Variety (Jul 1946)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

24 PICTURES Wednesday, July 10, 1946 Johnston Office Laying-off 'Outlaw' Situation Because of Hughes' Crisis Crash of Howard Hughes' plane In Beverly Hills Sunday (7) brought to a stop expected action by the Motion Picture Association looking to revocation of "the Production Code seal from his film, "The Out- law", and to oust him as a member of the MP A. U. S. District Court in New York last week okayed the Johnston of- fice's Intention of pulling the seal because Hughes refused to abide by its rules regarding advertising of "The Outlaw." It was anticipated that a meeting of the Association's board would be called this week for that purpose and to give Hughes the. heave as a member. Technically, a meeting previously called to con- sider such-action is in adjournment, forced when Hughes originally went into court and asked an in- junction. Court has now stated that the MPA is free to act in any way it pleases regarding Hughes. Court battle and the heavy are- works surrounding "The Outlaw" are expected by those familiar with the producer's operations to peter out if his condition takes a turn fbr the worse. Hughes is recognized as the sparkplug and, were it not for his stubborn attitude, it is antici- pated that cuts desired in "The Out- law" by various censor boards would be made and ads toned down to come within MPA rules so that the picture can get Its normal playoff. Courtroom serial Of Hughes vs. the MPA went into Its umpteenth chap- ter last week with the U. S. Circuit Court in New York okaying MPA's desire to yank its seal from "The Outlaw." Justice Learned Hand de- nied Hughes' request for a temporary stay pending hearing on an appeal from previous nix on an injunction, As in each of the numerous court actions so far, the Hughes forces took a judicial drubbing, Hand de claring that the producer's position "is so absurd that its mere statement is its refutation.". What Hughes wants, lastest decision stated, is "to force the defendant (MPA) to con tlnue as his. accomplice in the com bination (Hughes contends that the MPA is in restraint of trade) by falsely representing that he has con- formed to the conditions which the defendant 'unlawfully' exacts from its members." It was this stand Jus- tice Hand ca'.led "absurd." If the MPA were prevented by the court . from revoking its : seal, it would, in effect, the court stated, be compelling the MPA to announce publicly that Hughes has conformed to all its requirements, which "con- fessedly it has* not done as to its ad- vertisements."' Judge pointed out that all Hughes had to do to avoid the whole difficulty was to change its ads. Commenting on this he de- clared: "That, the necessary changes will in any substantial way lessen the speculation; it is possible that as many prospective spectators will be offended by the present advertise- ments as will be attracted." receiving end of the pies was some- thing unusual. Not so unusual to be noticed by her own directors but Hughes caught a fleeting glance of her as she was passing through the lot. His search was over. Jean Harlow, dubbed later "The Plati- num Blonde," and who went on to staTdom with Metro/ was the girl. Without real dramatic experience she was thrust Into a role of such importance it looked impossible for her to be successful. Also, she was to work with a director, Hughes, who was also in swaddling clothes. The combination was looked on as impossible by the Hollywood professWuids. Hughes was the butt of all the - Hollywood gags at the time and the wise boys sat back smugly to watch him fall. The re- sult is history, . "Hell's Angels" opened on Broad- way, not in one theatre but in two, the Criterion and the Gaiety. The rental for the two theatres was over $100,000 a week and neither house seated much over 1,000. Ad- mission price was $2. The electric signs in front of each theatre cost more than many of the feature pro- ductions being made at that time. Hughes' Flight Continued from page 1 became part of the which he industry; Hughes came . Into the business as a sponsor of Marshall (Mickey) Neilan, the director. Howard's father, inventor of the Hughes hard rock drill and owner of the Hughes Tool Co., of Houston, Texas, spent his vacations in Southern California. On ■ these trips he was accompanied by his son Howard, an engineering student who fancied the shop more then his school. On one of these vacations the senior Hughes met Neilan, the not over-rserious direc- tor who worked when it pleased him. Neilan aoted as guide for Hughes, Sr., and it is told that they would lock young Howard in his hotel room while the elders were seeing Hollywood. Before one of these ex cursions Howard had a serious talk with Neilan and, told him he was having a rotten time of it. Kindly Neilan said he would take care of the matter later that night: Leav- ing Hughes, Sr., wrapped up in watching a floorshow at one of the bistros, Neilan excused himself to "wash his hands and made a quick trip back to the hotel to release Howard. Not having a key, it was necessary to get him from his room by ladder. This did not enhance Neilan's friendship with the elder Hughes but it certainly boosted his stock with the son. Immediately after the death of Hughes, Sr., Howard went to Holly wood and renewed his friendship with Neilan. Latter's fortunes were at a low ebb at this time and the ar- rival of young Hughes was a great break. Neilan had a story on the back of an envelope and could start production immediately if he had some money; about $16-18,000 would do the job Young Howard, then a year short of his majority, came up with the funds. They made a picture, ar ranged distribution through one of the major, outlets, and took in over $100,000 profit. Although Hughes income from royalties. on the drill was enormous he still fancied mak ing money, particularly as he did not like the idea of being labled a "sucker" or "playboy." Signs Milestone Bitten by the bug of Hollywood he then signed up a young Russian Lewis Milestone, just coming to the front. They made a com.edy, "Two Arabian Knights", with Edmund ' Lowe and Louis Wolheim, and re leased it through United Artists. It made a lot of money and was fol lowed by "The Mating Call" and "The Racket," both released by Paramount with excellent results Then came Hughes' major produc tion. "Hell's Angels " ' This picture started as a silent with Greta Nissen, a young Scandi navian actress playing the role of the English heroine. Ben Lyon and James Hall were the male leads. Hughes was the director. Studio space was engaged and all the: cam- era, lighting and. prop equipment was rented. Before the picture was completed sufficient rental was paid to have bought the entire equip- ment outright several times. Ex- penses did not bother Hughes and he was about to conclude a contract with Sigmund Romberg to ' do a musical score for the picture at the "highest" price ever paid a com- poser, when the industry had to switch from silent pictures.to talkers, Hughes, by this time, had over $1,50.0,000 invested in his silent version. It was necessary to swing over to sound and the matter might have been simple as the dialog and sound effects were then being dubbed into pictures that had been completely or partially finished as silents. But Hughes' big dilemma was that his leading lady had not learned to speak English with fluency, so it became impossible to finish the picture with her. That made it necessary to remake all of the scenes in which she had ap- peared. Then the big search started for a girl to replace Miss Nissen. Hollywood was scoured, the legiti- mate stage was searched for a girl who would fit Hughes' exacting de- mands. Thousands and thousands of feet of test film were. shot. Hughes made several trips to New York to cover the current shows then on Broadway. On : these trips he ordered tests made of entire chorus ensembles and every other girl that came to his attention, including a Park avenue debutante or two. The entire facilities of the testing studios were taken up for months while Hughes pursued his tests.. Other. Stars Born Fox Films' testing department, under Joe. Pincus, cooperated with Hughes, putting aside many of its own tests to help the young pro ducer. As it happened, among the people tested for Hughes and rejected by him, a number of stars were born for other companies. Re jected by Hughes but liked by others who saw the rushes are a few girls in the top ranks who have probably wondered how it all happened, and do not recall that it was Hughes' money that financed their beginning. While the frantic search was go- ing on and expenses were mounting the Cinderella he was looking for worker right on the same lot where Hughes was making his multi-mil- lion dollar production. A comedy company, part of the Hal Roach outfit, was busy with' a cus- ,. tard pie opus and the girl on the ! would hesitate to take, 'Angels' Lavlshness ' Hughes set, a standard for lavlsh- ness with "HolVs Angels." Not only was it the first' multi-million dollar production; everything that was done to present it was also done in the grand manner. Gold tickets and programs costing many times the admission price were used at the openings. Newspaper' advertising and electric signs, billboard space and everything expended to enhance the picture's value were lavish. The entourage from Hollywood for the opening included all of the impor- tant members of the cast and techni- cal'crew, costing Hughes a fortune. Elaborate parties were staged for the press by Charles Washburn, one of Broadway's highest paid publi- cists. London followed the New York presentation and Hughes sent his entire staff overseas so that nothing would go wrong with the presentation at London's Empire theatre. Mortimer Norden, who built most of the huge electric sighs on Broadway, was engaged to go abroad to give London the largest electric display that staid city had ever seen Trafalgar Square was blazing on the night of the opening. Hughes had really lit up London. Twelve road shows toured the U. S. and Canada with "Hell's Angels" and a staff of 15 accompa- nied each picture. Huge' grosses were rolled up from roadsho wings and when released' later to the regu- lar theatres through United Artists it became only second to "The Birth of a Nation" in receipts. Until interrupted by his interest in aviation, it appeared for a while Hughes would become the biggest figure in the motion picture industry. Might Have Owned Metro He might have owned the con- trolling interest in Metro at a cost of over $50,000,000 but for the tar- diness of his attorney meeting Wil- liam Fox at his hotel. Fox, through a subsidiary, held control of Metro and, as his company was in serious financial trouble at the time, he was willing to dispose of his Metro hold- ings. Hughes had aiready trans- ferred more than $20,000,000 to his broker in New York through his representative, H. Wayne Pierson. Cecil B. DeMille and William Ran dolph Hearst were in the deal with him and they had also added their money to that already on deposit by Hughes. Although about two-thirds of the money was up Pierson had learned that it might take another $10,000,000 or so to complete ne gotiations. He called Hughes on the telephone and told him another $10,- 000,000 would be necessary. Hughes' reply—in his high pitched nervous voice—to Pierson was: "Ten million more! Why that's a lot of money Wayne." The crackup of Hughes Is not his first serious plane accident although the newspaper reports from the Coast state'it was. While making "Hell's Angels" he was using number of English and German war planes he had bought in England. Some of these crates were SE Fives and Fokker D 7's with rotary motors, Hughes would not let his flyers use them until he. had tested them him self. It. was while taking off in a SE Five'at the Hollywood airport he made too sharp a turn and crashed When taken from the wreckage he was hemorrhaging from the cars and ruse and was apparently badly.'hurt, Wl.h. supreme courage he pulled himself together' and although his difficulty in hearing was accentuated by this accident he still proceeded to take chances that many flyers hside Stuff—Pictures Recent statement by James Mulvey, prexy of Samuel Goldwyn Produc- tions, to the effect that the anti-trust decision is what "exhibitors should have set up in the first Instance for their own interest and protection" is looked on by some exhlbs as containing much more than meets the eye. These exhibs point to the fact that Warners nixed the flrst two Danny ' Kaye starrers for Goldwyn, reportedly because the producer pegged the Alms at too high a sales price. When Goldwyn salesmen in some instances approached an Indie exhib, who was .competing with a Warner house, to take the pictures, the exhib usually turned down the offer for fear that Warners might reciprocate by trying to take away some of his product Several exhibs in such instances had been threatened by Thurman Arnold, Goldwyn legal counsel, that they were acting in restraint of trade by re- fusing to play the pictures and thus depriving their town from seeing them. Now, they say, if the auction-bidding program called for in the anti-trust decision goes into'effect, such fears will be groundless, since there will be nothing to prevent either themselves or WB houses from bidding against each other. All of which, they point out, should considerably benefit Goldwyn, Mulvey, et al. Latest zig-zag in the party line In Russia has left. Sergei Eis'ensteln out in the cold. Second part of the noted director's film trilogy on "Ivan the . Terrible,"' dealing with the life and times of the 16th century czar, has been put under a ban because of its "anti-historic" viewpoint and its failure to portray contemporary realism: According to the latest party ideological switch, Ivan must now be "shown as a "progressive statesman" and not as "a maniac and a scoundrel who behaves in a crazy manner, surrounded by many young cutthroats." An article in Culture arid Life, Moscow weekly issued by the omnipotent Central Committee of the Communist Party, con- tinued with a denunciation of the current trend of film producers to make pictures around the lives of historical persons, and pictures with "fairy tale" themes. Films must be used as a sharp party weapon, the.article said. Producers were warned to emphasize themes on the recent war and the new five-year plan. Eiscnstein is in a hospital near Moscow convalescing from a heart attack. The Rivoli and the -Criterion are the only downtown N. Y. first-runs affected by the decision In the equity suit. Rivoli is a partnership be- tween Paramount and the'United Artists Theatre Circuit, while Criterion. is partnered between B. S. Moss and Loew's. Though arbitration machinery as set up under the consent decree of 1940 remains in force it is being utilized only to a negligible extent as. witness the fact that an appeal decision which came down last week brought the number of such opinions to a meagre 125. Pointed out, however, that many a case brought before local tribunals or the appeal board have been with- drawn following "out-pf-coiirt" settlement. - Fact that there have been only 125 appeal rulings so far is still significant. The 125th decision in the case of the Fryeburg theatre, Fryeburg, Maine, against the Big Five, related to clearance, as vast majority before it have. It represented a victory for the exhibitor. . Should any of the five pix-that United Artists has scheduled to follow each other into the Globe, N. Y.,. demonstrate unusual staying power, UA product will continue to back up in the New York area until late fall or winter. Current expectations are that the company will have the logjam, which has delayed the New York playoffs, cleared by mid-September. UA currently has "Diary of a Chambermaid" (Bogeaus) in the house, under its pact with the Brandt interests, which control It. Next entry will be "Breakfast in Hollywood" (Golden), followed by "Young Widow" (Stromberg), "Night in Casablanca" (Loew) and "Scandal in Paris" (Press- burger). Each is expected to get two to three weeks of Broadway show- casing. The only other UA picture awaiting initial run is Rank's "Caesar and Cleopatra," which is set for the Winter Garden .Aug. 15. Scotching reports' that columnist Hedda Hopper had taken her current trip to England at the invitation and expense of, United World Pictures, reps of the J. Arthur Rank Organization in.N. Y. declared the syndicated writer had. gone to England entirely on her own,' with her trip financed by the Chicago Tribune-N. Y. News Syndicate, her employer. Rumors arose following a recent press conference at which Malty Fox, UWP prexy, told the trade press reporters that he hoped to have one cor- respondent from each paper go to England at UWP'e expense to o.o. the. Rank setup there, in order to get a better understanding of Rank's pro-, duction facilities!. Fox declared that the invitation was open also to daily newspaper columnists, and, when Miss Hopper announced'she was going over, reports immediately arose that UWP was backing, the trip. N. Y. Mirror's society editor. Barclay Beekman, gave top play in Mon- day's (8) edition to a story of Marilyn Silverstone, daughter of Murray Silverstbne, 20th-Fox International prexy, having received an invitation to a British royal garden party at Buckingham Palace, London, next Tuesday (16). Story featured a two-column cut of the 18-year-old girl, along with a tale of how she'd met the British princesses while living in England when her father was UA chief there. Silverstone family left yesterday (Tuesday) for England aboard.the Queen Mary. Silverstone says he wished the story had never appeared in the Mirror, since he'd been swamped with congratulatory calls all day Monday. Story leaked out. he said, when someone phoned Beekman after having seen the daughter buying a "long dress" in a Fifth avenue shop. . Insiders were inclined to scoff at newspaper rumors that Mayor William O'Dwyer. of New York, would succeed Eric Johnston as president ot the Motion Picture Association. O'Dwyer denied the reports on his. arrival over the weekend in New York from a visit to the Coast. Some dissatisfaction with Johnston's administration of the MPA by Hol- lywood toppers was reported in Variety about a month ago. However, Johnston has since been in lengthy huddles with Coast execs and it is be- lieved the • difficulties have been wiped away. In any case, should John- ston depart, little likelihood is seen that O'Dwyer would be the choice to succeed him. Exhibs using Railway Express to get their product from the branch offices will have a considerable item added to their operating expense with the decision.of Express execs to raise the rates. Half-rates on return of the prints to exchanges, in effect for many years, were ruled out; el- feclive July 1. New prices will not hit too hard, however, it's believed, since most exhibs had been relying on independent trucking concerns to transport their prints" to and from the exchanges. It's probable, also, that those, exhibs using Railway Express will ask the majors to take the upped antes into consid- eration when setting prices on their product. The opening song number in "Night and Day," the Cole Porter bio- graphical musical being released by Warner Bros, as its 20th Sound Anni- versary Special, was not written by Cole Porter. The number, sung in a Yale .campus scene, is •"Sons ' of Eli." It was composed by Stanleigh P. Friedman, WB v.p. and. attorney who, like Porter, is a Yale alumnus.. Friedman for many years has been both prolific and versatile in his avo- cation of musical composition. His works, range all the way from college ■songs to sacred music. Goldwyn ad campaign recently, bl.urbing "Kid From Brooklyn" as "Broadw&y'.s'long run champion," is bringing squawks from Arthur Mayer and Joe Burstyn, dislribs of the Italian film, "Open City." Danny K:iy*' starrer is only in its 13th week at the Astor, they moan, while "Ooen pity" is currently in its sixth month at the 299-seat World theatre on 49th street.