Variety (Sep 1928)

Wednesday, September 26, 1928 P I C T U R E S VARIETY 13 Literati Just a Columnisi 1£ Variety had a columni^«t: It's the nuts...levcrything.,.. , Pictures—Zukbr and Fox are in conference and will probably take Al Woods Uegit—taxi drove up ■with Zieffgy and Carroll and ^^^lite ^ot oat.,..'Wincliell is dropped from the critics' boxscore because he likes rice puddinff.... Music—is there a man with, sour so dead who never to himself hath sa.id, "Who read Al^el Green's 'How to Write a Popular Song?' " Times Square—name, the border town where the boys use fast boats to srhugffle Chinamen across in po- tato sucks, and if they i!;ct nervous, overboard goes th(i cargo without a formal announcement be the change in plans,.. .getting, liquor across to the same town is a push- over as government men take fi'q.,m 12 p. m. to 2 a. m.'to go 15 miles upstronm..,. . Night Clubs~St. .John Ei-yine's review of "Night Hostess" ....Literati—J<ack Conway clucking to hlin.self,. "Here titles, nice titles, come titles";. . .New Acts^'Tlcas- ure Man's" cast working themselves into a lather. Eohbio Perkins wants to know if "Hell On Wheels", has anything to do . with the tenhi.? player... .A chori.st^or saw a downtoWn molS try- ing to buy tickets for the recent .Yanks-Athletics double-header and stopped to ask, .""W hp's playing, Jolsqn?". . , .Some . girl? think La- voris is. a hair dye./. .Obits—Hey Brouns pugilistic tendencies and the Clipper. ;s..Variety's review. . have covered everything but spell- ing. : stories witli ailtlre.sses In person and talks over the rjulio, LiVwrencc is becoming the btst known poll-, tical reporter in the country. lie had charge of the newspaper broad- cas.ttT.s, for .The N. IV. C. at the K.insas City and Houston conven- tions; . Sports Writers Robbed Two New York basob.'ill writers, who were here with the Yankees last week, were among patrons of the Chase Hotel, St; Louis who Were robbed while they slept. Horner Thorne of the New York Kvening 'Post left St, Louis $5 short and Arthur Mann of the New York Eve- ning World lost $38 to the sheakr thief. Others robbed the same night were Dr. A. A. will, who lo.Rt $200, and Dr. J. McCormack,. whose pocket was niinus $14. Tlvei doors of the rooms had been left unlocked and the victims told the police the thief, or thieVes, had entered be- tween midnight and 7 a. m. ■ The robbery is the second in wlilch the Yankees and their war correspond- ents have figured, the other having .occurred two .j'ears ago in Chicago. Garland, Telegram's E. Eobert Garland becomeiB the new dramatic editor a,nd critic of thf New York Telegram (evening), suc- ceeding Leonard Hall, now with; James R; Quirk's Photoplay" month- ly, doing ;theatrical reviews; with an eye to the picture ppssfi)ilitieS. Garland does not commence active- ly until the latter part of this week or early next; week pending Roy Howard's plans for a ballyhoo on behalf of the new .d:e. Garland is giving up his daiily Telegram col- umn entirely, . While awaiting Howard's return, Courtney 'Terrett filled in as Hall's temporary succep- sor, as. did! Heywood Broun, but both were only subbing. Terrett returns to his special feature work. Garland once before succeeded Hall 6n the same paper.. . Kobler's Control A. .T. Koblf-r is reported in .-stock control of the New York Mirror, with Hoarst holding the minority, portion. Koblor is said to have se- cured the Alox .Moore sitock in the daily.; and borrowed enough from Hearst for the ma jority. No impor- tant changes, to date on the dally tab., Wally Howey remains m. e. Best Sellers Best sellers for the past week MS supplied by the two natiiinMl key .Moui-ces, Haker Taylor Co. and the Aniorican News Co., show little ohange. H;iki?r Taylor's eonipila- tlon of the jiM,^ best. no\els has Warwick's Deepin.c's. "Old Pybus". on top. with "Strange Ca.sc of Miss Annie Sprai^g," by L*ii.s Bromfield, second; followed by "Guyffprd of AVeare". (Jeffcry Farnol); ''AH , Kneelin.!? (Anne Pah ish),. and . Edith Wharton's "The Chil- dren," Eaoh $2.50.. , Under the . elassiric.ation of nonrfietioni Stephen V, Benot'a "JohiT Brown^is IJody" head^i at $2.50. ■'.'Beneaih Tropic Seas" (William Bcebe; $3.50). second. Eu.gene O'Neill's "Strange Tnterludc", ($'i.50); Emll Ludwig's "Goethe ($.5), and S^amuel Hoffenstein's "j?ooms in Praise of I'raetical- ly Nothing" ($2), in order. American News* 10 best, is topped by "Swan Song" (.John Gal.sworthy) . at $2.50,- Next three are similarly priced: Anne Parrish's "All Kneel- ing"; "Old Pybus" and"The Children." Peter B. Kync's "Tide of Empire" ($2), fifth; "Strange Case Of Miss- Annie Spra.sig" sixth, and $2 publica- tions of "Beau Ideal" • (Per- ci'val C. Wren), Kathleen Nor- ris' '.'Foolish Virgin;" "Mar- garet Pedler's '.'Bitter-. Herit- age" and :J. P. .McKvoy's "Show Girl," in sequence. . like that, which is much nicer th^n crashing the editorial floor In per- son and opening up "AVhy can't you muggs get things right?" Mr, O'llara wants to point out that he's not the drarnatle critic o.f Time,' since he's the picture man, an).Vng other things, and ihe regular thealro guy is Norl F; H,iis«'h, Critical Complications The eoni)tlii"fitli>ns attending one recent Hi-oadwny premiere, of a i)lay aurhorvd by aii active dramatic man ha.<« prompted one inipurtant critic and .dramatic editor'to deride that there will not he, any more plays written by any of his staff. The; ."supplementary compliea- tionsvfollowing thb. ir-rltic's negative opinion of. his .colleague's play prompted this, ruling. Frisco Press Club Elects Alljin C; Bartlelt,' managing edi- tor of the San. FrancLseb ' News, elected president of the San Fran- cisco Pres.«i club, vlce l^arl Behrcns, .whose term expired. Other ofllccrs elected w'ore;; Asiiley Turner, vice- president and director; Geo. G. Mul- lanoy, secretary-director; John G. iliggins, treasurer-director; A. Ful- ton Gillaspey,, llbrariah-dii-cctor. onto the Eastern Distributing Corp. by this paper. Also that the E. D. C, never lost the Slre.'t and Smith publiealion.s l)pi'ause it ri<'v.»-r had them. I,lfe. the humor" weekly, sine., \t<^ ticsvmakeup, lias picked up notiri-- ahl.v. Tlio appeal seems to hav« extended beyond the usUal sphere of Life ajul Judge, attracting a so- phisticated cireulaiion.' An idea of the . murder niysteiT vogue may be gle.-ined from the forthcoming October issue of the American . Magazine, a go-getter type of monthly, featurln.t,' S. S. Van Dine's he.w "Bishop Murder Case." ■ ; Hearst has entered the early evc- iilng field with a. bull; dog edition of his morniiVg ^Herald in Washington. It hits tlie street at S: 30 p. m.V boat- ing, the Post, Ned McLean's, morn- ing dally, by half an hour. Latter has had the field,to itself for alniost ■a year and has built up about 10.000 to 12,000 extra circulation, with It. Zone Weeklies, .: The first Issue of the Grand C<?n- tral Zone Tab, a weekly patterned after the dally newspaper t.abloids, thade its appearance last week. .Initial circulation is 20.000, with the paper selling at 3 cents. The idea is to serve, not the residents of that section,, but the business people em- ployed there. ' Charles G.. Rose water, who once owned the Omaha Bee, iS: behind the venture. If the enterprise goes across, will establish similar papers In the Times Square and Wall .street di.stricts. . The idea Is some- thing new in New York City com- ^miinity newspapers. Rosewater be- lieves there Is more commtinity spirit In the business districts than there is In the residential. comedy situation. .Usually the actor's speech is worthless aS he was just helping his mood by ut- tering .some banality Improvised on the set during the shooting of the. scene. . In the case of ia close up where the. actor's lip action Is so pro- nounced the audience can read his lips, the writer must give him the same speech or pass it up" entirely. Critics, reviewing talkers where the dialogue has been Inserted Into a silent print, have very hazy ideas about the' requirements necessary for the Job. Mystery Tales;Selling . Confession' mag, Real. Life Stories, has been dlsoohtinued. Mystery t.ales .ar.o. picking up more and more, rotleetlng the mys- tery vogiie in books which was lent impetus by the S. S. Van Diiie type of crime novel. .Ayi.ation. pe-, riodioals are also coming Into, their Qw.n, the Clai'l.on string adding, Air. Adventures, under Casey Jonca,' the aviator's editorship. ■ The American Home, a new •Doubled.ay-Dornin monthly, ai lOc., which first! Issued Sept. 15; seems to be going over tremendously In a few days.- It looks like a class 36c,. piibllcatlon and takes the place of Ga,rden and Home Builder, The house at 33 Washington Square, now being torn down to make way for a tall apartnient house, is said to have housed more literary celebrities than any other dwelling In the world. . Any , n\mi- ber of now famous .scribblers abided there in the days when—, from Eu- gene O'Neill down. Mrs- Ellen D. Wangner Is the editor of The' American Home, the new Dbubleday Doran magazine on The Mbde.'^t ■ i-iome. First niimbcr appe.airs this montil. Macy's. Cut-Rating . The chain book sellers ar© peeved at R. H. Macy & Co;, New York department store. It's a long stand- ing grouch oni Macy's cut-rating on best, sellers. As one .book shop chain explained when "Bad Girl" "was. tilted from $2.25 to $2.50 re- tail, Macy's was selling it for $1.20 retail, at a price which It cost the other ghops to buy it In job lots at wholesale. Macy's is charged with using their book department as a come-on for the exploitation of other merchandise, charging off the department's loss to advertising and figuring they .make it up through attracting customers to the store. The publisliers don't care much about this one way or another, since Macy's, like any body else, pays them the wholesale price. But a Book-of-thei-Month publication —•which -members-receive for $1.50. is not encouraged In sales or display by the regular dealers who are peeved at the publishers sanction- ing the Wholesale cut-rating. "Bad Girl" wad an Instance and the Womrath, Inc., chain did not . display it, although holding it .in stock for whatever demrtnd as- serted itself. . Macy's test case with the Viptor Talking Machine . Co. on price- flxing is memorable for the same reason of the department store cur- tailing its margin of profit and un- derselling Victor's published list prices. The case went to the U, S. Supreme Court with a vic- tory for Macy's, that It can sell merchandise at whatever flsrure It likes so long as the manufacturer received his own. demanded price. Seitz Finishes Book Don C. Scltz,- who' has been work ing on .a joint biography of the James Gordon Bennetts of the old New York Herald ever since he left the New York World, has finally completed the volume. It will bear the title' of '"The James Gordon Bennetts," and Will be published soon. Dud Nichols' Novel Dudley Nichols, one of the ace men on the New York World, Is back on that paper after an extend- ed.leave. He is said to liave written a novel while away. S. F. "Bulletin" Changes Carl Brookhagen, owner of the Portland "Telegram" . and Sacra- mento "Union," has purchased con- trol of the San Francisco "Bulle- tin," afternoon paper, and Is swing- ing'the ax. So far 36 em'pipyees have been aired, -wlth'arourid $1,000 chopped from the editorial payroll alone. Among those out are J. Far- rar, mahglng editor; Jini Adam, John Robinson, .Frank Herman, Bob Koreze, Oscar Ingals and Ross Heller. New m. e. is R. A. Callahan, Im- ported from the Pacific Railway news bureau. Brookhagen was business manager of . the Frisco "Morning Call" some years ago. Bookman Material Seward Collins, publisher of . The Bookman, who stepped in as editor when Burton RascoG walked out after a tlfC, hasn't had a thing to do sin^e .Itascoe's departure. Rase e Is said to have bought up so much stiiff as to keep the publication supplied tor at least another year. As a result of Rascbe's foresight- Collins Is making no haste to se- cure a successor for the editorial chair. . 11. B.. irutncr is- tlic new editor of the Argosy. All Stoi-y. He was formerly asfiistant to Harry E. MaUle on Shbt-t . Stories and Fron- tier.' The Bntterick Company will re- issue a fiiition mag. called . ?'Ro- mance" this fall. The monthly waa .tried ^or ^ tew Issues and then dropped some years ago. Sam Hofllenstcln denies that he is peddling an opera ilbretto as re- ported. Hoffetistein says that he ia Working oh a new book only. Prolific Edgar Wallace Edgar. Wallace has eclipsed his fellow-countryman, E. Phillips Oppcnheim, as the world's most pro- lific writer. Wallace's record to date l3 140 novels, 20 plays and about 300 sliort stories. Besides that, he " conducts a "flally coltXffitt on a London newspaper and in his spare time writes miscellaneous articles. The English author Is said to turn out on an average of 0,000 words a day. Sometimes 15,000 words dally. ' His book.s,.;mo.stly.of the de- tective and mystery type, are in- variably best sellers. Last year the total sales of his books reached al- most 5,000,000. Circulations The New York Evening Tolcfgram, under Scripps-IIoward operation, has had a 70 per cent turnover In circulation. With loss of old readers went the two jDages of trading ads, hut new ones are bringing depart- ment store copy. The Evening Post ends the sum- mer showing a steady gain during the hot month.*}. Wiistach's First The W. D. Boyce Company of Chicago is Issuing a new fiction picture m.ig this fall ca)led Motion Picture Romances. W. F. ■ French, the editor, was east recently buy- ing material. He purchased from John Wilstach H short called "The Husky Star," claimed to be the first original tale about the talkers. Barnett Braverman Is writing a book ho will call "Modern Spirit in Films." • It will be a resume of in- terviews with directors on tech- nique of production. A western chain of mid-westem dailies la reported under a. merger formation. It is being financed by a New York banking' house. Amelia .Earhart may start en aviation department in Cosmoppllr tan.. Telegram in Red Ray Howard of Scripps-Howard ia shortly expected to return from his foreign visit, when changes are looked for on the New York Evening Telegram. "That S-H dally is said to have gone plenty in the red the past eight months. Over milyun is what's said. A Super-Reporter '^l3aA^3'T;ltwr<snce^^ In the pre-election period. Ho is editing the U. S. Daily, touring on a political survey of the country for lncori>oratlon In hl.^ syndicated feature, and addressing civic clu"bs on route. By suplementing newspaper Adding Dialog to Films The toughest assignment develop- ed to date is writing for the talkers, is said to be in.sertlng dialog in a picture after tiic picture has been finished. The writer must take the print into a pr^ojoction room with an operator and go over it slowly, reel by reel. Wherever Up movement occurs the -writer mu.st count the number af=^=word3=uttered-in-the=silf;nt^prlnt so as to match it with the same number of words In th^ inserted dialog. No attempt to give the picture actor the sarno speech he used on the set unless his spbcch is rele- vant and hMp?! the action or. the Job Hunters —Scores of- newspapermen, are. job- hunting this week. The Mirror roll- ed the iron ball last week. The Journal and the Telegram have stripped to a tight budget. And the other papers have stable and hard-tb-inake staffs. Flap Editor Delight Evans has been' m.adc editor of Screenland Magazine. This assignment makes her about the youngest editor in fan mag work. She started writing for Photoplay when she was 15, Her first issue will be the January number. Play Reporter Real Several of the district repurter.s frequently mentioned in "Gentlemen of the I'rcss" are a^ t'jally e.ngaged In newspaper work. Benny Klnkl"- fite-In, mentioned In thf» play about a dozen time.Si ha.s f<i'r the past 10 years covered the various news Boiircft districts.: for.JLio^NiL\vi.Vork $6 For 5,000 Words Here's what .authors have to con- tend with. Teh Story Book, a monthly fiction m,agazine published from Chicago pays $0 for a 5,000 word story.. And $6 Is tho publica- tion's top pl-Ice, too, payment some- times running even less. Hideaway Monthly W. D. Boyco people have a pub- lication called - Blado and Ledger, monthly, with 1,250,000 circulation that la never seen except in the rural districts. . Putting It Straight Lot It be said on behalf of Harold Horsey, of Maga''.i.no Publi.shera, Inc., that the international Paper Co. is not behind the new magazines about to he launched. It Is only supplying papei-' to Mr. Hvjrsey. Herald Tribune, Where O'Hara Fits In John O'i-Tara bHchtens a wcf k r»;- markably productive of .s'luawks by addrcs.slng a letter of corroition thla way: ' "V-.ui'-ly. fh-ntlcmen:" The Auction Bridge Magazine which Is Bchedirled to make its first appearance on the .stands noxt month is. seeking filction poetry, articles and iiicich nts with .a.hu- linorous touch Involving famous ' players of tlie game. i Kew.snapfrrmen fire helm^- sou;^ht i 03 contrlbutor.s to tho mag. it docs appear as though Variety Haroid Ilersey, aceord'ihK to '."^in-. llersey, Frtr over a year now <"V' ' V il'-m montloning llci'-fv h-'i ■) l"->-n ': follfn%cd by a lettc-r of i-'H r( f il->/i. Ilorc'.s another: lint John V\ FA- 'wards and .Mr. If'-rv •> ' ar-- j-iil-li-^'i • j lug a yroup of f')-."! ui.i -.» v.: Washington, Sept. 25. . A. Beenekon, German, has just been granted a patent on a sound picture invention, first filed in Ger- many in 1923. . , , Others In the .sound field Include a De Forest patent assigned to hia Phonofilm oorporatlOn. Another invention la that of M, Krasa In the development of a silk fjibrlc strengthening for the edgea of motion picture, film. Detailed information on these, and the othera Hated, may be se- cured by forwarding the name and number of the patent to tho Comr mlssloner of Patents, Washington. It Is necessary to Include 10 cents in each instance to defray cost to the govern men t. . riiolb - comi>o»InK machine. A. T. Koppe, ■Ciilftago, .as.slBnor to DIrcctplatft Corp.. -Chicaffo. Fllort Jan. 21, 1D25. Scr. No. 3,788. 27 claims. .1.682,846. Power-driven camera wllli-motor Blgnal (portable). R. L. fitlhchllcld, Itocheater, .N. Y., assignor to.liliatman KoOaU. Co., Hochei-ter, rUcd April :iO, 10.26. Scr. No. 27,018, 13 c.UilmH. 1,083,'J14. I'ropctw of., miiklnff. anH.stfitlc nitro- . r.ellulOHe tUm. H. 'U atlnchfleld. Roches- tiir, N. Y., JiSHlBriiir to lia.slman. Kodak C;o., nochcslcr. rile.d Oct. a, 1020. . Sjer. No. 1-10,096. Kour cl.ilma. I,fi83..11fi. Si/uiicI rfponlinj; ami rKiToducinp nppa- ratuB. I.ce I>e Korcst, N<!W York City, ;i.H:itBnor to Do I'-'itcrI I'lKinofllni Corp.» New York. JTIlod JJec. 1'J,.1925, JJer. No. 7C,'17l. Six cla.ms. i,r,«?„4r/l. I'rorcHH for th<* production of photo- irrni>lilr; iilnlo.", fUniM, J<nd. the liko for indlrcot t liif'o-pulor i h<)t"Kr!vphy. B. A, l,rij,'(.',. \V;in(l.ol)'.li, n';.ii HainburK, Ocr- )i..iiM-. I-,;.<1 Miinh 13. I'jii. rfer. No, 0»,'J.jr>. /ind In d-.rninny Oct. 2S, 1925. 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