GOVERNMENT: Hogging the Act?

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Father on tour, he told reporters last week, the Shuberts banned him, from their theaters. Serlin had to rent assembly halls, burlesque houses, even a vacant department store, to get space for his show. As fast as he left a town, Serlin said, Shubert emissaries ("They've got a lot of three-headed nephews who front for them") moved in behind him, buying up the make-do theatrical property to forestall his return and prevent any other maverick producer from moving in after him. But the Shuberts also had defenders along Broadway. Said pint-sized Showman Billy Rose: "In the 25 years I've been in this business I've never had any trouble with them. They trade hard . . . but they always live up to a contract. If it weren't for their booking office, the average producer wouldn't have either the facilities or the knowledge to book shows across the country."

The Shuberts, long experienced in warding off brickbats, reacted with stoic calm. Said 74-year-old Lee Shubert, sunning himself on the sands of Florida: "We shall . . . prove that we have operated with an efficiency that deserves the encouragement, rather than the criticism of [the] Government."