Variety (May 1955)

Wednesday, May 4, 195S LITERATI ‘New Form of Book Burninj:’ A largescale hasste has been developing over what's termed a "new -form of book burning,Vwith columnists George Sokolsky and Walter Winchell taking' the lead in charging that bookstores and their personnel have been institut- ing their own form of "burning" of anti-Communist books by not stocking them, failing to reorder with demand and even telling cus- tomers they don’t carry the books when they are actually, in the stores. Latter technique is ascribed to clerks ".with leftist leanings." Issue was brought into the open by Newsweek associate editor Ralph de Toledano, who charges that his new novel, "Day of Reckoning", and his earlier treatise on the Alger Hiss case, "Seeds of Treason," have been subjected to the treatment. Most of the controversy has been aired on radio, with de Toledano taking to the air on "State of the Nation" on Mutual last Thursday (28) to pinpoint, the charges, de- bating the issue with American Booksellers Assn, exec secretary Joseph A. Duffy, de. Toledano went into- specifics, charging that Brentaho’s in Washington, the Co- lumbia U. Book Store, Scribner’s (N. Y.), the Concord Book Shop (N. Y.), and others had given his books the treatment. Duffy ob- jected to the accusation that the average book store did this, and In each case detailed a number of possible reasons why books might not be in stock, on reorder,' etc. Sokolsky took up the matter on his ABC show 'the week before, citing the de Toledano works as .well as Max Eastman’s "Reflec- tions on the Failure of Socialism" and Joseph Schdlmer’s "Vorkuta" as books being scuttled at point of sale. He’s also dwelt on the is- sue in his Hearts columns, de Toledano books are. published by' Henry Holt & Co., which, denies ''the charges. William E. Buckley, Holt veepee, states that Mrs. de Toledano has given him the names of bookshops which are keeping her husband’s book sub rosa and he has been phoning them, even to out-state points. His initial investigations stUl hold; he found the book as well distributed as any work that gets ordered through the normal channels. Buckley recognizes that for a book which got a rave review in the Satevepost the "4,000 or 5,000 copies to date" are nothing to cheer about. Seeks Lonsdale. Data Frances. Donaldson, daughter of Frederick Lonsdale, is’ writing a book about the late playwright and is seeking material about him, particularly covering the. years he spent in the U.S. Her address is Burden Court Farm, Tresham, Wooton-under- Edge, Gloucestershire, England. Pope’s B’klyn Eagle Bid Fllys J j Monday (2) was the last day, in theory, that the strike-closed Brooklyn Eagle could be sold as a solid hunk of property, but there were no takers. TheFrank D; Schroth daily had one prospective buyer, II Progresso Italo-Ameri- cano’s chief Fortune Pope, dropped out of ‘the running' on the same day. If there are no purchasers by Tuesday (10), the paper goes to auction. An Eagle spokesman reported that though Pope withdrew as a buyer, there were two local groups that were still eyeing ownership. The Italo publisher’s reasons for cancelling a tentative contract were not disclosed. Since 1 Monday was the last offi- cial day for sale of the daily as a unit, buyers until May 11 will have to take it in three pieces: (1) good will, paper’s name and library; (2) the presses and composing facili- ties; and (3) office equipment. The Eagle was closed by Schroth some time ago -when he said he could not possibly publish under a Guild wage increase demand that would bring staffers up to par with the Manhattan dailies. Paper’s Frown On Tv Tie Television sidelines are playing an Increasingly important factor in decisions by newspapermen to freelance. Witness the recent res- ignation of Variety mugg Fred Woodress, as columnist and 'enter- tainment editor of the Scripps- Howard; Birmingham (Ala.l Post Herald.' One Teason f° r Woodress’ resignation was to set up his own public relations outfit (now . han- dling the Bankhead Hotel, Brown- ell Travel Tours and the YMCA membership drive); another, and equally important, was the refusal of the paper to let’ him do a tv or radio show; despite .the f Act that the sister newspaper,' The News, has a radio-tv station tie. and its per- sonnel do shows' on the side. Woodress has : already been ap- proached to do a tv’er, but wants to get his pjr. outfit on its feet first. MacNeal’! Top Spot Robert E. MacNeal, president of Curtis Publishing Co., has been elected chief executive officer of the company. Walter D. Fuller remains as chairman • of the board and a member of the finance com- mittee on a retainer basis. Fuller, who started with Curtis in 1808, was elected president in 1934. MacNeal became president : of Curtis in J.950, Herb CrookerV Ship Ahoy Book Metro’s eastern publicity direc- tor Herb Crooker—no landlubber, he—proves that, with "The Boat- ■ man’s Almanac” (Hermitage; $3.75), just published. Jimmy Durante, of the Anchors Aweigh Durantes, did the foreword as it’s laughingly f called. It also reads that way. Despite the scuttlebutt intro, | Crooker’s book is a seaworthy manual for. boat owners. Quite obviously the Metro- matie is a real bounding main feller, and he has plenty of weather-eye info between the covers of this $3.75 book. And it’s not limited to Cen- tral Park lake mariners. Paul L. Sens’ Post Paul L. Sens, formerly on the editorial staffs of newspapers ill Philadelphia, Washington and Pittsfield, Mass., elected president of Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vt., after serving as acting presi- dent since 1953. He is a graduate of Dartmouth and did graduate work at the U. of New Hampshire and Yale. He was a combat radio operator in the European* area during World War II. Palm Springs’ Own Daily Though smart crowd is believed to have deserted Palm Springs for Las Vegas, California resort has a twice-a-week paper that, is going into* a daily next fall. Publisher of the Desert Sun, Oliver Jaynes, has announced that George Cam- eron, Texas oilman who now has his main office in Palm Springs, is going in with him to buck the tide of diminishing "dailies. Bun has a circ around 7.900 and has confined itself to desert news since Jaynes, who used to publish the TUcson Citizen, took over some years ago. L.A. dailies 1<ake care of the clients who can’t live With- out wire news. Biggest bump, however, likely to be. felt by the Sun’s switch to a daily will be jthe Riverside Daily Enterprise. This onfe covers the county and gives a big daily play to Palm Springs news. George Ringwald is their Springs man and is a hustler. To offset Sun’s bullish behavior, Fortnight, a Time sort of publica- tion, has announced it Is retreat- ing to a monthly. But instead of confining its coverage to Califor- nia, mag will now cover the whole coastal area. Shopping around for a new name as well. They'd like Frontier, but,. Gifford (Milk of Mag) Phillips owns that and since their views politically are as far apart as the poles, a merger in this direction is not likely. A1 Sqhacht’s Saga . The saga of a Jewish kid from New York's east side who became a major league pitcher, who struck out Babe Ruth, is told with a breezy, anecdotal style by A1 Schacht in his informal autobiog- raphy, "My Own Particular Screw- ball" (Doubleday; $3.50), with an editorial assist from Ed Keyes. Al- though it’s doubtful whether Schacht will ever make the Hall of Fame because of his hurling, he was one of the authentic clowns of the game and the book is scat- tered with narrations of his gags and capers on and off the diamond. Schacht merged show biz and baseball when he teamed with Nick Altrock; while both were coaches on the Washington Senators in the 1920s, to do a comedy act between doubleheaders and for World Se- ries games. Later, Schacht & Al- trock played the vaudeville route with their baseball act, but it was fav. from a click turn. Schacht and Altrock, incidentally, were bitter enemies and didi/t speak to each during the last years of their com- edy partnership. The book only al- ludes to the reasons for the break- up. * ; As a player who broke in with the N. Y. Giants under legendary John J. McQraw and then moved between the bush leagues and the 41 majprs until he- became a coach for Washington - Schacht lived through one'of baseball's greatest and grimiest era; His book has some brief bits about all the top players of the day, from Ruth to Walter Johnson, and also touches lightly, perhaps too lightly, pn the. Chicago White Sox scandal'of 1919 u&en the World Series was dumped by a syndicate of Crooked players. The final section of the book is devoted to Schacht’s start as a res- taurateur on the N. Y* east side, but a couple of miles north of his youthful home on Catherine St. The late Joe Laurie Jr, figured during this phase when Laurie came up with a $10,000 advance t° help Schacht complete his spot after he ran out of funds. Herm. ’ . 9 $3,000,000 Scot Plant Production is expected to teeoff in a year at the new $3,000,000 printing works to be occupied at East Kilbride, near Glasgow, by Waterlow & Co., w.k, London printers. .Factory .vVill .produce British Broadcasting Corp. publica- tions with a circulation of 4,000,000 copies weekly. The BBC signed a 4Q-year con- tract for the publications. The Radio Times, The Listener and other periodicals. CHATTER Joe E. Brown is writing his auto- biography in collaboration with Ralph Hancock. .* Anton Body of Lever Bros., named chairman of the Assn, of National' Advertisers Newspaper ] Steering Committee. James Adam named assistant editor of Evening Times, Glasgow. He has been features editor of Daily Record, Glasgow, for past Martin Abramson’s article on the Luxor Baths, the W. 46th St. Turk- ish steamery favored by the show biz set, in the May issue of True magazine. Meg Munro (Sally Russell), Scot femme scribe, off to Russia to pen series on Soviet life and work in schools, hospitals and factories for Glasgow Evening Times. Page - Davis, formerly with Ed- ward Gottlieb & Associates in N.Y. haftdling radio-tv promotion, is now publicity director for the Cas- tle Harbour Hotel in Bermuda. New Jersey Press Photographers Assn, holding its second annual contest to name "Miss New Jersey ‘Press Photographer" May 21 at Palisades Amusement Park, Fort Lee, N.J. Chet Whitehorn, within a month of being named associate editor of Tempo, ankled to return to a free- lance status. Was entertainment topper at the pocket mag before promotion. Coinciding with the world preem May 5 of Fred Astaire’s newest picture, "Daddy Long Legs,” at the Roxy, N. Y„ Arrowhead Books is issuing "The Fred Astaire Dance Book and Record." Bernard G«. Davis, Ziff-Davis prexy, was picked to represent the publishing industry on a commit- tee which left last week for Lisbon to plan the International Cadet Exchange program. Florence Scnetty, formerly man- aging editor of Fawcett’s True Con- fessions, Upped to editor-in-chief of the same mag. She replaces Wil- liam C. Lengel, promoted to what is described as a special new Faw- cett project. "Idea of a Theatre," by Frances Fergusson, among the 99 paper- back books, comprising "Thfe American Bookshelf," a $30 pack- age assembled by CARE for over- seas distribution to disseminate the “truth about “America." Bill Ornstein, Metro h.o. trade liaison, will speak on writing as an art at* the Merrick Library, N.Y;, May 9, to the group known as Friends of the Library. He will also discuss his two books, "Ma and Me" and "Deep Currents," in addition to a novel now in gesta- tion. Joseph p. Ravotto, cx-Variety mugg in several'key European cap- itals pre-World War ”11 (Berlin, Paris* Rome, Lisbon), being trans- ferred from Government informa- tion service in Bonn to Mexico City. He’s married to a French girl who, too, has since become an American citizen. * The Long Islander Publishing Cfo. Inc. chartered to conduct busi- ness in the Town of Huntington, Suffolk 'County, with capital stock of 200 shares, no par value. Direc- tors are Clarence H. and Marie R. MacLachlan, Lower Wall St., Huntington; Louise O. Junge, 82 Fourth Ave., Huntington Station. Article on subscription tv by Irv- ing Kolodin in Jthe Saturday Re- view Is accompanied by a question- naire "probing public sentiment on an issue of vast interest to tv , viewers . . According to Kolodin, "such guidance" as the answers to SR “may afford will be available to the FCC when it takes its deep breath before arriving at a deci- sion." Cannes film Fete Continued from page Z ing countries, as villains, but the peaceful aspect of fest was not ’marred by any objections. i Opening film to a packed eve- ning was Vittorio De Sica's "L’Oro Di Napoli" ("Gold of Naples"), with De Sica and stars Sophia Loren and Silvana Mangano down for the opening. Though this sketch pic of life in the meltingpot city had bril- liant moments, its overblown dra- matics and comedy made for an overlong film. It led to a cool overall reception. ■ Next afternoon the first Jap en- try,- "ChikamatSu Monogatari” ("Tales From Chikamatsu")' was shown..The Japanese mastery of cool, classical filmic storytelling was in evidence. -This tale of two lovers who break the strict codes of, 18th Century life is beautifully told but*. remains too Eastern in taste and discretion to measure up to., the success of its predecessors. Director Ken ji Mizoguchi has three fest prizes to his credit already. ‘Black Rock' Scores 'The evening, of^the same day was given ovejr. to "Bad Day at Black Rock" (M-G). It Was a good day for the Yanks. Well made, tense film was well received and the work of -Spencer Tracy lauded. Film was to open the fete but Tracy's sudden return* to the U.S., because of illness, had fest .author- ities putting it second so as to open with a pic with some of its per- sonalities present. Afterwards Met- ro Continental Manager Dave Lew- is tossed a party at the local Casino nitery, Brummel. Next Afternoon pic saw a mild revelation, Greece’s "Stella," 'di- rected by Michael Cocayanis and starring Melina Mercouri. The story of a sensual woman whose need for liberty finally leads to J*er death benefitted from telling dra- matic handling by Cocayanis plus a sterling performance by Miss Mercouri. Richard Davis, of the N. Y. Fine Arts Theatre, is report- ed Interested in it. Cocyanis, who is here, says he brought this in for $22,000. Although the pic has some rough technical edges, it is playable. Israel Has Good Afternoon Israel had a good afternoon with Anglo director Thorold Dickinson’s “Hill 24 Does Not Answer." Obvi- ously nationalistic in viewpoint, it makes for a poignant bit of , film- making and looks to be of interest for special situations in America. Other propaganda slanted pix were the two iron curtain entries, Czech- oslovakia's "Psochlavi” ("Heads of Dogs”) and Bulgaria’s "Gueroita Na Chipka" ("Heroes of Chipka”). Former was a laborious story of the uprising of peasants against their brutal upper classes. in the 17th Century. But it lacked filmic adroitness. Martin Fric's lacklustre direction and posey tableaus made this a heavyhanded bore. However, "Chipka," despite its coating of propaganda, emerges a film of great epic proportions. Its brilliantly mounted battle scenes and the in- dividual creation of its characters in war overcome its propaganda, primarily aO Russo pic since its di- rector is-Russian (Sevgufi Vassilev) and is a coproduction, the out- standing visual aspects of this might make it a prize contender. Jules Dassin’s French pic, "DU Rififi Chez Les Hommes” ("Brawl Among the Men"), led to a big afternoon crowd on its earlier pub- licity. It >yas - well received by the outsize audience. Its well-paced storytelling and its 30-minute si- lently executed holdup made for big mitting. Davis also is interested in this. ‘Marty’ Draws Fine Reception "Marty" (UA), unspooled before producer Harold Hecht and star Betsy. Blair and a full house, .drew fine audience and critical accept- ance. This poignant romance of two maladjusted people came as a breath of fresh air to the fest screen. Hecht had an intime party afterwards. Weakness of films shown so far has been in the shorts department, most of them being of low calibre. Standouts are Norman Mac Laren's Canadian short, "Blinkety Blank”; the U.S. UPA cartoon, “When Me Goo Flew” (Col), and An arty short made by American Ted Rowe, for a Gallic producer, "Images Prehis- toriques.” "Blinkety” is a series of images, with a charming and poetic personality in its riot of invention, imagery and whimsical doodling. "Me Goo” is a loud laugh riot. | "Images” is interesting (if over- stated in lab trickery) outline of the prehistoric cave drawings made around Europe. Big Yank Turnout U. S. industry turned out in force, with Dave Lewis of Metro, John Nathan of .Paramount, Bob Cohn of Columbia, Charles Smadja, Arnold Picker of UA already in; plus theatre owner Charles -Moss> There is a big name roster, in- cluding Doris Day, Bella Darvi, Van Johnson, Betsy Blair, Jean- Pierre Aumont,j Olivia De Hayil- land, Grace Kelly, Esther Williams, Terry Moore and many other for- eign luminaries. Eddie Constantine, the U. S. singer who has become a top toughguy Gallic star, is down on a fest invitation to give the proceedings a truly international air. He has been continually mobbed by autograph hounds. He ' is also huddling with Doris Day and Hubby Marty Melcher for a pic to be made with their company, which will be a new indie. Con- stantine is also up for a pic with 20th-Fox and a musical to be di- rected in France by Vincente Ml- nellion "Folies-Bergere.” * Miss De Havilland was so taken by Greek pic director Cocayanis’ handling of the femme lead in his film that she told him she would be happy to do a pic with him anytime. She goes to Paris to meet Stanley Kramer, who comes here with her before- hopping to Spain to set up exteriors for his next film. Phil Reisman of Todd-AO also Is here, as is Marc Spiegel, rep- ping MPEA for Eric Johnston. He is huddling with Jacques Flaud on the upcoming Franco-U. S. film ac- cord. Jury Rigidly Policed Andre Moricfe, Minister of Com- merce and Industry, in his whirl- wind trip through had some cheer- ful words for Gallic producers as he pledged forthcoming adjust- ments in the Gallic film fiscal and censorship setup. Anatole Litvak, jury member, blew in three days late because he was finishing his pic, "Deep Blue sea” (20th), in London. Jury is be-, ing rigidly policed and has to sign in for every showing.' If a member misses a film, he cannot sit in on debates until he sees it. Old bromide about producer! and creators of pix who feel they are being insulted if their pix do pot get the evening slotting also seems to be on the way out at this fest because afternoon pix are drawing as big as many of the night projections. Evening show* are a black tie "must.” SAG TV ‘Escape 1 S Continued from page 1 ^ bally for his feature theatrical re- lease. And, it’s asked, when a per- former has a percentage of profits on his pic, isn’t he, in effect, some- thing akin to producer or owner? It’s in this capacity that the play- er would appear in telepix,'and not as a member of the SAG. Anyway, this is being regarded as the possible "out" from the SAG ruling. Chances are it will come up for some kind of test in the near future. It’s importance, of. course, lies in the fact that many of the top name players are work- ing on percentage deals and the list continues to grow. If they can gO'On tv as "producers” or "own- ers,” it’s felt in some quarters, the SAG policy wouldn’t be nearly the blow originally feared by the stu- dios, ‘Cal’ and ‘Saint’ Continued from page 2 Besides "Cat," the crix had previ- ously chosen Williams’ "Glass Menagerie” and “Streetcar.” "Cat" is the sixth play in 20 years to have been selected by both the critics and Pulitzer award committee. Besides winning the Pulitzer and critics awards, "Saint” also was chosen as the best opera by the Music Critics Qircle. "Cat” is currently in its seventh sellout week at the Morosco, N.Y., while "Saint” folded last April 2 after a Hop 92-performance Broad- way run at the, Broadway, N. Y. The opera is scheduled to have Its tv preem May 15 as the season’s windup production of the NBC Opera Theatre.