Motion Picture Daily (Apr-Jun 1959)

April 24, 1959 Motion Picture Daily continued from page 1 4 \ history of the industry there was ever a better or a greater conjiion of such talent and resources. It is sufficient to say that the iff capacity and potential, if given right leadership and direction, ^equal to the vital task of making the product that is basic to the rjtv of the industry in all of its branches. i the mention of leadership and direction there instandy appears ectre that darkens the face of Hollywood. We now come to that : . of this report where the bright rays of hope tend to become effaced ' dark forebodings of despair. The shocking fact is that with all of ^(dividual strivings and determinations that have been undertaken iimed on the results as to the over-all operation in Hollywood in nent and improvement on any firm basis have been meagre. The lis reason for this unhappy condition is feeble and halting leadernd direction. light even be more accurate to say flatly that industry leadership Erection have virtually disappeared in Hollywood. And the results j igic. At the decision-making level there appears to be slight, if ecognition of the fact that in the nature of the Hollywood opera. it-throat competition inevitably tends toward mass suicide. Figura slashing another's throat may afford a momentary feeling of exultai iat when one's own turn is next the fruits of victory are exceedingly i And that is just what goes on day by day in Hollywood. The loss [ars— let alone industry integrity— is enormous. le condition that unhappily prevails is the direct and unavoidable of the weakening and virtual disappearance of leadership, of the 1 of responsible executives to be willing to recognize that every i ior himself and the devil take the hindmost is an unintelligent and ul policy. Eventually no one wins, everyone loses, ijre are indeed cost factors entering into motion picture production which little or nothing can be done. But there are far greater cost !]| about which a great deal could be done. Failure effectively to Bdth these is the source of the greatest economic peril under which dustrv presently labors. Despite the decrease in attendance from Jvels the industry continues to enjoy an income that would insure v operation if production ceased allowing itself to be tapped in \ lereasing amounts by the conspiratorial devices of parasitical elewho are fattening scandalously while tire industry upon which >rey is on a frugal diet. iditions in this area are not different than in former days. They are oise, having become so from neglect of an organized policy and mance of an intelligent control and direction. The producers' as4 on, created and maintained to deal with the common problems mting production, is virtually moribund. Even a representative rg attended bv executives clothed with authority to make decisions Boftrd R°ger Lewis on Radio Panel on 'Oscar' Awards Roger H. Lewis, United Artists director of advertising-publicity-exploitation, will appear as a member of a panel at 8 to 8:45 P.M. on Sunday on station WBAI-FM, New York, on the subject "The Academy Awards, an Analysis." The program is part of a series on films, titled "The Film Art." ■ We {Continued from page 1) idio. They will also be shown hours of available footage of Hur," the company's $15,000,oduction scheduled to open at ; State here next fall. Thursday, the board will meet • transaction of regular business ^ssibly will take action resumgular dividends on the corncommon stock, discontinued two years ago. The group is iled to return to New York on is an exception rather than a rule. About all it seems capable of doing is to put on a ceremonial function in honor of a visiting celebrity. The impact of the parent organization, the Motion Picture Association, on its own or through the Hollywood subsidiary organization is* of slight consequence. Its spokesmen are seldom heard from and even more rarely listened to. They are not recognized as knowing Hollywood or having anything to contribute to the solving of problems of production or bettering the business of making motion pictures. €J Under the law of the land collective action is forbidden but this certainly does not mean that Hollywood should leave itself defenseless against a wide variety of assaults and impositions cooked up by schemers who have succeeded in making Hollywood a happy hunting ground. When the question arises as to whether production is being run by the responsible executives, East and West, or an array of maverick agents, lawyers and business managers it is not difficult to see that an exceedingly unhealthy state of affairs exists. Until this question is sanely and correctly answered there is little hope of the restoration of a healthy economic state of affairs in production. In the course of the random and unorganized efforts to keep expenditures within expectable income there has been much cutting around the fringes of the economic problem, leaving the main part of it to grow and expand. The wholesale dropping of publicists whose cost alongside other factors in production was trivial has already shown up as a folly. Even in the newspapers in Los Angeles the space given to motion pictures has fallen to a lower ebb than at any time since the earliest days of the industry. In an industry based on showmanship it is strange that there should be any acceptance whatsoever of the folly that if pictures are good enough they will automatically sell themselves. No film that good has vet been made. It is a strange phenomenon that Hollywood which with respect to theatrical motion pictures is wholly dependent upon exhibition and distribution and the allied agencies of each for its revenue should have about it the complexion of great prosperity. Yet those other departments which are no less essential to a sound industry have been reduced to a spartan regime. There is here an economic maladjustment which can only continue at the cost of the health of the industry. The challenge to responsible management is clear. Too gravely has the industry, especially in Hollywood, suffered from a go-it-alone policy under which the economic community of the industry as a whole has been radically subordinated if not ignored. The concept of an economic community in this business and elsewhere is by no means merely an abstraction or impractical ideal. Rather it is plain common sense, definitely proven to be so by the waste, inefficiency and defenselessness that strews the pathway of any contrary course. ■Jj on Arrives Sunday jid A. Lipton, Universal Pictures resident, will arrive in New from Hollywood Sunday for office conferences on campaigns Jhis Earth Is Mine," "Operation : ■ at," "Any Way the Wind Blows" .ipartacus." Fonda Will Attend 'Warlock' Premiere Henry Fonda, who stars in 20th Century-Fox's "Warlock," will head a large contingent of entertainment world celebrities attending the charity New York premiere of the film which will be held here Thursday night at the Paramount Theatre. The benefit will be conducted under the auspices of Camp Green Acres of the New York City Mission Society. 'The Young Land' (Continued from page 1) tered plane load of newspapermen, magazine editors and television and radio people from 11 western states. Over 350 bookings in the northwest area have been obtained by Columbia for "Young Land" on the strength of the premiere at the 670-seat Cody Theatre. Premiere seats are scaled from $7.50 down. Mrs. Markert Dies Mrs. Bertha E. Markert, 80, motirer of Russell Markert, Radio City Music Hall producer and founder and director of the Rockettes, died yesterday at the Manhattan Nursing Home. Surviving besides the son is Gladys Markert, a daughter. Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 10 A.M. at Campbell's Funeral Home, 81st and Madison Ave. Burial will be at Fairview Cemetery, Westfield N. J. PEOPLE Spyros P. Skouras, president of 20th Century-Fox, is vice-chairman of the Dinner Committee for the founding of the new Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research, being established at the American Medical Center at Denver. The first annual Founders' Dinner will be held at the Astor Hotel here on May 23. □ Raymond S. Smith, retired Warner Brothers manager in Albany, N. Y., has added Donald Hallenbeck's Indian Ladder Drive-in at New Salejn to his buying and booking accounts. □ Sam Slotnick plans to close his neighborhood Globe Theatre, Syracuse, and will continue to operate onlv the Lake Shore Drive-in there.