Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1950)

: : : Friday, August 4, 1950 Motion Picture Daily 11 Kelly to Coast for Confab with Chaplin On Representation Arthur W. Kelly, until recently executive vice-president of United Artists, will leave here on Monday for the Coast to confer with Charles Chaplin regarding sales representation on Chaplin product being released through UA. Chaplin '-"s asked Kelly to continue to act in<"NO behalf on sales of "City Lights" arrr-presumably other reissues slated for later handling but the two have yet to get together for discussions on the matter since Kelly disassociated himself from UA. While on the Coast Kelly intends also to arrange for production of "Half Caste," story property which he and screenwriter Barney Glazer own in partnership. They had planned to have the yarn filmed as an independent production about three vears ago when ' Kelly had left the J. Arthur Rank Organization with which he was associated for a short time. However, he returned to UA shortly after and the production arrangements were dropped. 'IP Pay Offer (Continued from page 1) be settled. He said the company, while willing to grant a general wage boost in light of Universale improved economic position and prospects, has demonstrated reluctance to make any such increase retroactive to the expiration date of the contract that is being renegotiated, Aug., 1949. The union has been seeking from the company a seven per cent raise in conformance with the "formula" set up by the recent contract signed with Warners. The "U" offer is said to have at least matched that percentage figure. The Warner raise was accompanied by several months' retroactive pay. H-63 will resume negotiations with "U" following the Aug. 14-18 "IA" international convention in Detroit, Moss said, adding that meanwhile the local "is going after" United Artists for a "formula" pay raise now that that company has virtually completed its administration realignment. Talks with UA had been discontinued pending the realignment. 'Irma,' 'Men' (Continued from page 1) year. Accompanied by Louis Prima's orchestra, Gary Morton and the Modernaires on stage, "Irma" drew about $13,500 on opening day, Wednesday, and continued at the same box-office pace yesterdav for an estimated total of $27,000 for the two days. Meanwhile, "The Men" with the stage presentation picked up speed during the latter part of its second week at the Music Hall and finished the stanza with approximately $125,000, representing good business and higher than earlier expectations. The film is now in its third and final week. Buckley Intends (Continued from page 1) Fairbanks in the role of business manager and joined them in the original organization of UA. He is vice-president and a member of the board of directors of United Artists Theatres. Buckley recently entered a hospital for surgical treatment, and recuperation is longer than anticipated. Review it Summer Stock 9* (MGM) HoIIyn-ood, Aug. 3 FROM a marquee-power point of view this Joe Pasternak musical in Technicolor with Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Gloria DeHaven, Eddie Bracken, Marjorie Main and Phil Silvers stacks up as sure-selling merchandise. And when it's at its best, as when Miss Garland is sizzling through her impeccably staged "Get Happy" song-and-dance number with a male chorus and when Kelly takes over a deserted stage to improvise a fastidiously casual tap routine, it's as splendid entertainment as its billing promises. By and large, the peaks to which it sometimes rises probably are high enough to offset the dips between, in the aggregate estimate of the paying public at this point in the exhibition year. The two numbers mentioned above are good for rousing applause in any exhibitor's auditorium. Miss Garland, portraying an earnest farm girl with the makings of a musical comedy star, lives up to her fans' utmost expectations throughout the film, although some of her numbers are inferior to the handling she gives them. Similarly, Kelly is distinctly big-league in his dance sessions, more of which might have been included profitably in substitution for long stretches of pattern plot. Although much time is consumed in telling the story, written by Sy Gomberg and scripted by himself and George Wells, it's still the one about producing a musical show in spite of obstacles, an always serviceable tale given too much telling in this instance. Nine songs, five of them by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, are sung, danced, or both, in the course of the picture. Miss Garland sings her share of them with the verve, gusto and clarity which are her special gifts, and Kelly and Phil Silvers get big returns from their delivery of "Heavenly Music," a Saul Chaplin number, in caricatured country-bumpkin makeup. A big cast, all of whom seem equipped to join effectively enough in song or dance, supplies a lot of background for what goes on in the foreground. The story has Miss Garland as a girl farmer whose stage-struck sister has invited Kelly, an aspiring producer, to bring his stage troupe to her farm and rehearse his show in the family barn. The troupe arrives, Miss Garland resents and resists, then relents on condition the actors help with the farm work, and you needn't have been in show business long to take it from there. Charles Walters directed, Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin did the musical direction, and Nick Castle staged the dances. Running time, 109 minutes. General audience classification. Release date not set. William R. Weaver 20th to Release (Continued from page 1) There will be six musicals and six productions made abroad in the actual locales where their stories take place. These include "The Mudlark" and "No Highway," made in England ; "Legion of the Damned," Germany ; "Kangaroo," Australia ; "Bird of Paradise," Hawaii, and "American Guerrilla in the Philippines," recently completed in its original locale. Callahan pointed out that 20 of the 36 pictures are based on book or stage properties and, all told, some 93 stars will appear in the films. In addition to the company's regular contract players such Hollywood names as Danny Kaye, Burt Lancaster, Bette Davis, Celeste Holm, Joseph Cotten, James Stewart, Glenn Ford, Susan Hayward, Louis Jourdan, Alec Guinness, Irene Dunne, Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert, Jeff Chandler and others have been specially engaged for the various productions. Attending today's meeting were branch managers James M. Connolly of Boston and Ben A. Simon of New Haven ; Roger Ferri, New York ; Edward X. Callahan, Jr., John Peckos, John B. Carroll, John A. Feloney, and Sam Berg of Boston and Sam Germain and Salvatore Popolizio. Ferri, editor of the Dynamo, 20thFox publication, also addressed the group. Inspect Ceilings Nashville, Aug. 3. — Following the recent collapse of a portion of the ceiling of the Bijou Theatre here and reports of a similar collapse at the Park in Richmond, Va., local building inspection staffs in many Tennessee towns are cooperating with theatre owners in testing ceilings of their houses. Damage suits totalling about $40,000 are now pending in Nashville courts as result of Bijou accident although no one was seriously injured Short Subject "House of Mercy" (Tli is Is America-RKO) An interesting glimpse into the workings of a hospital is provided in the latest issue of This Is America. Explored is not so much the big, metropolitan institution but rather the comparatively modest structures found in the country's fair-sized cities. The subject stands up well in the series. The cameras take the audience through the wards, operating rooms, laboratories, X-ray rooms, etc., and tell in direct fashion the role played by the hospital in the community. Running time. 15 minutes. Wallis to Start Fall Shooting on Four Hal B. Wallis, now in Europe, will start work on four new films for Paramount next fall following his return, the company says. His schedule includes : "The Stooge" with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, "Night Alan," a Burt Lancaster starrer, "Quantrell's Raiders," to star Charlton Heston, and "Sound of Years," which will be directed by Robert Rossen. While in Europe, Wallis will attend the world premiere of "September Affair" in Rome sometime in September. He will also be on hand for the film festival at Venice, where "September Affair" will be an entrv. 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