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Show till - -r , 1 iThawts While Yawning: I Ho, ho, have a switch: Japan now U offering to sell us steel scrap! I . . . What's all that to-doodle about, Miss Truman's name? Margaret's her middle name, anyhow. Her renl first name is Mary. . . . Some nasty person said this colyumist used to be a British booster but "what does he do for England now?" He still pays his taxes! . . . Kirna Moor, who has a honey of a blues voice, was Miss Istanbul of '37 when she was only 12. . . . The Cincy Enquirer wit observes that a man who found a valuable pearl in his oysters in a night club almost broke even. The Wall St. Journal occasionally occa-sionally seasons its stodgy nancial folderol with rany puns like this: "Once upon a time there was a little bee and it was very happy because it got a bumble from heaven!" (Onow-lookahere.) (Onow-lookahere.) The Show Shops: Critic George Jean Nathan probably doesn't even ! suspect that in Houston, Tex., it's against the law to sleep in a theater. thea-ter. . . . Ted Saucier is conferring with MGM on a proposed sequel to his "Weekend at the Waldorf." It , ranks among the first 10 screen immortals im-mortals as a top money-maker. . . . 'Annie Get Your Merman" is this kind of humdinger: It opened during dur-ing the 1945-'46 season but topped all the 1947-'48 moneymakers. . . . The first variety show on television has showmen worked up into a pitch of breathlessness that mebbe vaude can have a big revival via the new medium. Wouldn't that be the irony of the ages? If Vaude came out of the Tomb and slew its murderer, the Talkies? S. Jay Kaufman, a colyuming pioneer pio-neer along Broadway two decades ago, recalls when he met Herbert Hoover, just defeated for re-election. The ex-President told about Col Cool idge, who inaugurated the idea of seeing see-ing anyone who wished to see him one hour a week. Mr. Hoover tried the plan but not happily. When he next saw Coolidge he asked "Silent CaV how he could see so many persons in an hour, while he ( Hoover) could see so few. "B ecaus e," dead panned Col, "YOU answer back!" The Airistocrats: One of the liveliest live-liest summer fiestas is "Hollywood Showcase." Mickey Rooney's quicksilver quick-silver nonsense darts from chuckle j to chuckle. . . . The give-away ra-jdio ra-jdio shows are shelling out a mini weekly but the dreadful sameness (of the formats) puts most of them in the dime-a-dozen category. . . . CBS's "Adventures in Science" is enlightening as well as entertaining entertain-ing a rare wedding. . . . Robert Shaw's choral group (replacing Chawlee McCarthy) is a refreshing relief from most summer subs This tuneful half hour deserves tc hang around when the leaves fall. "1 was happy when I read Betty Grable was the highest paid woman last year," says Jackie Elinson. "It's nice, for a change, to see an actress make all that money without once suing her husband." Several book firms have folded ! recently. Big ones are doing okay but the small fry can't take it. . . . Irwin Shaw refused to let firms, reviewers, re-viewers, et al, see the galleys of his next noveL He rates it better than best-seller. "The Naked and the Dead." . . . The book trade has labelled Kathleen Winsor's new untitled opus "Mrs. Kinsey's Report." Re-port." (Won't be unveiled until a year hence). . . . Charles Lindbergh's Lind-bergh's new book, "Of Flight and Life" (Scribner's), is due soon. His last was "We" in 1927. . . . Bernard Ber-nard Baruch spurned $5,000 to do a mag piece giving advice to the President of the U. S. Oh, Vo Dept.: Gold-tipped shoes are the newest thing for men in the loose-wrist set. . . . Chums hear Bobo Rockefeller is writing a novel. . . . Dorothy Dor-othy Lawlor, the gal who got all that free space claiming she would marry any man for $10,000, has decided to cash in on the publicity and take some night club bookings. Starts in a Long island joynt. . . . The permanent address ad-dress of Mike and Anne (of Rumania) is Ouchy, Switzerland. Times Square Ticker: If you see Ethel Merman wearing a hat, it's the only one she owns. And mighty pretty, too. . . . The late Evelyn Walsh MacLean's fabulous Dusen-berg, Dusen-berg, which cost her $38,000 (plus lots more for accessories), is now a local cab. The owner paid 3Gs for it at an auction. . . . News services might check with playwright play-wright S. Kingsley. One of the Dead End Kids (who played Milty in Kingsley's hit) has become a skilled surgeon. . . . J. P. Morgan's ex-chauffeur is now at Bar Harbor Har-bor with his wife. The millionaire bequeathed him an estate in the fashionable sector and enough coin to loaf the rest of his life. There's a new play about Hollywood making the rounds. The foreword says: "All the characters In this play are purely pure-ly phony and to are their rlginals!" |