Variety (Apr 1949)

PICTURES ■WcdncBdiay, AprB 6, 1949 Bad Public Relations Decried In 5 Majors Walkout on Oscars Table Cal. Bill to Tax Foreign-LensedU.S.Pix strong industry opinion is that-f the five major film companies made a public relations error m announcing they'd no longer sup- port the Academy "Oscar" awards. Several factors entered into the decision to dump financial sup- port of the Oscar Derby. Not the least of the reasons was resent- ment by 20th-Fox at not getting a single important award for "The Snake Pit," which the company and many critics felt to be the best effort of '48. Economy was a second big fac- tor—not the economy involved in saving the $57,000 which six com- panies together contributed toward the awards ceremonies, but the coin which appears to be wasted in producing pix which are aimed for an Acad prize. The men on the New York financial end of the business resent the extra costs en- gendered by the studios in prep- ping films for Oscars instead of keeping their eyes wholly focused on the b.o. target. Bad Timing But of ail the aftermath com- ment on the abandonment of sup- port for the Oscars, tlie public relations aspect was viewed with the greatest apprehension within the trade. Timing of the announce- ment the day after Academy prexy Jean Hersholt's blast at the majors—which teed off the whole affair—was thought to be bad. Yarn made front pages through SaGramento, April 5. ' A tax measure designed to in- crease cost of American pix lensed ! abroad to compare with completely I domestic product has been tabled I in the Assembly. Bill was offered ' bv Assemblyman Everett G. Burk- halter of North Hollywood. Burklialter claimed that pro- ducers go abroad to make pix for Kramer's Whirlwind 'Brave'; Under 2 Mos. Stanley Kramer, Screen Plays, 4Q;yp"of%,hat they cost here, tlius head brought a print of "Home of \ throwing Californians out of work, the Brave" to the United Artists ' The tax, he said, would discourage ieX t daj <Wednesday, Uvo -ch foreign sh^ooting^ Ke.t fnTbl^e tXTe^^s.^ ifad j oppo s^ thf impost. its first and only sneak Monday I night in Westwood, L. A. UA is ' tossing a Waldorf-Astoria party; for the producer on Friday (8). | "Brave" is the first of four Hollywood films in which a Negro is to be the central character. Others are 20th-Fox's "Pinky," Metro's "Intruder in the Dust" and, Louis de Rochemont's "Lost Boundaries." Court Rules No Winnah YetittW Vs.SP'sXhanipion'(UA) Hollywood, April 5. A crowded Federal court calen- dar Monday 15) forced postpone- ment of RKO's $5.00*000 damage c<iijpj*ight infrinBcmcn^t^^^^^^^s^^^ and request fbr an injunction against Screen Plays' "Champipn" until , Thursdav (7). Judge Campbell out the country, with newspapers decide then whether going Back to: Hersnolt s ■ . - . ment' to explain the. compa- milliohs of readers who had. not seen - or heard of the Academy chief's original statement now had it called forcefully to their atten- tion. , . Motion Picture Assn. of Amer- ica execSi wlio have been bolster- (Continued on page 25) TV's Bally Value For Pix Amazes Film Cos. Herb Yates Sees Divorcement As Indies Panacea to start the kial. ;tejj-0whedule it for a later date. Guy Knupp; appearing for itlKP ^vhich charges similai-ities between '•Cham&ion'^. tod^^^^^^^^^^i^^ asked for a hearing as early as possible. Sam Zagin, for Screen flays, suggested the case might proceed next month after the cpurt: calendar eased someVvhat. Ed Raftery, appearing for United Artists which is releasing the SP pix, asked either for a quick hear'- ing oE a long; postpCnctnent l^ecause he must represent UA in pending While many filmites have heads anti-trust litigation in the east, in hdnds worrying over what tele- The judge finally ruled that he Vision is going to do to the picture ! might be able to begin Thursday Industry, publicity-advertising men and ordered the attorneys to he for film companies are wide-eyed back in court then. "Champion'' in amazement at the smash trailer-1 is slated to open Saturday (9) at Citing a startling 54% improve- ment in business for Republic in i ehicago,.:since that important situ- ation fell under judicial anti-trust rule, Herbert J. Yates, Rep's prez, told his stockholders yesterday (Tues.) he is highly optimistic that divorcement spells better days for all indies, particularly his com- pany. Yates was referring .to the Jaclcson Park decision which reg- ulates run. and clearance in Chi. In divorcement, he sees a breakup of the current New York system which he tagged "the worst in the country" so far as distribs without theatres in the area are concerned. Yates made his statement in re- sponse to stockholder queries ^ on Rep's prospects at the company's annual meet. "Broadway," he said, "is a pigeonhole for .any non- theatre owning independent. I might tell you that if an indepen- dent puts his pictures in some of these theatres, he must come out with a loss." Speaking further on -the anti* trust suit. Rep's topper said that with divestiture the company could make fewer B's and more A's. By so doing, it could rapidly correct a situation where the company's bet- ter films suffer'so far as the puli- lic's attitude is concerned towards the Republic trademark. His com- ments followed a stockholder o.b- Some Not-So-Confidential Fmures A mild tempest was stirred Friday (1) when Andy Smith, Jr., in charge of sales for 20th-Fox, read off to some exhibs and news- men at a luncheon in New York ji series of industry statistics. A short time later the newspapers were called by 20th and asked not to publish the figures, since they were "confidential." Figures were the same as Eric Jolinston, Motion Picture Assn. of America prexy, had used in lantern slide discussions with Hol- lywood studio workers last month. They were provided by each company to the MPAA research department with the agreement that they were to be made public only with the okay of all seven producer-distribs involved. Howl was raised, therefore, when it was learned that Smith not only read off the figures, biit they were con- tained in mimeogi-aphed handouts of his speech. Among other things, Johnston office had a plan afoot for a meeting by the MPAA prexy with trade press editors this week to give them tiie statistics "oif-the-record.'' Statistics, all of which have been published before in one form or another, can hardly be labeled "confidential." Here they are: ■ Av'ci'age production cost per picture for the seven majors in 1941 was $400,000, as against $1,500,000 in 1948. Total profits for the seven majors from worldwide distribution in 1947 was $30,000,000, as against a loss of $16,000,000 (in other words, a decline of $46,- 000,000) in 1948. It should be noted that this represents distribu- tion only, and not theatre profits of the circuit-ovming companies. In 1940 four or five out of every 10 pictures recouped their c6.st from domestic distribution, while in '48 only one out of 10 did. Rentals in foreign territories amounted to 37V4% of world gross in '46 in contrast to 35% in '48. Smith pointed out that while this represents a shrinkage of only 2V^% in rentals, remittances were down about $50,000,000 beeause of freezes imposed on currency in various territories. Ladd-Smitli' Top March Grosses; Tamily' 24 'Letter 3d, lother 4th , . , , , „ .... (.u servation that Rep's output of low- izing job TV is doing for Iheir | the Globe, N. Y. It hearmg on tl^^ hurting boxoffice at- product. The ftaek segment of the industry, at least, is beginning to view video not as a threat to films, but as i:,omething of a bonanza. TV's results in luring customers to theatres have been spectacular in every area where there are any appreciable number of receivers. Aiming to take advantage of this potential, several companies are planning special TV trailers for some of their product. Some com- panies already have run regular -trailers on tele. Most effective selling, however, is apparently , done by the numer- ous interview shows on TVv which are glad to have Hollywood play- ers as guests, along with clips from their new films. There is a injunction hasn't started, film can I ^g^jg^gg ^^^.^ expensive open as scheduled. I . Meantime, Screen P lay s at-1 torneys came into court armed with a stack of affidavits from fight . experts, production execs, publicists, exhibs and critics tp argue for dismissal. Among those j signing the affidavits to be pre- ' sented were Harry Brandt, eastern exhib; Sherrill Corwin, operator of the four Music Halls here; Walter Higgins, film buyer for the Pru- dential Circuit in N. Y., and Stanley Kramer, producer of the film "Champion." Brandt and Higgins declared in their affidavits that there is no sequence or part in "Champion" that "in any way effects the box whole crop of such .shows original-1 office earnings of 'The Set-Up' ing in New York. They are becom-, Corwin went even further, declar- ing of such value in acquainting i ing the two "are entirely different stories of the boxing game. I would not hesitate to. boqlc either of . th'6 pictures; shortly after the other. I do not feel showing of either picture would impair the value of the other." Kramer,, in his affidavit, charged that "RKO does not come into court with clean hands; that its paramount motive in'bringing the lawsuit was to gain national pub- licity^timed with its advanced opening dates for 'The Set-Up'." potential audiences with new pix that ' film companies - figure even- tually on bringing stars east prior ■ to Broadway preems for no other reason than appearances on these programs. Plugging "Champion" (UA), one of the film's stars, Kirk Douglas, has been on six video shows within « week, and Marilyn Maxwell on three. Amazing to all was the dif- ference in public reaction to Doug- . las within a matter of liours; JPlay- .er appeared virtually unknown when he arrived in New York about 10 days ago, but after a couple of the video airers he was being stopped on the street by kids for autographs. TV is figux'ed to be of particular value in selling ".sleepers," which . depend on word:of-mouth, since that form of publicity can be tre- mendously accelerated by the new .• medium. To simplify the film angle In the future, it's planned to make special takes tor TV exploitation eince union rules forbid use of | Lake Mahopac, N. Y., far a lengthy soundtracked music. Producers I convalescent period, have found difficulty in getting r Lazarus, Jr., Is exec aide to Grad purely dialog clips and to do so | Sears, president of United Artistsii have had to take footage which while Lazarus, Sr., is contract man- All told, Yates waxed optimistic on Rep's earnings this year, declar- ing it would probably be; the best semester in the company's history. Net for the first quarter, ended Jan. 29, amounted to $413;800, be- fore taxes, ■ company president statedi while the second quarter looks "very fine," particularly ; in view of whopping returns from "Wake of the Red Witch." Dividends Spotlighting the company's re- covery, Yates disclosed that Rep will renew payments of dividends July 1 on preferred stock which has fallen in arrears for three In- (Continued on page 24) In a month; when several ;ma.j()r c<)mi>ahies had their newest west- ern epics oil release, ''WhispeHng Smith" (Par), with Alan Ladd, cop- ped national boxoffice iauirels fpr Itts^Ecti^ aciiQrdingvu> i'eiKjttjs: f Mm V'arieiy; icbi^esjpond^^^^^ in 22 key cities. Combd 6f Ladd( and facf that pic was in Techniccilor, pushed ''Srnith'^ ahead right from the higli spot it left oiBf St the end of I'ehrtj* ary. Film was first one week, sec- ond another and in the chips the other two weeks of March. "Family Honeymoon" 'U) fin- ished second, not only piling up a high total though Universal has no theatre chain, but also showing consistent strength in all four weeks of March. Third-place win- ner was "Letter to Three WivfeS'* 120th), holding firmly to same sjpbt held in February sweepstakes. _ . ,T rti , : Fourth position was copped by Tiff pYlf I (■lark ''Mother is Freshman" (20th), nil EAR Upb ^'«»! landing first place once and second Paramount's streamlining of its [ another week. It slipped in na- sales organization, initiated by Al- tional showings after that; it Was fred W, Schwalberg on his pifomd- i really only three weeks in the i- i i !u - v.-^ 1 ' month. "South of St. Louis" (WB) tionto djstrib managership several, took fifth, displaying consistent if months back, has been pushed sev- not smash boxoffice pull, March Big 10 The Big 10 boxoffice champs In March, in order of showing in representative key cities^ ' are: , "Whispering Smith" (Par). "Family Honeymoon" (U). "Letter Three Wives" (20th). "Mother Is Freshman" (20th). "South of St. Louis" (WB). "Joan of Arc" (RKO). "Knock On Any Door" (Col). "Red Shoes" (EL). "Sea in Ships" (20th). "Dear To Heart" (RKO). Far Revamping Sales Org; Wirthwein's Coin Lazarus, Sr., Recovery Hailed as 'Miraculous' Paul N. Lazarus, Jr., heads for Kansas City today (Wednesday) to return to New York with his father, Paul N. Lazarus, Sr., Who suffered a brain hemorrhage there five weeks ago. They will arrive by train Friday (8), when the elder Lazarus will go to his home at they didn't feel to be most effec- tive otherwise, but it's now deemed Worth the extra coin to specially •hoot what may be- needed fori brief time was termed by K, Video purposes only. medicos "miraculous.!' ager for the company. Recovery of the elder Lazarus, enabling him to return to his home in such a C. UA's 30^ Terms od 2 Deals: Nasser and Sirk United Artists succeeded in ob- taining the new 30% distribution fee it is demanding in two of the three deals okayed by the board last week. Third was an extension of a previous contract calling for 27Vi%, Most important of the 30% pacts was the one inked with James Nasser for three to five films a year for five years. The other was with Douglas Sirk for a remake of "Two Hearts in Three-Quarters Time," which will be produced in Europe, probably in Vienna. Exten- sion deal was with Benedict Bo- geaus for "Johnny One-Eye," a Damon Runyon yarn which is go- ing, into production immediately. "The 30% deals mark progress for UA in gradually upping terms during the past, few years. Prevail- ing rate formerly was 25% and then 271/^%. Company maintained it could not operate profitably on those terms, since actual cost of distribution was aroUnd 2Wi%. UA has also upped its end of the take by eliminating its con- tribution toward advertising of pictures. It formerly kicked in with an amount equal in pei-centage to the distribution fee it was re- ceiving. eral more notches. In one change,' M. R. (Duke) Clark has been upped to division sales chief, as- suming command of the south cen- tral sector. With the accent on a five-divisional setup, Par 'has also eliminated one more of its district posts, that of Hugh Braly on the Coast. Braly Checks out April 9, and his duties will fall to George Smithy western division manager, who headquarters in Los Angeles. Main emphasis is on the new five divi- sion lineup in which much of the district work of the past is han- dled by a division chief and his assistant. Clark replaces Harold Wirth- wein, who resigned last week. Lat- ter had been boosted to divisional topper following sales meets at the studio last month. He walked out last week after protracted negotia- tions .with management failed to iron out differences on salary. : . (Continued on page 26) N. Y. to L. A. Robert Benjamin . Maurice Bergman Jack Carson Harry Cohn William Dozier James Dunn Joan Fontaine Tim Gale Dave Kapp Edward Lachman Jock Lawrence Lou Levy J. Arthur Rank Nate Spingold Gael Sullivan Rhys Williams ' Sam Wood Max Youngstein Europe to N. Y. Greta Keller Emile Littler Arthur Loew Mr. & Mrs. Lauritz Melchior Ray Morgan Sixth spot went to "Joan of Arc" (Continued on page 26) L. A. to N. Y. Jack. Benny George Cukor Irene Dunne ' ' Joan Evans George Folsey Sam Goldwryn Gordon Griffith Sidney Gross Radie Harris Joe Kirkwood Cliff Lewis Mort Lewis Robert L. Lippert Robert Lord Zeke Manners Elsa Maxwell Sidney Meyer Mark Robson William Saal Sol C. Siegel Frank Skinner Clifton Webb Margaret Whiting Donald Wood N. Y. to Europe Carol Brandt Anita Colby Errol Flynn Ben Goetz Hans Habe-Bekessy Richard Hageman Joseph Harris Henry Henigson ' ' Nicole Herriot William Horne John Huston David Niven Fulton Oursler George Petrie Mrs; Jack Warner STILL HERE Henry Morgan