Variety (Feb 1929)

60 VARIETY L 1 T E R A T I —r The N. Y. C. Way In last week's Variety wus a aiory of Al Selig, .publicity for Tiflany- jstahl (pictures), having idcntinod a trainman on the 20th Century, east bound, as the person he had yrabbod when seolngr an arm reach into his berth, in an attempt to vine Selig's coat pocket. Selip -wa.s reading at the time. Chester B. Bahn, d. . e. of the jgyracuse Heraldi sent put a report er to make. another story of it. The followihg Is the report-made in con- nection: by Cant. A. TV. King, of the New York Central, police at Byracuce.: The report reads as though a lawyer rather than a po- . ilccman, wi'pte it: , . Detectives of my department . have investigdtecV. from every aneie the report of Mr. Selig regarding an attempt to rine his berth while he was a passenger on the 20th Century Limited. While It is not absolutely sure . that [the trainman charged is. . not ; jguilty, ■ the .detectives say they believe him, entirely inno- cent, ba.sing their opinions, on a thorough checkup of his repu- . tation, financial - resources', habits, etc. We. do not doubt Mr. Selig's : .w^ and feel . Confident someone must have made such an a.ttempt but we ; are almost positive that the trainman was .not involved. The trainman himself is high-, iy Indignant and has decided to . wait on M^^^ a^nd demand : an apology in the near future. . Should .Mr. Selig de.sire, the trainman declai'es he will subr mit to arres.t without resist- ■ ance. ' ' ^ . But it is. my iapinibn the train- man .is the type who will go to the limit for retributibn. in the •vo nt M r. Se I i g c o u I d n ot prove any charges he might make. Personally, of course, my only Interest is to catch the man who attempted to steal and wdiat: happens . should a false arrest be made js of little importance to us if the arrest is made on a. proper warraint sworn to by 'someone. o hereafter leave thorn at the box full text which Simon A Schuster t oiWco instead, with an a.ssurunce the cat would eventually get them. Admission is $1.50. This week the Morley mob is trying out "The Black Crook" over there at another have Issued as a $B volume. Whaf more, H.-J'8 publications antedate the S. & S, edition. Haldeman-Ju lius' literary acquaintanceship throughout the world Is wide, th^s house, while capitalists from Ho-I po.sslbly being a. factor for his In boken, and other poiiit.s cast,-are talking of opening large new mod- ern hotels and restaui-ants to ac- commodate the throngs. When Chris lifted Hoboken "out of the depths; the saloonkeepers around the joints were looking over the b.ankruptcy itial issuance of Dr. Durant's beap seller as a non-fiction work. It may be, too, that . S. & S. dp not everi know of this, since the fields do not in any wise conflict. Haldeman-JUlIus has .get up man / agencleia In business to handle his Cisco Bulletin; Helen Foote Gra- of Flaming Youth' and a huir>bep ham Toledo NewB-Beo; Ella Wy- of other best sellers of the same att, Tulsa Tribune; Elizabeth E. | type. Is none other than Ramueri, Poe, Wa.shlngtpn Post; rates; Now they are re.<itauriiteurs books, but has failed to click in'the and oWryihg stuff on margins. / - nietropolises. His. circulation If And Chris with his pals are . so strictly in the grass happily counting the. gross and sub- The Glrard. publisher is now go tracting the net that-.thpy never ing in for lOc. booklets where the come oyer to Ni Yerrk anymore. | text runs long. -Instead of splitting the story up Into' two separate is-. The "John Spelvin" [ sues it will be combined In a fatte The ueath of Walter Kingisley little pamphlet, of twice the numb-.r classic press agent, makes necessary of paiges of . the five-cent editions, no longer the secret that he was Haldeman-Julius has manifestea the "John Spelvin" who wrote a Broadway complex of late. He "Wisecracking , on Bi-oadway". for has commissioned writers for seri'^s the .sporting weekly, the New York of Broadway subjects, okaying the Press The column was an imme- Idea from the title. Thus, while a diate and lasting success. $50 fee for a booklet Is a bit nriea- 'John Spelvin" Is a name invented gre, an authorization for .10 of thes" years ago by John Golden, who use.-i Intrigues goes to the average hack it as the second program name for who is iput for revenue only. Aver an actor who doubled. It got to be age typewritten context for theso a Golden mascot. He rarely opened pamphlets Is 32 pages and say what a . show where the. name of the ] you will within reasonable bounds, "ghost" actor didn't appear King.sley, not wanting to use hio I . Tintypes and Portraits own monicker, picked it up as his A ntamber of publishers having nom de plume; The original John turned down Sidney . Skolsky'^ Spelvin was . a stage manager for "Times Square Tintypes," running Golden. The show was a huge sue- regularly in the New York Sun cess, aiW Spelvin crossed the stage Sam Marx Is bringing out h'.!-' for a bit. Golden thereafter adopted "Broadway PortPa;its" series of sliti- the name. ' | ilar pattern In two weeks under Donald Flamm's Imprint. Skolskv King's Authoring Fiood I got his start with Mar?: In his New There is an epidemic of authors York Amusements throwaway, I in King Features Syndicate (Hearst) which Flamm pvhUshes, and from editorial staff. Jack Lait's noveliza- that Skolsky developed-the Sun se tipn of "Broadway Melody'- wap r|es. In view of some 10 publisher.s, grabbed up by Grosset and Dunlap. j including Llverlght, . Simon & Ward Greene, executive editor, gchuster and latterly John Day Co. placed "Cora Potts," novel of South- having turned Skolsky's anthology erh undierworid. Walter Vogdes, down. Marx felt free to Issue his deskmari, just has seen the first hjook. It will Include 60 Broadway copy of his "A. Great. Man," fiction- celeljs and sell at $1. All press Ized version 6i the '49 gold rush. Ugents and newspapermen will be Josephine Huddleston, beauty ed- eschewed, and some heretofore unr iter, Is reading proof on her first published pen. portraits will be In- volume, "My Secrets of Charm," eluded, all of which Will disappoint Actress' Best Seller I and the Haiti book by w; B. Sea- at least one p. a; who is fondly an Book-of-the-month club has se- brook, reporter at large, is a best tlclpatlng himself to be Included In lected "The Cradle of the Deep" seller In its first month. this anthology on the strength of (Simon & Schuster), first book' of James Aswell, rewrite man, re- having had his miniature biography Joan Lowell who played in Chap- cently had published "We Know | previously published lln'^ "Gold Rush," and now Is in Better," a thin book of verse, and stock in New Orleans. Book" looms Clare Murray, star girl poet-artist aa a best seller. of the staff, hag an offer from Gos- Mlss Low'ell spent the first 17 | mopolltan Book Corporation years of her life on a copra trading Balling boat cruising In the south I Big 5c. Business Seas, artd her record is described | Authors of those little books . Sports Journalism In thfe American Mercury for March, WiUiam Henry Nugent writes, under the heading of "The Sports Section," Interestingly -oh ^ sports jOurhallsm from its earliest | ^'yj^j^yi'^gg^Ystuff u day in England. . Mr. Nugent states I ^^j.jQ^g pubilcatlons that they often that much of the sports argot of | ^^ve mor© than one storv fn n today, now objected to by the Eng- lish as demoralizing . or American- izing their langiiai^e, was derived from England In the first place. Wednesday, February 20, 1929 Haven Register; Helen Nolan, New 1 author that Homer Croy was an York Mirror; Ellen Foley, New Orleans States; Daphne Peters, Omaha World Herald; Hesther Ted Miller, Pittsburgh Press; Mrs. H. B. Reed, Philadedphia Daily News; Gladys Von Blancks, Syracuse Herald; Louis LandLs, San Fran- nounced. Subsequent edftiai.s of the. novel had him down n> the writer. Reason why Croy iitcCorred to rem?iin in the background was that his book was different. There have been reports, and none denied, that Warner Fabian,' author Esther Hopkins Adams. Adams haw lievep. Hamilton,. Youngstown Telegram. written any such fiction undej his. own name. Yet it Is doubtful' whether any of the books that carry his own name made, anywhere near the money that "Flaming Youth" did. And then there are those niaga- izlne writers who turn out 'such have rrior© than one story in a sin- gle issue; In that case, only on^ story carries the author's real" name... The second or third In the .samp! Issue have nom de plumos. through' its sports publications^ The writer names Pierce Egah's , Marathon Guest ""^ Alfred^ ^S^;"'cme 0^ the odi- in 1824 latter renamed ^eUB^J^it^U ^ ^^^^^^^ In London, as the first and British I : . . . i i^ew^ sports paper; In America the first .rting sheet^(Weekly) | a" month. Perry comes to the is given as the Spirit of the Times, 1^^^^. <,oast as a .member of the born In 1831. , Walter Hinea -Page Fellowship in Running through the , others and jotirnalism, under which British u;^ to the space devoted by the newspaper men spend several dailies to sports, Mr. Nugent l^^^^^j^g ^j^^j^ y^gj. ^^gt^ffg classes the Spirit of the Times, Po-. {^,Q_n newspapers. The big idea ift lice Gazette and Clipper as the big gon^gthing about a biettcr under- three in sports journalism over .here | standing between the two countries, in the last century. It Is also stated that :the Clipper was suspended by .. p_ Studios Variety in 1924 at the age of 71. ^^.^^ Werner. Associated Press The Clipper, had, since 1897, lor- I ^j^^^ the west coast on motion saken'sports generally m favor of Tj^^^^g topics, has been, ordered to' theatricals, As a theatrical recorder the Clipper dates first in this country. Its files are anxiously sought by stage historians. Permission Is sel dom granted to go through them. It •hais been, found clips are made. London. .For a, long time Werner. took:care of both the evening and morning papers, but a few weeks, ago Robbinis Coons was sent west from New York to take care of th«' evening papers. Werner was the . first in his or- ganization to be assigned to dO Hearst's Second for Kobler Two switches in the Hearst Bos- ton paperia. .AdVertisier, tab, startcvl by Hearst and turned over to Alex Moore, now Ambassador to Peru, who also took the N. Y. Mirror as a istralghtforward.account of her which E. Haldeman-JuliUs, the big (^Iso tab), has gone under the pub experiences. Her mother was a Jitney and blue book publisher from Kjgj^j^^ .^j^^^ ^^^^ j Kobler,who Massachusett.s woman and . her Kansas, gets out by the ton, get $50 ^^^^ adopted the Mirror. Both ar? father a ship, master. She went to. flat per booklet for their material sea a,t 11 months, nur.sed on goat payment is on acceptance of MSS milk and nursed by the ship sail and dispatched pronto, regardlesis makex". Among her experiences was of the merits thereof. As long as ] as the principal in a deep sea oper- Haldeman- Julius approved the aflpn with a razor and a belaying writer's titles and commissioned 3.1 ™~^'^gjng editor of the afternoon 1 coippanied to Los Angeles the win- pin. Book is out March 7 with a first piece thereon, check goes out im- - ..^ .. .. , . , , printing of 75,000. . mediately upon receipt of the MSS Tiie authpr, now with the stock ] plenty of Interesting dope about One. person, granted the courtesy In Variety's ofHce, carelessly left a | picture studio work, pair of scissors between the pages of his cutting spree. | Harper's Buys Harper and Bros.,' book-publish*. "Sun-Up" Appeal Denied ling house, said, to be working t6 Liee Kugel as president of Co-Op- acquire a; number of magazine propi«" timists, Inc., sued Metro-Goldwyn Lrties to add to its Harper's Maga»- Pictures Corp. and Lulu S. Vollmer, zihe.. Brief Stories recently pui'*' author of ''Sun-Up," the film rights chased by Harper's from William, to which were ceded to M-G-M for h. Kofoed and moved to New Yorlt $16,000^. claiming a half interest;In other magazine purchases are ex* the proceeds. The Appellate Dl- pected to be soon announced. W» vision Of tho N. Y. Supreme Court Adolphe Roberts will. It Is under* has aifflrmed.in favor of M-G-M and stood, be in editorial charge of thi Miss Vollmer, denying the appeal, group. It was proved that the Players' Co. first produced "Sun-Up" at the r Air -Stories Demand princess. New York, and hot Kugel's Those who can write air storieii organization; that copyright Is | are sitting pretty just now, with vested iii the authoress and that, in that type of tale hugely in demand all events, a copyright litigation is ^ ^. . a*; matter for the federal courts and supposed to have a string to them g^^jg ^.^y^^ now, las when Moore was billed • a-i the operator. : i The other Boston change was the . Workmo at Last! assignment ef Eddie Mahoney, Ion? | The 25 newspaper women who ac and fancy prices paid, even by th6 wood-pulp . magazines. AH of th« group magazine publishing bbuge? have at least one publication d^* voted to air stories, and the. general fiction mags desire the air tales. Reason why more air stories daily,"the American, to act in a sub- I ners of the "Coquette" Contests had aren't bemg *«"'/"^j;Jf,f*/ principal capacity on the. New York anything but a picnic, With a daily | Inducements, Is that. technical .\merlcan. Walter Howey, editor | wire to their papers and feature talis are a necessity. at the St. Charles theatre. New this Haldeman-Julius aside from his ^1^^ Y. Mirror, was around I articles every other day there was Orleans, was for a time in the terrific mail order business, wiilch Is -gp^j^^^g^y" g^^^l^g the Boston tab as much work as play for them. Jessie Bonstellc organization in De- world-wide, having literally, corn- ^ould go Kobler, who wad for years Many of tlio correspondents wer troit. .' ■ " ' - . - . ... Lighting Up Hoboken pelled the U. S. Gpvernnient to erect general manager of the phenome- first string writers on eastern and a post ofllce at Glrard for the chief Lij^^jj^ successful American Weekly middle western newspapers and de-" enjoyment of the publisher's enter- [ ^j^g Sunday niagazine Insert of all manded accommodations for get- Chorus Girl Out Chorus Girl, 2Bc monthly, has. made its first appearance. Richard, Burke, theatrical photog. Is seem-, ihgly the chief backer. Bernard So* It ui iiic puw.ioi.v7. ^ v-v-' the Sunday niagazme mseri or an ""xtiu^^u o.^v,......iivu<xL.v..o x^.^ e^.,- w«o+>,oviv -Paul R Mor- Haldemari-Julius' average L^^^ Hearst papers that publish on ting out their stuff. On the train bel, ^^^^J^'^^^^^^ Sky Riders Infringed -Dell - iE»ubllshlng Co.t whose s(;rlhig of some 10 periodicals includes Sky Riders and War Birds, was granted a temporary : injunction -a^alnsl Magazine Publishers, Inc. whose Sky Birds is legally deemed to be an Infringement on both of Dells publications. The defenda:nt derived Its Skv Birds title from a hybrid of the Dfell CO.'s periodicals. Dell's avia Christopher Morley, Cleon prises. Throckmorton, et al„ of the hi 'at daily gross sales of his 5c. booklets | christian Sa,bbath. Bet In aerial lit circles, may take are 360,000 copies a day. Multiply plenty of credit for what they have this by 300 business days and 5c done for, Hphoken, flr,st__slarting times with their unparalleled record of well nigii correct having lighted up that dead city There Is a terrific chaigc-of£ for by the Jersey sea. . To think that printing, nation-wide advertising; that group, headed by Morley, who miii\ order circulars _^a.nd other concededly knows his literati but printed propaganda matter . His not so much the shoW -business, mall order list now warr.mts Hal should ,have accomplished this deman-Julius' printing up a first through a simple . Idea faithfully, edition of 100,000 of almost any- executed is likewise unparalleled In thing, the annals Of the theatre. . W^lth much naivete Haldeman-Ju Now o' - night In Hoboken the lius confided -to the Broadwa;y lit <:urbways for blocks are lined by eratl on a recent holiday visit this smart cars; mounted cops for the winter that If . Shakespeare were first time have something to look alive today he would not have gone after before and after theatre time, in for those terrible titles. H.-J. while if a. New Yorker wants to <?at. thinks "Tlie Merry Wives of Wind- by is In , the vicinity of the Lyric sor" Shakespeare's beat label, and theatre where the old timer, "After that "Romeo and Juliet" was bally- Dark," is . played, the. fellow from hooed into a good title. Otherwise this aldo, of the tunnel- had best they are punk. Haldeman^Jullus be in Jcr.soy by .^ix. ., And tickets frankly .states that if he could re- should be secured or re.serVcd in title "Othello" his publication thercr juivfinco. of would go swell. .He substantiate.- The fir.st night the old mellor that with the sexy title tacked onto =v/-as--))layed--in--it3-or-iginalv-a--black:| cat walked acros^s the stage. They boobery and the hinterland peasants hoptiod on that black one for a bhy the booklets chlefiy for the Jit- iiia.m-ot, and Mr, Cat has been Mr. ney value, having learned they usu llellly ever since. Natives in tlio ally Include good text, a, title of an gallery nightly, aware of the omen," eminent work nieans nothing. Lured have-been throwing coins on the by a torrid monicker, they Are stage, to keep the blacker in food, mnro easily Intrigued, 'Tother evening a 50c. piece nti'uck W l.s not generally known that one of the actors in the eye. Where- Iraldfmnn-Julhia originally pub upon Chris, the magnate, again li.-nicil. T)r. Will Durant's "Story of sppko from tlx- stage, rc(|>K'.sliiig riiilo.^ophy" In H five-cent book- Ihose who woMld oa.st tl;<'ir coins, ' ]<-is. Fur 550. one can Etlll got the I coming west they' were almost ton and. Burke are among the con fighting for possession of 12 type- I trlbs. writers Installed for their needs. Several times_ the train yvas fitop_ ped to permit some oyerranxlous correspondents to file their copy, At the hotel in Hollywood where they were quartered a large room was equipped with 25 Usual 111. stuff of chorines en dlB* habllle, chiefly Burke's lens work. Alternating Columnists O. O. Mclntyre and Walter laiec x«"»i , Winchell will alternate monthly as typewriters chroniclers of Broadway and for the week the throng was Humor. Winchell starts In May, there it was a lively place. with Odd following In June. ^ Looks as If Odd Is now enabl^d^to Fowler Off Telegraph . I do free lance writing In conjunction ^ Gene Fowler* managing editor of | with his Hearst contract. Uon puVicatToT^sp^lilairy^has Telegraph since selling well, as Is that type of .perl- went to^the Moore^^ selling odlcal at the moment. Newspaper Women on Coast. Trip There ioxe 26 women newspaper writers from publications acting as chaperoncs to 25 girls Who won contests giving them a free trip to the Coast for one week as Uie U; P. Western Unit Moves has virtually left the paper. His I Western relay unit of U. P. flerV' name still appears at the masthead. Ice ha:s moved from Denver to_^ He has returned froni a month's ab- Angeles,. quartered in the sence In Bermuda. Eddie Sullivan, occupied by the Illu.strated ^^'^ from out California way. Is running News. This will give the service a the editorial end of the sheet. I direct line from LOs Angeles to cni- cago, which means all stories sent Under Other Names I from New York wUl reach paP«^ It's said Gertrude Atherton is the I en route without being revisea guests.of Mary Pickford. The writers U-herese Benson who authored "'The after passing through Chicago, are Lilly . May Robinson, Atlanta unknown Daughter," onO of the new ■ • —■— /. e* ff Constitution; Mabel P. Preston. Kpst sellers. One of her reasons for Avery Marks Joins N. B. C. Stan Boston He_raJd^.._Trdvelcr; Ruth hifling_under,a.nom.de.,plunreis:„rc.T _^^.:S Ayers, Baltimore Post; Janet Mc- ported to be that the book Is Leod, Buffalo Evening News; Mrs. different from Mrs. Atherton's uSuai Jack York, Birmingham Post; Mrs. style. Max Cook, Cleveland Press; Ruth Neely France, Cincinnati Post: Doris Arden, Chicago Journal; Betty Craig, Denver Post; Mable Duke, Dallas Dispatch; Marie George, Indianapolis News; Gladys Sullivan, Louisville Courier Jour- nal; Pearl Ray Cox, Memphis Press Scimitar; Nadyne Wythe, New iviany well-known scribblers have in the past foregone the value of their moneyed names on new books because the works were different. The authorship of "West of the W^atcr Tower," one of the best books of the year of Its publication, was anonymous. It was not imtil leaders Insisted on identity of the Avery Marks, managing editor, Washington Times, because MarK» refused to play up tile now f.-vmouB bogus Mexican documents. Marks was then engagi-d m Thomas R. Schipp, special publicly dispenser in the capital, and was assigned to the National Broad.-ast- ing CP. during the campolg" to that there were no squawk.-* as t each of thp politif^al parti'-s i;' (Continued on pafif "'''i