Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1960)

ly, August 1, 1960 Motion Picture Daily 3 |le and Ghosts Due I.R.R. Station >sts tread where Long Island liters fear to travel! Spook-film :er William Castle is scheduled rive this morning aboard a er" train in the strike-bound I'ork terminal of the Long Islailroad with the ghost stars of est film, "13 Ghosts," including eton, vampire and a headless mer. tie, who currently is on a natour in behalf of his Columbia s, will be met at the otherwise jd station by members of the York chapter of the National m Castle Fan Club. Ljlio Production Level, • Films in Work < From THE DAILY Bureau LLYWOOD, July 31. With 'ictures completed and two new Itarted this week, the total num feature films in production re at 33. ted were two for United Artists i, "Something Wild," Prome1 Production, shooting in New with George Justin producing ck Garfein directing. The other ne started was "Revolt of the ," an Ambrosiana Films Praia, shooting in Spain, lpleted: "Five Guns to TombZenith Films Production for I Artists release, and "Girl of .ight," a Vanguard Productions ir Warner Brothers release. The starring Anne Francis, Lloyd . John Kerr and Kay Medford, ';d on the social and psychoanjl study by Dr. Harold Green ine Sets Canadian |r for 'Hercules' lis for a 6,000 mile promotional F Canada in behalf of "Hercules Choice of Butler As Independent Producers1 Liaison Is Questioned By E. H. KAHN WASHINGTON, July 31. -The idea that Paul Butler, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, would be a desirable legislative representative in Washington for the independent producers in the film industry has raised some eyebrows here. There has been some disposition to question whether the interests of the independent producers are so different from those of the major companies as to warrant retention of a separate representative. Beyond that, there has been widespread questioning of the political savvy of the people who suggest Butler for a job that would consist in large part of Congressional liaison. The very factor that makes for a good share of Butler's political strength at the moment also constitute his main weakness. As National Chairman, Butler strayed far from the traditional role of being a compromiser and a healer of the breaches that inevitably occur in any big organization. In the eyes of some of the inner circle of politicians, he created rifts, and made no effort to compromise differences when doing so would have meant sacrificing ideas that he held dearly. Convention Situation Recalled Butler's role in the recent Democratic convention that nominated Sen. Kennedy (D., Mass.) for the Presidency provoked some bitter comment even before the event. It is not likely to persist as an open irritation since the party now is almost united behind its candidates, though it is clear that some elements would like to be more dissident than they dare to be right now. The feeling that Butler was not above using the job of National Chairman to advance the candidacy of one person has not by any means died down. It would be bad form, as well as bad politics, to stress it now. There can be no doubt, however, that this will linger in the minds of members of the House and Senate for some time to come. regard to his conduct of the Los Angeles convention. Smathers is the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Immediate provocation of his comment was his allegation that Butler had deprived Democratic Senatorial candidates of a prominent role in the convention. Smathers said that this was attributable to Butler's desire to block members of Congress from a place in the convention because of past differences between Butler and Congressional figures. The Florida Senator—thought of as a Southern moderate—said that he regretted that Butler's feeling against him had been taken out on Democratic Senatorial candidates. Kennedy Link Not Clear There is some question, at this point, of how close Butler is to Sen. Kennedy, the Democratic Presidential nominee. Even if it were conceded that Butler is very close to Kennedy, and that Kennedy, if elected, would be disposed to lend an ear to Butler's views, this would appear to have little influence on Butler's relationship with the legislature. It could, of course, mean that liaison with the Executive Branch of the Government would be very good. This is not to be taken lightly. Butler's relationships with Democratic liberals in the Senate, for example, are not much better than his relations with the conservatives. For reasons which may be obvious to hindsight, it is hardly a secret that Hubert Humphrey (D., Minn.) takes a less-than-cordial view of Butler. It would, in fact, be difficult to come up with a very long list of names of Senators known to take a strong proButler view. ci.inea were announced nere ar j'-eekend by Joseph E. Levine, lent of Embassy Pictures. L Dubin, Warner Brothers Cananj;xploitation representative, will ptfi XS important Dominion comB.es during the next four weeks '-filing the Levine film in the intj of Canada. For 10 cities, it will rijthe first time a film distributor jnt in a promotional representaIj help the local theatres plan ii campaign. Ft tour was set in Toronto by Left] nd Warner Brothers' Canadian i Haskell Masters. ife' Record at Guild |i All Right, Jack," a Boulting mis Production for Columbia PicIrelease, has passed the $200,000 ■in grosses at the 450-seat Guild P'e in New York, according to alfackter, Columbia vice-president I general sales manager. Current rites are that the film will run at Liild Theatre into next year. Disliked by Some Southerners Butler, as National Chairman, seems to have particularly annoyed Democrats from the Southern States without making many friends among liberals. For one thing, his stand on Civil Rights irritated them. Forgetting any moral issues that may be involved, the fact remains that the Southerners are, by and large, the senior members of the House and Senate. They hold the key committee chairmanships. To the extent, for example, that a representative of independent producers would have to deal with only four key committees— those that write taxes and those that regulate commerce, including radioTV— it would be necessary to deal with three Southern chairmen and one from the Pacific Northwest. In this connection, it might be worth noting that Sen. George Smathers (D., Fla.) went to the trouble of publicly blasting the "narrow and vindictive attitude of Paul Butler" in Most Problems Legislative The fact is, of course, that more of the motion picture industry's problems seem to be legislative than Executive. There are tax ridings to be fought through the Internal Revenue Service— and this might be of particular importance to the independents. Much of this work, of course, has to be done with the aid of technically competent attorneys. More often, there are changes in the tax laws that must be enacted by Congress— and these would have to be gotten past such conservative gentlemen as Chairman Harry Byrd (D., Va.) of the Senate Finance Committee and Chairman Wilbur Mills (D., Ark.) of the Ways and Means Committee. Meanwhile, the independent producers who for a time had considered forming their own organization with Butler as the director, now are reported to have decided to work through the Screen Producers Guild for the time being, at least. PEOPLE Harry M. Pimstein, industry attorney, has announced the removal of his offices to 521 Fifth Avenue, New York. □ Mrs. Carmen Smith, of Hodges Theatre Supply, New Orleans, and Jane Ella Moriarty of the Richards Center staff, have been named representatives from that area to the convention of Women of the Motion Picture Industry, to be held Sept. 8-11 in Toronto. □ Martha Raye was guest of honor at a luncheon in the Eden Roc Hotel, iami Beach, tendered her by PROPS, an organization composed of local women connected with show business in the Florida resort. □ Frances Hopkins, formerly with Republic Pictures in Atlanta, has returned to Film Row there as secretary at Buena Vista, replacing Valerie Waters, who has transferred to the accounting department. National Screen Adds Two to Sales Staff National Screen Service is adding two new men to its sales staff, Burton E. Robbins, vice-president in charge of sales, announced. Charles R. Palmer will be the new salesman in the Cincinnati office, in charge of the territory formerly handled by Carl Dortic. In Seattle, Cedric R. Hess has been assigned to replace Harry Lewis, resigned.