Variety (November 1954)

'Wednesday, Novembeir l?, 1:954 , Gardner’s Book Serialized Some 20 dailies are syndicating a condensation of Hy Gardner's “Champagne Before Breakfast" (Holt), coincidentally With publica- tion of the book, Columnist’s pat- ent sheet, the N,Y. Herald Tribune, kicked it off by running the serial- ization on P. 1. imprint next spring. Other con trlbutprs to the N. Y, C. anthology include Meyer Berger, Brooks [ Atkinson, E, B. White, F. Scott Fitzgerald. John Steinbeck, Carson McCiillers and Thomas Wolfe. Pacific S Sc S Changes The lure: of the Far East/ Tokyo in particular, is bringing some top U S. newspaper talent to the staff of the Army's unofficial publica- tion, the Pacific Stars & . Stripes. Latest to join the civilian ranks of top editorial chiefs is A1 Kaye, Who. left the San Francisco Ex- aminer, where he had been as- sistant managing editor, to become Stripes news editor. Due this month is longtime newspaperman Ernie, Richter/ .who. departs . from the post of assistant telegraph edi- tor of the Chicago Tribune to be- come -chief Of the combined copy desks on the serviceman's house: organ. v-M.E. of- Stripes is Eugene Miller, who left the Auburn (N Y,) Citizen a year and a half ago to move to Tokyo’. Mark Jews’ 300 YearsIn N. Y. William H. Finesbriber Jr., veepee of NBC, as chairman of the radio-television committee of the Jewish Tercentenary Celebration, has gotten up a presentation of contemporary entertainment in- dustry manifestations, to mirror 1954—300 years after the first Dutch Jews, came to Netiw Amster- dam 0iow ; New York), Among' the key exhibits are Variety and “Show Biz”, the Abel Green-Joe Laurie Jr. bestseller. Both have been similarly recorded for posterity in. a number of mid- century time, capsules, to be opened 2050 A. D. \ Lasky’ Suit Still Alive Victor Lasky’s $500,000 damage suit against the N. Y. Post and cbluitinist Murray Kempton is still in. Ni Y.: Supreme Court after a motion for .dismissal by the news- paper was turned down. Justice Matthew M. Levy refused to dis- miss the suit on the grounds that Kemptori’s column on Lasky left an “actionable” implication provid- ing sufficient grounds for trial for general damages. He did strike out one paragraph of th com- plaint, however. Defendants in the suit, besides Kempton and the Post, are editor James A. Wechsler.and publisher Mrs." Dorothy Schiff. Slight .Understatement Leonid Leonov, 55-year-old best- selling -Russian novelist arid First Secretary of the 3,500 strong Union of Soviet Writers, said at a Writers’*! conference., in Edinburgh, that it- is riot easy being an author if one happens to live in Russia. . “All the time,” he said,” our readers write into, us telling us just what they think of our. work, and sometimes we get very angry letters,'which-we must take note of since it is our duty to give the public what they want.” Leonov lives in a cottage in a writers’ colony just outside Mos- cow. Disclosing details of the sales of British books irt Russia, he said that three scribes in the top 10 were R. L. Stevenson. Sir Walter Scott and Arthur Conan Doyle who, between them, had a Russian circulation of around 1,000,000. ; Suit. Over ‘Year’ Book . Baldwin N, Ward, publisher of Year,” HD Dnnltal. Tlitk\I>c vmriauf Elsa Missed Few Show biz references in Elsa Max- Well’s memory book, “R. S. V. P. (Little, BroWn; $5), .continue; to sizzle conversation wherever show- folk gather. It would seem that the only individuals not Introduced socially or started upon their. careers by Elsa were Harrison Fiske (husband of Minnie Maddern—who met Miss Maxwell at a party in her parents’ home), and Marie Doro, who hired “ugly duckling” Elsa as an accom- panist to set off her own good looks, In: fairness, it should be stated that in addition to party-giving, Miss Maxwell is. a pro composer Who has provided special material for Ina Claire, Marie Dressier, Grace La Rue and others; she acted with a . stock .company; she has accepted, money for her broadcast- ing engagements; she has been in the movies. Admitting she found only. two men genuinely attractive (Cole Porter< and Aly Khan), and stating; that she met these gentlemen when she was . too old for romantic, notions, Elsa nevertheless Observed at 23 that Caruso was a wolf. And in 1906, she watched; San Franicisco burn, after the quake,; ' .the com- pany of Jack Barrymore. Elsa says she gave Edgar Bergen S150 for appearing at a soiree she threw at the Woldorf, thus starting the merrier of the McCarthys on his. way. She accepts responsibility for .introducing. Clare Boothe and Henry Luce, Rita Hayworth arid Aly Khan. She wanted to pull out Dorothy di Ffasso’s hair for strik- ing Noel Coward’s name from a guest-list ip V enice* In Holly wood; an “unknown girl” named Mary Martin sang at one of. Elsa’s shin- digs. Miss Maxwell relishes the ma- cabre, and reports, iri some detail, Maxine Elliott stuffing herself with sweets as she Was dying of uremia; and she underscores the tragic illness of Constance Collier: Only Elsa was privy, to seeing Garbo recoil from her own reflection in a powder-room mirror. Maxwell opines that... Garbo will never mature gracefully. As seer, Elsa predicted no more GArbo films after “The Two-faced Miss Maxwell also fore- told FDR’s death by four days to Mrs. Harry Truman. In 1Q47 ch* constructs setting and atmosphere 1 of the- initial performance of Shakespeare’s comedy. Hotson suggests that the charac- ter of Orsino appears in “12th Night” because the . play was oi> dered by Elizabeth I to entertain her guest Duke Orsino, at a Feast of Epiphany, 1600-1. The author also, shows that. in. style of presen- tation in the great hall of White- hall Palace, the play pre-da ted theatre-i -the-round. An interest- ing; drawing illustrates this claim. Various passages of , the play, heretofore obscure, are “explain- ed,” Accounts of the manner in which actors and playwright pre- pared, for a command performance are fascinating and enlightening; The book has several excellent illustrations, but lacks a much- needed index. Bard. BoOk . ‘Rehearsal’ Funk. & .Wagnalls sent Miriam Golding a- copy of “Stanislavsky. Directs just as it came off the press and delivered it to her while she was rehearsing for tomorrow’s (Thursil, -My Son the Doctor” on ABC-TV’s “Kraft TV Theatre.” Actress translated “Stanis- lavsky” from the Russian, with book due Nov. 29, American . Historians Inc. Pub- lishing management will be han- dled hy the firm of Thorndike, Jensen fle Parton Inc., which has specialized in prepping documen- tary books. Drastic revisions call for no advertising, publication bi-month-* ly instead of quarterly, more color illustrations, a minimum of 116 pages each issue to be bound in hard covers, and a revitalized editorial ..staff; Single copies will be $2,95 with annual subscription at $12. -. Program of expansion will be carried out by a new outfit; A'meri-. can Heritage Publishirife Co. Trie., which will take over the existing mag; Editor of .'the new setup is Bruce Catton, with Oliver Jensen, associate editor, and Joseph J. Thorndike Jr., editorial director. Publisher is James Parton. Calendar Literature Schenley, the whiskey outfit; has put out a 3.5c “Negro History Calendar” for 1955 under Ebon Enterprises ’• copyright and with text for both illustrations and the month-by-month pages by Charles J* (Chuck) Williams, one of Schenley s salesmen, extolling his company’s “brotherhood” employ- ment policy. Of show biz interest re such dates as: March 1, 1875 — “Con- gress, in an act later called null £J?.d., void* -by the courts, passes ljvii Rights Law guaranteeing all persons, regardless of race, the use of j inns, public conveyances on land pr, water, theatres, and other Places of amusement’,” Nov. 9, “CIO adopts constitution iri discrimination in union affairs on grounds of race or Color is barred.” Sole show biz entry on the-calendar itself is Nov, 16, 1873 of Wdliam C. Handy, “Father Xf n t le The 1956 edition will undoubtedly record the fact that contralto Marian Anderson was signed several weeks ago as member of Met Opera. N. Y ' “Mrs. America” As Scribe Mrs. Wanda Jenftings, the 1955 ’Mrs. America,” will doubly capi- talize on her European goodwill arid “merchandising tour” by filing pieces from key points, starting in London, exclusively to INS. Her .flight entourage kicking off today (Wed.) includes her husband, Madi- son, Jennings, chemist for Shell •Oil, and Mr... arid Mrs. Bert Nevins (he’s longtime.head of the corpora- tion fronting the Mrs. America contest). Encased in the handshaking tour will be .visits with Lady Churchill arid others in London, where she’ll take in the Grosvenor School of Cookery and join iri launching the National Spastic Society’s fund drive; a Paris looksee as guest of French Tourisrii, with o.ol’s of the bigleague fashion houses, and a date carded with the French presi- dent; similar activities in Copen- hagen, Hamburg; Vienna, Frank- furt, Zurich, Berne, Rome and finally Scotland, returning Dec. 15. She’ll also plug CARE’s “Food Crusade.” of the William Morris agency’ radio-lv department. After h divorced Bill Jr.’s mother he mar- ried actress-author Ilka Chase. ... Simenon’s World Sales . Geprges Simenori, Belgian-born writer-of detective fiction, 1 on visit: to Edinburgh, Scotland, prior to publication of his latest, novels, “Maigret, Right and Wrong” and "Violent Ends," said that, to date, over 30,000,000 copies of his books .have been sold. They have been translated into 18 languages; and 42 pix have been made from them. Simenori now lives in the U. S. ' 'Year,” an annual news review, filed /a., 'motion iri L;A, Superior Court for a new trial- of the recent .h(>( inn: llrt-. Iirl-ti/’klv li a ««IAA.' AM*. J J.** . y Truman. In 1947, she prophesied that Ike would be elected President in ’52. Elsa got: Harry Truman to ,write a letter of apology to Darryl Zanuck for taking the latter over the coals when, -as Senator, Truman was investigating “phony” commissions early in the war.' She risked. Truman's Ire later when she an ea rly concert appearance of Margaret’s: “There was no sing- lft g at Miss Truman’s recital.” Dozens of theatrical, people ■ Miss Maxwell’s memoirs, and there are amusing photographs ofmany of . them—the best of which is a picture of Shaw in a monkish robe. Much food and many drinks are consumed in Miss Maxwell’s pages. Indeed, it seems, she departed stili hungry only from the table of Fleur Cowles. The Windsors are also given short shrift by the famous party-girl from Keokuk. Down. (lry Prof. Baker’s Disciples George Pierce Baker and the fe 1 !.. Theatre,” by Wisner n a ^ .f Kl ; nne - ( P aI ’y al ' d ; $6), fills an nnpoitant niche m theatrical lit- erature Baker was creator of the famous . 47 Workshop” at Harvard, and later moved his celebrated course in dramaturgy to Yale. His teachings -have affected two gen- erations of the American stage, and likely will have influence for years to come. Eugene O’Neill was one of Baker’s pupils; so was Elia Kazarr Donald Oenslager came un- der G.P.B. s gUidanc , arid de- signed sets for many productions of the professor’s students. Philip Barry, was in. Baker’s classes, and w ir Wer< L RacbBl F i B ld* Thomas Wolfe, Stewart Chaney, Alastair Cooke, Sidney Howard, S. .N.-.BehrL i?r an ! .Maurice Wertheim, Van Wyck Brooks, Edward Sheldon arid: many others whose names ale theatrical by-wor,ds. :John Mason Brown, a devoted Baker pupil writes an introduction for this book, arid quotes O’Neill’s tribute to G.P.B;: “The most vital thing, for us as posible future writers and 1 creators to learn at that time (Good God! For anyone to learn anywhere at any time!) was to be- lieve in our Work and to keep on believing. And to hope;. He helped Kohout’s Comedy Mugging J? ra Kohout, one of Czechoslo- vakia’s foremost' comedians pre- Worid War. II, has “niugged” one of those comedy photo books, satirically, titled; “Attention Com- rades!” (Viking; $1) which is quick-read stuff. It’s of the same stripe as the Constance Bannister, child photo books; the R. Taylor, cartoon antics; and the recent Dali, book. Mbrtbn Sontheimer edited this $1 paperback; photos, which are the backbone, re by Wallace Litwin.. Czech comic Kohout currently works for Radio Free Europe in Munich, but is currently in the U.S. on v an exploitation pitch be- fore Czech arid general audiences. Lit.'' ‘Moulin Rouge’ Biog Newspaperwoman Jose Shercliff has written a sentimental and often moving show biz biography entitled Jane Avril of the Moulin Rouge” (Macr ae-Smith; : $3.50). Author, who knew the celebrated daiicer in her declining vears. writes briskly and. affectionately of one of the ^entertainment world’s great talents. Not only is •Avril's heyday excellently described, but there are touching passages of her final appearances before Paris benefit audiences as an old and almost-forgotten women; arid, as , well, an account of her last days, I When her beloved France was oc -' cupied by the Germans. Book is well turned-out, with i many illustrations from the brush ' °f Toulouse-Lautrec. CHATTER Stewartry Observer, Dalbeattie, South of Scotland weekly founded i. 1889, ceased publication, Irish Echo Newspaper Corp. chartered to conduct a printing and publishing business in New York; Alan Scott, show scribe of Scot- land Sunday Express, extended, .weekly column to include radio, tv as well as theatre and pix. ' Robert Hatch, editor of the N.. Y. Center magazine, has also started doing filrn reviews for thie Nation rivag every other week; He’s a for- mer editor of the New Republic. Foreign Press Assiu’s first In- ternational Press Ball Dec. 23, preceded by, a cocktailers at the Waldorf Nov. 19 in honor of Victor Borge, who’s spearheading the entertainment. : The Irish Academy of Letters has elected Abbey playwright Teresa Deevy, P. S, OTIegarty and poet Louis MacNiece to member- ship. Academy has also announced naming of Lord Lorigford as prexy for the . coming, year. Broadway columnist Earl Wilson arid Hollywood columnist Slieilah Graham have signed with TV Guide to do alternate weekly col- umns. Miss Graham will do th' kickoff column in Nov. 27. issue, with Wilson debut slated for Dec. 4. * Wallace Croatmari is the new associate Articles Editor of Red- book, as announced by. Wade H. Nichols, associate publisher arid editor. For the past four years Croatinan was senior editor of Medical Economics mag and also freelanced. The Carl. Brissohs are hosting: Svend Aage Lund,, editor-in-chief of the Berlingske Tidende, Copen- hagen, the oldest dally in Den- mark. When singer Brisson intro- duced his. Danish newspaperman- friend to Milton! Berle, Lund asked the; comedian, “Are you an editor, too?” “Yes, of old jokes,” said Berle. Clifton Fadiman.rin the Decem- ber issue of Holiday, uses his “Party of One” column to discuss Fred Allen and analyze latter’s lack of success as a tele artist. Allen, according to Fadiman, re- mains one of television’s most un- exploited natural resources be- cause he is isolated by his own intelligence. As a change of pace from, her recent output covering show biz subjects, Eleanor Harris.is repped in the current Look with “The Case of the Billionaire Bachelor.” about Sid Richardson of Fort Worth, in the state where the bil- lionaire tag is supposed to fit; prac- tically everyone, to hear the Long- horns tell it, though Richardson is said to come close to the monetary description. Studios Roily Continued from page 3 Silurians’ Salute Guy Richards Society of. Silurians the rirpan-- rteatipn otveteraS neWsDaoe™S .j ” n £ s st W ».thorough, and . ... Khohored the N.y. *>»>‘«»o»h- aation. m ; which lie was ordered, to can's Guy .Richards with it, • * y woduaed as a book, . containing pay $22,000 damages to Robert award for his seHe?d^ the , ^S?! i maJly ''>‘dable illustrations^ Blees, screen writer ’ • l ^ \t ^ ,tne visits , U.S. Comics Balk Scots Government officials are in. a j dio was that it would prove “too ! quandary as to what action they dull and slow the entertainment I SlinillH' tdlrO' f AllAtirlurf. aaa ** us'to hope—arid for that, we owe i \ j * , • *9, wll3t 3ctJon (-hey •Inn, all the finest.we havein mem-1pw. f cjJ 1 °win g , public: out-, ory pf gratitude and friendship.”: I C a 1 Z sa ^ e m .Scotland of Kinne’s study is thorough, and 4 hi mn W1 i, * ■.«« ta. ? . • i American comics. pace. Time for. the industry spectacle ' would have to be preempted* from xt j ' , v VTj. '■ j t ,») vuiu jju vc tv vc uuiu VSOn fading Scot, - the spectacular. sponsors-^Hazel amoles’ Af S thi?c 0 ^tT | a -A Se - ert e ^“ ! Bishop, and Sunbeam appliances—* 1=2?.?.*®L. these lJ.S. comics. I, and NBC made an offer of $50,000 .000 for ■ith the ; agree it is. dreadful, .literature,-..arid i p ‘od^mn eost^ ami $100 0 that it is horrible,” 1 he 'said “But ■ p. 10duai ® n c ° sts ancl .$100.0 what to do about it is dimculf”^ L .vtrme and cable^ciiarges wi J.' Bence, Member : of Parliament >. tu ^ J0S to supply talent * c «•••-, - - an'^ditorial ^ Dumbarton, said theywere be*'i Spokesmen, for the m^jqr pro.duc- wnS 10 v? ld t} } e -most' outstand-' aifve lo the value^f alL dramaU? 1 ing Iield up l0 ' ridicule because ; ers were opposed toriporisorship of. ShriS?' 1 ? ? n 9 , stpI Y rir-. series of : media It is iii-terestmfe to =***?£ banned certairi books, in li-. the gigantic by Bishop^mr Sunbeam « ”? ade at the Silurians’ i that he maintained a heailriv a?tf bral ' i ^ and yet there could be; ar >d preferred to raise their own America^^ (8rTF, tud e toward the Jerking^p%ss. <tf.| t °, p0, r j iC ' lions of “Sodnm Rv Tiio Son- An I v / i Ishow-biz, and always kept the.edi- 'Vi 3 ^.' a . .being as a ghoul. 1100 ;o industiy show witho.ut any ft o' I llfir .U. r !l Cf U,‘ !l ri l' • HI O M U 'Af ( L A#«A • AAk4ft A A M* >*•.' I M Jo RarisOn . Anthologized Several upcoming anthologies on, ions of. “Sodom By The Sea: An Affectionate History of Coney Is- land” by Jo Ransori, station WMGM, and Oliver Pilat, N.Y. Post politi- ol reporter;..One of the. collections “Sidewalks of Anyrica:.Folklore, Legends, Sagas, Traditions, Cus-, Songs, Stories arid Sayings ! ril City folk” edited by B. A] Botkin ! ;i .. n . d... published by Bobbs - Mer- ii 11.. Botkin is reprinting the sec- tion tagged “Try, Your Skill,,Folks” iv nich dissects the weight-and-age- guessers, the high strikers and the snooting galleries* prison’s piece on Coney Island vMnch appeared in Park East Mag- a/.ine will be reprinted in- Alex- ^der Klein’s “New' York City Anthology ’. under the Rinehart the Hotel Statler- in ,N.Y. , chnw . _ Donald D i x o n,' International i ‘ News Service’s Far. Eastern cor- respondent who was released sew ml weeks ago by the Chinese Communists after 18 month's of irn- pnsonment,. told hi$ story to the American Heritage’s New Setup meeting, and. the N.Y. Times’ Haiv American- Heritage, a quarterly rison Salisbury described: Moscow [ mag founded in 1949 by the Ameri- censorship during his stint as Mos- l ean Assn, for State. & Local His- cow correspondent for the Times, tory, next month will appear in ' — ' 1 changed format,: content and size. Shakespeare Revamped vUr. Leslie Hotson, Canadian literary sleuth, and a regular Fellow nf King’s College, Cam- bridge, has Won the 1953 Modern Language Association - MacMillan Award for “The First Night of 12th Night’ ” (Macmillan; $4 50), a Primarily a shoestring operation iri the past with a small circula- tion of about 20,000, the publica- tion was designed as a “popular magazine of American history.” In raising its sights the mag will now be jointly sponsored by the American Assn, for State & <1 Vf. 1 .— , V*'VW /1 n i vmv XIOOUI Ni,VJk Ou newly-published book which re-' Local History and the Society of I Wile, NBC-TV program veepee in I Hollywood. Wile.- John K. West, ' division veepee, and Thomas Sari V E iV U ? X ??’*c? l0 < V(il , «- i MiU .oui, Muilay s first novel .for,. n( jfr ( t v eXec, represented NBC at the meeting, arid Paramount' Fugitive Romans, deals , with.., *v an fc ; 'Fi:elmari' chairmaned American expatriates in the Italian ! £ T^eeman .. enan maned capital, and has a film production j d 0 ® 10U P‘ as background, the title of th fictional film being “Ave Caesar. as background, the title of the L Lommittee will be appointed by aesar ” ^ ie Participating studios to meet Murray is a longtime Rome resi-! ^' ith the NBC. group next week to dent, now doing p.r, in New York, besides translations and working on his second book. His ,mother- is Italian and his father was the late William B. Murray, founder-head discuss further plans and to re- solve union problems involved. Two years ago ABC offered a similar proposal for a weekly se- ries but it never got off the ground*.