Variety (December 1950)

Hollywood, Dec. 12. Largest membership turnout in recent years overwhelmingly gave the Screen Writers Guild's execu- tive board the authority to call a strike against any or all producers if producers refuse to negotiate a liew basic agreemeht in line with Guild demands. Vote was 493-3. Resolution authorizing a strike, if necessary, rejected proposals of producers in recently broken-off negotiations, particularly clauses relating to separation of rights, niinimum wage scales and tele- vision rights. Leonard Spigelgass culled for pledges for strike fund to be used only if and when strike is called. Total of $96,500 was pledged, in sums ranging from $2,000 down. tin New York yesterday (Tues.), the Authors League of America, parent body of the SWG, voted unanimously to support the guild’s strike action. League resolution declared; The Authors League has long been committed to the principle of a separation of rights. It there- fore firmly commends the SWG for standing firm in its demands for such separation and pledges whole- hearted support by the League of any action that may be necessary to achieve these demands.”) Meeting got underway a half- hour later, with prexy Karl Tun-r berg tracing history of negotiations for a, new pact to replace the 1942 agreement. Basic issues of dis- agreement were separation of lights, television, minimum sala- ries, advertising and billing, al- though latter wasn’t brought up in producer confabs. Tunberg said the producers first okayed separation (Continued on page 29) Order Requiriog Pic Cos. to Show Records Salt Lake City, Dec. 12. Seven distributor plaintiffs in the percentage action against S. L. Gillette and Associated Amus. Co. succeeded in upsetting the U. S. district court order of Nov. 1, which required the companies to produce all film rental records in the entire Salt Lake area for the past nine years. Following argument by dis- tribs’ attorney, Edward A. Sargoy (& Stein), of N. Y., Judge Willis W. Ritter decided that hundreds of theatres other than those operated by the defendant in the area were strangers to the fraud claim and Irrelevant to the litigation. The ruling, if sustained, would be an important precedent for all distribs in all other percentage case.s throughout the country, ac- cording to film attorneys. Exhib de- fendants in such actions often seek rental records covering a whole ter- ritory and covering a lengthy pe- riod. LOEWS. INC., PREXY Nicholas Sehenck tf reqlisHe that The National Economy Most Directly Affects the Filmgoing Habits on Infertsting tditoriol feoturt In the forthcoming 45th Anniversary Number of P^fHETY Coplan in U.S. to Set . .^iih his Intemational Film Dis- tributors committed to a larger program in 1951, David H.. Coplan has arrived in New York to scout lor independent U. pix for re- in Britain. IFD, which takes piany indie American films wheth- er niacie in U. S. or Europe, is handling “Black Jack,” Julien ^uvivier production; “Rapture,” jnadc in Italy, and N. Peter Rath- af T Torch.” “Rapture” opens ai N Y. Trans-Lux 60th Street the- today (13). here, Coplan will confer in. indie producers on possible P^P^hction in Britain. Orig- .C^*3^sics was to have ^ project, rp I who .also heads Times vision, Inc., recently arranged ; 'thereby some «6 British- Ir'itJli ^ysCery films will be re- Smrif the U. S, by; i^teiiing Television Co. i Allied Squawk St. Louis, Dec. 12. Allied States president Trueman T. Rembusch and treasurer Charles Niles yesterday (11) met in the Melbourne hotel with the officers and board of directors of Mid-Cen-r tral Allied to discuss “flagrant vio- lations” by distributors of rights of independent exhibitors in the mid-rcentral area. It was brought to the attention of Rembusch and Niles that pic- tures are being “illegally forced,” that the distributors are perpetuat- ing clearances that are unlawful, and, furthermore, the independent exhibitor is being discriminated against as to the availability of, prints and playdates. It was also brought out that promises of the general sales man- agers made to the national Allied’s committee, of which Niles is a nnember, as to flat rental selling, are not being adhered to in mid- central. The abuses revealed were “so rampant” that Rembuseh im- mediately appointed Niles to col- lect personally the information on any and all abuses of the recent court decision in the Paramount case. Rembusch further advised every Allied member to register his complaint to Niles. Specific com- plaints to be Investigated by Niles are: 1. Exhibitors cannot buy picture by picture or buy selectivity;. 2. (Continued on page 31) OLD CRQUCHO-KKASNA LEGIT AS BENNY PIC Hollywood, Dec. 12. Film version of the Groucho Max’x-Norman Krasna legiter, origi- nally known as “Time for Eliza- beth” and later as “April Fool,” will he made by the Wald-Krasna unit at RKO as “Story for Grown- Ups” with Jack Benny starring; Addition of “Grown-Ups” makes a total of 10 completed scripts in W-K story bank. Others are “Cow- poke,” “Clash by Night,” “The Harder They Fall,” “USO Story,” “Blue Veil,” “Girl Wanted,” “Ex- clusive Model,” “Size Twelve” and “the Middle of the Night.” Eye Latin Market For Yma Sumac Fix Hollywood, Dec. 12. New indie unit was formed here by Mrs. H6len Rathvon' and Leith Stevens to produce a series of pic- tures starring Yma Sumac, Peru- vian songbird. First filin will be shot in Spain, in Spanish, aimed chiefly at the Latin-American market. Second will be made in Peru, in English. Series wilLbe financed by N. Peter Rathvon. New Orleans, Dec, 12. Possibility of a national exhib- itor-owned television system which would reach pix houses in all parts of the nation was described' by Trueman T. Rembusch, president of national Allied States ASs’n, before members of the Gulf States divi- sion, meeting at the Hotel Roose- velt here Wednesday (6). The proposed system, now under study/would make TV available to hundreds of small towns which Would never have it otherwise, Rembusch said. The plan’s possi- bility depends upon getting for the- ! atre use the TV channels 2,. 3, 4, 6 and 6 VHF (very high frequency) how used by broadcasters. “We are not trying to steal broadcasters’ frequencies,” he asserted. “They are going to be forced to quit those channels anyway.’’ He said that means the some 8,000,000 TV sets now in use across the nation will be useless within a few years. ; “Radio and TV broadcasters have tried to conceal this,” he told dele- gates. “But opinion of those whb know, including engineers of the FCC, is that TV must move up to the UHF (ultra high frequency). Receiving sets now in use cannot be converted to receive UHF With any measure of Success, he stated. That TV must move up to the UHF portion of the radio spectrum was reiterated last April by Wayne Coy, FCC chairman, Rembusch declared. Stating that these developments mean that VHF must eventually be vacated by television broadcasters, Rembusch added that theatres must (Continued on page 17) Del Giudice Arrives In N.Y. to Negotiate Distrib on 8 Italo Pix U-l y««p in Chorgt of Production WilUam Goetz it onothor who's strong for New Fades ond detoils whot U-l it doing obout it * * ... on interesting editorlol feoture In the forthcoining 45th Anniversary Number of P^niETY Uives Pk to Tell Filippo del Giudice, former head of J. Arthur Rank’s Two Cities Films, planed into New York Mon- day (11) from Italy for a two or three-month U. S. stay. While here he plans to negotiate Ameri- can distribution deals for eight Italian pictures and also to lecture on the “film crisis” confronting the world. Del Giudice’s U. S. arrival was delayed for a number of weeks due to the redtape surrounding the McCarran Act. Reportedly, the producer is one of the first private Italian citizens to be permitted entry since passage of the law. Onetime Rank filmmaker has no production plans at the moment. But when he re-enters the-field, Del Giudice said, he will concen- trate upon artistic subjects. Pro- ducer, >vho left Britain at the end of 1949 because “certain circum- stances made it impossible” for him to film pictures of the kind he likes, charged that the current in- dustry crisis stems from turning out stereotyped pix and ignoring the mature audience. . In the future, Del Giudice main- tains, the production branch of the industry would do well to film more “persuasiye. themes.” By get- ting away from “stereotyped” stories, he feels, we will be adapt- ing ourselves to ncAv modes of the population. In the producer’s be- lief,' TV is unimportant if we stress an intelligent approach. His' aim, he declared, is to prove that [ there is “very great business for ; artistic pictures as long as they i are shown to the right people,” Hollywood, Dec, 12. Douglas H. Schneider, chief of- the Mass Communications Depart- ment of . UNESCO, is making a pitch for the cooperation of film studios, producers and writers in the work of acquainting foreign peoples with the advantages of American democracy. Schneider, who recently returned from Paris, declared that films are more pow- erful than books or sermons in solving racial, religious and other problems in all parts of the world. To date, he has held conferences with Dore Schary, Frank Capra, Stanley Kramer, Robert Stillman, Collier Young, Ida Lupino and Valentine Davies. PAR HITS 2-YEAR PEAK WITH 7 HLMS SHOOTING Hollywood,* Dec. 12. Production on the Paramount lot during the next two months will be the heaviest in two years, with seven features slated to start and four holdovers in various stages of filming. Two December starters will be “When Worlds Collide” and “The Submarine Story.” Teeing Off in January will be “My Favorite Spy,” “The Rage of the'Vulture,” “Cross- winds” and “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Early in February, William Wyler starts “Detective Story.” Four currently shooting are “Here Comes the Groom,” “Fort Savage,” “Rendezvous” and “That’s My Boy. . Despite the current war scare, the major film studios presently planning production of pictures overseas are going full speed ahead with their plans. While not overly-optimistic about the world political situation, they figure that so long as the Goverpment doesn’t clamp ah embargo on their activi- ties, it’s safe to continue shooting abroad. At least one indie producer, on the other hand, who had intended lensing a pic on location in Italy, has apparently decided that dis- cretion is the better part of aur thenticity and has transferred his shooting activities back to Holly- wood. Indie is Ernest Pagano, who is turning out “The Hypo- crite” for Casa Productions. Not even the majors, of course, are contemplating any production in the Far East because of the Korean fighting. Metro com- pleted its “Kim” in India last sum- mer, with the film now going into release. Twentieth-Fox is cur- rently lensing “Kangaroo” in Aus- tralia, which is considered outside the war zone. For the time being, those will be the only pictures to be iCnsed in that part of the world. Good Risks Otherwise, both M-G and 20th, which at the moment are the only two companies with product either planned or now before the cameras in foreign countries, figure their investment in those pictures is worth the risk. Besides getting an opportunity to put their frozen currency to use, both studios also have studios in England which carry a hefty overhead whether they are in operation or not. Metro (Continued on page 78) ft. Stay on the Lot As Overhead-Saver, Par Tells Its Indie Prods. Hollywood, Dec. 12. In a concrete step to keep studio overhead down, Paramount is re- quiring aP ndies releasing through it to shoot all future pictures on its lot. Only exceptions, Y. Frank Freeman reported in admitting new policy, will be where firm buys an already completed independent, as in case Of “At War With the Army.” Pine-Thomas current contract permits headquarters off the lot and unit will remain at General Service Studios through 1951, when it’s expected neW policy will be en- forced with expiration of pact. Indies currently affiliated with Paramount are Wallis-Hazen, Perl* berg-Seaton and Cecil B. DcMille. As Long As They Gry Minneapolis, Dec. 12. Shying away from the word “damiied,” the Plaza theatre in,, nearby Burlington, Wis., gsve the picture ^-The Damned Don’t Cry” a changed title “so as not to offend any of the citi- zenry.” On its canopy arid -ih'^tbei'"*^ advertising it billed the film as “The Darned Don’t Cry.” Somervell Back to Eng. After Signing U S. Pact Rupert G. Somervdll, undersec- retary ; of thei British Board of Trade, returns to England today (Wednesday) on the America after a 12-day visit to the U. S, He was guest in this country of the Mo- tion Picture Assn, of America. Somervell last Wek signed oq ■ behalf of the British governrnent j the new Anglo-U. S, agreement, which will be administered by his department, His time was spent in j Washington and New York meeting with various industry execs for a better understanding of their prob- lems. Team Caulfield, Niven In Indie’s ‘Lady’ Hollywood, Dec. 12. Joan Caulfield and David Niven will co-star in “This Lady Says No,” the first of three pictures to be made in 1951 by the new indie outfit, Ross-Stillmah Productions. Filming starts Jan. 16 at Car/ mel, Cal., with Ross as producer. WB Theatre Staffers In N Y. H.0; Meet More than 30 Warner theatre staffers are slated to attend a zone managers meeting to be held at the circuit’s New York homebffice tomorrow (Thurs.). Harry M. Kal- mine, prez and general manager of the chain, will preside. Film buyers and h. o. execs will also be on hand. Zone managers attending will be James Qoston, Chicago: Nat Wolf, Cleveland; I. J. Hoffrnan, New Haven; Frank Damis, Newark; Charles A. Smakwitz, Albany; Ted Schlanger, Philadelphia; M. A. Silver, Pittsburgh; George A. Crouch, Washington, ; and Ben H. Wallersteirt, Hollywood. Balaban, Freeman In . ^ Briskin Policy Hudclle Hollywood, Dec. 12. Barney Balaban, Freeman and Paul RaibouTn visited Sam Briskin at latter’s Palm Springs home over the weekend, discussing Para- mount’s production and policies for coming year. Briskin, recovering from a virus attack, will remain at the Springs for another week. Both Balaban and Raibourn returned to N. Y. , , < • . 'v • * 1 i t • V Y ‘ I t I i