Variety (Apr 1930)

59 VARIETY T I M E S SQUARE Wednesday, April 2, 1930 Broadway Chatter Arliiie Judd Is missed. Where's Gil Boag? Flo Walker back from the South. Mark Barron back from Buffalo Charlie Elnfeld off for Hollywood New health drink joints getting ready to open along Broadway. Laura and Doris Carpenter have gone to Skowhegan, Me. Linda (Mrs. D. W.) Griffith re- turned last week from Palm iSeach. Ed. Glroux, who suffered a stroke recently, is on the mend. Patricia Lynne hastened to St. Louis. Mother ill. Russ Brown, of "Flying High" modelling Knox skimmers. Janet Vclle sailed for "Heads Up" in London. Arthur Lubin, Crosby Galge cast- ing chief, is back from Cleveland. Dave Bromberg may go with Warners. Herb Berg is now editor of house organ for Columbia Pictures. Virginia Morris was around meet- ing girl friends. Annual Gambol of the Lambs at Metropolitan April 27. Ralph Farnum took a day oft for a sinus operation. New show rehearsing at Ever- glades. Patty Dobbs ducked in from the coast and right back. Harry K. Thaw playing the Abbey club. Rangers packed up, skimming off the ice for home. •Frances Orossy gay-flinging the night niches in ermine. Stella Unger just sold a song to Berlin. Party for Ginger Rogers at the Slipper the other night. ^ Robert Warwick and Billy Gaxton have reps around the New York Athletic club as handball players. The box-office men of New York go French one night only, April 19 at the Hotel Astor "oo-la-la night." Edward Paultoa is rewriting "Room 349," the Rothstein meller which is still playing try-outs* Ruby Shaw, an ex-guan|nlte tap dancer, jumped into Danzl Goodell's role at the Capitol. Danzl sick. Flo • LaVelle and Loretta Mc- Dermott back from the cocoanut regions. Frank Garlasco happy to be back on Broadway after an exciting sea- son on Hibiscus Island. No dance derby ever again, says Dibble, the garden booker. So Boston will have the ankle waltz. Who ever saw a hAfkey game without Ann Hardman, Louise Allen or Biert Lahr? ' John Walsh to motor through Tennessee. And not a song writer! Good looking tenor. Renie Carol, who chaperones the coatroom at Sardi's Is writing a book "In Your Hat." • One of. the former Splssel Bros reported In commercial line at Hart- ford. Abbey Club changing its show this week, with Roy Sedley, Edith Murray and Diane Sisters in. Uncle Don (radio) has been setting • personal attention around the T. S. section with a flashy car. Kitty Clarke, legit actress, is now doing secretarial work In the Cliff Self office. Reading reports from 210 Fox the atres dailies brought Joe Leo pre scribed glasses. Lincoln Lot>er confined to apart ment with intestinal trouble, some what Improved, but still home. Charles Blerbauer, former vaude- ville agent, one of head men in "Mendel, Inc.," management. Edgar Allen, associated with Ed Davldow, is in on "The Interna- tional Revue," which is picking up. Bruce Grant ghost-writing him- self into a pallor that no Broadway columnists can touch. Jans and Whalen not quitting "International Revue," according to Lew Leslie. ,u Something new in men shoes " style is that the heels are to be higher on the spring models. Jeanette Mendlesohn, secretary to Boris Morros, has recovered from, her recent slight attack of grippe. Evelyn Knapp flipped a rattler for. the coast waving goodbye with a year's contract. Walter Meyers, the agent, just In from the home-grounds of the cin- ema. Joe Loblang has returned to Hollywood, near Coral Gables, near Miami. Social Service Fund of Saranac, N. Y., will hold a beneflt Sunday night, April 20, at Carnegie Hall. CHIT Fischer foreign agent, allied with the Morris office in Paris, is in New York. Some on Broadway, would be sur- prised to learn that the ,0.1d Glory colors are red, white and blue. Hannah Cass now In charge of foreign work for Columbia Pictures. It*s still foreign. Among the faces most often seen on Broadway is Linda Watkins, subject for p. a'ij and columnists. Party at Rlan James' every other Sunday. Mostly doctors, news- papermen and Broadway beauties. Monte Brice, working on a radio program stunt for the Shuberts, and writing shorts for R-K-O. Norma Terris left the Rlchman club Saturday; Dolores Cordova stepping in. Plenty of smiles on the faces of 47th street bookies now that Bowie is going. O. O. Mclntyre calls them "flsh- wive" columnists and some admit they're good "with or without." Dorothy Appelby, slick-haired legit star, was guest of honor at the Newspaperwomen's ball at Del- monico's, Friday night. Jack Hobby's letting The Friars look at him again, with a Florida sunburn and an Equitable Trust complex. Norman Krasna, formerly of the New York Morning "World," west I to join Hubert Voigt's press dept. at First National. Lee Blanchet, Arthur Hammer- stein p. a., entrained coastward last week without much ado, for a month's vacation. Beau Williams east for a few, weeks while her hubby,^ Warren Hymer, Is on location trip to the desert with a Fox unit. There are four in. the. family of Bob Burns, soft spoken assistant manager of the 81st street—and two are very cute. Bugs Baer got another free din- ner out of the Friars—and Bert Levey turned out to see why. Neither knows why yet. Walter Howie, former m. e. of the "Mirror," was seen looking over 46th street realty. Looks like a new give-a-way contest is on. News to Dave Flechsner from the Orient is that Josef Israels II has been married to the local 5*eggy Joyce—1. e. somewhere in Arabia. Aunt Jemima (Big-Tess) is doing a single, with a piano player. That makes her an ensemble full stage production, A racketeer missing for over six months was discovered in New York one Saturday .night at a prominent social club's affair. Golf clubs for ladies are now done in lavendar, pink, blue, vermilion and various other enamelled colors. Pretty to carry. Marie Whitney Is just a cute little tap dancer. Somebody said a notice would tickle her to death. Hope she lives through this. Dlnty -Moore's was host to the 18th Precinct patrol wagon Thurs- day night. Chariot loaded with bags of ale. Men's pajamas are getting louder. Regular firemen colors with some designs given imperial monickers. The old-fashioned night shirt may come back after all. One of the biggest house signs in New York going atop Warners' new Hollywood theatre at 61st and Broadway. A ticket scalper had a night off and attended the Columbia buries que show. He paid to get in but got a break by buying a 65c ticket Bland Johaneson Is expanding. Bought an estate in Jersey. It's just a step from her present ranch on Staten Island. Merri;t S. Franken, formerly p.a with Irving Strous, is now handling general promotion for Umby, the 1-cent folding umbrella company. Donald Ogden Stewart was given a surprise party by his Yale class mates, who swooped into the thea tre. Friday night. Seymour Simons, song writer. Is after inspiration to write another "Honey." Moved in to the Park Central. Colin Hunter, who took Evelyn Roberts' part as Captain Hardy in "Journey's End," doing well with It, says the b. o. treasurer. Jean Pastoret doing the portraits of picture directors running cur- rently in a morning rag. Piiesents original to each director. Lem McCarthy back from Mon- treal and waiting to be assigned to Kentucky Derby, which Isn't so far off. Not so long ago Leroy Clemens, ))lnyWright, ai-gued with Jnfk T,In Hollywiood Ad Lib Hollyflrood, April 1. These Hollywood apart- ments : "We're having steak tonight, honey," floats a voice from the kitchen. "Great!" exclaims hubby, in the living room. And five minutes later: "You're gypped. This is liver." "Who said it wasn't?" . "You did." "Don't be juvenile. That was . the lady next door talking to her unshaven handicap." "Are these walls that thin?" "They made a fiddler move because he- was weakening the building." Inaccurate Biographies Arthur Caesar By Claude Pinyoh der, the producer, saying "G$rtez" will never go over in the Mansfield theatre. This house is a Jinx. Lou Tellegen lasted but a short while, as Clemens surmised—But the Mansfield now has "Green Pas- tures." Irving Hoffman now the shadow of Helen Morgan, taking the pup for excursions and doing exploita- tion. Gracie Worth with a tKittle of liniment vowing it is 65 years old. Attracting more attention than Peggy Joyce's gems or gams. Doris Jays "uncle" nearly became a producer. Cold feet—and now he's sorry because the show Is a hl.t Lina Basquette has cancelled last half this week at the Coliseum and next week at the Albee, Brooklyn. She Is III. Jules Murry of the Shubert office goes to the coast via boat, April 5. William McBride will be on the same vessel. Another of the "Our Gang" kids, Pegey Ames, known as the sweet- heart of the crowd, has been booked by R-K-O. Ted Housing, radio announcer, took a jump the other night when while speaking at a night club din- ner. Bird piped up: "Louder and Clearer." Barbara Leonard, former extra, signed for leads by Metro. Girl speaks five languages — English, Spanish, French, German and Italian. Ada Robinson, Abner Rubien's secretary, said she never -had her name in print and that it would be the thrill of a lifetime for her. Here y'are, Ada! Jack Donahue will have to live down the fact that he, an Irishman, spent St. Patrick's Day, picking an all-English cast for "Black Sheep," which he is co-producing. Ami Orr received a unique present for'her birthday. Every. Tuesday night for the next year she may be the hotel's guest with any party up to six in that hotel. If you see Harry Rosenthal hold- ing a conversation with a piano, don't be perplexed. "June Moon's" one and only is rehearsing for a short called, "Making a Piano Talk." The corner window of the Lucky Strike factory goes to the girl with the most talent stacking the clggies. She's the leading lady and the other girls vie for job. Bill McGeehan, who Is rambling abroad, heard about the Sharkey- Scott affair at Miami. Promptly dubbed It "The Battle of Bewilder- ment." The Erlanger booking exchange had moved to the ninth floor of the New Amsterdam, theatre building. All dolled up. Used to be Zieggy's suite. After a long absence, Frank Far- num is back in vaude with a new act billed as Farnum and His Five Charmers in "Just One Thing After Another." Herb^ Crocker, novelist and pub- licist. Is taking the First National chair while Charlie Einfeld works up a tan on his regular Hollywood excursion started Monday (31). One Broadway restaurateur hands the layoff girls free meals on the biz basis that he gets a come- back when they bring in their "friends." Jack Fillman accredited with hav- ing tlie fastest tongue on the air. Fan letters swamping him. Learned how to chatter from the ladies. Floyd Gibbons will give him a race. Joe Carson, whose Kiddle play, a week ago Sunday, went over well, to do four shorts with the young- sters, he says. Children being to- hearsed at his dancing school. Ving Fuller, former "Evening Graphic" cartoonist and creater of the "Laffograph" strip, goes with Walt Disney for animated cartoon stuff. Fuller now on coast. Sidney Cohen, who arrived last week on the "Riiropn," having crogs- Arthur (Balloon) Caesar, brother of Irving Caesar and little more, is from New York's great salami cen- ter. Lift your nose and see for youfself. Some of the older eastslde natives tell a story about Caesar's grand- father. It seems gTShdpa and Ar- thur's papa were blowing the suds In a neighborhood joint when grand- j pa suddenly bethought himself. Backing away from the bar, he di- rected a swift foot to the seat of his son's best pants. "That,' 'he said, ordering a blue blazer, "Is for Arthur Caesar." "Kick me again," suggested Ar- thur's father, ordering a little of everything. Arthur" tells it differently." He tells everything differently. It was inevitable that Arthur would write, as his father publish- ed a Jewish newspaper and got a flock of journalism correspondence courses in return for advertising. Ambitious as an author flfeurlng out a schedule for his first two chauf- feurs, the kid flew through element- ary schools and entered Yale. So did Rudy Vallee. Now Vallee sings It and Caesar blows It. Caesar finished Yale with ambi- tions tp write, and Yale students tailed him "Gassy Fatty." Conference Several days after Caesar started to work in- a law office, his bosses called a conference. "What'll we do with him?" asked one. "He tells our clients all law isf a fake. He says law is the rich man's tool." "Why don't you toss him?" sug- gested another. "I tried to, but he laughed me out of it." "Tell him we're mad at him." ^Td feel silly telling him that." . "Let's go out of business. He can't work for us then." And that's ho\* Caesar lost his first job. Luckily the war 10 years after- ward, so Caesar didn't haye to get another job. "War," he said after a few weeks of It, "is hell." He claims Sherman stole that crack from him.. Volunteers were requested for a serum injection test, with warning that the men might never pull through it alive. Caesar volun- teered. "If I die, he said, "those lawyers will be sorry." The other three volunteers died. Beat |t Caesar complained of a slight itch cn his heels,' but washed his feet and came through clean. The gov- erpment gave him a Distinguished Service Medal and asked him if he'd buy a new pair of shoes. Caesar refused. ,. The Germans were de- feated. ■ Hanging around Broadway Caesar Started writing revue blackouts and remedy-testimonials. Then Warners brought him to Hollywood and rescued Times Square. "If he writes as funny as he talks,"- said Jack Warner, "we'll keep him forever." In no time at all Caesar was fired. Fox took a test of him for com- edy parts and put him in the scenario department. He fooled around Hollywood some and maybe he's still in Hollywood. Now he has a homo, car and several flunkeys besides his wife. All because he wrote "Napoleon's Barber." He can never live it down. < "Do you believe in socialism?" people ask him. "What?" answers Caesar, shining one of his diamonds. ed "11 times in 10 months, says the papers muffed the best epi of the record trip. It was at Nantucket, when the "Europa" sighted the "He de Franch," which had had a 25- hour start. It then turned on the pcwer, skimming past the French vessel, with the ships but 200 yards apart. A fued between Dorothy Hirsch and Meyer (Basil) Gerson ended when Basil walked Into her office bearing two lillles as a peace offer- ing. One would have been plenty. Gladys Bentley, the Harlem heaviest. weighted coloied. piano player, Is moving herself downtown to one of the midriff's nite clubs. Piano may follow. Dr. Jerome Wagner, personal physician to Florenz Ziegfeld, will stick with Zelgfeld on his trip to Hollywood, where the Zelgfeld- Goldwyn screen version of "Who- pee" gets under way about April IB. After 10 years of married felicity, one of Broadway'6 comedians and Ills wife split; the star now quar- tered in a rialto hotel—and quite off the wagon, the first time in years. How can anybody have any ttouble at the Mansfield theatre with aisle No. 1 ushered by a young law student; aisle 3 by a. medical student, and isle 3 by a senior in engineering? William Hodge says tlie reason he wrote "The Old Rascal," play- ing a modem elderly man, was to keep up with his kids, who were tired of seeing him in philosophical roles. One of the big guns ^n the Fox suits who never gets a tumble from the papers but is much of the brains or the Fox end Is Attorney Levis •who quotes law and conditions with no effort. Bobby Feldman gathered the en- tire newspaper clan along the Main Stem together to give Nick Kenny, rhyming radio writer, a free meal at Terrace—and Rudy Vallee got the bows. Leslie Hoffman has gone pent- house. This bacheloric chap, got tired of doing a residential hide- away near the. Dyckman cow pas- tures and leased the p. h. at 175 West 76th street. Cliff Storck is back on Broad- way as manager of William Hodge show, "The Old Rascal." Cliff isn't acting this time although he stands ready to play understudy to every- body but Hodge, Auto r;-sale and second hand dealers are having their troubles on Broadway, despite the favorable weather. "How much is that car," a prospective buyer was overheard saying to a salesman. "$950" he replied. "I'll give you |500 cash," said the man. 'Step Jn the office" replied the salesman. • .The pros- pect got frightened and left. With the lights of the 7th avenue entrance to the Winter Garden combined with the radiance of the new Chesterfield ad illuminating 7 th avenue, Broadway may soon be running second for brilliance. Federal Judge Knox pulled a nifty when opposing counsel In the many Fox cases began to wrangle. He just left the courtroom and the big boys had nobody t6 argue to. When the judge returned a minute later all was quiet again. John Byram, acting dramatic editor of the "Times"; Richard Watts picture critic of the "Trib- une" and Don Skene of the same paper, going to Europe as a three- some. April 19. Kelcey Allen sails May 3 and thinks Its' under cover. William H. Oviatt, former general manager for Comstock and Gest, who retired several years ago, visited Broadway last week for first time In years. Went right back to tall timbers of Falmouth Heights, Mass. Gus Shy has lost all his shyjiess, having returned from the coast. He'll be here a fortni't and return to the orange groves. His year's contract having had an option which will hold him there another year. , Times apparently getting worse. The United stores not so generous with the passing of matches with the single cig buys. In some of the U stores the fag customer must ask for the matches or otherwise not receive them. Wally Bauerleln, who heads the ace advertising agency of the south, in New Cleans, gave New York » few days of his time last week. Bauerleln may eventually use Man- hattan for a branch office. He loves bananas. Now that Dorothy Hall is in "Fly- ing High," and musical comedy, the foi-mei-'. .drama actress is_.. po'"^ through the rigamarole. On top ol hitting up a high C before break- fast, D»ttie is wearing out dancing shoes at Billy Pierce's emporium for ambitious tapping hoofers. Other orchestra leaders breaking their necks for publicity might follow the policy of Meyer Davis, who i? plenty in the money and seeks no undue notice, Davis "was in town for a while last week. May still be. At least there -won't be six p. a.'s in every news office say he has leit.