Variety (September 1961)

30 PICTURES Wednesday, September 13, 1961 Joe Levine's New Literati. e Buys Harold Robbins’ Bestselling ‘Carpetbaggers’ For | Medley of Ancient and Modern Gambols By JACK PITMAN Evidence mounts that Joseph E.: Levine’s early penchant for outand-out escapist fare (those Roman : gambois) is fast being sloughed,; as an image. The latest escalating jis his grab—negotiated last week | —of the film rights to “The Car-: petbaggers,” the Harold Robbins sex-loaded novel dipped in picture : industry lore. This may churn up a lot of Pro-: duction Code tumult when the! time comes, anguish the and out of the trade, all of which ! indicates plenty of that good old | pre-sell should be going for it. Ad-! vance interest, of course, is already ' building, courtesy of the book's: the yarn in association with Eddie | : Fisher’s new indie banner, but the. : project soured a while back when : ithe singer bowed out. Incidentally, | under last week's option switch, | ‘ Fox’s wife, Yolande, retains an in-| terest in the screen property. Levine promptly announced ‘a. ' $5,000,000 budget for the pic—. -aware, of course, that such earlystage figures are almost always: problematical. Other than these bzre essentials | + on the transaction, there was more and is certain to news on ‘the book’s front from, cinema uplifters in | Robbins himself. Author -flew to: Chicago last week. in an .unsuc-: cessful huddle with Don W. Max-, , well, Chi Trib exec editor, over: : that best-seller chart ban. Lacking | that, Robbins said his publisher, : who'll screenplay the book, but it won't: bs him. Nor does he seek any script supervision. If. the trade—Hollywood sector ‘in particular—is anticipatory over | the allegedly real-life modelling ithe novel engages in, Robbins pro vides assurances on that score. Central figure is bruited to be pat‘terned on studio mogul-industrialist Howard Hughes. Robbins claims ‘he has heard, indirectly, that i Hughes is not the least upset by ; the charatterization, so presumably ‘there’s no ruckus brewing there, As for Levine’s own thrust, he’s obviously found :an artistic accom modation with Hollywood. Besides | “Carpetbaggers” (rolling next ‘ year), also Coast-oriented for his Embassy hopper are “What Ever . Happened toe Baby Jane?” and “I Married) a Psychiatrist,” “Boys’ Night Out,” first, on Oct..23 for Metro release. Additionally, to.continue the -re; prise, ther are the foreign. image, makers—the current “Two Women,” upcoming “No Loye for i Johnnie” (British), end the nowshooting “Boccaccio 70” four-seg innate space-grabbing, not the least ; Simon & Shuster, would launch a, ™ent affair from Carlo Ponti. of which is its blackout from the: fiction bestseller chart of the Chieago Tribune. Levine latched onto the Matty: big blast publicity ostensibly to shame the Trib, but practically to capitalize on the: “banned-in-Boston” motif. Could campaign— | All this is calculated to burnish ‘the Levine escutcheon, but, of course, the Man from Embassy {isn't completely forsaking the Fox (Skiatron: option on the book, also be some sort of legal action ! : Other angles. “Wonders of Aladdin.” (price undisclosed), and according | to Robbins, his deal with Levine provides a guarantee against per-: centage. Fox had: intended to film’ These men have flown the-Atlantic 3 times in the last 3 hours Every Air France jet crew begins final preparations. at least three hours before every transatlanti¢ flight. They begin to “fly the route” in the flight preparation room—on. charts, with diagrams, and in their mind's eye.They make an average of three of these valuable and exacting “trips” before they ever leave the ground. Weather-reports are thoroughly absorbed. Every detail of the flight is-completely chéckéd. out, and‘then checked out again. Possible alternate courses are charted, and discussed. All to assure the swiftest, most dependable and comfort: able route for every individual Air France flight. This meticulous advance planning explains why Air France holds the speed record from New York to Paris. Why every Air France flight is so effortless, relaxing and vewarding. Why Air France | is the world's largest airline, with a a Az: -year record of achievement, flying experience and service. PUBLIC RELATIONS PERSONNEL READY TO SERVE YOU IN will result, but just what wasn’t ! via. Metro, plus | which rolls: TEXAS DRIVEIN ASSN. | T0 ATTEND TOA IN NO.| Dallas, Sept. 12: meeting of the i ar toon of the Texas boars Drive-In Theatre Owners _Assn., |. held here recently, has accepted an invitation to participate in the New | Orleans convention of the Theatre Owners of America. A portion of the TOA program will be devoted to the problems of drive-in operation. The Texas association -designated. Edwin ‘Tobolowsky, general counsel, ‘to moderate this part of the program, Tim Ferguson of Grand Prairie, past prez of the Texas group, also will speak, West Side Story Hollywood, Sept. 12. Mirisch Co. and United Artists have booked “West Side Story” into six additional key cities before end of the: year, to follow. pic’s world preem Oct. 17 at Rivoli, N-Y.}Dates have been set for film, which Robert Wise produced in association with Seven Arts, to go into the Gary, Boston, Nov: 1; Midtown, Philadelphia, Nov. 8;:Uptown, will be out around ; Washington, D.C., and Sheridan, clear, and ‘the author. wasn’t talk| Christmas, and “Sodom and Go| Miami Beach, Nov. 14; Chinese; ‘ing on this point. Robbins said he doesn’t know ‘}morrah” (now winding in Rome! via Titanus) is in reserve. “NEW YORK, CHICAGO, ‘LOS, ANGELES, MONTREAL, MEXICO | cin, Hollywood, Dee. 13; and United | Artists, Frisco, Dec. 15. . ROE SORE Steen. Ree PO NS SRO Weilie’ ToDo Stevens’ ‘Story Madrid, Sept. 12. Raoul Levy wants to: make. “Ths Greatest Story Ever Told” and will plane to the U-S. this week to query George Stevens on a possible deal in Europe next: year. The French: producer,,. in Madrid: over the weekend to further plans with director Christian Jacques for the upcoming. Raoul : Levy-Seven Arts. coventure, ‘Marca Polo,” told Variety his trip to New York. _| Thurs. (14) was motivated by recent 20th-Fox announcement dropping’ “Greatest Story” from the company's production chart. Levy said he would seek to acquire the entire. ‘project as developed: by Stevens to date, including cast commit ‘ments already signed, if feasible. If Stevens agrees to an indie production’ outside the Skouras fold, ‘Levy then foresees. no great ob-. stacle in negotiating a distribution deal. with 20th-Fox: for an Eastern Western Hemisphere division of release rights. Fallont Over Paar -——— Continued from page 3 _—————) ers had been slated for maneuvers in. Normandy: anyway. Fast that Zanuck’s production outfit was | there at same time was ‘purely coincidental, -he contended. The Pentagon, | meanwhile, announced in Washington that. one officer had been bounced from. his command and another reprimanded. for their roles in the Paar incident, Lt. Col. Dallas Hoadley, information Officer of the. Berlin Com-. {mand was relieved of his post for “{mproper performance of duty.” ‘|Scolded was Col. J. R. Deane Jr., commander of the Second ‘Battle | Group which furnished. a squad to | take part in Paar’s endeavors. — Ominousty—and with no elaboration, the Pentagon said plans } were being drafted to prevent ‘a. similar snafu in the future. Second Guessing 1jm—_ Continued ‘from page 4 = Jing into effect Sept. 15, the exea ‘}noted that “there are some: people around here who think that’s all that’s needed. They've always. felt salaries of ‘the artists’ were too high, besides which they (the economy-minded) probably have. al |ready made their pile anyway." -~ The exec emphasized that when |he referred to “artists,” he includ ed more than just writing, directing or performing talent. One of the greatest “artists,” he suggeste ed, was none other than 20th prexy Spyros P.. Skouras. While Skouras. has made. decisions which turned out to be mistakes, he has also made other, spectacularly success {ful decisions which someone more timid, less sure of himself and Jess “intuitive”. would have | disinissed {as complete. folly.. Twentieth-Fox’s: move into CinemaScope in 1953, exec said, was a. big. gamble that paid off, not only for 20th, but for the entire industry. Without: Skouras, right or ‘wrong, 20th-Fox as well as the rest of the industry might be a good . {deal less exciting (and success€ul) than they are today. __. The question facing 20th-Fox is really no different from that: facing every other film | company every. ‘week: of the year: how to make profitable pictures? Trouble is, the exec said, 20th has had a string of unprofitable. ones in a row. The irony of the film industry is that }one or two pix that pay off hand somely ‘can just about . erase the ‘Llosses of an entire bad year, Exec, who here got in a plug for upcome ing 20th “potentials”: such. as “The: Hustler,” “Comancheros,” “Tender . Is the Night” and “Cleopatra,” suge. gested that recently bad luck mixed with some “illtimed devisions’” had | contributed to 20th’s present state.. Exec wound up by quoting {George Stevens: (at his Hollywood press conference last. week) to the effect that “they” (the Wall Street jinterests) are the “capricious art ists’ and “we (the professional | filmmakers) are the “hardheaded ; businessmen.” Le If that were not true, said. the exec, “we wouldn't have been in business as long as we. haye.”