Variety (Jan 1949)

yfednetduyi January 5, 1M9 Forty-third t^OdiWfT Annivenaiy PICTIJIIES HOLLYWOOD ON A GLOBAL KICK WHITE MIILE AND CAIICO (Before I Came Down From the Mountain) ■ By JULIAN T. ABELES (Special CopyHght Counsel to Loew's, 20th Cenlury-Fox and Universal Pictures) : ■ About 20 families of colored folk lived on a tract of wasteland out- side Little Bock. With endless effort they eked out half an existence by raising cotton. Bach year they would buy their small needs from a commission merchant, a disliked character in Little Rock, H&. charged them enough, and added the amount to his open mortgage on their properties and crops. Then he would take the cotton as it was picked, have it- ginned and baled and send it by boat to Memphis for sale. After sundry charges and deductions, a trivial balance might be cred- ited on the mortgage. He heard that the new Iron Mountain Shops would be built near this tract of land. The next day he served notice to foreclose all the mortgages unless paid within two days. Scruples he had none. But he had hundreds of bales of cotton on the wharf, waiting for the boat to take them up the river on the morrow. It was the spring of the year, and within a week or so the melting snow in the far-away Rockies ^Otild send a torrent of . water whirling down the Arkansas River, carrying all before it. It came that very night. Sweeping the cotton bales from the wharf, ripping off the wrappings and as fate would have it—or m answer to the colored folks' prayers-^scattered the loose cot- ton all over their land. When they awoke in the morning, they were certain it was the Lord's doings. He had grown and picked the cotton cVemight to save their property. Singing their thanks to Him, they gathered the cotton and took it to the commission merchant to satisfy the mortgages, with the joyful anticipation of something to spare. But the commission merchant, being more materially inclined, had them thrown In the calaboose for alleged thievery.. 1 had just returned to Little Rock from attending law school in the north, because of family illness. That afternoon, old Mordecaiv one of Dad's colored drivers, sobbed out the details. "Mr. Julian, some of dem's mah kinfolks. Ah knows de Lawd done it for dem but how's de court people gonna know dat, if someone dey'U lissen to don't tells dem right?'' Mordecai had given me the .germ of a defense. But I needed a lawyer who could play the part. Then I recalled just the individual. His name was Tom Collins. He lived in Fort Smith and I had heard of him while attending college in Fayetteville. He thought the defense was surefire and would take the case for free; At the trial, the prosecutor put on an "expert witness," imported from Memphis. He showed by statistics that it would be impossible to raise that mucjh cotton on that wasteland, m less than 20 years. Then up stood lawyer Collins. Nearly seven-foot tall, he towered over the judge and jury—barefoot, large deep-set soulful eyes, long white flowing hair and beard, and dressed for the part in a robe of black 'Sackcloth. In the minds of.that Ozark Mountam jury, this was surely . an Apostle .sent down from Heaven; to show them the light. They bowed'their heads in reverence. Then, in a deep, resonant voice, he cross-examined, the jury spellbound by his every word. • "Do you believe in the Lord?" "Why, of course." "Do you believe that the Lord will protect the poor and needy from avarice and greed?" "Why, yes." "Then do you doubt that the Lord, knowing of the plight of: these harrassed, God-fearing folk, planted and picked that cotton to save them from Satan, appearing on this earth as that commission merchant?'' The witness hesitated. Mortal or immortal, that spectre was not to be doubted. He had heard of the religious fervor of this particular sect of mountam people. Through his mind there were -kinescoped visions-of people being fed-to lions-in-an-ampitheatre and o£ harrowing tortures in a Spanish dungeon—for far less than the defiance of this who or whatnot. What's more, he had his misgivings of a three-hour drive with one of those iurymen of their kinfolk through the mountains that night, to the railroad station. His misgiv- ings became mortal fear, as he saw the menacing looks on the jury- men's, faces. So in a quivering voice, he gulped most emphatically, "Certainly—no question about it—^no question .at all-^no one could possibly doubt it." That same night; messes of catfish and greens with possum pie , atiflenty, were relished by happy colored folk on a little tract of wasteland outside- Little Rock—as their voices rose in thanks- to the Lmdand his Apostle. j The Bad Apple . 1 SET FOR O'SEIIS By WHITNEY WILLIAMS Homolka for lucasta' Hollywood. "The world ain't big no mo', no ino'" might be the theme song of Hollywood producers, as they chant the trend which has become big business all on its own. Overseas junketing for pictures has become nearly as common as a producer''s trek to Santa Anita opening day, and filmsters tell you without bat-! <r, I |» > A p i o«j ting an eye that foreign production. 02(1 DOV UOeilS rCD. is cheaper , . . frozen, coin, you ' v r know. Could be, of course, and there's denying that picture-making outside territorial confines of U. S. has assumed the proportions of an avalanche. Name a studio, and it's a cinch that it has at least one film on its agenda foreign-made, either finished, currently shooting or scheduled. Poke your finger on a world map, and it's almost, certain that that country has-been or wiU< be used as a lociition site. ■ : And if it appears a flock of films were actually made, that's nothing; compared with what were talked about. Everybody had an idea and everybody was trying to make a deal. Comparatively few came through, of course. , The past year has seen consid- erable activity in Europe—Eng- land, Italy, Germany and France-^ but 1949 will see the far reaches I of the earth seized upon by Holly- j'.wood producers for their shooting I sites. I Equatorial Africa is latest lo I come under producers' eagle eyes, I but there's also Japan, India, the I Arctic. South American jungles I likewise will see a Hollywood I safaris Hollywood. GolumDia set ; Jim. 10 starting date on"Anna Lucasta" and an- nounced Oscar Homolka has been inked for the father role in Paul- ette Goddard starrer. . •'S. Irving Rapper will direct''" for producer Philip Yordan. In 500 Spots; Yiriely Clubs to Sbp.re in Biz Our house in Little Rock was on a hill. There was a large walnut tree in the frontyard, facing the street below. My old donkey would be tied to the tree, while my little monkey frolicked in the' branches above. It was a hot afternoon. Down the street came a trapboard pulled by a mule, with an old Negro asleep on the seat. The monkey mule Kicked up, throwing the old man back in the trapboard. The donkey, enjoying the fun, let out a loud "hee-haw," while the monkey hid in the trefe. The old gent rose slowly and with an inquiring look at the donkey, "Well Ah'll be! Donkey, Ah jes cain't figger how you does it. Ah knows you might kick that walnut a bit, but how you kin hit that mule from way up there is far beyond me!" So, shaking his head dubiously, he drove off. The next day the same procedure. The mule is pylling the trapboard. The old guy is asleep. The monkey throws a walnut. - The mule kicks up. T^ie driver is thrown back. The donkey lets out his "hee-haw" and the monkey hides in the tree. This is just too much for the old man. He comes up the hill and stands glaring at the donkey. '■How come, donkey, you kin kick that walnut an' hit that mule every time is jes something Ah cain't figger out for de life of me!" Just then the monkey picked another walnut and hit the old Negro ill the neck. He looked irp and saw the monkey for the first time. Then, turning to the donkey, "See what you went and done, donkey. Taught your trick to that monkey and now Ah is got the two of you to worry about!" i Pope Gregory of the Hills [ It was October. Word of the plague spread through the mountains— compulsory book larnin'. It was one cursed thing five generations of the mountain folk had been immune to, and Ihey weren't for catching ■It.now..' ■■■ ■ ■■ The sherifif and his men cautiously crept up a sleep slope to a little mountain cabin. There were 18 of school age in the family who had to be taken. For five days the varmints Were held oft by rifle balls. Then lack of ammunition and food forced sad surrender. As the sheriff marched off the brood, he assured Maw and Paw he would have them back in June. In December the schoolhouse burned oown, so back the sheriff brought them. He left them at the foot of the slope, wanting no part of that trip up' again. Maw, seeing the chil- dren approaching, called out "Paw, the young'uns are back." Paw scratched his head. "Well, I'll be! Who'd a-thought it was June already? My misery ain't left me yet, so I figgered it was still one of them winter months. Alius could rely on it. Now how'm I gonna tell when to plant the crops?" I Trio of producing, units are set ] to proceed to about the same area in Africa.. This area covers terri- I toi-y ot headwaters of the Nile, and i extends also to'Mountains of the i Moon..- . I Merian C. Cooper and Ernest I Scboedsack, those adventuring pro- I ducer-cameramen of a; generation I ago; who turned out such classics as "Grass," "Chang" and "Four Feathers" have joined forces again to make "The Great Adventure." This will- be done for Cooper and John P»rd's Argosy Films, and plan is for Schoedsack and Coop- er, with Lee Van Atta as associate producer, to go to Mombassa, Brit-^ ish East Alrica, and head up past Mt. Kenya northwest to their des- tination.- They leave Hollywood in March or April. Frank Buck goes to: same 'terri- (Continued on page 274) I Hollywood. 1 Paul Short's "Bad Boy," based j on activities of Variety Club's Boys : Ranch, will bow Feb. 22 in the 43 : cities where Variety Club Tents :are ; located; Following day it opens in i 500 dayand-date situations, mostly . of Paramount, National Theatre I and Warner chains. Preem coin- rcides with publication of '!To Hell and Back," by Audie Murphy, who is starred in the film. Premiere admissions will range from $1.50 to $10, with local tents ;-.sharing in the gross on a -sliding i scale arrangement that reaches as high as 50% in some cases. Short, ; who made the film at the sugges- i tion of Bob O'Donnell and Attor- ney-General Tom Clark, has set a total of 8,500 guaranteed playdates 1 thus far. Producer's deal with Al- lied Artists calls lor sales super- ■ vision .by himself, with distributor to take care of physical handling ■only.' •. •■ , " ' 1 Ex-GI's forthcoming story of his i war experiences, "To Hell and Back," is to be released in Texas and throughout the country, on the same dates as the film's release by publishers Henry Holt. Murphy who's slated for personal appear-' ances in Dallas^ Houston and San Antonio theatres, will also appear at local bookshops to autograph copies. Theatres will be urged to plug th'^-^ook in return for plugs lor-the- film-in-bookstore- windows. •f Steadilyrmounting problem of I exhibitor collusion on competitive . i bids has been partially ■ solved by {some majors^through the simple expedient of eliminating the bid- ding process wherever it looks as though exhibs aren't, playing fair, : Since films are sold through bids only in competitive situations, the ; majors are still prohibited from ■ selling all their product to a single , exhibitor through fear of an anti- trust action from the competing exhib. As an alternative in those : situations where exhibs have been' found to be ganging up, con- sequently, the majors are now : either splitting their product be- tween the two competing houses or ; , else selling it, via an ordinary deal^ . I to whichever exhib will offer the ; best terms. Latter method, while similar to bidding in that both exhibs have ; a chance at the same picture, ^ doesn't entail the formal closed j bids adhered to by the distribs in I the actual bidding procedure. Un- I der the system, a. salesman con- . I tacts. each exhib as soon as a pio'; i ture is available^ to talk terms, re- I porting back to his branch man- I ager who then sets the deal. Through that method, the exhibs . have very little chance to get to- ; gether on terms, thereby giving the ' majitrs a surefire system of tiyv passing any coUusion. Most instances of collusion have ^ come not from exhibitors offering practically the same terms for a picture, but from their not bidding all. Competing exhibs have already given up the idea of turn- ing in similar bids, since one of them is always certain to get stuck with his bid. If it's higher than he can afford to pay,: he has no., re- course, since- the courts prohibit distribs from making an, adjust ment on a bid. ;'SAMSON'AT $2,900,000, ; 600G UNDER BUDGET I Hollywood. [ De.spite a series of mishaps, , Cecil D. DeMille's "Samson and Dehlah" was completed on sched- jiile Dec. 21 at $600,000 Under the ] deluxer's original budget. 1 Final audit revealed the saving. Total cost of "Samson": was fixed I at $2,900,000. ■ - ' • GIBRALTAR PLANS BIG ROCKY MLiXPANSION Denver. Gibraltar Enterprises, which al- ready owns more than 40 theatres in the Rocky Mountain area, plans ^ building at least four more houses, and three drive-ins. Company re- : cently opened new film theatres," the 670-seat El Paseo and 680-seat I Arco, both in Santa Fe. Remodeling I is planned on other houses. I Drive-ins will be built at Casper^ Wyo., another near Santa Fe, and one at Scottsbluff, Neb. Latter two will be 350-car ones. . Proposed 890-seat hou.se at Silver City, N. M., will cost $140,000. There will be 350 seats added in remodeling at Silco, Silver City. New SOOrseater at Raton, N. M., will cost $125,000. Building that will hou.se a theatre to replace the burned^out Craig, Craig, Colo., is ready; and the house will be fin- ished by spring. Plans have, been; drawn for a b'89-seat house at Soc- orro, N. M., to cost $90,000, and a $185,000 remodel job on the Rialto, Loveland, Colo. Company; is remodeling the Val-, ley. Fowler, recently purchased, and the Teton, Powell, Wyo., is get- ting a doubled seating capacity to 732. It also is facelifting the Rivi- era, Gering, Neb., and the Grove,, Gering. ' ■ ■ ■■. ■-. ■ •■■ RICHARD HAYDN DIRECTOR In RtBlcase "MISS TATLOCK'S MIULtONS'< In Production "DEAR WIFE" Goldens' Comic Strip Pic Edward A. Golden and son, Rob- ert, have closed a deal with the N. Y. Herald Tribune for film rights to VPenny;" cartoon strip created by Harry Haenigsen and syndicated to 88 papers;..Production., on the initial "Penny" pic is slated to roll this winter, for release next lall. This is the second picture deal closed by the Golden office within the past few months. Previous film, "Guilty of Treason," based on the Overseas Press Club European roundup, "As We See It," is also scheduled for early 1949 produc- i tion.