Variety (December 1954)

Ifdnefldiy, December 8, 1954 I ’ « l * f ♦ I * i Mi PICTURES KU KLUX REMAKE WORRIES BIZ i Film Exploiters’ Greediness’, Spiked Testimonials—Alberti bedsheets are poison Immediate repercussion to news that a Coast syndicate will remake “The Birth of A Nation” has been consternation and dismay on the part of Negro leaders and considerable head-shak- ing among whites (See separate story) who recall the brutal subject-matter of Thomas Dixon’s two works, “The Clansman” and “The Leopard’s Spots,” upon which D. W. Griffith made his 1915 controversial classic. Producer Phil L. Ryan, from Hollywood, has already made the only answer possible at this moment, when the shooting script is not yet written: “Critics should hold their Are until they know they have cause to criticize”—or words to that effect. Without explicit disclaimer of using the Ku Klux Klan night rider stuff, or the “rape” scenes, which were obsessive with D. W. Griffith, the implication of Ryan’s comment is that the 1955 “Birth of a Nation” will be a historic panorama a la “Gone With the Wind.” On sober second thought it seems fairly evident that no picture can possibly dare, at this late date, to glorify the thoroughly dis- credited Ku Klux Klan which was—let it not be forgotten—also against Catholics and Jews. Too wide a segment of the popula- tion would be offended. Sheer economic self-interest dictates that the new shooting script must bear little or no resemblance to Griffith’s. Nor can it be overlooked that America’s 15,000,000 Negroes today are a respected and courted flve-billion-dollar mar- ket. And big filmgoers. On top of all the economic factors, there is, of course, the factor of morality and social responsibility. Thus the reaction of the Negro community, while understand- able, is perhaps, as Ryan suggests, premature. Common sense will not allow open hatrioteering such as was possible in 1915. Griffith’s picture was not only a great money-maker but also a great mischief-maker and it is as plain as anything can be plain that the story treatment of 40 years ago simply could not get a production code seal today, nor get by the censorships of the key slates— surely never New York. However, clamor against the idea will continue until the Thal- Ryan syndicate thinks through its story-line and makes it clear to the socially-minded elements of the country that no glorifica- tion of night riders and no antagonism to Negroes is the inten- tion. When that aspect is taken care of then it can perhaps be argued that “The Birth of a Nation” is an established presold title and that, the invidious angles set aside, its choice for a re- make is not without showmanship. Land. New York Sound Track t Saranac Lake, N.Y., has won the W’orld premiere of Warner Bros.’ “The Silver Chalice” for the highest per capita Christmas Seal sales in the first three days of the National Tuberculosis Assn.’s campaign . . . Frank Sinatra’s Capitol recording of "Young at Heart” will be used over the main title of the Warner film of the same name in which Sinatra stars with Doris Day . . . Norton and Condon retained to handle all publicity and advertising on United Artists’ "The Purple Plain” . . . DCA distributing “Hunters of the Deep,” Allan Dowling- Tom Grles feature-length documentary of underwater life. Picture opens at Trans-Lux 60th St. Dec. 16 with “Rembrandt.” art short produced by Morrie Roizman, and also being released by DCA . . . Movielab Film Laboratories embarking on a $1,000,000 expansion pro- gram on its 25th anni in 1955. Bill F. Danzigcr, former Director of Exploitation for Paramount and long time member of Howard Dietz's ad staff at Metro, N.Y., now on idea assignment for Kal, Ehrlich Sc Merrick, Washington Agency. Bruce Newbery bought a hefty stock interest in Carl Dudley Produc- tions, with which he’s now associated . . . David Golding, ad-pub director of Samuel Goldwyn Productions, played a key role in bring- ing United Artists and Sam Goldwyn Jr. together . . . Norton & Con- don agency landed the publicity job for J. Arthur Rank’s “Purple Plain.” Gregory Peck starrer . . . Gary Cooper in from the Coast Sunday (5) for a quickie . ‘. . Paramount’s homeoffice this week looks m>t unlike Wall Street on a Sunday afternoon. Desefted, that is. . . . A. W. Schwalberg, president of Par Distributing Corp., is presiding °ver sales and Jerry Pickman, ad-pub v.p.. is chairing a session of field exploitation men and promotion reps from a few overseas spots ... A press agent at United Artists unashamedly relates that Gilda Cray has been signed as “sex appeal consultant” on the Mickey Spil- lane pic, “Kiss Me Deadly.” She’s to “impart her priceless knowledge” to lour new actresses in the film, said the tooter. Bruce Newbery, newly appointed exec v.p. of Dudley Pictures, left for London last week to set up the outfit’s first film. Working out of London, it'll be partly lensed on location in North Africa. Pic rolls in March . . . IFE caught short on color stills for its “Maggio Verde” expedition films. May have to shoot some off the screen . . . Italy’s first two CincmaScope shorts produced by Astra Cinematografica. They’re pail of a series of 14 which 20th-Fox will handle worldwide . . . Arthur Rank’s John Davis, who had a “busy” signal up during his stay N.Y. last week, writing “sorry” notes to the press. Stanley Warner exiting the Warner Bros. bldg, on West 44th St. nn Dec. 20 and moves to the completely refurbished Warner (formerly strand» Theatre bldg, at 1587 Broadway. Shift completely removes h* theatre chain from its former production-distribution affiliate, p * a bian may also shift his Fabian Enterprises offices from the j .0 amount bldg, to the new SW headquarters to avoid bicycling be- ! firms • • • Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, authors of the roadway stage musical, “Kismet,” have reported to the Metro studios J 1 -iart work on the screenplay with producer Arthur Freed. Romeo’ in Charity Start . ‘ Homeo and Juliet,” J. Arthur Rank entry distributed by United AnisK opens at N.Y.’s Sutton The- atic Dec. 21 via a benefit preem 101 the March of Dimes. lu kots are priced at $10, $25 and $.)0 each. Blaustein Exits 20th Hollywood, Dec. 7. Julian Blaustein and 20th Cen- tury-Fox have terminated his pro- ducer’s contract by mutual con- sent. He began on lot in April, 1949. Just completed “Racers,” Blau- stein also produced “Desiree” now in general release. F II HOT POTITQ Projected remake of David W. Griffith’s 1915 feature. “The Birth of a Nation” by a Hollywood syn- dicate headed by financier Ted Thai has been greeted in New York film circles with plenty of surprise and considerable conster- nation. Proposed deal ties the original Thomas Dixon novel, “The Clansman.” and the title and rights to “Birth,” now’ owned by Harry E. Aitken, into one package. What causes New York film men to shake their heads is fear of the social and political consequences to the motion picture industry inherent in a revival of an old controversial classic in which hatred and preju- dice against Negroes was as open as was admiration and approval of the Ku Klux Klan. Script Problem? New York curiosity centers on Dudley Nichols’ ideas. He is the man who is mentioned to make the 1955 shooting script. How does he propose to handle the obsessive theme of Negro-raping-white-girl which Dixon and Griffith repeated- ly stressed? The Coast syndicate’s showman- in-charge is Phil L. Ryan. He has revealed that $750,000 was put up to acquire the rights from ’Aiken, president of the old Epoch Corp., and inclusive of the book which is owned by the Dixon estate. D. W. Griffith actually drew upon another Dixon yarn, “The Leop- ard’s Spots” as well as his (Grif- fith’s) own ideas as a Kentuckian. The proposed remake is projected for either Todd-AO or Cinema- Scope. Big Money-Maker “Birth,” which drew’ both cheers and brickbats on its first release in 1915, and has been playing almost continuously ever since, with Aitken personally doing the ped- dling. It’s probably a top-earner in industry annals with a gross of around $40,000,000. Its showing have frequently been picketed by minority groups. Point made by opponents of any remake fear that, if “Birth” shapes as anything approximating the open prejudice against Negroes ex- Ryan’s Comment Hollywood, Dec. 7. Recent denunciation by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo- ple of the proposed remake of “The Birth of a Nation” was called “premature” by Phil L. Ryan, a member of the syn- dicate holding screen rights to the story. Declaring that the film un- doubtedly would be made, Ryan added, “we have no quarrel with colored people or any organization for their advance- ment. or with their right to protest. However, until they know the subject material to be presented, hQw can they question without knowing the grounds?” . hibited in the original, It would be ideal grist for the anti-Yankee propaganda mill abroad. They em- phasize that, in color and on the wide screen, the white supremacy j “message” would come across even more forcefully than in the orig- inal. Slandered Whole Race First official reaction to the’ re- make came from the National Assn, for the Advancement of Col- ored People in N. Y. In a wire to Thai, Roy Wilkins. NAACP admin- istrator, * stated that his org was "as uncompromisingly opposed to this film today as it was when, the picture was first released in 1916.” He said the announcement of a new version was “of deep concern” to the group and others “who know of the great damage the original version did in slandering the entire Negro American population through its naked incitement to racial hatred and violence. “The revival of the unashamed I (Continued on page 61) Vat Film Showman Arthur L. Mayer has some sag* observation* on Our Rosy Daze (Exbib-Distrib Rotations Call for a Littla Mora Common-Sons#) * * * an ontortaining byline piece in the upcoming 49th Anniversary Number of Z'finiEfr out sooy British Need Own Houses In U.S.: Bernstein By FRED HIFT J. Arthur Rank’s idea of acquir- ing U. S. theaties is sound and may be the only way in which British films will ever get firmly established in this market, says Sidney L. Bernstein of Britain’s Granada Theatres. Bernstein, who* arrived in N. Y. Sunday (5). indicated he planned to meet with Alfred Hitchcock with whom he and his brother, Cecil, are associated in Transat- lantic Pictures Corp. He wouldn’t say whether the outfit, inactive since “I Confess,” would be re- activated. Trouble with British films in the U. S.. Bernstein believes, is that there’s no continuity to their ex- hibition. "You can’t expect the public to go for • a British film that’s sandwiched between the release of four or five typically American pictures,” he said. “What is needed are a hundred or so modern, well-appointed showcases that will keep the British product before the public and allow it lengthy runs. Obviously, such the- atres could also play other foreign or American films that fit in with the general tone of entertainment. It’s unrealistic to expect the (Continued on page 16) The exploitation men of the film industry have done more to destroy public confidence in endorsement advertising than any other similar J trade group, Jules Alberti, prexy of Endorsements Inc., firm special- izing in testimonial advertising, charged last week. “Thanks to their own greediness for grabbing as much space in any form they can,” Alberti said, “the film ex- ploitation men now have come to the conclusion that the public has become skeptical of the very works uttered by their very own stars in testimonials.” Alberti made his remarks before a class in business news reporting at New York University. The basis of his comments was a re- cent article in Variety headlined “Endorsements by Stars Lose Charm” and which said, in effect, that tie-up advertising was on the decline lor a number of reasons, “not the least being the feeling that endorsements have been over- done and the public is growing skeptical that the stars actually use the products advertised.” Alberti declared that the situa- tion was caused by the film pub- ad men. by "their indiscriminate use of anybody and everybody, re- gardless of the need, so long as it adds additional free spac£ to sell a picture.” He said he could cite “numerous instances of testimonial abuses” by this group. He said that since his firm was established in 1945 “wherein the ratio of film stars against all other celebrities combined w as 80-20, the last few years has completely re- versed the ratio so that the inter- est in film celebrities is now less than 20% of our total business.” To further point up “the fallacy of the film men’s ideas,” he noted that his company’s business, “the (Continued on page 16) N. Y. Guests Preview Jap Voice Track for Tokyo Version of Cinerama With a narration in Japanese to replace the * voice of Lowell Thomas, the version of “This Is Cinerama” that will be shown shortly in Japan was unveiled to an invited audience of Japanese diplo- mats, commercial officials and resident reps of the Nippon press. Showing took place Friday”. 13)' at the Warner Theatre, N.Y. Robin International, which holds the foreign exhibition rights to the medium, will present Cinerama at the Imperial Theatre, Tokyo, Jan. 1, aqd at the Os Theatre, Osaka Jan. 22. The Osaka house was specially built for Cinerama after the original theatre in which the medium was to be installed was completely destroyed by fire. Shuku Imafuku, of the Daiai Films of Japan, was brought to the U.S. to do the commentary. In sev- eral scenes in which Lowell Thomas is seen on the screen, Ima- fuku’s voice has been dubbed in. Universal Sets 32 (Up From 28) X Hollywood, Dec. 7. Continuing its accent on a steady flow of top product, Universal in 1955 has skedded 32 pix for release compared to 28 in 1954, Charles J. Feldman, U v.p. and general sales manager, said here yesterday (6). Total of 75% of the 1955 output will be in color. Feldman made his announce- ment to the opening session of U’s week-long sales powwow which is being attended by pro- duction, distribution and ad-pub execs of the company. “Our responsibility to our ex- hibitor customers is to continue to deliver a flow of quality product having the same reliability of en- tertainment values which have pleased American movie-goers in ever increasing numbers to the benefit of our company and our exhibitor friends,” Feldman dec- lared. Others addressing the session ' were Milton R. Rackmil, U prexy; Alfred E. Daff, exec v.p.; Edward ; Muhl, v.p. in charge of production, j and David A. Lipton, v.p. With 28 ! pix in release. 1954 is expected to be U’s record year in both the domestic and foreign markets. Muhl said yesterday (Tues.) that 13 novels would he included in the ’55 program. Upix will use the new j camera processes as they fit to the various films and their back- grounds Mort Magill With Buena Mort Magill has been named Buena Vista sales supervisor for the Philadelphia, Washington and Pittsburgh exchange areas, to headquarter in Philly. He resigned as United Artists branch manager in Philly to take the job. Sullivan Faces 3 Years On Income Tax Fraud Washington, Dec. 7. U. S. Supreme Court yesterday (6) upheld the income tax evasion • conviction of Odom F. Sullivan, of ' Wichita, president of the Central Theatre Co. there. | Sullivan was fined $13,000 and given a three-year prison sentence for evading taxes on his 1945-46 1 taxes.