Variety (January 19, 1955)

75 Wednesday, January 19, 1955 OBITUARIES FREDERICK W. DUVALL Frederick W. DuVall, 62, treas- urer of the Motion Picture Assn, of America, died Jan. 17 in Moun- tainside Hospital, Montclair, N. J. of a heart condition. A longtime financial expert, he had been with the MPA A for more than 25 years. He was also treasurer of the Motion Picture Export Assn., being an authority on foreign exchange and overseas compensation ar- rangements. Born in Napanoeh, N. Y., DuVall was in the U. S. Signal Corps dur- ing World War I. Following serv- ice as an accountant with Price, Waterhouse & Co. and posts with j & J. Coleman Co. and with Best Foods and General Foods, he berthed at the MPAA in 1929 as an accountant. In 1941 he was elected assistant treasurer, taking on the position of treasurer in 1948. Since Du Vail’s illness, Stanley Weber had been taking over in his capacity as assistant secretary. Funeral services will be held tomorrow (Thurs.) in Montclair, N. J. His widow, daughter, brother and three sisters survive. ANNE C. FLEXNER Anne C. Flexner, 80, playwright, died Jan. 11 in Providence, H. I. Her first play, “Miranda of the Balcony,” with Mrs. Minnie Mad- dern Fiske, was produced in 1901. Her dramatization of Alice Hegan Rice's "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cab- bage Patch,” was produced two years later on Broadway. Some of her other plays included “The Marriage Game” in 1912, with Alexandra Carlisle and “A Lucky S ar” in which Willie Collier ap- peared. Mrs. Flexner’s most recent play, “Aged 26,” based on the life of poet John Keats, was produced in New York in 1936. She was in- strumental in founding the Amer- ican Dramatists, serving as vice president, and the Dramatists Guild ✓ ! the Authors League, serving as a board member for many years. Surviving, besides her husband, 32 YEARS PASSED AWAY DAVID POWELL GOODMAN Died Jan. 19. 1923 A loving on* from ms has gone, A voic* w* loved is stilled; A place is vacant in our hearts Which never will be filled. Yoar son. Jack. JACK POWELL and FAMILY Dr. Abraham Flexner, director emeritus of the Institute for Ad- vanced Study, Princeton, are two daughters and a sister. J. BRANDON WALSH J. Brandon Walsh, 72, song- v liter and creator of the comic si rip, “Little Orphan Annie,” died Jan. 13 in New York. He \yrote continuity for several comics in- cluding “The Gumps” for six years, and the radio continuity for “Amos ’n’ Andy.” He joined King Features in 1928 when he created “Little Orphan Annie.” He left the syndicate eight months ago. "The Sinking of the lyiaine,” his first song, was sold outright for $10. Among other songs he wrote were “Teasing,” “The Mocking Bird Rag.” “In My Old Home T own,” “When It’s Springtime in Virginia.” “Harmony Bay,” "Blue, Just Blue” and “Killarney and Vou.” Walsh joined the American society of Composers, Authors & Publishers when it was founded in 1914. His wife survives. „ REV. DANIEL A. LORD Rev. Daniel A. Lord, S. J., 66, nadonally-known Catholic priest ''ho had written a number of re- ligious songs and who had pro- duced pageants in various cities, died Jan. 15 in St. Louis. He had recently returned from Toronto, v> here he wrote the script and mu- sic and directed the music spec- tacle, “Joy to the World,” for To- ronto's Marian Year pageant. Two of Father Lord’s widely Known religious songs are “Moth- er Beloved” and “For Christ the King.” BEN BLUESTEIN Ben Bluestein, 60, onet'me vaude nuoker and dancer, died recently ' a heart attack after he was -tricken in the Memphis Variety L u b Tent No. 20. Prior to his death he was head of the Mart Lighting Co., in that city. A native of Memphis, Bluestein booked acts in the 20’s for the Pantages time and also played the RKO circuit as a member of a dance turn. In recent years he staged annually the Mid-South Amateur shows and a number of. other civic events in the Memphis area. Bluestein, who was a former as- sistant chief barker of the Variety Club, is survived by four sisters and three brothers. STANLEY KING BENNETT Stanley King (Btan) Bennett, 64, comedian with George White’s “Scandals” and Shubert revues, died Jan, 14 in Toronto, from a heart attack. He joined “The Dumbells,” an all-male vaude troupe of World War I, for camp show tours, which had great postwar success for sev- eral seasons in transcontinental tours of the United States and Canada. In 1929 he left show business to join Brown Bros. Ltd. (The Six Brown Brothers, sax act), who were setting up their whole- sale stationery business in To- ronto, and was with them when he died. Survived by wife, daughter and son. DR. FRANCIS L. YORK Dr. Francis L. York, 93, com- poser, lecturer and writer, died Jan. 13 in Detroit. Dr. York head- ed the Detroit Conservatory of Music from 1902 until his retire- ment in 1952. In 1904 he was an organist at the St. Louis Exposi- tion. In 1905 he prepared a report for the French government on music schools in this country. One of the editors of the Schirmer Library, he wrote the first course of music study used in Detroit public schools. His works Included “Spring Song” for organ, a comic opera, “Inca,” besides many articles on music for magazines. VICTOR THOMAS Victor Thomas (John Richard Thomas), 74, knockabout come- dian, died in Manchester, Eng., Jan. 2 after a long illness. In vaude for over 50 years, he gained early tumbling experience while a member of Bert Bernard’s com- pany of the “Mumming Birds.” Thomas later became a member of the De Voy Trio of knockabouts, and appeared in revues toured by the late Archi§ Pitt. He was best known as the partner of Charlie Jones in a double act billed "Men Were Deceivers Ever,” playing the diminutive husband of his tall mate. JAMES McBRIDE James McBride, 76, pioneer showman, died Jan. 9 in Glasgow. He was a former chairman of the Scot branch of the Cinematograph Exhibitions’ Assn. He began his career with the firm of George Green Ltd. 40 years ago. McBride was manager of the Louvre Cinema, Parkhead, Glas- gow, until it burned down. He later became manager of the Tudnr Cinema. Giffnock, until his retirement in 1954. Surviving are his wife and two children. HOWARD M. FEIGLEY Howard M. Feigley, vet Toledo theatre manager, died Jan. 17 in that city. Feigley had been man- ager of the Rivoli Theatre, Toledo, for 33 years, assuming that post in 1921. Only interruption in his career as Rivoli manager occurred during the 1931-32 season, when he resigned to take over as man- ager of the Granada Theatre, To- ledo. a position he held for five months. In recent years Feigley also managed the Palace Theatre, Toledo. BETTY G. LITTLE Mrs. Betty Greene Little, 56. actress and drama teacher, died Jan. 10, in Houston. She played roles there at the Alley, Playhouse and Little Theatre and with the Margo Jones group in Dallas. Mrs. Little appeared on Broad- way in the original cast of “Sum- mer and Smoke” and was also seen in “Southern Exposure” and “On Whitman Avenue.” She op- | erated the Little School of the l Theatre in Houston for nearly 20 1 years. _ GERALD M. P. FITZGIBBON Gerald M. P. Fitzgibbon. 72, hypnotist known professionally as "Professor Whiz,” died at his Pennsaukcn Township, N.J., home Jan. 13. - Born in Newfoundland, Fitzgib- bon won national attention in 1927 as the first person to attempt hyp- notism over radio. In recent years he was a lecturer and promotion man for a car polish firm in Cam- den. N. J. His widow and son survive. ROBERT LELER Robert Leler, 35, manager of Television Programs of America’s midwest office in Chicago, died Jan. 12 in an airplane crash in Kentucky. He had been with the tv film outfit for a year. Leler previously had worked for two years with the Atomic Energy Commission in Washing- ton. Survived by wife and son. ANDRE DE RIBAUPIERRE Andre de Ribaupierre, 61, con- cert violinist and a faculty mem- ber at the Eastman School of Mu- sic in Rochester, N. Y., died Jan. 17 after a long illness. Formerly head of the violin department of the Cleveland Institute in Cleve- land, he joined the Eastman fac- ulty in 1948. Surviving are his wife, two daughters and three brothers. JOHN A. BOWMAN John A. Bowman, 59, head of the American Foundation of Dra- matic Art and the National Foun- dation School, which he helped found, died Jan. 12 in Philadel- phia. Bowman was president of the Bessie V. Hicks School of Dra- matic art since 1940. Three broth- ers survive. JACK GOLDBURG Jack Goldburg, advertising pio- neer, died Jan. 12, in Brooklyn, after a brief illness. He was v.p., treasurer and media buyer of the Lawrence C. Gumbinner agency since formation of the firm in 1924. Surviving are two sisters. EDWARD S. POLO Edward S. Polo, 37, makeup artist, died Jan. 13 after being I stricken with a blood ailment while working on the Allied Artists lot in Hollywood. His wife and two children sur- vive. Sammy Pierce, production man with various indie companies on the Goldwyn lot during the past five years, died Jan. 8 at Veterans Hospital, Sawtelle, Cal. Surviving is a brother. Mrs. Grace Delafield Sturges, 82, mother of screen director John Sturges and art director Sturges Carne, died Jan. 12 in Burbank, Cal. Virginia Thomas Westmore, stu- dio hair stylist and formeT wife of Perc Westmore, died Jan. 12 in Los Angeles after a long illness. Her daughter survives. Father, 66, of N. Y. Post column- ist Earl Wilson, died of a heart ailment Jan. 13, in Defiance, O. His wife and two daughters also survive. Father, 80, of Walter E. Branson, RKO’s worldwide sales manager, died Jan. 12 in Stanton, Neb. Also surviving are his wife and one other son. Bert Thomas, 64, former busi- ness agent of Local 40, IBEW. died of a heart attack Jan. 11 in Holly- wood. Sister of Frank Sennes, operator of the Moulin Rouge, Hollywood, died Jan. 5 in Warren, O. Father, 74, of Sol London, gen- eral manager of RKO-Pathe Stu- dios, died Jan. 3, in Hollywood. Wife, 46, of R. Roy Miller, ac- count exec with the Katz station rep firm, died Jan. 10 in Chicago. Albert R. Wehrheim, 62. adver- tising consultant, died in Chicago Jan. 9. Survived by wife and son. Dr. Robert Royal, 91, grand- father of Loretta Young, died Jan. 10 in Seattle following a stroke. Edward F. Mooney, 64, veteran projectionist, died in Chicago Jan. 12 after a four month illness. Harry E. Hoag, 65. owner-oper- ator of the Momence Theatre, died recently at Momence, 111. Mother of Slim Williams, the Darktown Deacon, died Jan. 6, in Augusta, Ga. Father of singer Kitty Kallen died Jan. 12, in Philadelphia. Father of Eileen Letchworth. act- res!, died Dec. 26, in Pittsburgh. Ben Cohen, World Publicist Continued from pace 2 every year in a total of 62 lan- guages; non-governmental organi- zations with a total estimated mem- bership of 600.000,000 people are contacted during the year by Cohen’s department; and the same department—through its press and publications bureau—handles a varying number of accredited correspondents, the number hav- ing been ns high as 2.150, and averaging usually during sessions of the General Assembly to a total of 800. The figures thus lined up do not by far tell the whole story of the work of the DPI, and leave out some of the factors Cohen con- siders most important—like the 24 field offices in 21 world capitals, or like the 30.000 press releases handed out in the last nine years, some of the total daily wordage on these releases reaching to 55,000 words. Cohen, a native of Santiago, Chile, was not quite 50 when, in 1945, he was on his way to Caracas, Venezuela, for a job as ambassa- dor for his country. It was his second ambassadorial post. He had tried his hand first at that kind of job as envoy to Bolivia, an exnewspapermen—reporter, city editor, editor—and graduate of North America’s leading School of Foreign Service. -Washington’s (D. C.) U. of Georgetown. Ben Cohen said he was “still a news- paperman at heart” when his gov- ernment suddenly shunted him from Caracas to London. He was ordered to the British capital to help the United Nations Prepara- tory Commission establish a De- partment of Public Information. That was in Seotember of 1945. Ey the following March, formal reso- lutions had been adopted setting forth the principle that the UN could never achieve its purposes without its basic principles and policies being understood hy the people of the world. The DPI was officially established. When Trygve Lie had been sworn in as Secretary-General, he made Cohen his assistant in charge of the DPI. Cohen points proudly to what! he calls the UN’s “network for peace”—a term that dors not al- lude merely to radio or tv web- bing. His “network” consists of UN Information Centers where the UN “gospel” is spread through and to all possible media of informa- tion. Cohen set up two such cen- ters in 1946, one in Washington, another in Copenhagen. He now has info centers—in .addition to those two—in Geneva. London, Mexico City, New Delhi, Paris, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Cairo, Belgrade, Teheran. Karachi, Bangkok, Santiago de Chile, Ja- karta, Manila, Athens and Bogota. These info centers disseminate do- mestically all kinds of information materials received from UN head- quarters, and also act as corre- spondents from the field to UN’s services at h.q. Here in the tall shaft-of-stone- and-steel Secretariat building, Cohen’s services have their main offices for the rest of the world. Here, in the press gallery alone, the press and publications bureau handles accreditations for an aver- age of 800 correspondents of all kinds, representing all media. The number of correspondents once rose to the almost unmanageable total of 2,150. That was in 1952. when the General Assembly held its sessions in Paris, and many countries were able to send corre-^ spondents without the need to spend the most expensive kind of money—"hard dollars.” But 800 is about average for the number of correspondents during General As- sembly sessions here. The UN’s own press bureau has reporters, writers and editors and, most of the time, radio recorders cover every session of every group meeting here—large or small, open or closed. On the basis of this coverage, regardless of whether public press or radio covers the session, UN press puts out an ob- jective repent of each session. Such a report may run to 200 words of copy—or it may run to thousands of words. Cohen’s fig- ures show that, in the last nine years, 30,000 such reports have been issued to the information media (mainly press and radio); these releases have totalled as high as 55,000 words in a single day. Special seating facilities have been provided for all types of cor- ! respondents not only in the main ' conference rooms—like those for the Assembly or Security Council 1 —but also in all committee rooms. Literally, correspondents here ob- serve, the UN works in a fishbowl. Yankee Negiest ~ Continued from pace 3 films only if we showed a small degree of interest in their product. “As of this day I’m in constant contact with some of the Japanese producers - exhibitors who be- friended me during the filming of Bridges and it’s my understanding things haven’t changed in their feelings toward this issue. Obvi- ously, we aren’t giving them the encouragement they need.” ^hcre are hundreds of films being made annually in Japan, In- donesia, Formosa, Malaya, Burma, Hong Korg and the Philippines. If we only evidenced some real offi- cial interest in their projects, they ; would be more apt to follow our patterns, director reported. “The Asians are very proud and i sensitive about their film artistry and they have gained great recog- I nition in the European film fes- tivals,” said Robson. To exemplify this, he mentioned “Koshomon” and “Gates of Hell,” both recipients of half-a-dozen , awards, and because of this, the prestige of Italy, France and Ger- many increased accordingly in Japan. Robson feels that possibly the long-tnlked-of film festival pro- posed by he Motion Picture Indus- try Council may be the answer. Nevertheless, it is important to our status in Asia th; t we begin giv- ing these people same "Pal sincere token of recognil on of their films ir. America, and e courage them to the utmost, accorciing to megger. MARRIAGES Dawn Plaisted to Peter Dealing, Islington. Eng., Dec. 18. Bride is a student at the Royal Academy of Dramal c Arts; he’s drama di- rector at Rollins College. Fla. Jean Fleishman to Bob Banze, Pittsburgh, Jan. 2. Bride and groom are with SW Theatres in Pitt. Dorothy Towne to Jack Webb, Chicago, Jan. 11. Bride’s an ac- tress; he’s the producer-star of tv’s "Dragnet.” BIRTHS Mr. and Mrs. George Kondolf, son, New York, Jan. 13. Father is a legit producer and BBD&O exec; mother is the former designer, Winona Murphy. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Blank, twin sons, Omaha, Jan. 14. Father owns a theatre chain in Omaha. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Dickey, daugh- ter, Pittsburgh, Jan. 7. Father’s an announcer at WJAS. Mr. and Mrs. Leo Heisel, son, St. Petersburg, Fla., Jan. 5. Moth- er’s Wanda Saylor, longtime Pitts- burgh tv star; father’s an engi- neer in St. Pete at WSUN-TV. Mr. and Mrs. James Lennox, daughter, Pittsburgh, Jan. 8. Mother’s former Pitt Playhouse property girl. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Lloyd, son, Pittsburgh, Jan. 12. Father’s an announcer at WDTV. Mr. and Mrs. Dave Jeffreys, son, Pittsburgh, Jan. 5. Father’s a nitery singer. Mr. and Mrs. Porky Chedwick, son, Pittsburgh. Jan. 4. Father’s a deejay at WHOD. Mr. and Mrs. Andy Gent, son, Cleveland, Jan. 11. Father is a rep for W1BW-TV, WIBW, KCKN, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Heebner, daughter, Burbank, Cal., Jan. 12. Father is general manager of the sales division at Capitol Records, Mr. and Mrs. Leo Shreve, son, Hollywood, Jan. 13. Father is a film editor at Warners. Mr. and Mrs. Paul Villard, son, New York, Jan. 11. Mother is dancer Dorothy Bird; father is a nitery performer. * Mr. and Mrs. Chris Darrell, son, New York, Jan. 11. Mother is Pat Campbell, CBS make-up artist; father’s a tv choreographer. Mr. and Mrs. Michael Strong, daughter, Jan. 10, N. Y. Father is an actor in "Anastasia.” Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Weil, daughter, New York, Jan. 6. Father is president of United Recording Artists. Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Valando, daughter, Jan. 3, Greenwich. Conn. Father is a music publisher.