Variety (November 1954)

Wednesday, November 24^ 1954 Javits’ ‘Anti-Hate’ Drive Jacob K, .Javits, attorney-gen- eral-elect and the- only Republic can elected on the party's State ticket in November, revealed in a press conference at Albany Thurs- day (18) that one of his four main objectives will be the launching of art investigation of “hate” litera- ture, of which “art unusual amount is arourtd.” Javits,. a liberal Re-: publican several: times sent to Congress from a supposedly. strong Democratic district, in New York City, described the literature as anti-religion, anti-Catholic and an tirJewish. The attorney general's office can consider and recommend legislation dealing with the. prob- lem, javits. pointed out. Several bills, attempting to deal with the fomenting, of racial and religious discord were introduced in the Legislature during recent years, but none ertierged froin committee; Irish Ban Bemelmans Book “Dirty Eddie,” . by Ludwig Be- melmans, was among 183 books re- cently banned by’ the Irish Cen- sorship Board. His coirtpany in the banned list on this occasion ' - eluded “The Esquire Treasury/' edited by Arnold Gingrich; Mis- tinguett’s recently-published auto- biography, “Mistihguett”; “Nana,” by Emile Zola; “Thais, The Monk’s Temptation,” by Anatole France, and “Ticket of Leave,” by Georges SimenOn. Dr. Richard Hayes, former film censor who also served on the Books Appeal Board, has bowed Off the board and been replaced by Prof. Jeremiah J. Hogan. He’s professor Of English 'Literature at University College, Dublin. No Pied Piper Here- The dread of every editor—a pied front page-^-Occtirred this week in Glenville, W„ Va., and the weekly Democrat went to-bed with only a masthead and an explana- tion for the near-blank page. The big. news in the community, the explanation stated, happened in the Democrat’s printing shop when the page form was pied en route from the makeup room to the press just before presstime. The page " one statement went on to say that with everything pied, the paper couldn’t possibly straighten out the type in one day, nor could it reset it in time. “So here we are with almost a blank page one. • Sorry. But that’s the story this week.. We’ll be back next week with the regular edition,” Democrat was an eight-page edi- tion/ With the other seven pages okay. Religioso Pocket Books Christopher Cross, publicity chief of Grey Advertising, and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who does a tv show on the DuMont Web, have . religioso themes appearing in De- cember via Pocket Books. Cross edited "A Minute Of Prayer,” an anthology of prayers- from all religions plus a calendar guide to religious holidays. It’ll be in Cardinal Edition, while Sheen’s tome, “Peace of Soul/’ is a reprint through Perma' Books. Another Profit Divvy The Manchester (N. H.) Union- , Leader distributed semiannual profit-sharing checks totalling $50,- 349 to 180 newspaper employes Nov. 15, bringing the aggregate amount distributed -among the workers for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 to a record $96,029. The total for the past year, which was the sixth, year in which the' UnibnrLeader employes have shared in the company’s profits, was frtore than $20,000 above the amount handed out for. the precedl- ing year. Ripsnprfin* ‘Comstock’ In “Comstock Commotion’- and “Legends of the Comstock Lode” (Stanford U;; $2 each), Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg have written a brace of ripsnorters about Nevada’s infancy and the founding of the Virginia City Ter- ritorial Enterprise, newspaper the two men currently edit and pub- lish. . Illustrated with old photos and line cuts, the books are paper- bound. There are many references to theatre as it fipurished in Piper’s Open House in Virginia City and in other frontier play- houses. Lola Morttez, Lotta Crab- tree and the Younger' Salvini receive attention from the writers. Piper’s had a typical opening night, western style. “Money” starred Julia Dean and Walter Leman, and as the house-lights dimmed, a couple of well-heeled rivals exchanged pistol fire in one of the. plush boxes. \. . Edwin Booth , and Joe Jefferson were visitors to the Nevada stand, but Adah Isaacs Menken, purveyor of VMazeppa/’ was. the favorite, Once, the Comstock Miners pre^- sented Adah with a bar of silver bullion worth $2,000,. Wells Fargo’s Strongest stage coach had to be specially braced to take the: gift to the railroad at Reno. In ifs latter days, David Belasco was a stage manager at Piper’s. Theatre is now a museum-piece, and has not lighted for an attrac- tion for several decades. Beebe reprints an item from Variety concerning his altercation with Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky, who once alleged that the publisher Of the Enterprise had exchanged fisticuffs with a film celeb ori the coast. — an activity hotly denied by Beebe. Down. Sheet’s 100th Ann! Nebraska City News-Press, old- est paper i Nebraska, observed is 100th anrti Sunday (14) with its largest edition, a 72-pager. Pub- lisher J. Hyde Sweet received a congratulatory message fr.onv Pres- ident Eisenhower. * CHAtTER Good Comics Inic. chartered to conduct a publishing and printing business in N. Y. Milt Shapiro ankled , Martin Goodman Publications for post with the Police Gazette. Irene Dunne wrote “Christmas in ’ Hollywood” for the December issue of Good Housekeeping; John Masters, author of “Bho- wani Junction,” in Hollywood to discuss its,. filming with Metro. William W. Johnson, chief of the southwest bureau of Life and Time Inc., in Dallas, transfers to Boston next month to become New England bureau chief. Richard G. Hubler and Coward- McCann have signed contracts for a novel about the west,, entitled “The Pass,” to appear around the Spring of 1955, This will 'be Huh- ler’s fifth published novel. Edward C. Von Tress, ad direc- tor of Holiday mag, upped to veepee ancL exec director of ad- vertising for Curtis Publishing Co., handling four Curtis publications. Peter E. Schruth is new ad direc- tor of Holiday. . Louis BrOmfield is writing the script for a ballet based pn the /life of historical Character Johnny AppleSeed (John Chapman). George Balanchine will choreograph,. ..with, the N. Y. City Ballet. to present a year hence. Theatre historian Bernard Sobel points up that “Your (Variety) coverage of Elsa Maxwell’s stage career was excellent, but omitted the most important item; her ap- pearance on Broadway in Louis Bromfield’s ‘DeLuxeV’ Martha Raya Continued from page 2 pleasantness prior to the start of the dinner. At one of the tables, was a femme diner, a reporter for one. of the dailies. One of the lads, thinking that Miss Raye shouldn't be alone in this situation, took it for granted that it would be okay to have a distaffer. sit besides, him. She was told that she had. to leave., B all, this Is a male organiza- nd females are. barred from ership, although they have ' honored, during the oig’s lifetime, three ladies of the trade, Blossom Seeley and Sophie Tucker having' preceded Miss Raye. . Leonard Highlight However, despite these handi- caps, the 400 or so who paid $5 for the comparatively skimpy - lunch- eon had more, than their money’s worth. Fat Jack E. Leonard hit one of the highlights. of his career in heckling the various speakers. It was one of those afternoons in Which he could Uo^ no wrong. Every line from Kinr was a boff. Phil Silvers emceed the event in an extremely pleasant manner. Al Kelly made a stirring presenta- tion of a scroll; Only trouble Was, nobody Understood him. But he was one of the top iaughgetters of the lunch. Smith & Dale gave a recitative of one of their early routines and it was still good for laughs, Gene Baylos also went over in a few well-prepared ad libs, and. Myron Cohen stirred the audience with a story. One of the straight speakers was youthful Morty Gunty, making his bow on the Friars dais; He was smart enough, to pay a sincere, brief tribute to a star whom he idolized 'MtmATI 77 since he could remember. There was a collection of pings in the audience, including James J. Brad- dock; Bob Olin and Barney Ross, Political world dished Out Judge Samuel DiFalco and Carihine De- Sapio, Tammany head. Miss Raye’s thanks to the boys Was one of the briefest on record. She seemed, genuinely touched by both the rtice and ribald things the boys said/about her. She didn’t spend rnuch time on her life, and loves/. As Leonard previously pointed out, it Would have made a helluva long speech; Jose. Helen Hayes Continued from, page l =s the Capital, tiny. Miss Hayes was doing her act onstage when Lew Fields, who was playing art. en- gagement at the house with part- ner Joe Weber, came backstage to pick up his mail. The comedy star stood in the wings a few moments to watch the show, : then remarked to someone nearby, “Tell that little girl’s mother that if she Wants her daughter to go on the stage to send her to see me.” Several years -later, when Mrs. Catherine Brown took her daughter Helen to New York, she followed the advice. So Miss Hayes' first appearance in New York was as the Little Mime in Weber & Fields’’ produc- tion of Victor Herbert’s' “Old Dutch,” at the old Herald Square Theatre, in 1909, With the coi - poser conducting the orchestra. Her only other “musical" appear- ance was th 1946-47 Anita Loos comedy, “Happy Birthday,” in which she sang and danced. Miss Hayes had planned to take a sabbatical from legit this sea- son; but was persuaded to star in a “Helen Hayes Festival” of four plays on successive weeks last sumiiier at the Falmouth Play- house,' Coonamessett, Mass. She subsequently agreed to do one of the shows, “What Every Woman Knows” for 10 weeks tlig Coast, and the Barrie play and ‘'Wisteri Trees” for two weeks each during the coming winter drama season at the N.Y. City Cen- ter. As soon as she finishes the lat- ter assignment she intends to take a complete rest. “I really mean it this time,” she insists, H’wood So Respectable = Continued from page 1 -■ ■ humdrum announcements of cast- ing decisions. Explanation for the relative quiet on the Hollywood front is that a new type of performer has moved in. The old madcap stars are gradually dropping out, and the new crop seems to believe In more wo^k and less play.. Impres- sion Is also gained that this new talent Is' less apt to seek the lime- light than its predecessors. All of Which adds up to better public re- lations for the industry as a whole, coupled with less excite- ment for the millions whose fan- tasies about fabulous Hollywood living are gradually being Shat- tered... Hollywood antics in the past have provided the nation’s press With Its choicest morsels. Among the scandals of recent years have been those Involving Charlie Chap- lin, Ingrid Bergman,/ Rita Hay- worth, Robert Mitchum and Fran- chot Tone arid‘Barbara Payton. Of late, the papers have shown less of an inclination to give, the “star” treatment to every bit player charged with an offense. 5=55 Continued front page 2 based on the Charles Lindbergh book. It will start shooting next spririg, also for Warner release. The filmization of Hemingway’s "The Old Man and the Sea,” is slated for production a; year hence, with Spencer Tracy as star. Hayward’s recent serious illness forced him to drop plans to bring the Mary Martin musical revival of “Peter Pan” to Broadway, and the star’s manager-husband Richard Halliday took over the project. The producer has no legit plans, but says he’d do a show if he found a script he was “crazy about.” He’s not interested in tv production for the immediate, future, Hayward will headquarter on the Coast for the next few months, with periodic visits to New York. :: SCULLY’S SCRAPBOOK f .'O , ► ♦♦♦+■+-»■»♦♦♦♦»♦»»» Frank Scully ♦♦»♦♦♦♦» Phoeni Ariz. Leonard Merrick, a fine actor in his day,/once wrote a story called “Conrad-In Quest Of His Youth." It. concerned a, sentimental journey of a character back to his old home town. He managed to work up a nice flirtation with a doll in a hotel, lobby and they set 8 o’clock to go out and make a . night of it. She was to pick him up in his room. lie took 40 winks in order to be in good shape for the night’s adventure. She came to his room, knocked, opened the door, tiptoed in/ found hirii sprawled on his back, snoring, with his mouth wide open, gave one look of horror and fled. On returning from Europe about 20 years, a go with my Scandinavian bride, I sought to show her the scenes of my childhood. My disillusion was worse than Conrad’s because the. mutch of progress had obliterated practically all of them. I wanted to show her North Beach Where I first . saw a vaude bill. It was. the sort of place that served beer and sandwiches amt threw' in eight acts .for free. They were good acts, too. A s kids, the trick was to watch somebody leaving and slip into h'lS sfeat; and his half-, finished beer before the waiters got back to the table. But there was no sign left of this memory of a gay .and Ypniantic boyhood. Something called LaGuardia Field had completely obliterated, it. I couldn't even reconstruct the area. “I remember there was an old Dutch cemetery behind., the scenic railway/’ I said. “I doubt if the hand of progress would have desecrated that hallowed spot. Why, even the switchback worked .around it so as not to disturb it,” I explored till I found the few tombstones. Then I .reconstructed the whole resort and even many of the acts which I remembered had .played there. In fact, 1 sonie Urn songs of \the Bison.; City Quartet/ including all four arts of "My Merry Oldsmobile.” “You Are Old, Father William” For all the wprmth it ci-eaU'd in. my young doll’s eyes, I might just as well have been trying td convince the Sphinx that I wasin the original com party that played /‘The Egyptian” 3,000 years ago. • It was with a similar misgiving that I .went to Phbenjx recently. I had been invited to address a convention of the Society for Crippled Children. Thirty years previously 1 had spent some years in Arizona, I was exiled there for reasons of health. Phoenix at that time was a town of about 30.000, a sort of . filth-carbpn copy of L.A. In fact,, the, whole state had about two persons to the square mile and even towns of half a. dozen buildings were 50 to 75 miles apart. I toured the state from Nogales on the Mexican border to the Grand Canyon as guest of George W P. Hunt, w ho was seven times governor. Today he would be considered too radical to get by the border patrol, let alone to rate tops among the. gubernatorial goobers. His sense of humor vva such that after .feuding with mine owners he sent all of them copies of Upton Sinclair’s>“King Coal” for Christ- mas. When lie retired, he warned all hands to run the state right or he would be back and fun it again. He went off to Siam for a year or two and when he came back Was appalled at the way the state slipped. So he got out his model T Ford, toured the state and took liis old job back. . He looked no more like the typical Western governor than a rhino. He was built like a water barrel, With a weeping walrus moustache, topped by white hair and a cap. In fact, I never saW him wear any- thing else. HiS opponents were, tall, Jean, you-all characters and wore lOrgallon Stetsons. But their 'drawing' power was practically limited to their own breaths when George. Wobbly Paul Hunt threw his cap ih the ring. Among other things, lie was the father of prison reform. He's buried under a small pyramid outside of Phoenix. One time he took me from Prescott to the Grand Canyon oh a road inspection, tour. Along the way he would talk to working stiffs to find but how the Job was getting on. On this occasion he recognized^ a worker who had Price been a boxer arid had played bit parts in Hollywood Westerns/ He got In me sort of jam in Arizona, I think, it was check-kiting, and when lie served his time asked the governor for a job. Hunt got him one with the highway department. Emily Post Among the Dudes After talking a while, the governor asked the .reformed palooka would lie. like to go with us to the Grand Canyon. And he was. Then- His Excellency got out a sheet, of embossed stationery and had it. tied to the shovel, explaining that this particular road-runner was AWOL, meaning “absent with official leave.” At the Grand Canyon We stopped at the E-I-Tovar, a deluxe dudery of the Sante Fe,. and pediculous with protocol. As we entered th dining room, a line of defensive halfbacks boxed off our -extra guest and insisted on putting a coat on hiir>. It was sizes too big: for him.. He felt like a clown without makeup. The governor treated the whole episode as a Joke. But the next morning as we gathered for breakfast, our ex-pug was still seething like Old Faithful./The headwaiter and his six. Jap bellhops were there with the coat. “Get away, get away,” the highway hand growled. They kept coming at him, coat ready for the capture. He gripped his fists. They edged within striking distance. He let them have It. The two went out like lights. The rest backed away. We entered the dining room as a team, our hero still in shirtsleeves, his dignity as a human being restored. The governor smiled at him. "Did you. ever read ‘Cashel Byron’s Profession?”’ he asked. The fighter said no, he hadn’t. “I’ll send it to you. You’d be wonderful in the part,” added the guv. Today, things like that are not likely to be repeated.. The best people go. around In .practically no clothes, ait all. The Stetson tradi- tion has finally emerged victorious. Howard Pyle, who once was a radio commentator and even managed KTAR, the NBC affiliate, a 10-gallon hat man, ls,now governor. Nine stations spray their sweet- ness and light over the Salt River Valley. From 30,000 in lriy time, Phoenix has grown to a town of nearly 200,000. It has three tv stations, and one* possibly named by ish-fulfijlment Freudian, is called _KOOL. The town is really bbpming. .The night I rolled in they were opening a new drive-in with a double feature (“Living It Up” and “About Mrs. Leslie/’) The bzorier was named New^/Acres, it brought the number of those catering to, al frfescb enleftai merit up to 14.That’s hot counting a drive-in church where the worshipers take it all sitting down in their cars, with receivers at their ears, or the hundreds of drive-iri eateries which seem more common than in L.A; If the next generalion can walk at all, it will be a miracle. . Of the older cinematic stalls, 12 were still open as ,tihe fall season opened and all of them selling airconditioning as vvell as entertaih- rtient. “Gone With the Wind" was playing both inside and outside, and it was sort of cute to read, that “Wind” was still con,sidered so hot after all these years It had- to be “cooled by refrigeration/’ Fresh releases of fresh pictures were everywhere evideht. “A Star I? Born” at the Fox Was already on a grind policy of four shows a day, starting at; 11,25 a.ni. “The Black Shield of Falworth/' starring Tony Curtis and his wife Janet Leigh, had art author’s plug which, considering the proximity of the gubernatorial elections, Demos deemed highly suspect. “Storming.. from the pages of Howard Pyle’s great rtovel/-it ran,‘Men of Iron’ in Cinemascope.” It wasn’t, of course, the, same Howard Pyle who was running for reelection as governor, but how were the peasants to know that without old George Wylie Paul Hunt to tell them? Certainly I couldn’t tell them, I was present to talk to the delegates of the Society For Crippled Children as the guinea pig: that made good.