Variety (Apr 1949)

VednegJay, April 13, 1949 ncniREs EXHIB %-CHISELING ON WANE Wall St Look with Favor On Hollywood's Stepped-Up Prod. Recent stepup in Hollywood pro- duction is viewed as a highly fa- vorable sign In Wall Street. The financial observers think it may go far in counteracting the current dip in net profits for major film companies. Wall Streeters are convinced that Coast producers have learned how to make pictures on faster schedules and more cheaplyi With the average picture now running , only two weeks, the financial men think the idea of releasing more pix to provide for exhibitor needs is smart. They contend it is sound economics to get more first-week boxoffice returns, even if it re- quires releasing additional prod- uct, than to force a run, While the gross per film may decline, the grand overall revenue total will Increase, or at least hold near levels of recent years. All of this, of course, is predicated on biz con- ditions in general staying up near current levels., . ; But to do this, obviously pro- ducers had to cut the cost of each individual production, either via Initial ljudget trims or speeding Up of "Shooting time, or both. This has been done; hence the green light on additional picture-making. Examples of companies shearing their production outlay are still mounting. One recent instance, is "It's Only Money," which should BoOn be out of the cutting room. This "A" film, with Groucho Marx, Frank Sinatra and Jane Russell, took only 24 days' shooting time, or three less than schedule. Sina- . .(Continued on page 24) SPGtoF^tlA's Unionization Move Hollywood, April 12. A special Screen Publicists Guild committee^ nitmed by prexy Lesley Ma.ion to' lead the attack against the International - Alliance of Theatrical _ Stage ■ Employeps; meets tonight" (Tues.) to plan course of action. Purpose of committee is to pre- serve the Guild's independent status as voted by a majority of members last week, and to fight Ott an lATSE move to be certified as bargaining agent for studio ■ ■flacfcs.r- International , Alliance of The- ■■ atrical and Stage Kmployees is issuing an American'Federation of Labor charter to publicists work- ing in the Hollywood film studios, as result of the recent vote of the Screen Publicists Guild to secede from the Brotherhood of Painters, thereby becoming an unaffiliated guild. Roy M. Brewer, lATSE in- ternational rep, announced that his group-is going ahead with the peti- tion, pending before the National Labor Relations Board, for cer^- tification as exclusive bargaining agent for film flacks. He added: "The recent SPG vote showed thai 109 of the 130 publicists em- ployed in the studios wanted to join the lATSE. Most of the 147 who voted for no alfillation are not employed in motion picture studios." Svensk Shorts Director Yens H'wood Connection Hollywood; April 12. Arne Sucksdorff, Swedish pro- ducer-director whose "Symphony of the City" won the one-reeler Academy award for documentaries, has arrived on the Coast with eye to a studio connection. Sucksdorff has with him two of his latest Swedish-made one-reelers which he is offering for major distribu- tion.- ■ ■ Sucksdorff's "Symphony" was made for Svensk Film Industry and distributed in the U. S. by 20th- Fox. DISmiB SUITS E' Variety Clubs Seemingly Save San. at Saranac Picture companies are expected to continue contributing to the Will Rogers . Memorial Hospital through 1950 as result of a pitch made to the board of the Motion Picture Assn. of America last Fri- day (8). ' Companies had been con- tributing a total of about $6,000 a month from the time the hospital first got into financial trouble more than a year ago. They discontinued the payments in. March. ' Request to the MPAA board was made on behalf of International Variety by Abe Montague, Max A. Cohen and Charles E. (Chick) Lewis. Variety Clubs have agreed to take over operation of the hos- I pital, but need film company sup- ! port through next year, by which i time they hope to have a perma- I (Continued on page 22) While the courts continue to clock off percentage-chiseling ac- tions filed by distribs in a steady flow from week-to-week, major company insiders are convinced that the ebb in .the volume of phoney returns is at last setting in. The idea of knicking off a chunk of the grosses on percentage re- ports is showing a decrease, it is said, following a three-year drive which combined a raft of suits and nationwide auditing activities. To- tal of chiseling, estimated from $10,000,000-$15,000,000 yearly, is believed to be in a decline: .. Habit of chiseling is growing less popular, the belief is, as result of publicity on these suits and exten- sive auditing of theatre records under the direction of industry at- torneys, Sargoy & Stein. Audits have already been made in over 1,000 theatres through the U. S. Lately, a shift in the line of legal battle has been noticed. Exhibs suspected of giving a fast count on the b.o., wage'court battle over the right of distribs to peek in their books. Once the court gives the- riod to an audit, most of the actions are quietly settled out of court. These settlements, with few exceptions, are for the amount found owing in: the books with nothing lopped off in return for the payment. Distribs feel that in most cases, after . auditing, exhibs give the (Continued on page 20) Goldwyn to Explore Continental Prod widi ftma Com-and Lopert 'MUdred Pierce' Suit Samuel Goldwyn, who arrives in . I New Yotk , from ihH Coast ' tbd^y . I (Wednesday), is slated to hold a sc' Claims Infringement I confabs during the coming V, . i. * ■ i . X . week with Ilya Lopert on plans for Existence of a copyright infringe- i^j^g ^^^^ \f Goldwyn's frozen ??JS",h'"h^t?-^*'"" fiT""'^^-J."' funds for joint production with f''^?±^Z'%.^'^hZ'l^?tr^^^^^^^ in France |nd Italy Asso,, ciated with them, if a deal is made, an Oscar for Joan Crawford m 1945, was disclosed in N. Y. fed- eral court Monday 111) when the plaintiff's attorneys were requests ed to submit more definite allega^ tions. j Suit was filed originally in N. Y. supreme court by writer Mae Caro, who claimed "Pierce" was lifted from her unpublished story, "Noth- ing to Live For;" She averred she submitted the story to James M, Cain, who scripted the film, and that Cain read it and returned it to her prior to production of the film. N. Y. VARIETY CLUB'S, INDUCTION OCT. 27 New York's new Variety club, tent 35, has its formal induction and cliarter presentation set for Oct. 27 at the Hotel Astor, where ! the outfit's new clubrooms are lo- cated. Estimated turnout of 2,000 is expected to include industry leaders and int'l officers of Variety club. With the org's national con- vention opening in San Francisco May 2, Max A. Cohen, chief barker in N. Y , will be on hand to pitch for the selection of Gotham as the site of Variety's fall meeting. Fred Block has been tagged for club's exec manager. Block was connected with the late Isadore H. Herk's Mutual Wheel burlesque I circuit. Astor's clubroomji are ex- I pected to be opened in mid-May. Sargeant s 'Jazz' Suit Vs. Goldwyn Settled ^ Novelist Winthrop Sargeant's in- fi'ingement suit against RKO and Samuel Goldwyn was settled out ol court last week according to a stipulation signed by N. Y. Federal Judge Samuel H. Kaufman. Action was dismissed without prejudice and without cost, Writer of the book, "Jazz—Hot and Hybrid," Sargeant charged that , part of his tome was incorpo^ rated in certain sequences of ^oWwyn's "Song Is Born" which KKO distributed. Terms of tlie settlement were undisclosed. Plain- tiff originally asked an account- ing, damages and an injunction. 20tli-Fox Decides Not To Film Maltz's Novel Hollywood. April 12. Twentieth-Fox has decided to shelve pi-eduction of "The Journey of Simon McKcever," unpublished novel bv Albert Maltz, who was one ol' Uie "Hollywood 10" in the Com- munist spy probes in 1947. Studio gave no reason for its decision, de- claring in a flat statement only that lit "will not produce the recently- ! acquired" story. I News that 20lh had bought the I book caused considerable eyebrow- lifting here last week, since it hyd i been generally believed that none of the major studios would touch , any work turned out by the "10." ; Maltz issued a Statement following I the sale, congratulating 20th for what he termed'the first step in eliminating the alleged "political blacklist"* among the studios. 1 Maltz received $35,000 for the ! story, which is to be published soon I by Creative Age Press. It is re- I portedly a gentle fantasy; similar i in touch to 20th'a "Miracle on 34th I Street" and with no political im- [ plications. Majors Decide to Drop ^ Chiz Suit Vs. Alger, Hit With Legal Bill Chicago, April 12; Eight majors have been hit with $7,198 in counsel fees and dis- bursements as the price for judi- cial okay to their requests to drop a percentage-chiselling action against E. E: Alger's 13-theatre cir- cuit. Suit had b^n pending in the Federal district court here for sev- eral months where it was sidcr tracked for' referee hearings to determine whether licensing con- tracts made with the Alger chain were invalid as violating monopoly laws. - Referee Joseph Elward signed the order discontinuing the action. He declared that it was a "fair in- ference" that the reason given by the companies for ending the suit was not the principal one. Alger maintained that the majors feared an adver.se ruling on legality of licensing deals if the suit was pressed. Referee, however, made no further comment on this score but contented himself with approv- ing the suit's windup if Alger was repaid for legal expenses. It is Alger's claim that when the majors first asked to inspect his books, he offered to. permit some outside ai;ditiAg concern to do so. Majors, on their part, resisted the offer claiming that no other ac- countants were set up for the com- plicated examination except the companies' -own experts, Alger says.' . Under the decision, Thomas C. McGonnell; who won the Jackson Park case, is being paid $4,016 as attorney for Alger. Seymour Simon, former Dept. of .lustice legalite, gets $1,500 as attorney for another defendant. Alger's own expenses of $1,682'are also being reimbursed. Among his holdings, Alger is partner with Balaban & Katz's Publix Great States, Paramount subsid. Pards jointly own ; three houses. Town,'in Color, AtUMOne Of ffl-G s Lowest Hollywood, April 12. I In line , with the studio's holding , "Annie Get Your Gun" to a $1,- 500,000 budget, Metro haS Set "Oh the Town" for a similar coin out- lay. It's one of lowest budgets in years for a Technicolor musical. "Town" will have 16 musical num- bers, where "Annie" will have 11. "Town," too, will have one of the tightest schedules on n^cord for a Metro musical, 46 days. According to schedule, 16 num- bers will take 21 days, with book requiring 46 days. This includes a week of New York shooting. One number, "Dinosaur," originally budgeted at $50,000, is now cost- ing $110,000, due to the fact a prop animal didn't . film; properly, and took couple, of days to as-, semble it tor new take. Studio is now talking of inserting cartoon characters, Tom and Jerry, for one production number. will be Robert Goelet, Sr., reputed to be the second largest' realty owner in New York City, and Rob- ert W. Dowling, head of City In- vesting Co., which likewise is im- portant in New York real estate and owns 'eight film and legit the- atres. Lopert, one of the biggest im- porters and exhibs of foreign prod- uct in the U. S.» leaves New York April 26 for four months in Paris and Rome. He'll set up plans for production there, with Goelet-and Dowling as partners^ . whether or not Goldwyn decides.- tb . go . along,: he said. Lopert declared that he will buy no more completed pictures in Eur- rope for U. S. distribution, but will produce over there instead. All of the backlog of good European prod- uct has been milked, he explained, and there is very little available that is good for the U. S. market. Whatever pictures there are. he said, have such high price tags on American rights that it is unprofit- able to import them. "What's the use of paying $75,- 000 for U. S. distribution rights to a film," he asserted, "when for not too much more .than that we can make pictures over there and have world rights to them. Even if they are not successful in this country, we can still get our money out in other parts of the world." Lopert proposes making films in the native languages of the coun- (Continued on page 20) LOAN REAGAN, CARSON TO COL FOR 1 EACH Hollywood, April 12. Columbia is borrowing two male stars from Warners, Ronald Reagan and Jack Car.son, as toppers in two I pictures slated for May production. Reagan will co-star with Barbara Hale in "Baby is Here," starting May 3, for Santana Productions, re- leasing through Columbia. Carson gets the title role in "The Good Humor Man.'' rolling May 23, with Sylvan Simon producing and Lloyd Bacon directing. Jack Roper's New Post In Paramount Sales LA. 1st Runs Only 9% Behmd 1948 Los Angeles, April 12. Business in Los Angeles first- run film houses during the first quarter of 1949 was only 9% under that of the same period of 1948. Grosses, although below last year's, were still fai" above those of all previous years' except 1947 and 1948, the peak seasons of film his" tory. Take for the first 13 Weeks of 1949 was $3,733,400, compared with $4,019,400 for the first quarter last year. '12 O'clock' Over 9 Stages Hollywood. April 12. Total of nine sound .stages five on the Westwood lot and four on the Western avenue site, have been set aside for the 87 sets required for "12 O'clock High" at 20th- Fox, in addition to a number of quonset'huts on the back lot. Outdoor sequences will be filmed at Fort Walton, Fla.. starting April 18, with Henry King directing. Testify in Det. Suit Samuel Goldwyn, who arrives in New York from the coast today (W^d.), Will go to Detroit next week to ;giVe his. depositidn ih the $8,po6,00O triple-damage ahti-trust., action filed there by the. Society of . Independent Motion Picture Pro- Revamping of Paramount's sales dueers last year. Goldwyn's trek, force which has been pushed since | along with the deposition given in the naming of Alfred W. Schwal-1 Detroit by Hunt Stromberg last berg as distrib topper moved an-1 Friday (8), moves the stalled pro- other notch this week. Jack tloper, j ceedings a bit closer to trial, who has been serving as assistant | Defendants.' Paramount's United to Hugh Owen, Par's eastern and Detroit Theatres and Cooperative- southern division manager, has Theatres of Michigan, have been been upped to head a newly-ore- charged with depressing prices and ated dept. Roper has become man- dictating bookings tor indie prod- ager of the boxoffice analysis dept. ] uct via monopolistic practices. To fill the vacancy caused by They have insisted on taking depo- Roper's switch, Lou Wechsler, for- sitions on their home territory marly an Eagle Lion sales staffer, from the producers who filed the has been brought: into the com- action against thent. This has re- pany. Wechsler worked under suited in lengthy delays through Schwalberg when /the latter was inability or unwillingness of the EL's distribution veepee. . producers to go to the Motor City, Reportedly, Roper's main chores Walt Disney was the only pro- will be to study percentage pix and ducer to submit to the depositionr to act as liaison between the com- taking before Stromberg stopped pany and Confidential Reports, oft' last week on his way back to the Inc., checking outfit working for Coast from New York. SIMPP of- most of the majors, and Sargoy & flcials are hoping now that others Stein, attorneys who head up the auditing forces for the distribs. In his new job, Roper will also work along with Par's legal dept. will follow suit and break the jam. Robert J. Rubin, counsel for the Society, will accompany Goldwyn to Detroit.