Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1946)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, December 7, 1946 11 NATIONAL NEWSREEL Strike Showdown Likely As Casey Rejects CSU Parley Bid Eagle-Lion Has Program oi 14 for Coining Season A forthcoming program of 14 features, four of which are now ready for release and 10 more of which are in various stages of preparation, was announced for Eagle Lion by Vice-President and General Sales Manager Alfred W. Schwalberg in New York Monday at the first sales meeting of the company in the Hotel Warwick. Schwalberg told the assembled Eagle-Lion sales heads that all pictures would be backed by a strong national pre-re lease advertising and pubA. W. Schwalberg licity campaign buttressed by local cooperative programs. The four Eagle-Lion features ready for release, Schwalberg said, are : "Bedelia," with Margaret Lockwood and Ian Hunter ; "It's a Joke, Son!" with Kenny (Senator Claghorn) Delmar ; "Andy Comes Across" with Franchot Tone and Ann Richards, and "The Adventuress" with Deborah Kerr. In preparation are : "Prelude to Night" with Zachary Scott and Louis Hayward ; Joan Leslie in "Repeat Performance" ; "Kenny" ; "Out of the Blue" ; "Love from a Stranger" ; the King syndicate feature, "Prince Valiant" ; "Clementine" ; "Montana," in color ; "The Man Without a Country," and an untitled adventure picture with Arturo de Cordova. Attending the three-day meeting which opened last Saturday and closed Monday were Special Sales Representatives Herman Beiersdorf, L. E. Goldhammer, R. L. McCoy, Harry Mandell, Joseph Minsky, Mark Raymon, Henry C. Segal, William Shartin and Max J. Weisfeldt; Exploitation Director Arthur Jeffrey; Jock Lawrence of the J. Arthur Rank Organization ; Paul Lazar, executive assistant to Bryan Foy, vice-president in charge of production ; Jerry Edwards of Philips, Nizer, Benjamin and Krim, and T. H. Bierce, comptroller of Pathe Industries, Inc. Asks Jury Trial Michael Manos, head of the Monessen Amusement and Indian County Theatres, Inc., this week asked for a jury trial in the federal court civil action brought against him by the major distributing companies charging fraud in boxoffice reports. Up and Up and Up Federal taxes on amusement admissions continued their upward climb, with October, 1946, showing a collection of $48,598,428.08, or $6,208,056.24 more than the October, 1945, total of $42,389,371.84. The October total also surpassed the total taxes of $38,559,485, collected in September, 1946. Supporting this upward trend also was the amount of taxes collected from July 14, 1946, through Oct. 31, 1946 which reached a mark of $166,942,935.51, an increase of $28,342,035.67 over the same period in 1945, when the total was 138,600,899.84. Observers See Firm Stand As Possible Prelude to March Production Halt Hollywood studios appeared this week to be lining up their forces for a showdown labor battle which some observers thought might result in a 12-week shutdown of all production aiound March 1. The stiffening resistance on the producer front in a situation which last week hinted at some settlement possibility, was noted when Producer Labor Representative Pat Casey informed the Conference of Studio Unions that the producers saw little use in conferring with the CSU unless the CSU was prepared to recognize the American Federation of Labor committee's jurisdictional award of last December. The demand for recognition of these awarded jurisdictions, which were the basis of the present strike, had reportedly been agreed to earlier in the season. Casey also demanded that CSU agree to abide by a wage scale agreement (reached July 2, 1946) and pledge not to effect any further work stoppages. Casey added that the union must give "adequate assurances" that they would take steps to prevent further "acts of violence and mass picketing." Producers Irked Producers have long been incensed over jurisdictional strikes and they are said to be indignant over the trend which this inter-union strike has taken toward getting additional pay raises. Hollywood's labor violence, which has been the subject of accusation and counter accusation, is being investigated by the county grand jury. Labor in addition has been indignant (See The News Spotlight) Challenging the alleged refusal of Negro theatres to play Negro features on percentage, Astor Pictures President Robert M. Savini this week threatened to print his next fulllength Louis Jordan feature on 16-mm. only and to roadshow it through halls and auditoriums. Savini cited several instances where Negro pictures were not getting the maximum revenue or the maximum run from Negro theatres. He spoke of New Orleans where he claimed, one of his features had lines running around the corner of the theatre, with all-day packed houses during its run. "And then," he said, "all they'd pay was ilat rental and they pulled the picture after five days. With 16-mm. equipment, we can rent a hall and run for two months." The Astor president, recently returned from a tour of the West Coast and the South, said that the 16-mm. roadshow policy would not apply to Astor's white production. Astor, he pointed out, is now in the production field for both white and Negro pictures and will expand its activities there, while at the same time over the producer-obtained injunctions restraining the number of pickets which can be used at a studio. Some regard the Casey message, which was an answer to a CSU invitation to producers, as indicative of a coming showdown. These sources point to the fact that all companies now have a backlog of product, which at present release rates, will allow them to serve their first runs for practically all of 1947. Furthermore, the product which is now being completed in Hollywood, slowed up as it has been by labor difficulties, should be finished wuliui the next 60 days. Shutdown? Whether a studio shutdown — if it takes place —will last more than 12 weeks is doubtful. Most studio star contracts allow a six to eight-week payless layoff due to strikes. After that period the studio either has to start paying again or the star may cancel the contract. Another clause, not thought applicable to strikes, permits a 12-week payless period between productions during a one-year period. The present strike, one of a series which has kept the labor front unsettled for over a year, began on Sept. 23 when the Conference of Studio Unions called out picket lines in support of its member union, the AFL United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. It was denounced as a jurisdictional strike by Producer Spokesman Byron Price. The Carpenters and Joiners were claiming the right to build interior sets in studios, using a "clarification" of the jurisdictional allocation made by the AFL committee on Dec. 26, 1945. The AFL International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes maintained that the jurisdic{Continued on Page 13) continuing to distribute reissues. Savini sees reissues in a stronger position than ever in 1947 because, he predicts, there will be but one A picture released for first run where now there are three. The Astor-produced white product for 1947 will include, Savini said, "The Danger Ring," a seven-reeler with "Iron Man" Mazurki, a Western Attractions film produced by Jack Elliott and directed by Bud Pollard: "Harmony Trail," with Eddie Dean and Ken Maynard, set ioY February, 1947 release; an untitled picture on venereal diseases based upon "No Greater Sin," with Qucntin Reynolds participating, scheduled for March release; Bing Crosby's "The Road to Hollywood," made from Crosby's four first two-rcelers in which he sang his hit songs, and eight three-reel musical westerns with Hoot Gibson. In Negro production Astor announces "The Ebony Parade," a thrce-recler with Cab Calloway, Count Basic, Ruby Hill, June Richmond and others : the seven-reel Louis Jordan picture (planned for 16-nim. roadshowing) "Reet, Petite and Gone," with June Richardson, and a four-reel Negro musical "Swanee .'^howboat." Denied Percentage in Negro Houses, Savini Plans to Roadshow with 16-mm.