Variety (January 1953)

4iuAUHmmmnmm«m«eti January 7 , 1953 Forty-seventh p^&klETY Anniversary PICTURES —' mu iiMiMuiiuiiiuiimiiiimit 1 ^ I ;;;;;;;;";"||"!;„|,."I"I"II"I""| | """» ''""M" 1 ' 1 ' I ihihiiiiiiiiii mm immimmminmmmim!-1 4 ".'.h ‘ § E ! SUCCESS STORY i t- By HAROLD ROBBINS mu ii iiifiiiiiiim iiiiiu in imii u in iiiimi] Jill JJii iiliiillJJ THF GREAT MAN cleared his throat reflectively and his eyes filled •ih reminiscence. Unconsciously I braced myself and let my sigh e s iowly over the drink I held in my hand. I looked around Sie office. The veepees were looking at him with an enthusiastic expec- ^Froni outside his office came the sounds of the Christmas party, ..Vrflnd bv the soundproof walls, thick drapes and lush carpeting. Idly t wondered how it was going. For a moment I was lonely and I missed the warm friendly feel of people I worked with. I missed getting drunk with them, swapping iwU and trying to make the busty babe from the sales department. Then it passed and I was back in the GREAT MAN’S office. 1 He hadn’t said a word as yet. He was staring into his glass as if he Id S ee in it all the dreams of glory that he once had and were now his. The veepees hadn’t spoken either; they had scarcely dared breathe while awaiting the Gospel. I took a quick swallow of my drink and choked on it. I coughed nd sputtered, momentarily breaking the spell. The veepees looked at me frostily. I tried to shrink into my seat. That was the trouble with being a junior executive. You never knew where you stood, ydu were neither fish nor fowl, animal nor vegetable. You were always dangling, wondering where you fit in the great scheme of things. I didn’t even dare apologize for fear the sound of my voice would cause them to take further umbrage. The blood was warm ih my face with embarrassment. The GREAT MAN’S voice fell reassuringly on my ears. He wasn’t even aware of my sacrilegious action. “It was just a small store,” he was saying sentimentally. “And when we ripped out 7 the old fixtutres, the mice came running out of the woodwork. I remember one of them. A little gray one with white whiskers. He watched me from his little hole on the floor as I picked up one end of the counter and started to drag it into the street. I often wondered wjiat he thought of me, of what I was doing. . . *T~ Same Old Script ‘Tclosed my mind and shut his words from my ears. It was an old stoiy and I had heard it a thousand times before. It was the key to a lot of old stories. All as dull, all as boring. When he had finished bis tale, I would have to sit there and listen to each of the veepees tell their stories in turn. I knew them all by heart. I wished I were some place else. But I had no choice. I was a captive audience. The GREAT MAN’S story was almost over. We were at the point now where he would deliver his opinion that youth would have to be encouraged to carry on this great work. That he was getting old and It was time for him to turn over the reins to someone younger and stronger because he could not bear up under the terrible burden imposed on.his shoulders. Right according to schedule came the reassurances from the veepees. "Nonsense, Chief, you never looked better: ” "What would we do without you, Chief? The whole place would go to pot ” “You’re just in the prime, Chief, where experience and judgment count ” The usual phrases drifted idly past my ears and disappeared into the tinkling of ice in tall glasses. “Nonsense!” The word exploded soundlessly in my mind, shocking me with its violence. I looked around startled that no one but myself had heard it. Suddenly I could see them all with new eyes. Their faces were still looking worshipfully at the GREAT MAN, but I could see behind the masks of bone and tissue, deep into their secret hearts. v s N lUl s \.. s .\v.>... .. \s... .vdK^dl Here Comes the Show Boat—And There Ho Some Strange Locals By CAPT. BILLY BRYANT m ?.< J ' V 'SX Republic Upping Top-Cost Pix Sked By HERBERT J. YATES (Pres, Republic Pictures Corp.) ‘Coir Herb Yates | Waiting, Waiting ■ They hated him. Everyone of them hated him. That old, old man sitting benevolently in his chair, who had made all their comfort and luxury possible, was robbing each and every one of them indi- vidually of their private chance at the ultimate glory. I could feel their secret thoughts beating wildly at him. “Haven’t you got enough, old man? Why don’t you die?” I looked across the desk and met the old man’s eyes. There was a quick flash of understanding between us and I knew that he knew. That he, too, could see into th(jir secret hearts. A sympathy for him came 'over me and the others in the room were quick to understand the look that had passed between us. They turned to look at me, their eyes, bright, alive and calculating in their faces. They hate me, too. Somehow the knowledge didn’t shock me as much as I thought it should. Maybe it was because I felt so sorry for him. Now I understand why I hadn’t known that before, it w v as so completely logical. The old man at the top hanging so tenaciously to his power. Me, at the bottom, pushing franctically upward. They, in the middle being squeezed at both sides, caught in the press of time. 'Where could they go? Now I felt sorry for them too. They were lost and they knew it. Be- tween the old man and I, they had no way out. They all had their stories to tell and I sat through them all. Their (Continued on page 51) RICHARD CONTE fill Point Pleasant W. Va. steamboat crew were all quaran- The main topic, or at least the tined for over a week before we one that produces the most squawks could straighten out the misunder- today seems to be the new octopus standing. This happened to us. of the entertainment world, Tele- One year we thought we had a vision. great idea to dodge a high license I don’t pretend to know anything fee at Port Royal, Ky. We landed about Broadway or big time show our boat on the opposite side of business but as a skipper on a flat- the river and gave the ferryman bottom floating theatre down along J^chargfV tur^fout 0 tf bfa the mud flats of the Ohio and Mis- novel and prosperous experience sissippi rivers, I am considered but—when we tried to repeat it ' " pretty good authority and take it again on the following season, we GENE BARRY from this-water gipsy, that from WAR OF THE WORLDS the head waters of the Allegheny that wasn > t nothing. At a certain PLEASURE ISLAND to the shadows of the Gulf of Mex- town on tk e Green River the city p a «mn,lTp,vf„n M ic .°> Tel ev islon is cutting quite a council 0 nce refused to grant us a Paramount Picture di-do. There wa s a time, when licenS e because, as they put it, our a show boat agent went in to bill boat was a dangerous fire trap and, 1 1* vv • a town, his first duty was to check a j. same time, the local theatre Kanuhlli* I Innillff the opposition that they had to>en- mana g er was cranking “The Old IlCUtlUllv UUII1111! counter which included school Miu stream” through a model B r. rr commencements, revivals, camp Edison machine and letting the tp ■ IV ni 1 meetin Ss, chautauquas and the film fall into a burlap bag. Top-Cost Pix Sked r„ f I have never shed any crocodile attempting to fight opposition but By HERBERT J. YATES tears ? ver the s °-« alled shrinking x think the most perfect occasion boxoffice reports supposedly was when we had our boat enrolled (Pres. Republic Pictures Corp.) brought on by television. Espe- and w i+h an “Aiax defvina the There is no one person who has cially for a gl ,° up 5? “Mduab lighting” pose, informed^! city inere is no one person wno nas who once posed as theatre mana- dads that our show boat was now all the answers to the problems gers hnd did their utmost, with the a registered documental vessel on which must be faced in 1953; but, crudest sort of methods, to put the Government waters and, hence- at least from Republic’s viewpoint, s ^ ow boats out of business. There f or th, we paid no more city licenses I have formu- were exceptions but they were few 0 r wharfages. I might add that the lated a defi- and . F a P ai ’t and “ * ; " e 14,000,000 bluff didn’t Work because the local nite program television sets that are now in use interests soon wrote to Washington for our busi- are reflecting the same brutal un- and canie up with the information. ness platform, professional treatment that these tliat the Government and states do Republic for “First of May’s ’once bestowed on own the inland streams but the the past two us » I sa Y Long live television. river banks belong to individuals years has It’s almost unbelievable how and when a show boat owner puts stream- small an amount of money it takes the gangplank out on a Wharf, he lined its pro- to wreck a life-long friendship. For either pays a license or can be ar- duction organ- years our show boat brought enter- rested for trespassing. i z a t i o n. tainment to the isolated sections of There were dozens of such in- We have econ- the inland streams where we al- cidents but I think tlie funniest Herb Yates omized in our ways traded with the same friendly one 0 f a n occurred in a mining studio cost, merchants who furnished us with town on the Monongahela river. but not at the expense of enter- ice, meat, groceries and wearing At that time there was a series of tainment values appearing on the apparel but just as soon as one of handbooks on the market priced screen. In fact, our cost-per-pic- them swept out his store room, (0 f or that included “How ture produced is higher than ever, rented some folding chairs from a to Re a Magician,” “How to Be a because of increased production local, undertaker, tacked up a sheet, Hand-Cuff King,” and “How to magnitude, better casts, and Jhe set a picture machine on a cracker Operate a Theatre.” Most of the public demand for pictures in box, stuck a phonograph horn mining camps had a ruling that no color. We will make at least 20 through the front of his building s h 0 w boat could land at their town deluxe pictures for the new sea- and ran a dollar ad in the weekly on pay day as that bonanza occa- son, at costs ranging from $750,- newspaper announcing “The Great s i on was reserved for the picture 000 to $1,500,000. Our production Train Robbery,” he became our s how that the company owned and budget will be triple the amount bitterest enemy and would stop at operated. One day we found our- that Republic has ever spent on nothing to keep our show boat out selves at Maxwell, Pa., under such any season’s product. of his town. conditions where I tried to reason it From our experience with pic- How would you feel if you owned out with the manager of the thea- tures like “The Quiet Man,” we a show boat and was billed to play tre who worked as a fire boss in know that few pictures gross what Spring Hill, W. Va., on the 4th of the company mine. I met him as is regarded as abnormal business. July where the local interests, he came out of the pit with his face However, the average deluxe pic- wanting to keep you out of town be- all black and the little mining lamp ture, costing up to $1,000,000, has cause he also had a special attrac- on his cap still burning. As we a hard time recouping its nega- tion booked for that date, phoned walked up the hill together he kept tive cost. A few super-grossing county health officer that he yelling “No” at every suggestion I deluxe pix can’t keep the produc- heard some of the actors on your made and when I ventured that he ers in business, nor can they sus- boat had the measles? That’s a could give his show first, then we tain the large number of “A” the- word that scares blazes out of the would give ours, he whirled me atres that depend upon this type mothers along the river. And the around and pointing his trembling of product day before the 4th the law did finger at me, he shouted, “Don’t Thus, the problem represents a ?" ch ° r , . our . boat ° ut ln the river at you try to tell me how to run my triple responsibility for producer, Winfield where I, my actors and theatre, I got a book!” distributor and exhibitor. If the producer makes marketable “A” pictures that the public will buy, and the distributor merchandises these pictures in such a way as to arouse audience interest, it still remains for the exhibitor — the most important link in the Holly- wood to the public chain—to bring people into the theatre by solid promotion which takes advantage of intrinsic audience value and na- tional preselling. The production of a program of “A” pictures is the gamble that Republic is taking in 1953, and it is the gamble that every other producer in Hollywood will have to take. How many pictures will be produced in 1954 and how many theatres will continue to operate will depend on what returns the producer and theatre will receive on the majority of “A” pictures produced for “A” houses in 1953. We are selecting our stories not only for their entertainment but for exploitation values as well. • Competition from television will increase. In areas that have tele- vision, more stations will be added. In many cities that have not had television competition in 1952, there will be stations in 1953. But I believe Republic’s. large in- vestment in 1953 is a justified and reasonable business risk. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t be in the pic- ture business. WENDELL COREY