Variety (December 1954)

^ , r Wednesday, December 1, 1954 PICTURES Move by Columbia to Increase to 2,000,000, up from 1,000,000, its authorized common stock shares has touched off a flurry of specu- lation -concerning a two-for-one stock split. 9blid condition of Col’s- balance sheet and the fancy (Compared- with recent years) price of the stock ($30, or near, on the N; Y. Stock Exchange) are other factors leading to the suspicion in finaiic'.al circles that the outfit .is headed for the tworfor-one distri- bution. Of the 1,000,000 shares now authorized; Col will have 797,446 shares outstanding on Dec. 7 when a recently-voted 5T stock dividend is paid out. New authorization will be sub- mitted to a stockholder vote at the company’s annual meeting in N. Y, Dec, 17. To be voted along with this will be a. proposal to change the status of the stock from no par value to $5 -par value, a switch which, says the company, will have tax-saving advantages; Other matters on the agenda: election of directors, with all nine incumbent being candidates lor reelection; endorsement of a five- year extension of president Harry Cohn’s employment contract, and a minority . stockholder proposal, which is opposed by management, looking to introduce the cumu- lative system, of Voting in board members. Cohn’s present p4ct provides him with a : weekly salary of $3,500 and expense allowance of $600 per Week. This will remain unchanged in the projected new deal, which will run to Feb. 10,1960. Watery Premiere Hollywood, Nov, 30. In keeping With its title, RKO’s “Underwater” will be world-preemed under water. Assertedly first submarine showing, of a motion picture wjll take place .‘late in January* at Silver Springs, Fla; Audiente Will sit in chairs iO feet below the surface of the water, wearing aqualungs, worn by the players during the film’s underwater sequences. Latin America is. coming in for more and more exec attention as it continues growing as 4n important part of the foreign market for Yankee films. One homeoffice rep- tliis Week said Uruguay alone has now reached the point where it’s yielding nearly $1,000,000 annually to the American companies. Latest to go off on the swing of L. A. capitals is George Weltner, president of Paramount Inter- national, He. and A. L. Pratchett, Par's L. A. division manager, left N. Y. Monday (29) for a plane tour of the key areas for huddles with the company’s reps and to look in on “White Christmas” preem arrangements. A feature length film, designed to demonstrate to producers how to get the most value put of Ci - emaScope, is being produced at 20th-Fox, Darryl/FV Zanuck, 20th production topper disclosed in N.Y. yesterday (Tiies.). He said the tech- nical pic, which is. half finished, will cost $250,000 and will be of- fered to filmmakers, both here and abroad, as. a practical 'lesson in C’Scope techniques. Only between. 20 and 25 prints of the experimen- tal film will be made. Enthusiastic over the results racked up by C.'Scope pictures in Great Britain and on the Continent, Zanuck, just back from abroad* in- dicated that European producers were catching the C’Scope bug and commented: “We have many more requests for camera lenses than we. can possibly fill.” He said some 56 C’Scope productions* not including 20th’s. own, were planned. •Zanuck at first refused to be pinned down on the exact number of C’Scopes his Studio intended, to make next year, declaring “We will- make as many as we can effective- ly. We will , not go into mass pro- duction. If we can make as many- as we have in mind, we’ll do so. If not, we won’t.” He stressed that 20th would “not turn out films just to keep down the overhead,” but (Continued on page -20) Regional^distribution companies, some . of them known as • states rights organisations, look to be on thei^way to a major status in the •picture business. That is, if an as- sortnfent of rece’nt developments assume the dimensions of a full- scale trend/ The states righters have been active in past with reissues and lowercase product out * of Holly- wood, a limited number of imports and, in a few instances, pix which local distrib and exhib interests have made on their own. The territorial releasing compa- nies/in the recent past, moved in on fancy money product. Louis de Rochemont’s “Martin Luther” was a striking example, with distribt> tion gross indicated at $3,000,000 for the domestic market; This was followed by a flock, of outstanding reissues provided by Samuel Gold- wyn. and David O. Selznick. Employee Relations Hollywood, Nov. 30. Universal’s, prop department had to modernize 20 buck/ board wagons used for. a se- quence in “Tacey” by coating their seats with foam rubber. : Reason—femme eitras raised a howl because they were get- ting splinters in. their own seats. Buena Vista Example Buena Vista, Disney distri- bution subsidiary, has taken on the job of producer’s repre- sentative in the selling of Jerome Cappi’s “The Immortal pity,” feature in. color focus- ing on the Vatican. Ijilrii is to be licensed through regional releasing out- fits, such as Favorite-Films of California, which has the rights in the L. A.-, San Fran-r cisco, Portland and Seattle ex- change territories; But are the states righters ready to climb to the bigtime? Some in this branch of distribution think yes . but; naturally, with a couple of “if’s” to be considered; Depends largely, bn Exhibitors /Film Finan- cial Group and Distributors Corp. of America. EFFG is the new indie pic financing setup being fostered by Theatre Owners of America. There’s to be no major company distribution of product bankrolled by EFFG. Herman M. Levy, TOA counsel, has pointed out that many indie distribs in various areas (Continued on page 24) Hollywood, Nov. 30. Jack Benny and George Burns ;are going into the film financing business, bankrolling a picture titled “The Jack of Spades,” star- ring Jackie Gleason. Filming ‘ is slated to start in Hollywood about July 1, shortly after Gleason winds up his tv season. Deal calls for Benny and Burns to own one third of the picture. Ohe third will he owned by Glea- son and the remaining third by Norman Krasna, who wrote the screenplay and. will direct. It’s a comedy dealing with spies. ♦ .American indie producers* en- thusiasm for .foreign location shoot- ing, particularly in Italy; is waning fast. Cost of lensing abroad, has now risen to the point where it’# barely profitable to shift the bas* of operations from Hollywood. Probleih isn’t the same every- where, Rising costs; particularly of talent, loom large in Italy and France. They're still said to b» fairly reasonable in places lik« Spain, Sweden and Germany—and, prospectively, Portugal. The Yu- goslavs, too, .are angling for Amer- ican producers to come in and make pix. ~ One indie producer who had planned to make a film In France^ said last week that he’d changed his mind and probably would do the same story in N. Y. or Holly- wood. Last week, Ilya Lopert, producer of. “One Summertime,” made in Venice in its entirely, reported that (Continued ort page 24) Columbia’s ’Flame-Out,’ But Not Mowbray’s Hollywood, Nov. 30. Columbia’s 1955 service picture will be “Flame-Out,” a story of jet pilots from novel by Joe Lam don. Arthur Gardner and Jules Leby will produce with cooperation of U. S. Air Force. No connection exists with play by Alan Mowbray of same title, which Air Force presented at bases around world and which was tried out briefly as commercial legiter. JAP FILM DRAWS 14 FOREIGN AMBASSADORS Washington, Nov- 30, U, S, Government brass and a large slice of the foreign diplo- matic. corps attended the D. C. preem... of the prize-winning Nip film, “Ugetsu” at Lopert’s Dupont Theatre last week. Among those in the audience were Sherman Adams, the. Assist- ant to the President; Ambassadors from 14 nations including the Jap- anese Ambassador, Iguchi, our far- mer Ambassador to Japan, Joseph C. Grew; Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens,, and several sub- Cabinet officials, U. $. generals and ides from the Embassies, MARK STEVENS ON OWN Partners With Gross and Krasne For Two a Yeaj Hollywood, Nov. 30. Mark Stevens, Jack Gross and Philip Krasne formed a new indie unit,:. Mark Stevens ^Productions, to make two theatrical films a year, starting April 14. First production will be “Twisted Sireet,” based on a story written by Stevens. He will also produce, direct and star in it. C. Bruce Newbery has quietly severed all connections with Re- public after a 10-year association in various exec posts. It's believed he’s joining producer Carl Dudley in a new indie production setup. Newbery variously had been supervisor of the Near; Middle and Far East and England and the Continent for Rep. Last year he switched from head of the com- pany in Great Britain to v.p. in charge of sales in the U. S. His appointment to the latter- post by Rep president Herbert J. Yates was regarded as curious, in the trade since Newbery hadn’t been acquainted with the domestic mar- ket previously. Earlier this year he relinquished this job and was placed in charge of pic sales to television* Before becoming a producer, Dudley was a writer on the Warner and Metro lots. MPAA Tags 3 Yank Pix For Uruguay Festival Columbi “The Caine Mutiny,” Paramount’s “Sabrina” and Walt Disney’s “Living Desert” have been selected for showing at the Uru- guay Film Festival, Jan. 15-31 in Puiita del Este. Special committee of the Motion Picture Assn, of America chose the pix. Shorts named are Par’s “Vista- Vision Visits Norway,” Disney’s “Ben and Me” and Col’s “Gauchos Down Uruguay.” Thanksgiving Ups Biz; ‘Xmas’ Again Champ, ‘Desiree’ 2d, ‘Paris’ 3d, ‘Cinerama,’ ‘Carmen’ Next Thanksgiving Day and school holidays supplying an assist are giving key cities grosses a hefty boost this session. Fair weather over the country is an added asset. Result is that the top four biggest grossing pix will boast a total of $1,543,000 gross business currently. : “White Christmas” (Par) is h<o. champ this session, making the fifth Week in a row.it has held this spot. Danny Kay e-Bing Crosby star- rer currently is playing in some 16 kfeys, and mostly in extendedr-run, with the $149,000 for seventh week at N. Y. Music Hall topping all other spots. “■Desiree” (20th) again will be second with a much larger total than a week ago. 20th-Fox reports that in the first 34 playdates, this pic is running ahead of “Woman’s World” (20th) biz. “Last Time Saw Paris” (M-G) is taking third place, first week it has beeii in release extensively. “Drum Beat”, (WB)), proving sur- prisingly strong, is managing to land fourth money. “Cinerama” (Indie), fourth last stanza, will be fifth. “Carmen Jones” (20th) is push- ing up to sixth ; position while “Barefoot Contessa” (UA) is wind- ing seventh. “Phffft” (Col), initial week out to any extent, is captur- ing eighth spot, “Star Is Born” (WB) is finishing ninth, with “Track of .Cat” (WB), just starting, rounds but the Big 10 currently. Next three best grossers, getting lesser coin, are bunched but all rate as runner-up films. They are “Sabrina” (Par), “On Waterfront” (Col) and “Rear Window” (Par) in that order. All three have about completed their dates in bigger keys, this showing representing ex- tensive extended-runs. “Cattle Queen of Montana” (RKO), a newcomer, is managing to live do\yn its title to some ex- tent, being liotsy in Minneapolis, mild in Balto, Okay in Boston and good in St. Louis. “Ugetsu” (Indie) shapes big in Washington and tor- rid in Frisco. “She-Wolf” (Rep), still is. nice in Chi on extended-run. “Black Widow” (20th). looms fast in To- ronto and Minneapolis. “Kafa- moja” (Indie) is tall in latter city. “Suddenly” \UA) shapes hefty in Chi : . and P hi 11 y. “Vanishing Prairie” (Disney), good in Minne- apolis,,is big in St. Louis. “Bread, Love, Dreams” (IFE), big in N. Y.; : is doing well in several other key. cities. “High ahd Djy” (U), okay in K. C. looms solid in N. Y., good in L. A. and big in Frisco, “Hulot’s- Holiday” (GBD) is fancy in Chi. “Athena” (M-G) looks trim in Phil-ly and good in Buffalo, “Human Jungle” is rated sock in N. Y. “Ricochet Romance” (U) is good in KjC; “Hajji Baba” (20th) shapes fancy in Omalia. “Black Knight” (Col) is okay in L.A. (Complete Boxoffice Reports on Pages 8-9) Compromise agreement with tha. Italian government, covering so- called “excess” remittances by th« American film companies under the last three years of film agree- ments, wais ‘approved in N. Y. yes- : terday (Tues.) by the Motion Pic- ture Export Assn, board. Deal involves Italian authoriza- tion for the U. S. outfits to remit 60% over their “overages.” Th« remaining 40%—amounting to an estimated $400,000—will be de- ducted by the Italian government (Continued on page;ll) Tra<l« Mark Registered FOUNDED BY SIME SILVERMAN Published Weekly by VARIETY. INC Harold Erichs, President 154 West 46ih St. New York 36, N.Y JUdson 2-2700 Hollywood 21 6311 Yucca Street HOIlywood 9 1141 Washington 4 1293 National Press Building Sterling 3-5445 Chicago 11 612 No. Michigan Avo. DElaware 7-4984 London WC2 Martin’s PI.. Trafalgar Temple Bar 5041 SUBSCRIPTION . Annual $10 Foreign $1) Single Copies 23. Cents ABEL GREEN, Editor Vol. 196 No. 13 INDEX DAILY VARIETY (Published In Hollywood by Daily Variety, Ltd.) •15 a Year 620 Foreign