smash your baggage, slrl” success ! story ever dreamed of. Remember,' I this is Texas, suli!; anything that is j f sartorially done in oil—Texas style I—must be dripping with loot. Tol-j , liert has blended all the ingredi- ents well, Abel. ' voted to new sfiort stories, poems and essay.s, will be pulilishcd by Pocket Books Sept..28. First issue, last spring, sold over 190,000 copies. “My 3 Angels.” comedy at the Morosco, N. Y.. will lie the January “s^f^ton by The Fireside Theatre Book (’lub. (’lub distributes Broad- way pl^iys in book form to its mem- bership. Dr. Dagoherl D. Runes sold his interest in Librarv Publishers, Inc., to Mari in L. Wolf w ho be- came editor-in-chief as of Sept. 1, Runes remains a director of Philo- sophical Library. .Metro publicity’s Bill Ornstein will have a story. “Dreaming Is Like This.” in the semi-annual mag. Story No. 5. out next spring. Sec- ond edition of liis ‘ Ma and Mo ” book is out this week. New eilition of “Annie I.aurie, Story of the Song and its Hero- ine.” written by Gordon Irving. Varikty’s Scottish rnugg, has been published by Robert Dinwiddie & C’o.. of Dumfries. Scotland. Ken Giniger and associati's in Hawthorn Books, sulisid of Pren- tice-Hall. “|)ouring” for the literati set on the occasion of .Alex (’arrel's ‘■Reflections on Life.” publication of the first Hawthorn hook. Marvin Albert and Ja(k Hetlier- ington appointed to the staff of ’I'empo, weekly pocket-size news mag. Albert, entertainment editor, had .similar post on Quick. Hether- ington joins Tempo’s art depart- .ment. Dorothea Lee McEvoy. Hillman P(‘riodicals editor (Movieland A TV Carnival*, planes to Hollywood today (Wed.^ for* John Ericson- Milly Coury wcdmng Sept. 12 in Bevllills. where she will serve as maid of honor. Inside TV columni-l Mike O'Shea to Holl\w<)od to gather material lor a seri«*s of video mag articles on CB.S Television City and the TV’ debut (on film* of Joan (’rawford who preems Sept. 19 on Re\ Ion Theatre. Parker M. Merrow. editor of the Carroll County (N. H * Independ- ent. will be a candidate for the Ile- publican nomination for the New Hampshire Governor’s (’ouncil in the 1954 primary. His father, the late L\ ford A Nierrow of Center Ossipee, served on the same body m 1908-1910. Joe McCarthv’s pi'*(e on the .Stork Club in tin* current Cosmo- politan reveals that hohiface Sher- man Billingsley is pavrolled at .$5,000 to spark hi- TV show. Collier's publisher Ed Anthony, in i(h‘nlall\. has a fiction fiieie due in Deeemher based on h()>-meots- girl at the .Stmk f»n one of those ■'hilhton ni..’liU," ihai to be .1 le.iture el *lu‘ bi 'ro. tiie plot de- tai's .(lui wh.i' hoppeti- latiiianti- call\ ti.ereattei. Coronet’s Dec. Biggie Coronet has scheduled a 190- page book for DiHcmber, with an anticipated circulation of nearly 3.000,0007 Oci asionT asidF from tbe fact that a C’hristmas issue is or- dinarily larger than usual, is a new 10-page editorial section called “The Christmas Gift Finder,” Sec- tion lists all typ«'s of gift sugges- tions fiy clas.sification. .Some 200 dejiartment stores have tied in with the issue to push those items designated by the "Gift Finder.’’ via newspaper ads and store and counter displays. Tieins are on an exclusi\e basis in eaili area. Jim Purton’.s New Deal .T.imes Parfon. an exec witpFThe N. Y. Herald Trilnine since, lft.50, ie>igned last week to join Pietttre Press, Inc. as veepee-treasurer- partner. Switch is effective Get. 1 He came to the Trib in 19.50 as <lirector of jiromotion. and since 19.51 li.id be»*n assistant to .the president, chairman of the Herald Trib Forum and a board memlier. Piiture Press was established three years ago by Josepb Thorn- dike, formerly managing editor of Life Mag, and Oliver Jensen, ex- text editor for Life.Ofitfil s|)ecial- i/es ir preparation of books and luodiures on iiuIUNtrial and insti- tutional sub,jects. Hot Stuff Unprecedented record - making l()-da\ heal wave caused the metropolitan N. Y. dailies to turn over their headlines to the weath- er. Some examples; “Worse To- day” and “Sorry. No Reliet 'Till Sunday” (botli N. Y. Post'. The other dailii's were equally promi- nent but more orthodox in their factual quotes of the thermometer readings. F.sky’.s 20th Ann! Octofier issue of Esquire, due on the st.inds this week, marks the 2'»th anni\ersar\ of the maga/.ine. ( ucu'ation now stands at 800.()()(). considered ver\ high lor a 50c In iga/ine. I ris’ .Many Translations 'Rattle C’r.\.” I.eim Iris’ ffi'l n iv»'l will be published soon in Fremh and D.mish .\ Rritisti printing u coining out in Octoliei ami an israe i edition is now be- ing negoiiat(‘d Published last April f)> G P Putnam’s, it t;as al- read^ le.irhed a fouiih printing. A >t»)r\ of the U, .S. .Marines in VS Olid War II, it ha^ been pur- ch.iNed for filming h.s Warner Bros . wuli Ur:s (urrentl;. at Ifie stu.lio preparing tire screenpla\. Book .About the Festival In keeping with higli standards attained at Edinburgh’s Interna- tional Festival. “Festival 1953“ is a tastefuljv informative publica- tion at 35c. (allying full back- ground to the drama, ballet, music and other events of this world-re- nowned junket. Robert Speaigiit contributes a lucid piece about tlie plajs ot T .S. Eliot, and Alen Dent, drama (iitic ot the London .News Chionide writes about “Hamlet” and its luoblems through the ve.iis Book is liherall.v illustrated witfi tull-pagi* photographs, and a f.ne, >ouvenir lor Feslivalites and Ihcspeis. Clurd. ci.ihoiate funding and multi-color photography, along with trilingual l>H)'e. to get over tlie f.icts that it Is indeed an ‘ isl.and of marvels” l.iii> D.(\id Rodriguez, Ernesto T Rrivio and Carlos Fernand(*z ( ampos have <omf)ined in getting out .111 o\er-3U(| page bound volume, ol larger than normal text size whufi m .Spanish, Frenili and Eng- lish, iflls the Cufian .^tory Hodnguez i> Pi r ident'B.itjsta’s puhlii iiv (liirf, ;ind author Ruvio III.inks liiui .and puhlishei C.'impos. .t'oug with R.itel ,M l|•(^ulrla. of the Cull,III .Ve.r'rinv of Hi toiv, .Vr!s X l.i Mfi'v. lor the gen. r.d I'.ipport • ) ' •' si ' k puhli-h'Tu; .|oh, s.ms 1*1 ue, heme piadialilv a VIP gilt \ ikinc's Knryelopfdij t misual 'interest has lii'en erated in the forlheoming ■(' l*ia-V iking Desk Ene v I'liipi vhie'i Viking will is.sue ()( Tome h.is hrul a lOd.dOO fii Ing 'umisuafl.v large in itself* tiO.OOO ;;ild't tonal now in \ Book, based on the h'u g.* i *'( o!iuiil)',i Fn vcloMedli" tir-l