Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1950)

6 Motion Picture Daily Friday, July 14, 1950 Full UA Control Sold (Continued from page 1) WB Meet (Continued from t>age 1) the launching of a new and even more extensive production schedule. In all, he detailed 45 features either already in early release, finished and awaiting release or in preparation. "We are at the middle point of the 20th century," Warner continued. "Over the years, few men in sales have been able to contribute as much in selling as you have. You have helped to make the name of Warner Brothers something to be proud of in entertainment and public service. We have had a wonderful number of notable successes — and some disappointments, too. 'Best Enterta'nment Values' "As we look ahead, I say we have never had a better focus on the elements that make for top box-office returns. The program that you see in operation here at our studios will give the exhibitor and the public the best entertainment values you or anybody else has ever sold. "Right now we are distributing 'The Flame and the Arrow', Norma-FR production, in which Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo star, in Technicolor ; 'The Great Jewel Robber,' starring David Brian, and 'SO Years Before Your Eyes', the story of the last half century. James Cagney will be seen in Cagney Productions' 'Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye', with Barbara Payton and Helena Carter. Ruth Roman, Patricia Neal, Eleanor Parker Film Firm Dividends Continue Downward Washington, July 13.— Publicly-reported cash dividends of motion picture companies totaled $190,000 in May, compared with $215,000 in May a year ago, the Commerce Department reported today. Dividends in every 1950 month except April have been below the figures for the comparable 1949 month. and Frank Lovejoy star in 'Three Secrets', U. S. Pictures production, which we will release in the near future," disclosed Warner. Other pictures which he cited follow : Tennessee Williams' play, "The Glass Menagerie," starring Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, Gertrude Lawrence and Arthur Kennedy. Williams' "Street Car Named Desire," with Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando. Both are Charles K. Feldman Group Productions. Technicolor Musical Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Eve Arden, Gene Nelson, Patrice Wymore, Billy de Wolfe, Virginia Gibson and S. Z. Sakall are in "Tea for Two," musical in Technicolor; "Pretty Baby," starring Dennis Morgan, Betsy Drake, Edmund Gwenn and Zachcary Scott; "Rocky Mountain," starring Errol Flynn. "The Breaking Point," by Ernest Hemingway, starring John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Juano Hernandez, Phyllis Thaxter and Wally Ford; "The Big Stick-Up," with Steve Cochran, Edmon Ryan, Virginia Grey and Gaby Andre; James Cagney in "The West Point Story," Virginia Mayo, Gordon MacRae, Doris Day and Gene Nelson; "Dallas," in Technicolor, starring Gary Cooper, Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran and Raymond Massey; "Breakthrough," units held by Miss Pickford and Chaplin is for two years and involves an additional $3,500,000. McNamee denied published reports that James P. and William Clark, owners of National Film Carriers and National Film Service, of Philadelphia, are participants in the deal in any way, financial or otherwise. McNamee's long friendship with the Clark brothers is believed to have given rise to the reports. Substantiating his denial is word from Hollywood that the deal had been in work for 10 months with Max Kravetz, Los Angeles attorney and new secretary of UA, and McNutt as the prime movers, with McNamee having been called in only last weekend after all preliminaries had been completed. According to associates of McNamee's, he had no knowledge that he was to be president of UA until he was called to Los Angeles last Saturday by McNutt, with whom he was closely associated in the War Manpower Commission in the last war. McNutt is credited with having arranged the financing among New York financiers of his acquaintance. However, it is considered wholly likely that the Clarks' with David Brian, John Agar and Frank Lovejoy; "Captain Horatio Hornblower," by C. S. Forester, in Technicolor, starring Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo; "Storm Warning," starring Ginger Rogers, Doris Day, Ronald Reagan and Steve Cochran; "Sugarfoot," in Technicolor, starring Randolph Scott. Also, "Goodbye My Fancy," Broadway play,^ starring Joan Crawford and Frank Lovejoy; "Strangers on a Train," in the Alfred Hitchcock style; "Lightning Strikes Twice," starring Ruth Roman, Richard Todd, Mercedes McCambridge and Zachary Scott; "The Enforcer," a U. S. Pictures production starring Humphrey Bogart; "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine," a Technicolor musical; "Haircut," Ring Lardner story, to star Jane Wyman; "Working O'ur Way Through College," Technicolor musical; "Operation Pacific," starring John Wayne. h Also, "The Big Trees," in Technicolor; "Raton Pass," starring Dennis Morgan. Patricia Neal, Steve Cochran and Scott Forbes; /'The Story of Folsom," the first time this prison has been filmed; "Jim Thorpe, All American," starring Burt Lancaster and Charles Bickford; "The Travelers," starring Kirk Dougals and Ruth Roman; "The Story of the Immortal Will Rogers," in Technicolor; "Only the Valiant," a Cagney Production starring Gregory Peck. Many in Preparation "These are only a few of the pictures on the active list at Warner studios," said Warner. "The schedule currently in preparation is the most extensive in the history of the company," he continued, listing: "The Annapolis Story"; "Broadway Revisited,"^ Joan Crawford musical; "The Candy Kid," in Technicolor, starring Randolph Scott; "Come Fill the Cup," novel by Harlan Ware; "The Fighting Marine," based on the exploits of Peter Ortiz; "The Four Chaplains," based on Dr. Daniel Polmg's "Your Daddy Did Not Die"; "Mara Maru," by Philip Yordan, Sydney Harmon and Holhster Noble; "Just Off Broadway," Technicolor musical starring June Haver and Gene Nelson; "Rear Guard," James Warner Bellah novel, starring Gary Cooper; "Room for One More," novel by Anna Ferrott Rose; "Serenade," James M. Cain novel, with Dennis Morgan and Ruth Roman starred. "And, for the benefit of irresponsible gossips, I want to say that the only screens which will carry Warner Bros, productions will be the screens of motion picture theatres of the world over," concluded Warner, apparently answering rumors that the company intended to enter television production. National Film Service may be utilized by the new UA management for physical handling of the company's films, not only because of the close association between the Clarks and McNamee but also because the service is regarded as economical by those comr^ *s already using it. Opera/ 1 economies may well fit i the new management's plans, wherever they are deemed possible. McNamee said yesterday the new group will have either five or seven directors on a board which will have either seven or nine members. Miss Pickford and Chaplin will be entitled to name one director each. McNutt will not give up his law practice here, but plans to devote as much time to UA as may be required of him. Influencing acceptance of his proposal is believed to be Miss Pickford's long held and often expressed desire to have a "national figure" at the head of UA. Retention of 10 per ■cent of their stock by Miss Pickford and Chaplain is said to have been at McNutt's urging. He is represented as feeling that the continued association of their names with the company is desirable and urged both to accept a vice-presidency. Miss Pickford did. Chaplin declined. McNamee said few final decisions or plans concerning company policy for the future or disposition of executive personnel have been made yet and must await the outcome of today's and subsequent meetings. However, he said company operations will remain about the same for the present but that it is "very likely" the company will set up a revolving fund to finance producers releasing through the company. It is "possible but not definite" that UA will participate in production itself, he said: McNamee said no decision has been made as to whether Gradwell L. Sears will continue as vice-president of distribution, the post called for in his employment contract which runs through 1951. He said he has not seen Sears' contract yet. Associates of Sears' said he is prepared to fulfill the contract. McNamee said no decision has been made on the sale of the remaining 8,000 shares of treasury stock but remarked that that was possible, depending on the type of program worked out for the company. Loew's Profit Up (Continued from page 1) $137,542,000 for the correspondperiod in the preceding year. For the 12 weeks ended June 8, 1950, net income after depreciation, taxes and other charges was $1,032,4/8, equivalent to 20 cents per share, compared with $1,043,656, also equivalent to 20 cents per share for the corresponding period last year when the company's share of undistributed earnings of partly-owned subsidiaries amounted to $120,450. Gross sales and operating revenues for the 12 weeks totalled $39,389,000 compared with $43,427,000 in the corresponding period a year earlier. The reserve for Federal taxes amounted to $3,496,632 for the 40 1950 weeks, compared with $3,480,000 in