Variety (Dec 1946)

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6 PICTURES Too Much Heat, Not Enough Light Being Generated by Literati's Row Oyer AAA, Says Copyright Expert By E. C. Mills (.Former General M<m^get,.ASPAP)- Because of a deep personal in- . U'rc'si. brtsed upon move lhan a quarter century of experience ni the Gdilwyit Lends Curtiz 3 ■ Hoilywoodi Dec. 3. _ _ _ Michael Curlix borrowed three iielcJ of prompting and pTOtectijig j coiUract.piayers froni Samuel Gol VetlwcBtlay, December 4, l$4g wyn for his indie picture, "The Un- suspecled," for Warners release. The.sp.s are Virginia Mayo, Kathy O'Donnell and Dana Andrew.s. ,;tlie nior;il and legal rights of comH't po."prs anij authors of mu.iical works. ; 1 have carefully read everything ; 1-egarding the formation and pur- | poseF of the Afnerican Authors i Authority .sponsored by James M. ! Cain: and the Hollywood tiranch of ; ::ihe Screen Writers^^GuiW. ■ ^ f I have al.sO read Variotis public statements niade in behalf of the newly or.ganized American Writers | As,sh., by such ■ well-known and / nationally; : repo^ Leasing of the, gilded Park Ave: Messrs. Bromfield. Kelland. Erskine, :. . ? . . ■ Wylie. Farrell and others, in opposi-j theatre to Jmyersal for 10 years. tion to the declared objectives of i inked by U and Re..de Circuit this the former organisation. | ^.gek, while bringing to a close the To an impartial observer it is shortlived experiment in annual -definilelv apparent that heat rather . . ■ : i., . . , j ■ ' * JV"" 1, . v ■ „ „ ,■ J ,„ v,„Vu subscripttons by. patrons, does not than light is being applied to both . f^, , the reception and the study of the toll the knell of that idea, Walter, proposals advanced by the AAA, | Reade, Jr., said. "We still intend to Emotion rather than rea.son seems . ^^^^^ ^ yovk house which will to control the reactions of both sides f^gmre yearly subscriptions to U's Takeover of Reade's Park Ave. K.O.'s Res'd Seating Idea in N. Y. in their discussions of the subject, j ^.^^j ,, ^^^^^ ^^-^ ..g^^ ^^ Th,. M,,l„rU. serves h„t to confuse 1 ^^..^^ p,^„^ ^^^^^ ^yp^ j^^^^^^ elsewhere." With that in: mind, he I said, the circuit was cpiitihuing with its plans to build houses in Back Thi.<; attitude serves but to xbnfuse and becloud the is.sues. The interests of all creative writers. tho.'--e pro as well as con or neutral, will be best served in dis- cu.ssions of the subject it facts in- stead ot personalities are ; given primary consideration, and if the parties on one side, will give those on the other full credit for honesty of purpose and bona fides of intent. It is absurd to seek a sinister motive as the inspiration for sug- gestions made by Cain which he believes would improve the flnancial situation of writers. Or to envision his plan as a deep'-laid .scheme by a devious method to bring control of Bay, Boston; Main Line, Philadel phia; and Chevy Chase, Md. "The product situation and noth- ing else lickfed us in New York," Reade added. "We had 50% of the theatre seats subscribed and we considered that a very satisfactory showing." With U taking over the house, he said, the theatre-chain has already mailed refunds to the pa- trons for their subscription fees. Meanwhile, U officials indicated that "Stairway to Heaven," J, the trend or content, political or | Arthur Rank pic, starring David otherwise, o£ the writings of Amcri- Ujj^.en and Raymond MasSey, would can authors Under the domination Of a subversive group. He could neither be so .stupid nor so corrupt. Slight to Farrell It is in my opinion equally ab- surd to brush aside the challenges which these gentlemen present to the AAA proposals. I attended the meeting of authors called for the purpose of di.scussing this subject, held at the Henry Hud- son hotel in New York on the eve- ning of Oct. 21 last. James Farrell. when the chairman invited questions from the floor, accepted the invi- tation, and asked some. He was very rudely treated, not by the chairman or Cain, but by the audi- ence, his fellow writers, It must be said that though there was every appearance of willingness by Cain to answer all questions frankly, during the forum which followed his main addres.s, the fact is that to this writer the answers lacked positive and clear re.spon.se to the questions, and the audience seemed to me as befuddled when it left as when it came. This is not intended as a crjtici.sm. of Cain. He deserves the sincere thanks of every author for having given thought to what he considers problems of great moment to the profes.sion, and coming forward with what he must regard as a con.struc- . . tive suggestion for their solution. Good or bad, wise or foolish, no . plan can be intelligently accepted or rejected until after unemotional and coTOidered study. It is unfortun- ate that the AAA proposals were presented with an atmo.sphere of : militant compulsion—writers were ' to be compelled to ve.st important rights in- an organization which would be administered by a "tough mug," to be selected apparently with a view to his qualifications for ju.st such a title. The proposals advanced wore startling in their implications, and, no matter how sound they were, they could not hope for acceptance if the formulae contemplated a supine, surrender without question by writers of their basic right.s. iBeinr Helpful Thus far I have only scolded, but will endeavor now to b,e helpful, by yuay of a brief analysis of the situa" tion which apparently confronts the authors. I. Is it the generally admitted /act that the relationships between authors and the multiplicity of users of their material in i:omniercial en- (Continued on page 47) I move in Dec. 22 as the company's i opener. The British film may be ! roadshown in the house in addition i to other spots in Chicago, Boston, I Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Sales ' toppers are; currently mulling that question, with the roadshow idea favored as a means of demonstrating; the pic's drawing power. Park Ave. will not confine itself to British films, it is said, but will be used along with U's Winter Gar- den as a showcase for all top com- pany product. U is still negotiating for Billy Rose's Ziegfeld theatre, but chances of a deal are now con- .sidered remote. Rental demanded by Rose is thought too high to warrant a company venture into the house. Disney Nets $196,000; Two Top Pix Unreported Hollywood, Dec. 3. Net income of Walt Disney pro- ductions amounted to approxi- mately $196,000 for the fiscal year, ended Sept. 28, based, on preliminary uriaudited flglires, President Roy O. Disney reported. This amounted to 2t) cents per share on the 652,840 common shares now outstanding after provision for preferred divi- dends accumulated during year but not paid. Take compares with 1945 fiscal earnings of $350,532 after providing for preferred dividends accumu- lated but not paid during 1945. Lat- ter figure amounted to 31 cents per share on 380,000 common shares then outstanding. Lower income for 1946 was pre- dicted by management, pointing to the fact that no income was received during the fiscal year 1946 from the two latest Disney features, "Make Mine Music" and "Song of South." Earnings from these two films are expected to make substantial con- tribution, however, to earnings dur^ ing next year. Shortage of Top Pix Likely To Continue to Preserve '47 Bacidog 4 for Par in Dec. Hollywood, Deo. S. Four pictures, starling with "Saigon," go before the cameras this month at Paramount to round out the 1946-shopling. schedule... Others on the December program are "The Road to Rio," "Catalina" and the Hal Wallis production, "Deadlock." RKOINTERNAirSlGM SIAM PREEM IN 1947 -^RKO International's steadily-ex- panding 16m distribution organiza- tion is slated to tee off in Siam early next year. William E. Palmer is scheduled to leave for Bangkok from San Francisco on Dec.: 27 to take over the distrib rein.s after huddling in New York first with former Siamese regent^Luang Pridi. Palmer will head up both the regu- lar RKO exchange in Bangkok and the I6m outfit. New RKO chief will take five 16m projeetots; with him. He plans tee- ing off the narrow-gauge operation in Bangkok and then spread out from there into the hinterlands. Palmer stressed that no 16m film would be shown anywhere where it might conflict with an established 35m account. Palmer was raised in Siam but left there in 1925. He returned last October while a member of the armed forces. His brother, Capt. Howard M. Palmer, served as chief .of the OSS underground in Siam during the war. Cowan Sets 2 Pix Via Indie Outlet In Overseas Mkt. Further step in the move by inde- pendent producers to sell foreign distribution rights away from major companies was seen when Lester Cowan's "G. I. Joe" and "To- morrow the World" were peddled by United Artists to American-Euro- pean Industries, Inc., for distribu- tion in France, Belgium and North Africa. Deal was set by Walter Gould and Robert Weil, of A-E I, for a reported $42,500. Deals are cur- rently cooking for "Angel on My Shoulder" and "Strange Woman" to be distributed overseas by foreign outfits. Smaller indie producers, who re- lease through UA and other majors, have been complaining that, in coun- tries covered by the Motion Picture Export Assn., they have been dis- criminated against in favor of the bigger producers. Because of this, they say, in countries like Gzecho- .slovakia and Holland, where the as- sociation distributors who relea.se indie product have been giving the big producers all the breaks. They claim that as a result much smaller producer product goes into the back- log, and now want to dodge this by giving overseas rights to other dis- tribs. These indies contend the situation also holds for France and similar countries not covered by the MPEA. Indie producers who don't have top names .say that their only way out is to sell to local outfits. It's also claimed that indie producers are be- ing bypa.ssed so much they fear that their product will be permanently forgotten when the catching-up process begins. A number of the independents who have begun releasing through foreign companies claim, that this method of doing business for over- seas distribution is easier than the alternate method of releasing through Triple Sureseaters in '46 Do le of '41 Because Of Better Fore^ Pix . Booming biz for art houses has zoomed to the point where b.o. re- ceipts are triple, those of 1941, last year -preceding .shutdown of supply because, of the war* That's the esti- mate of Dave Brill, head buyer for the Roesner Circuit,; operator of seven Coiast sureseaters, with one more in Seattle coming up: Average run for foreign pix, steady diet of the art house, is currently eight weeks compared to a three week stretch in '41, Brill said. And it's all due to a terrific rise ;in the quality of films invading the U. S., Roesner exec opinesi Brill's point is :further bOrne out by the continued remarkable show- ing of "Brief Encounter," British pic distributed by Universal's Prestige unit, which is now in its 14th week at . the Little Carnegie with the film for the first tiine dipping below the $7,000 mark. "Brief," a low-budgeted film, has done a total of $105,000 at the 300-seater in the 13 Weeks, net- ting Prestige something in the neigh- borhood of $50,000.-; Highlighting the climb in rev- ehues from foreign pix, Brill said that - his company's theatres were formerly satisfied with a take rang- ing from $1,600 to $1,800 Weekly from 500-seaters. Things are so rosy now, he added, that control figure on a house is $2,.500 and a film goes out the window when it falls be- low. "Brier' playing its sixth week in Roesner's Esquire, Hollywood, and Clay, San Francisco, has done be- tween $7,000 and $5,000 in the for- mer and $4,800 to $3,300 in the lat- ter, he said. While there has been some growth in steady fans of foreign films in the pa.st few years, buyer said, the real factor is top attractions in steady quantities from distributors such as Prestige, I. B. Lopert and Siritzky International in the past year. Prestige has six J. Arthur Rank films; Lopert seven top French pro- ductions; and Siritzky, "The Well- digger's Daughter" and several others. Promise of further pix is de- veloping with Sir Alex Korda han- dling "The Children of Paradise" (French). That even lop art pix still have only .limited appeal, however, is in- dicated by performance of 'Brief in second run situations in two stand- ard Boston houses. Film opening last week in the Old Trcmont day- and-date with the Old South, fol- lowing a long first-run, registered only light business. * Evid«nce that a shortage q( product, about which smalltown ex. hibs have been squawking fof thf last several months. ' has ' now reached the key city first. ruhs ivas seen by industry observers this week: in the raft of tradescreenings held by the majors during the last sev- eral weeks. Observers point out that the majors are not opening up new're. leases indiscriminately but ntill plan to gear their product to the pres- ently glow pace of absorption by Ihj market. If this is true, then the boost in the number of tradescreen. ings must signify a need for product on the part- of certain fir.st run houses in the keys since, under a consent decree proviso, a filrn csn- not be booked until it is first trade-' screened. Otherwise, it's argued, the majors would hold up on the tradeshowings until they're ready to give tlie film general .release. Only other reason for tradescreening a picture so far m advance of its general -release date is to malte it available for ». showcase house' on a pre-release • booking, such as Metro's "Till the Clouds Roll by," which is scheduled to open at Radio City Music Hall N. 'y,, tomorrow (Thursday). 'Clouds" was tradescreened in the N. y. exchange on Oct. 28 so that it could be booked into the Music Hall, and in Los Angeles on Nov. 6. It will not be tradeshown in tht other 29 exchanges, however, uhtjl Dec. 12. Metro's "Secret Heart," on the other hand, was given a pre- release tradescreening in -the two areas becau.se the Fox-West Coast circuit was in need of product and -specifically asked for the picture. It will not be tradescreened else- where until next week. Cincinnati exchange, it was pointed out, is especially in need of product and several of the majors have been forced to tradescreen pix in that territory for early bookings. Anytime a film is tradeshown in any of , the 31 exchanges, it's usually also screened jn N. Y. and on the Coast for trade papers so that ex- ' hibs in the tight territories can have the advantage of the trade presiS re- : views. Survey of reviews in ■Variety for the last several weeks, consequently, reveals how the num-, ber of tradescreenings have been hypoed recently. In the three issues of 'VAmianr' from Oct. 16 to Oct. 30, there were 10 reviews of American pix. In the following four issues, from Nov. 6 to Nov. 27, the number almost trebled, reaching 35. Of the.<ie, l-l. or almost half, were top product of the majors. Spokesmen for the major empha- sized that the cut in number of films to be produced next year indicated they'd continue releasing their product slowly to make certain there'd be enough to la.st a year. That can only be done, it was said, by releasing two or three films a month, instead of letting go with five in one month and then not hav- ing any for the following months their domestic distributors inasmuch as it doesn't involve as much book- keeping.; Vanguard's 'Conspiracy' Hollywood, Dec. 3, Vanguard Films bought "Con- .spiracy," by Vicki Baum, .ind as- signed it to Dore Schary for pro- duction, with Gary Grant and Doro- thy McGuire pencilled in for the top roles. Picture follows "Dark Medallion" on Schary^s production program. FC Sells Franco-Belgian Rights to 2 Goldwyn Pix French, Belgium and North Afri- can distribution rights to Samuel Goldwyn's "North Star" and "Jack London" were purcha.scd from Film Classics by Alexander T.sambazis, representing Acropolis Films, French distributing outfit. Price for "North Star" was $30,000 and for "Jack Lon- don" $10,000. According to Tsambazis, "North Star" will have strong appeal in the French market in spite of the fact that films dealing similarly with partisan activitie.s, but originating in Russia, have never been successful. Becau.se of -the underground work done in France, he .says, b.o. of a film .showing anti-Nazi work will be good, ■ French distributor also bought up rights to "Knemy of Women" and a number of Hal Roach (.hortK. Deal v/HH cjonclurlcd by Maurico Living- .ston, foreign distribution head for Film CUtSHiQ». 'Duel' Vice Tears' in L.A. Preem Elicits DOS Gloat . Hollywood, Dec. 3. "Duel in the Sun" will preem at the Four Star theatre here Dec. 30, with David 0, .«el2nick taking over the hous6 for an advanced price run of the film starting Jan; 2; Four Star was cancelled out for "Best Years of Our Lives" by Samuel Goldwyn and it's reported in trade circles that Selznick now feels even for Goldwyn's grab of the Astor theatre, N. Y., for "Years" when Selznick wanted it for "Duel." Probability is that Goldwyn wiU be given another Fox-West Coast house in Beverly Hills for the advanced run of his film. 'Notes' 1st for Allan Scott Hollywood, Dec. 3. First job for Allan Scott under his producer contract with Vanguard Films will be I'intimate Notes," based on a yarn by ©aniel Tara- dash. Picture, with six stars in the cast, will be backgrounded in modern European capitals. 'Majors Holding Back Pix Purposely/ Sez Lost Washington, Dec, 1 Sidney Lust, D. C, exhibitor who fliled a $600,000 triple damage suit against the majors la.st week, fol- lowed up by declaring that they were "purposely holding back fea- ture product." Lust Contended that the shortage of features Was the tighte.st in the industry's history. However; he sa'^ he opposed having exhibitors fina"'' their own productions. Allieo States Exhibitors has been studyinl! a scheme for having indie exhibi- tors encourage independent produ'' tion by guaranteeing in advance l* book the pictures. M-G Re-Pacts Garland Hollywood, Dec, 3. Metro not only hatided Jud.v Gar- land a new contract but assigned her to a co-star role with Gene Kelly IJ} an Arthur Freed musical. "The Good Old Summertime;" Picture will follow completion «■ , "The Pirate," which ilarls tnis month with the same pair in top roles.' ■.