Variety (Apr 1939)

Wednesdnf, April 5, 1939 PICTURES VARIETY PK MOVE FOR LABOR PEACE Terms of Bask Film Royalty Facte For Stage Plays Set by Dramatists Terms of the basic motion picture royalty contract, applying to the sale of film rights to stage plays at the Mine time of the deal for the legit production, wlU be released late this week by the Dramatists Giilld. Con- Uact covers the third of the three ■waj's of selling the screen rights to plays Other methods are (1) the outright sale after legit production, and (2) a royalty deal after the legit production. Minimiun advance of $25,000 against royalties Is provided in the new contract. Such royalties are subject to Guild approval and must be based on the film's gross re- ceipts. In such a deal, if the stage play is not produced in accordance with the contract, the screen rights revert to the author and^e has the option of repaying a portion of the advance to the film company. It is stipulated that the nm of the legit production may not be termi- nated unfess proof is furnished the Guild that continued operation would involve a loss to the manager or is Impossible for some other reason. If the producer Insists on closing the show the author may take over operation. In case the film company goes bankrupt or fails to release the picture within ' two years, all its rights to the play revert to the author. No film purchaser may transfer the rights to another com- pany not signatory to the new mini- mum basic contract. The film producer must furnish complete, itemized accounts and per- mit the author or the Guild's negotiator access to its books for in- spection or audit and must bear the expense of proof if the accounts are questioned. The author's share of the gross must be held In trust for him, segregated from the film com- pany's other funds. Contract, which runs until Jan. 1 1940, provides for arbitration of dis- putes or conflicting, claims and per- mits waivers or modifications by the Guild council It special circum- stances warrant Although provision for the mini mum basic royalty contract was con tained In the Guild's two-year-old minimum basic legit production con- tract, no actual document had ever been drawn' up until the deal was consummated for the production and film sale of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story.' Contracts with the Theatre Guild for the legit pro duction and with Katharine Hep burn for the screen rights were signed simultaneously. It is the only deal for film rights consummated at the same time as the legit produc tion contract. RIPLEY'S FILM FIRES, BUT HE CURBS PANIC Battle Creek, Mich., April 4. Fire destroyed several hundred feet of Robert L. Ripley's 'Believe- It-Or-Not' cartoons here last week and periled about 2,000 persons present in Kellogg auditorium to hear Ripley's lecture. Films were being projected, ap parently from a faulty set, when the machine burst into flames and shot Are 10 feet high. Spectators nearly panicked rushing to exits, but RiP' ley finally calmed them and re aumed his lecture after 15 minutes' delay. Crosby, Hope, Lamoor In ^Road to Mandaky' Hollywood, April 4, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope are the stellar trio in Hoad to Mandalay,' which Harlan Thompson will produce at Para mount. Shooting starts when Crosby fln^ ishes "The Star Maker.' How So Unlike Calif. Hollywood, April 4. Held up by fog for nine d&ys, Re- public finally found enough Califor- nia sun to finish two westerns. William Berke washed up "Three Texas Stieers' at the Corrigan Ranch and B. Reeves Eason completed the Gene Autry starrer. Blue Montana Sky,' at Agoura Ranch. Delays, cost several thousand dollars. Jack Benny Changes His Plea; Fined $10,000, Year-and-Day Suspended Changing his plea from 'not guilty' on the smuggling charge against him, Jack Benny yesterday (Tues.) was fined $10,000 by Federal Judge Vincent L. LeibeU in N. Y. and an additional sentence of a year and a day was suspended on condi- tion the actor reports regularly to probation officers in Los Angeles. The comedian flies back to the Coast today (Wed.) to resume radio and picture commitments. His next for Paramount, is "The New Yorker.' Benny expressed regret at having b-come carelessly involved in the situation-and said he had 'no guilty knowledge of crime.' Value of the gems purchased by Benny and smuggled into the U. S. was $2,131, on which approximately $700 in duty was payable. DARRIEUX TIED UP TO HER PARIS MGR. Paris, April 4. Danielle Darrieux, French screen star who made only one picture in Hollywood for Universal, apparently will remain in France making pro- ductions for Gregor Rabinovitsch unless U enters into some compro- mise agreement with the French pro- ducer. Miss Darrieux told Variety that Article 10 of her contract with Universal expressly specifies that the performance thereof is automatically postponed as long as her contract with Rabinovitsch remains valid. She claims that this nveans 1943, imless a compromise is entered into by U with Rabinovitsch. 'Following the lawsuit which. I had brought against Rabinovitech," Miss Darrieux said, 'at Universal's request, a decision was rendered stating that only the contract with the latter was valid and that I must work exclu- sively for him. Under the aftreement which I have signed with Universal, said company-had inserted a provi sion whereby I had to bring legal action against Mr. Gregor Rabinb- vitsch so as to obtain cancellation of the agreement which I had signed with him prior to signing with Uni- versal.' Miss Darriux states that she is not under exclusive contract to Uni versal. Universal's home office had no comment to offer whatsoever on the Danielle Darrieux situation. Deals with Crafts Aim at Minimum Six-Hour Work Call for 12,000 lA Mem- bers—Up ped Scales in Many Groups—Scribes Weigh Coubter-Proposal EXTRAS PURGE U Testing Price Hollywood, April 4. Vincent Price, currently in 'Out- ward Bound' on Broadway, became a transcontinental air commuter for a screen test at Universal yesterday (Monday) and then hopped back to New York. Test was for one of the male leadis in 'Modern Cinderella,' Irene Dunne starrer to be produced and directed by John M StabL Gage Clark Is in 'Outward Bound* at the Playhouse, N, Y, this w.eek, replacing Vincent Price during the la Iter's absence on the Coast for a screen test. Hollywood, April 4. Drive by the' producers to end long siege of studio labor strife has resulted in tentative deal with 900 editors, contract with Screen Direc- tors Guild, partial agreement with American Society of Cinemato- graphers, and understanding with technical workers that is expected to result in adoption of six-hour minimum work calL Present mini- mum for 12,000 members of Inter- national Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees is three hours. New pact calling for substantial wage increase for most of the mem- bers in Society of Motion Picture Film Editors Is expected to be inked this week. Only a few minor wrinkles remain to be ironed out at conferences between Pat Casey, pro- ducer labor contact, and Ed Han- nan. Society prexy. Hours of editors are cut from 60 to 54 per week. Both editors and assistants will be paid straight for preview time away from studio, with credit for 'golden hours* (double time) if they have to return to the studio after preview and work more than 18 consecutive hours. Film librarians are placed In classification of their own and will receive $1 hour. Scale formerly started at 62%c an hour, with only a few receiving as much as $1 per hour. Sound affects men also will be placed in separate classification to be known as re-recording editors. Their pay will be tilted from $1,10 hour to $70 week for 54 hours. New wage scale for apprentices provides toi 60c an hour for the first year, 70c the second year, and 80c the third year. Apprentices now re- ceive 50c an hour regardless of how long they have been employed. New scales for Society members will be retroactive to Oct 24, when Wage-Hour bill became effective. Officials estimate workers will re- ceive approximately $20,000 in pen- alty time or back pay. Closed Shop It— Producers have agreed to give American Society of Cinematogra- phers a closed shop if it can be worked out without conflicting with International Photographers Local 659 of the .International Al- liance of Theatrical Stage Em- ployees. Hal" Mohr, president of Local 659, is also a member of the governing board of ASC. Situation may be complicated by petition Lo- cal 659 now has on file with the Na- tional Labor Relations Board asking to be certified as bargaining repre- sentative for all employees of camera . department. Only other point in dispute is request of ASC for 12-hour lay off period between calls. Demand for six-hour minimum work call for 12,000 members of lATSE was made by Jeff Kibre, leader of autonomy group in Tech- nicians Local 37 at conference called by Dr. Towne Nylander, regional di- rector of the National Labor Rela- tions Beard. Parley was attended by Mendel SUberberg and Alfred Wright, representing the producers, John F. Gat'elee, Harold V. Smith and Frank Stickling, lA inter- national reoresentatives, and Kibre and his attorney, George Bodle, Tentative agreement was reached for producers to recognize the duly elected bargaining representatives of members of Local 37 and to deal with them rather than international officers of the lATSE. It was also agreed that film executives would (Cortinued on page 17). Par Calls h an AddiHonal UMM Bonds; Dumont Tele's Own Financing Cabot, Ames' Tax Bites Washington, April 4. All but one-.thlrd of a $1,535 in- come tax bite against Bruce Cabot and Adrienne Ames, film stars, dropped last week by the Board of Tax Appeals. Delinquency penalty of $512 against Cabot was upheld. Levies were on 1934 income. Dorothy Lamonr's Police Detail; Rec'd Extortion letters Dorothy Lamour is being put on the train today (Wed.) by detectives following receipt Monday (3) at the Paramount, N. Y., where she has completed two weeks of personal ap- pearances, of .an extortion letter de- manding the Par star post several hundred dollars at a spot in a local bus terminal. Writer of the note warned Miss Lamour that if she valued her life not to notify the police, but the N. Y. Par brought in cops immediately to investigate and detectives were as- signed to stick by until she boarded the train for Hollywood. McGUIRE LEAVES M-G AFTER 'ZIEGFELD' JOB Hollywood, April 4. After four years at Metro as scenarist and producer, William An- thony McGuire will leave the studio upon completion of script for his original screen play of 'Ziegfeld Girl.' Mervyn LeRoy, under whose su- pervision McGuire was to have pro- duced the film, will assiune active production of 'Girl.' Gable 'Alasb' Next After "Wnid' Abates Hollywood, April 4. Clark Gable goes Into 'Alaska' at Metro shortly after h« completes 'Gone With the Wind' at Selznick International. Plays role of a priest in the novel by Addison Marshall. Robert Hopkins and Anita Loos are screenplaying. Betty Field Recovered Hollywood, April 4. Betty Field, Broadway ingenue currently making 'What a Life' for Paramount, has returned to the studio after several days' layoff due to laryngitis. . It had been errone- ously reported that she was serious- ly ill with pneumonia, Actress is tentatively set for a second picture for Paramount and Is being sought by Metro on loan. Con- tract calls for her to be back in New York Aug. 1. She was in George Abbott's original legit production of 'What a Life,' subsequently leaving the show to go into the same pro- ducer's Trimrose Path.' She left the latter play to take the Para- mount offer. Mary Mason replaced her in "Primrose.' Capra Tees Off 'Smith' Hollywood, April 4. Frank Capra's 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' finally got under way at . Columbia oh Monday (3). Con- siderable rewriting was necessitated by objections from Boy Scout or- ganizations which squawked at the manner In which James Stewart, playing the lead, was depicted as a tool of unscrupulous politicians. Capra put in a week at Malibu on the rewrite. , Calling in of an additional $2,500,- 000 worth of bonds in the past week by Paramount means that Par now has taken approximately $7,500,000 \yorth of liens from the market sine* the first Of the year. Bank loans have covered part of the obligations called, thereby saving 2-3'A% inter- est annually on the total amiount; A portion of-the total was taken cars of from the company funds outright All of recent moves to take cars of outstanding bond obligations are part of Par's program to strengthen its financial position.. Allen B. Dumont Laboratories reg- istration of two classes of stock with the Securities &'Exchange Commis- sion last week indicates to Wall Street that Paramount will partici- pate but little in any additlonar fi- nancing for Dumont in connection with its television project outside of about $75,000 already put into ths research. Instead, Par is tmderstood to have decided that this shoiild bs handled by banking interests. New Dumont Labs registration covers $750,000 in 10-year 5% notes, warrants for 9,375 shares Class A stock and 39,375 shares of Class B stock. Notes will be convertible into stock at $25 a share, and will be of- fered holders of Class A and B stock. Lehman Bros, and another banking house will underwrite. Even though not advancing an^ additional coin at the present, Para- mount still holds Bn option to buy stock. $307,000 Suit by H-W Circns Head Agiiinst U Over W.C. Fields Pic Harry Y. Bary, general manager of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus^ has filed a $307,000 action in the N.Y. Federal court against Universal Pic- tures, Lester Cowan, W. C. Fields^ Al Wagner and Ann Dempster, do- ing business as the Al Wagner The- atrical Agency on four causes of ac- tion. The first charges plagiarism of his story, 'A Circus Episode.' In the Universal film "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man.' The secon4 states that Bary had under contract, one Alverso Pietro Blacaman, who has an animal act. The plaintiff alleges that he was ap- proached by Cowan and Fields to use thU act In the U Picture. He agreed but the defendants through Al Wagner agency, took his client away from him. The third action complains that the defendants allegedly notified the Immisratlon Dept. that his circus was In. litigation, that he was broke and unable to take care of his acts. As result the Blacaman act was taken from him only to, be returned after his protest to the Department had brought an Investigation. Lastly, he asserts. Universal promised to use his circus in the picture but used Blacaman's animals instead. Besides money damages, he seeks an injunction, accounting of profits, and the elimination of all scenes showing the Blacaman troupe in the picture. Disney Canning Stoki Philadelphia. April 4. Crew of six from the Disney studios are here to make sound tracks by Leopold Stokowski and the Philly orch for Disney's new unfled musical feature. Stuart Buchanan, studio exec, Hal Rees, chief of the 30und department, and four tech- nicians exoect to remain from six to eight weeks. Seven compositions will be re- corded in the special studio setup In .the basement of the Academy of Music. T here will-be eirht pieces in the film, with one,"'The Sorcerer's Apprentice,' having already been completed.