Variety (Jan 1949)

26 PICTVBES Vedneeday, January 26, 1941i9 Variety Club Continued from pag* 7 ; barker and other o0cers. It is like- ly tliat Cohen, who also plunked lor the change, will be tagged as the first barker. Over 400 attended the Astor meeting and luncheon that fol- lowed. Fred Schwartz, retiring, prez, introduced Cohen. New Variety Club will be opened immediately to all branches of the amusement industry Including stage, screen, music, radio and television. MPA officials believe an ultimate membership of 2,500 will be reached, making it the,largest Variety club in the world. Scott I^eti Charlotte Chief Greensboro, K. O. Scott Lett elected chief barker pf Charlotte Variety Club. Gene Dyer was named first asistant bark- er; J, E. Holston, second assistant barker; Ralph lannuzzi, property master; and Earl Mulwee, dough- guy. the 43 he is making on a clross- country tour in connection with "Bad Boy," Paul Short picture Monogram is releasing.'- Fred Nahas Houston Barker Houston. Fred Nahas elected chief barker of«Houston Tent 34, newest unit of Variety International. Other ofiK- cers named include Al Lever, first assistant; William E. Bremer, sec- ond assistant, Ray M. Hay* dough- guy, and Fred Cannata, property master. The local tent operated as a branch of Variety Club of Texas until it was issued a separate charter this fall. Variety CIniM to Spend $3,000,000 ' Detroit. Variety Clubs International will will spend more than $3,000,000 in charitable work this year, Col. Wil- liam McCraw of Dallas, executive director of the clubs, announced here. He was the chief speaker at a Variety Club of Detroit meeting. His appearance here was one of Memphis Re-elects Williamson Memphis. Ed Williamson reelected chief barker of Memphis Tent No; 20 of Variety Clubs. Remaining slate includes Buster Hammond, first assistant chief barker; Bailey Prichard,. propertjf < master, and Herman Chrissmarit doughguy„ D. C. Tent's $15,900 to Charity Washington. Local Variety Tent presented five checks totaling $lj5,900 to lo- cal charities recentW maldng a total of more than $55,000 given by showmen's organization here to charitable work in 1948. Latest beneficiaries: $10,400 to Children's hospital as last i>ayment on a $31,- 200 building pledge; $2,500 to Metropolitan Police Boys Club; $1,000 to Home for Incurables; $1,000 to Merrick Boys Camp to complete payment on a Variety Cabin; and $1,000 to Boys Club of Washington. Conn. Tent Installs New Haven. New slate of officers for Tent 31, Variety Club of Connecticut, com- prises Lou Brown, chief barker; George H. Wilkinson, Jr., first as- sistant barker; Ben Simon, second assistant barker; Hugh Maguire, property master; Harry Rosenblatt, doughguy. Barcroft Heads Columbus Tent Columbus, O. John L. Barcroft named new chief barker for Tent No. 2, Colum- bus Variety Club. He's publicity manager for RKO Palace and Grand, Others named include Ralph I. Shiflet, first assistant barker; Ben Cowell, second as- sistant barker; Arthur Robinson, property master, and Milton Staub, doughguy. Vom Canavan Heads St. Loo Tent St, Louis. Tom Ganavan, midwest represen- tative for Altec, elected chief barker of Tent No. 4 of Variety Clubs here. He succeeds Tom James, owner of three, indie houses. Other officers elected are Lester Grand, first assistant barker; Sam Levin, second assistant barker; James Tapella, Dough Guy; and Richard Fitzmaurice P r op ert y Master. , • • Laurence Olivier's presentation of comes to life on a WESTERN ELECTRIC Sound Track Laurence OUvIer^s magnificent version of Shakespeare's tragedy was recorded oh Western Electric sound equipment. The new D« Luxe "400" Recording System and the new RA-12$1 Re-recorders have demonstrated once more their reliability and outstanding performance. Such|advantages as automatic operation, Kighest sound quality and versatility make die "40.0'! Ac outstanding recording sys- tem available to the industry. Pine-Thomas Continued from pats 1 ss "looks to gross $2,000,000 domes- tically," P&T sai^. Team, there- fore, plunked for the three-quar- ters of a lAillion bracket on a per- manent basis. Both "El Paso" and "Manhandled," first two films un- der their new deal with Far, itt into that negative-cost groove. "Power Dive" Cost $8M00 Explaining further their exit from the B field, both Pine and Thomas cited book and chapter. Their first film, made eight years ago, was "Power Dive," which cost $86,000. Their last, "Dynamite," hit $200,000 because of the rising cost of production. Meanwhile, the margin of profit was being squeezed closer because "there Is a ceiling on what : distribution can give you on the average B film.'' In this respect, PSiT note that their average film leveled off at $450,000 worldwide take and $350,- 000 domestically.. Rentals, they said, are up a foit, but not in propor- tion to the production^nut boost. One saving feature, they noted, was that at least one film yearly hit the jackpot because of its "hot exploitability" and went consider-: ably over the normal ceiling in revenues. ' An'added reason for their switch was the personal factor. "How long could we have kept it up, making six to eight films yearly, and knocking our brains out," Thomas said. "These B's are Just as hard to make as A's, particular- ly since you can't afford to buy books ,or plays for them." Pine added that '^pride of accomplish- ment" also needled the shift as well as the need "to maintain en- thusiasm.!" Vniform Rules "Unfair" Pine termed the laying down, of uniform rules by banks on financ- ing indie production as both "very unfair and ridiculous." "Why should a seasoned producer such as Eddie Small pay the same bank terms as some guy who always loses?" Pine declared. Both P&T blasted novices from the "soap or shoe business" who come to Holly- wood, and expect to produce suc- cessful pix. These tyros, they said, had invaded Hollywood during the war, ''when money was cheap," and drove up the cost of making fiilms, including salaries of stars. "We're going back ; to normal and, one by one, :these producers are dropping out," Pine said. ''The stars are going back to the studios and, generally, things are coming down to earth. Actually, these stars are doing just as well— they're getting hard cash now in- stead of promises of profits in films which never made out." "Things are returning to normal, and this business is still very solid and safe," they said, "Ar decent film in the right bracket ($750,000- $1,000,000) can do $2,000,000 and make money.''. The two Paramounters stay in New York for the balance, of the current week before heading Coast- ward. TINKY'MESSAGE PIC, ZANUCn '49 FILM Hollywood, Jan. 25. Darryl Zanuck's personal pre. duction for 1949 will be "Pinky" a film with a message, depicting social conditions in the south. Pic. ture is slated for a spring start witltJohn Ford as director. Ford's' deal calls for one picture and will not conflict With his activities as Merian C. Cooper's partner in Ar- gosy Pi;oductions. "Pinky" is based on a story by Dudley Nichols. Valentine Davies is doing the screenplay. No Aussie Rita Pix Nix, Tho Ricsenbnent Strong Sydney, Jan. 18. Few if any Aussie exhibs will nix playing of Rita Hayworth pix, following star's gadabout with All Khan,: though resentment is pow- erful against star within industry ranl^s. Next Hayworth pic set for release Is ''Loves of Carmen." It .will play the Greater Union loop on contract with Columbia. Key church authorities have de- cided not to askfor any boycott of Hayworth pix. Catholic spokesmen said that the church film censor- ship was only concerned in actual films, adding that - Miss Hayworth could not be condemned unless half of Hollywood was condemned with her. Protestant ministers like- wise do not favor banning Hay- worth pix. Banks Laud Continued from iiaKe 3 1 1h» "400" Syitom RwwdM ami AMmmHc Rannl*, Canlrol, ustd In nnrding "HamlM" at Danham Stttdia«, Undon. Hmtec Produced ond Diracttd by . , Laurence Olivier Rocordod at Denham Studios Sound Suporviwr Cyril Crowhurst S'"""" •»» Westetn Blecuic Majors Deny Plot sss Continued from page 4 s "proven Communists," answer de- clares, but did not take action oh the point, which was second in a proposed three-point program. Meeting concededly discussed all angles on possible injury to the film industry by reason of the hubbub then caused by the House investigation. ' Otherwise, answer interposes a general denial to the pending ac- tion, which demands an injunction to restrain the defendants from an alleged combination aimed at blacklisting screen scripters. SWG suit, brought last year, does not seek money damages. Disney's 'Heart' Ballyhoo Walt Disney arrived in New York yesterday (Tuesday) for press and radio Interviews in connection with opening of his "So Dear to My Heart" at the Palace. He expects to be in Manhattan the rest of the week. Cartoon exec came in from Cin- cinnati and Indianapolis, where he had attended preems of the pic with a quartet of his players. They are Beulah Bondi, Bobby Driscoll, Luana Patten and Clarence Nash. They returned to the Coast from Cincy. like mad and causing serious chaos that would be bound to still further weaken their financial position. /'As it is, we feel that the cutting that .has taken place and the re- sultant injury to morale is being felt in the reduced quality of prod- uct recently released. The industry is like any patient after: an operas tion. It will take time to recuperate. However, it is a healthy thing in the long run to have the swollen parts reduced and we feel that it will make for a strong future." Banks- haven't the slightest qualms concerning the status ot. any of their, loans to the major companies. Virtually all the firms have far more cash on hand, gov- ernment bonds and other liquid assets than the amount of their borrowing. Even Universal,' which is probably ir the weakest financial position of any of the majors, could go on for three ^ears with losses as heavy as those of 1948 before it was in real trouble, one of the bankers pointed out. He added that it would probably be impossible, however, for U, "even if it wanted to,'' to lose as much again during the next three years as it did last year (a reported $4,000,000) be- cause it had written off so much of its worthless assets. Banks have not been faced with drawing up terms for new loans, since none of the companies is 'in the market for more capital. They all arranged financing two or three years ago, when money was at its cheapest, and have plenty of bank funds available if they want to call on them. Usual procedure is for the Companies to pay a fractional percentage in interest to keep this money open to them, but to draw upon it only If they need it. Most have drawn only a relatively small part of what is available. Paths Continued from page T absorbed in the form of a loss dur-* ing 1948 is still a moot question. Margin for discretion on the point is available because EL is a com- paratively new outfit without a fixed amortization sate as yet. While plans are being formu- lated for. issuance of a new block of stock, company has bankrolled its next three pix, slated to start in February, by an advance of monies out of credits available from the First National Bank of Boston and other banks. Meanr while, EL has been reducing an initial loan of $11,000,000 out of weekly revenues. That sum has been brought down to approxi- mately $6,000,000. Reportedly, EL obtained a credit of $750,000 fot the trio of films, with which it will reopen its Hollywood studios.