Variety (January 1953)

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VOL. 189 No. 5 NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1953 PRICE 25 CENTS ■ i ■ ■ » -- - Coronation Coming Up + By RICHARD MEALAND London. The stands are going up along the Mall and Piccadilly, in the Haymarket and Park Lane. Al- though June 2 is still months away, the British have been planning^ for the day ever since Eliza- beth II acced- ed /To the Throne. You never saw such hoo-ha. Mr. Lee of ‘ the Dorches- ter and Mr. Van Thyne of Claridges, not to mention Mrs. Jenkins-Plumble- by of the Pilgrimme’s Reste at Nether Gallop, Little Swansdown Way, Sipping Bodkin, Hants, are going spectacularly mad. They are booked solid from April Fool’s Day to August Bank Holiday and are alienating hundreds of their best friends and customers. Where everybody is going to sleep, let alone eat, is the problem. . Selfridge’s, in Oxford Street, who have wonderful big windows and some lovely precipitous ledges on their facade, have decided not to be greedy. Their oldest * em- ployee gets the choicest spot, for free. All the others, in order of seniority, follow, until everv cor- nice and cranny is occupied. The Army & Navy Club in Pic- cadilly will have its usual stand set back from the pavement in front of its half-bombed ruins. The clematis vine will have to go. The venerable men’s clubs of St. James's are still in violent argu- ment: whether to soak the mem- bership 40 guineas for a perch, a bacon-and-egg breakfast and a champagne lunch, or to sell out en- tirely to the Commercial Interests. Sir Douglas Fairbanks has been (Continued on page 61) West Germany Awaits UFA Decentralization To Spur Pix Activity By HANS.HOEHN Berlin. One of the biggest problems fac- ing the West German film industry today is the UFA as it has been for years. The Western. Allies had taken the former Reich-owned film trust, consisting of film theatres and studios, under trusteeship in the early days of occupation. The j 8 ? UFA complex is still under administration of the so-called UFA liquidation committee. There is a clause in the Allied-German Convention, ruling that all UFA in- stallations can’t be used until a German law (UFI-law) on the liquidation and decentralization of the former Reich-owned property is Passed. A proposal of the federal government did not get the ap- proval of the Federal Laender, thus causmg a delay of the enactment 01 * he German UFI law. Everybody connected with the industry, in particu- r a large amount of unemployed (Continued on page 288) 21 Skidoo! Joseph H. McConnell, resign- ing Friday (2) as NBC._prexy to become prez of Colgate- Palmolive-Peet, made his exit from the network in dramatic fashion. Each year since he has been the NBC topper, McConnell has tossed a luncheon shindig for .top NBC execs at the 21 Club, N.' Y., 'between the ^Christmas and New Year’s holi- days. With matters pertaining to his', shift in jobs" forcing postponement of the luncheon Dec. 30, McConnell held it as usual Friday (2), less than four hours before his resignation from NBC became effective. RCA Names Sacks To Pep Recording As Operating Chief In another surprise'move within the RCA organization, Emanuel (.Manie) Sacks takes over the rQA Victor recording operations pronto. This will be a special one-year chore, with Sacks becoming a Vic- tor jyeep in addition to his regular- title of staff vice-president of the parent Radio Corp. of America. He will divide his time between the top-echelon 53d floor headquar- ters in the RCA Bldg, and Victor’s own executive offices in the near- by International Bldg., in Radio City, and also Camden. Paul A. Barkmeier, heretofore veepee of RCA Victor recording, is being given new responsibilities in RCA’s expanding merchandising plans, which now embraces aircon- ditioning and a stove business, plus other “white goods’’ to complement RCA dealers’ stocks. Sacks will address RCA Victor dealers Jan. 13-15 in a three-day semester in Philadelphia, and thence go to the Coast to reorgan- ize the Hollywood recording ad- junct, which he deems equally im- portant with New York. There will be no letouts or or- (ConttnUed on page 65) Bing, Astaire Bow Out, Par .Recasting -Xmas’ Hollywood. Paramount’s plans for “White Christmas” starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire have gone a-glim- mering immediately, and the studio now is hunting, for two new stars for the Technicolor musical. Crosby • said he didn’t want to make a picture so., soon after the death of his wife, Dixie Lee Crosby. With Crosby out, Astaire sought and obtained his release from the commitment Studio reported that since it had definitely slated the Robert Emmet Dolan production for Christmas 1953 release, it would begin re- casting immediately to permit a March start. Dick Mealand BOTH! TOP B.O. STARS By GENE ARNEEL Paramount’s “Greatest Show on Earth” comes off as the topper in Variety’s annual roundup of the film industry’s most important money-makers*. The Cecil B. De- Mille epic of circuS life will reap $12,000,000 in U. S. and Canadian distributor collections, a hefty sum for the best of any year. Next in the 1952 sweepstakes was another entry of epic propor- tions—Metro’s “Quo Vadis,” Lensed in Italy by producer Sam Zimbalist, “Vadis” played an un- usually big role in the trade’s eco- nomics for a place-position pic, with rentals at $10,500,000. Top star was Robert Taylor, via his appearance in “Vadis” and two other Metro productions: “Ivan- hoe” and “Westward the Women.” Trio of M-G pix are chalking up a combined total of $20,250*000 in distrib rentals. Last year’s No. 1 male star, as determined by the monetary impact of his pix, was Gregory Peck. He had three films which rolled up $11,750,000. Elizabeth Taylor who, like the male winner of the same name is an M-G contractee, was first among the femme stars. Miss 'Taylor had one of the lead spots in “Vadis” and “Ivanhoe” for a combined gross of $17,500,000. Strangely, while Par’s “Greatest Show” was the top pic, the winners (Continued on page 61) New Indies Into Top Brackets New crop of independent pro- ducers are latching on to the big money,' that is, film-makers other than veterans like Samuel Gold- wyn, Walt Disney, etc. This is shown in the sharp upturn experi- enced by United Artists which, of' course, distributes only indie prod- uct. Last year, UA had only three films which grossed over $1,000 each. The "total take was $3,950,- 000. UA has six on the list for ’52 with a combined total gross of $ 12 , 200 , 000 . / Absent from the top-money list last year and breaking through in '52 is Republic. Rep has two films on the new year’s list with total revenue of $4,200,000. Early Deadline This edition of Variety went to press ahead of the normal Tuesday deadline. Production detail, binding, etc., and the size of this 47th Anniversary Number made it necessary to omit certain standard departments. Likens the Theatre to the Gospel In Its ‘Brotherly Lore’ Approach —of Time & Space Underscoring the speed of Variety’s, international circu- lation, NBd program veepee Charles (Bud) Barry, vaca- tioning in Switzerland over the holidays, stunned new network prexy Frank Hf" White last week by demonstrating the way he keeps up with network affairs. Some unidentified network exec in N. Y. had phoned Bar- ry in Switzerland as soon as Variety’s story broke on White’s new job last Wednes- day (31). Several hours later White put through a business call to Barry. Program chief greeted him with, “What’s this I read about you in Variety this morning?” Sarnoff More Active in NBC; Folsom in Victor Under the new realignment of NBC and RCA Victor operations, it is expected that Gen. David Sar- noff, RCA and NBC chairman, will more directly operate NBC. Simi- larly, with the designation of Manie Sack'*- as the recording activities trr shooter of the Victor Co., RC ^resident Frank M. Folsom will similarly channel greater di- rect supervision over that adjunct through his office. The formal press, announcement of^lf^^Ttrei McConnell resignation -and the new officerships for Frank H. White and Sylvester L. (Pat) Weaver, stresses the fact that Gen- eral Sarnoff is now also board chairman of NBC, succeeding the recently-resigned Niles Trammell. Weaver’s designation as vice-chair- man permits him top-echelon su- (Continued, on page 65) Rupert Hughes FCC Nod to Autry’s By RUPERT HUGHES I have seen a thousand portraits of George Washington taken from life or imagination; but I have never seen one single picture showing h i m laughing, o r even with a smile on his face. ^ Yet he used to love laugh- ter so much that he,would throw himself on the ground and roll over, whopping with hilarity. When he was Presi- dent and attending the theatre, of which he was passionately fond, the comedy amused him so well that sometimes the spectators would turn from the stage, to stare up at Washington’s box, and whisper: “Look at the President! Listen to him laugh!” There is reason to believe that in his youth, Washington himself acted in some of the plays in the drawing-rooms of the great Vir- ginia plantation houses. The four volumes of his Diaries are filled with allusions to his thea- tre-going. He never missed a chance to see one of the plays which the visiting English actors put on in Williamsburg when it was the capital of Virginia before the Revolution. He went every day when he could. Later, during the hardships at Valley Forge, the soldiers gave plays, and George attended together with his wife, Martha. The theatre has been of infinite, comfort to all of our hard-driven (Continued on page 63) An Actor Started It, And St. Moritz Has Had, ’Em Ever Since By Col, BARNEY OLDFIELD *■/' > St. Moritz. So entrenched in the migrations | of - the international set is this | charming valley, 6,000 feet .above T D J* Ci i* « : soa level in Engadine portion 1 WO lulflio Stations ! of the Alps, that the holiday season * Washington i finds U i ammed - Gene Autry, cowboy star, last I n Suni is‘brightsnow is crisp, the week became principal owner o£ i n . amcs ar ® fabulous m history gos- radio. stations KMPC in Los An-! fip and legend, and with 50 ski geles and KSWB in Yuma, Ariz., when the Federal Communications teachers getting $2.50 per person per lesson, even gravity turns to Commission okayed transfers of 5 ®°1?* - . 0 . , both properties 1 Resident Swiss have been sluic- The KMPC' outlet, formerly : ia * ? tour j st stream through here, . , . _ f _ , - \tr i nrnt* a rw*i trnnmnr f/\v» vyj aha fhnvi owned by the late G. A. Richards, was sold about six weeks ago for $800,000 to a .company in which Melody Ranch Enterprises, owned by Autry, has a 51% interest and Robert O. Reynolds, KMPC general manager, holds 40%. The Yuma station, formerly owned by Southwestern Broadcast- ing Co., was sold to Maricopa Broadcasters, Inc., in which Autry holds 85% of the stock. winter and summer, for more than a hundred years, and the residue of their passing left in the tills has made them comfortable in the main, rich in the extreme. The first actor to grace this mountain crevass of snow, ice and good living is said by local histori- ans to have been the late Sir Charles Wyndham, who arrived in 1897. This Was a year, after Hans (Continued on page 63)