Variety (January 1961)

58 PICTURES Fiftyfifth PSkIETY Anniversary January 4, 1$€1 Understudy For The Lead of F.D.R. and had little reticence when it came to speaking his mind. Wallace, whose presidential ambitions were no secret, took the job at a time when F.D.R.’s health was known to be failing; it may have been a case of an Absolora casting envious glances at his father's throne. When Roose¬ velt broke with Wallace, it is said that he was a little tired of having two master strategists on Capitol Hill; ac cordingly, he selected Sen. Harry Truman, whose repu¬ tation as a loyal, unobtrusive party man was guaranteed by intimates who had observed him in Congress. After just three months in office. Truman had “greatness” thrust upon him by the inescapable historical events that swept over the world. Truman*)? (Qualifications Truman, as a vice-president, had brought to that office an intimate acquaintance with Congressional procedure, a quality V.P. Johnson possesses to a marked degree. That same groundwork in the legislative branch of the Govern¬ ment. doubled and redoubled, was the primary asset of Alben Barkley, the man who has done more to reform the vice-presidency than any incumbent to date. As a mediator between the president and an often recalcitrant Congress, Barkley, for 12 years a majority and minority leader in the Senate, had no peer. Presiding in dignified impartiality over the Senate Chamber, he made it a practice to get down irom his Olympian perch and mingle with his brethren in the cause of good government. Here the John¬ son parallel becomes more pertinent. Possessing wide in¬ fluence not only with Trumanite democrats but with Republican* and southern Democrats alike. Barkley proved ' a powerful entering wedge into the camp of dissident congj'i **:r.cn. With the lull cooperation of Pres. Truman, Earklev in on Cabinet meetings. Cabinet luncheons (v.here even more important discussions often occur • and the reviUcU Mond -y conferences of the President with the leader of Congress. His ideas and suggestions were granted healthy respect. So were his gags and stories. Irrepressible Barkley Barkley was kept up-to-date on atomic energy develop¬ ments. i n all aspects of Russian-U.S. diplomatic relations, and on the latest facts and figures relevant to our defense program. These were all momentous matters conerning which a man who could conceivably be called on to take over the presidency should be thoroughly aware. But not every vice-president had Barkley's opportunity. To some extent. Barklev's briefing was the result of Truman's willingness to make a “lull partner": doubtless he remem¬ bered his own desperation when, soon after being sworn into ilie presidency, he was asked to settle great issues of executive policy and action with little or no preparation. Barkley himself, was no slouch in his concept of the office of the vice-president. Certainly there was nothing m the vice-president's list of official duties which required rhim to become the "travelling salesman” ol . the Truman! Ad¬ ministration. But he travelled three times as far and made twice as many speeches as any other vice-president before him. It might be safe to say that Barkley deve.oped ; and molded the powers of the vice-presidency to such a degree that he created a new yardstick for vice-presidents, a yard¬ stick by which we can already measure Johnson’s work. He too lias become a “travelling salesman" lor his President. Something new was now to be added to a Presidential race — the first Eisenhower-Nixon campaign. It was a show biz touch on a nationwide level, a '‘first” of its kind in American history and Richard M. Nixon »made it with his dramatic television performance as Republican vice-presi¬ dential nom nee. He had come before a roused, nationwide puolic to defend his moral fitness in relation with t lie job he was seeking. As he strove arduously and earnestly to tell why he should no: be prevent* d from running for the next highest of i ice in the land, the question arose among the voters: are we judging Senator Nixon as a po>*ible iuuire President ei the United States? Can we take a chance on him? Nixon's Histrionics The performance was impressive. Unaffected by fne tec mical paraphernalia of t lie show, Nixon defended ids cast* by taking the offensive, and he used his voice and his body as -klUlulIy as an actor. Long ago, young Nixon, among, other things, had worked as a barker at the Frontier Days Rodeo, in Prescott. Ariz.. and his booth soon attracted the . b.ggest crowd*. A little later, while practicing law in Whittier Cal.' he had joined a Little Theatre Group. One thing became evident, during that television per¬ formance: Nixon, ns a veep, would not keep his mouth shut. He would be remembered even if he never became Presi¬ dent. And the old. silent breed would never be given a chance again. The cilice of the vice-presidency was now spotlighted as it lias never been before. While Nixon was defending Ills political integrity, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee. Sen. John Sparkman, of Alabama, was under attack for harboring his v. .feon the Government payroll and easing hi* financial burdens in hi* own particular way. By the time the clatter died down, both nominees appeared to be morally above reproach. Yet each, weighed in terms of the earlier of them ‘orem ist running mates, Dwight D. Elsenhower and (Jr evenson. did not appear then to convey the *ta .. ential President. Ambitiou*. in » working .m.d curious of mind. Nixon like his predece • >r l’a:kiey was a member of the National Security Council and p'e-idrd in the absence of Eisen¬ hower. Partly because of his own traits, partly because of the Pro dem's decision to groom him as completely as possible. Nixon put a new emphas’s on the most neglected c! tiie -t ver.il roles of a Veep, that of Assistant to the President. Sir' ft in F.mnliagis Tills shift in emp’ a sis. long overdue, lioloed restore the Vice-Presidcr.c.' ‘o Ls original function. For a man w.io may he caFed at a..y moment to re 'lace the supreme C i ef of the laid cannot just rely on his talents for improwation, o- his experience as Presiding Officer of tite Scnate. The sure sion. in countries where kings do not rule, is in 1;x-i a piomotion. Irom the job of Assistant to the’ Presi¬ dent to the exhausting and h storical role of constitutional head of the state. li the de'e.' at< s at the 1930 conventions drew any moral from the past to apply to their yardstick for chooing a Vice-president, peihaps it was that of avoiding liie be¬ ; Continued from page 33 ; setting sin of silence. Both vice-presidential nominees, Senator Johnson and Ambassador Lodge are men who talk up — and this does not mean merely making speeches. Oratorical prowess is fine (Barkley won the 1946 nomina¬ tion with his fiery keynote address) but the reform v.p. must not be afraid of taking, a firm stand, or tilting an occasional lance over matters of vital public interest. This he can do without necessarily alienating the confidence of his Chief. No normal politician In good voice should be asked to voluntarily restrict his utterances for four years to an occasional “yea” or “nay” which gets only the obituary publicity of the Congressional Record. One may be sure this will not happen during the next four years. If vice-presidents once belonged to. a political genealogy of wooden Indians, the 1960 vice-president has every op¬ portunity to shake off his inherited lethargy. Press, radio, television — give the personality incredible, exposure. There is no legitimate reason why a vice-president should escape the public eye or find his recorded utterances re¬ duced, to small print at the bottom of the page, as it used to be. Enlightened Chief Executives are willing to delegate him responsible administrative chores and relieve him of his meaningless, token functions. He can be an Assistant President, in deed as well as word, if the incoming vicepresident meets the challenge attendant on his high of¬ fice. he can banish permanently the stigma attached to what was formerly believed to be a lounging joke. What is more important, he will be serving as a useful understudy lor the day when he could conceivably be called to play the White House lead by an act of God, or, better still, for the moment when the people of the United States elevate him, as a natural and deserving successor, to his destined goal as the star, the Chief of the highest office in the land. Can’t Faze That Bob Hope Hollywood. During the years I wrote for Bob Hope the entire staff was always amazed at how calmly Hope coped with all and any unpredictable situations. Fluffs, miscues, bloopers, noises, sloppy sound effects— nothing bothered him. Once in a Cleveland theatre a crackpot walked onstage while Hope was making a personal appearance and tried to sell him some ma¬ terial. Hope handled the intruder so skillfully the audience thought it was part of the act. Because of Bob's constant calm, the writers tried to cook up something to shock or startle him. Hope had one weakness. An almost fanatical crav¬ ing for icecream— vanilla icecream with pineapple syrup. In the midst of practically every script ses¬ sion one of the writers would ..be delegated to go to the corner drugstore and bring Bob back a container of this concoction. It was this frozen Achilles’ heel that gave the writers an idea. During the 1942-43 season we went east to play several Army, Navy and Marine camps. One of the writers, Sherwood Schwartz, did not accompany us on this trip because he had been drafted several months before.. However, by coincidence, Sherwood was in New York while we were there. We kept his presence a secret from Bob till one night during a rewrite session in Hope’s hotel, room. At 10 p.m., the hour when Bob usually began to long for his frozen refreshments, Sherwood, resplendent * in his Army uniform, came rushing into the room and handed Hope a quart of icecream. Bob took it without batting, an eye at his long missing scripter, and his only comment was, “Sherwood, I hope you remembered th^ pineapple syrup.’ Milt Josefsberg The Big Stake In Paperbacks able business in distribution, we conceived the Idea of doing paperback originals instead of reprints. Just the same, when Fawcett announced its plan of publishing Gold Medal originals in paper covers, the re¬ action of both hardcover publishers and the reprint houses was resentful. Also, writers were skeptical. Books were not only books but furniture. Dignity Vs. Prosperity It meant a lot to a writer to see his hardcover book on his library table, even in public libraries, perhaps — If he was lucky to find them — even on display in bookstores. In the first two years we “discovered,” as the saying goes, 30 or more writers who had never had a novel pub¬ lished. Most of these discoveries are still writing for us and for hardcover houses. I’ll be a namedropper and ment.on John D. MacDonald, Charles Williams, Tereska Torres, Vin Packer, Richard Prather, Richard Gehman, among those first published by Gold Medal. Then came the name authors who considered butter on the bread and a bigger bankroll more important than a book as a piece of furniture. Among those were McKinlay . Kantor, Eric Hatch, Cornell Woolrich, James Warner Bellah, Octavus Roy Cohen. Sax Rohmer, Theodore Pratt, Benjamin Appel, John Faulkner, to name only a few. I mentioned Tereska Torres as one of our discoveries. Her first novel, “Women’s Barracks,” had been turned down by some 20 hardcover publishers. We found she needed only editorial guidance in the organization and development of her story. We gave her that guidance. To date there have been 11 printings of "Women’s Barracks” with a sale beyond 2,047,000 and Miss Torres iu.s earned $30,000. That same editorial aid helped Charles Williams to make his first novel. "Hill Girl.” into a publishable book, with «ales and earnings almost equalling “Women's Barracks.” Although “Hill Girl” was published back in 1952, the mo ion picture rights were only recently sold. In all. more than 50 Gold Medal Books have been sold to .picturis, Which speaks pretty well for the attention given these original paperbacks by Hollywood. Few hardcox or publishers can boast that record. The Writers’ Stance What do authors themselves think of original publica¬ tion in paper covers? Theodore Pratt had published more than a score of books in hard covers before he came to Gold Medal, so here is Mr. Pratt in his own words: "As well as writing to express himself,” Mr. Pratt wrote, “and to make a living, an author writes to be read. It is pinions he would prefer being read by millions than by a comparatively few thousand.” “And above ali,” he added, “I am afforded a greater monetary return.” The “monetary return” to Mr. Pratt can be gauged by nine printings of just one of his novels, THE TOR¬ MENTED, with a sale of 1,163,000 copies to date. Then there is John Faulkner, brother of William Faulk¬ ner. His first Gold Medal novel, “Cabin Road,” was re¬ jected by his hardcover publisher. We found it needed just a b.t of author-editor cooperation to make it a better bo< k. John Faulkner wrote, “Gold Medal is the only place I know that gives a writer the leeway you do. "From what I know of Gold Medal’s policy I think you cone closest to giving the rcacFng public writers’ stories. “I believe you get closer to every writer's dream than \ou know.” I could go on at length about the rewards to Gold Medal di coverics. Vin Packer’s first published novel. “Spring Fire.” has had five printings totalling 1.100,030 copies; ~ six printings of ; Continued from page 25 ; John D. MacDonald’s “The Damned, 1.426 000. But the sensation of them all is Richard Prather. Richard Prather, wh' came to us in 1952 as an unpub¬ lished author, with his Shell Scott character, has become the closest rival in sales to Mickey Spillane with his Mike Hammer. There have been 18 Prather titles published, totaling around 20,000,000 copies. In contrast to the modest advance received by a hard¬ cover author the writer of a Gold Medal or Crest original receives a contract on acceptance of his novel and a mini¬ mum advance of $2,000 for a 25c book. This is against an initial minimum print order of 200,000. On all copies beyond 200,000 printed he receives 1*2C a copy, proportionately larger, of course, on books, selling for 35, 50 and 75c. I emphasize payments on copies printed, because of the hardcover field, and in reprints, generally, the royalties are based on sales. The author gambles on a publisher’* selling ability. If a Gold Medal or Crest original doesn't sell enough to earn the advance the loss is Fawcett’s and not the au¬ thor’s. Of course, on a big hardcover bestseller reprint, the initial paperback printing is very large indeed. The first Crest printing on “Lolita” was a 1,500.00 copies, followed within a few weeks by a second printing, and shortly thereafter a third printing. It has been said that inexpensive paperback reprints revolutionized the book publishing business. Then, it might as well be said that Gold Medal originals have revolution¬ ized the paperback business. In fact. Gold Medal originals had become, by 1955, so competitive on the newsstands with Signet that the New American Library felt compelled to find another distribu¬ tor. Now Fawcett was free to enter the teprint field, which It did in September, 1955, with Crest Books, almost entirely fiction, and a line of non-fiction books titled Premier. Premier Books sell for 50c and are of a general informa¬ tive. educational nature. They break down into such categories as literature, history, philosophy, psychiatry, religion, sociology, music and many of the physical and natural sciences. V.’ith Premier we strive to publish books of popular acceptance — books that will make their way on the news¬ stands as well as in college stores and bookstores. And, tiie 50c price sets them apart from such more restricted lines as Anchor. Vintage. Compass. Universal and the paperbacks isMied by the 'Various university presses. Educators’ Inroads Almost every day you read of another university start¬ ing a line ol paperbacks. Practically all of the hardcover houses are jumping into this field. All of which is making our job tougher in finding suitable titles ior reprint. This is on of the reasons why during I960 we have launched three new categories of Premier Books. Premier Americana is under the editorship of Henry Steele Commager. Classics of American Realism are selected and edited by Van Wyck Brooks. World Classics are under the editorship of Bergen Evans. The market for paperback books still is bigger than any¬ one has dreamed of. A survey has indicated that less than 20f r of Americans read books regularly. The sale of paperbacks in 1960 is expected to exceed 300,000.000 copies. That means an estimated expenditure of at least $30,000,000 in printing and production alone. It means the authors will earn roughly S6.000.000, some of which they must share with hardcover publishers. It means the retailer — more than 100.000 of them — will share a profit exceeding $25,000,000. All of this a development of only 21 years. Think of it, a sale of more than 300,000,000 copies of paperback books a year. Startling! Nothing to brag about. Two weekly magazines. Life and The Saturday Evening Post have a \ early circulation in excess of 600,000.000 copies, almost double the anticipated annual sale of paper¬ backs in 1960. While the paperback has attained its majority it is still a long way from maturity. There are still untold millions of readers to reach with our paperback in these United States.