Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1947)

Pllltlll[l]llllllltUII[nil(lllll[lllllll1lt[llltLIMliLlll3UIIJllllllUIIIIIIIMIH Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll :lll llilll IIIIIIHIIilllll; III! Illllllll !lllllllll!!l!lllllillll!lll!lll!lllllll!lll!lllllllll!llllllllllllllllllll!llllllllllllll!IIIH HUH Illlllllllllllllllll 1 ! I Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllll IIIIUI1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1 THE BOTTLE seems to be one of those problems in this scene, from Warners' "Possessed", starring Joan Crawford and Van Hefl/n, above. Jerry Wald produced and Curtis Bernhardt directed. Showmen will see the picture Monday, June 16. TABLEAU, from MGM's "Living in a Big Way", the principals of which are Gene Kelly and Marie McDonald. The producer was Pandro .cmon, the director Gregory La Cava. Exhibitors saw the picture June 9 and 10. Pandro S. Berman, filming is scheduled1 to start following Kelly's completion of his costarring part with Judy Garland in "The Pirate" . . . Claudette Colbert gets the assignment as star in Universal-International's "Midnight Lace", which Claude Binyon will direct for producer Joseph Sistrom. . . . David O. Selznick has loaned Rory Calhoun to Warner Brothers for an important role in "Mary Hagen", Shirley TempleRonald Reagan film . . . 20th Century-Fox has named Geraldine Wall for a prominent supporting role in "Green Grass of Wyoming", directed by Louis King, with Robert Bassler producing. Two Young Men With a System by WILLIAM R. WEAVER Hollywood Editor The two young men who got their names in the newspapers by winning $103,700 at a Las Vegas roulette table last December, and explaining to wire service reporters they'd done it with a system they planned to employ at Monte Carlo, are parlaying that sum and story into a production company to turn out 10 pictures a year. The two young men, Ed Scofield and Samuel Taylor, learned how to parlay a newsbreak into fantastic figures as members of Charles Einfeld's advertising-publicityexploitation staff during the latter's distinguished career at the House of Warner. The things the exploitation-minded Einfeld did with pictures while in making and wheH finished are familiarly and profitably remembered, eventuating in such enterprises as the Gold Diggers Transcontinental Special, the Dodge City, Reno and other press junkets. But the Scofield-Taylor technique is no mere duplication of these examples. It is to exploit the picture first and proceed to the making of it afterward. Publicized When Only an Idea The first, "Las Vegas," was made known throughout the world, via AP, UP and INS, before it was more than an idea. Indeed, it was a chance quip by a reporter handling the Las Vegas dispatch about the roulette coup that gave the young men the name, "A Four Leaf Clover Production," under which their company, corporately known as Scofield-Taylor Productions, will issue its pictures. That first worldwide news break carried a long way, and for a long time, with national magazines printing followup stories and pictorial layouts in the weeks and months that followed, most of these hinting more less subtly at the nature of the system by which the roulette haul had been made, but the two young men didn't rest on that break. Shortly they were in the wire news again for having made an offer of $5,000 to Margaret Truman to sing in the picture, which she declined, and again, following her radio debut, for having doubled it. In the Einfeld tradition, the offers were genuine, as are Miss Truman's responses, which they exhibit in evidence when asked. They were in the wire news still again for offering the former Faye Emerson, then Mrs. Elliott Roosevelt, a part in the picture, but they'd gone a little fast that time, their script being uncompleted in time to submit to the lady when she displayed interest in accepting the part if the picture were a comedy. • (It's completed now, and a comedy, and the negotiations are still in progress.) Among their other appearances in the national prints, and this time in the sports sections, was the story announcing the signing of tennis star Frank Parker for a role in the picture. They made some distance, too, with a protest against the changing of the name of Boulder Dam to Hoover Dam, and although they were overmatched in this undertaking (fervently supported by the business men of Las Vegas) the publicity acquired is counted a permanent asset. The premiere of "Las Vegas" will be held in that city, with the occasion made a civic holiday, and there will be a European premiere at Monte Carlo, with the young men trying out their roulette system under formally elaborate circumstances in the storied gaming parlors of that resort. And it is in the planning of Scofield-Taylor Productions that about six of the anticipated 10 pictures a year will be produced at Las Vegas and in the surrounding area, utilizing the natural Old West terrain and the luxurious hotels and resorts of the modern city. They will be Westerns. The other four pictures are to be of different kinds. Mr. Scofield, who was assistant to Mr. Einfeld, is president of the company, and Mr. Taylor, who had charge of radio exploitation and publicity, is vice-president. : i : ■ : : ; : : m : ■ i ; : . : : . : : : : ! : : i : i : : ■ i : : ■ ; i . ■ : : : : ■ 1 1 : : 1 1 ; . . ! i : : : i : ■ ■ n ■ ■ i ■ 1 1 : i I : ■ m 1 1 ! _ 1 1 1 : ■ : 1 1 1 : ! i 1 1 : . 1 1 1 ; : 1 1 1 : : 1 1 : . 1 1 : . : : : : ■ : 1 1 1 : 1 1 i I : ■ i : : ! i : : ; 1 1 : ■ 1 1 : . ■ ; ■ ■ : . ■ 1 1 : 1 . i : : i ; ! 1 1 . 1 1 ; : i i i . 1 1 1 1 . ; i . 1 1 1 ; : . : 1 1 1 : 1 1 1 : ; 1 1 1 . . 1 1 ; : : : 1 1 1 : . ! 1 1 1 : : . 1 1 1 : : ! i ; ■ 1 1 : : : 1 1 1 . . 1 1 1 : : 1 1 1 ■ . 1 1 1 1 : . : 1 1 1 : : 1 1 1 ; ■ : i : : 1 1 1 : ^: i : : , 1 1 i . i : . , 1 1 1 ■ : ! ■ . i ■ ■ 1 1 : ; 1 1 ■ : ■ r i MOTION PICTURE HERALD, JUNE 14, 1947 31