Variety (June 1954)

WednestUy-rJime 1954 HARRY ROBINSON Harry Robinson, 6§, vaude per- former, songwriter* jlud for past 18 -years an employee of Balaban i Katz, died May 22 after being struck by a streetcar in Chicago. Early in-the century, .Robinson ana partner. Will Harris, flow aXhi the- atrical agent, organized school acts in Peoria, 111., and later did like- wise in Chicago. An accomplished musician, Robinson ■ at various times played mandolin, banjo, ana piano onstage. * ' Collaborating on songs in the 1920’s, Robinson scored music to Harris* lyrics, and the team pro- duced over 300 tunes together. Best known was ‘*Games Of Child- hood Days,” a sheet music best- seller. Belle Baker debuted one of their ditties entitled, "Let's Make Love While the Moon Shines.” In 1935, Robinson joined the staff at Balaban St .Katz as paid Secretary of the B&K employees club and as, secretary to district managers. He was retired on pen- sion from the organization for last six months and had been in poor health for past several years, Robinson * never married. A brother survives. S. L. OAKLEY S. L, Oakley, 49, vice-president and general manager of Jefferson Amusement Co., and veepee and, general manager of East Texas Theatres Inc., died May 27 in Beaumont,. Tex. He began Jiis career with Jefferson Amusement in 1927 as a theatre manager in Beaumont and later served as city manager for the chain in Nacog- doches, Marshall and Jacksonville, all in Texas,, Oakley was then promoted to district manager of East Texas Theatres Inc., with headquarters in Nacogdoches. Later he was trans- ferred to Dallas and served as head of the booking department for the two circuits. He became veepee and general manager in 1945. Wife, a daughter and a son sur- vive. ! IRVING M. DOGOLE Irving M. Dogole, 64, longtime executive with the old Stanley. Co. of America whose theatres are now operated by Stanley Warner Corp., In Memory of My ••loved Hatband HAROLD RODNER HUMANITARIAN—Jnno 3, 1952 ^ lotty Radnor died in Philadelphia May 24. He started his theatrical career at 'the age of 16 as. a songplugger at Coney Island. ^ * . A close friend of the'late George M. Cohan, Dogole ,was a member of the chorus in several Cohan musicals, He later founded . and. was head of a detective agency. His wife, a son and two daugh- ters survive. •• .i ; PAUL DIAMOND Paul Diamond,. 38, eastern divi- sion manager of Unity Television Corp. of N. Y., died May 28 of a heart attack in his room in the Palmer House, Chicago. He had been in the city attending the Na- tional Assn, of Radio and Tele- vision Broadcasters convention, which ended May 27. Diamond was formerly an exec with Paramount Pictures’ tv de- partment. He was the son of the late Louis 3. Diamond, former prexy of Famous Music Corp. and Paramount Music. Corp. ~ Wife and two daughters survive. MRS. SANDRA BERLE Mrs. Sandra Berle, 77, mother of comedian Milton Berle, died May 31 in New York, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. Active in furthering her - Son’s career, she had appeared with him on tv and was frequently brought into the comic’s act. When Berle was- employed as a youth by the old Biograph film studios, his mother .. occasionally worked there as ah extra. Also surviving' are three other sons and a sister. HANS JANOWITZ Hans Janowifz, 63, former screen writer, died May 25 in' New York after a long illness. Born in Czechoslovakia, he went .to Ger- many after World War 1 and be- came a film scripter. His scenarios . included the 1919 U. S. in 1939 and until last year operated the Jan Villon Perfume Co. Wife and‘a brother survive. RICHARD LAMBERT - Richard Lambert ("Dick”) Lam- bert, 85, former press agent and theatrical manager, died May 26 in Philadelphia. For a number of years in the 1920’s he served as both publicist and manager for Harry Frazee productions including the hit'musical, “No, No Nanette/* . Lambert later acted.as booking manager for several seasons of; “Tobacco Road.” . A *widower, he Is survived by a nephew. HARfeY E. WOODFORD Harry E. Woodford, 76, former vaudevillian, died May 26 m Wood-. haven, N. Y., after a two-month* illness! He was Jarvis of the dance team of Jarvis & Harrison*. Act, which played the Palace and the top vaude circuits such as Pantages and Keith-Orpheum, - retired 15 years ago. ... > Wife, a son and a daughter, Mrs. Georgia Ayres, wife of bandleader Mitchell Ayers, survive. . SHEILA TRENT « Sheila Trent* 46, legit actress, was found dead in her New York apartment May 26. Police at- tributed death, to natural causes. She made her stage bow*at the age of 18 ! in,“Mister Romeo” and ap- peared with Mae West in revivals of “Diamond Lil” from 1949-51. Miss Trent also appeared on Broadway in such plays as “Dead End” and “My Sister Eileen.” EDWARD B. ROSTERMUNDT Edward B. Rostermundt, 69, vet of the midwest film industry, died May 22 in Omaha after an illness of several years. A film salesman 30 years before retiring in 1951, he was with United Artists-for .21 years. Surviving are his wife, mother and brother. BENJAMIN GILMAN Benjamin Gilman, 65, Yiddish legit pressagent for 40 years,' died May 28 in New York. Born in Ukraine, Russia, he came to the U. S. in 1903. - Brother and two. sisters survive. .Jean Evans, 37, former circus aerial artist, hanged herself May 24 in the Los Angeles city jail, where she was awaiting sentence on. a minor charge. She retired in 1950 due to a broken back sus- tained when a trapeze gave way. She was a sister-in-law of Clyde Beatty. 4 Henry (Hi) Jensen, 70, former vaude performer, died in Galves- ton, Tex., May 29. As. one of the “Four Newsboys,” he toured, the nation in the early part of the century, working for the Schuster Circuit, among other loops. Samuel Weissberg, 61, with Na- tional Screen Service for 20 years,' and later general- manager of American Display Co., an NSS subsid, died in. New York, May 30. Edwin J. Strong, 59, Sunday editor of the Los Angeles Times and well known in motion picture circles, died May 22 in that city, following a heart attack. Surviving are his wife and two daughters. James Martin, 70, manager - of Columbia Sunset studios for nearly 12 years, died May 26 in Hollywood after a two weeks’ illness. His wife, son and three daughters survive. Emil Mamelock, 72, German ac- tor and producer, who took up residence in Switzerland when Hitler rose to power, died recently in Lucerne, Switzerland. Len Shaw, 81, drama and film critic of The Detroit Free^ Press from 1919 to 1947, died in 'Detroit May 27. Father, 82, of Andre Kostelanetz, orchestra leader, died May 25 in New York* Another son and two daughters survive. John Edward Griffith, 54, motion picture grip for 25 years, died May 25 in Hollywood. His wife and daughter survive. Father, of actor Hurd Hatfield, died May 25 in New York. Wife survives besides his son.* Kathleen Earl, 41, character ac- tress on stage and' screen; died May 21 in Hollywood, 1 I 1 » ! *— < •• i < Wife, 31, of Bill Arthurs, news director of WRFD* Columbus, died May 21 in that city. \ » Father, 70, of Barnett Shapiro, nlm industry attorney, died May 21 in Culver City, Cal. v* . . . _ . MARRIAGES Ruth Geri ,Hagy to Albert T. Brod, Philadelphia, May 29. Bride is moderator of ABC-TV’s “Junior Press Conference,’* and a women’s page editor of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. Ruth Manning to Howard Hirsch, New York, May 27. Bride is a legit and tv actress. Bettye Griffen to Tye Morrow, New York, May 26. Bride is a dancer; he’s,an actor. Bernice Ochs to Tommy Rey- nolds, Boeme, Tex., May 23. He’s an emcee on KGBS-TV, San An- tonio. * Jo Ann Gibbs to Sonny Burns, Houston, May 21. He’s a vocalist on KNUZ in that city. Sheila Cowan to John Caimey, Glasgow, May 27. He’s an actor with the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre. Roslyn Biel to Seymour Simon, Cleveland, May 26. He is a film attorney in Chicago. 'Marion Machnd .to Robert Mer- rill, New York, May 30. He’s an opera singer, ^ Blanche Larson to Jasper Russet, Laguna Beach, Cal., May 29. He’s assistant casting director at Metro. Anne Buydens to Kirk Douglas, Las Vegas, May 29. Bride is a film publicist; he’s an actor. Edith Tanzer to Martin Luray, Planfield, N. J., May 30. He’s night news editor with United Press Movietone Television Syndicate. Jean' Peters to Stuart Craftier III, Washington, May 29. Bride is film actress under contract to 20th.; Dr. Helen M. Harrelson to Wil- liam Laily, Greenwich, Conn., May 28. He’s an actor. Ruth Elliot to Aarofi Frankel,, Philadelphia, May 30. Bride is an actress; he’s a legit director. • BIRTHS Mr. and Mrs. Pat Bishop, son, Los Angeles, May 22. Father is a newscaster at KFI. ■■ Mr. and Mrs. Jan Rubes, son. New York, May 25. Mother is radio actress Susan Douglas; father is a concert and radio singer,-. Mr. and Mrs. William Koblenzer, daughter. New York, May 26. Fa- ther is Eastern sales manager for the DuMont network. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Shaffer, daughter, Chicago, May 15. Father is assistant manager of State-Lake Theatre in Chi. Mr. and Mrs. Rouen Westcott, son, Glendale, Cal., May 25. Father is on the KNBH sales staff. ' Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hocken- berry, son, Pittsburgh, May 20. Father’s a scenic designer at WDTV. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Palumbo, son, Philadelphia, May 27. Mother is Kippee Valez, film actress and dancer; father is a cafe operator. Mr. and Mrs. Sid Zins, son, Washington. D.C., c April'28. Father is D.C. publicity rep for Columbia pictures: ’ Mr. and Mrs. Herb Bachman, son, May 24, Marin County, Cal. Father is promotion-publicity di- rector of KPIX, San Francisco. Mr. and Mrs. Jay Michael, daughter, May 28. He’s a disk jockey on WCAE, Pittsburgh. Mr. and Mrs. John Kerr, twin daughters, ‘ New York, May 29. Father is an actor. Orsonize Soviets Continued from page 1 rupt this program to bring you a news bulletin.” Then he went on to say Soviet troops were invading the West. ' Despite the fact that the Intro- duction concluded with “This sort of thing - could happen, but it hasn’t,” and several statements of “Don’t You Believe It,” before the program switched to its routine training message, some people were apparently alarmed, accord- ing to reports reaching this coun- try. The Pentagon had a tape record- ing of the show flown from Ger- many to study. Army officials said the show or- iginated in Heidelburg and was carried on several stations. They insisted there had been no adverse reaction in Germany, but that one Army officer there did protest. They added that it would hardly fooLanyone who spoke good English but might confuse a person with a limited command of English. Nev- ertheless, the introduction .was de- scribed as “poor judgment.” 63 Lessons of loe Julian Case Continued from page l defender of civil liberties issues, Testimony established that from an''average yearly t>rc-'‘Channcls” income of $18,000 Julian had slumped to $l,60p in 1953. Because of the continuing inter- est in the Julian decision, and the untried -Cases of. .Selena Royle, Pert Kelton and Ralph Bell Variety excerpts at some length from the decision of Justice Say- pol, Action itself is described in the following language: “The plain- tiff is an actor, mainly on radio, who alleges that he was libeled by the defendants' publication of a pamphlet, luridly emblazoned on the cover with a radio microphone resting on a red hand, over which is printed in bold red letters, ’Red Channels,’ • and Immediately be- neath, in-smaller black print, “The report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television,’ in which he was listed (at page 90) as a particir pant at two; public meetings, in 1942 as a speaker and in 1949 as a spectator, under the auspices of groups which have been found ac- cording to various legislative find- ings in evidence to have been Com- munist connected. v “The pamphlet opens, with intro- ductory matter divided into three parts, Part I denominated, ‘Intro- duction.* This relates substantially a description of that part of the Soyiet-Russian Communistic con- spiracy, quoting J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureafl of Investigation, that is directed to- wards the ultimate appropriation of the media of communication of news and* views by radio and tele- vision, utilizing immediately" by siren-like appeal the talents of en- tertainers, the end objective being the reaching pf the masses so that they may be infected with the zeal to seize and .overthrow the govern- ibent by force and violence. “This pertinent qualifying and controlling language Is to be. found at pages six and seven of the in- troduction: ‘The Counterattack.’ Perhaps better than any other re- cent-pronouncement, an editorial in Broadcasting Magazine (August 15, 1949) sums up the answer: Where there's red smoke there's usually Communist fire. That ap- plies to the creative and artistic end of radio 'as it does to the other arts and professions. Therefore, ef- forts to gloss over talk of possible Communist infiltration of radio is dangerous * + +. Communist and Communist sympathizers have no place on our air. It Is the duty of the station licensee (and the net- work to which a portion of .that responsibility necessarily is dele- gated) to ascertain that those who harbor views contrary to our form of government be denied access to our microphones. * * * .’ Can you conceive of anyone more potent when an emergency strikes than the man at the mike—the network mike? That should be sufficient to guide broadcast- management in the screening of personnel.” Never Went to Jury An intimation of the reasoning of the presiding justice (who never allowed the case, to go to the jury) is contained id/, this section of the decision as handed down; “At this point in the trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the plain- tiff, the plaintiff’s argument for consideration may be stated as fol- lows: The temper of the times, transitory as that may be, permits a construction of the branding of the plaintiff as a Communist on a bare examination of the form and context of the cover and title and sub-title and the text listing plain- tiff’s physical relation to activities reasonably 'to be deemed Commu- nist but ignoring the other con- tents of the book including the in- troduction and explanation. That argument is graphically reflected in the testimony of plaintiff’s wit- nesses Martin and Francis of their incomplete knowledge of the con- tents, the latter having admitted that in ignorance of the contents of the pamphlet he had wrongfully anathematized the plaintiff a Com- munist. He acknowledged his griev- ous error from the witness stand. In his answer to the question of Whether he had so branded his friend, without justification, he an- swered ‘I plead guilty.’ ” - Another related section of Jus- tice Saypol’s decision (Which some in the trade interpret* r fpgether with other comments, as inferen- tlally a criticism of the way Juli- an’s case was' handled In court) runs as follows: “Proom of,loss of earnings, from radio and television does not alone establish the tfause on an inference to be drawn from the acknowledged, truthful refer- ence to him in Red Channels. If the argument be that in context and iu manner of distribution* of the publication he has been wronged his evidence is self con- tradicting and the other way. In any event, his own witnesses have a continuing high opinion of his talents as an actor and his qualities as. a citizen. So that there is t nothing from which' a jury could with credible support, reflecting the current public attitude (Men- cher v. Chesley, supra), find that defendants, had falsely branded the plaintiff as alleged in the plaintiff’s complaint, in paragraphs 14 and 15, in any of the categories which he lists (and as to some of which, to say the least, without’definition there is a failure of proof) and-that he has been" thereby held up to public ridicule, contempt, infamy and reproach.” Should He Blame TV? Justice' Saypol gave considerable weight to the factor of television having perhaps weakened the mar- ket for Joe Julian’s services as actor and narrator, he having been chiefly identified with raj&lp. His own witnesses save for two of them . offered no direct evidence of .any planned exclusion of Julian from employment. Saypol also noted that those who expressed sympathy for Julian had themselves only hearsay acquaintance with either Red ^Channels or any consequences thereof. This, too, is. a prominent argu- ment in the jurists’s rationale: “Reading Red Channels without the introduction and explanation head-, ing the list whiih contains the | plaintiff's name js less tharf that ] fair reading which the law requires as an ingredient in a determination of whether or not there is defama- tion. The plaintiff has chosen to do that in jumping from IJie cover to i the listing of his name at page 90. , His witnesses, Martin and Francis, ! in their testimony demonstrate the ; inadequacy of plaintiff’s proof and : consequently of the lack of a case. ■ Not only didn’t they read the book- let they abruptly grasped at their conclusion and on the witness stand confessed their lack of the required fair reading, Francis changing his opinion on knowing all the con- tents emphasized the point. 1 . Segregated Theatres Continued, from page 1, j is being prepared in Baltimore, i There, a hotel which accepted res- jervations for Negroes for a con- jvention. barred them when they claimed their reservations. In one case, a man got his room, then . found himself locked out of it by I the hotel. “If this case is won," said an i NAACP spokesman, ‘“the result j would affect all public places ;which require municipal or state licenses—hotels, restaurants, thea- i tres, night clubs, etc.” The Bal- j timore hotel case is expected to | wind up in the Supreme Court in the next year or two. Theatre men in the South are sitting tight for the time being. In most states, segregation is decreed by state law. Should exhibitors terminate it, they would be sub- ject to prosecution under these statutes. Therefore, they are going along with the state laws until such time as the Supreme Court knocks them out, it was explained.^ Clerks Invade Europe 5 S Continued from page 1 ss and another 10,437 said they were clerks and secretaries. Only 10,605 of the total were “executives.” List includes 4,604 common la- borers; 6,419 skilled laborers; 6,501 retired persons; 6,507 students; 859 barbers and beauticians; 205 drug- gists; 1,798 farmers and ranchers; j 4,688 teachers; 4,959 engineers, 2,609 tradesmen, etc. Of course, these figures do not include travel to such places as | Canada^^r 9 )uda, r B[a>vaji A ^tc., for j which no passports are required.