Variety (December 1953)

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] 222lslL Wednesday, December 2, 1953 Wl N»w Inglvnd flmtk Art Moger tot writtoo o bright pioco a* From This I Make A Li via ft JAPANESE SEEM UNWORRIED But State Dept. Is Nervous About ‘Leathernecks' one of the many editorial features in the apeominf --**■ •> iifilh Annivermry Xumber dimension pictures was reflect! (1 | forcibly at the national boxofficc l;ist month, the first two biggest j grossing pictures being that cate- 1 gory while the biggest newcomer in November also was in tri-dimen* I sion Although business at the first- j nm theatres continues substantial- ly ahead of 1952. it was a ease l of the smash grosser* taking all] the gravy and leaving slim trim- i mings for the smaller pix. This, ot course, was also true ot October. “The Kobe" ‘20th'. also champ at the wickets in October. again is finishing first in the national boxolfiee race last month, accord- in'' to reports from Variety repre- ; sentatives In 24 of the prineipal key cities. This initial Cinema- Scope pic ran up a phenomenal gross of $2.HI2.000 in the four , weeks of November. Filin was j first every session in the weekly Variety boxolfiee summaries. It was far ahead of second-best gtoss- er. although now nearly 1000 on extended-run. “Cinerama” 'Indie', which stall- ed the widescreen revolution in the film industry, rose to second place I as it was launched in additional: keys during the month. It has been smash to record-breaking in all co tin* citv s 3' > amusement tax keys where playing thus far high hy a vote of 10 to 1. becoming tin t.ihute to its ability to stand up 2ith Ollio ( .: rv l0 , t ,,< .,1 such » against all types ul tri-dimcnsional . . , ,.. ....... I.mkI.m- 1 sin.-.. ,1- arrival m> ll.r '"*• < ">'*» '",l,vi.l„:,ll> s» cue. “Cinerama" was fourth in enacted the tax in 1047. when the Nov. Golden Dozen 1. “The Ro:,r ’ '20th'. 2. “Cinerama” 'Indie'. 3. “Eleroily" <CoK 4 “Magainbo" 'M-G'. 5. “Calamity Jane" 'WB». 6 “Martin Luther" 'Indie' 7. “Little Boy Lost" <Par» 8 “So Big" ' WR 9. “Torch Song" 'M-G>. RKO is holding up on the re- « comedy scene, according to vei- lease in Japan of "Flying Leather- , trap megger Norman Taurog. cur- necks," Jolin Wayne starrer, at the rently handling Dean Mai tin and request of the State Dept. Reps of Jerry Lewis in Paramount's “Li - the latter believe that the battle ir.g It L p.” pic would be too sharp a reminder With fewer camera setups n< Mi- nt World War II and consequently cd, he explains, comedy action can might cause ill feeling. be carried through to completion In contrast with the State Dept, in a single take rather than break- attitude is the opinion of some Life down a particular bit of action brothers Valiant 11. “Big Heat" >Col'. 12. “Take High Ground” M-( Three-cornered race appeals to he under way to bring the George Du Marnier classic, "Trilby," to ihe screen. For the moment, at least. Britain's George M inter verms to have the inside track. i lie’s just east Robert Newton in the title role of “Svengali" and lensing is due to start in London av soon as Newton gets there from the Coast. In Hollywood, both Warner Bros and 20th-Fox are actively preparing pix based on the same Du Maurier novel. NVB has just east Katfiryn Grayson for its ver- : sion. 2bth is said to be angling for ? earnings from “The mid “How to Marry a Mil- have been consistent •cpectations. 20lh-Fox sales aren't happy over the rate ?h the company's 2-D pix James Mason lire being liquidated Company "Ili-re to Kternily" 'Col'. ' Was second in October and 'Continued on page 2ti> says * it has plenty of standard; product available but it isn't play- ing ofl the way it should. Sales execs at 20th are prod- ding the branches to put on the heat, particularly since they want j I to make a good showing for the fourth 1053 quarter. Latter will reflect primarily the standout , grosses on “The Robe" and “Mil- i Bonaire." Third quarter was ahead of 1952 but didn’t take in the CinomaScope product. | At present. 20th has available 74 standard releases not including reissues. Number will bo swelled in December “Man in the Attic." j first film to come through from 20lli's Panoramic Productions sub- sid, and the indie "Man Crazy." Total Panoramic sked of 10 pix should be in release by June. 1954. • According to the 20th sales de- I partment, revenue from the flatties i .has been dropping steadily since • Continued on page 6) Detroit. Dec. 1 Co-Operative Theatres of De- troit, a buying and booking com- bine for 140 theatres in Michigan and one of the most important the- atre units in the state, is seeking a special deal from 20th-Fox be lore its houses install CinemaScope. Terms asked by the combine in- clude a guarantee that it will re- ceive at least 12 CinemaScope pic- tures. an assured profit of $2,500 for each house and for each pic- ture to go toward the repayment of equipment, and film rental terms of 50' r tor "The Robe" and 3.V > for subsequent CinemaScope pic- ture. Wall St Detroiter Testifies He Was Shaken Out Of Film Haulage Business City Finance Director Phillip Ferguson at Akron said the city took in about $02,000 last year from the tax. The taxation com- mittee ot City Council recommend- ed the repeal, alter repeated ef- forts m the past two years by the- atre owners. They pointed out that film houses in this area had de- creased from 38 in 1940 to 18 at present. |>.iKf Detroit. Dec. 1. Testifying before a House labor and education sub-committee in Detroit, a former film-hauling service operator told how the Teamsters Union 'A FI.' "broke” him. The witness. Howard (’. Cra- ven. of Ann Arbor blamed the ruin ot his $400 a week net busi- ness on kickbacks and a Teamster strike. Detroit Teamster official. Frank Fitzsimmons, facing trial for labor racketeering, according to Craven, declared himself in for 90S of the icvemie for transporting litho- graphed advertising material to theatres. Not only did Craven have to make checks out to "cash" hut lie had to agree to pay all income taxes for Fitzsimmons. This amounted to about $800 on his I av ments ot $9,000 to $10,000 Cra- ven added. Some of the checks. Craven said, were made out to a 'Continued on page 22) Paul Bixler. who east the only dissenting vote. said. “It will take more than this to save ihe theatre business. We've always gone along with what the theatres wanted, parking areas and the like, but 1 can't see much point in this. We are cutting down on the city's in- (ome when the amount saved by the theatres won’t help them." The tax comes off not only the- atres, but aLo dances, sports, and all other types of amusement. Charles Amory Art Arthur Kcele Brasselle Ina Claire Albert J. Cohen Jeff Donneil Samuel Fuller Ava Gardner Henry Ginsberg Ben Goetz Audrey Hepburn W. Basil Holden Arthur llornblovv Jr. Louts Jourdan Stanley Kramer Betty Madigan Daniel Mann Edward J. Mannix Robert Palmer Joel Preston Johnnie Ray Ivan Tors Gene Tovvne Spencer Tracy Jack Webb Betty Wookey AI Zimbalist N. Y. to Europe Robert Ardrey Bob Blake Shirley Booth Peter Brook Brenda Brook Lester Cowan John Davis Bon Goetz Paul Henreid Joyce lleron Ursula Jeans Europe to N. Y Paul Badtira-Skoda Clarence Brown Claude Dauphin Yolande Donlan Greer Garson Charles Goldner Hal Hackett Alexander Kalioujnv Richard Kayne Phyllis Kirk Don Loper Lucille Lortel Silvana Mangano John G. McCarthy Donald McDonald Rodney Millington Rosa Rok Ruth Roman Tessa Small page Oliver Unger U’s 25c Divvy Universal board, meeting in N Y. yesterday iTuevL de- clared a 50c per share s< mi-an- nual dividend on tht* common >iork as well as a 25c per share extra divvy. Both are payable Dec. 22. 1953. to stockholder* ot record Dee. 12. 1953. Out of an offering by General Precision Equipment Corp to stockholders of 108.167 shares cd $2.90 cumulative preferred stock, without par value. 104.113 shares have been purchased through the exercise of subscript ion warrants Balance of the 4 054 unsub- scribed shares have been placed by The First Boston Corp. and Tucker, Anthony & Co. on behalt of the underwriting group. Loews 20c Per Share Directors of Loevv's. Inc., de- clared a dividend of 20c per share on common stock last week. Melon is payable Dec. 24 to stockholders of record on Dec. 11. net of $4.50 a share. The fact that several officers of National Thea- tre's personally have been buying up the* NT stock cued substantial public buying of the same issue. Hughes Rumors' RKO Pictures' stock continues a*- the issue most influenced by rumors of a "deal" involving How- ard Hughes' control ot that coni- pam Reports that some sort of capital gains transaction is on the fire invariably go hand in hand with stepped up trading of the stock. Conversely, there lias been no allegedly inside intelligence of any new deal lately and conse- quently the stock has been quiet. Past three months brought unusually heavy trad- ing in film stocks on the N. Y. Stock Exchange, as investors' interest in the picture business perked up markedly, The tremendous success which 20th-Fox has had initially with CinemaScope, a general run ot improved product. Albert A List's purchase of No. of Shares Price Per Share Outstanding* Aug. 25 Nov. 25 AB-PT 4000.000 $14 38 $15.75 RKO Pie- COL. . . 090.000 1025 17 50 S3.739.113 l.OEW 5150.000 12.13 12 50 d lust Oc t NAT’I. THEA. 2.750.000 6 75 0 75 d in 1952 PAR. 2.325.000 26 25 27 25 s4 777.706 RKO PIC. . 3 900,000 3 38 2 88 rienmg to RKO I'll. ... 3 700.000 3 75 4 75 rut It) the STANLEY ... 2 475.000 10 03 10.63 The loss 21) I II 2.750.000 17.25 18 38 I at -$248.- I MV 900.000 Hi 25 10 13 ■w ul si \VB 2 475.000 13 03 12 13 RKO Theatres’ control and his subsequent offer to buy 400.000 shares of the circuit’s common stock from other holders were among the factors influenc- ing the Big Board activity! Following table shows at a glance how each Important film issue fated over the three-month span. Total Dollar Value 3-Month Change Aug. 25 Nov. 25 S 57.520.000 $ 63 000.000 11.212.500 12.075.000 02 169.500 64 375.000 18.562.000 18.562.000 37 781.250 40.106.250 13 182.000 11.232 000 14 lot).000 17.860.000 20 309.250 26 309.250 47 437.500 50.545.000 15.000.000 15.484.800 33.734.250 30.567.800 Otto Kruger Maggie McNamara Anthony Oliver Ben Pearson Eddie Rich Thelma Ritter Francis L. Sullivan Spencer Tracy $ 5.480.000 862.500 1.905.500 2.325 000 1.950.000 3.700.000 George Axelrod Edward Choate Irene Dunne .Max Gordon Dan Hollywood Yap Johnson Loren L. Ryder S\ lv ie St. Clair 3 107.500 115 200 3.168.650 208.650 * $350,116,900